Naruto: The Senju Patriarch

Back at the Senju Complex…

"How dare you make demands of the Hokage! Of course we should be protecting the village!"

The Senju clan members froze, looking on with bated breath as their Princess yelled at their Patriarch, who was beginning to grow irritated at his girlfriend's apparent lack of understanding. As Kaito ushered the onlookers away, Katsuro spoke.

"What don't you understand, Tsunade! Danzo - the Root - they've been targeting us, for God knows how long! And I've been telling you and the Hokage that that man was unreliable - just as dark as Danzo! But he didn't act on it, and decided to dismiss me and Granny Mito's concerns, and chose not to investigate. And now, who knows how many Senju have been killed by the very people that they wanted to protect, and should have been protected by! How can we protect the village against enemies when those very enemies are in the village!"

"I agreed with you when you accused Danzo, Katsuro! I did take your side!"

"No, you didn't! You took the easy option out - you tried to agree with me, but defended the Hokage, who at the very least is ignoring the murder of our people! And you know what? He's probably involved!"

At his words, Tsunade's expression was one of pure anger.

"How dare you! Don't you know how much Sensei has sacrificed for this village? Countless missions, the responsibility of the entire village, mental burden like no other, and you accuse him of killing the very people he fights to protect?"

"Where is that protection for our clan, Tsunade? I dare you, defend the Hokage to the Senju shinobi that were murdered because he was too incompetent to stop his friend. Defend the Hokage to our family that were betrayed by him, the man who was meant to protect them! You don't understand your Sensei Tsunade! The image you have of him is the one he crafted for you to see!"

Tsunade opened her mouth, but no words came out, and Katsuro, taking this as a sign that he was beginning to convince her, continued.

"We don't know how many Senju have died to the Root. Who knows? Maybe even Uncle Haruna was-" 

"Stop." Tsunade's voice was barely a whisper. 

"I've had enough. If you want to accuse the Root, go ahead. If you want to accuse Danzo, go ahead. But I will not allow you to say that the Hokage - my own Sensei, and the man that taught me almost everything I know about shinobi - let my father die."

Katsuro opened his mouth to respond, but Tsunade cut him off.

"I don't care what your orders are, Patriarch. I'm going to war. I will fight for Konoha, just like my father and grandfather before me. If you respect me, and the wishes of our clan, you'll allow me to do this, and the rest of them to make their own choices too." 

Without another word, Tsunade body flickered away, and for the first time in a long time, the Senju Patriarch was speechless. Have I messed everything up? I don't understand what I said wrong, he thought, as he stood there for a while.

Eventually, Kaito came and stood beside him. The older Jonin took a long look at Katsuro, before sighing, taking in a deep breath from his cigarette. 

"Women, huh?"

Katsuro let out a hollow laugh. But she is right to an extent, the Senju love this village. We created it with the Uchiha afterall. It is only right to give them a choice, and in the war I strongly doubt Danzo acts against us and reduces our power, in his own twisted way he does what he does 'for the village'.

"Do me a favour, Kaito. Assemble the shinobi of our clan in the Mito Hall, will you?"

"Will do." 

—

"Senju Clan!" 

As the Patriarch spoke, the crowd of shinobi in the hall quietened down, ready to hear what he had to say.

"As you're aware, given the discovery of the Root's treachery, I gave orders to refuse to go on missions any more, considering the fact that many of them would likely be set ups. However, there is more to being a shinobi than missions." He cleared his throat, and continued.

"There is a war coming, and as of right now, the Senju will not be participating, for obvious reasons. I will not let us die fighting for a Hokage that will not protect us. However," Katsuro said, looking around the hall, "the Hokage is not Konoha, and Konoha is not just the Hokage. There are many people within the village - some enemies of the Senju, yes, but many more are allies, friends … and in some cases, even more than that, huh, Ryo?" The crowd laughed, looking at the blushing Chunin girl, who had fallen in love with a shinobi of the Nara clan. 

