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"Huh? Really?" Yūshin instinctively expressed doubt.
He wasn't a sensory ninja and basically had no ability to perceive other ninjas' chakra, so he could only judge whether someone had cast genjutsu on him based on his own mental feedback.
But right now he had no feedback whatsoever.
"Look at my eyes—do you think I'm joking?"
Shichimi Uchiha felt extremely surprised by Yūshin's apparent "immunity" to her genjutsu.
Although her Sharingan wasn't genjutsu-specialized, as a standard Uchiha, her genjutsu skills were definitely not lacking.
Shichimi Uchiha wasn't overconfident about her genjutsu, thinking she could be invincible with it alone, but...
If someone fell under her genjutsu and then instantly broke free, she'd consider that normal—a case of "I attack, you counter," perfectly reasonable.
But Yūshin's performance seemed to suggest her genjutsu simply didn't take effect at all. She'd never encountered such a situation.
If genjutsu was a "pit trap" set by the caster, then normally ninjas dealt with genjutsu crises by first falling into the pit, then climbing out. But Yūshin? The pit was clearly there, yet he could walk straight across as if on solid ground.
This defied common sense.
Yet chakra was hardly such an inflexible thing.
After "White Zetsu-fying," Yūshin very likely remained crouched at the bottom of the largest, deepest pit possible. To dig a small pit within this pit, one would first have to drill through the earth's core.
So when responding to Yūshin's question, Shichimi Uchiha even cast the same genjutsu again, yet Yūshin still showed no reaction.
"All right, then... could you try a more powerful genjutsu?"
Yūshin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Not being affected by genjutsu meant his previous speculation had been confirmed to some degree.
Since he wasn't affected by ordinary genjutsu, naturally he should try more powerful ones, so he made this new request.
"...Fine."
Faced with such an unreasonable situation, Shichimi Uchiha also felt somewhat competitive, so while using her Sharingan, she formed hand seals and employed a considerably powerful genjutsu.
Yūshin's eyes remained exceptionally clear as he focused intently on her Sharingan. Seeing Shichimi staring without blinking, seemingly straining very hard, he almost wanted to ask if her eyes were dry.
"Still no effect?"
This time Shichimi Uchiha used a powerful mental control genjutsu. Theoretically, her chakra should invade the controlled target's mind and yank out desired information, but now she felt like she'd invaded a blank space and pulled out nothing but loneliness.
What was happening? Had genjutsu theory ceased to exist?
After this genjutsu also "failed," Shichimi Uchiha gritted her teeth. The three-tomoe pattern in her eyes slowly rotated, soon transforming into a more complex design...
She activated her Mangekyō Sharingan.
With these eyes' enhancement, even mediocre genjutsu would produce the highest level of mental control effects, yet...
Yūshin blinked and said: "Quite wondrous—just looking at them makes one's heart race. Truly worthy of being the Sharingan among Sharingan."
These eyes represented power and risk. Being stared at by them would indeed make any ninja involuntarily feel heart palpitations, a sense that their life and death were in another's hands.
"Why isn't my ocular power taking effect?"
"How would I know? It's your ocular power after all—you should ask yourself that question."
Yūshin had obtained the answer he wanted. Genjutsu had once been the technique he feared most, but now he could relax. What truly excellent Sharingan genjutsu—it made his mind increasingly clear.
Shichimi Uchiha closed her Mangekyō. She looked thoughtfully at Yūshin, feeling his identity and origins must be extraordinary, as if he harbored some secret.
Someone who could calmly face the Mangekyō Sharingan obviously couldn't be just an ordinary ninja.
But this was normal—anyone who could rally a group of wandering ninjas in the shinobi world would inevitably hide something, whether unknown past experiences, thrilling plans, unspeakable schemes, or perhaps...
Unheard-of secret ninjutsu.
Shichimi Uchiha was filled with curiosity about Yūshin's methods for countering genjutsu, yet such matters concerning one's trump cards were impossible to ask about directly.
Wanting to ask but unable to, she nearly scratched her ears and cheeks in frustration, yet Yūshin simply departed after finishing his business, deeply concealing his achievements and fame.
The next day, both groups began merging in the small grove.
Based on the Fūma Clan's current weakness, Yūshin proposed mixed formations to achieve one-on-one "mutual assistance" within small-scale units. In essence, this meant breaking up the Fūma Clan's organizational structure and reorganizing squad units.
Yūshin's approach was perfectly normal, even open and aboveboard.
Forming cliques was unacceptable—everyone huddling together for warmth was true mutual support.
As for Clan Leader Gorō Fūma, Yūshin appointed him as his deputy, with status roughly equivalent to Kansen Morinaga and Ryūnosuke Hayasaka.
Despite having only fifty-plus people—equivalent to about two middle school classes—reorganizing them together was quite time-consuming and laborious. They delayed at their location for an entire day, and after another night, finally restored order and set out again.
With numbers more than doubled, Yūshin's supplies naturally became stretched thin, so they could no longer move while avoiding towns as before, but instead had to actively approach them.
