Chapter 006 – Banishment

[Year 69 – March – Konohagakure – Senju Compound]

" … the village is also willing to help out, if the Senju Clan cannot withstand this kind of expenditure.", Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage said to the calm silver-haired boy before him.

They were currently in the Main Hall of the Senju Compound, a place the old Hokage hadn't visited for a long time, considering the death of his teachers and the empty state of the clan grounds.

Today he had come here, not only to take a look at the young heir of the Senju Clan, whom he had heard so many rumours about, but also because of official buisness.

A rich merchant had come to Konoha a few days ago and had brought with him several certificates of indebtness of one Tsunade Senju. Sarutobi was sure that the merchant had bought Tsunade's debt from several dozen loan sharks with the plan to get his money back by directly asking for it from the Senju Clan.

As the sum was rather substantial adding up to several million ryo, the merchant had first come to him, the Hokage, in hopes that going the official road would make it easier for him to pressure the Clan into repaying the debt of one of their own.

Hiruzen of course recognized the underhanded methods as what they were, but found himself agreeing with the merchant's way of doing things, as this gave the old Hokage an opportunity to tie the Senju Clan to the village even more closely than before, while simultaneously allowing him some modicum of control over them.

So as he sat in front of the child of his student, Sarutobi retained great focus, as he waited for the boy to react to his words.

Pressuring and manipulating a child, while not something he enjoyed doing, had at this point become a necessity for the old Hokage. And while his guilt remained, he knew in his heart that it was for the greater good of the village and that was all that mattered.

…

After thinking about the matters the old fox had come to speak to him about, Ryuma couldn't help but sigh internally.

'So it came to this … *sigh* …'

He wasn't totally blindsided by the events, as Ryuma had long since known that something like this would happen sooner or later, knowing about the things Tsuande did while outside the village.

His 'mother' may be able to run from the debt collectors, but the clan could not.

Turning his head towards the Elder and Yui, who both had a neutral expression on their faces, as they refused to show weakness in front of an outsider, Ryuma addressed the Elder.

"Elder Tomura, please prepare the documents and the ink."

"Yes, Young Lord.", came the answer of the ever-faithful old man, as he knew exactly what was going to happen.

The Hokage meanwhile had a strange glint in his eyes, as like all the others before him, he couldn't hear Ryuma speak, as the child only transmitted his voice to Outer Clan Member.

A short minute of silence ensued, before the Elder returned with a tray, which he placed in front of his Young Lord. On it were placed several identical documents, a brush, a stamp with the Senju Crest and a small dish of dark blue ink.

The Hokage observed with keen eyes, as Ryuma calmly picked up the brush and left his signature under the documents, before stamping each one of them carefully, seemingly not bothered about being in the presence of the most powerful Shinobi in the village.

After Ryuma finished his work, he grabbed one of the documents and blew lightly over the fresh ink to accelerate the drying process.

Since the beginning he had not addressed and hardly even looked at the Hokage apart from a short greeting. His distaste for the old man displayed in his indifferent and nonchalant attitude.

Satisfied with his work, he folded two of the documents and placed them both in an envelope, before using two chakra strings to levitate them into the waiting Hokage's hands, as he finally spoke to the man using Spiritual Speech.

"I thank you for your concern, Lord Hokage, but the Senju Clan will not need your help in this matter. Please take this letter to the merchant, while the other you may show the Council when you inform them that Tsunade Senju, Princess of the Senju Clan, is now officially banished from the clan and her name will be wiped from the clan records."

This was the moment where Hirzuen Sarutobi, leader and most powerful Shinobi in Konoha learned a painful lesson in humility. All the small plans and schemes he had in his mind to draw the Heir and future Clan Head of the Senju came to a crashing halt, as he looked at the boy in shock.

The Hokage was simply unable to comprehend how a four-year old child could act with such decisiveness and ruthlessness towards his own mother.

And while he was still searching for something he could say to recitify the situation, maybe even undo the banishment of his former student, Ryuma spoke up again.

"Elder Tomura, please make sure to deliever the copies to the Hyuga, Uchiha and the other Clans in Konoha after you escort the Hokage out of the compound."

"Of course, Young Lord.", the Elder replied without a change in expression, as if wholly unconcerened about the decision his Young Lord had made.

"If you excuse me, Lord Hokage. I have training to do.", Ryuma said, addressing the still dazed old man and without waiting for a reply as he left the Main Hall. Followed, as always, by Yui.

…

Peace returned to the Senju Compound, after Ryuma finished dealing with the debts left behind by Tsunade and the Hokage's visit.

Though the rest of Konoha, especially all the clans were thrown into turmoil. The news of Tsunade's expulsion had struck them out of nowhere. Tension spread, as they realised that one of the few S-Ranked Shinobi in the village had now lost her last ties to it.

Ryuma knew that his actions would have far reaching consequences, but at this point he was very much out of options. He couldn't allow the Senju Clan's finances to fall into a precarious state just because of one irresponsible clan member.

Tsunade had made her decision to leave the clan and the village behind years ago, she had even reinforced that by abandoning Ryuma, so there was no compassion in the boy's heart when it came to dealing with the problems she was causing.

