章 17: Mito Uzumaki I
They spent the night discussing Yujin's discovery of Chakra in his body.
The next morning, Shizune came to visit. She seemed excited and couldn't stop talking about how Tsunade was about to adopt her. The girl was genuinely happy to have a mother. She was so excited that she spoke incoherently at times.
The idea of adopting Shizune came from Yujin. Initially, Tsunade seemed to want the girl as her apprentice only. When Yujin heard about this, he suggested adopting her since she had no close relatives anymore, and for someone her age, family is important.
Shizune is only four years old, so she naturally was happy with the idea, and Tsunade did not oppose it.
However, Yujin didn't know that there is a process to adopt children in the village.
"I've never heard of such a thing. Where I come from, if you wanted to adopt a child without parents or abandoned by parents, you just took them and brought them home... There were no orphanages either."
"But isn't that dangerous? Anyone could just take a child away."
"Sure, but there was a war going on for many years. There were orphaned children everywhere. The feudal lords were too preoccupied with the war to care about orphans."
"But what happened to the children then?"
"They died of hunger, cold, thirst, were adopted by someone, or killed for some reason. Some managed to survive and grow up, becoming mercenaries or luckily becoming Martial Artists."
Tsunade sighed upon hearing this. Although the Leaf Village was civilized, there are many other places that are not, and probably have scenes similar to what Yujin described happening. Especially because of the ongoing war.
"Sorry for bringing up this topic, didn't want to make the conversation heavy."
"It's okay, I like talking to you about anything."
He smiled upon hearing this, and Tsunade reacted strangely to his smile.
Yujin had noticed this in the past few days. For some reason, at certain moments, Tsunade has some strange reactions. Sometimes, when they are talking, she gets lost in thought, or looks at his face for more than a few seconds without saying anything.
Sometimes she avoids eye contact strangely, or just ends the conversation and leaves abruptly.
These strange reactions are confusing him because he can't understand what's going on in her head, something that didn't happen before. Before, he could understand exactly what she was thinking because she was always open with him, always speaking her mind.
Because of that, he understood her mood easily and always knew her concerns. In the past few days, however, she has been acting in this strange way.
He thought about asking several times, but for some unknown reason, he always held back. Even now, he wants to ask the reason for her strange reaction, but in the end, he said nothing. It's not like it happens all the time, so he let it go.
***
Yujin didn't experiment with Chakra. He wanted to improve first before testing his new power. In the following days, he just ate and slept normally. Every day, he felt improvement in his body.
He had been constantly checking the growth of Chakra, and the longer it took, the slower it increased, which increased his belief that Chakra was trying to match his Qi.
He already had plans to resume his physical training after fully recovering. He lost a lot of muscle mass, which is not good for a Martial Artist. He also made plans with Tsunade for her to teach him to use Chakra to create "spells," as he calls ninjutsus.
The days were peaceful. He spent most of the time talking to Tsunade or playing with Shizune. Sometimes, the three of them went out for a walk, had something to eat, or bought something.
Yujin still had a considerable amount of money, although he was worried it wouldn't last long.
One day, however, while the three were having fun at Yujin's house, someone knocked on the door, something very rare. Tsunade went to check, and it was someone from her family with a message.
Upon hearing the messenger's words, Tsunade frowned. After explaining to Yujin that she had a family meeting to attend, she left Shizune with him and left.
***
In the main building of the Senju complex, where meetings usually took place, the entire family was gathered, including Mito Uzumaki, Tsunade's grandmother, who had been in seclusion in recent years in a mansion on the complex.
The woman is a legend in the ninja world as one of the best fuinjutsu practitioners, the jinchuriki of the nine-tailed beast, and the wife of the also legendary First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
Due to old age, she had been isolated in the clan for the past few years, but her presence at the meeting spoke volumes about its importance, making Tsunade nervous.
Next to Mito Uzumaki was a girl who didn't seem to be more than twelve years old, with beautiful red hair. She seemed extremely nervous. Tsunade had met her several times before, and she knew she was a distant relative from Uzushiogakure, a hidden village not far from Konoha. Her name is Kushina Uzumaki.
