Senju Wakama knew the Uchiha clan was planning something big.
To be precise, they knew that making peace with the Senju clan was an inevitable trend, a matter of time.
But they were deliberately holding out for a reason.
The Uchiha clan's head, Tajima, had always hoped his son Madara could be happily married to Tsukuyo.
Building up the reputations of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama was all for this day.
But they would never understand.
Tsukuyo would absolutely never marry anyone.
Senju Wakama knew this very well.
As a game player, one might toy with NPCs, but they would never actually marry one, especially not in the current situation of playing on a gender-bent account.
The marriage partner would be a man.
If Senju Wakama hadn't been to the modern otherworld, he would never have understood Tsukuyo's pain.
But now, Senju Wakama felt it clearly.
Tsukuyo didn't want to harm her friendships with the NPCs, but she also didn't want to disgust herself.
After all, in this fully immersive simulated world, all five senses were real.
This was different from a 2D virtual game where you could only see images on a screen.
Unable to get over that mental hurdle, how could Tsukuyo possibly marry anyone?
Marrying a woman would make people think she was a pervert.
Marrying a man, she would feel like a pervert herself.
In short, she would rather remain single for life.
Getting married came with a certain responsibility.
A responsibility to one's spouse, including the duty to consummate the marriage and produce heirs.
Since she was unwilling to consummate the marriage, it was better not to take on this responsibility from the start—not to marry at all.
Senju Wakama was absolutely the person who understood Tsukuyo best in this world.
Unfortunately, even if he told Uchiha Madara this truth, Madara wouldn't understand it, only leading to more misunderstandings.
But if the Uchiha clan kept holding out just because Tsukuyo wouldn't marry, that wouldn't work either.
That's why Senju Wakama had to proactively take charge of establishing the village.
He still had to do some persuading.
Senju Wakama said against his conscience, "Merge sooner. As for the matter between you two, you can take your time. You'll all be one family then, with plenty of opportunities."
"Once we merge into a village, our clan lands will be next to each other. You'll see each other all the time, unlike now, where it's so difficult to even meet once."
"If you keep holding out like this... Hyuga Shiro is always following my sister around. I'm not making things up; it's not like love can't blossom over time."
"Judge for yourself."
Using such threats and enticements, Senju Wakama knew that as long as Uchiha Madara wasn't a fool, he would make a decision soon.
"I understand. Just continue with your plan." Uchiha Madara closed his eyes, seemingly having made up his mind.
Senju Wakama smiled faintly. He knew he had cleared the Uchiha Madara level, at least.
Seven days passed quickly.
As planned, Senju Wakama went to Tsukuyo and complained about being hunted down by his eight romantic interests.
Tsukuyo was, as expected, quite stunned.
Senju Tobirama, who was also present, was very shrewd. He noted down the names of Senju Wakama's eight lovers and deduced that Wakama had deliberately approached these girls for the purpose of the merger.
However, Senju Tobirama wasn't actually against this method of uniting the clans; he just didn't want it to be so obvious.
Originally, everything was going according to plan, but Senju Tobirama had been taking a "boiling the frog slowly" approach.
But with Senju Wakama's actions, the plan had to be hastily moved forward.
Tsukuyo didn't mind. The Senju clan's foundation was already powerful enough as it was.
The next step was to send betrothal gifts to the young women.
Senju Wakama had already thought through the procedures and even made preparations.
His second brother, Tobirama, noticed something was amiss but didn't say much.
Things had already progressed to this point. Whether Senju Wakama had done it intentionally or not was no longer important.
But events still developed in a way that Senju Wakama hadn't anticipated.
Because the betrothal procedures were agonizingly complicated.
After much difficulty, he finally married all eight women.
His elderly father, Senju Butsuma, fell ill, and from this illness, he never recovered.
Senju Wakama knew in his heart that this was part of this world's history.
In the original destiny, neither Senju Butsuma nor Uchiha Tajima lived to see the day Konoha was founded.
In this world, Konoha was founded earlier than in the anime's original destiny.
At least a decade earlier.
Hashirama and Madara were still young men, even a bit naive.
Even though he knew it was all inevitable, Senju Wakama still felt saddened by his father's passing.
Senju Butsuma had been busy with Senju Wakama's wedding affairs during this time, putting forth his utmost effort.
Since childhood, Senju Wakama had been an overlooked child.
He wasn't the eldest son, nor was he particularly smart or conspicuous. He wasn't the youngest who would be doted on, either. Among his siblings, he was practically invisible.
Later, after learning stealth techniques from Brother Zetsu, Senju Wakama's presence became even fainter.
Even so, Senju Butsuma was still very concerned with Senju Wakama's marriage.
This, in turn, made Senju Wakama feel guilty.
A feeling of "so father did care about me after all."
But now, nothing he could say would matter.
Senju Wakama knew clearly that when a life reached its end, it was the will of the world. Not even Tsukuyo could cure it.
Tsukuyo could heal injuries and pain, but she couldn't snatch people from the grip of old age and natural death. Of course, she could greatly prolong the process of dying, forcibly keeping someone in the mortal realm.
But there was no meaning in that; it would only increase the person's suffering.
On his deathbed, Senju Butsuma first spoke privately with Tsukuyo, only letting the four brothers in afterward.
To pass away without illness or disaster was extremely rare in this era. Senju Butsuma passed away with a smile, and the brothers wept silently through the night.
The eldest brother, Senju Hashirama, succeeded him as the clan head and presided over the funeral.
Having his father pass away right after he got engaged, Senju Wakama felt quite helpless.
Fortunately, while this world's customs weren't great, they weren't so strict as to make him mourn for three years after an elder's death, like in the ancient times depicted in the modern otherworld.
Otherwise, it would have been too difficult. Most of the girls were pregnant, and they couldn't wait three years. He had to have them marry into the family as soon as possible.
As for the Uchiha clan, Senju Wakama's guess was correct.
After Senju Butsuma passed away, his old rival, Uchiha Tajima, also died.
The two of them passed away around the same time.
Uchiha Tajima's death meant that Uchiha Madara would succeed him as clan head.
And now, Uchiha Madara had decided to make peace with the Senju clan.
The various clans used Senju Wakama's situation as the catalyst to unite.
Before the merger, the heads of the major clans came to the Senju clan. After inspecting the grounds, they were all captivated by the clan's unique and beautiful architecture.
Tsukuyo then seized the opportunity to raise funds. She wanted to build a larger, more beautiful ninja village, creating distinct districts for each clan that reflected their individual character.
This was Tsukuyo's way of directly demanding a "pledge of allegiance" from the clans. Having already decided to join, the clan heads could only grit their teeth and contribute a large amount of their assets. On the surface, it was to buy beautiful houses; in reality, it was to appease the Senju princess.
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