NOVEL WEB Chapter 78: The Senju Orphanage
At the end of Konoha Year 42, a major event took place in Konoha—the village's pillar of strength, Mito Uzumaki, was nearing the end of her life. Before passing away, she personally presided over the engagement ceremonies for Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, as well as Shiyu Uchiha and Ling Uzumaki.
Mito had already arranged marriages for the other three surviving Uzumaki clan members. They were to wed one girl from the Yamanaka Clan and two from the Senju Clan. Shiyu heard that this Yamanaka girl's arrangement had been personally secured by Torifu Akimichi. This meant even old Torifu had been playing his strength down all along. Shiyu realized he needed to add this guy to his list of people to watch carefully.
As for Mito, she didn't expect them to become particularly powerful—at this point, she only wished for them to continue the Uzumaki bloodline, expand their family lines, and multiply. Once the population grew larger, they could then pursue further changes.
She also entrusted Tsunade with taking care of these four individuals and three other members of the Uzumaki clan after her death. Naturally, Tsunade could not refuse such a dying wish from her grandmother.
At this time, even those who might have wanted to interfere—Konoha's F4 faction—dared not raise any objections. After all, nothing was more important than transferring the Nine-Tails safely. If any accident happened, even Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't be able to manage the consequences. Therefore, the engagement ceremonies proceeded smoothly without interference.
Privately, however, the F4 actually felt somewhat pleased about the situation. Without the "emperor" figure looming over them anymore, there would now be fewer constraints on how they wielded their power. There were many things they could now do more freely. This was especially true considering the secret wrongdoings they had committed over the past two years. The weight of Mito Uzumaki's presence had been unbearable.
That's precisely why Mito chose this particular time period—to prevent these four from causing trouble. In recent years, tensions between herself and the F4 had grown increasingly severe. Possessing both the Kagura Mind's Eye and the Nine-Tails' ability to sense good and evil, she had already reached conclusions regarding the Whirlpool Country Incident.
Although these four hadn't actively attacked, they had let fear guide their decisions. Instead of fulfilling their responsibilities as proper allies, they had failed to either warn Whirlpool Country beforehand or provide sufficient aid afterward. This negligence reignited the war when it had seemed to be calming down.
If not for Shiyu Uchiha and others rescuing the survivors, perhaps no one would have survived at all. These four had practically played no role in protecting the Uzumakis. Even worse, afterwards, the F4 attempted to absorb the four remaining Uzumaki individuals into their own clans.
As if rumors had emerged from shadowed corners, the four great clans had secretly divided up the Uzumakis—one per clan—aiming to erase the Uzumaki name entirely from history. Although this ultimately ended up being traced back to spy activities, it still cut deep into Mito Uzumaki's heart.
However, Mito Uzumaki struck back so decisively that she didn't even leave these four room to dream. Her personal assets were distributed among the Uzumaki survivors—including Shiyu Uchiha and Minato Namikaze.
As for the Senju Clan's fortune, these assets had originally been expected to return to Konoha before being quietly devoured by those four profiteers.
Yet Shiyu Uchiha had no intention of letting those four gain anything. Citing Hashirama Senju's original vision, he proposed the establishment of a Senju Orphanage—to care for children orphaned by war within Konoha Village. The idea immediately intrigued Mito Uzumaki. After considering it for several days, she agreed and contributed half of the Senju Clan's entire inheritance to establish the orphanage.
As for the other task, it was the establishment of Konoha Hospital—a dream Tsunade had always carried. Its purpose was to train Medical Ninja, and both projects, the orphanage and the hospital, were assigned to Tsunade. Uzumaki Mito hoped this would help Tsunade move past her emotional trauma.
Later, Shiyu Uchiha realized he might have been used as a pawn by Uzumaki Mito. She seemed to have planned the establishment of Konoha Hospital long ago. The idea of an orphanage likely didn't exist before. But even if given another chance, Shiyu still wouldn't allow such a significant resource to fall into the hands of Sarutobi and his four allied families—it would only create more obstacles in his path.
Just like now, the Sarutobi and their four allied families lacked resources to attract other ninja clans. As a result, many clans weren't particularly close to them. That's why their efforts to control the Uchiha Clan kept failing time and again.
Shiyu also noticed how Uzumaki Mito took advantage of the hospital's need to recruit medical ninja—using the excuse that training medical ninja required those with Yang Release chakra natures—as a way to gather nearly all Yang Release-affiliated individuals in Konoha.
Everyone knows that nearly half the Senju Clan are born with Yang Release chakra natures, and naturally there are many Yang Release prodigies among them. Hence, Shiyu encountered many individuals who had once belonged to distant branches or separated factions of the Senju Clan.
Konoha Hospital secretly allowed these people to reconnect. In effect, the hospital had become a breeding ground for reviving the Senju Clan. Yet all of this was done covertly by Uzumaki Mito, and even Tsunade may not have known. After all, Tsunade was already drinking heavily by then.
Of course, she might have known everything but feigned ignorance to divert Hiruzen Sarutobi's attention, allowing Uzumaki Mito to operate behind the scenes. Considering that Mito Uzumaki had originally proposed the hospital project, this made perfect sense. Besides, she was no ordinary woman; without sufficient cunning, could someone really hold the position of Fifth Hokage?
As for the legacy left by the First, there's an old saying: "A virtuous man's influence fades after five generations." [This saying implies that no legacy lasts forever.] And that's under normal circumstances. Let alone in Konoha, where battles occur constantly. With Hiruzen's propaganda downplaying the contributions of the First and Second Hokages, who would even remember the First Hokage's achievements anymore?
Shiyu discovered all this thanks to his familiarity with many members of the Senju Clan. By getting personally involved, he felt that perhaps Uzumaki Mito knew she couldn't keep things hidden from him forever. Fearing that his investigation might alert others too early, she intentionally let him uncover part of the truth.
It could even have been a test to assess Shiyu's abilities—an orchestrated move intended to unite the Uchiha and Senju Clans against the oppression of Konoha's F4 faction.
Soon after, at Uzumaki Mito's request, Tsunade became director of both the orphanage and the hospital. Several surviving members of the Uzumaki Clan helped establish these institutions, studying under Tsunade's guidance. Thanks to their natural Yang Release talent, they picked up Medical Ninjutsu incredibly fast.
Statues of Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju were erected within the orphanage to promote the deeds of the First and Second Hokages. Naturally, the involvement of the Uchiha Clan couldn't be omitted either—since it was an unavoidable historical truth. Additionally, all financial expenditures were made fully transparent to prevent embezzlement by the Sarutobi and its allies—something they were particularly skilled at.
To show his support for the orphanage's construction, Shiyu Uchiha also brought many members from the Uchiha clan to assist with the building efforts.
At the same time, he and Minato Namikaze rallied a bunch of friends to pitch in together. After all, they were in the prime of their lives — upon hearing about the cause, everyone eagerly volunteered. Even the trouble-averse Shikaku Nara was dragged kicking and screaming by Choza Akimichi.
Besides the younger generation, among the older generation, Jiraiya and Hatake Sumao, who were currently in the village and not on missions, stood out as strong supporters, throwing themselves into the work with great enthusiasm.
Shiyu Uchiha even saw Might Gai and his son Might Duyi hear about the situation, come by to check things out, and decide to lend a hand, allowing the orphanage to be completed in just ten days.
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