Chapter 261 – The Measure of the Senju
Uchiha Kei's words pierced straight through Senju Shōma's heart.
Disappointment.
Yes, that was the word.
But the one disappointed wasn't Kei—it was Shōma himself.
He was disappointed in what his clan had become.
Disappointed in the village that seemed to have forgotten all that the Senju once did for it.
Disappointed that Konoha now stood on the legacy they'd built—while pretending they never existed.
But that disappointment was their own burden to bear.
Never should it become an excuse for the Uchiha—or anyone else—to feel disappointed in them.
Shōma's gaze turned sharp, dangerous. He locked eyes with Kei—but stopped short of acting on the rage simmering beneath.
Because Kei was right.
The Senju were no longer what they once were.
They were Senju in name only, stripped of their strength and glory.
The Uchiha, on the other hand… though diminished, had begun to rise again.
Even Tsunade, the last beacon of their power, had long left the village.
What could they even compare anymore?
"What do you want?" Shōma finally asked, his tone deceptively calm.
He couldn't afford to act rashly.
Not against this boy—this representative of Fugaku's will.
He'd play along, hear him out, and decide his move later.
Kei tapped his finger against the table, eyes unblinking.
"Before you ask me that," he said softly, "maybe you should reflect on what you've done.
I wasn't planning to visit you at all… but you've gone too far. Did you really think we'd sit back and let you walk over us?"
Shōma gave a short, humorless laugh.
"So that's what this is? You're hoping to use us as a weapon—to strike back at the Third Hokage and his lot?"
"You gave Kenta that classified information," he continued with scorn.
"Because you knew who he was—or someone told you.
Don't pretend otherwise. You just wanted to exploit what little influence the Senju name still carries."
Kei didn't deny it.
He even smiled faintly.
Shōma wasn't wrong. Kei had intended to use them—but the man was too arrogant to realize he was also being used.
"You really make me sick," Kei said coldly.
"No wonder Kenta came to me instead—someone who actually wants progress, not nostalgia.
Did you think I couldn't pull this off without you? Don't flatter yourself."
He leaned forward, his tone turning deadly quiet.
"Let me put it simply. I brought you into the game.
I can just as easily throw you out of it."
A faint smirk ghosted over his lips.
"And remember—Kenta's under my protection now."
"You…!"
Shōma's voice cracked with fury. His composure shattered for the first time, his face twisted in barely contained rage.
But Kei continued, voice smooth and sharp as steel.
"Relax. I won't harm him.
He's worth far more than you are."
His Sharingan flared to life—three tomoe spinning in a slow, deliberate circle, bathing the room in red light.
"You knew Uchiha Shin, didn't you?"
Shōma froze. He did.
A hardline hawk of the Uchiha from years past.
A man who'd died carrying his clan's madness into the battlefield.
And yet… Fugaku's current actions were anything but hawkish.
So what was Kei implying?
Realization dawned on him like ice.
"You…"
"A warning," Kei said softly—but every syllable struck like thunder.
"Either step down and let the next generation lead…
Or join Hashirama, Tobirama, Danzō, and Shin in the afterlife."
He smiled thinly.
"If not, I can always make sure the Uchiha's tragedy happens here next."
It was a threat.
A direct, unflinching, lethal threat.
Shōma stared, trembling—not from fear, but from rage.
This boy… this child dared speak to him as if he were a relic!
"Arrogant brat," he muttered under his breath. "I haven't seen arrogance like this since Madara himself."
Then, with eerie calm:
"Interesting. It's been a long time since anyone's had the gall to speak to me this way."
"Is that so?" Kei tilted his head, his tone flat. "Then maybe you haven't looked in a mirror lately.
You're no longer a Senju of legend, just a man clinging to old glories—and your greed gives you away."
He rose to his feet.
The air vibrated with chakra.
"Ambition is fine," he said coldly, "but your kind of ambition disgusts me.
You look up, but all I see is a rat pretending to roar."
"Do you even know what you're saying?" Shōma's tone dropped low. Then his eyes shifted toward Kenta.
"And you, boy… do you know what you're doing?"
"I do," Kenta said quietly. "But the world's changing, Shōma-sama.
The lessons we were raised on—they don't fit anymore."
Shōma's expression hardened with sorrow.
"So you've truly betrayed us, then."
He sighed, shaking his head.
"In that case… I suppose it's time I remind you what it means to be Senju."
With a flick of his wrist, two masked shinobi appeared at his sides, chakra flaring.
Shōma stood, his face calm once more.
"Listen well, boy.
Even if the Senju have withered… even if we're shadows of what we once were…
We are still the Senju.
I still remember what Madara did—and how the First Hokage fell."
There was no more room for words.
Kei exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing.
He had expected this.
"You know," he murmured, "I really didn't want to waste my time fighting old men."
He turned slightly toward Kenta.
"You know them?"
"Yes," Kenta said quietly. "Uncle Akira and Uncle Takuma."
"I see." Kei sighed.
The two Senju struck in perfect sync—fists wrapped in chakra, aiming straight for Kei's chest.
But they never made contact.
A dark chakra burst around Kei, forming the shape of a massive skeletal ribcage that blocked the blows entirely.
Susanoo.
The two Senju staggered back in shock, their faces pale.
Even Shōma froze. His eyes widened, disbelief flooding his face.
"That chakra… impossible…"
"Should I hold back?" Kei's voice was calm, almost bored. "Your clan's looking pretty fragile these days."
"Do what you have to, Captain," Kenta said quietly, his face pained. "I didn't think it would come to this."
"Neither did I," Kei replied with a cold smile.
