Prologue: Winds Of Change
It has been months since Senjū Hashirama was brought to Konoha Hospital. To be precise, it has been six months, three weeks and two days ago, if the nurse doing the check up is paying attention. Seventeen year old Sarutobi Biwako was on her shift at the hospital to guard and nurse the Shodaime Hokage back to health. This was a very difficult and huge job. One mistake would guarantee an execution on the spot, no matter how much of a mistake it was. With that in mind, she started her daily routine. She checked manually if the vital signs were present. She drew on his file: Severe low-blood pressure. Slowed heartbeat and slight loss of complexion. With every kanji drawn, Biwako had to briefly stop before shaking. Not because of the underlined threat of ending her life. No. Her reason was painfully obvious.
Lying on that bed, with all those IVs connected to him, was the greatest medic in the Elemental Nations. The only combat medic capable of putting the world on its knees.
Lying in a coma... was the Shinobi no Kami.
Honestly, you would not know what was more heart-breaking... The fact that your greatest role model was reduced to a coma and could be brain dead or the fact that the one person who could heal almost anyone using just his Yang chakra alone, was the one person everyone was struggling to save.
Nonetheless, Konoha had to move on.
After calling everyone to the Senjū complex, Itama held a meeting with his clansmen with the Hokage-elect Tobirama present.
Apparently, Tobirama was told that this was a very important meeting to attend, regardless of his new position.
Guess he couldn't keep himself busy with work.
Dreary, with bags under his eyes and a dry trail of tears on his face, he sat down in a seiza position, facing his clansmen. Hoping not to crack under pressure, he assumed a neutral face.
Itama started the meeting.
"Thank you for gathering here today, brethren. Knowing how much we have to contribute to the village given the drastic changes in the village, I appreciate the effort it took to come here and hear my views on the current state of affairs. Now, what I'm going to mention is probably the toughest thing I can say as it not affects me personally, but it's definitely going to affect the whole world."
At that last statement, the Senjū narrowed their eyes and with one simultaneous move, they assumed a seiza position. They did not like where this was supposed to go. Itama simply stated:
"We are already in a world that has left Senjū Hashirama behind."
They bowed their heads in anguish. Clearly, they did not expect their Warring Clan leader to live forever now, did they? Certainly, they were sure that the next generation could defend Konoha like he did, right?
Who were they kidding?
Itama continued, "It had come to Tou-chan's attention that our village has not been able to refine its protectors. This, he said, was mainly due to the fact that he himself cast a shadow on Konoha. He became Hokage. That's true. But he put the spotlight on him. He admitted that he did a lot of things for the village that were received as disrespectful. I'm sure Hokage-sama can recall that Go-Kage Kaidan you attended while I was little. The core subject was the distribution of power between the Great hidden villages. Particularly the Bijū that were captured. Here's where the troublesome part in all of this comes in.
The various villages reluctantly accepted the Bijū because the man distributing them was feared. It is human nature to retaliate against something that you fear because you feel that this fear is unnecessary to you. It propells you to be weak. Why should you keep such a feeling in your system?"
The Senjū were confused. Why would the Kage retaliate due to simple fear? If anything, they would be overjoyed for the share of the spoils Hashirama-sama gave them, unless...
Being the shrewd person he was, Tobirama quickly deduced what his nephew was going to say.
"The ninja world is cutthroat. Much like Shi no Mori, it is a jungle with the most resourceful and the strongest survive. Anything goes. Now, tell me, if you're the strongest person alive, pitted against a pack of wolves that, individually, you can beat to a pulp, what's the very first thing they would do to you?"
Murmurs arose in the complex. What was Itama on about?
"It's simple, form a chain of attack with seemingly one side, while the leader of the pack attacks another side, for an efficient spread of distance. The wolves, in this case, are the very same sheep we rescued from the wolves called unrest.
Konoha is going to war."
With that, Itama left the complex, not before he put this thought into their heads.
"Konoha is going to war because we betrayed our greatest hero."
As he left, silence brewed over the complex until they snapped. Itama was right.
Konoha enjoyed their peace and lazily bathed in it, instead of protecting the very reason why such peace came to exist.
That same afternoon, Biwako was about to leave Hashirama-sama's when his heartbeat just stopped. Ringing the emergency bell, she called every doctor on her floor to try and resuscitate him because she didn't trust her hands anymore.
Chaos in the hospital room ensued. A Hyūga Iryō-nin put a palm on the former Hokage's chest and performed a chakra pulse jump-start, with no improvement.
She tried, multiple times, over and over again but there was no response. All the others tried CPR but they cried as they looked at the end result.
One of the Iryō-nin was trembling, white cloth in her hands and all. She approached her former Hokage and shakingly placed that same cloth on his head, covering it.
Tears fell on the Iryō-nin's faces and it was apparent as to why this happened.
The 14th generation clan leader of the Senjū, Shodaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, Konoha Hospital's founder and chief Iryō-nin, and Nidaime Shinobi no Kami, Senjū Hashirama has joined the departed.
With this, Hashirama has started the First Great Ninja War.
