"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 146: A-Gan, My Ancestor
The Hatake Clan wasn't much to speak of in terms of size—you could say they were just a handful of people, like a few stray cats.
They lived in a remote, barren mountain valley, isolated and impoverished. Considering that the current Shinobi World was one where ninja clans were beating each other's brains out, the Hatake Clan's state could be described as living in hermit-like independence from the world.
Obviously, this way of life was destined never to produce a great ninja clan.
But the ecological niche they occupied was actually quite good. The major clans didn't bother with such small fry, and as for the small and medium clans... let's just say most ninja clans really couldn't beat them in a fight.
Faced with this sudden provocative voice, the dozen or so Hatake ninja quickly assembled, ready to throw down.
The current clan leader and top fighter of the Hatake was named Hatake Yuedeng—this man looked like someone you wouldn't want to mess with.
If Hatake Sakumo's build could be called well-proportioned, then this clan leader's physique had to be described as burly.
"Who are you? What's your purpose in coming here?"
Though the average strength of the Hatake ninja was decent, Hatake Yuedeng deeply understood the survival ways of small ninja clans. So when facing this uninvited guest, while secretly vigilant, he didn't rashly attack... This kind of approach was already quite restrained.
Hatake Sakumo didn't immediately answer the clan leader's question. His gaze swept over the Hatake ninja who had come out in full force, quickly locking onto a snot-nosed boy holding a long sword.
This child was called Hatake Nandeng. Hatake Sakumo confirmed the other's identity, and his gaze became gentle, even doting.
After noticing his gaze, that child instantly became extremely nervous, not even realizing his snot was streaming like a river, flowing past his chin.
Hatake Sakumo: "..."
I'll kowtow to you, okay? Stop eating your snot.
Good thing he was wearing his signature half-mask, or the entire scene would have collapsed.
Hatake Sakumo forcibly turned his gaze back to Hatake Yuedeng, getting the situation back on the proper track.
"I am Gan Wen Cui from the Fireflies organization. I've heard that the Hatake Clan has amazing taijutsu and keeps to itself, so I hope you can join our Fireflies organization."
"Your survival philosophy is quite good, but now is an age of great strife. The Shinobi World is experiencing a transformation. As the old era ends and the new era arrives, the Shinobi World is about to experience its most turbulent period."
"In this situation, trying to remain aloof is impossible. For all of you, for the Fireflies organization, merger is the right choice—mutual benefit is no empty promise."
Hatake Yuedeng frowned. He had heard of the Fireflies organization, understood their style and philosophy, and had even considered bringing the Hatake Clan to join them, but had always had doubts that prevented action.
To put it nicely, they were somewhat reserved; to put it less nicely, they were a bit slow.
Regarding the question of joining or not, if the answer was "no," they could of course continue observing. If the answer was "yes"... better to act than just feel moved—what was there to hesitate about?
Yūshin had actually miscalculated somewhat—he underestimated his own fame. Simply put, if Yūshin had come to this place together with Hatake Sakumo at this time, the Hatake Clan might have performed a scene of immediate submission...
The Fireflies organization leader personally coming to invite them—some people developing "die for one who appreciates you" thoughts wouldn't be too excessive.
Hatake Sakumo acting alone actually made things complicated... Just this one guy coming to the door? Hatake Yuedeng inevitably felt slighted.
Seeing no response from the other party, Hatake Sakumo said again:
"How about this—I've heard your swordsmanship is quite praiseworthy. If I can surpass all of you in this area, then you agree to my conditions. If I'm no match for any of you, then I'm at your disposal."
If his solo arrival made the Hatake Clan feel very awkward, then these words sounded like pure provocation to Hatake Yuedeng.
"Hmph, you skulking coward—you won't even show your face. How can we trust your identity and background?" Though Hatake Yuedeng didn't want to engage in verbal sparring, he also didn't want to indulge this person's arrogant attitude.
Show his face? Oh no, Hatake Sakumo's heart skipped a beat, but the other party wasn't deliberately finding fault—such a masked person was indeed hard to trust.
Moreover, when trying to persuade someone, not showing your face could even seem impolite.
Hatake Sakumo had no choice but to reach up and pull down his mask.
Hmm? This guy didn't look particularly special, but why did his face seem more and more pleasing the more you looked at it? What kind of mystical phenomenon was this, that even a middle-aged man's face could boost favorability?
