Headcanons for the Senju clan?
//How ironic! Over the time when I didn’t have internet, I was making headcanons about the Senju! Here you go<3
THE SCROLL OF SHIKKOTSU & THE SENJU & UZUMAKI ALLIANCE
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki passed down the Scroll of Shikkotsu to Ashura, the progenitor of the Senju clan, and his descendants. With the scroll, the Senju were able to communicate with the slug and snail beasts that live in the fabled Shikkotsu Forest, that no one could ever seemingly escape from. This was proven false when Mito Uzumaki’s great, great grandfather found a way out of the fabled woodlands. His chakra was like the essence of life itself, able to heal even the gravest injuries via simple transfusion of chakra. Scientists and priests alike had studied the effects of the Uzumaki and Senju chakra, but there was no explanation for why it was so vigorous. There was even less information about how to control such a potent life force - only the few had managed to harness its true potential, and Mito’s great, great grandfather had been one such person. The scroll of Shikkotsu came to the Uzumaki clan when the Uzumaki clan branched from the Senju clan when the Uzumaki finally decided that at one point in the Era of Warring States, that they didn’t want anymore bloodshed, and so they travelled to Uzu no Kuni, and founded their settlements there, and succumbed to neutrality. It was only until Hashirama Senju’s reign were the Senju and Uzumaki allies again.
The Bijuu are forces of nature that draw their powers from the earth and those living on it. They’re always drawn to places where a lot of people will die. It’s the bloodshed that makes them powerful. The Senju clan’s progenitor, Ashura, passed this information down to the Senju clan as a warning so they’d be ready when the Bijuu appeared on earth again. The nine bijuu had been myths, nightmare stories to tell to children to make them behave. They had never before been seen by mortal eyes until Hashirama Senju, Mito Uzumaki and Madara Uchiha pursued the mainland and captured all nine bijuu during the Senju-Uchiha alliance and the founding of Konoha. For a long time, the nine bijuu were simply another invented mythology… a massive, fantastic saga of limitless chakra for children with ambitions to dream of one day taming.
THE SWORD OF THE THUNDER GOD
The Sword of the Thunder God was crafted in the Ōtsutsuki empire and since the fall of the empire, it was rumored to be a mythical weapon full of wrath, and it’s a warrior’s dream to wield it. It was lost to the world in the sands of time and for centuries, the descendants of Ashura and Indra made a frantic search for it. Centuries later, a fourteen year old Tobirama Senju and his team had found it in a ruin assumed to be many centuries old, if not older. The blade itself glowed bright yellow and was infused with pure electrical energy said to have the wrath of the gods of the air, and was extremely sharp, said to cut through even stone. It’s nature was extremely useful in Tobirama’s Water Release techniques, since he could electrify the water, making the techniques much more dangerous to his foes.
Contrary to popular belief, Hashirama Senju was not the first nor only one to manifest the Mokuton. It had manifested earlier, in seemingly random individuals of the Senju clan, but the power of their Mokuton only ensured fertility of the land, but for a long time, the Mokuton was only seen as a myth of the past. It was not until Hashirama Senju that the Mokuton attained viability that it could be utilized as a weapon of mass destruction in warfare.
The Scroll of Seals contained many dangerous techniques such as the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and Eight Trigrams Sealing Style. Once belonging to the Senju, it is now sealed within the scroll room of the Hokage Tower. It was said that Hashirama found the scroll, still in excellent condition, within the flooded basement of a mansion that once belonged to the extinct Hagoromo clan, whom were once followers of the Sage of the Six Paths himself.
