"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 147: The Proverb
Yūshin placed the letter and invitation together on his desk, then absentmindedly tapped the invitation's cover with his left index finger.
It seemed Senju Butsuma wasn't completely oblivious to the changes occurring in the Shinobi World—this proved he wasn't absolutely hopeless, just nearly so... Yūshin's evaluation of the man rose ever so slightly.
But even after becoming aware of the changes in the Shinobi World, Senju Butsuma still insisted on seeking solutions from traditional thinking... Alliances, after all, were just about building mutual trust and deepening relationships.
Senju Butsuma had a ready-made method for forming alliances: marriage.
You could only say this approach was at least better than doing nothing. A marriage contract was essentially a treaty... at least half a treaty.
However, Yūshin felt this was useless—still stuck in old ways, like poking your head out of a turtle shell only to retreat at the first sign of trouble.
Take Fireflies Village, for example. Yūshin hadn't deliberately abolished clan authority, but he could openly compress its scope of application... The leader's power naturally had to override the clan head's power, otherwise what was the point?
The ninja clans that joined the Fireflies naturally understood this, and to some extent they were willing to cede clan authority to the village's supreme will.
Between centralization and decentralization, there would inevitably be conflicts and struggles, but the scope of struggle was limited from the start—a clan's power could never harm the village's collective interests, or they would face "divine punishment."
Now look at the current Senju and Uzumaki—even if they intermarried, could they clearly define who was primary and who was secondary?
Furthermore, mere physical distance would interfere with the Senju and Uzumaki alliance.
In Fireflies Village, different ninja clans were mixed together. Yūshin didn't allow any clan to monopolize any area—they had to mix and mingle together.
Once the village was attacked, whether subjectively or objectively, everyone would unite to defend against enemies, because they were already indistinguishable from each other...
In peacetime, the ninja village naturally allowed a ninja to belong to their clan, but in wartime, clans had to become abstract, conceptual, metaphysical—ninja could only be the village's ninja, not the clan's ninja.
A clan head's wartime command authority came from Yūshin's orders, not from traditional notions of blood kinship.
"We still have to go. Unless something unexpected happens, this is a relationship-building activity by the Senju faction."
Having determined the Senju Clan's intentions, Yūshin had no reason not to attend this wedding.
For political or factional figures, discussing serious business at weddings or funerals was far more efficient than in conference rooms.
"Yūshin-sama, the current Senju clan head is hostile toward us. If we keep going deep into Senju territory repeatedly, they might develop bad ideas. I think we should be more cautious... Didn't you miss Sarutobi Sasuke's wedding from the Sarutobi Clan due to other matters?"
Nara Hideyuki beside him advised Yūshin to act prudently. He was extremely wary of Senju Butsuma's actions and held his character in utter contempt.
Was there anything worthy of respect about someone who couldn't even understand the Shinobi World situation?
"No need for such caution. Though they can barely be considered the same faction, Sarutobi Sasuke and Senju Hashirama's importance levels are different... Haven't our Senju friends sent us special information?"
Even if someone wanted to set up a Hongmen Feast, did they know how many "Xiang Bo" were in the Senju?
Besides, even without any Xiang Bo, Yūshin wasn't afraid of schemes and plots.
"Even so..."
"Hideyuki, let me ask you—where does the Senju Clan's terror lie?"
"Exaggerated base attributes, recovery abilities far exceeding normal levels, astonishing chakra amounts..."
"Wrong, failing grade. Answer again."
Nara Hideyuki lowered his head and thought briefly before answering again:
"It's Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama."
"Exactly. Though one is the main course and the other is clearly the side dish, these two brothers are the core of the Senju Clan's enduring strength... Without these two brothers, how much stronger could the Senju Clan be compared to the already-destroyed Hagoromo Clan?"
In fact, not much stronger—quite the opposite. The "Swift as Wind and Lightning, Fast as Flowing Water" Hagoromo Clan held the advantageous position and could suppress the Forest Senju.
"Are you afraid of other Senju Clan ninja?" Yūshin asked again.
Nara Hideyuki scratched his head embarrassedly:
"I've actually always wanted a Senju heart."
Yūshin: "..."
"You need to watch your international image—try not to do things that would shock friendly nations."
"Anyway, there's nothing to worry about. The Senju brothers will stand on our side."
