"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 166: Death of a Sage (Part 1)
The ninja clans of the northwestern plateau had descended into chaos as desired. Yūshin and his team completed their mission and withdrew to the rainforest region.
After a brief stay in the rainforest, the force retreated back into the Land of Fire.
At the border camp within the Land of Fire, various intelligence reports were compiled and delivered to Yūshin daily.
"The Kujii Clan's movements were within my expectations, but I didn't anticipate the Moriho Clan and the Land of Waterfall would expand so rapidly."
Yūshin studied the map and written reports in his hands, finding the Moriho Clan's boldness far exceeded his imagination... The Land of Waterfall's western border had been rapidly penetrating the plateau region during this period.
"It's reported that, unable to endure the brutal warfare, many plateau ninja clans have chosen to descend from the mountains and join the Moriho alliance. Their strength is growing rapidly," Nara Hideyuki said after organizing the next intelligence report.
This was exactly what Yūshin meant by "one step behind, every step behind." He hadn't expected "Iwagakure" to actually fall behind Takigakure... If this development continued, wouldn't the Land of Waterfall become a major power?
Well, that was overly idealistic. The Land of Waterfall was inherently incapable of exclusively controlling a complete, large-scale geographical unit, essentially lacking the potential to become a great nation.
To become a major power, it would need to relocate its headquarters to the plateau. However, once on the plateau, it would lose all current advantages and become just another clan struggling in the quagmire.
Unsolvable—this country might be considerably stronger than in the original timeline, but its strength would only reach mid-tier power status.
This was actually beneficial, as long as they didn't oppose the Land of Fire.
"A mid-tier power..."
Calculating this way, it seemed later Takigakure truly had the qualifications to control a Tailed Beast. Yūshin was somewhat puzzled—how did his interference actually make certain things more reasonable?
"Hideyuki, what work arrangements do I have next?"
"There's one rather important matter. At the invitation of the Lands of Wind and Waterfall, you're to witness their border demarcation... The specific date is in two days."
Yūshin: "..."
What does this have to do with me?
Actually, nothing—but his reputation was excellent, so both sides hoped he could serve as witness.
Normally, borders between the two sides wouldn't be easily determined. Without fighting several battles, who would have the inclination to sit down and discuss matters? However, the problem was that facing more easily seized benefits, they had no need for mutual conflict.
At this time, both sides were eager to annex the "Land of Earth's" territory, making it unnecessary to waste military force on each other. Therefore, they were actually anxious to have this border demarcated and stabilized.
"This is indeed quite important. We're certainly pleased to see border issues resolved through negotiation, but... I feel like I'm forgetting something?"
Yūshin thought for a moment before noticing the discrepancy.
"Wait, what about the Uotani Clan? They and that now-destroyed R River Clan conspired against us."
"The Uotani Clan migrated westward. They're currently sandwiched between the Land of Wind and the plateau. I believe we have no need to concern ourselves with them," Nara Hideyuki said.
Yūshin's side had both exterminated the R River Clan and defeated the Ishikawa coalition, directly frightening the guilt-ridden Uotani Clan into fleeing.
"No need to concern ourselves? Very well, indeed no necessity."
Having the rainforest region's ninja clans migrate westward was indeed Yūshin's original plan—only the method of achievement was somewhat unexpected.
Now the Land of Fire's western and northwestern borders had only three neighboring countries: the Lands of Wind, Waterfall, and Iron—much simpler... Yūshin had achieved his objective.
At this moment, a ninja hurried to Yūshin.
"Lord Yūshin, there's an envoy from the Ishikawa Clan. They hope we can return the remains of their clan leader, Ishikawa Suijin."
"This Ishikawa Clan certainly has thick skin..."
Yūshin hadn't expected the Ishikawa Clan to come personally, offering no exchange conditions while wanting to retrieve their clan leader.
He asked Nara Hideyuki:
"Is that corpse still useful?"
"Not particularly. His heart is completely unusable—too severely damaged."
Ishikawa Suijin had absorbed Yūshin's full special attack. His heart, if not exactly like a sieve, was at least like a showerhead—no longer usable as a chakra node for Cursed Grudge Fear.
"Then return the dumpling filling to them. We're all neighbors in the Shinobi World—we see each other constantly."
Yūshin decided to return the corpse, showing sufficient respect.