The Shodai’s necklace was a green diamond-like jewel necklace worn and passed down by the Matriarchs of the Senju clan, as it was a precious jewel to the clan, until Hashirama Senju snatched the sacred jewel from his late mother, Akane Senju’s burial. It was made from a special crystal gem; where it can be found and how it was made is unknown. It does hold sacred powers. One is the ability to hold chakra, one that Hashirama took advantage of. In this case, he would fill it up with his powerful and potent healing chakra, and set it to activate should the wearer be injured enough that their life is in danger. What happens is that the chakra stored within comes out and envelopes the wearer, healing any and all injuries. When the crystal is full, it glows a healthy bright green. When it’s empty, it’s a dull green and no longer glows with chakra. Another power it had was the ability to restrain beings like demons and bijuu, using the Hokage-Style Sixty-Year-Old Technique: Kakuan Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands technique. If the user of the technique, who has happened to have the Mokuton, is wearing the necklace, the technique becomes stronger.
Wood Release is the kekkei genkai of the Senju clan. It’s extremely rare, with Hashirama Senju being the most recent to have it naturally and Konoha ANBU Yamato having gained it half a century later due to experimentation. Those who do have this ability can manipulate wood, growing trees and plants and fauna of all kinds for various purposes.
Most members of the Senju clan, pre-Konoha, had names that ended in “-ma” which can refer to a space or a room. Post-Konoha they are sometimes named after things related to wood or trees, or have similarities to other clan member’s names. For example, Tsunade means “mooring rope” while Nawaki means “rope tree”. Others are named after flowers such as Toka, which means “Peach Flower”. The names are usually related to forests or lakes.
Some Senju, like Hashirama, Tobirama and Toka Senju had tremendous amounts of chakra, and had enough to keep fighting for hours or even days. This was extremely rare though.
Hashirama and his granddaughter Tsunade, had very powerful medical ninjutsu talent. Hashirama’s medical jutsu was said to be on a level he could heal almost any injury without hand seals - whether it be injuries he incurred from combat or someone else who is injured. Tsunade Senju, the granddaughter of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki could get to the same level with the Hundred Healings Seal, which is said to be very close to Hashirama’s level. She was a master of making antidotes, amongst other notorious talents.
The Senju clan, also known as the “Clan of the Forest” and “The Clan of a Thousand Skills/Hands” are also known for having ninja with a wide range of abilities, be they ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, while others may focus more on one set of skills. For example, Toka Senju focused more on genjutsu, Tobirama Senju focused more on Water Release, and other Senju focused on kenjutsu, they were a clan that excelled in all forms of combat jutsu.
The Senju clan are also known to having excellent sensor type shinobi, a few examples being the She Wolf, Akane Senju, the Bear Sage, Tsubaki Senju, Tobirama Senju and Toka Senju. As a sensor type, they coulc interpret a person’s chakra nature, can detect genjutsu, can tell when someone is lying, read a person’s emotions, capable of detecting clones, suppressing their own chakra, and can even disguise their own chakra as someone else’s.
SUMMONING CONTRACTS & SENJUTSU TRAINING
Being one with the forest and nature, the Senju clan are also renowned for having a variety of different summoning contracts of the beasts of old. Ikema Senju, Toka Senju’s father had a smilodon; Tsubaki and Toka Senju had a variety of bear summons; and Akane and Tobirama Senju had a variety of wolf summons. There are three “brands” of senjutsu training that the Senju have been trained in; Feline, Wolf and Bear.
The Senju clan’s territory consists of a a lush, wooded land spotted with mountains and hot springs. Streams and rivers wind through the warm, fertile land. A single mountain range stretches from the centre of the country to the northeast border. The Senju Encampment resides deep in the forests of Hi no Kuni, built into the trees, caves and mountains themselves. The wooden buildings and towers make up a sprawling rural city, surrounded by a massive wooden wall on three sides, a large cliff-face on the fourth, and is guarded by the woodlands as well as Senju sentries to defend the encampment.
The Senju kingdom is cut off from the rest of the world by a giant woodland of redwoods and a maze of forest and mountains, where only members of the Senju clan could find their way through, while others foolish enough to enter those woods would be lost forever. To outsiders, the very air of the forest is heavy with illusion, it will seek to enter into the minds of thieves and foes, and lead them astray. There is a single path that travels through the woodland, and it most likely leads to the Senju encampment, but at one point, there’s a fork in the road: one path leads to the Senju kingdom and the other leads to a path of a most maddening, tragic, and eventually, a most painful death from whatever beasts lurk there. However, if someone were to leave the path, one would never find their way back again. There’s no telling which path is which.
