Naruto: About the Fact That my Brother is Madara

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"Look over there, that's the young prodigy from the Senju clan."

"The first student in the history of the Ninja Academy to graduate ahead of schedule."

"I heard the First Hokage once set a very strict standard for early graduation, and yet someone has finally managed to break that iron rule."

"Rules exist to be surpassed by those exceptional enough to transcend them."

"Well said, brother."

"You flatter me. I read that line in the collected sayings of the First Hokage."

"Ah, I see. I've only ever read those romanticized biographical novels like The First Hokage's Erotic Affairs."

As he walked down the path, Senju Nawaki's face remained expressionless, indifferent to the flurry of praise directed his way from every direction.

He could not remember when exactly his reputation as a prodigy had spread throughout the entire village of Konoha. He had clearly asked his instructor to keep his early graduation a secret as much as possible.

His reason for applying to graduate early was not to prove his genius. It was because he needed to grow stronger, and quickly. He wanted to gain the power necessary to take control of the Senju clan.

Indeed, Nawaki had completely lost faith in Tobirama's passivity. He had resolved to change the family from within by his own hand.

His first step was to become the next clan head.

Given his status as Hashirama's grandson, it did not seem like an impossible goal.

However, Nawaki—or rather, the entire Senju—could no longer afford to wait.

Ever since the clan became aware of his potential, it was as though all of their hopes had been pinned on him alone.

Everyone understood the current state of affairs. The Senju could not afford to give up their control over the Police Force, which meant they had to stand in opposition to nearly everyone else.

If they let go of that authority, they would be left with absolutely nothing.

And if they could not give it up, they could not change. That was the truth.

So the only thing the clan could do was place their hopes on Nawaki.

Once he became the Fourth Hokage, all the struggles and sacrifices of today would be worth it—at least, that was the belief of most people.

Even Tobirama shared that hope.

If he wanted to pave the way for his elder brother's grandson, the conventional promotion path would never suffice.

After much contemplation, the old man turned his attention toward a unique institution that belonged solely to the Uchiha clan.

The Assassination and Tactical Special Squad, known as the ANBU.

If Nawaki were to join, he would not only earn military achievements but also gain access to the highest levels of power in the village.

It was a move laden with advantages.

Anyone else would have been rejected outright by Uchiha Haruto, but Nawaki carried the protective halo of being Hashirama's grandson—a shield that made every restriction bend in his favor.

Not to mention, Haruto had once shared a fairly good relationship with Nawaki's father, thanks to the relatively warm ties between the previous generation.

It was a common occurrence: while those below fought and bled, the elders remained cordial, even friendly. Moreover, if one set aside their political alignments, Kyōsuke and Hashirama actually shared a fairly good relationship.

At the very least, there was no hatred strong enough to make the children of the two clans turn on each other.

Tobirama had calculated all of this. But there was one thing he never anticipated, not even in his wildest imagination. Uchiha Kochou had long been waiting for the arrival of Senju Nawaki.

With her skill, influencing the mind of a young and inexperienced boy was a trivial task. Especially when the boy already held deep resentment toward the Senju.

In truth, it could hardly be called brainwashing. All she did was reinforce the boy's love for the village.

And what could possibly be wrong with loving one's village?

Knock Knock Knock!

"Come in."

Taking a deep breath, Nawaki pushed open the door to the office and stepped inside, walking slowly until he stood before the Third Hokage, Uchiha Haruto.

"You're here," Haruto said with a gentle smile. He was, more often than not, a mild and kind-hearted person.

"Lord Hokage," Nawaki said a bit stiffly.

Though their fathers had once been close, the same could not be said for their generation. The distance between them had grown.

The reason was simple: Nawaki's father had died unexpectedly while on a mission, and his legal guardian had since become his grand-uncle, Senju Tobirama.

And Tobirama's relationship with Haruto... was better left unmentioned.

