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After leaving the forest, since Yūshin's group had been maintaining an extremely cautious approach, they hadn't encountered any unexpected situations.
But excess can be as bad as deficiency—after several days of mental tension, many people's emotions had relaxed somewhat. Though they weren't being careless, some slackening was inevitable.
During this time, Yūshin also learned much about the basic situation of the Shinobi World, with information naturally coming from Shichimi Uchiha.
Surprisingly, Shichimi Uchiha displayed a personality quite different from the stereotypical Uchiha shinobi. She appeared emotionally stable, not arrogant, and skilled at communication.
Over these days, Yūshin had obtained considerable useful and useless information from her... naturally, only general knowledge that didn't involve clan secrets.
At this moment, they were discussing the "economic foundations" that various major shinobi clans relied upon for survival.
"Besides obtaining various mission funds from employers, different shinobi clans actually have certain relatively fixed content and funding sources."
"Such as?"
"For example, the Senju Clan—they've consistently obtained stable missions related to tobacco cultivation, production, and transportation from fixed employers."
Yūshin paused. The Senju of the Forest developing tobacco industry? Could this be considered professional alignment?
"We Uchiha handle sugar."
Well, the Uchiha Clan was indeed quite "sweet" in many ways.
"The Hyūga Clan deals with alcohol-related matters."
"What about the Sarutobi Clan?" Yūshin had barely finished asking when he learned to draw inferences, "I know the Sarutobi Clan—it's tea, right?"
"Correct."
For some reason, Yūshin suddenly felt that these historically prestigious, enduring great shinobi clans weren't so remarkable after all. Even the lofty Ōtsutsuki bloodline suddenly became quite down-to-earth.
He wondered if any shinobi clans had invested in salt or soy sauce industries—salted fish and pickled vegetables might represent untapped blue ocean markets.
Apparently Yūshin's previous understanding of the great shinobi clans was somewhat biased. Whether they engaged in production was another matter, but these great clans were definitely involved in logistics.
No choice—they had to eat.
As always, why did shinobi fight to the death? On one hand, it was due to accumulated hatred spanning decades or centuries, certainly involving behind-the-scenes manipulators constantly instigating conflict.
On the other hand, more importantly, they were competing for survival space.
In summary, Shichimi Uchiha had explained part of the Shinobi World's "industrial landscape," greatly refreshing Yūshin's understanding of this world.
Carrying this newly learned, value-challenging knowledge, Yūshin led the team toward a stretch of low hills.
As evening approached, he prepared to find a suitable location nearby to establish camp.
Then Yūshin encountered another group of shinobi who had arrived first at this "prime location" among the undulating terrain and tree-covered area.
The scene immediately descended into chaos, followed by tense mutual confrontation after the confusion.
Yūshin took a brief assessment and immediately began applying his newly acquired industrial knowledge, thinking these shinobi had most likely just experienced "startup failure" on the "Shinobi Innovation Board," resulting in a bankrupting, family-destroying outcome.
They should have been defeated—everyone's spirits were extremely dejected. Even during rest, they hadn't arranged sufficient perimeter guards, so they allowed Yūshin's group to "advance" openly to close proximity without any preparation.
These shinobi were chaotic and disorderly. Some even began giving up when encountering "enemy contact."
Yūshin distinctly saw people struggling briefly, then when unable to stand, simply accepting their fate and slumping down.
The world was full of wonders—when encountering medium-scale enemies, Yūshin's group actually found themselves with overall superior strength.
Though Yūshin's subordinates' abilities weren't praiseworthy, at minimum their "fighting spirit" was perfectly intact.
Moreover, everyone's face showed they'd been eating quite well.
But what about the opposition? Though numbering over thirty, more than Yūshin's side, they appeared individually defeated and emaciated from hunger.
If fighting truly erupted, not considering their own casualties, completely annihilating this group would be effortless.
After so many years of being bullied by various forces, "Hagūgen" unexpectedly found themselves in a position to bully others.
Comparing both sides, their "fighting spirit" was completely different.
Yūshin's people—how to put it? Their village had been destroyed some time ago, and the mental shock and trauma had been diluted by time. Now they viewed problems more positively and rationally, with incredibly strong determination to protect themselves and their clansmen.
Regarding combat willpower, many people's thinking was very simple:
Fight—I'll be first to fight; retreat—I'll be last to retreat.
Correspondingly, the other side had just experienced major defeat, shrouded in negative emotions of failure. Many currently thought:
Fight—I'll die immediately; die—I'll die fastest.
This wasn't to say Yūshin's people had superior mentality—actually, their difference lay only in being at different stages after failure.
Yūshin's people belonged to the "recovery" stage; the opposition was in the "trauma" stage.
The opposition was at absolute disadvantage, so their leader quickly lost composure.
A twenty-four or twenty-five-year-old young shinobi pushed through the crowd to the front ranks.
"Who are you?" he asked.
Currently, this group most feared Yūshin's people were shinobi who had accepted assassination missions.
"We call ourselves 'Ashes'—a group composed of wandering shinobi from different backgrounds. You can call me Yūshin... Who are you?" Yūshin replied.
The opposition carefully observed and discovered Yūshin's group wore no forehead protectors. Though their overall situation was much better than their own, they didn't seem like pursuers.
Because Yūshin's group had neither prepared for battle nor launched sneak attacks just now.
Everything indicated this was a chance encounter.
Seeing this situation, that person decided to gamble. He gritted his teeth and revealed their true identity:
"We are the Fūma Clan, formerly the Kazama Clan. I am the clan leader."
Fūma? Sounded somewhat familiar.
Yūshin considered, then asked:
"Are you the Fūma Clan skilled in crafting shinobi tools and mastering shuriken techniques?"
"Yes, that's exactly us."
"How did you end up in such dire straits?"
Well, this thoughtless remark was somewhat impolite.
Yūshin wasn't trying to humiliate them—he was purely curious.
After all, the Fūma Clan had continued into the shinobi village era. Though later reduced to insignificant remnants, since they could survive to later generations, they shouldn't be in such miserable condition now.
This comment made the opposition's noses sting, tears welling in their stomachs.
Gorō Fūma, the Fūma Clan leader, thought: "We're just strangers meeting by chance—your concern is overstepping... Why do you care how miserable I am?"
But he dared not voice this.
"I'm called Gorō Fūma. Yūshin-san, to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, could you have your people step back slightly?"
Seeing such a miserable and humble group of shinobi, Yūshin suddenly developed a certain idea.
He felt he could conduct a small experiment.
"Given the current situation, misunderstandings caused by my people aren't misunderstandings—any inappropriate actions by your people would be true misunderstandings." So he began applying direct pressure.
Gorō Fūma was momentarily speechless, instantly somewhat annoyed, yet circumstances were stronger than people—he could only bow his head in submission.
"Very well, Yūshin-san. Then may my people step back? I guarantee there will be no inappropriate actions."
Yūshin displayed a smile full of affability, saying:
"Good, but... no."
Gorō Fūma was about to smile in response, but this statement made his attempted smile drop instantly.
This didn't sound like language humans could produce.
Was it good or not good, possible or impossible?
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