Chapter 31.2- One Thousand Hands

“Tell me? He sought my permission as a matter of fact before even daring to make his plan and while I made sure I registered my displeasure with the lack of foresight on display, I did permit him to assign you the mission. You are a Senju. You are the Grandson of Hashirama, the Grandnephew of Tobirama, and the son of Itama. Konoha is your birthright and you will defend her just as those who have come before you would have” She said, walking closer and placing her hand on my face. I leaned into the touch and nodded. Our eyes met and I could see the sadness that laid within them. Those men had been my forebears but they were all dead, and while I had only known one, she’d known all three for decades and loved each of them deeply. This was a woman who had lost so much and was still putting more on the line.

“I will come back, Grandmother” I told her, even as I felt tears well within my eyes for no damn reason! I hadn’t cried at the funeral. My god, what was going on here?

“Your Granduncle. He left you a lot.” She said.

“Yeah, I know. What didn’t he leave me?” I asked with a chuckle. And that was true. Apart from a few tokens and some money given to Tsunade, Nawaki, and their mother, he had left me the bulk of his property.

“Indeed. He had never bothered distinguishing what property belonged to him as a person, and what belonged to him by virtue of being the Hokage. A lot of things were tied down for that, but in exchange for my approval in having you assigned this mission, Hiruzen has released all the property that he left behind. Come let’s go look at it” She said before taking my hand and leading me down the hallway.

I allowed her rest her weight on my body. Just like with Granduncle on his deathbed, I was beginning to realize just how old she had become in my lifetime. This was the same woman that had bent me over her knee after I’d made an explosive tag in the classroom as a child. Now, it felt like she could barely ever move without that insufferable cane of hers. It wasn’t much of a surprise in the end though. She’d been a decade Hashirama’s senior when they married, and had seen her fair share of living, but it felt like much of the aging had happened in the last few years.

She’d lost a son and a brother-in-law here in Konoha, and then the majority of her clan in Uzu.

“How did you even convince him to have to give something in exchange?” I asked as we walked. “Last time we spoke he didn’t hesitate to remind me that I was just a regular shinobi and he didn’t have to give me any special considerations”

“Oh. I knew something slipped my mind to mention when I saw you. Maybe if you learned to say goodbye before leaving your poor Grandmother, my memory would stop slipping” I gave her a deadpan look.

“He sprung the mission up on me. I didn’t get any chance to say goodbye to either you or Kushina. Wasn’t my fault”

“Uh huh. Well, it’s not like there’s much you can do about it either way, but you have been placed in the running for the position of Uzumaki clan head”

“What?”