"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 150: This Uchiha Is Overly Cautious
"Huff..."
Uchiha Sasuke knelt on the ground, his heaving chest and labored breathing the only changes the fierce battle had brought to his body.
The dragon horns, sage markings, and partial scale-like traces on his skin had all faded—proof that he had deactivated Sage Mode.
That Uchiha Sasuke could learn Ryūchidō's Sage Mode within a year wasn't particularly praiseworthy for genius, and it wasn't hard to understand why.
Before coming to this era, though Sasuke had never encountered Sage Mode, he was extremely familiar with natural energy.
He could even skillfully manipulate natural energy, thanks to the Cursed Seal of Heaven.
Though Sasuke had long since removed the cursed seal to rid himself of Orochimaru's chakra, his body's adaptation to natural energy wouldn't simply vanish.
With such a foundation, mastering Ryūchidō's senjutsu in a year—while incomparable to certain cheaters who learned perfect Sage Mode in a week—was still quite commendable.
Sage Mode provides tremendously exaggerated enhancement to a ninja. Compared to using chakra, which damages the body and leaves a ninja exhausted, senjutsu chakra makes one more energetic the longer they fight.
Even without mentioning those combat techniques with dramatic effects, just the physical constitution in Sage Mode isn't something ordinary ninja can handle... Taking Myōboku senjutsu as an example, Jiraiya or Naruto could catch enemies throughout the Shinobi World and spin them like tops with just their "Frog Kata."
In the recent battle, when Sasuke seized the initiative with "Sage Art: White Extreme Technique," the outcome was already decided.
This technique that strips enemies of their five senses is far more domineering than the similar genjutsu "Bringer-of-Darkness Technique"... Young Senju Hashirama developed such genjutsu specifically to counter the Uchiha's Sharingan, but later discovered he didn't need it at all.
Counter the Sharingan? He only needed "tree planting and afforestation."
But White Extreme Technique is different—it can be used against everyone.
In fact, when Sasuke used this technique, he had deliberately weakened its effects. Even so, several Uchiha ninja who had consciously tried to avoid it were still affected and were now sitting aside, recovering from the "concussion" effects.
That's right—this technique has indiscriminate attack effects and can indeed be understood as a high-powered flashbang.
Sasuke, as the caster, relied on his Sage Mode-enhanced body to withstand the technique's negative effects... In fact, his senses were also blocked during casting, but he could rely on Sage Mode's powerful perception for combat.
As for the White Extreme Technique's paralysis and stinging effects, he simply endured them... A Sage Mode body can ignore the cellular-level cutting effects of Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, so compared to that, White Extreme Technique was naturally bearable.
Just tough it out.
Nothing else to say—Sasuke had always been harsh on himself, which was commendable. To put it bluntly, any technique with self-harming aspects, he could use very well.
In short, by using "White Extreme Technique" to seize the initiative and strip enemies of their five senses, then using "Inorganic Reincarnation" to control terrain and landscape, turning the battlefield into an extension of his own body, Senju Butsuma's group was essentially swallowed by Sasuke from the battle's start.
Senju Butsuma was neither Hashirama nor Tobirama, so he was completely powerless against Sasuke... To put it positively, both his sons had surpassed him.
Though a ninja of Butsuma's level wouldn't be unable to resist effectively, the battle's result was beyond question—Sasuke was alive and well, while the four Senju ninja led by Butsuma lay on the ground.
Of course, Sasuke wasn't as calm as he appeared on the surface. In reality, his eyes had blurred to the point where he could barely see anything.
One or two more uses, and his Mangekyō Sharingan would completely lose function, plunging him into endless darkness.
Estimating that his allies had recovered some strength, Sasuke turned to address everyone:
"Dispose of the bodies. We're withdrawing."
"Yes, Lord Nameless."
Several people met Sasuke's gaze and began handling Butsuma and the others' corpses, though in reality, when Sasuke looked at them, he could only see blobs of color.
After leaving the Uchiha Clan, these Uchiha ninja, who felt burdened with a sense of mission, had completely shed their arrogant temperament, replacing it with a cautious operating style.
If they acted according to standard Uchiha style, they would either abandon Butsuma's corpse directly or parade around with his severed head.
