Chapter 2: Chapter 002 – Beginning of a Dragon's Tale
[Year 65 – Konohagakure – Senju Compound]
[A/N: I deliberatly placed Naruto's birth half a year earlier in the time line.]
As Yui looked down at the small silver-haired child in her arms, she couldn't help but sigh. She was currently in the council room of the Outer Senju Clan, sitting at the large meeting table.
„She didn't even name him.", she said quietly, helplessness in her tone.
„The Princess never fails to disappoint.", a male voice intoned, distaste and a quiet rage laced into the words.
Looking up, Yui met the deep brown eyes of Paku, another member of the Outer Clan, who sat a few places to her right.
He had brown hair with a few grey streaks, a well-toned physique and gave off a sharp and harsh atmosphere.
Paku was slightly older than Yui. And unlike her, who was proficient in ninjutsu and fuinjutsu, he specialised in taijutsu and bukijutsu, having mastered dozens and hundreds of weapons in the long decades of his life.
„We must give him a name befitting of a Senju Clan heir and its last male member.", Yui continued, not willing to enter a discussion about Tsunade's actions and failures.
There wasn't much to discuss in the first place, as she had long since been disillusionised with her Princess's lack of responsibility and neglect of duty. A discussion would just be a waste of time.
Snorting derisively, Paku turned his gaze towards the side, not willing to give his input.
„What do you think, Elder?", Yui asked the other person in the room, who sat to her left.
The one she addressed was a old bald man, who was many years her senior, so she made sure to pay him the right amount of respect in the way she addressed him.
His name was Tomura and like all Outer Clan members he held the last name of Moha, which was short for 'moeru ha' and meant 'burning leaves'. Tomura held incredible proficiency in not only medical ninjutsu – having taught Tsunade herself, but was also a master of genjutsu, rivaling the best amongst the Uchiha even.
„This boy, he... he is our hope.", Tomura's old and weary voice sounded out, „At four years of age, I had been taking into the Outer Clan by the Old Clan Head himself... I watched as his sons, Hashirama and Tobirama, despite both becoming incredibly powerful and earning themselves the title 'God of Shinobi', failed their duty towards the clan. As did the Princess. From one of the most prosperous and powerful clans, they had let it fall into such a state, because despite all their power, they knew not how to use it effectively or were unwilling to do so. They were posioned by beliefs of peace and unity, forgetting their heritage. Hashirama thought the only way to end the endless war between the nations was to gift each of them a new weapon and try negotiating for peace."
Depite his word leaving the old man's lipe slowly, Yui dared not to interrupt, simply listening to the wise Elder's recollection.
„In all his delusion, he forgot that war also ends by winning it, and he even had the power to win it. He along with nine jinchuuriki would have made for an unstoppable force. Tobirama wasn't much better, though he was an incredible shinobi and at least contributed countless jutsu to the clan. At the end he still contributed to the downfall of the Senju, as he cared more about the village than his own clan... The less said about the Princess, the better... The Senju are nearly extinct and to see it flourish once more is all I wish, before death claims my old bones... We need a true clan head, one who will strive to reclaim the lost glory of our clan and does not shy away to do so by sheeding the blood of those who oppose him. Not a sturdy tree, a deep well or a brittle flower, we need a ruthless dragon to lead us! And so I declare his name to be Ryuma Senju!"
…
[Year 68 – Ryuma Age 3 – Konohagakure – Senju Compound]
'Three years, huh...', Ryuma mused, as he looked at himself in the mirror, while dark grey eyes stared back at him. His long silver hair, tightly braided of course, lay between his shoulderblades.
At first he had found it hard to accept this new reality of his, as in another life this whole world had been nothing more than mere fiction. The Elemental Nations, Hidden Villages, Shinobi Clans, even Chakra itself being nothing more than made-up stuff to entertain readers and watchers alike.
Suddenly finding himself inside this world though wasn't nearly as enjoyable as reading or watching about it.
This world wasn't a peaceful one at all. Constant wars – open and shadow ones – were making it hard to simple stay alive and well, while crime ran rampart, with there being superpowered individuals that were basically unstoppable for normal humans. The only safe places were under strict militaristic rule, while a world ending crisis was just waiting to happen.
