Chapter 4 : Will Of Fire

Damien paced back in forth in his room still upset from the confrontation with his mom. I'm a Senju! I'm supposed to be a ninja. Yea I ran off, only because it's the only way I can practice jutsu. She'll be super pissed if she finds out that I took some of the scrolls from the library. What choice did I have tho?! It's not like I had any alternatives, this house is driving me crazy!. If I have to spend another year of my life locked away from the world I'll go insane! Out of frustration he punched a hole straight through his bedroom wall. Not five seconds later his mom came into his room closing the door behind her. He noticed she saw the hole but didn't care he was already in trouble might as well add it to the list.

Tsunade took a long deep breath clenching her fist as she saw the hole and glared at her son. "You want to be ninja so bad why don't you hit something that can hit back."

Damien was taken by surprise from the request "I'm not going to hit you mom. It's not right."

Tsunade closed the gap "It's not right. It's not right!" Tsunade was practically snarling now. "If you walk into a battlefield with that mindset you'll be dead within 10 seconds. I've killed people Damien with my bare hands. That's what you do when you're a ninja. The life of a ninja is a life of death and destruction. All those empty rooms in our house is because our family died from being ninja. You and I are all that remains of the Senju clan." She grabbed him by the shoulders and started crying "I swear to god I will not bury you next." She buried her head into her son's kimono bawling.

Damien was speechless, he tried to think of the words to speak. He couldn't, the gravity of it all never made any sense to him. He knew that being a ninja was dangerous, that he might be ordered to kill people. He didn't want to kill anyone, that's not the reason why he wanted to be a ninja. "I want to be able to protect you mom. That's all"

Tsunade couldn't help but allow her tears to turn into snickering. She looked up at her son cupping his face in one of her hands. "You're a good boy Damien, but I'm the one who gets to protect you. It doesn't work the other way."

Damien looked down in defeat, there was no way he would win this conversation. "How long am I grounded for?"

Tsunade walked over to her son's bed and motioned for him to follow. When he sat next to her she pulled him into an embrace. "You're not grounded"

Damien was shocked "what I'm not? But I ran off and practiced Wood Release and I took scrolls from the library." He hadn't meant to say that last part.

Tsunade just pinched the bridge of her nose attempting to de-stress herself. "You took scrolls from the library." Her son just nodded yes and didn't say anything. "Where are they?"

Damien gulped "They're in the the forest that's about 10 minutes east of here in a hollowed out tree I made with Wood Release."

Tsunade made eye contact with her son. "You created an entire tree with Wood Release?"

Damien was slightly confused with the question. "Yea why do you seem so surprised? It was super easy I just focused on what I wanted made the hand sign and it formed."

Tsunade's mind was spinning at the insight "What do you mean you just focused on it? You had to use chakra didn't you?"

Damien shook his head no in response "Not really. Wood Release doesn't work that way. Well not for me at least,I don't use hardly any chakra at all when I use it. At least from what I can tell, It takes way more out of me to use chakra to increase my speed then it does for me to use Wood Release."

Tsunade contemplated the new info. That's probably how Grandpa Hashirama was able to use Wood Release and create so many structures. He never had to deal with chakra exhaustion, It was something that was only unique to him and now is unique to Damien. "What all have you learned to do so far?"

Damien smiled at the path the conversation was taking. "Well I can use chakra to increase my speed! That was the first thing I taught myself it didn't take me to long to learn, only a couple of months to master. Then I learned how to walk on trees sideways and walk on water. I've gotten pretty good at that but I still have to really focus on what I'm doing. Oh I also learned Water Style : Water Bullets. I was too nervous to try to attempt to do anything other than that because all the the other scrolls have warnings on them."

Tsunade was equally upset and proud of her son. "No more training unless you have either Shizune or me around am I clear. You could really hurt yourself if you attempt a jutsu that you're not ready for. You could get chakra exhaustion at the least and at most die. I'm dead serious Damien this isn't a game."

Damien frowned and then smiled "Wait! You said no more training by myself does that mean I can be a ninja!"

Tsunade already was second guessing her decision. "Damien you're growing up and it won't be long till you're Lord Senju. I'll be honest, I don't want you to be a ninja. I would much rather you live a comfortable life without the struggles that comes with that life. I cannot make this decision for you. If you decide you want to do this it's going to be hard and you're going to experience the worst of people." Tsunade stood up and headed for the door. "I'll be in the living room waiting for you decision. Please don't make it lightly."

Damien sat on his bed in silent meditation. Could I actually kill someone? I've never killed anything. There were those run ins with some of the huge animals in the forest. I never had to kill any of them tho. Usually after I use Wood Release they get scared and run off. Damien got frustrated with the line of thought not being able to push himself to a decision and decided to try a new approach. He made the hand sign for Wood Release and formed a clone in front of him. "What's up boss?"

The real Damien replied "Could you kill someone?" The Wood clone closed his eyes and thought for a good second. "I don't know. If I thought mom was hurt or Shizune then I would probably want to kill someone." The real Damien nodded in agreement "What if someone told you to kill someone and didn't give you a reason. Could you do it then." The clone crossed his arms and replied. "If you told me to kill someone then yes I would." Damien narrow his eyes a bit "why?" The clone answered quickly "I trust you completely if you order me to kill someone then it's got to be for a good reason." Damien smiled and with a thanks released the clone. He opened the door to his room and walked to the living room to find his mom sitting there drinking some of her favorite sake.

Tsunade took another shot of the drink and placed it down on the counter. Damien had walked into the room and she could see the answer on his face already before she asked. "Well son what's your decision."

Damien stood in front of his mother confident and sure as he had ever been. "I want to be a ninja. I'm going to be so strong so that one day I can protect everyone I care about, including you mom."

Maybe it was the alcohol but she could have swore she saw a vision of Hashirama behind her son with a firm grasp on his great grandson's shoulders smiling in approval. She took another swig of sake and nodded in sad acceptance. .