Chapter 25

If that was true, could she also borrow the other woman's strength to hold on for a few more years?

She wasn't afraid of dying.

She simply couldn't let go of Tsunade, Nawaki, and Kushina.

Nor could she let go of the Senju Clan, which had all but fallen apart.

She knew perfectly well that, over the years, Third Generation and his allies had been suppressing and testing great clans like the Senju and Uchiha, both openly and behind the scenes.

They were already doing this while she was alive. She dared not imagine how far Third Generation would go against the Senju once she closed her eyes for good.

Uzumaki Mito sighed inwardly.

She was old. She didn't have many years left.

And with Monkey's position as Hokage growing ever more secure and his influence expanding, her words no longer carried the weight they once had.

"Grandma, what's wrong? You look awful."

Sensing something was wrong, Tsunade leaned closer and asked.

Uzumaki Mito looked up at her and reached out to stroke her head, an indescribable weariness in her voice.

"Tsunade, I don't have many years left. When will you truly grow up and shoulder the Senju Clan's burdens?"

Tsunade felt a sudden tightness in her chest and couldn't speak.

"Grandma, don't say that! You'll live for many, many more years!"

Tsunade hurriedly clasped the old woman's hand, a hint of urgency in her voice.

Uzumaki Mito merely smiled softly, an inexpressible exhaustion hidden in that smile.

"A long life? There's no such thing in our line of work."

She paused, her gaze drifting into the distance.

"A ninja walks a road paved with their own life. Your great-uncle was so powerful, with such tremendous vitality, but didn't he still die young?"

"If he hadn't been a ninja, living to a hundred would have been no problem with his constitution. What a shame..."

The fiercer the battles, the greater the damage to the body.

The longer one lived, the heavier the price.

A sudden ache filled Tsunade's heart.

She understood that better than anyone. As a top medical ninja, she had witnessed far too many partings and deaths in her practice.

But to survive, a ninja had to keep molding chakra.

That in itself was a road to death, with no other choice.

"Enough. Let's stop talking about such depressing things."

Seeing the bewilderment written all over Tsunade's face, Uzumaki Mito cut herself short, her voice turning grave.

"It's time you grew up. Until Nawaki is capable of shouldering the Senju Clan's burdens, you must take them on first. Do you understand?"

Truthfully, she didn't hold out much hope for that grandson of hers.

The boy was too soft, even more naive than Hashirama had been.

Yet he had neither Hashirama's talent nor someone like Tobirama at his side.

For now, she could only hope that Tsunade, as his older sister, would shoulder more on her brother's behalf.

"I... understand. I will."

Tsunade clenched her fists tightly, then frowned again.

"But we still have our teacher in the village, don't we? Surely nothing too serious will happen?"

Uzumaki Mito let out an angry laugh.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi? Yes, he's your teacher, but above all, he's Konoha's Hokage and the head of the Sarutobi Clan!"

"He only took you as his student to win over the Senju and me, your grandmother, and secure his position as Hokage. Did you really think it was because he valued your little bit of talent?"

"The Sarutobi Clan's interests will always come first in his heart. Konoha comes second. After that come the families of Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura."

"And the Senju? We rank below Ino-Shika-Cho, the Chunin, and the civilians!"

"All these years, he's been secretly suppressing the ninja clans, with the Senju foremost among them. Have you truly noticed nothing?"

"How can I entrust the Senju Clan to you when you're like this?"

"How can I rest in peace?"

The more the old woman spoke, the angrier she became, bitterly frustrated by Tsunade's failure to see the truth.

When interests were at stake, bonds between teacher and student meant nothing.

Tsunade opened her mouth, but not a word came out.

She stood frozen, her mind buzzing as though struck by lightning. The rosy image she had held of the Third shattered completely.

"That can't be true, can it?"

She murmured the words, her face pale.

Uzumaki Mito sneered. "Why can't it? Use your head and think about how our Senju Clan has fared over the years. Isn't that proof enough?"

She hadn't wanted to say any of this.

She didn't have much time left. If she left Tsunade with that innocent belief, at least the girl might rely on her bond with her teacher to live peacefully in Konoha.

But the changes among the Uchiha and Uchiha Chisato's actions had completely changed her mind.

The Senju and the Uzumaki Clan could no longer keep retreating in such humiliation.

Perhaps... secretly joining forces with the Uchiha is a way forward?

Uzumaki Mito silently considered the possibility.

After hearing all this, Tsunade's idealized image of Third Generation crumbled. Looking back at her clan's situation and the old man's actions over the years, everything she had once failed to understand suddenly made sense.

Her beautiful face instantly turned ashen with anger. "So that's how it was... The old man never had good intentions."

"As long as you can see it clearly."

Uzumaki Mito's expression finally softened a little.

Tsunade grew flustered. "Grandma, what should I do now?"

"We'll discuss that after I meet Uchiha Chisato. You'll be there too."

Uzumaki Mito shook her head and settled the matter.

"All right."

Tsunade said nothing more.

She had no ideas of her own, so she decided to follow her grandmother's lead.

Though she didn't quite understand why her grandmother was in such a hurry.

Seeing her granddaughter's troubled expression, Uzumaki Mito felt a pang of distress herself. "I'm not trying to force you, but things really are getting more difficult. We've also received bad news from the Uzumaki Clan recently."

"The other four great ninja villages have set their sights on their jinchuriki and Sealing Arts."

"Quite a few spies from other villages have appeared in the Land of Whirlpools lately. They clearly have ill intentions."

"What?"

Startled, Tsunade hurriedly asked, "Does the old man know about this? How is the village going to respond? Will... will they send people to save the Uzumaki Clan?"

By the end, she remembered everything her grandmother had just exposed, and her voice suddenly lost its certainty.

Because she was beginning to understand that her teacher might not truly be willing to save the Uzumaki Clan if it conflicted with his own schemes.

In fact, might it benefit him most to let the Uzumaki Clan vanish from history altogether?

He could swallow up the Uzumaki Clan's legacy while cutting off a vital arm of the Senju Clan.

Everything she had failed to see through her rosy assumptions was now clear.

Tsunade stood rooted to the spot, as though someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over her head.

She had always lived with those illusions, believing her teacher was benevolent and the village was fair. Only now did she see that, over the years her teacher had held power, the Senju Clan had already been torn to pieces.

When her second great-uncle was still alive, the Senju had been the foremost clan in all of Konoha, even in the entire Ninja World.

And now?

Their glory was long gone.

The branch families had scattered or merged into the civilian population, and many had lost contact entirely. Those who had died on missions or mysteriously disappeared were too numerous to count.

The main family had fared even worse. Between the dead and the wounded, fewer than one in ten remained.

The Senju Clan was on the brink of ruin.

Uzumaki Mito had been watching her expression the entire time. Only when she saw Tsunade's face change did she speak gravely. "It seems you've figured it out."

"Don't expect Monkey and the others to sincerely help you with this."

"At most, they'll take advantage of the chaos to reap some benefits. We'd be lucky if they didn't kick us while we were down."

"I originally wanted the Uzumaki Clan to relocate to Konoha."

"But that stubborn Lu Ming refused. I couldn't persuade him, so I had to abandon that option."

"All we can do now is gather an elite force from the Senju main family and the few branches still close to us, then send them to provide support as soon as possible."

"This may cost the Senju everything we have left."

"But I have no choice."