But now it was different. On one hand, they believed Butsuma deserved death; on the other hand, to avoid bringing trouble to the Uchiha Clan, they hoped the Senju Clan wouldn't directly connect their clan leader's death to the Uchiha.
The latter was somewhat difficult, but they had to try.
Unexpectedly, Sasuke had also become cautious. Theoretically, after killing enemies, he should have turned and left immediately—not caring about consequences or impacts was the real Sasuke.
However, after staying in this era for so long, Sasuke had become somewhat different.
Previously, he was someone "completely clueless," but now he had become much more restrained... Sasuke indeed forgot pain once healed, but things had to be considered case by case.
He had been frequently beaten in this era—even a dog's brain should learn something... The second pillar had been worn smooth by fate and socialized.
After cleaning up the battlefield, on the way back, Sasuke asked several Uchiha ninja:
"What do you think of my current strength compared to Uchiha Madara?"
Hmm? Apparently not socialized enough yet.
"Hard to say, but definitely capable of fighting... Lord Nameless, do you intend to—?"
"No, I just think Madara won't continue allowing us to act this way. He's stubborn and rigid, with almost no possibility of being persuaded. In his view, we're Uchiha traitors, so conflict between us is inevitable. You need to be mentally prepared."
Sasuke's description of Madara was fine—just unclear whether he felt like looking in a mirror while describing Madara.
"Understood, Lord Nameless... Someday, the clan leader and clansmen will understand why we're doing these things."
"Good."
These Uchiha ninja's belief that Sasuke and Madara's strength was evenly matched wasn't blind talk. First, Sasuke in Sage Mode was indeed very strong, with paper stats definitely above Yūshin and Tobirama. Second, they had rarely seen Madara fight at full strength and had no idea where Madara's limits lay.
Not just these Uchiha ninja—in fact, Madara himself couldn't estimate his own limits, because even when fighting Hashirama, most of the time Madara was consciously holding back.
It was precisely this feeling of "not having used full strength" that gave Madara the illusion that his power could surpass Hashirama's.
The question was, if Madara was holding back, wasn't Hashirama also reserving strength?
The Shinobi World was vast—saying "there are always stronger people among the strong" was completely accurate.
...
Yūshin definitely couldn't have imagined that the difficult problem he'd been obsessing over was easily solved by Uchiha Sasuke. He had always believed Sasuke's arrival in this era would only cause trouble without any positive effects—unexpectedly, the facts were exactly opposite.
One can only say a person will always play unexpected roles in unforeseen places.
Having accomplished such a feat, Sasuke should theoretically become a model of the era, this year's most moving Shinobi World Top Ten Ninja, and a distinguished service medal recipient for Konoha's founding—but Yūshin's opinion of him remained unchanged.
Because Yūshin temporarily didn't know Senju Butsuma was already dead. The man died so silently, not even as dramatically as his old rival Uchiha Tajima—at this time, Yūshin was still troubled by Butsuma's lingering presence.
Moreover, even if he knew Butsuma was dead, he'd find it hard to guess Sasuke was the killer. Without finding the body, it was difficult to determine the killer's identity... There were plenty of people in the Shinobi World who wanted Butsuma dead—if not for his scruples, Yūshin would have competed to act first.
Tit for tat—did anyone really think Yūshin was magnanimous enough to ignore Senju Butsuma's malice toward him? He was just considering the big picture and restraining himself.
Someone half-buried in the ground—no need to rush; maybe he'd die on his own someday... This had always been Yūshin's self-consoling inner monologue, never expecting it would actually come true.
It wasn't until seven days after returning to Fireflies Village that Yūshin received another message from the Senju Clan.
"Yūshin-sama, there's news from the Senju Clan."
The communications office's responsible ninja brought a hawk to Yūshin's office.
This bird wasn't Tobirama's, but honestly, since it frequently flew the "Senju-Fireflies route," Yūshin had become somewhat familiar with it.
"Has Senju Hashirama resumed activity?"
At this time, Yūshin hadn't realized a major turning point had occurred—he was still thinking about writing an autobiography for Hashirama, titled "God of Shinobi: From Bed to Battlefield."
