Chương 17: Undercurrents and Choices

The setting sun washed the courtyard of the Senju old estate in warm orange, stretching long shadows from the roof eaves across the ground. When Shuji pushed open the gate, Elder Touka stood with her back to him, focused on trimming the branches of a potted pine.

"Grandmother, I am back," Shuji said. Toka did not pause her work, giving only a slight nod.

"How was the evaluation?"

"I passed. Qualified as a Special Jonin."

"Mm." A brief silence followed. Shuji lowered his voice slightly.

"The evaluators were two ANBU officers. One had silver hair, highly skilled in Lightning Release and taijutsu. The other... used Wood Release." Touka stopped. She lowered her silver shears and turned around, her gaze sharpening as it locked onto Shuji with intense scrutiny.

"Did you use Wood Release to counter?"

"No." Shuji shook his head, meeting her gaze directly.

"Only standard elemental techniques." Touka fell silent. After a long moment, she gave a cold scoff.

"Hiruzen, oh Hiruzen..." she muttered softly.

"You really have grown old."

"Grandmother, did you already know about this Wood Release user?" Shuji asked.

"I did." Touka did not deny it. She picked up her shears again, casually running her thumb over the cold metal handle.

"That child... his codename in ANBU is Tenzo. Before that, in Danzo's Root, he was Kinoe. He is a defective product built on a mountain of bodies by Danzo and Orochimaru." Her voice dropped low.

"He survived by luck and can sprout a few logs, but compared to Lord Hashirama, the difference is night and day. And compared to you..." Her gaze settled back on Shuji, filled with a complex weight.

"... he is something else entirely." Shuji's pupils contracted. Orochimaru and Danzo's Wood Release experiments... Kinoe! Tenzo! She knew those exact codenames.

"Did... you participate?" Shuji asked, his voice dropping into a quiet whisper. Touka's hands went still. She looked up, her gaze piercing like a blade. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Her scrutiny was even sharper now.

"The original Hashirama cell experiments used exceptional, trustworthy volunteers from our own clan," Touka said slowly.

"But the casualties were too devastating. The village could not sustain it, so it was officially shut down on the surface."

"Yet the village still needed a tool to control Tailed Beasts. When they could no longer sacrifice our own, they used outsiders."

"In the end, the leadership turned a blind eye while Danzo and Orochimaru handled it. As for us... since it involved Lord Hashirama's cells, we naturally had a hand in it." Her words hit like heavy iron hammers, exposing the deep corruption hidden beneath Konoha's polished exterior. Yet Shuji showed no dramatic reaction. His brow remained slightly knit, his eyes thoughtful, but his face maintained a cold, steady calm. There was no furious accusation, no disillusioned grief.

Only a quiet, settled composure, as if he had already foreseen this reality and was merely digesting the details. Touka shifted slightly. The boy's reaction was wrong. He was far too composed. A fourteen-year-old hearing such dark secrets ought to be shaken. Looking at his calm profile, her concern for his survival overrode her complex thoughts.

"You..." Touka's voice had a slight sharpness to it, though her tone softened with an elder's concern.

"Are you not angry at what the village did? Do you not feel... disillusioned?" Shuji remained silent for a moment. He looked past Touka, toward the moss-covered stone lantern standing silently in the corner of the yard.

"Individual morality cannot be used to constrain a collective that prioritizes survival and power above all else," Shuji said quietly.

"Nor can it simply be used to judge a leader who must make choices in a brutal reality." He paused, turning his eyes back to her.

"Survival and growth are the ultimate form of correctness. Whether a method is dirty depends on the final purpose... and whether a cleaner choice actually existed."

"Personal virtue cannot cage the beast of a collective, nor can it serve as the sole ruler to judge a leader wading through the mud." The depth of insight and cold, pragmatic rationality in his words made Touka realize something clearly for the first time: the boy she had raised had changed. That composure and deep grasp of the world's cruel rules belonged to someone far beyond his fourteen years. A flash of genuine surprise crossed her features.

"The village needs power to check the Tailed Beasts. That part makes sense," Shuji said.

"But doesn't the Uchiha's Sharingan also possess the power to control Tailed Beasts? If it was for the village's survival, couldn't they..."

"The Uchiha?" Touka looked at him as if he had said something laughably naive.

"In the fifty-four years since Konoha was founded, that proud Sharingan of theirs has been used to control a Tailed Beast once!"

"It was Uchiha Madara, who brought the Nine-Tails to destroy the village."

"That power to control Tailed Beasts in Uchiha hands is a blade hanging over Konoha's neck, ready to fall at any second!" Shuji fell silent. He could not refute the bloody reality.

"Do we need to respond to this test?" Shuji pulled the conversation back to immediate reality, his tone regaining its quiet composure. Touka searched his face with a sharp look, trying to peer through his calm exterior into his true thoughts. After a long moment, she let out a soft sigh.

"... Never mind." She waved her hand, as if brushing aside unseen dust.

"I will handle the arrangements." The evening light faded, leaving quiet shadows across the courtyard.