Hatake Yuedeng struggled to maintain a stern expression. After brief consideration, reason ultimately prevailed... Though agreeing to an unknown person's invitation felt somewhat humiliating and not worth it, the Hatake Clan really should join the Fireflies organization.
Though he didn't understand anything about Shinobi World transformation, he could feel that wars had been escalating over the years. For the clan's survival, they had reached a time when they had to make changes.
If they were going to change, the Fireflies organization was indeed the best choice.
Thinking this way, he stepped forward and said to Hatake Sakumo:
"Is this some clumsy imitation of your leader's certain behaviors? I've heard how your leader made the Akimichi Clan submit willingly... No need for such trouble. As long as your swordsmanship can surpass mine, I'll agree to your conditions."
This old guy even knew about the Akimichi Clan affair—meaning he had indeed studied the Fireflies organization's expansion history.
"Good, then it's settled."
Now it was Hatake Yuedeng's turn to be somewhat confused. This person trusted him just like that? Didn't consider the possibility of him going back on his word?
Of course Hatake Sakumo trusted him—what else could he do? Make Hatake Yuedeng swear on eighteen generations of ancestors or curse that the clan's children would be born without anuses?
"Not making a move? Or are there additional conditions?"
What else could Hatake Yuedeng say? He could only advance with his blade.
His swordsmanship was more fierce, with moves that were bold and sweeping. Hatake Sakumo's side? He seemed just more balanced—flexible yet sharp. With one short sword, he blocked, parried, thrust, and slashed, but his moves didn't seem particularly special.
Facing swift and deadly killing intent with every move, Hatake Sakumo seemed only able to defend passively. But after the opponent's fierce assault lasted five minutes, he suddenly found a flaw, and in the next second, that short sword was resting on Hatake Yuedeng's neck.
"Victory and defeat are decided. No problem, right?"
Hatake Yuedeng signaled the clansmen behind him not to act rashly. He knew his own situation—this person across from him had already given him enough face, otherwise their battle would have ended even faster.
"You won."
This clan leader wasn't some scoundrel. He could manage the four words "willing to accept defeat," but...
Why did this guy's swordsmanship have such a familiar flavor? Familiar yet different, as if both sides had once stood at the same position, but the other had long since advanced several miles away.
Actually, the victory-defeat agreement was just going with the flow—what really played the decisive role was the clan leader's long-standing intention regarding the Fireflies organization.
"Then the agreement is reached."
Hatake Sakumo showed a smile. He sheathed his short sword, his gaze turning to the crowd again.
This time he could no longer control himself. He pulled off his mask to use as a handkerchief, quickly walked into the crowd, and under everyone's horrified gazes, extended his dark hands toward a pitiful child.
Then...
He wiped the other's snot clean.
Big brother, this stuff has too high nutritional value—eating too much easily affects the next generation.
"Lord Gan Wen Cui..."
"No, no, just call me A-Gan... You can all call me A-Gan or Little Gan, otherwise I feel awkward."
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
The Uchiha Clan didn't know that the inherently evil Senju brat had already broken through his bottleneck and was looking for a suitable opportunity, preparing to launch a thunderous strike to bring devastating disaster to the proud Uchiha.
New leadership, new atmosphere—they were still immersed in the successive victories brought by their enterprising new clan leader Uchiha Madara.
At this time, the Uchiha Clan had completely shed their dejection and were unstoppable, their future seemingly bright.
Who could have imagined that between "tomorrow's rising star" and "tomorrow's fallen flower" lay only a thin line?
Even Uchiha Madara hadn't understood that this Shinobi World actually had no "most tragic," only "more tragic."
Right now he was focused on another matter.
"You're saying someone rescued our people on the battlefield? But after our people were rescued and survived, they quietly faked their deaths and no longer returned to the clan?"
Uchiha Madara found this somewhat incomprehensible. Someone rescuing Uchiha ninja was already science fiction enough, but even more science fiction was that the rescued clansmen actually didn't return—had they been caught in a genjutsu?
Could it be that someone was dissatisfied with his leadership methods?
Madara immediately shook his head. The current Uchiha Clan was completely different from the previous clan leader's era in terms of spirit—the gloom was gone, they were full of enterprise, galloping across battlefields, winning battle after battle. Who would be dissatisfied?
"Do you have more specific intelligence?" he asked.