"It shouldn't be such routine matters... Yūshin-sama, it's three red stripes—urgent contact."
Only then did Yūshin notice the three red lines on the message tube tied to the hawk's right claw. He immediately extracted the coded message, quickly deciphered it, and his expression instantly became strange.
The Senju Clan certainly had many affairs, but this time it was good news.
"Summon idle ninja—there's an important mission," Yūshin said.
"What happened, Yūshin-sama?" Nara Hideyuki asked.
"The Senju clan leader, Lord Senju Butsuma, has gone missing."
"Uh..."
Nara Hideyuki thought to himself that Yūshin-sama truly lived up to his reputation—such an attitude change... He'd just received the news and was already using honorifics for Senju Butsuma.
Anyone could clearly understand that "missing" in the Shinobi World was even more terrifying than missing in Myanmar's northern regions. For example, Uchiha Tajima's initial status after the Battle of Kikyō Castle was missing.
Therefore, Yūshin had very sufficient authority to speak on such disappearances.
"How long has it been?" Nara Hideyuki continued asking, wanting to further confirm the probability of the most fortunate... er, most terrible possibility.
"At least five days," Yūshin handed the coded message to Hideyuki.
"Five days..."
Well, five days meant completely cold.
Yūshin sat back in his chair, facing toward the window.
"Really... I hope the Hashirama brothers can accept this loss."
"Yes, they should accept it."
"He truly was a great clan leader."
"...Great?"
"To the Shinobi World's glorious years."
"..."
Nara Hideyuki stopped echoing. At this moment, he also wanted to write a book, titled "Yūshin-sama's Double Life."
After assembling personnel, Yūshin dispatched everyone to help the Senju Clan search for their missing clan leader... Everyone knew what had actually happened, but at this time, they had to do their human best and leave the rest to heaven.
But regardless, Senju Hashirama's rise to power was now fact. Yūshin's mood relaxed, and to commemorate and honor Senju Butsuma's great contributions, he decided to temporarily set aside future planning and wholeheartedly search for traces of this missing person.
No need to ask—only after the other party died would Yūshin be wholehearted.
Yūshin teamed with Hatake Sakumo, heading to the general area where Senju Butsuma had disappeared to search.
But bringing Hatake Sakumo along was obviously not just for searching.
"Do you know the killer's identity?"
"Huh?"
Hatake Sakumo was stunned for a moment, then shook his head—he really didn't know about this.
"Most events before Konoha's founding were barely recorded. I really don't know the details of this matter."
"This..."
Yūshin was thinking with habitual patterns. Honestly, ethnic groups or communities enthusiastic about recording history and risking their lives for historical records were extremely rare.
"I only know some important events related to the Fireflies organization..." Hatake Sakumo added.
From Yūshin's standpoint and perspective observing the Shinobi World, he naturally considered Senju Butsuma a very important figure—if he didn't step down, Hashirama couldn't rise; if Hashirama didn't rise, Konoha was impossible.
But from Hatake Sakumo's future perspective, Senju Butsuma wasn't important at all—not worth attention... The key to Konoha's founding was naturally ninja like Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, and Yūshin—where did Butsuma fit in?
Butsuma's death wasn't worth attention; his life's contribution was fathering two sons.
"Then let me ask you—when was Konoha established?"
"Yūshin-sama, you've really asked the right person... I can only tell you that after Konoha was established, I could know which year was Konoha Year One."
Yūshin: "..."
Are you doing tongue twisters here?
But Hatake Sakumo didn't seem like someone who would joke. After brief consideration, Yūshin understood what he was actually saying...
Hatake Sakumo used Konoha's establishment as his historical chronological reference point—without this reference, how could he know which year was which?
"Ahem, anyway, let's be careful. A ninja of Senju Butsuma's strength died just like that—we need to avoid capsizing in the gutter on this trip."
"Even with Yūshin-sama's strength, you need to be so cautious?"
"My strength? My strength is nothing. The Shinobi World is vast—maybe we'll randomly encounter some passerby ninja who could crush me."
Facts prove you can eat randomly but can't speak randomly. This time it was Yūshin's crow's mouth taking effect.
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