On the surface, it seemed highly unreasonable that Sasuke Uchiha still hadn't slipped away by now. Staying put obediently didn't match his usual behavior.
But in reality, he had already gone out for several rounds and returned. After some "field investigation," he'd gained a certain understanding of this era's chaos.
During his solo outings, every ninja he encountered—whether traveling alone, in pairs, groups of four, or teams of ten—would attack him without hesitation upon sight.
Fortunately, none of these ninja were a match for Sasuke. Usually, he only needed to use Lightning Release to take them all down... So why did the ninja of this era seem so weak?
Well, the ones Sasuke encountered were all bottom-tier cannon fodder—there really wasn't much "strength" to speak of. It could only be said that Sasuke could only make clear judgments when facing ninja weaker than himself.
In the past, Sasuke had operated under a "no-kill" setting where he'd leave battlefields "littered with corpses" while enemies were actually defeated but not dead. But that was all in the past, and such tactics weren't suitable for this era.
The overall quality of low- and mid-level ninja in this era was truly abysmal, but they were quick to resort to extreme measures—carrying explosive tags and attempting mutual destruction with powerful enemies was practically routine.
In any case, Sasuke was beginning to understand why Yūshin said multi-clan alliances were a historical trend.
However, regarding the Uchiha, he remained unwavering... Konoha might be established, but the Uchiha joining Konoha would inevitably be a mistake.
Sasuke Uchiha's thinking was linear—he saw many things in black and white. Regarding the Uchiha's future fate, he believed in overcorrection, solving problems at their root... Fundamentally, his personality was just stubborn.
His brother was called Itachi Uchiha. If they were both "animal types," Sasuke should really be called Sasuke the Donkey.
Finally, before Sasuke the Donkey's patience was completely exhausted, Yūshin returned to Firefly Village.
"You guys are too slow. What you do is completely different from what you say. How long does a plan need to be prepared before it can be implemented?"
Upon seeing Yūshin again, Sasuke didn't complain—he criticized.
Yūshin thought to himself that achieving a decisive blow naturally required time for preparation. Only hotheads would just charge in blindly and get beaten like dogs.
Just like certain people's Eight-Tails capture plans—the action was swift and decisive, but what was the result?
"You haven't been idle during this time either. How about it—have you fully understood this Shinobi World?"
This era differed from Sasuke's original time by over half a century, yet the overall environment seemed like two different worlds.
"Yeah, the ninja here all seem crazy. None of them are thinking clearly."
Sasuke briefly described some of his experiences.
Yūshin couldn't help but look this guy up and down several times before speaking in a slightly odd tone:
"Is it possible that you're the problem—more specifically, that what you're wearing is the problem?"
First, Sasuke Uchiha wore no armor; second, he was still wearing the Akatsuki uniform.
You should know that ninja clothing in this era was very plain—either gray or black. But Sasuke? Black with red clouds—fashionable, most fashionable indeed.
Walking through the Shinobi World in this style had considerable taunting effect.
Even if both sides had a hundred ninja in team combat, Sasuke Uchiha would definitely become the highest priority focus-fire target.
Sasuke: "..."
Right, why am I still wearing this coat? Is it because winter is cold?
"So what's your plan? How do you make the Uchiha distance themselves from the Senju?"
"Very simple. First, you don't want to see the Uchiha suffer heavy casualties, right? Then we'll mobilize the Senju to attack the Uchiha's allies, making the Uchiha feel heartache and hatred but not physical pain. Relations between both sides will become more hostile, but the Uchiha won't be damaged."
"Without allies, the Uchiha can still match the Senju, but the Uchiha group will be weaker than the Senju group. If Uchiha clan leader Madara's mind is normal, he'll actively distance himself from the Senju."
Yūshin began his little sophistry. Never mind the logical problems in this statement—in fact, Madara's brain wasn't normal at all. If nothing else, Madara was definitely someone who got crazier when facing stronger opponents.
Sasuke looked at Yūshin with complete astonishment:
"This is your plan's level? Your plan is only this level?"
Their positions were different, so Sasuke naturally felt Yūshin's thinking was somewhat low. Yūshin's purpose was to eliminate the Hagoromo Clan, not to genuinely help Sasuke wholeheartedly.
His reason for deceiving and planning to bring Sasuke along was just to utilize Sasuke's taunting skills.
Yūshin felt Sasuke's ocular power couldn't control the Nine-Tails. Look at those who had controlled the Nine-Tails: first, Madara Uchiha with the Eternal Mangekyō; second, Obito Uchiha with Mangekyō plus Hashirama cells enhancement.