He also had no plans to try and outmanoeuver the Hokage when it came to manipulating each other, as Rymua knew that such a thing was simply too dangerous to attempt. The Hokage had decades of experience when it came to politics, spy work and manipulation, and this was soemthing Ryuma simply could not measure up against.

He could however simply flip over the whole board and just refuse to play this game, as such was the advantage of being the Clan Heir of one of the two Founding Clans of Konoha.

His status and the prestige of his clan, along with his young age, meant that the Hokage could not use his authority to order Ryuma around, at least not before he officially became a Shinobi and therefore became part of the military hierachy of the village.

Though that was something a few years in the future, so there was no use thinking about all that ati this point, as at least for now he could develop quietly without outside interference.

Putting these thoughts to the back of his mind, Ryuma thought about his progress in the last few months, as he sat in the living room of his private residence in the clan grounds.

Yui had prepared some tea for him, while she stayed by his side like a silent shadow. Kokuyo was similarly accompanying him, the beautiful butterfly resting on her favorite spot – his hair braid.

His training in general had been coming along well, even the improved Transformation Jutsu showed signs of progress, though there was still ways to go.

Ryuma's chakra control had also reached a level where he felt comfortable in learning one of his mother's signature techniques, which was namely Chakra Enhanced Strength.

Its inner workings weren't really complicated, as one just had to reinforce and stimulate the limbs with chakra, while simultaneously concentrating ones energy into a small point and let it burst out when in contact with the enemy.

The only requirement for this highly destructive technique was ones chakra control, as the better it was the more power could be displayed while using the technique.

It was the perfect technique for Ryuma, who prefered the taijutsu style Rapid Strike, which was one specialized in speed and therefore was slightly lacking in attack power. Combining this style of his with Chakra Enhanced Strength, he would be able to eliminate the weakness of the technique entirely, while retaining and maybe even improve his exceptional speed.

He hadn't tried to learn the technique before, because not only was it time consuming, but also dangerous if used incorrectly, especially when using large quantities of chakra to execute the technique.

Ryuma had therefore decided to wait until his chakra control had reached a level he felt comfortable with, before attempting to learn it.

Though what he was most joyful about, was the fact that his Fuinjutsu had finally reached a certain threshold that allowed him to employ one of the most complicated and useful seals the Uzumaki had ever invented – the Resistance Seal.

It was a very special seal that used the chakra of the user to build up resistance towards any kind of movement, which forced one to use vastly more bodily strength than necessary for the simplest movements. The more chakra the seal was fueled with, the greater the resistance.

It was a seal basically tailor-made for the Uzumaki, who were born with great chakra reserves and a talent for Fuinjutsu, and Ryuma likewise fell into this category.

The only downside was that only those proficient enough in the sealing arts could use that seal, as it couldn't be drawn by anyone else but the user himself.

This seal represented a massive advantage for Ryuma, as he would no longer have to spend hours each day with physical conditioning, but could instead use his time for other projects. His progress would naturally much faster from now on.

It wasn't only his own progress that made Ryuma hopeful for the future.

Aika Uzumaki had largely recovered from her weakened state thanks to the great vitality provided by her heritage and the continuous care of Elder Tomura, while the mother-daughter pair had also started their lessons in Fuinjutsu with Yui.

Together with Haku and Kimimaro, the four were also instructed on basic chakra control and phyiscal training by Master Paku.

Haku's and Kimimaro's training though was several times harsher than that of the Uzumaki-pair, as Ryuma had ordered Paku to excavate the full hidden potential of both of them. Elder Tomura though made sure that no permanent harm came to them using medicial Ninjutsu.

The two boys however didn't complain after having seen the training Ryuma himself went through, which was in a league of his own.

Ryuma's Shadow Clones had also started their study on medical Ninjutsu and Nature Transformation in addition to their regular studies of Fuinjutsu, chakra control and the Transformation Jutsu.

The chakra control training mainly amounted to forming chakra strings, tree- and water-walking excersises, execution of the Chakra Flow and Chakra Scalpel technique, and lastly forming a stable Rasengan of different sizes.

The last three were especially important to Ryuma, as he planned to incorporate them into his fighting style in the future, especially the Chakra Flow and Chakra Scalpel.

Chakra Flow would allow his blades to achieve unstoppable cutting power when combined with Wind Nature Transformation, while the Chakra Scalpel was an especially dangerous and insidious trump card.

It allowed one to sever the opponents nerves and muscles without leaving behind any open wounds, effectively paralyzing or killing them with a single touch.

Such a covert assassination technique was something Ryuma knew he had to learn, even though the technique was originally for medicinial purposes.

Kabuto Yakushi, the future right-hand man of Orochimaru, was a master at the this technique and had even successfully used it against Tsunade one time in the original story.

Not only he, but Elder Tomura was equally skilled at it and prefered it when it came to dispatching of opponents, as it was clean and fast.

'So much to learn and so little time...', Ryuma sighed to himself, as he thought about the dangers he had to prepare for, before he placed down his cup and moved towards his study.