CHAPTER 212 - KOHARU BEAT TWO SENJU, THEN GOT CANCELLED BY THE THIRD

{Wassup}

~

Homura sat alone in his study, as silence filled the room.

Today had been... overwhelming, to say the least. In one day, he had seen more chaos than he had in the last decade. Council chambers torn apart by words sharper than blades, Koharu humiliated, Danzo crushed.

Ren, with that infernal smile, had spun the whole village around his finger like it was nothing.

Homura exhaled slowly, his gaze distant as he poured himself a cup of tea he didn't drink.

Danzo... well, Danzo was always a fire waiting to burn the wrong bridge. But Koharu... he had warned her, time and time again, to stop provoking that boy. He wasn't like the others, there was something about Ren that simply couldn't be pushed or bullied, but, Koharu didn't listen.

But Homura understood her reasons. Perhaps better than she did herself.

Back when Hiruzen became Hokage, Koharu had been elevated to head of the Medical Division. She had earned it, at the time, she truly was the most capable medic-nin in the village. And being Hiruzen's teammate certainly hadn't hurt. But as years passed, the next generation began to rise.

And none rose higher, faster, or brighter than Tsunade.

Tsunade had everything. Senju bloodline, fearsome chakra control, genius-level skill that even as a child, her talent had surpassed seasoned medics. Everyone, including Hiruzen, believed it was only a matter of time before she took over the entire department.

But it never happened.

Because Koharu made sure of it.

Homura's eyes narrowed slightly, staring into the depths of his untouched tea.

After the war, after Tsunade lost both her brother and her lover, she returned with a radical idea. That every shinobi squad should include a medic, even if they had only basic healing capabilities. A revolutionary concept it was, life-saving, scalable, and undeniably necessary. Even the conservative voices of the time had started to murmur support.

But Koharu shut it down. Publicly and repeatedly.

She knew, as Homura did, that if Tsunade's proposal took root, her fame would eclipse even the legends. And in comparison, Koharu would become obsolete.

So, she stalled it, dismissed it and politicized behind closed doors.

And when word finally got out that she was the reason Tsunade's proposal had failed... her reputation nosedived. It didn't matter that she had once been the best. It didn't matter that she had once saved dozens, maybe hundreds. People only remembered the one thing she denied.

She was already getting old. The newer generation didn't respect her. She faded from the spotlight, kept her title in name only, and clung to the one thing she had left, being Hiruzen's teammate.

Though Koharu had stepped back from the spotlight years ago, she still handled a fair share of administrative work, paperwork, oversight, routine signatures. But even that didn't last forever.

In the world of shinobi, there was no formal retirement. People simply faded away, or were forced out. And in recent years, a new generation had begun rising, stronger, bolder, more ambitious than ever. Men and women who believed they could lead better were starting to come forward.

To them, Homura and Koharu were relics, fossils, even, people who were blocking their path to advancement,

And at the forefront of that rising wave had been Sayaka.

Sayaka Senju.

No one really knew why she had fixated on Koharu. She never said much directly. But in council meetings, Sayaka's words always cut sharply at Koharu's authority. Her motions were subtle, shifting support, raising technical objections, questioning procedural irregularities, but the results were real. She blocked Koharu's influence with surgical precision, and every time she did, Koharu lost another inch of ground.

Naturally, rumors spread. The council chamber wasn't a vacuum.

Koharu's already tarnished reputation, still reeling from the Tsunade medical revolution debacle took another hit. Meanwhile, Sayaka's name only grew more luminous. A Senju princess, a brilliant kunoichi, the Butterfly Summoner. People admired her. They listened when she spoke.

And then, as if fate had grown bored of the game... she died.

Homura sipped cold tea as he remembered the aftermath. It had to be said, Koharu's luck was almost absurd.

Every time someone opposed her, something happened. Either they backed off... or disappeared.

It bolstered her confidence. Warped it, even. She started to believe she'd won. That she'd triumphed over two Senju princesses, as she proudly claimed in private conversations. That no one, regardless of bloodline or brilliance could knock her off her seat.

But Ren was not Sayaka.

Homura could feel it. He had known it from the moment they first met.

It was a mission assignment day, Ren's Genin team stood before them in the council chamber. He remembered the boy's posture, respectful and poised. Ren had bowed, said all the right things. But Homura could tell... it was all surface. It was just a polite, indifferent performance. There wasn't even a flicker of real respect behind those brilliant blue eyes.

Koharu, of course, didn't notice. Or maybe she refused to. She saw his bow and mistook it for submission. Assumed that this boy, like the others before him, would eventually fold.

Homura had warned her repeatedly, time and time again.

But she was drunk on her own narrative. The taste of old victories had turned bitter and addictive. And when Ren was admitted to the council as the Senju heir, it pushed her obsession into overdrive.

She wanted to crush yet another Senju.

She thought she could.

But this time... she kicked an iron bucket.

Ren didn't care for politics. He didn't crave approval and more importantly, he didn't fear them. The only reason he tolerated them at all was because of Hiruzen. Anyone who paid attention could see that.

Koharu didn't. She kept pressing, kept pushing boundaries.

And today, she ended up at death's edge.

Homura's jaw tightened as he recalled the scene, Koharu collapsed, face red from rage and shame, practically frothing, while Ren stood calm and detached. As if he had already moved on to his next battle.

Then there was Danzo, face bloodied, body cratered, his fury turned impotent under Ren's heel.

It was only then Koharu realized what she had done.

