Senju clan buildings, like those in the Nara compound, were uniformly wooden.
The obvious differences lay in the Senju crests everywhere, the frequent vermilion torii, and even a "shrine gate" serving as the main entrance to the compound.
These were not special Wood Release constructs left by Senju Hashirama, of course—just decorative carpentry by later craftsmen. Even so, they showed the clan's reverence and longing for the "God of Shinobi."
By contrast, the traces Senju Tobirama left within the clan were far fewer.
Either way, Tobirama's death meant the family had lost a Hokage in office, and many Senju could not help feeling grief and confusion.
Not everyone was lost in confusion.
Right now twelve young clansmen crowded into Senju Mori's home, positively electric with excitement.
Mori's house was spacious. A large round table sat in the main hall, and Yu and the others naturally gathered around it.
"Brother Mori, I didn't expect it to happen just like you said…"
"Hahaha, did you see Sarutobi Hiruzen's face when you came back to the village?"
"Mori, our next step…"
After Mori predicted events with precision, then personally went to the Land of Lightning and returned with Senju Tobirama's body and the Six Paths tools, these young Senju fell into outright worship.
Compared to that, Tobirama's death stirred little emotion in them.
For these youths, after Tobirama proposed "dissolving the Senju" and "integrating into Konoha," merely calling him "Clan Leader Tobirama" was already great restraint and respect.
"The jōnin confidence vote cannot be ignored. I may have brought back Clan Leader Tobirama's body, but everyone knows Sarutobi Hiruzen and his group of six were his true choices for Hokage succession."
Sitting at the head, Mori remained calm. A few wins had not gone to his head.
His high-profile return made him the village's focus, and the carefully seeded rumors had earned him some advantage, but that did not mean victory was assured.
With the previous Hokage—who alone could decide a successor—now dead, the next Hokage would not be decided by swayed villagers or by the many genin and chūnin.
It would rest with the jōnin—small in number, holding almost all political voice.
Jōnin were a village's core combat power and founding pillars. Even Konoha, acknowledged as the top shinobi village, had only a bit over a hundred.
Most current Konoha jōnin came from clans.
Uchiha and Senju, the two founding clans, contributed roughly thirty each.
Hyūga, just below those two, had more than ten.
Though Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi each had only a few, they always advanced and retreated together; taken as one bloc, they nearly formed a twenty-jōnin powerhouse.
Behind them were smaller clans like Sarutobi, Shimura, Inuzuka, and Aburame, each with only a handful of jōnin.
There were also minor lines with only one or two jōnin and very few members—hardly "clans" at all, more like extended families—such as Hatake, Shiranui, Kurama, and Kazematsuri.
As for civilian-born jōnin, there were almost none. Konoha had been a union of clans at its founding, and for a long time the clans were the true core.
Only after Tobirama created the Ninja Academy did some civilians in Konoha gain the chance to learn ninjutsu and become shinobi. They just needed time to grow.
By rough count, Mori and Hiruzen's base votes were similar in size.
Mori's base lay mostly in the Senju proper; beyond that, many minor families admired and relied on the Senju and would likely support another Senju Hokage.
Hiruzen's Sarutobi clan could not compare in scale, but he had a compact political alliance forged through Tobirama's mentorship.
Sarutobi, Shimura, Utatane, and Mitokado together had over ten jōnin.
If Akimichi Torifu could persuade Nara and Yamanaka to join Akimichi in backing Hiruzen, Hiruzen might reach nearly forty votes.
The rest would depend on each candidate's skill.
Among the undecided, the Uchiha were the single largest force. Whether they backed Mori or Hiruzen, both sides would court them hard.
For Mori, however, winning Uchiha support would not be easy.
He bore Senju blood—Uchiha's thousand-year foe. That old war-era antagonism was as hard to move as the Senju–Uzumaki alliance was to shake.
What's more, since Tobirama took office, the pressure on Uchiha had steadily shown.
Most Uchiha were still war-era born. While their political sense was as poor as their descendants', they had at least learned a little through repeated failures. Unlike the naïve Uchiha of the future, they were harder to fool—and thus had little basis to trust the Senju.
Get tricked enough times and you learn to walk around the pit.
Hiruzen would also struggle to win them over.
His strongest political card—"Tobirama's heir and disciple"—was exactly what Uchiha loathed.
He could not curry favor by publicly criticizing Tobirama either. That would be suicidal.
The precious bridge Tobirama left him—Uchiha Kagami—had died inexplicably during the Cloud pursuit.
Hiruzen's five survived, while the lone Uchiha in the guard died. That all but severed any chance of rapprochement.
Uchiha had even confronted Hiruzen in the street earlier, causing him a political stir.
Mori couldn't help but smile.
Despite standing opposed to both major candidates, the Uchiha sensed no crisis and took no measures—holding repeated closed-door clan meetings and issuing statements just to show presence…
Were they planning to run for Hokage themselves?
Did they not understand that after losing both Mangekyō bearers—Madara and Kagami—they couldn't even field a "Hokage candidate" with sufficient seniority and strength?
Yet the Uchiha mind ran contrary to common sense.
Even with almost no chance, they might still make baffling choices—
For example, refusing to convert their political capital, casting all thirty-odd votes for their own clan head, and proudly finishing third in the Hokage election.
Was it only to prove the Uchiha are never inferior?
If so, the Hyūga, with half the Uchiha's jōnin count, might actually scoop up the political benefits that should have gone to Uchiha.
The stronger Uchiha would gain nothing—and likely earn only the new Hokage's suspicion and suppression.