Though his phrasing was somewhat inappropriate—who exactly had thick skin? Still, he wanted to maintain neighborly relations.
In any case, Yūshin didn't meet the Ishikawa envoy but decided to show appropriate respect by returning their clan leader's remains.
The next intelligence report—rather, the next letter—came from Daimyo Kiyosu Kiyosuke. The letter stated that as internal warfare in the Land of Fire intensified, the Senju alliance was experiencing supply shortages, so Daimyo Kiyosu had decided to launch a gratuitous aid program.
He'd start with gradual donations, then progressively increase support... Honestly, he could already see the Land of Fire's daimyo position beckoning to him.
When the Senju alliance applied for supplies from Daimyo Enshi, they received a negative response. Daimyo Enshi's reasoning was perfectly sound—their supplies had all been sold.
Ninja didn't concern themselves with economic activities between different daimyo. They neither understood nor attempted to understand what Daimyo Kiyosu had done. They only knew that at the crucial moment, some daimyo provided supplies while others didn't.
Comparing the two, wasn't justice self-evident?
However, observing other ninja alliances' actions—while others were busy expanding territories, the Senju alliance continued cultivating their own small plot. Didn't this seem somewhat lacking in ambition?
In fact, Hashirama Senju only wanted to pacify the Land of Fire. He hadn't considered much else for the time being.
Many believed Hashirama possessed the ability to pacify the world, but in reality, he lacked this capability... Most of the time, the "God of Shinobi" was merely a mortal.
Hashirama could neither physically eliminate all ninja outside his own forces nor master all ninja hearts. Therefore, he could only become the Land of Fire's Hokage, not the Shinobi World's "World Kage."
Not to mention, Hashirama was ultimately just an ordinary person who would die when his time came.
Or consider this: assuming Hashirama Senju possessed both world-sweeping strength and unification ideology, what would he do?
First, remember this person's name is Hashirama Senju.
Death isn't a fixed quantity. There's no principle that killing more people now would correspondingly reduce future deaths.
The main issue is that current Hashirama believes he's killed enough people—no need to kill more ninja.
Winning over all other ninja is also impossible. There's no mystical timeline where everyone submits simply because you're powerful.
"You think superior strength means complete domination? Ridiculous—come, try killing me if you can."
Taking ten thousand steps back, suppose Hashirama slaughtered all non-allied ninja and unified the Shinobi World—what would happen next?
Konoha's ninja would begin migrating outward.
The reason is simple: with such vast living space outside, why would everyone crowd into one small village for internal competition?
After migration, ninja would develop independently. Then, competing for interests over time, they'd become hostile and resume killing...
This shows that eliminating only enemy ninja is insufficient—allied ninja must also be eliminated.
But would eliminating ninja suffice? Who's to say ordinary people wouldn't somehow regain chakra mastery, leading to ninja revival? Even if civilians didn't become ninja, they'd still wage war in their own ways.
Therefore, all civilians should also be eliminated... Humans are the root of all social contradictions. Solving humanity solves all problems.
No humans, no war.
Holy shit, the Moon's Eye Plan—Hashirama Senju's true name is Madara Uchiha... cough, analyzing to this point, please see "first."
Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha share similar ideals, but Hashirama is undoubtedly more pragmatic, so he only manages his Konoha Village and protects his Land of Fire.
The Uchiha's extremism is embodied in Madara—he wants to achieve everything in one step.
Yūshin never dreams of "uniting all Shinobi World ninja"—that's truly a fantasy, achievable only through Infinite Tsukuyomi.
However, the peace brought by Infinite Tsukuyomi isn't reality but illusion. It's better to remain grounded.
...
Two days later, as Yūshin went to serve as witness, in the Land of Fire, within the Uchiha Clan's village—
A young clansman was carefully helping Madara Uchiha remove the bandages wrapped around his eye sockets.
After undergoing surgery, Madara Uchiha was about to regain his sight.
The era of the younger brother's famous quotes had ended; now came the older brother's era of famous quotes.
The younger brother had only one famous quote, but the older brother possessed countless ones, such as:
"Everyone who has seen my Perfect Susanoo is dead.gif"
"No one can stand behind me.png"
"Only I can see through Hashirama's Wood Clone.jpg"
After the bandages were removed, Madara Uchiha slowly opened his eyes. Following his will, his Mangekyō Sharingan manifested—the pattern was the overlay of both brothers' Mangekyō.