Only then that fear crept into her heart.

Homura leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the ceiling. He had no idea what would happen next. But he did know one thing.

Ren Takahashi was not someone you antagonized and walked away from untouched and Koharu had already pressed far too many times.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Homura glanced up from his desk and spoke absently, "Come in."

The door remained closed.

Instead, the window creaked open and Ren stepped in casually, already halfway through a butterscotch ice cream. He crossed the room in lazy strides and took a seat across from Homura like it was his own study.

It took Homura a moment to register what had just happened, who it was, and more importantly, from where he'd entered. But he didn't react. He simply sipped his cold tea, eyes slightly narrowed in tired observation.

They sat in silence for a moment with Ren licking his ice cream and Homura watching without a word until finally, the old man asked, "What can I do for you, Senju heir?"

Ren leaned back in the chair, one leg lazily crossed over the other. "I'll be direct, old man," he said mid-lick. "Come to our ship. Yours is already sinking and it won't be long before everyone still aboard drowns."

Homura processed the words slowly. The boy wasn't wrong, he knew it too well, but still, out of habit or perhaps pride, he asked, "And what exactly do I get in return?"

Ren blinked, confused. "Your... life?"

That got a chuckle out of the old man. He took off his glasses, rubbed the weariness from his eyes. "You've got a strange way of negotiating."

Ren shrugged. "If you were really valuable, I might've tried harder. But you're not. You're... replaceable." He pointed the half-melted ice cream at him like a finger. "Which is fine. But that means you don't get the luxury of sitting on the fence. If you're not with us, you're against us. And we can't afford 'against us' right now."

Homura looked at him carefully now, taking in the boy's face, not just his words, but the force behind them. It wasn't arrogance or cruelty.

It was clarity.

And in that clarity, Homura saw a ghost. A shadow of a man he once followed into fire.

Tobirama Senju.

That same cold precision. That same black-and-white vision of the world. No room for middle paths. No tolerance for slow rot.

His political acumen was so strong that his enemies preferred fighting the man, even with his strength, that to face him in a battle of words.

Back then, it had been terrifying. Now, it felt... inevitable.

"I assume you're not expecting an answer right now," Homura said finally.

Ren stood, still licking his ice cream. "I mean, I'll take it if you've got it."

Homura exhaled. "I need time. You understand why, right?"

Ren gave a slow nod. "I do." He flickered away without another word.

The room was silent again.

Homura remained seated for a few long moments, staring at the spot where the boy had stood.

Then he rose, slow and stiff with age, and walked out of the room, alone.

~

Homura walked alone through the quiet village streets, hands folded behind his back, his thoughts drifting far from the stone paths beneath his feet.

He was replaying an old memory, very old and yet vivid in its simplicity.

Six young shinobi, walking through these same streets, laughing, trading insults, grinning like fools. Villagers would smile and call out to them with pride, their team hailed as the strongest under the Second Hokage's command. And ahead of them, always a few steps forward, was their Sensei. Tobirama Senju, unyielding and unbreakable.

That memory felt like a dream now, it was warm yet distant and unreachable.

Of the six, only four remained. One had died in battle, a death with honor. One had died under strange, still-unexplained circumstances that left no closure. The rest of them... remained.

But time had not been kind.

Danzo twisted by ambition. Koharu hardened by pride. And himself? Homura wasn't foolish enough to exempt his own name from that list. He had tasted power, held it for decades, and grown used to it. Too used to it. That warm sense of fulfillment, of being important, of mattering, it was addictive. He wasn't proud of that.

Yet still... he remembered the first lesson their teacher had ever taught them.

"A good shinobi knows when to advance... and when to retreat."

Homura was no fool. He understood the position he was in, and the tides that were turning. But there were doubts still lingering, ones that needed answers.

Unconsciously, his steps had taken him to the Konoha Cemetery.

And there, sitting before the great Fire Symbol carved into stone, was a familiar figure.

Homura sighed softly, then walked forward and lowered himself onto the stone bench beside him.

"Apologies if I've disturbed your peace, Hiruzen, my friend," he said quietly. "But I need your help."

Hiruzen didn't turn right away. He simply handed over the bottle of sake in his hand and replied with a chuckle, "Sit, my friend. These days, we don't always know who's helping whom."

Homura took a sip and tasted the sharp and bitter taste of the sake just like he preferred, he let out a soft laugh. "Heh... when did you become so weak?"

Hiruzen smiled faintly. "We've all grown weak."

The two sat in silence for a long while, watching the shadows stretch between gravestones as the wind stirred the grass.

Finally, Homura spoke, voice low and even. "Will you be making a move?"

Hiruzen didn't answer right away.

His gaze remained locked on the stone symbol of fire in front of them, strong, unmoving and eternal.

After a long pause, he spoke softly.

"No."

Homura nodded, but his lips pressed into a thin line.

He understood the meaning. Hiruzen wasn't speaking out of fear or indecision.

He had made his choice.

And perhaps... so should Homura.

~~~~~

{I felt like this was a really necessary Chapter to write. In so many fics I have seen the mc's just bashing the two, but we've never really had a clear view of them.

I tried to express things from my POV and some might not like them, but I thought that this was an important Chapter to write so tell me what you guys thought about it.}

{If you want, you can support me on pat-reon}

{Thanks nicholas, pong97, Matthew and DancingMonkey for supporting me on Pat-reon}

{ h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n }

{You know what else}

{280 Stones = Extra Chapter}

{STONES!!!!}