A Senju Tale: Change of Fate - 14 The Birthing of a Legend

It was early in the morning. Rays of sunlight made the morning dew sparkle. Birds could be heard chirping. It almost sounded as if they were having a conversation. Inside the Senju estate, Nawaki and Tsunade were enjoying breakfast together.

As they ate, Tsunade turned to her brother and asked, “Are you ready?” Nawaki grinned and then replied, “Ready as I’ll ever be. I just hope that my work will be taken seriously.” Tsunade chuckled and then said, “Don’t you worry about that. If they doubt your credibility, I’ll vouch for you personally. Everyone knows that I am one of the top medics in Konoha.” Nawaki smiled before saying, “Thanks Onee chan, I appreciate it.”

After finishing their breakfast and cleaning up, Nawaki gathered his scrolls and the two of them headed off to the Hokage’s mansion. Once they arrived in front of the building, someone was waiting for them. The aid guided them to the council room. Inside the council room was a large assortment of chairs. In the front of the room, there was a raised platform with a table. Nawaki saw Fugaku was present with his father. They had accompanied the Uchiha clan head who was conversing with Hiruzen. Nawaki approached the group.

As he did, Hiruzen said, “Ah, Nawaki, allow me to introduce you to some people. This is the Uchiha clan head, Shunsui. Next to him is Fugaku’s father, Koryu.” Nawaki bowed and said, “It is a pleasure to meet you Shunsui sama and Koryu san. I have been eager to meet more members of my teammate’s family.”

Koryu smiled and said, “It is nice to meet you too. I have heard a lot about you from my son. It sounds like you two are very close. He trusts you with his life.” On the other hand, Shunsui said nothing. He just eyed Nawaki. It was clear that he doubted that a six year old would have anything valuable to say. Nawaki paid no mind to this.

After a few minutes, the rest of the expected attendees had all arrived and the meeting commenced. Nawaki stood up from his seat on the raised platform in the front of the room. He then said, “Thank you all for coming. My name is Senju Nawaki. As I am sure you all heard, this meeting was called so that I can present some theories regarding a medically based method for evolving the sharingan. These findings are based on what I have learned about the circumstances under which the sharingan progresses and upon my knowledge of the human body. Before I get started, does anyone have any questions?”

No one spoke up. Everyone aside from Tsunade, Hiruzen, Fugaku, and Koryu had the same thought: What could a six year old have possibly come up with? Before getting started, Nawaki took out a scroll and opened it up. He turned it to the room to display his hand drawn diagram of the optical system. Everyone was shocked. No one had ever seen such a detailed drawing before. It even included the chakra pathways.

Nawaki smirked seeing their reactions and then said, “I drew this a few weeks ago to illustrate how our optical system works. On the drawing, you can see the eye, the optical nerve, and the other biological components of our optical system. In addition, I included the chakra pathways that are relevant. For the majority of people, Uchiha included, their optical system should match this almost completely. There is a problem with this.” Nawaki then turned to Shunsui and asked, “Uchiha sama, if I am not mistaken, your sharingan is activated by channeling chakra into your eyes, correct?”

Shunsui nodded and asked, “How much do you know about our eyes? And where did you come across such information?” Nawaki could feel the suspicion in Shunsui’s voice. In an effort to diffuse the situation he said, “I am aware of all the stages of evolution for the sharingan. From single tomoe through eternal mangekyo. Most of my knowledge comes from either asking an Uchiha about their eyes or reading medical texts. My knowledge of the mangekyo sharingan comes from stories told to me by my mother. She heard them from her father, Hashirama sama.” Satisfied with this answer, Shunsui nodded and then said, “Thank you for clarifying. You may continue now.”

Nawaki then moved on. He said, “For most people, Uchiha included, the chakra pathways that are connected to our eyes are small and quite weak. In the case of the Uchiha, these pathways get overworked when using the sharingan. This causes the flow of chakra to be unstable. In addition, the chakra usage to keep the sharingan active is quite inefficient. It turns out that there is quite an easy way to eliminate this issue. I will use Fugaku as my example. One of his training methods has been to keep his sharingan active at all times. This has proven to be extremely beneficial. Similar to working out a muscle, our chakra pathways can be expanded and reinforced via continuous usage over a long period of time. My first theory is that the sharingan chakra usage can be drastically improved with the proper training. The only reason that this remains as a theory is due to the fact that only Fugaku has undergone this training. Any questions before I move on?”

Shunsui was impressed. Nawaki’s explanation and reasoning were very sound. They were based on the same concepts as chakra control exercises. He could not wait to hear what else this kid had to say.

Since no one spoke up, Nawaki then said, “Now for my second theory. This one is based around the ability of the sharingan to copy taijutsu and ninjutsu techniques. I have come to the conclusion that the sharingan works similar to a photographic memory. From this, I came to the idea that certain events that are viewed through the sharingan will always feel as if they had just happened. Time and time again we see Uchihas lose themselves in the darkness from their losses. Presumably, these losses were in combat when the Uchiha had their sharingan active. This would mean that each time an Uchiha activates their sharingan, they can feel the emotions of loss and despair that come from each of their lost loved ones or the people they have killed. Is everyone following?”