"You're quite the child," Haruto said with a chuckle, shaking his head before standing and walking over to Nawaki's side, never once putting on the airs of a Hokage.

He was genuinely pleased to see Nawaki display such exceptional talent. Having reached the height of his own power and influence, Haruto's vision had long since extended beyond the concerns of the Senju and even Konoha.

What he now considered were the Five Great Nations and how to defend against the looming threat of the Otsutsuki.

As a result, he had no knowledge whatsoever of Kochou and the others' secret plans.

Even as Hokage, there were some matters he was not meant to be aware of.

From beginning to end, there had always been only one person with full control over Konoha. And to a large extent, even the Third Hokage had to obey his instructions.

Even though he had been dead for years, Kyōsuke's will still shaped the world of shinobi.

Had it been the old shinobi world, the repeated invasions by the Otsutsuki would have reduced it to rubble long ago. Of course, without Kyōsuke, the Otsutsuki might not have appeared so early to begin with.

Every gain came with its loss. Everything depended on how people chose to act.

As the two of them chatted casually about family matters, Haruto gave Nawaki a solemn promise: he would never treat him differently just because of his Senju blood.

He had already informed the ANBU of Nawaki's arrival, and even Uchiha Kochou would treat him as a true comrade.

Those words touched Nawaki deeply.

Look at the Uchiha—such selfless devotion.

Unlike his own clan, where narrow-minded family loyalty prevailed and endless scheming festered beneath the surface.

Indeed, placing the Uchiha in power had been the right decision.

Without even realizing it, Nawaki felt his resolve to reform the Senju grow stronger.

He reminded himself once again that he was not Nawaki of the Senju. He was Nawaki of Konoha.

From that day onward, Nawaki joined the ANBU and became part of Uchiha Kochou's special operations unit.

To outsiders, this appeared to be a preventive measure by the Uchiha to keep an eye on the Senju. But in reality, Kochou was investing her full effort in cultivating the boy.

Even the subtle indoctrination she administered daily was laced with nine parts truth and only one part fabrication. Many times, she simply allowed Nawaki to witness the truth with his own eyes.

But the truth came in many forms, and no single person could ever see it all.

In the end, Nawaki only saw what Kochou wanted him to see.

Time flew by, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Not only did Nawaki's reputation remain untarnished after entering the ANBU, it soared to even greater heights.

By the second month, he had earned the recognition of his peers and was granted special authorization to make independent decisions.

In the third month, he completed an A-rank mission solo.

In the fourth month, he passed the evaluation and became the youngest jōnin in the history of Konoha.

In the fifth month, he completed his seventh A-rank mission. Thanks to his unparalleled performance, he was promoted to captain of his own ANBU squad.

In the sixth month, Nawaki's team carried out an S-rank mission, completing it over the span of one and a half months.

By the seventh month, Senju Nawaki had become an elite among the ANBU, his position so solid that no ordinary person dared to challenge it.

"Hahaha!" Tobirama laughed heartily.

After years of Uchiha arrogance, were they not now drinking from his washbasin?

In his eyes, Nawaki's entry into the ANBU had been the greatest misstep of Uchiha Kochou's life.

The woman would never have imagined that the grandson of Hashirama could be this extraordinary.

What was the ANBU?

That was the place where the strongest talents gathered. Everyone relied on their own abilities, and who rose to the top depended entirely on skill.

And precisely because of that, Nawaki had been given a chance to rise.

So far, everything had unfolded just as Tobirama had predicted.

He still remembered the first time he had heard the name Uchiha Kyōsuke. Even then, it had felt as though he were living in that man's shadow.

It might have sounded ridiculous to others, but he truly believed that Kyōsuke—his greatest enemy—had been the only one in the world who truly understood him.

Their thoughts, their visions for the village, even their methods of governance—so much of it overlapped.

That was why the Senju had never sabotaged his policies behind the scenes. Because both he and Kyōsuke had shared a genuine desire to make Konoha stronger, and they both understood how to achieve that goal.