"This is the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. I feel endless ocular power... These are eyes capable of seeing the future."
Madara's strength change before and after obtaining the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan could be described in one sentence: with his current ocular power, he could easily control chakra monsters like the Nine-Tails.
This was something his previous self could hardly accomplish, but now it was as simple as eating or drinking.
"Clan Leader, during this period..."
This ninja quickly reported recent events to Madara: the Senju Clan's actions, the establishment of more ninja alliances, the Fireflies' Battle of Yanagikawa, and so forth.
During this time, Madara had first been immersed in grief over losing his brother, then isolated due to eye surgery, so he previously hadn't known the entire Shinobi World had undergone earth-shaking changes in such a short period.
At this moment, four words could describe the Uchiha Clan's situation: Shinobi World orphans.
"Clan Leader, the Senju Clan has repeatedly sent us messages, hoping we'd cease meaningless slaughter and inviting us to join their ninja alliance..."
"Join? Hmph."
Current Madara Uchiha appeared extremely rational. These two light words carried no conviction whatsoever. With so much hatred between the two clans, could two words erase it?
That ninja carefully observed Madara Uchiha's expression. After long internal struggle, he tentatively said:
"Clan Leader, the current external environment is extremely unfavorable to us. If we cannot become part of a ninja alliance, the Uchiha Clan could face encirclement by multiple ninja clans at any time..."
"Many clansmen worry about how long this superficial calm can last. The Uchiha's downfall might occur overnight."
"Alliance? Can rubble piled together stand equal to mountains? All the Uchiha's enemies will be swept away by these Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan..." Madara Uchiha declared.
At this point, it couldn't even be called arrogance, because his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan truly could sweep away all enemies—as long as one particular enemy was excluded.
However, such exclusion was impossible, so "invincibility" existed only in Madara Uchiha's imagination, not something he could actually touch in reality.
"But clansmen don't understand the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan's power. Everyone severely lacks confidence now. Clan Leader, at minimum we should increase allies or use other methods to enhance our strength and boost everyone's confidence."
"Mm, you make sense, but I only trust my clansmen."
"So, the Clan Leader means..."
"Retrieve those Uchiha ninja who've strayed and been misled. Now is our time to weather difficulties together."
"This... seems like a good method, Clan Leader."
"Issue orders to all Uchiha ninja. Next, focus entirely on searching for the so-called 'Hawk Organization's' whereabouts. After finding them, immediately report to me. Understood?"
"Y-yes, Clan Leader."
"Why aren't you going?"
"Yes, Clan Leader!"
Regardless, Sasuke and his Hawk Organization operated around the Uchiha Clan, so if the Uchiha Clan was determined to find them, discovering their traces wouldn't be difficult.
Moreover, since these Uchiha ninja had no intention of concealing their purpose and tracks, when they discovered Sasuke and others, Sasuke's group simultaneously noticed they were being monitored.
"Lord Nameless, they seem to be deliberately seeking us," said Uchiha Kensuke, the ninja who had long followed Sasuke.
"Kensuke, how long has Madara Uchiha been absent?"
"Since the last incident, the Clan Leader hasn't appeared on any battlefield."
"I understand... Everyone retreat, quickly."
Sasuke had once heard the "masked version" of "Madara Uchiha" describe the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan's origins. Although Sasuke now knew that person was merely impersonating Madara Uchiha and his words weren't necessarily true—
However, regarding the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, combined with Madara's disappearance during this period, Sasuke had reason to suspect Madara had already obtained the Eternal Mangekyō.
Indeed, shortly after, Madara Uchiha appeared behind them.
This time Madara was mentally prepared in advance, so Sasuke couldn't use summoning snakes to transfer everyone away at once... Being caught seemed inevitable.
Uchiha Kensuke also understood this. Gritting his teeth, he decelerated again, preparing to intercept Madara Uchiha.
"Clan Leader, we..."
However, as soon as he spoke, Madara's palm struck his back. With a thud, he fell from the tree heights to the ground.
Uchiha Kensuke's limbs were twisted, his face bearing an expression of disbelief. His proud Sharingan would never have another chance to activate.
Sasuke suddenly stopped, turned around, and "gazed" down at Madara Uchiha below. Like a skilled neurologist, he diagnosed Madara Uchiha:
"You're already insane."
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