Sasuke only had the Mangekyō, not even a genjutsu-type Mangekyō, so Yūshin planned to adopt a more conservative backup method to manipulate the Nine-Tails' actions.
"Do you have a better method?"
Yūshin was bullying Sasuke, this "transmigrator," for not being able to see clearly the current Shinobi World's situation.
Sasuke fell into silence. After a while, he finally spoke:
"I'll trust you this once. After this incident ends, I'll take independent action to achieve my goal."
"Of course, no problem. Your legs are attached to you—how could I stop you?"
Yūshin didn't care what Sasuke planned to do afterward. Even if the other party left, it would just mean Yūshin's responsibilities as a caretaker had ended.
Did Sasuke have the ability to change the entire Shinobi World? He didn't.
In other words, could Sasuke compare to this timeline's Madara Uchiha? Facing the Shinobi World's general trend, even Madara had to submit—what about Sasuke?
So let Sasuke do whatever he wanted. Just go along with him. It was nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot—why bother obstructing it?
"Then let's begin."
"..."
"Is there a problem?"
"Wait, let me change cloaks."
...
Leaving subsequent matters to Nara Hideyuki's responsibility, Yūshin and Sasuke Uchiha formed a two-person team and launched a preliminary operation.
They traveled all the way to the continent's northeast. Based on previously obtained intelligence, Yūshin began "searching according to the map," consecutively searching four or five locations before finally catching the Nine-Tails' trail.
Tailed Beasts in this period were no different from mobile natural disasters. The areas where they were active basically had no human habitation, because due to chakra, the aura they emitted was sinister and oppressive—ordinary people simply couldn't withstand it.
How did Yūshin know he'd caught the Nine-Tails' trail? Because he felt like he was currently in a heavily polluting chemical enterprise's factory area—something in the air made breathing particularly difficult.
"I recognize this chakra signature. It's the Nine-Tails. You want to borrow the Nine-Tails' power... You want to use my ocular power to control the Nine-Tails."
Yūshin was a normal person—he couldn't very well say "I look down on your ocular power."
"No need for such trouble. That would be too wasteful of the Mangekyō. Mangekyō ocular power actually decreases with each use—you need to conserve it... Come on, let's find a place where we can see the Nine-Tails."
Look, this is what you call social skills.
The two followed the mountain path upward. As they walked, they felt increasingly uncomfortable.
On one hand, the Nine-Tails' aura in the air grew thicker; on the other hand, the temperature here was rising, with sulfur smell everywhere.
What the two were currently climbing was actually a volcano.
After reaching the mountainside, they gazed eastward and saw a huge, orange-red body lying comfortably in an oversized hot spring lake... The Nine-Tails was bathing here.
Ninja fought desperately against each other, yet Tailed Beasts lived comfortably—who could you complain to about this?
"Have you seen the Nine-Tails before?"
This was Yūshin's first time witnessing a Tailed Beast with his own eyes. Facing this type of life form, if you ignored its harmfulness, praising it as "magnificent and wondrous" or marveling at nature's exquisite creation wouldn't be excessive... Oh wait, the Nine-Tails was artificially created.
Sasuke first nodded, then shook his head:
"I haven't seen the Nine-Tails in this state. It's more deadly than I imagined."
Immediately after, both figures froze, because just as they were commenting on the Nine-Tails, those huge eyes instantly looked in their direction... This thing's sensory ability seemed quite strong.
The Nine-Tails' reaction was somewhat strange. After seeing Yūshin and his companion, its expression was initially extremely violent—fox eyes narrowing, corners of its mouth pulling back to reveal gleaming white fangs—but for some unknown reason, its gaze afterward filled with curiosity.
Yūshin had no time to study the Nine-Tails' psychological changes. Wasn't that just the expression a dog makes when seeing a toy?
He reached out and patted Sasuke's shoulder, saying:
"Make your move. It's up to you—my abilities aren't good against such a large target."
"Make my move? How?"
"What about your black flames? Against such a large target, you surely can't miss, right?"
For some reason, Sasuke felt he was being discriminated against.
Amaterasu—if you treated this ability as an attack skill, you'd be completely wrong, because its killing power was difficult to demonstrate.
But if you changed your thinking and treated it as a taunting skill, you'd discover... Holy crap, what a divine technique!
Sasuke half-closed his left eye, then slowly opened it. Immediately, black flames ignited on the Nine-Tails' body.
The Nine-Tails was stunned for a moment, then the intense burning pain made it cry out miserably. It thrashed continuously in the hot spring lake, seemingly trying to extinguish the black flames on its body. However, not only did the black flames' burning range expand on its body, even this lake surface was ignited.
