Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its character belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I make.
Chapter 42: We Take Half
"To be honest, I really don't want to pass this news to them," admitted Raiken at last, his tone become serious. "This corpse we had never seen it before. Its entire body is made of cells that carry traces of wood style. If the higher-ups, Hokage and Danzo hear of it, they'll demand everything for themselves and we won't even be allowed to take a sample."
"You're not wrong," said Uchiha Hikaku. "They'll claim it as village property because only first Hokage had wood style kekkei genkai and strip it from us completely."
Hiroki frowned. "Then… can't we stop them?"
Raiken gave a short nod. "We can, but only if we're carefuly relay the news to Senju Clan. First of all we need to bring in Lady Mito and a few of the Senju elders to come here first, they'll confirm these cells aren't Hashirama-sama or a research made by them... Once that's clear, no one can accuse us of hoarding his legacy."
They exchanged looks, Hikaku then asked another question. "Raiken, are you certain you want to hand this over to us? You could have kept it for your clan alone."
Raiken smiled faintly, shaking his head. "When the Uzumaki chose to become ally with the Uchiha clan, it meant sharing both burden and opportunity. That's why I'm entrusting it to you and your clan. And if you think it unwise for the clan at large, then let it pass only to those who to Uzumaki Family… someone like Mikoto, for example."
At that, his eyes turned toward Mikoto, who flushed slightly under the sudden attention.
"But if we tell them about this intruder, they will realize we've created a new sealing barrier detection," said Kenshiro. He suddenly remembered something that even Raiken himself had overlooked.
The others turned their eyes toward Raiken, waiting for his decision. Whatever choice he made, they were ready to follow.
Raiken exhaled slowly, his expression firm. "Keep the secret quiet. Just say we managed to catch the intruder and don't worry because our clan is good and sensing enemy."
They nodded, but suddenly Mikoto spoke up.
"They are someone in this room that shouldn't heard this conversation, If the intruder has overheard our conversation, I don't think this secret will remain in this room."
Hearing this, Raiken facepalmed, and even the others looked dumbfounded. How could they be so careless, openly discussing their plan right in front of White Zetsu?
Raiken let out a heavy sigh, then drew his kunai and stepped toward White Zetsu.
Thud! His Kunai was suddenly stopped by Hikaku.
"Raiken, before you make another mistake, let me use my Sharingan to draw the answers from him first," said Hikaku firmly.
[DING! 2500 stars have been donated]
[The majority of the viewers watching the livestream laughed at the host stupidity.]
Hearing the notification, Raiken reluctantly nodded and stepped back, allowing Hikaku to attempt genjutsu on White Zetsu.
He glanced again at the message flashing before him. As he read it, a fleeting thought crossed his mind:
'Should I act dumb to attract more people?'
The idea was quickly dismissed. Being foolish like Hashirama might be amusing, but as a clan leader he needed to be wise, someone others could respect and follow. He did not possess a "talk no jutsu" that could magically convince everyone.
Meanwhile, Hikaku eyes glowed as his Sharingan spun, locking onto White Zetsu.
A full minute passed. Nothing happened.
"Impossible," Hikaku muttered in disbelief.
"What happened, Grandfather?" asked Mikoto.
"My genjutsu has no effect on him," replied Hikaku, frowning.
"It seems wood style truly is special. No wonder it once dominated the entire shinobi world," commented Raiken.
Hearing this, Hikaku body tensed. His memories of the battle between Madara and Hashirama resurfaced vividly.
"We don't have a choice. We'll need the Yamanaka Clan to read his mind," said Hikaku.
"It's useless," Raiken countered, before showing him the exposed brain of the dead White Zetsu. "Just look at this, there's hardly a real brain inside and even structured inside the head is very different. I believe someone else is controlling them. Even the Yamanaka would find nothing."
Hikaku examined the strange tissue inside White Zetsu's head, his expression darkening. After a long moment, he finally nodded, acknowledging Raiken words. Without hesitation, he pulled out his kunai and finished off the last living Zetsu.
---Senju And Lady Mito---
Before they entered the room, Raiken glanced at Lady Mito, Senju Haruto, Senju Takeshi, and Senju Ren.
These few were among the last who still bore the Senju name, and those who did were all important members of the clan.
"We found an intruder who broke into the Uzumaki Clan," said Raiken..
His words immediately shocked Mito, Haruto, Takeshi, and Ren.
"An intruder?" Haruto asked, his tone become tense.
"Yes," Raiken confirmed. "We found two of them. The reason I brought you here is because the ones who managed to infiltrate our clan carried the Wood Style."
At the mention of Wood Style, all of them fell silent. Their minds instantly remembered Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage, the founder of Konoha, and the only man in history to wield the Wood Style Kekkei Genkai. But Hashirama had long been dead.
"Impossible," Ren muttered, his face paling.
Even Mito expression darkened, her thoughts immediately drifting to Senju Tobirama. Her brother-in-law who was notorious for pursuing research without restraint, a man who knew no bottom line when it came to experimentation.
Raiken opened the door, gesturing for them to enter and see for themselves. Inside the room lay the corpse of White Zetsu. Only his loyal subordinates remained to guard it, his grandfather-in-law and Mikoto had already left the Uzumaki residence.
The Senju elders approached cautiously. Lady Mito extended her hand and channeled her chakra into the corpse. One by one, the others followed her example, testing for themselves.
After several minutes, they all withdrew their hands, their expressions grave.
"This body contains Wood Style chakra," Ren finally said.
"Yes… but it is different from Hashirama-sama," Takeshi added, his brows furrowed.
"I doubt it has anything to do with Tobirama-sama experiments either," Haruto said slowly.
Their gazes all shifted to Lady Mito, silently waiting for her judgment.
"I lived with Hashirama for many years," Mito said seriously. "I know his chakra better than anyone. But this… this does not belong to him. It is Wood Style, yes, but there is no trace of Hashirama here."
Raiken heart lifted at her words. This was exactly the opening he needed. Now he could push forward, either convince the Senju to help him keep the corpse under their joint care, or at the very least, report it carefully while preventing the Hokage from seizing the body for himself.
Author Notes: There is 30 advanced chapter on my patreon.
-patreon.com/zorojurown