Shigure stumbled out of his house early the next morning, still groggy after a sleepless night.
The instant he stepped through the doorway, his foot caught on the threshold.
He pitched forward and landed flat on his face with a heavy thud.
“Ow!
That hurt!” The impact banished every trace of drowsiness.
Shigure scrambled upright, his face covered in dust.
“My new clothes!
I just washed my face too!” He looked down at the clothes he had changed into that morning.
They were already filthy.
Rubbing his aching face, Shigure trudged back inside.
“What am I supposed to wear now?
I only have two sets of clothes for this season.” He rummaged through his belongings with an utterly miserable expression.
Eventually, he found a lightly padded coat and pulled it on before hurrying out again.
A man wearing a padded coat in the sweltering summer heat was bound to attract attention.
Shigure no longer had time to care.
Ignoring the mocking looks he received along the way, he rushed across the square and into the meeting hall.
Predictably, his appearance drew a collective round of eye rolls from everyone inside.
Shigure cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Something came up, so I’m a little late.
Please, carry on.” He found an empty chair, sat down, and lowered his head without another word.
The clan head coughed, drawing everyone’s attention back to the discussion.
“Our next matter concerns Hashirama’s wedding to Mito Uzumaki.” His gaze swept across the room, deliberately ignoring his tardy uncle.
Although Shigure’s seniority had earned him a ceremonial seat on the Senju council, the position carried no real authority, and he had no real voice in the clan’s decisions.
This was also the first clan meeting he had attended in years.
“The preparations are complete,” Shigure’s eldest brother said.
“This marriage will strengthen the relationship between our clans.
More importantly, Mito will help bring the Uzumaki firmly into our camp.
Their support will be vital to the situation in the north.” Shigure’s other older brother glanced at him before speaking.
“I agree that this wedding is important.
It is also an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the Senju Clan to the Uzumaki.
In my opinion, anyone incapable of representing that strength should stay away from the ceremony.” His pointed gaze settled briefly on Shigure before moving elsewhere.
Shigure looked up, feeling deeply wronged.
I was only a little late.
Did my other brother really have to take a shot at me in front of everyone?
“The clan’s senior members must attend the wedding,” the clan head interjected.
“Since everything has already been arranged, does anyone have anything useful to add?” His words swiftly put an end to Shigure’s other brother’s proposal.
This was a wedding, not a battlefield.
If a senior clansman of Shigure’s generation was conspicuously absent, the Uzumaki might start wondering whether something was wrong within the Senju Clan.
The clan head had considered that from the beginning.
When no one spoke, he waved a hand and brought the matter to a close.
Just then, a Senju clansman hurried into the hall.
“Clan Head, it is time.” Tobirama followed behind him, looking distinctly troubled.
“Tobirama, where is your brother?” the clan head asked as he rose from his seat.
“Hashirama already went to the entrance to welcome the bridal procession.
I couldn’t stop him.” “Absurd!” Shigure’s eldest brother frowned at his grandson.
“Has he forgotten the clan’s customs?
Welcoming the bride isn’t his responsibility.
Go and bring him back.” By Senju tradition, when a man married a woman from another clan, he was not supposed to appear before the ceremony.
The women of the clan would receive the bride and escort her into the main hall, where the wedding would take place.
Hashirama, apparently too eager to wait, had run all the way to the compound’s entrance to meet Mito himself.
It was a clear violation of Senju custom.
“But…” Tobirama hesitated, his expression conflicted.
Shigure’s other brother slammed his hand against the arm of his chair.
“Are you hiding something from the clan?” The sudden bang jolted Shigure, who had nearly dozed off in his seat.
“My poor heart…” he muttered, patting his chest.
One of the clan’s jonin failed to suppress a laugh.
Several more snickers followed, and the tense atmosphere in the hall immediately cracked.
His expression darkened.
He had clearly heard his younger brother’s complaint.
Before he could lose his temper, Tobirama’s eyes brightened.
“Granduncle Shigure, come with me.
Hashirama always listens to you.” He even gave Shigure an encouraging wink.
What a trap.
Of the clan’s three most senior men, Shigure was by far the easiest to approach.
Whenever he had nothing else to do, he would seek out Hashirama and Tobirama for conversation.
From time to time, he also impressed them with ideas and theories from Earth.
That was one of the main reasons the brothers respected him so much.
Now Tobirama was shamelessly using him as a shield.
Shigure felt every eye in the room turn toward him.
His other brother’s gaze, in particular, was filled with undisguised contempt.
“So I’m taking the blame for this, am I?” With a resigned sigh, Shigure rose and followed Tobirama outside.
“You troublesome boy…” Tobirama’s eye twitched.
There was something strangely uncomfortable about being called a boy by his granduncle, even if it was technically accurate.
Once they were outside, Tobirama lowered his voice.
“Granduncle Shigure, when I went to the Uzumaki Clan to arrange the marriage, I promised we would follow their wedding customs.” “Then why didn’t you tell the clan after you returned?” “How was I supposed to admit that?” Tobirama looked thoroughly aggrieved.
He had not had much choice at the time.
If he had refused the Uzumaki’s condition, they might have reconsidered the marriage, which would have been a far greater loss for the Senju Clan.
Compared with securing the alliance, whose wedding customs they followed was a trivial matter.
When they reached the entrance to the clan compound, Hashirama greeted them excitedly.
“Granduncle Shigure!” His attention quickly returned to the road beyond the gates.
In the distance, a bridal palanquin was approaching, escorted by several Uzumaki shinobi.
In the end, Shigure made no attempt to persuade Hashirama to leave.
He saw nothing wrong with a groom welcoming his bride personally.
Even if the clan head objected later, what could he do?
Shigure was still his granduncle.
Surely the man wouldn’t dare lecture him too severely.
After the necessary ceremonies, Shigure stood among the gathered clansmen and watched the marriage between the heirs of two great clans.
Before long, however, his eyelids began to droop.
He had not slept at all the previous night.
“The ceremony is complete!” Once the newly married couple departed, the Senju leadership invited the visiting Uzumaki representatives into the meeting hall to discuss future cooperation between the two clans.
Shigure was once again excluded.
No matter how senior his generation might be, allowing a mere genin to participate in such negotiations would be humiliating for the Senju Clan.
Shigure was about to return to his room and catch up on his sleep when a line of text appeared without warning inside his mind.
[Host witnessed a pivotal event in the shinobi world: the wedding of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki.] [Reward: 10 World Points.]
Add to library.
Send some Power Stones.