Long Live The Hokage - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: The Situation in the West
On the following day, Masahiko woke up early and prepared himself to run around the Senju clan to move his body.

When he was running, he saw someone coming from a distance to the village.

“Hashirama, did you go out last night?” Masahiko felt confused. This is his last chance to stay with Mito in the house; after all, it won’t take long before his department to the west!

“Ah, Grandpa, morning exercise?” Hashirama smiled and said, “Why are you so surprised? Didn’t the Hyuga clan asked us to talk to the Uchiha yesterday? Thus, I went to the Uchiha last night.”

“Come again?… Alone? What about Tobirama?” Asked Mashiko.

“Tobirama went to the west to explore the mine and gather some intelligence. Second Grandpa, it will be so kind of you if you don’t tell him about my visit to the Uchiha when he comes back…”

“Oh, okay, I understand,” Masahiko replied.

He understands that Hashirama went to see Madara last night, and there was no accident. Well, Hashirama has already mastered Senjutsu anyway.

“Ah, Madara must be anxious by now…” Masahiko thought.

…

After another dull day, and another boring week, Tobirama finally returned.

However, when Hashirama greeted him, Tobirama’s face seemed to be uneasy.

“Big brother, the situation in the west has become more complicated,” Tobirama said.

“Now the west has become a complete mess. Too many clans and family were involved. If we participate, I’m afraid we will incite another conflict.”

“Which clans and families?” Asked Hashirama.

“Now the west is divided into three groups. The first is comprised of the minor clans and families, including the Sarutobi, Shimura, Fuma, and a few more. They are allying with the Sarutobi to defend its mine. The medium-sized group is comprised of the Aburame, Inuzuka, and the Hatake. And the last, the strongest group is comprised of the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clan. These three clans can complement each other techniques, their joint formation is called the Ino-Shika-Cho; thus, they are the strongest of the bunch.”

“We don’t have to be hostiles to all of them, we can just join one of these three alliances.” Masahiko smile while saying this.

Tobirama looked at Masahiko and said, “At first I thought so too, but joining them will cause other problems. The strongest group wouldn’t want an outsider to join their synergy. The medium group, while relatively strong, I’m afraid this will cause a dispute amongst them regarding the Chakra Conductive Meta. While the weakest group is too weak, and what can a single patriarch do against six?”

Masahiko thought, for now, it won’t be a problem for the Senju to face six clans at the same time. But what problematic is now the other Elders already at semi-retired age, such a battle will force most of them into retirement, then when this warring states age reaches its full-scale battle, the Senju won’t be able to keep up with the other Major Clans.

Moreover, you cannot dispatch all of your forces when you have the Uchiha, who are ready to leap from the shadows at any given time.

“Yes, they have six patriarchal level shinobi, while we only have three of us.”

“Big brother, I, and second grandpa are the only shinobi that can stand their grounds against a patriarch, we could be ganged by many clans at the same time, and the Ino-Shika-Cho patriarchs might provide a harder challenge.” Tobirama seemed anxious.

Masahiko smiled and said, “You’re thinking too little of your older brother… and you shouldn’t underestimate me either. I can even take ten of them.”

Tobirama chose to ignore Masahiko, then he looked at his brother and said, “Even if you can fight four of them, I’m afraid you can’t go there personally. I’m afraid the Uchiha might strike, and we don’t have anyone to stand against them. Especially Madara.”

“Tobirama, don’t worry about the Uchiha.” Masahiko looked at Hashirama then continued, “Madara must be training now in a place where no one is.”

“Training?” Tobirama got a little bit confused. However, none of them gave him an answer.

Although Tobirama didn’t get the answer, he didn’t think much about it. He felt that his brother has done something good.

In the meantime, Tobirama said, “In this case, then we will leave tomorrow? I’ll gather a squad. But who should I bring?”

“Yes, we leave tomorrow. As for whom to take, bring Sora, he’s one of our fines Jonin and need to refine his skills through experience. Also, if you need, take some Eltes, let them bring their own teams, let’s use this chance to practice real war situations.” Hashirama said.

“Yes, Sora is the only shinobi at the peak level of Jonin, although he does lack experience.”

“Not a problem, we have you and second grandpa. As for the rest of the patriarchs, just leave them to me.” After ‘meeting’ with Madara last week, I begin to understand more my own strength, even against these six patriarchs, I believe I can defeat them.

“Yes…” It’s evident that Toberama wants to say something, but he stayed quiet.

“Don’t worry, we can deal with the west for now. The Uchiha won’t make any move for a while… And you’ll be amazed by how much your big brother’s influence can affect the war.”

“Okay.” Tobirama seems to still be unsure about this. Then left to gather the forces.

Now there are only two persons in the hall, Masahiko and Hashirama.
“Second grandpa, did you sign the contract?”

“Ah, yes. I will use it in this upcoming battle. You can count on me to treat all of the Senju Clansmen’s wounds.” Masahiko said. Compared to the Fifth Hokage Senju Tsunade, Masahiko was still not quite sure about his amount of Chakra. Maybe he will end up using another few witness points.

“No, I think… If I somehow ended up being too harsh on these six Patriarchs, would you keep them alive?” Hashirama is a little bit embarrassed saying this because it was a silly request.

“No problem!” Masahiko said this happily. As soon as Hashirama said this, he understands what this means.

“In order to stop all kinds of conflicts, Hashirama is already considering the idea of establishing Konoha.” Masahiko thought.

Seeing the grateful face of Hashirama, Masahiko exit the hall. Although the result of the Ninja God training is very satisfying, Hashirama still…

In short, Masahiko grew more respectful to Hashirama, when he’s the God of Shinobi himself, you can’t help but admire him, but the rest of him is all awkwardness.

With Hashirama and Tobirama both busy preparing. Masahiko shook his head. Then he started writing a letter to inform the Uzumaki clan.

Generally, the content of the letter is like this. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m in good hands here with the Senju. As a great elder of the Uzumaki Clan, I ask you kindly to assign me as the ambassador of the Senju clan. Regardless, thank you, Uzumaki patriarch.”

Sending this letter, Masahiko didn’t know how the patriarch will feel when he read it.

The time passed, following the Senju forces, Masahiko and others finally reached the Sarutobi clan after walking for two days.