She also knew that the girl was sent to the village to become the next Jinchuriki of the nine tails after Mito's death. The girl's presence at this important meeting, alongside Mito, her nervous expression, and the solemnity of the meeting, made Tsunade have a bad feeling.
The meeting began, and Mito spoke most of the time. As the most important person in the room, she took control of the meeting.
She began by talking about her life, the journey from Uzushiogakure to becoming Hashirama's wife. She shared some details about her relationship with Hashirama and the founding of Konoha, among other important details. Many of the details most people in the room didn't know, such as the fact that the Jinchuriki system was devised by her and the First Hokage together, and how she volunteered to become the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox because she believed she was the only one capable of it.
The meeting was long, and Tsunade was internally struggling with what all this meant.
The other people in the room also seemed to already know what the meeting was about. Everyone had heavy expressions, and some were silently crying.
Kushina cried the most, tears almost never stopping as she listened to Mito speak.
The meeting stretched for three hours of important information. Everyone in the room stored the information in their minds because they knew it was Mito preparing them for the future. Most of what she said was information that only she and a few select members of those present in the meeting knew.
Even Tsunade, with her position in the clan, didn't know most of the things.
Finally, the woman fell silent. The room was silent too.
The sound of a deep sigh echoed in the room, and the woman finally spoke in a low, slow voice.
"I will die in the next few days."
Although she spoke in a low voice, everyone heard. The heavy atmosphere in the room became even heavier. What everyone feared would happen was happening.
"I apologize for calling you here to listen to a dying woman speak for so long. I just wanted you to know all these things; it may be important in the future. I feel my time is ending, so I have made preparations to perform the ritual in two days. Kushina will succeed me and become the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and I wanted to ask all of you to take care of her afterward. It's not easy being a Jinchuriki, especially the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and she's still just a child. She came from Uzushiogakure to succeed me, and she will remain in the village after the ritual, so take care of her. She is important to the village and to the Senju clan, and she deserves all the support from the Senju clan afterward."
Everyone in the room bowed to Mito's words, accepting them in their hearts. They vowed to protect Kushina. Tsunade had been holding back tears throughout the entire meeting, in denial of what she was witnessing, but finally couldn't hold back anymore.
After all, Mito was one of the few close relatives of her still alive. She was very close to Mito, especially after the death of her parents, so the omen of Mito's death shocked her completely.
She knew that Mito didn't have many years left, but it was still shocking when it was actually about to happen.
Tsunade also bowed to Mito, but the tears didn't stop. In the room, it was a common sight; many were also crying.
Mito is an important figure in the family, loved by all. Her death will shake the foundations of the Senju clan.
After the meeting, Mito left the room with Kushina, walking normally as if she wasn't on the brink of death.
Tsunade quickly followed her to her house, in silence the entire time, deep in thought. When they reached Mito's house, Tsunade helped her sit on the edge of the bed and asked.
"Grandma, can I see your condition? Maybe I can save you."
Mito smiled gently at Tsunade. With a hand gesture, she called her closer and caressed the head of the girl who was on the verge of crying again.
"Oh, my girl, my sweet Tsunade. If there's any regret in my life, it's that I'm leaving at this difficult moment for you, causing another wound in your tired and hurt little heart."
Tsunade cried and cried on Mito's chest, looking like a little girl, not one of the most important women in the village.
Mito gently stroked Tsunade's head and back, as if she were a mother trying to make her daughter stop crying. Tsunade's tears, however, simply didn't end.
Kushina was also crying beside them.
"Your parents, Nawaki, and I love you very much."
Mito kept saying words of comfort. Although there was a smile on Mito's face, she was about to cry too, seeing Tsunade cry so much. She knew that her death wouldn't be easy for Tsunade after everything that happened to her.
She was almost superficially recovering from Dan's death when this new blow happened in her life.
"Grandma, are you sure I can't do anything? I am the best medic in the village. Let me examine you, please."
Tsunade was practically begging Mito.
"I am not sick. My body simply can't take it anymore. I am old, and I have used all the strength in my body to keep the fox inside it, but I can't take it anymore."
Tsunade took Mito's pulse and tried to examine her, but her words were confirmed shortly after.
There was no other way.
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