Yūshin wanted to purchase supplies in town while gathering information.
Previously, his genjutsu experience in "Big Brother Town" was mental interference type—the events before escaping the genjutsu were mixed truth and falsehood, but fortunately the money he'd found was real.
But the strange thing was having money yet being unable to spend it. When Yūshin had the team wait near town while he brought two people to purchase food, unexpectedly the merchants refused to sell.
Because Yūshin and his group were unfamiliar faces, and the local food merchants only traded with acquaintances... In chaotic times, such restrictions on trading partners were understandable.
But the frustration of having money yet being unable to spend it made Yūshin extremely vexed—he nearly lost his temper and started "collecting" on the spot.
Fortunately Yūshin understood restraint. After finding an opportunity and seeing other ninjas successfully make purchases, he took the chance to steal some of their chakra, then after transformation became a standard regular customer.
Spending all his money, Yūshin purchased roughly several weeks' worth of food supplies.
While Yūshin was figuring out how to complete transactions, the ninjas he'd sent out gathered a useful piece of information... A daimyo to the west was urgently hiring a group of ninjas.
...
At a location somewhat distant from a certain town, in the ruins of an inconspicuous village, lay Ashes' temporary camp.
After resolving the food crisis, morale in the camp stabilized.
At this time, Yūshin, Kansen Morinaga, Ryūnosuke Hayasaka, and Gorō Fūma gathered together, listening to intelligence brought by a ninja.
"It's said that Lord Date of Kikyō Castle to the west is actively recruiting ninjas."
"Kikyō Castle... and the Date clan?"
Yūshin silently repeated this somewhat familiar place name.
"What about the ninjas originally under them?" Kansen Morinaga asked.
A daimyo, or simply put, any secular power wanting to establish itself at this time necessarily had to possess affiliated armed forces—meaning they had to secure a ninja faction.
Whether through top-down control or broader cooperation and courting, in any case, having no ninjas was impossible. Ninjas might not need daimyo, but daimyo definitely needed ninjas.
"Apparently due to a recent mission conflict, they were eliminated by other ninja forces, so the Date clan has essentially been stripped of part of their military strength and urgently needs new power to fill the gap," the ninja continued relating the information he'd gathered.
His intelligence was quite general, but Yūshin couldn't demand much more. With incomplete organizational structure and being in unfamiliar territory with virtually no knowledge, being able to gather this much was already good.
"Seems like an excellent opportunity."
"But we might also face extreme crisis because of this."
"Even if there's danger, there's no choice—isn't this what being a ninja is all about?"
Yūshin remained silent while the others assessed the benefits and hidden risks of going to the Date clan to "job hunt."
The logic was simple—accepting a daimyo's employment meant completing missions they assigned, and these missions very likely carried the risk of casualties.
"But our current state is very fragile—we basically have no capacity to bear risks."
"But we're only ninjas, unable to escape inherent constraints and certain subtle limitations..."
"Only through bloodshed can we earn living space."
"No one can deny this point."
Well, the topic gradually became bitter.
Yūshin just listened silently, appearing to weigh pros and cons, but actually he wasn't thinking that much.
Ensuring no one would ever have to sacrifice—such words Yūshin couldn't speak. Because such statements were too presumptuous, appearing extremely naive. In fact, even Hashirama Senju couldn't say such things.
The "God of Shinobi" also couldn't protect every clansman, let alone him who wasn't yet the "God of Shinobi."
To survive in chaotic times, ninjas could only rely on force. Having chosen this path, they would always face victory and defeat.
Victory meant life, defeat meant death—nothing difficult to understand or unacceptable about this.
Moreover, even if this world had other things to rely on, Yūshin would only depend on his own force, because only force was most reliable.
Ninjas' lives seemed worthless, but in this era, actually only ninjas were qualified to control their own destiny. Precisely because ninjas were most dangerous, ninjas were also safest.
The logic was simple—only those who could kill could protect themselves.
Daimyo who controlled more resources and dominated distribution rights seemed like ninjas' upper class, but actually? Hands gripping sword hilts could be severed at any moment.
The current basic situation in the shinobi world was this: different ninja factions fought each other desperately, while the entire ninja class maintained fragile balance with the "daimyo" ruling class that governed civilians.
Ninjas were busy going crazy against other ninjas and generally wouldn't go crazy against daimyo.
Theoretically, daimyo also wouldn't directly dispatch ninjas to eliminate other daimyo, because no one could bear the potential risk of opening Pandora's box.
But with warfare becoming increasingly severe now, this political tacit understanding probably wouldn't continue much longer—sooner or later, some self-proclaimed clever person would appear.
People holding hammers always wanted to smash something with them.
As long as there was a button on the table, it would eventually be pressed.
Yūshin had sufficient understanding of what being a ninja meant. He didn't participate in discussion, but now he'd made up his mind—before starting his own business, he'd work for others first.
After everyone had discussed sufficiently, he parted his lips and spoke in a calm tone:
"Very well, then we set out..."
"To Kikyō Castle."
Final decision made.
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