"So, I give you the choice, shinobi of the Senju clan. If you want to, you can choose to fight for the village in the upcoming Second Shinobi War. If you don't want to, you don't have to - more than that, to be honest, I'd prefer if you didn't at least for the time being. But I won't deny you the opportunity to fight for the people you care for. Know that whatever you choose, staying here at the complex, with your clan, will always be a safe and honourable option. Here, we will stay, live, and fight along and for each other, regardless of war or peace." The crowd muttered approvingly, and Katsuro continued.

"If you choose to stay here, know that you're no less than the shinobi who go to war - we are under attack from enemies both within and outside the village right now, and staying at home would allow you to defend us from whatever Danzo and the Root may try."

"If you choose to go to war, I wish you luck, success and safety, and I pray for your safe return, but I cannot guarantee that we will be able to support you. We have our non-shinobi men, women and children to defend at home, and I'm sure the Hokage will be able to handle his own war."

"However, I promise you all, regardless of whether you are considering going to war or not. If a situation somehow arises where we are forced to go to war: we will not be separated! I will see to it that if the Senju must fight, we will fight as one, alongside each other, in victory or defeat, in life or death! And nobody - not the Root, not Danzo, not even the Hokage can stop that!"

His words were met with cheers from the shinobi crowd, and the experienced Jonin in the crowd were impressed - Katsuro was not only a skilled warrior, but a very ept statesman, able to ignite a crowd and win their trust so easily. A future Hokage, many thought. As the cheers subsided, Katsuro continued.

"So, if you wish to go to war, please stay behind - I'd like to speak to you personally. If not, you're dismissed! And remember, continue training, continue sparring - you're still shinobi!"

The crowd started to exit, and Katsuro was relieved to see most of them had not stayed behind. In fact, there was only one person remaining, but the Patriarch's heart sank nonetheless - even more so when he realised who it was.

"Nawaki …"

"Don't worry, Big Brother Katsuro! I have Orochimaru Sensei to look after me, plus all the Jutsus you and Big Sister taught me - nothing bad will happen!"

"Maybe, but why take the risk to begin with? Your sister wouldn't want you to-"

"My sister told me she's joining the war, Big Brother Katsuro! If she's fighting, I wanna fight too! Besides, if I'm gonna become the 5th Hokage one day, I can't just sit around at home doing nothing, can I? I need to prove myself on the battlefield!"

Katsuro sighed, but he knew Nawaki, as stubborn as his sister, would not budge. 

"Fine," he muttered, ruffling Nawaki's hair roughly, "you can go. But I don't wanna hear anything about you running into danger for no reason, okay? It would be so embarrassing for me and Tsunade if you got killed by a paper bomb or something lame like that!"

Nawaki groaned at the older Senju messing his hair, and scrambled away. 

"Okay, okay, fine! And besides, I'm not gonna get killed by a paper bomb!"

Katsuro laughed, but his brow then furrowed.

"Wait, you said you'll be the 5th Hokage, didn't you? Then who's gonna be the 4th?"

Nawaki grinned at Katsuro.

"You are!" he said, cheerfully. Katsuro, for once, blushed at what Nawaki said.

"Come here, you!" he said, grabbing the kid, and ruffling his hair once again. "I don't wanna be Hokage, kid. Sounds like way too much work!"

Nawaki laughed this time, and replied, "Fine, fine - I guess I'll be the 4th Hokage instead! Anyway, I told my friends I'd meet with them - gotta go! See you, Big Brother Katsuro!"

As Katsuro waved, the young boy ran off to meet his agemates. Slowly, Katsuro's smile faded. He had a bad feeling about this, but pushed it down - after all, Nawaki was well equipped with Jutsus to handle himself on the battlefield, and Orochimaru was more than capable of protecting him. But even still … I have a bad feeling about this.

AN: If you would like to view up to 20 chapters ahead, and would also like to support me, please visit my P@TR30N, at pa tr eon.com / GhidorahWriter (remove the spaces). Thanks for reading, and make sure to COLLECT, REVIEW and VOTE with POWER STONES for more chapters! When we hit 100 Power Stones, I'll release a bonus chapter!