Unexpectedly, Nara Hideyuki still shook his head:
"Senju Hashirama is straightforward and trustworthy, but as for Senju Tobirama... I can't say for sure. I'll reserve judgment for now."
As he spoke, for some reason, he began to smile.
Hashirama and Tobirama's ideals were highly aligned—the two brothers complemented each other, their wills rarely conflicting... Even including the Uchiha Clan (excluding Uchiha Madara) in the discussion, this remained true.
The brothers shared the same thoughts, but their styles and approaches...
"So what gift should we prepare?"
"A gift? Just send a gold brick. We have money—no need for empty gestures."
But despite Yūshin's lengthy persuasion of Nara Hideyuki, seemingly encouraging the latter to be more open-minded and trust their "allies," when Nara Hideyuki saw Yūshin's drafted envoy list, he nearly couldn't contain his laughter.
Yūshin, Gan Wen Cui, Lan, and Nara Hideyuki.
This team had combat power when you needed combat power, and had combat power when you needed festivity—ready to switch from celebration mode to funeral mode at any moment.
All that fine talk, but wasn't he still being hypocritical in the end?
Though Little Gan had only joined the Fireflies recently, he had already defeated everyone and become the village's undisputed top swordsman... In terms of swordsmanship, Nara Hideyuki felt Little Gan could take on fifty of him.
There was no helping it—Hatake Sakumo would have been famous whether he wanted to or not, because as a newcomer who suddenly got the position of "night school" chief instructor, many people were naturally dissatisfied.
When they were dissatisfied, they would challenge him, and after the challenges ended, Hatake Sakumo would become more famous.
This small squad had everything—control, sensing, close combat, ranged attacks, heavy assault, assassination—whether dealing with open or covert threats, single combat or group battles, they could handle it all.
As long as Hashirama didn't act personally, they could charge seven times through the Senju village.
Several days later, Daimyo Shimizu Kiyosuke personally brought the gold brick Yūshin needed to Fireflies Village.
Hatake Sakumo, who was on daytime guard duty at the Fireflies office building, spotted the daimyo's party and couldn't help muttering from his throat:
"Foolish daimyo, Shimizu Kiyosuke."
Of course, he wasn't insulting anyone—quite the opposite, he was praising the daimyo.
Look, so-called "time travelers" always can't help but spoil things.
The gold brick Shimizu Daimyo brought was real gold—30x20x10 specifications, definitely over one hundred kilograms. You could say people with gold mines were just that wealthy.
And without thinking, that gold mine's reserves and quality were both ridiculously high.
After Yūshin and the daimyo held closed-door discussions for over an hour, the daimyo left behind a letter for Senju Hashirama before departing.
This letter was naturally congratulations to Hashirama, but if Sonoshi Daimyo could see this letter, he would definitely become suspicious... Was this guy trying to seduce his people?
The answer was "yes."
What's with this "your people, my people" small-minded thinking—a ruler should have the world in their heart, understand?
After seeing off Shimizu Daimyo, Yūshin discovered several Fūma Clan ninja led by Fūma Chi circling around the gold brick.
Upon seeing Yūshin, Fūma Chi immediately spoke:
"Yūshin-sama, this thing looks too plain—how about carving some decoration on it?"
"What do you mean plain? This is called golden and gleaming."
"Let's carve something, Yūshin-sama... our hands are itching."
"Fine, fine, move quickly and don't delay things."
Yūshin was thoroughly annoyed—he thought to himself that gold really had magical power, even more than chakra.
As the wedding date approached, the Fireflies first sent a message bird to the Senju Clan, indicating that Yūshin-sama would personally attend the wedding celebration. After receiving a welcoming reply, Yūshin's party set out with their gift.
After the group departed, Yūshin inadvertently discovered something very interesting—this matter had nothing to do with the wedding but was related to his squad composition.
He found that Hatake Sakumo seemed somewhat afraid of Nara Hideyuki. Initially he thought there might be conflicts between new and old employees, but he quickly realized that Hatake Sakumo's fear of Nara Hideyuki seemed like a child's fear of a parent.
This was quite interesting.
...
On the eastern seashore, on a small island—this was where the Uzumaki Clan resided.
The current Uzumaki Clan leader was a white-haired, white-bearded elder named Uzumaki Ashina.
