Chapter 1- One Thousand Hands

What’s in a name? What did names even mean? Why did they matter? Those questions had meant little to him in his first life. He’d been named Victor, a simple strong name that any man could be proud of. It lead to a lot of Victor Von Doom jokes, but he’d long acknowledged that those jokes were entirely a consequence of his own actions. After all, he’d been the one to make the choice to hang out with the 12 people in a thousand who knew that the famous MCU villain had a name as common as Victor. In this world, however. In his second life, for lack of a better term, things could not be more different. His name was a million things in one. A statement to others, and a warning to him.

Shorirama Senju. The Triumph, his first name translated into. An innocuous enough name if one didn’t consider the context. His mother, Hinori Hyuga, the twin sister to the Hyuga Clan head had chosen to bestow the name on him because he’d been born on precisely the day that the news returned to Konoha that the Great Shinobi War had come to an end. Even in his thoughts, he did not dare to refer to it as the First War. When he’d called it such, it was only his age that saved him from a spontaneous lynching in the crowd of grieving parents, spouses, and children. His name and his blood, as well. Whether he carried the stereotypical Senju looks or not, little could be done to deny the fact that he was the Grandnephew of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

“Pay attention” his minder hissed at him, and he nodded, looking down at the crowd of mourners. That was what had brought his thoughts to his age. Once again, the Festival of Remembrance had come about, and this time like all others he was forced to attend dressed in a mournful sober black and forced to maintain a sober contemplative expression. He chanced a glance to the side and noted his older cousin looking boldly bored out of her mind. A fifteen year old Tsunade Senju was a force of stubborn energy that could not be denied. She’d thrown a stinker at being summoned to stand at the same position she’d occupied in every procession. The same stinker she threw last year, and the year before that. Regardless, she stood. She made it clear she didn’t want to be here but that was the best that she could do.

A cough drew his attention to the man that forced the stubborn slug summoner to his will. Tobirama Senju. Second Hokage of the Leaf. Uncle. He moved the hat on his head before he tossed it to the side completely. He bared his pale skin to the audience and showed off his long white hair. “Welcome. Once again, we stand together in mourning. In mourning for what has been taken from us. Fathers. Mothers. Sons. Daughters. Brothers. Sisters. All gone at the hands of the enemy as they sought to do the impossible. They tried to extinguish the will of fire. Every year, we hold this procession to mourn, and every year I remind you all that they have failed. What they sought to extinguish burns hot and bright. Eight years ago my nephew, Itama Senju son of Hashirama, was killed in an ambush from cowardly shinobi of Iwagakure at the twilight of the Great War. Now, I present to you his son, Shorirama Senju.” What? What did he mean? I felt my minder push me forward and my legs complied before my brain could stop them.

I covered the few steps that separated me from my Granduncle on the Rooftop of the Giant Hokage Tower in what felt like slow motion. My eyes twitched as I looked for some sort of salvation from whatever this was to be. Searching for my mother was a waste of time. She didn’t attend. Few things could rouse her from bed, and a memorial in her late husband’s honour was not one of them. I met Tsunade’s eyes as I walked past her, and for the first time today she was paying full attention. Sharp eyes followed me on every step I took. When I finally reached him, I felt strong hands grab on to my shoulder as I was turned around to look at the crowd. I gulped at the sight. It looked like all of Konoha was here. Thousands of citizens lined the walkways, surrounding the tower and stretching back far and wide. This was the Village Hidden in the Leaves in her full glory.

“My nephew will continue his education at the Konoha Shinobi academy in the hopes of living up to his father’s legacy. The Hidden Stone thought they would rob us of one of our own with their cowardly attack, but here Itama’s son stands. Ready to take up his father’s mantle in defence of the Will of Fire. I urge you all. Follow Shorirama’s example. Enroll your children and wards in the academy today” After that, I zoned out. My thoughts were flooded. The shinobi academy.

I’d never been an idiot. I knew that as a descendant of both the Senju and Hyuga clans, I’d be expected to become a shinobi one way or another. But nothing had ever been said about the academy. From what I knew, the academy was for civilian children. Clan Children received their tutelage at home. My tutelage had been handled by a rotating contingent of retainers from the Hyuga Branch Family. Everything from etiquette and caligraphy to taijutsu and shurinkenjutsu had been covered in those lessons. They told me of my genius loudly and often. I had no doubts that I was quite ahead of my age group. So why was I being shunted off to the academy?

XXXXXXX

“What kind of stunt was that?” One thing most people didn’t know about Uzumaki Mito was that apart from being a wise old woman, she had one hell of a temper. And the second that she’d gotten wind of what had happened at the Remembrance Festival, she wasted no time in showing up to the Hokage Tower. In fact, she was sitting down on the Chair that her husband had once occupied by the time that we’d returned from the Festival. After Tobirama’s speech came a ton of ceremony. There would be music, and dancing, and various ninjutsu performances. It was still a somber affair, but every year it became just a little bit less so. Just four years ago, the thought of music would have been ludicrous. Tobirama was a genius when it came to using progressive overload to make the citizenry get used to adding more and more celebratory tones to the Festival.

“A necessary one” He replied with a sigh, not contesting her presence on his seat. A decision that I was sure was a wise one. Mito was on old woman, but she was still the Nine tailed jinchuriki for a reason. She had strength aplenty.

