Welcome to Gaia! ::

XXX♛ ♛ ♛ ⊰ TAKAHARA ❈ SENJU

█┊███ｗｉｅｌｄｅｒ ｏｆ┊ＭＯＫＵＴＯＮ██┊█
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXSMASH, GRABXXXXXXXXXKICK, PUNCHXXXXXXXXXSMASH, GRABXXXXXXXXXKICK, PUNCH
- - - - - XX▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬ ▬ ▬
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXSMASH, GRABXXXXXXXXXKICK, PUNCHXXXXXXXXXSMASH, GRABXXXXXXXXXKICK, PUNCH
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ ⇣⇣
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX❝ RIGHT HERE RIGHT HERE RIGHT HERE RIGHT HERE

X
X

The hallway was filled with people. Men and women were bowing down, their heads bent with their hands clasped together. They were begging for the acknowledgement of the elder, who would tap each of their heads as she passed by them. The further down the hall she went, the more anxiety that built up in everyone. Takahara, being her grandson, was at the end of the hallway, by her chair. The family members didn't need a tap or a gesture of acknowledgement; their part in the clan, and their role, was obvious. The wood on the chair reached out to grab the old woman, gently bringing her into its embrace. With bones as old and weak as hers, she could only survive by manipulating the life around her. It was beautiful and symbolic of the clan, the people who communed so closely with nature. "For almost a hundred years I have lived in this place..." She spoke, her voice faint, weak. "When I was a little girl, I watched, and helped us come to commune with this land given to us. We plowed the fields, and decorated the gardens with trees the size of great towers. A grassy plains was quickly turned into a jungle of excitement, and the Senju were absolutely at home in the environment we'd shaped." She had more to say, but she started to cough. It was hard, at this level of her illness, to be vocal.

But she had to. Her time was coming soon, so these final words were absolutely imperative. "But now it all seems so ordinary, doesn't it? The great trees have all fallen down and died, and none of us today have the power or knowledge to recreate our wooden paradise within the mist. We have fallen from our previous selves, because we have become complacent. We have allowed our pride to make us weak, and such a thing is unforgivable in the shinobi world." She frowned, watching the eyes of the young generation shamefully stare at the floor. "We do not have a great history with Kirigakure, like we do in Konoha. We are not one of their greater, older clans, and they have no love or admiration for us. We can only exist in harmony because we serve them well, but now we don't even have that. Such a machine does not run on trust, but on respect for power. Without our power, we will become hated and thrown away. We will not be able to exist in harmony anymore, and it is only a matter of time." The morale of the people around her seemed to be weakening. But the crunch was temporary, because she had something much more important to say to them all.

This was just the build up to her final treatise. "I would've liked to live here ignorant forever, unable to see the darkness that creeps behind us. It is the duty of the Elder to be pure, a model for the citizens. But if there is one thing that comes with age, it is knowledge. Before I die, I want to give you all this precious knowledge that I have kept locked up within me for my whole life. I simply cannot allow this information to die out with me; it's too important to lose." Her eyes shut, and she wrapped her fingers around the armrests. "The leader of our branch was a man of renowned power. It is his power that brought upon the regulations against us, that forced us to leave Konohagakure. Yes, it was jealousy and fear that left us as exiles, trying to find safe shelter in the mists. But what sort of power could be so great that rather than love it, the main branch feared and hated it? Senpou Mokuton." Those two words always brought a sense of dread into her body, as it was because of that power that all of this imbalance appeared in the first place.

Without the Senpou Mokuton, they might have still been living happily in Konoha. "It is a power that no Senju today can perform. Something lost to us with time. It is a power that the leader of our branch refused to share, because of fear that it would be abused as a great weapon." Her voice began to dry up, meaning she didn't have much time before she'd lose her voice. She had to finish what she came here to say, and quickly. "But I know and love each and every one of you here, and I trust the goodness in your hearts; I know you won't abuse it! So I give you the knowledge of this power's existence. It is my dying request to all of you that you do what's best for the clan. Allow us all to live happily here. Keep strong the peace and harmony we have built for a century! You must all return us to our former glory; you must unlock the secrets of our blood!" With that, she could no longer speak, and she began to breath heavily.

"Great Elder!" Takahara yelled, coming to her side. He began to apply his medical chakra to her weak body, trying to give her comfort. It would probably be a few days at most before she would pass away. Knowing that, it hurt to even look at her, and to hear her words. A woman so peaceful and vibrant in her life had been reduced to worry and pain over the doom of this clan. It hurt to understand her pain, which gave birth to the same pain inside of him. But on his mind was the same thing that everyone else was thinking; the Senpou Mokuton, the leap in a wood user's power. Why would she wait for so long to reveal it? What happened to turn everyone so afraid of the power that naturally belonged to them? "Takahara," his mother called him. "I will help obaa-sama, okay? Don't worry about all of this. This task is something she has given my generation. You should worry about yourself. You only get to do that when you're young." She waved him off, and he agreed, begrudgingly.

Slowly, he left the great hall. This was nerve-wracking.

--exit--

The estate was quiet for the night. A lone Senju was returning home from a mission, humming a silent song about love and heartbreak or something. Yeah, evidently things weren't going well with his romantic life, but he was still optimistic. After the heartfelt speech by the elder, everyone here had an empowered dedication. It was so ironic then, that at this time a symbol arrived on their doorstep to shake their optimism away. "What the...?" He knew that symbol very clearly, the adopted visage of an eternal rival. The Uchiha were always trying to compete with the Senju, even the ones in Kiri. The image itself got him very angry, because whether it was a prank, a declaration or something else, it was an obvious attempt to upset his family.

Within minutes, he'd managed to call several officials within the clan to investigate the symbol, including Takahara's mother. "Oh gosh..." She stared, mixed between confusion and inquisition. "Is this some sort of declaration? Are they trying to intimidate us?" Those words seemed to scare the others around her, and they all quickly grew very irritated. "We'll have to speak to the clan leader about this. And the Mizukage." If only they knew that they were being trolled. If only they knew.