The setting sun had vanished completely beneath the earth, and moonlight shone over the land.
Senju Ryōta walked slowly toward his house. He was in a good mood today-or rather, he had been in a fairly good mood lately.
Children within the Senju Clan who had sufficient talent would have marriages arranged within the clan. To some extent, this protected the purity and continuation of the clan's bloodline.
Though when Tobirama Senju controlled Konoha, they had stopped doing this, even actively allowing clan members to choose the people they would spend their lives with.
To Senju Ryōta, this approach was simply incomprehensible. Even though he had chosen to support Tobirama Senju's decision, that did not mean he truly agreed.
After all, Tobirama Senju had held complete control over the Senju Clan back then, and he really was nowhere near as easygoing as Hashirama Senju.
The Second Hokage's forcefulness could only be described as unimaginable. Once he made a decision, he absolutely would not allow anyone to argue.
Faced with a man like that, even someone like Senju Ryōta had no choice but to submit and respectfully carry out Tobirama Senju's wishes.
Though Senju Ryōta could not quite be called an extreme clan loyalist, he had firmly opposed that proposal in his heart, because it would make the Senju Clan forget who they were!
The outcome seemed to match his predictions. Following Tobirama Senju's death, a force had also begun frantically pushing forward his policy of "integrating the clan into Konoha."
In a mere dozen or so years, the Senju Clan had declined to its present state.
Fortunately, there were still people in the Senju Clan who wanted to rebuild everything. Shōma Senju was one of them, and Senju Ryōta respected him greatly.
Without that man, the Senju Clan certainly could