Descended from the youngest son of the Sage of Six Paths, Asura Ōtsutsuki, and through him, inherited the “body” of the sage of the six paths, being born with exceptional life forces and chakra. Despite their modern reputation for association with the wood style, the Senju originally had no defining feature, instead having a reputation for simply being home to strong shinobi with well-rounded proficiency. It is from this balance that they acquired their name, "Senju" (千手, Literally meaning: "a thousand skills", "a thousand hands"), in reference to their being "the clan with a thousand skills".

Distant relatives of the Uzumaki clan, the Senju stuck close and for a long time held on to the Uzumaki as allies, with members of the clan marrying between, like Hashirama Senju, and Mito Uzumaki, as well as the Uzumaki providing Fuinjutsu whenever it was needed by the Senju. As they were descended from Asura, the brother of Indra, the Senju are also distant relatives to the Uchiha, although not as closely as they are with the Uzumaki. Whereas Asura believed peace could be achieved through love and compassion, Indra saw the world as needing power and strength to hold peace, and the two’s feud carried on through the two clans for generations in what would grow to be known as the “Curse of Hatred”, and neither side of the endless conflict could remember the reason the fighting began.

In the time leading up to the Warring States Period, both clans became the two strongest clans in the known Shinobi world, to the point that when one country hired the aid of the Uchiha, or the Senju, the opposition would hire the alternate. A never ending state of war made tensions remain at a high, growing more and more personal with each death caused by the other. This wasn’t to say every member of the clan was born into the cycle of hatred however – the now famous Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha met as children, bonding as friends over their mutual distaste of the conflict. The two mutually dreamed of a world where children like themselves and their siblings would not need to fight, however, Madara Uchiha gave up on the dream, while Hashirama Senju held hope.

The two continued to fight as they grew, and eventually they both found themselves as the heads of their respective clans. Attempting to use his childhood friendship with Madara to end the conflict and bring peace, the attempt was futile, and instead Madara demanded there be one more attempt to suppress the Senju clan. The Senju won, however, Hashirama opted to spare Madara, and prepared to take his own life in a wish to end the conflict between the Senju and Uchiha. Madara stopped Hashirama, the sentiment moving him, and he agreed to work with Hashirama and thus create a village that would go on to survive for hundreds of years after – Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in the leaves. Other clans soon followed suit, as well as other countries adopting the village formulae.

The Senju clan then went on to populate a vast majority of the Hokage seats, something that Madara had expressed fear in – the first, second, fifth, and eighteenth Hokage were Senju, and the seventh, fourteenth and sixteenth were Uzumaki, a close relative clan of the Senju, although by this point Madara was long deceased, and the animosity between the two clans had fallen into history.

For a long period of time, the Senju clan were not recognizable as an official clan, with no members of Konohagakure being aware of members among their ranks after the fourth great shinobi war – the clan had grown scattered, and after Hashirama, who was known for the wood style, the clan faded into just another clan. However, this is where the association of the Senju as skilled ninja ends, and the story of the wood style legacy would begin.

A rare kekkei genkai first seen in Hashirama Senju, there were many attempts to gain the use of the advanced element that only Hashirama was seen to wield. The first example was Madara himself, who after their final battle, took a portion of his flesh and, using the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, began cultivating cells for his own use. Then, after the first Hokage’s passing, the village of the leaf tried countless experiments to reactivate his cells in various ninja, each one resulting in failure, and the death of the subject. However, a student of the Orochi clan named Orochimaru, and student of the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, injected the DNA into a total of sixty children, in an attempt to gain the powers for himself. One child survived, named Yamato, and rose through the ranks to be a member of the ANBU, and one of the protectors of the seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki.

A survivor of the fourth great shinobi war, Yamato went on to find love in a shinobi from the hidden cloud village, and the two eventually started a family together. From there, the DNA required to use wood release spread, and eventually the name Senju returned, not the same as it once was. Keeping their roots in the village it helped to found, the Senju rose up from nothing a second time, however rather than proficiency, are known for their versatility, their uniqueness, and their bravery – one of the founding clans of Konoha had returned. In a way, the fears of Madara Uchiha had come true – the Senju were stronger now as a clan than they had ever been before.

Credit: Midori