The ninja who had just spoken signaled another ninja to step forward. This ninja said to Madara:
"Madara-sama, last time I was injured in the ribs during battle and happened to encounter this group of people. They helped treat my wounds, then took away two teammates who were near death..."
"Among the group were clansmen I recognized. I questioned them about what was going on, but they said they hadn't betrayed the Uchiha—on the contrary, they were helping the Uchiha in another way... Oh right, they seemed to call themselves the 'Hawk' organization."
Uchiha Madara: "..."
"Hawk... Hawk?!"
His fists clenched. Sure enough, he should never have let that mysterious, babbling guy go... What Hawk organization—it was clearly a sub-organization dispatched by the Fireflies organization, parasitizing on the Uchiha Clan.
Sinister, too sinister. At this moment, Madara felt he had learned something new—there was actually this kind of "combat method"... If you can't get anywhere on the frontal battlefield, then I'll send people to divide you.
Yūshin, you really deserve to die!
How could there be this kind of ninja in the world—no combat ability, just playing mind games, purely disgusting people.
At this moment, with the Uchiha Clan thriving, Madara was even less likely to believe Sasuke's talk of "future" and "time travel." He was certain Sasuke was Yūshin's spy.
Though Yūshin was taking the blame and suffering an undeserved disaster, while Madara hadn't guessed the reason correctly, the result was about right... Sasuke was indeed helping the Uchiha, and also indeed dividing the Uchiha.
Sasuke didn't care about Madara or Izuna—he only acted according to his own ideas.
"It's genjutsu."
"Madara-sama, what did you say?"
"The so-called clansmen who joined the Hawk organization have been controlled by enemy genjutsu. That organization has a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan... We must prioritize eliminating this organization."
Just as Uchiha Madara's brilliant mind was about to deploy the divine strategy of "secure the interior before dealing with external threats," a nearby ninja immediately reminded him:
"Madara-sama, our current battle situation with the Senju Clan is evenly matched. We've only just gained the upper hand. If we use our forces elsewhere... I'm worried we'll see all our previous efforts wasted."
Sasuke finally got smart for once and picked good timing?
That's not quite right either. If the Uchiha-Senju battle situation wasn't intense with increasing casualties, Sasuke's Hawk organization couldn't have become active. You could say cause and effect have their own natural laws.
Madara could only be angry in vain. After a while, he said:
"Give orders to the front-line ninja—once they encounter the Hawk organization, prioritize eliminating their leader. He's a young man, but don't be careless—he has a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan."
Yūshin helped Sasuke take the blame, but Sasuke also helped Yūshin block disaster—truly a case of "you take the blame, I'll go die"... Madara viewed the Hawk organization as the Fireflies organization's peripheral group, making Sasuke his priority elimination target.
...
Several days later, Hatake Sakumo returned to Fireflies Village with the Hatake Clan.
Yūshin personally came out to warmly receive them, fulfilling the "treating talent with courtesy" scene that Hatake Yuedeng had expected. For a time, host and guests were thoroughly pleased.
After receiving and settling the Hatake Clan, Yūshin's planned "night school" officially began classes. Hatake Sakumo served as "Instructor Gan," with several other excellent Hatake ninja serving as teaching assistants.
With Konoha's White Fang's instruction and training, the battlefield combat abilities of some ninja in the organization would definitely improve accordingly... With such a master personally providing guidance, even the stupidest students could make some progress.
After another half month, Yūshin suddenly received major new intelligence from the Senju Clan... This time the information provider wasn't the Senju Five.
The letter came from Hashirama Senju.
"Huh? You're getting married too? Wasn't this not happening before?"
The letter's content could be discerned from Yūshin's reaction—Hashirama Senju was also preparing to marry... Clearly Yūshin had only recently returned from the Senju Clan, and he had never heard even a whisper of related information before.
The marriage partner was from the Uzumaki Clan.
Wait, didn't Hashirama Senju marry into the Uzumaki to ensure Konoha Village could long-term control the Nine-Tails?
Hmm? Wasn't that right?
You have to know that though Hashirama was invincibly strong, he died young. When he passed away, he already had a granddaughter, and his granddaughter had even learned his skills to perfection... specifically referring to gambling skills.
In other words, Hashirama had married young at a tender age.
Right, that's right, isn't it?
Yūshin held the letter and invitation, sensing the restlessness of the old Senju.
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