Chapter 260: Whose Curse?
Two months later.
Masahiko sat cross-legged on the ground, staring at a "steamer pot" in front of him.
This was specially made by him, naturally for the purpose of brewing medicine.
After making a detailed tally of the Senju clan's population, Masahiko both breathed a sigh of relief and got a scare.
The young and middle-aged adults of the Senju, meaning the age group from twenty to forty, numbered over fifty people. The age group from forty to sixty numbered over twenty.
Adding in the fact that since Konoha's founding, the Senju hadn't strictly adhered to intra-clan marriages, the number of people who married into or out of the clan barely pushed the total past a hundred. They were still one of the foremost large clans.
Of course, they couldn't compare to the Uzumaki clan, which already had over a thousand members—after all, the Uzumaki was a clan acting as a nation. But within Konoha, the only clans with a larger population than the Senju were the Uchiha and the Hyuga.
But the problem appeared in the other age groups.
The Senju clansmen aged sixteen to twenty numbered only four, and those aged ten to sixteen numbered only one. Below that... was Itachi!
Masahiko didn't know what a normal age distribution was supposed to look like, but he knew this situation with the Senju was absolutely abnormal.
In the steamer pot in front of Masahiko brewed a medicinal soup he had specially formulated... which was basically the ingredients for Six-Flavor Rehmannia Pills increased fivefold.
It was a good thing the Senju clansmen all had good physiques, otherwise, such heavy tonics would definitely cause problems.
"Tsunade, Kushina, come ladle the medicine!"
Kushina had already returned from the Land of Whirlpools. Hiruzen had actually gritted his teeth and transferred Minato back from the battlefield, putting him in charge of hosting the Chunin Exams.
The Chunin Exams should be underway right now, but Masahiko didn't even go to watch. He didn't even care about those eight or ten Witness Points anymore.
Currently, Masahiko brewed a pot of medicine every day, and Tsunade and Kushina were his medicine-dispensing assistants. He really refused to believe in this jinx. With this level of tonics, he refused to believe the Senju couldn't produce at least one boy or half a girl.
Tsunade and Kushina walked in with bitter faces as instructed. The smell of the medicinal soup was truly not pleasant. Masahiko had been using a repulsion barrier to strictly separate himself from the smell.
"Ladle the medicine. One bowl per Senju clansman, and you must watch them drink it all!"
"Yes, yes." The two replied helplessly.
Before long, complaints erupted throughout the Senju clan compound.
"Medicinal soup again..."
"Can we not drink it?"
"I want to go back to the battlefield..."
Masahiko wore a smile. "Not a single one of you even think about running away."
Right now, among the Senju, only Nawaki and a few middle-aged clansmen who already had offspring went to the Land of Rain battlefield. Masahiko didn't let any of the others go.
"I wonder if it will have any effect this time. Two months, it should be about time."
Just as he was muttering to himself, someone pushed the door open and entered.
"Great-Grandpa, can you please talk to Michiyama, that child? He..."
Masahiko smiled as he listened to Aika's continuous complaints.
Over these two months, Michiyama hadn't suffered little. Aika dragged him to various clans for matchmaking, practically touring the entire Konoha Village.
"Alright, wait a little longer. If I still don't see any results here in a month, then Michiyama won't have a choice anymore," Masahiko said.
If worse came to worst, he would just have to play the role of an old-fashioned patriarch forcing a marriage.
Aika nodded in satisfaction and left.
"What exactly is the reason? Genetics or something? And I surprisingly can't detect anything..."
Alone in the room, Masahiko lowered his head in deep thought, but still couldn't figure it out.
Half a month later.
Still the same room, still the same steamer pot, still the same medicinal ingredients.
Masahiko was basically in a state of half-giving up. Two and a half months with no results, it seemed there truly was no solution.
"What is this called? Decline after reaching the peak?"
"Could there really be some heaven-ordained extinction?" Masahiko never believed in such things.
"Tsunade, Kushina, come in and ladle the medicine!"
Tsunade walked in with a bitter face. Kushina was not by her side.
Masahiko was startled. Tsunade took the initiative to explain, "The final stage of the Chunin Exams ended today. Minato just arrived."
"Alright then, you ladle the medicine, I'll go check on them."
"Great-Great-Grandpa, you..."
Ignoring Tsunade's complaints, Masahiko walked a few steps to Kushina's room, and Minato came out to greet him.
"Elder Masahiko."
Masahiko nodded and asked with a smile, "How was it? The Chunin Exams, did any good Chunin emerge?"
Minato smiled bitterly. "Might Guy, Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, Genma Shiranui, Rin..."
As Masahiko listened to the names one by one, an expression of not knowing whether to laugh or cry appeared on his face. He half-covered his forehead. "Obito didn't pass?"
Minato sighed and nodded helplessly.
Masahiko laughed. He didn't even ask for the specific details; Obito probably did something stupid again.
"It's a good thing Kakashi went to the Land of Whirlpools with Sakumo, otherwise Obito would probably die of anger."
Masahiko glanced at Minato and was just about to ask about Hiruzen's subsequent arrangements for him when someone suddenly came from behind to report:
"Elder Masahiko, the Uchiha Clan Head requests an audience."
"Kagami?" Masahiko was startled. "I understand."
Waving his hand to signal that he wouldn't disturb their "two-person world," Masahiko took a few steps out of the Senju compound, and Kagami was indeed right outside the door.
"You actually returned from the Land of Rain? Does Konoha have that big of an advantage there?"
Kagami shook his head. "The advantage isn't that big. I only dared to return because Jiraiya's injuries have finally fully recovered."
Masahiko nodded. Seeing the other party's hesitant expression, he said, "If you have a matter, come inside and speak."
Returning to the room, Masahiko saw Kagami looking curiously at the steamer pot. Masahiko briefly explained, "Brewing some tonics."
"Elder Masahiko, you need to take care of your health."
Masahiko's face darkened. "It's not for me to eat! Forget it, what did you want to talk about?"
Kagami hesitated for a moment. "Is there really no way to recover the eyesight of the Mangekyo Sharingan?"
Masahiko was startled. He took a deep look at the other party's eyes. "Didn't I tell you back then to use it less? How much eyesight do you have left now?"
Kagami smiled bitterly. "The Third Tsuchikage Onoki's Dust Release is truly difficult to defend against. Without using Susanoo, I am completely no match for him."
"My current eyesight... at least I can still see your face clearly."
Masahiko didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You still have the mood to joke at a time like this?"
Pondering for a moment, Masahiko shook his head. "As far as I know, the only way to recover eyesight is to transplant eyes. You've read the stone tablet; you should know what I mean."
Masahiko didn't mention the method of transplanting Hashirama's cells, and Kagami wouldn't do it anyway.
"Back then, Uchiha Madara also gained the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and avoided blindness by transplanting Uchiha Izuna's eyes."
Kagami smiled bitterly and fell slightly silent.
"Right now, in the Uchiha clan, apart from you, there isn't another pair of Mangekyo Sharingan. You can only use it less, or even not use it at all."
Kagami took a deep breath. "I understand!"
Seeing the other party's slightly disappointed expression, Masahiko sighed. "Gaining power comes with a price. The Sharingan is, after all, known as the cursed eyes."
Saying this, Masahiko suddenly froze.
"Cursed?"
Taking a deep look at Kagami, Masahiko pondered slightly.
"It couldn't be that curse, could it?"
"Then the Senju's..."
"Whose curse is it?"
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