The dark chakra expanded, roaring to life as his eyes twisted into the swirling pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
A black-armored titan rose behind him, tearing through the roof with its massive form. The wooden house exploded into splinters as the Susanoo fully manifested, its sheer presence shaking the ground.
Outside, Senju shinobi drew their blades, surrounding the wreckage.
But the sight of that colossal figure—the black Susanoo, its eyes burning red—froze many in place.
Even those who rushed to help hesitated as Kenta raised his arm, stopping them.
They all knew who stood there.
The Commander of the Police Force, the man who'd restored the Uchiha's honor—Uchiha Kei.
And if he was here, then this was not a massacre.
It was a lesson.
Kei stepped forward, his armor fading, his tone quiet but cutting.
"This… this is what the Senju have become?"
All around him lay groaning shinobi, none dead—but utterly defeated.
The air was thick with dust and silence.
Kei sighed softly.
"Truly disappointing."
---
(Scene shift – Hokage's Office)
In the Hokage's office, Yamanaka Masato knelt before Minato Namikaze, his expression tense.
"Please, stand," Minato said kindly. "No need for formalities. Your brother Inoichi is an old friend of mine. What brings you here, Masato?"
Masato stepped forward, handing over a sealed report.
"A few days ago, the sensory division detected a strange, powerful chakra—one that was… unnatural.
It appeared suddenly and vanished just as fast."
Minato's eyes narrowed.
"When exactly?"
"The first time was months ago. We didn't report it then because we couldn't confirm it wasn't an error.
But it's reappeared—and it's definitely real."
Minato frowned as he read through the file.
The timing matched something else.
Kei's pursuit of Danzō.
It fit too perfectly.
Danzō and his men had been annihilated—cleanly, efficiently.
And now the same chakra had surfaced again.
Minato sighed quietly, closing the report.
"I see… thank you, Masato. I'll handle this from here."
But before he could finish, another sensor ninja burst through the door, panting heavily.
"Hokage-sama! We've detected the same chakra again—stronger this time! Inside Konoha's residential district!"
Minato froze.
"Inside the residential district!?"
His heart sank.
He knew who it was.
Kei… what have you done?
The crimson light faded from Uchiha Kei's eyes, the pattern of the Mangekyō dissolving into stillness.
"What's wrong?" he said coldly. "Have you been hiding underground for so long that you've forgotten how not to crawl?"
"Uchiha Kei…" Senju Shōma ground out between his teeth. "I didn't expect you to be hiding such power."
Kei smirked faintly.
"Funny—you could say the same. I gave you a chance. I opened the door to the game. But you refused to play by the rules.
Now…"
He tilted his head slightly, voice flat and sharp.
"You're out."
Out of the game.
Shōma stared at the young man before him—this calm, unreadable youth whose quiet confidence was somehow more dangerous than Uchiha Madara's arrogance ever was.
Madara had been wild, unrestrained.
This boy was precise, deliberate—and that was what made him terrifying.
For a fleeting moment, Shōma saw echoes of that same cold pride, that same unyielding gaze.
The gaze of the man who once brought ruin upon the Senju.
It was Madara's eyes that had taken his clan's leader—his family.
And now, standing before him, another pair of those cursed eyes gleamed with the same crimson cruelty.
Yes… perhaps he really was old now.
Too old to change anything.
But even so—he would never forget that hatred.
He'd always believed in Senju Tobirama's words:
The Uchiha were a clan consumed by darkness.
A people whose hearts would always burn themselves out.
And now, standing here, was proof of it.
Another Madara had appeared.
And once again… the Senju were powerless to stop him.
He had broken the so-called "rules of the game."
But so what?
Hadn't Hashirama once broken those same rules—spared Madara, and even joined hands to build this village?
And what was the result?
The Senju's glory reduced to ash, their descendants scattered and forgotten.
No. Shōma would not allow that story to repeat itself.
Not again.
A cold smile crept across his face.
Without another word, he turned and walked toward the back room—the one part of the house still standing after Kei's Susanoo had torn it apart.
Kei watched him curiously, exchanging a glance with Kenta.
"What's he doing?" Kei murmured.
Kenta looked equally confused.
"I… I don't know. Maybe he wants to talk somewhere private?"
But when they followed him inside, both men froze.
Shōma was kneeling on the floor, his upper garments cast aside.
In his hands gleamed a short ninja blade.
"Shōma-sama!" Kenta gasped, horrified.
"No—please, don't—"
"Silence."
The old man's tone cut like a blade. His eyes, though weary, burned with fierce conviction as they locked onto Kei.
"Uchiha Kei… you're strong. Stronger than I realized. I underestimated you."
He gave a grim smile.
"But you've underestimated me, too."
He raised the blade slightly, the metal catching the dim light.
"I have never trusted your kind.
Even when I allowed Kenta to join your Police Force, it wasn't to strengthen ties—it was to observe.
To see if proximity to the Fourth Hokage could still mean something for the Senju."
His voice hardened.
"But you… you possess the Mangekyō Sharingan. That means you've already ensnared Kenta under your control, haven't you?"
"You plan to use him—to manipulate the future of my clan through him.
Well, I won't let you."
Shōma's grip on the blade tightened.
"As long as I draw breath, the Senju will never bow to you.
If I die, there will be no one left for you to use—no one to bargain with."
His tone became almost serene.
"That is the pride of the Senju.
A pride you—" he sneered, "—a rat like you—will never understand."
For a moment, the air fell silent.
Kenta's face went pale.
"Grandfather—please!"
But Shōma didn't look at him.
His eyes, though clouded with age, still carried that iron will—the same will that once built Konoha.
Kei stood in silence, his expression unreadable.
For the first time, he almost pitied the man.
Not for his death.
But for what he represented—a relic of an age that refused to end.