Chapter 17: Ninja Clans and the Balance of Konoha's Jōnin
Much like the Nara clan compound, the Senju clan grounds were composed almost entirely of wooden structures.
The most noticeable differences lay in the sheer number of Senju clan crests scattered throughout the area, as well as the ubiquitous vermilion torii gates—and even a full Myōjin Gate standing at the main entrance to the compound.
Of course, these were not remnants of any special Wood Release techniques left behind by Senju Hashirama. They were merely decorative constructions built later by craftsmen.
Even so, they spoke volumes about the reverence and nostalgia every Senju clansman still held for Hashirama, the so-called God of Shinobi.
By contrast, the traces left behind by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, within the clan were far fewer.
Nevertheless, Tobirama's death meant the loss of a sitting Hokage, and many Senju clansmen could not help but feel grief and uncertainty.
Of course—not everyone was lost in confusion.
At this very moment, twelve young Senju elites gathered in Senju Morin's residence were displaying an intensity bordering on outright exhilaration.
Morin's home was spacious, and a massive round table dominated the main hall. Senju Yu and the others naturally seated themselves around it.
"Brother Morin… things really did turn out exactly as you said."
"Hahaha—did you see Sarutobi Hiruzen's face when you came back to the village?"
"So what's our next move, Morin?"
After Morin had accurately predicted the course of events, personally traveled to the Land of Lightning, and returned with Tobirama's body and the Six Paths ninja tools, these young Senju had fallen into near fanatical admiration for him.
Compared to that, Tobirama's death itself barely stirred any strong emotions among them.
For this younger generation of Senju, the fact that Tobirama had proposed dissolving the Senju clan and fully merging it into Konoha meant that even addressing him as "Tobirama-sama" was already an act of restraint—and respect.
"The jōnin confidence vote cannot be ignored," Morin said calmly from the seat of honor.
"I may have brought back Clan Head Tobirama's body, but everyone knows that Sarutobi Hiruzen and his five companions were the successors Tobirama truly favored."
Despite the successive successes of his plan, Morin remained composed and clear-headed.
His dramatic return had catapulted him into the center of Konoha's attention, and the carefully engineered public narrative had secured him certain advantages—but victory was far from guaranteed.
With the former Hokage dead and no one able to dictate a successor by fiat, the deciding factor was neither the easily swayed civilian population nor the vast numbers of chūnin and genin.
The real power lay with the jōnin.
Though they made up only a small fraction of the village, jōnin held nearly all political authority.
They were the true backbone of a ninja village—the core combat force upon which its existence depended. Even Konoha, widely regarded as the strongest village in the ninja world, had barely over a hundred jōnin in total.
At present, the majority of Konoha's jōnin came from the major ninja clans.
The Uchiha and the Senju—Konoha's two founding clans—each contributed roughly thirty jōnin.
The Hyūga clan, second only to those two in prestige and power, also fielded more than ten jōnin.
And that was only the beginning of the equation.
The Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans each possessed only a handful of jōnin on their own.
However, because they had always advanced and retreated together, once regarded as a single bloc, they instantly formed a major force of nearly twenty jōnin.
Below them came smaller clans such as the Sarutobi, Shimura, Inuzuka, and Aburame, each likewise fielding only a few jōnin.
Beyond even these were the truly marginal clans—those with only one or two jōnin, and such sparse numbers that calling them "clans" was already generous.
Most of these groups consisted of little more than one or two extended families.
Examples included the Hatake, Shiranui, Kurama, and Kazama families.
As for jōnin of purely civilian origin—there were virtually none.
After all, Konoha in its earliest days had been a village founded by ninja clans banding together.
For a very long time, clans themselves were the true backbone of the village.
It was only after the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, established the Ninja Academy that civilians living in Konoha were finally given a meaningful chance to learn ninjutsu and become shinobi.
Even so, they still needed time—years, even decades—to grow into real power.
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When the numbers were carefully tallied, Senju Morin and Sarutobi Hiruzen actually possessed base support of roughly equal size.
Morin's foundation lay primarily within the Senju clan itself.
Beyond that, many of the minor clans traditionally admired—and depended upon—the Senju.
It was highly likely that these clans would be willing to support the Senju producing yet another Hokage.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's clan could not compare to the Senju in scale, but he possessed something equally valuable:
a small political alliance personally constructed by Tobirama through master–disciple relationships.
The Sarutobi, Shimura, Koharu, and Homura clans, taken together, contributed more than ten jōnin.
If Akimichi Torifu could successfully persuade the Nara and Yamanaka clans to align with the Akimichi and support Hiruzen, then Hiruzen could potentially command close to forty votes.
As for the remaining jōnin whose loyalties were still unclear—that would depend entirely on the respective abilities of the two contenders.
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Among the undecided factions, the Uchiha were unquestionably the largest single force.
Whichever side they chose—Morin or Hiruzen—would be courted with extraordinary intensity.
Unfortunately for Morin, winning over the Uchiha would be anything but easy.
The blood of the Senju flowed in his veins, and the millennia-old blood feud between Senju and Uchiha—born in the Warring States Era—was as deeply rooted as the ancient alliance between the Senju and the Uzumaki.
Moreover, since Tobirama's ascension to Hokage, systematic suppression of the Uchiha had gradually become apparent.
Most Uchiha alive at this time had been born during the Warring States period.
While their political acumen was—as history repeatedly proved—no better than that of their descendants, they had at least learned painful lessons through repeated failures.
They were no longer as naïve or easily deceived as the future generations would be.
In short: they had been burned too many times to trust easily again.
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That said, Sarutobi Hiruzen was no better positioned to win over the Uchiha.
His greatest political credential—the acknowledged successor and disciple of Senju Tobirama—was precisely the identity the Uchiha despised most.
Nor could Hiruzen publicly criticize Tobirama simply to curry favor with the Uchiha.
That would have been political suicide.
Worse still, Uchiha Kagami, the bridge Tobirama had deliberately left behind to connect Hiruzen with the Uchiha clan, had died under mysterious circumstances during the Cloud Village pursuit.
All five of Hiruzen's group survived.
The sole casualty among the Shadow Guard… was the only Uchiha.
That fact alone severed any realistic possibility of reconciliation between Hiruzen and the Uchiha.
To make matters worse, the Uchiha had already confronted Hiruzen publicly in the streets, plunging him into a fresh political storm.
At this thought, Senju Morin couldn't help but smile.
Despite having alienated both Hokage contenders, the Uchiha clan seemed completely unaware of the danger they were in—and had taken no meaningful action in response.
Instead, they continued holding closed-door clan meetings and issuing increasingly loud public statements to assert their presence.
Were they… planning to run for Hokage themselves?
Did they truly not realize that, having already lost both Madara and Kagami, the Uchiha no longer possessed a single member with sufficient prestige and strength to serve as a legitimate Hokage candidate?
And yet, the Uchiha mind operated by its own peculiar logic.
Even when the odds were stacked overwhelmingly against them, they were fully capable of making utterly baffling decisions.
For example—
They might very well refuse to leverage their considerable political capital, instead casting all thirty-plus votes for their own clan head, achieving an impressive third-place finish in the Hokage election.
All for the sake of proving that the Uchiha never bow to anyone.
Should that happen, the Hyūga clan, despite possessing only half the Uchiha's jōnin numbers, would paradoxically reap far more political benefits.
Meanwhile, the far stronger Uchiha clan would gain nothing—
And would almost certainly become the target of suspicion and suppression by the newly appointed Hokage.