Everyone nodded so he continued, “My theory for this is that it would be extremely beneficial to the psychological health of a sharingan user for them to make an effort to use their sharingan to see moments of happiness. These moments will help balance out the overwhelming emotions that eat away at the Uchiha each time they use their eyes. This should be easy to accomplish for those who train to keep their sharingan active constantly. Any questions before I move on?”

Again, there was silence. Nawaki continued, “My next theory is a hypothetical method of facilitating the evolution of the sharingan. When the sharingan is first awakened, it has one tomoe. It is known that the sharingan evolves via experiencing strong emotions. It is often the case that these emotions are caused by the loss of someone close to them. I believe that this should not be necessary. I have hypothesized that the sharingan can be evolved via the use of direct stimulation of the brain or powerful genjutsu. These methods would likely have harmful effects in the short term but those pale in comparison to the short and long term effects of actually losing a loved one. Does anyone have any questions before I get to my last theory?”

Yet again, no one spoke up. Noticing this, Nawaki grinned before saying, “This last one is entirely theoretical and has never been tested. It has two parts. It is a little known fact that long term usage of the mangekyo sharingan results in the loss of sight. I attribute this mostly to the fact that the chakra pathways that service the optical system are unfit to handle the amount of chakra that gets channeled into the eyes when using the mangekyo sharingan. I believe that the reinforcement of these pathways using the method I proposed earlier will greatly reduce, if not eliminate the side effects of mangekyo usage. The second part is only relevant if going blind remains a problem. The human body has eight inner gates. Through intense training, one can manually open these gates effortlessly. Each gate provides a boost in power but after the second gate, there are harmful after effects. What is important here is the second one, the gate of healing. When someone opens this gate, their body gains extreme regenerative capabilities. The second part of this theory is that I believe that opening the gate of healing will allow the use of the mangekyo sharingan without any risk of going blind.”

Shunsui did not know how to react. He could not believe that a Senju had just imparted so much knowledge upon his clan. If even one of his ideas turned out to be fact, it would greatly boost the strength of his clan. He was eager to find out what else this boy would discover as time went on.

Aside from the Uchiha clan head, each and every person in the room was shocked. They could not get themselves to believe that all of this came from a six year old. The things they heard would take a typical person a lifetime to figure out. Only one word could describe this kid. Genius. Even that wasn’t enough, he was a genius among geniuses. Suddenly, someone started clapping. Soon after, everyone in the room was applauding the genius that stood before them.

Once they finished their applause, Nawaki said, “Thank you all for coming. I look forward to working with all of you to make new discoveries and further develop the theories I presented today.” He packed up his scrolls, bowed, and then walked off of the stage.

As he walked off of the stage, Shunsui came up to him and asked, “Nawaki, would you care to join me and my family for dinner tonight? I want to thank you for your work and also pick your brain a bit. Your family is also welcome.” Hearing this, Nawaki smiled and said, “It would be a pleasure. I will let them know. Thank you for the invitation Uchiha sama.”

Shunsui scoffed and then said, “Nawaki, please. You can call me Shunsui. I look forward to seeing you later. Take care.” Shunsui smiled before heading out with Fugaku and Koryu. Soon after, Tsunade approached him with an older man standing next to her.

Tsunade could only smile. She then said, “Nawaki, that was amazing. I had no idea how much you put into this. I want to introduce you to someone. He is the chief medical ninja in the village and runs the hospital. His name is Homura Shiro.” The man smiled and said, “As she said, My name is Homura Shiro. Feel free to call me Shiro” Nawaki smiled and said, “It is a pleasure to meet you Shiro. What can I do for you?”

Shiro chuckled before saying, “On the contrary. I want to do something for you. After seeing your extensive knowledge of medicine, I could not help but wonder. Would you like to get some hands on experience with healing at the hospital? Your skills would be quite the asset. In addition, I would make all of the medical research facilities available to you. What do you think?”

Nawaki’s eyes lit up. He quickly recomposed himself and replied, “That would be amazing. It would be quite helpful for me to have some practical experience in case something were to ever go wrong while on a mission. Thank you for the opportunity.” Shiro then replied, “The pleasure is all mine. I am more than happy to help cultivate the mind of someone such as you. I look forward to working with you. Please come by the hospital whenever you are free and my staff will get you started.”

Shiro smiled and said goodbye before leaving. Following this, the two siblings made their way out of the council chambers and went home. They needed to inform their mother of the dinner plans. What Nawaki did not realize is that the relationship that he is fostering with the Uchiha clan would change the course of history in a major way. For the first time in a while, the Uchiha and Senju clan heads would establish a friendly relationship.

[Sorry if this was a boring chapter. I wanted to display Nawaki’s genius]