“How? Please tell me how announcing the whereabouts of my grandson to every spy and agent of the other villages can count as necessary?” She asked, tone calm but having the subtext of something dark. I looked up at Tsunade, not sure if I should even be here in the first place.

“I know the risks. We’ll have to trust in the academy security but the enrolments in the academy from the civilians still hasn’t recovered to the levels from before the war. Every analyst assumed that after a few years along with all the new benefits being created for families with children in the academy, that we’d get the numbers back up but we haven’t. I chose to change tacks. The truth is they won’t trust the academy because the clans don’t. If they see the Son of Hashirama’s eldest going to the academy as well then that might be enough to get them to consider it, at the very least. It’s also going to be good for enrolments from Clan ninja. The other clans still want to get as close to the Senju as possible. Having Shorirama in the Academy tells them that that’s the place to do it.” He explained, trying to win Mito over with pure logic.

“Even with the best of the best watching over him, Hashirama had to deal with assassination attempts every other week. That was how much the others feared him. Even Tsunade, his Jounin Granddaughter has had to deal with much the same over the years. Now you want to present them the target of my other Grandchild? No, Tobi. No. I refuse.” She said, the edge in her tone was now unmistakable.

“You don’t really get a choice in this” The Second Hokage, well known Negotiator said next. Even I could see it was a blunder. It didn’t take a second for the chakra in the room to begin to choke the air out of my lungs.

“Nope” I heard from beside me, and the next thing I knew I was back on the rooftop safe in Tsunade’s arms.

XXXXXX

“Shorirama-sama, do it like this instead” the Hyuga branch member said, directing me through the forms of the advanced gentle fist kata once again.

I made my best attempt at copying his movements, but even I could tell that I wasn’t getting it quite right.

“Is everything alright, Shorirama-sama? You usually pick things up faster than this” He asked, making me want to snap at him. In fact, when I opened my mouth after whirling to face him, I could see that he expected me to snap. He cringed backwards a little, and that little movement was enough to make me snap out of it..

“I just have a lot on my mind. Why am I even learning this in the first place? It’s not like I’m ever going to get the byakugan” I said to him, running my hands over my black hair. I thanked the gods that I hadn’t inherited the rough hair of the Senju. Hyuga hair was much easier to manage. Looked better too.

“We’ve covered this before, Shorirama-sama. Even without the byakugan, the gentle fist can still be utilised as the basis for a devastating taijutsu style. Even beyond this, while the inability to see individual tenketsu means that you’ll never get to use the gentle fist to its full potential, a liver shot is still a liver shot. And with chakra added to your strikes, you’ll cause as much damage as any gentle fist user. Besides, you’ve only been practicing for five years now and you’re already working through the advanced forms. Not letting a genius like you work with the gentle fist would be a travesty” he said to me, combining legitimate feedback with some good old arsekissing. I nodded at him, scowl still on my face and returned to the session.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see Grandmother Mito watching me from the balcony. Even though Mother was the sister to the Hyuga clashed, I was still the grandson of Hashirama. There was only one place where I could be expected to grow up. The Senju Clan Compound. Sure, the Hyuga sent dozens of their household staff to ensure Mother lived in the luxury she’d grown up used to (and probably to make sure they had some influence on my upbringing but don’t say that one too loudly).

When I failed my next attempt, I heard clapping from the balcony. I turned again, and noticed that Tsunade had joined Grandmother on the balcony. And now was being scolded for her mockery. The smile that spread across my face at Tsunade’s abashed expression was bittersweet. I turned back to my instructor, his byakugan focused on me as I went through the forms once again. My head still wasn’t in it, but I managed to make sure that I didn’t make any mistakes as I went through the forms.

“Well done, Shorirama-sama. Now a few more tries and it will be perfect” He said with a smile on his face. Hayate was a man who smiled easily and acted like a puppy in the body of a man. He was skilled, easily on the level of a jounin, but his easy going nature and timid personality meant that he got to spend his days training brats like me instead of writing his name in the history books with the blood of Konoha’s enemies. He got a good deal. Not a deal that I’d ever get, however. I had expectations.

“Alright. That’s enough for today. I’ll take over my grandson’s training for today” I heard from above as Grandmother Mito began descending the stairs. She did it slowly for the first few steps before turning to my cousin and barking “Come help your Grandmother you fool girl”

Tsunade wasted no time in catching up to her and helping her down the stairs.

“But Mito-sama… Tobirama-sama agreed with the elders to..” Hayate was cut off almost as quickly as he began.

“I don’t care what my brother-in-law has agreed with your clan. This is my grandson” She said firmly.

Any other member of the Hyuga clan would have stood their ground. Not Hayate. The man bowed and disappeared with a shunshin almost immediately. I had no doubts that he was going to report to whatever elders he answered to.

“Now that its just family here. What do you say we do something fun?” She asked me and my smile could have blinded the sun. There was one thing that lessons with Mito meant. Sure, she’d been a skilled enough Shinobi in her time but what made her truly special was her prowess with fuinjutsu. That was what she spent her time trying to pass down to me.

“Come along with us Tsunade” She said, dragging my cousin with us once she noticed her attempt to disappear in a shunshin of her own.

“Fuinjutsu is so boringggg” Tsunade drawled as Mito began to physically drag her with us towards the practice room, her act of being a frail old woman long abandoned.

“Yay fuinjutsu” I said, pumping one hand in the air. Pretending to be an eight year old could be fun, sometimes. Especially for annoying foolish cousins.

A/N; An idea came to me and refused to let me go. Here it is.