Yet despite that, the two of them could never become allies.

He was not his elder brother, and Kyōsuke was not Uchiha Madara.

Their rivalry had expanded beyond strength, becoming a battle for authority that touched every corner of village life.

And truthfully, Tobirama could hardly recall a single time he had come out on top.

The world often claimed that the elder from Sunagakure, Ebizō, and the former head of the Nara clan were the two wisest strategists in the shinobi world, capable of turning the tide through sheer intellect.

But to Tobirama, those were hollow boasts.

If one truly wished to speak of cunning and political brilliance, Uchiha Kyōsuke was the most terrifying mind the shinobi world had ever known.

As the saying goes, those truly skilled in the art of war often leave behind no glory. A true strategist would never allow himself to fall into an absolute disadvantage in the first place.

There was no such thing as a dramatic comeback against overwhelming odds, and because of that, Kyōsuke's brilliance often failed to stand out in the eyes of the public.

But that, precisely, was what made him so dangerous.

Whether his opponent was Tajima, their own father, whether it was the elder brother or even himself, Kyōsuke always seemed capable of foreseeing their next move, of grasping the flow of events long before others caught on. Every plan he made, every trap he laid, would strike true without fail.

He planned from the shadows with unmatched precision, yet brought victory from miles away with ease.

This was how Tobirama, his lifelong rival, truly saw him—and this was also the highest form of respect he could offer.

Perhaps Kyōsuke himself would never have expected it, but the one who praised him the most, the one who saw him most clearly, was not someone from the Uchiha clan.

It was none other than Tobirama Senju, who, under different circumstances, would have happily desecrated Kyōsuke's grave with his own hands.

Even now, having finally suppressed the Uchiha and gained the upper hand in this ongoing battle of strategies, Tobirama could not feel any true sense of triumph.

There was a simple reason for this: the person he had gone up against this time was not Uchiha Kyōsuke.

Uchiha Kochou?

She was nothing more than a pawn, someone who relied entirely on Kyōsuke's direction. A useful tool, perhaps, but never someone worthy of Tobirama's respect.

Her skills in intelligence gathering were admirable, that much was true. Yet when it came to the intricate chess match of power among those at the top, she was entirely out of her depth.

As for Yayoi, she certainly had the breadth of mind to lead, but she lacked ambition. Were it not for Kyōsuke's guidance, it would have been laughable to think she could ever sit on the Hokage's seat.

Then there was Uchiha Haruto.

In terms of sheer combat prowess, he was indeed impressive. Tobirama still had a few bitter words to say about his own careless defeat at Haruto's hands back then.

But a loss was a loss. What point was there in denying it? No matter how unpleasant the memory, defeat could not be taken back.

However, Haruto's excellence began and ended with his strength in battle.

Uchiha Izuna, too, had already stepped into semi-retirement, no longer active in the affairs of their clan.

And truly, what right did someone who had already been defeated have to speak of valor?

Looking across the entire Hidden Leaf Village, Tobirama found that there were few who could still catch his eye. In that moment, a rare feeling of loneliness took root in his heart—loneliness that came from standing too high above the rest.

"If only you were still here," he murmured.

His thoughts returned to that strange episode, the time he had attempted to raise the dead. Though he would never say it out loud, there was a part of him that regretted how that endeavor had ended. At the time, he had wanted nothing more than to bring Kyōsuke back as the most powerful Edo Tensei summon he had ever created.

To his great surprise, the technique that had never failed him before had actually failed then.

If his memories had not been so vivid and clear, Tobirama might have even suspected that Edo Tensei itself had been a creation of Kyōsuke's.

While Tobirama basked in his small sense of superiority, feeling as though he had finally outmaneuvered the Uchiha in this latest political contest, far away, Kyōsuke was also making his final preparations.

He was ready to set out on a journey among the stars.

..

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[Chapter End's]

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