Ryuma would have very much prefered not to be reborn in this hellhole, and the only saving grace was that he had not been born as a normal civilian, but as the child of Tsunade Senju.
Not only did this give him greater potential in the form of an enormous amount of chakra and increased physical strength and vitality by birth, it also gave him access to the treasure trove that was the Senju Clan Library.
He didn't even bother trying to pretend to be an ordinary baby, as he started to train his chakra only weeks after being born. And as soon as he could walk by himself, which was around six month after his birth, he began studying in the library daily.
The first thing he did was learn how to make Shadow Clones, so he could use every advantage possible to prepare for the turbulent future that lay ahead of him.
Most of the time he had two Shadow Clones in the library to read up on Fuinjutsu, while another three trained chakra control. Thankfully the Fuinjutsu section was extremely extensive, though that didn't surprise him much with Hashirama Senju being married to Mito Uzumaki, who had been heiress to the Uzumaki Clan herself.
These were the two core skills he considered the most important for his future success. He used different jutsus that demanded only high chakra control to check his progress, like Chakra Strings, Chakra Flow, Chakra Scalpel, etc..
Ryuma had also managed to come across a technique that Tobirama Senju had developed based on the Yamanaka Mind Techniques, that allowed communication via telepathy. Sadly though the technique got labeled unusable, as one had to be a sensor to accurately use it, as well as have enough chakra to sustain it.
On the battlefield were every ounce of chakra was valuable, wasting some on a jutsu to communicate, when one could just as easily use hand signs wasn't adiviseable afterall.
This technique, called Spiritual Speech, though was practically tailor-made for Ryuma, as he had almost never spoken since his birth due to being born mute in his past life. Speaking felt weird, almost unnatural to him and he prefered to avoid it if possible. Having also learned early on that listening was much more important than speaking anyway.
He was also a sensor and after some research in the library he had found that he wasn't just a normal one either. He had what was called the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, a rare inborn ability of some Uzumaki Clan descendents, that allowed the user to sense chakra signatures via their third eye passively in all ranges and even track specific signatures over great distances.
His own training was split between being taught taijutsu and kenjutsu by Paku, specifically a style called Rapid Strike and how to wield twin tantos – his choice of weapons. And being taught genjutsu by Elder Tomura, though Ryuma focused more on Yin Release in general than learning one specific genjutsu.
Yin Release was a nature transformation of chakra where the balance between spiritual and physical energies are shifted to the spiritual side of things. Essentially it boiled down to 'giving form to nothingness', like creating chakra constructs out of nothing like the Susanoo from the Uchiha, giving shadows a physical form like the Nara's hiden technique did or the Yamanaka Clan Mind Techniques.
Ryuma wanted to learn and master this nature transformation as he knew that it would help immensely in the long run and he also seemed to have a talent for it, according to the Elder.
The most useful technique he had learned from the Elder was called the Yin Shroud, and it allowed him to dull his presence to such an incredible degree that he become unnoticeable.
His sensor ability aided him in making rapid progress in the technique, as it allowed him to observe himself moulding and controlling his chakra through his third eye and comparing his own progress to the Elder's demonstration of the technique. In only two months time he had managed to reach the same level of proficiency that the Elder had shown when using the technique.
Generally, training was a rather enjoyable experience as he learned things that he couldn't even dream off in his last life.
There was also nobody that restricted him in learning what he wanted, as the Outer Clan Members couldn't even enter the library of the main clan thanks to Fuinjutsu Formations placed down by Mito Uzumaki herself.
That didn't meant though that he just read whatever he fancied, as he made sure to take the warnings beside the shelves very seriously. Also Yui's constant motherly nagging reminded him to be extremely careful with what he studied.
„Young Lord, are you ready for the visit to the Hyuga Compound? The birthday celebrations of the Hyuga Princess will begin soon.", Yui's voice sounded out through the closed bedroom doors, ending his musings and making him concentrate on the here and now.
„I am ready.", he replied through spiritual speech.
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GodOfFreedom
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