Though the Nine-Tails was an ominous creature, it hadn't offended Yūshin previously. Watching it cry so pitifully, he even felt somewhat sympathetic.
Sasuke covered his left eye with one hand. He turned to look at Yūshin, seemingly sensing something.
"Could it be that you're also a small anima—"
"I'm not. Don't speak nonsense."
"...Can your plan succeed? The Nine-Tails won't be burned to death, will it?"
"Burned to death? Heh."
Hey, has Amaterasu ever actually burned anyone to death? Flowers and grass maybe?
Sure enough, after the initial panic, the Nine-Tails regained its rationality. The next moment, massive amounts of chakra surged from its body. This chakra cloak wrapped around the black flames, then separated from the Nine-Tails' body.
After breaking free from Amaterasu, the Nine-Tails' eyes gleamed with murderous intent as it looked again at Yūshin and his companion. Its mood at this moment was imaginable.
"When luring the Nine-Tails, don't maintain too great a distance."
"Why?"
Before Sasuke could react, he saw the Nine-Tails open its mouth wide toward them, with a black energy sphere beginning to gather at its mouth... The Nine-Tails was simply too angry—it was opening with a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Steam swirled around Yūshin's body as he grabbed Sasuke's collar with one hand.
The Tailed Beast Bomb instantly struck.
Yūshin suddenly rushed toward the sky, just dodging the Tailed Beast Bomb, but the next moment...
The Tailed Beast Bomb hit the volcano, and the massive explosion instantly lit up half the sky.
Yūshin and Sasuke were like feathers in a storm, blown about unable to control their bodies. Though they weren't directly hit, they couldn't escape the airflow impact caused by the explosion.
Yūshin drifted toward the Nine-Tails' direction. After escaping the Tailed Beast Bomb's danger zone, he set Sasuke down. After closing distance with the Nine-Tails again, he threw a shuriken at it.
Are you flicking this calamity god's forehead?
Honestly, this attack had zero killing power, but maximum insult value.
The Nine-Tails was utterly enraged.
Only someone like Yūshin who had mastered the Light-Weight Rock Technique could fly and be extremely agile in three-dimensional space—only he dared to target the Nine-Tails like this. Otherwise, that Tailed Beast Bomb would have been enough to kill him instantly.
Yūshin was also breaking out in cold sweat. With his current strength, he basically couldn't touch a Tailed Beast.
He had to concentrate one hundred percent of his attention on positioning, or one careless moment would end his entire life.
But regardless, Yūshin used himself as bait and firmly hooked this stupid fox... Once Tailed Beasts got worked up, could you still expect them to have any rationality?
It could only be said that Amaterasu's taunting effect was too good—truly a top-tier taunting skill.
Yūshin began demonstrating monster-pulling techniques, leading the Nine-Tails toward the predetermined direction.
...
After most of a day, night had fallen.
The Senju Clan had deployed two hundred ninja, currently hidden just outside the Hagoromo Clan village's maximum sensory range. Leading them was clan leader Butsuma, with Tobirama serving as his strategist. Hashirama didn't seem to be present.
Additionally, there were one hundred ninja contributed by three other friendly ninja clans.
Whether or not they could achieve complete extermination, as long as operations went smoothly, these three hundred people could definitely break through the Hagoromo Clan without any problems.
Tobirama Senju also vaguely sensed some observing gazes. These gazes should come from other helpers Yūshin had found... If the Hagoromo Clan had detected them, they should have already launched a counterattack.
Tobirama glanced at the red cloth tied around his left arm, finally understanding why this was necessary.
"Where are the Fireflies people? When will they act? It's already the agreed time."
Looking up at the night sky, Senju Butsuma was already becoming restless. Could the so-called Fireflies organization have broken their promise?
This is why external forces were so unreliable.
"The Fireflies people are ambushed on the other side. Their combat personnel seem limited," Tobirama thought for a moment, then decided to tell the truth. "It seems their leader Yūshin hasn't arrived at his position yet."
"You..."
Senju Butsuma was about to scold his son, but just then, Tobirama suddenly stood up abruptly.
Though nothing could be seen in the night, he couldn't help but turn his gaze eastward. Having sensed something too outrageous, he even opened his mouth wide.
At the same time, several Hyūga ninja beside them also looked in that direction, bulging blood vessels and meridians on their faces indicating they had activated their Byakugan.
"It's coming." Tobirama couldn't help but mutter.
Senju Butsuma immediately asked: "What's coming?"
Tobirama turned to look at his stone-headed old father and said:
"Yūshin, and..."
"The battering ram..."
"It's coming."
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