The one undertaking the heavy responsibility of marrying Senju Hashirama was the clan's sixteen-year-old genius kunoichi, Uzumaki Mito... Yes, this was also a mission.
At this current stage, rather than saying Uzumaki Mito was marrying Senju Hashirama as a wife, it was more accurate to say she was marrying him as a "warrior."
Though the Uzumaki were distant relatives of the Senju and the two sides had been friendly for generations, due to the current Shinobi World environment, Uzumaki Mito actually hadn't had much contact with Senju Hashirama.
Therefore, their union was actually a case of arranged marriage.
However, Uzumaki Mito's impression of Senju Hashirama wasn't bad. Though they couldn't speak of love, at least she didn't dislike Hashirama—she even had some favorable feelings... After all, Hashirama had been a young prodigy since childhood.
Precisely because they lived far apart, Uzumaki Mito hadn't witnessed Hashirama's silly side—this could be called distance creating beauty.
Uzumaki Mito at this time had long hair so red it was almost black—this chakra amount... no wonder later the two of them could extract the Nine-Tails like disciplining their own son.
Uzumaki Ashina held a candle as he led Uzumaki Mito, with Uzumaki Ruri (whom Yūshin had met before) following behind Mito.
The group continued down a dark corridor, then entered a secret chamber shortly after.
Throughout the journey, Uzumaki Ashina kept forming hand seals—clearly, the secret chamber was protected by powerful barriers.
After entering the secret chamber, the old clan leader secretly triggered a mechanism, and a stone slab rose from the center of the chamber...
Another stone slab—the Uzumaki Clan also had a stone slab, and naturally it was inscribed with secret text.
"Mito, after I die you'll be the Uzumaki Clan leader, so you must carefully remember what I'm about to say."
After seeing Uzumaki Mito nod, the old clan leader turned his gaze to Uzumaki Ruri.
"Ruri, you're Mito's backup. If Mito has an accident, you'll be the clan leader, so you must also listen carefully."
Uzumaki Ruri was so angry her teeth itched—she nearly rushed over to pluck out all the old clan leader's beard... Damn it, backup this and backup that—do older unmarried women have no rights?
"What are you grinning about? Did you remember my words?" The old clan leader was very serious—he couldn't possibly joke at a time like this.
"I remembered."
Under the old clan leader's calm gaze, Uzumaki Ruri didn't dare act out anymore.
"Ashina-sama, does my becoming the successor mean the Uzumaki and Senju will completely merge?" Uzumaki Mito immediately understood some of the old clan leader's implied meanings.
The old clan leader nodded and said:
"This is an inevitable trend. If our Uzumaki Clan doesn't want to be destroyed, forming a ninja village with the Senju as the primary force is necessary."
"The current Senju aren't trustworthy, right?" Uzumaki Ruri interjected.
"I'm talking about the future. We Uzumaki will follow not Butsuma's Senju, but Hashirama's Senju."
"That's good—it means you're not senile yet, clan leader."
Standing before the dark stone slab, Uzumaki Ruri immediately changed the topic.
"Old clan leader, what's written on this?"
Except for Uzumaki Ashina, the two young women couldn't read the characters on the stone slab.
The old clan leader pointed at the stone slab and read word by word:
"From when the bright flame ignites
Those who bleed may catch their breath
A thousand years of lamentation begins to turn
People of the whirlpool
Inscribe prayers with true names
As calamity gradually rises
Only you
Can shatter the distance
Twenty-first day of the third month
End the mission
Return to origin
..."
"What about the last line? Why was the last line erased?" Uzumaki Ruri looked at the scratches on the stone slab, feeling somewhat baffled—wasn't this an ancestral artifact? How could it be damaged?
"You don't need to know the last line for now."
"Ashina-sama, this proverb is cryptic and unclear. Even with your interpretation, I can't understand its true meaning."
What mission and such nonsense—Uzumaki Mito just felt it lacked practical content.
"You only need to remember these for now. As for the specific meanings, I'll explain them to you one by one before I die."
"...Cool."
If Yūshin were here, he would definitely guess this was someone assigning the task of sealing Black Zetsu to the Uzumaki Clan.
After all, regarding thousand-year missions and such things, he could only think of that.
However, Black Zetsu was never sealed.
Instead, the Uzumaki were wiped out.
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