“Child, the power of an individual is limited. The true strength lies in the power of a collective, the power of unity. And what unity can compare to the bond of blood-related kin? Therefore, families were born!”
The elder shared his thoughts with Chen Yue, resolutely dispelling any future possibility of him becoming like Hashirama Senju, who caused chaos. “In the brutal Warring States period, clans united together and endured countless calamities. Even today, it is the unity of the clan that makes the family strong.”
“Furthermore, we, the Uchiha, are a clan with kekkei genkai. The purity of bloodline is crucial. Dissolving the clan and allowing clan members to intermarry extensively with outsiders will only pollute our bloodline, weaken our strength, and ultimately lead to our extinction.”
“While the Senju clan is not a bloodline clan, the cost of bloodline pollution is smaller. However, when Hashirama-sama dissolved the clan, it also deprived the Senju clan members of the protection of their family.”
“It was fine when Hashirama-sama was still alive and the world was at peace. But when Hashirama-sama died and the Great Ninja War broke out, and peace no longer existed, those Senju clan members who lost the protection of their families faced a 'calamity.'”
Before the outbreak of the First Great Ninja War, the Senju clan had merely disappeared in name, but many Senju clan members who abandoned their surname actually still existed within the village.
Due to the passage of time, these clan members still carried the family honor of the Senju clan, and many people in the village who knew them also knew they were from the Senju clan.
Therefore, when the First Great Ninja War broke out, they subconsciously still considered themselves as the Hokage’s kin, as members of the Senju clan that founded Konohagakure. A sense of honor and responsibility drove them to always be at the forefront of the war.
Consequently, after the war ended, there were heavy casualties among these people, with a significant number of older Senju clan members dying.
With their deaths, the remaining traces of the Senju clan’s family honor were buried with them.
Their descendants, for the most part, had forgotten that they belonged to the Senju clan, and simply considered themselves ordinary shinobi of Konohagakure.
The few remaining Senju clan members then encountered the Uzumaki clan’s national extinction event, followed by the Second Great Ninja War, and a series of continuous wars that ultimately extinguished the Senju clan completely.
Compared to the extinguished Senju clan, the other major clans of Konohagakure are currently at their peak of prosperity.
As a result, the First Hokage’s intention of diluting the clan concept and allowing the clans to completely integrate into the village seems to have completely failed.
Even the current Third Hokage, the successor chosen by Tobirama Senju, has not disbanded his own clan – the Sarutobi clan.
On the contrary, the Sarutobi clan is now at its peak among the major ninja clans of the village, leveraging the influence of its clan head being the Hokage.
Even the bloodline clan, the Hyuga clan, can only avoid their edge.
This reality makes Uchiha Hiken even more disapproving of Hashirama Senju’s decision to dissolve the clan back then.
He can guess the purpose behind Hashirama’s actions: to have the clan completely integrate into the village, to transform the village into one big family, where everyone is like kin within the clan.
But this is an illusion, it is unrealistic, and he completely disagrees with this notion.
People are different from each other. Even within a clan, there are distinctions between branch families and main families. What more of complete strangers without blood ties?
The other major clans share the same perspective, particularly after witnessing the demise of a thousand-year-old clan within just two or three decades, which further solidified their stance.
They will never dissolve their clans. On the contrary, they will vigorously develop and enhance their strength to secure more benefits in the power distribution within the village.
——————
“So that’s how it is.”
From the elder’s narration, Chen Yue finally understood why the Senju clan disappeared.
Hashirama Senju’s initiative to dissolve the clan and have clan members scatter into the village was a key factor. The subsequent continuous wars and significant casualties further led to the near-complete annihilation of the older generation.
These two factors combined resulted in the extinction of the Senju clan, the founding clan of Konohagakure.
However, this extinction should only be conceptual, right? In actuality, there should still be many descendants with the Senju clan bloodline within the village, shouldn’t there?
“Yes, that’s right!”
Hearing Chen Yue’s question, Uchiha Hiken replied, “There must be a considerable number of descendants with the Senju clan bloodline within the village right now.”
“However, the Senju clan is different from our Uchiha clan. They don’t have kekkei genkai. Once they change their names and surnames, it will be very difficult to distinguish their identities as time passes!”
“After a few generations, even if they acknowledge that they have Senju clan bloodline, it would be hard for others to believe them!”
In this ancient world of the Hokage, DNA testing is not available. Therefore, those Senju clan members who have integrated into the ordinary shinobi of the village are no longer representative of the Senju clan.
“Right now, the only person qualified to represent the Senju clan should be her alone.”
………………