Chapter 43 - Senju Hashirama's Will

"That is the ancestral cloak of the Senju clan."

said the Captain.

As soon as I heard those words I turned around.

'I remember Godfather saying something like that.'

As I was skimming through my memories I saw the three men in the room suddenly stand up, then they got down on one knee and bowed their heads and said

"I, Senju Toga, greet the Sage!" (Captain)

"I, Senju Kuma, greet the Sage!" (Old Man1) 

"I, Senju Kaga...., greet the Sage." (Old Man2)

Their words caused my heart to jump into my throat and I asked shocked-

"Wait what!?" ∑(ΦдΦlll

"How do you know!?" (⚆ᗝ⚆)

- and surprised.

They looked at each other and Senju Toga answered my words

"Before his death, Lord First, Senju Hashirama, left behind his will in his last family meeting."

"He said in a time of crisis of clan's extinction, a boy wearing the ancestral coat of the Senju Clan will appear before us and he shall possess the same authority as the acting patriarch of the Senju clan, deeming your orders equal to Lord Hashirama's own."

"He further stated that no successor of his can deny this authority unless you bring harm upon Senju Clan."

'Haah~, looks like Godfather and Godmother already paved my way for this mission.'

I let out a breath as my thoughts wandered slightly to Godfather but I quickly regained my bearing and cheered myself up.

'Since they already did this much, then I shall do my best as well! Yosh!!! Let's do this!!'

"Good, now that my identity problem is out of the way, we can get to work but before that can you all please stop kneeling and get back to normal?"

"Yes." (Cpatain)

"Yes" (Old Man1)

".....Yes..." (Old Man2)

As I saw them get back and take a seat, I too sat down and put their names together with their faces.

The Captain of the Senju Clan forces is the middle-aged man, his name is Senju Toga.

The Old man with bulging muscles who questioned my identity is Senju Kuma.

And the silent old man, who gave weak answers and kept staring at me and is still looking at me from the corner of his eyes is Senju Kaga.

"Since all of you know that much then I will let you know that according to my and Lady Mito's analysis the clan is currently facing a crisis of extinction."

I told them.

"What!?" (Kuma)

"How?" (Toga)

"...Please explain...?" (Kaga)

"I will but before that, I need to inform you that, during the investigation, of the spies that destroyed the mobilisation order that caused the incident on the battlefield, we found out that one of the village higher-ups is involved in the conspiracy to destroy Senju Clan."

I said as I informed them of Lady Mito's findings.

"Is it confirmed?"

Senju Toga asked, though, from what I can tell he does not appear very surprised at a higher-up from the village being involved.

'Looks like he knows more than he lets on.'

"Yes, it was confirmed by Lady Mito. Also, we found at least 2 jounin and 1 chunin who are his spies in the clan, there may be more so I need to make some preparations to weed them out."

I asserted.

"What can we help with?" (Senju Kuma)

"I need a place to prepare a large sealing barrier away from disturbance."

"Okay, we will prepare a separate living quarter for you away from the clan's gathered area."

Senju Toga said agreeing to my request.

"Great." (Sen)

"Please write a letter to Lady Mito to inform her of my arrival here and completion of my other mission objective." (Sen)

"Which is?" (Senju Kaga)

"You can write it just like I said, I apologise but as of yet I cannot inform you about it."

I said not mentioning anything about Senju Nawaki as I didn't fully trust them yet.

After the meeting with them was done a stand-alone camp was prepared for me a little further away from the main Senju Clan camp.

"Haah~"

I exhaled a breath as I entered my tent, during the whole meeting I was ready to flee as I observed the reactions of the three men.

And even now after the meeting, Senju Kaga's actions still strike me as odd, though I hope it is only my imagination but I feel some hostility from him.

Shaking my head I let go of those thoughts and after moving into my tent, I rested for the night.

The next day I began working on a great sealing formation of Grandmaster-level, I spent all the time except for eating and sleeping on preparing the formation.

The seal I was preparing for was a sealing barrier based on an intent sensing seal, which when combined with some detection and response seal, will give us different responses based on whether the person inside the barrier is telling the truth or a lie.

So I essentially made a lie detector.

But there were some flaws to this technique, such as there can only be one person who is being tested at a time and the other one is that if a person is on guard or has chakra control of grandmaster-level he can deceive the technique.

Given that he does know that such a formation is present and how it works.

It also does not work on those who are masking their intent all the time and those who can completely calm their mind or emotions. 

It took me two days to complete the sealing formation inside my tent and I informed Senju Toga and the others that we could begin our plan tomorrow.

After discussing with Senju Toga, while I did give out any information about the sealing technique, I did tell them that it would call into question the loyalty of the individuals to the clan.

After returning to my tent I prepared for a good night's sleep but I did not know what the night had in store for me.

This was the night when I would face the first challenge in my life.

One that will leave a mark on me.