Bounded by the great Naka river down south and a mountain range due east, and the sea beyond that, the towering redwood forest of the Senju clan made sure their settlement was impenetrable as any fortress. Ancient genjutsu and fuinjutsu made sure that only true-blooded Senju grow up and learn how to navigate the treacherous forests, which in and of itself houses a dangerous variety of animals, like gigantic tarantulas, pythons and boas up to sixty feet long and other nature-made traps.
The Senju clan built their wealth in valuable metals and gemstones, which were easily discovered within the natural cave systems below their lands. Throughout many generations, their kingdom expanded and continued to grow in power, steadily growing in fame and allies and enemies. There were many times of hardship, and there were many times of peace, and throughout it all it was the Senju clan who prevailed and continued to rule their lands.
The forest plays a crucial role in a young Senju shinobi’s early education. Here, amongst the towering trees and vibrant undergrowth, the child first learns how to survive, and how to hone his or her chakra control, to navigate the canopy of the forests. All Senju are raised with a deep-rooted consciousness and responsibility over nature, and their unusually ‘fertile’ chakra makes sure their lands shall always bear fruit and be prosperous, no matter the weather across the rest of Hi no Kuni. There is a saying that for every Senju buried in the earth, one redwood tree grows over the grave. This way, even in death, they nourish the earth, and by becoming one with their vast forests, they protect their clan and the future of the Senju.
The Senju clan are wondrous farmers, hunters, cooks and herbalists. In fact, the Senju have a whole garden of a variety of different herbs, Hashirama is often seen here, supplying with new ones. The Senju clan are also very good farmers, and they often trade their foods with other clans for other important resources. Most of the Senju clan adore food, and so they eat lots in order to get more healthy in body, mind and spirit, it’s also a tradition of theirs to eat with their families.
The Senju often live in wooden houses, in cave homes, in valley cottages, and even in the trees themselves. There are very few Senju that live in the traditional Japanese houses. They like to be one with nature and so to keep the peaceful and natural aura, the home are very important to them, and must be protected at all costs.
Most people of the Senju clan are illiterate, for their wealth and education levels after some time after Ashura’s death decreased, as most of the Senju were focused on defeating their eternal rivals; Indra’s descendants. However, since the time of Hashirama’s reign, it was Tobirama Senju and Toka Senju who helped solve this problem. The two of them knew how to read and to write, and so, thinking that knowledge was just as important as brute strength and precision, they taught those willing to learn how to read and write. During Konoha’s founding, it was mostly the Uzumaki and Uchiha clans who wrote out the laws of the village.
The Senju Imperial Palace and the Manor is the pinnacle of the clan and it’s kingdom. It has many members, mostly of nobles, council members, the sovereign and the guests of the Senju rest here. The Imperial Palace has been passed down since the time of the Rift, and the mass exodus of Ashura’s children from generation to generation. The Palace is enchanted by an ancient chakra, and even in older times where the Senju’s opponents were stronger than they were, the Imperial Palace would not fall to any siege, and it is an open house to any Senju citizen or ally, though it is usually a place for the nobility and aristocracy.
THE SENJU IMPERIAL KINGDOM LOCATIONS
Fujita Countryside & Farmlands
Hideyoshi Mountains & Kinama Mines
Guests’ Stay: A minor place made for clan guests that make their rooms here, along with less social members.
-Campfire Area: A place near the Palace, of story-telling, fun and games. The area is a lighthearted place that would be used for clan gatherings and contests of all sorts between clan members, it’s a place where stories from the Senju clan’s past will likely be shared. It is near the Guests’ Stay, as if there ever were to be any, this is where they would be greeted and introduced to the clan. Parties, events and announcements often happen here.
-Memorial Hall: The hall that connects all the lands, and the resting place of the Senju’s history. It contains countless information on family trees, memorials of past leaders, and much more on it’s walls.
