After reminiscing for a moment and making a brief, teasing remark about Tobirama Senju's pettiness, Shin'un looked at Tsunade again.
He really wanted to know how the Senju Clan had disappeared.
Seeing the way Shin'un was looking at her, Tsunade immediately continued:
"It's actually very simple. My great-grandfather, the First Hokage Hashirama Senju, wanted to eliminate the divide between ninja clans and commoners within Konoha, so he wanted to disband the Senju Clan and completely integrate them into Konoha."
"With the support of my second grandfather, the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, the entire Senju Clan has almost completely integrated into Konoha."
"This has resulted in countless Senju Clan, like yourself, being scattered throughout the land."
"To this day, at least three or four out of ten students at the Ninja Academy possess the Senju bloodline."
At this point, Tsunade glanced at Shin'un.
That's about it.
"Understood."
Shin'un understood Tsunade's words, but he was still very confused about the First Hokage's actions.
To eliminate the divide between ninja clans and ordinary people, must the ninja clans be eradicated?
Is it similar to the question, "Even if I can't solve the problem, I can solve the problem of the person who raised it?"
Shin'un wasn't unaware that the First Hokage Hashirama Senju his reputation God of Shinobi with the name Kamui, was actually a rather goofy person.
But... this method is simply too outrageous.
More importantly, the usually shrewd Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, actually agreed and even took the initiative to help his elder brother disband the Senju Clan.
This seems rather odd.
According to Shin'un's conjecture, the establishment of the Ninja Academy was Tobirama Senju's arrangement to address the gap between the ninja clan and the common people.
By having children of the appropriate age from various ninja clans frequently interact with children from ordinary families, allowing them to learn and train together, and forge friendships, the gap between ninja clans and ordinary ninjas will naturally and gradually disappear as the children in the Ninja Academy grow up and become official ninjas.
This method—gradual, long-lasting, and like boiling a frog in warm water—is the style of the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju.
So, given that measures had already been taken to address the divide between clan ninja and commoner ninja, why would Tobirama Senju agree to Hashirama Senju's idea of disbanding his clan?
After thinking for a long time without any results, Shin'un simply cleared his mind and stopped thinking.
Ultimately, this is an old story from decades ago, and it has long since become irrelevant to Shin'un's generation.
Emptying his mind, Shin'un silently followed Tsunade towards the Senju mansion.
At the heart of Konoha, in front of the Senju mansion.
Shin'un stared blankly at the endless stream of people coming and going from the Senju Mansion.
I originally thought that since the Senju Clan had disbanded and only Tsunade and Nawaki remained, the Senju mansion should be very quiet and sparsely populated.
But what's going on here?
Shin'un carefully observed the crowd. Most of them were adult Jonin, and a small number were children like Shin'un.
" Lady Tsunade, why are there so many people?"
Still confused, Shin'un simply asked Tsunade was standing beside him.
Tsunade glanced at Shin'un and explained:
"Oh, they're here to collect the secret medicine, just like you."
"To receive the secret medicine?"
"But aren't the secret medicines meant to help the younger generation of the family develop and grow? What are they going to do with them?"
Among the crowd, there were clearly some people in their thirties, all of whom were adult ninjas at the Jonin. Shin'un pointed at these ninjas with a puzzled look on his face.
Hearing Shin'un's words, Tsunade explained helplessly:
"Can't they just collect it for their own descendants?"
"Furthermore, the Senju Clan has a long history, and their secret medicines have many wonderful uses, not just limited to helping children grow."
"As for its other uses, I'll tell you later."
Hearing Tsunade's words, Shin'un nodded.
Immediately afterwards, Shin'un looked at the crowd entering and leaving the Senju Mansion.
A quick count revealed that over a dozen ninjas entered and exited the small entrance of the Senju residence during the brief conversation.
Shin'un had another question on his mind, so he asked Tsunade, who was beside him.
"Are there this many ninjas every day?"
"Of course not, there are just more today. A group of Konoha Ninja were just relieved from the border and the front lines yesterday, which is why they all came here together."
"Such a large crowd wouldn't be seen in peacetime."
"Let's go. There aren't many people coming back from the border and the front lines; we should be done collecting them soon."
With that, Tsunade led Shin'un into the Senju residence.
" Lady Tsunade."
" Lady Tsunade."
"..."
Upon seeing Tsunade, the crowd passing by the Senju residence immediately bowed respectfully and made way for her.
Following Tsunade, Shin'un walked into the Senju residence through a path cleared by the crowd. Looking at the surrounding crowd, he asked:
"So many people, all of them have the Senju bloodline?"
"Of course, otherwise why would they come here to collect the secret medicine?"
Tsunade glanced at Shin'un, seemingly wondering why he was asking such a strange question.
Hearing Tsunade's words, Shin'un looked at the crowd around him and vaguely realized why Tobirama Senju would agree to his elder brother's idea of disbanding the clan.
This isn't just disbanding the family; it's completely abandoning the family name and forming a new circle centered around obtaining the secret medicine.
In reality, the core and the family are no different.
They are all close-knit groups of people with similar bloodlines, spontaneously formed for better survival or development.
This has many advantages.
First, the Senju Clan will no longer stand out; all ninjas from all clans will have only one identity: Konoha Ninja.
This would greatly facilitate the Hokage's arrangements and correspondingly eliminate the Hokage's targeting and apprehension.
They won't end up like the Uchiha Clan in the future.
Secondly, all Senju Clan ninjas changed their surnames, integrated into Konoha, married and had children as usual, and returned to the Ninja Academy with their children to receive the secret medicine.
Although it happened quietly, a large number of ninjas in Konoha already possessed the Senju bloodline. Their power remained hidden, greatly increasing the Senju Clan's invisible influence.
This can be seen from Hokage's future succession as Tsunade.
Having been away from the village for decades, the new generation of Konoha ninjas at that time didn't even know who Tsunade was.
Even so, Tsunade still managed to succeed Hokage Position smoothly. Aside from the somewhat outdated title of the Sannin, the help of the Senju Clan must have been partly due to her influence.
Third, Shin'un glanced back at the crowd behind him.
According to Tsunade, the reason so many ninjas came to collect the secret medicine today was because they were transferred from the border and the front lines.
Having exhausted their secret medicine, they naturally came to replenish it as soon as they returned to Konoha.
While the events can be explained, the details are chilling upon closer examination.
It's just a rotation of troops; at most one or two thousand ninjas will return to Konoha.
But Shin'un has already counted one or two hundred ninjas passing by, and there are still more coming from behind.
This small incident reveals a larger trend: if so many ninjas among those rotating shifts possess the Senju bloodline, then the situation is likely similar throughout Konoha.
Thinking about this, Shin'un sighed.
Just how many people in Konoha are actually members of the Senju Clan...?