"Hah... hah..."
Uchiha Sasuke gasped continuously for breath, his mental exhaustion causing splitting headaches. The excessive use of Susanoo had drained his ocular power and chakra, making his entire body ache as if pierced by needles.
The moment he realized he'd escaped danger, he stopped forcing himself and half-knelt on the ground. After deactivating Susanoo and extinguishing the black flames, he didn't even have time to observe his surroundings before immediately closing his eyes.
After the deadly fatigue eased slightly, he slowly opened his left eye again, only to discover a small white snake standing upright beside his feet, silently flicking its tongue.
Looking up ahead, Sasuke found an enormously massive white snake gazing down at him with great interest.
This white snake coiled atop a huge stone platform. Whether on the platform or below, its body wound in circle after circle, extending into the darkness where even its tail couldn't be seen... Who knew how long it actually was?
It appeared very humanlike, with a spherical ornament hanging beneath its head, wearing a black hat, and what seemed to be orange-red long hair trailing behind its head.
Sasuke's field of vision expanded slightly more, and he saw behind the white snake a massive dragon head relief. The relief's mouth held a large scroll with three large characters written on it: "Ryūchi Cave."
It could only be said that when Sasuke first arrived in this world, his efforts to contact the snakes hadn't been in vain—now they were calling back, and it was even the group president personally returning the call.
"If my child hadn't found you first, you would have been in real danger just now," the great white snake spoke.
"White Snake Sage..."
Sasuke glanced at the small snake by his feet, then refocused his gaze on the great white snake, directly calling out the other's identity with his straightforward nature.
Sasuke naturally knew about Ryūchi Cave—after all, he'd mastered summoning snakes to an art form. But because the White Snake Sage didn't think much of Orochimaru, he, like Orochimaru, had never reached the deepest secret realm of Ryūchi Cave or met the true White Snake Sage.
It could only be said that the White Snake Sage's dislike of Orochimaru was normal—his soul, reincarnated countless times and tainted like a dye shop, was destined to receive no special treatment.
"You know me?"
The White Snake Sage hadn't expected this pleasant surprise.
"I'm a ninja from the future, active in an era fifty to seventy years from now. At that time, I was a contractor of Ryūchi Cave and could summon the serpents here for battle," Sasuke explained.
Fortunately, no one exposed Sasuke's actual methods of using summoning snakes, or he'd definitely be in for trouble.
Sasuke didn't go around introducing his time-traveler identity to just anyone—mainly, he felt that sharing such information with reclusive mystical beings like the White Snake Sage didn't matter... In a sense, the White Snake Sage played the role of a transcendent worldly sage.
The White Snake Sage had lived for who knows how many years and had seen everything. Therefore, regarding Sasuke's origins, it was only slightly surprised before directly choosing to believe.
"This explains why you, who previously had no connection to Ryūchi Cave, were attempting to summon serpents from here."
"So then, after coming to this era, what are your feelings?"
Sasuke remained silent for a long time before finally speaking:
"Terrible..."
The White Snake Sage's attitude was ten thousand times better than Madara Uchiha's, so Sasuke unconsciously revealed his true feelings.
"Hehe, because of your recent defeat? Actually, you needn't mind it. I've been observing the Shinobi World recently. The ninja who defeated you is called Sasuke Sarutobi—he's among the top-tier powerhouses of the Shinobi World. Your loss to him is perfectly normal."
Was it really normal? You should know Sasuke Sarutobi was renowned for mastering five types of nature transformation, yet Uchiha Sasuke had only witnessed his Lightning Release from beginning to end—and that Lightning Release was even used for defense rather than offense.
It actually was normal. Nothing in the world was more normal than a fan being unable to defeat their idol. After all, Uchiha Sasuke was named "Sasuke" precisely because his father Fugaku admired the ninja Sasuke Sarutobi.
"I seem to be... lacking in strength."
This showed that once a person starts telling the truth, it becomes hard to stop.
...
"That Uchiha ninja..."
"What?"
"The Uchiha ninja summoned by Little Seven hasn't returned."
Yūshin and Lan were walking toward the east gate of Fireflies Village. Lan, who had maintained silence the entire way, suddenly began discussing Sasuke's whereabouts with Yūshin.
"He has things he needs to do. I don't restrict him, so he can come and go freely... After all, I have no interest in constantly caring for problem children."
To be precise, Sasuke was free to leave, and Yūshin had no particular thoughts about him... Actually, Yūshin truly was a kind person—no joke.
"Could there be any problems?" Lan seemed somewhat worried.
Yūshin thought carefully and still believed there wouldn't be major issues... According to logical reasoning, Konoha was still normally established in the future, so Sasuke wouldn't stir up any major waves in this era.
"There won't be. With his strength, he might not be able to accomplish great things, but as long as he doesn't stubbornly provoke certain specific ninja, self-preservation is more than sufficient."
"That's good."
Whether looking at the monk's face or loving the house and its crow, Lan's feelings toward Sasuke were somewhat like viewing a small animal—she didn't want to see him die so simply.
The reasoning was indeed sound, but when Yūshin said this, Sasuke had actually already been stubborn several times.
The two quickly arrived at the village entrance, where several ninja had already arrived first. Leading them was Yamanaka Takeya, the clan head of the Yamanaka Clan.
Regarding Yūshin's gains from the recent war: first was emotional value—executing his revenge will was the primary factor driving Yūshin's actions; second were the spoils obtained from the Hagoromo Clan; third, the Fireflies organization had established friendly relations with several ninja clans and gained mutual contact methods.
What they were currently waiting for were guests from the Uzumaki Clan. Yūshin had invited them to help Fireflies Village establish various barrier systems.
Logically speaking, based on the defensive psychology between ninja clans, one ninja clan (village) couldn't possibly invite another ninja clan to set up barriers—otherwise, wouldn't the former be completely undefended against the latter?
But Yūshin wasn't worried about this. The Uzumaki Clan wasn't a ninja clan with expansionist ideology and aggressive nature, while Fireflies Village completely lacked the ability to set up a complete barrier system themselves.
Under these circumstances, hiring an external party as client to contractor was virtually the only choice.
After a while, six Fireflies ninja escorting five Uzumaki ninja appeared in Yūshin's field of vision.
"Lady Uzumaki Ruri, and the other gentlemen, thank you for accepting my invitation. Welcome to Fireflies Village."
When several people came before him, Yūshin immediately greeted them with a smile.
According to previously obtained information, the ninja leading this time was called Uzumaki Ruri. She appeared to be twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, and her sealing and barrier techniques were beyond question.
"Lord Yūshin, very pleased to meet you." Uzumaki Ruri's mood seemed quite good.
According to Yūshin's understanding (stereotypical impression), the Uzumaki Clan should be a very closed and traditional ninja clan, with clan members being unsmiling old men.
But unexpectedly, they easily accepted Yūshin's invitation and sent very enthusiastic people—this was somewhat unexpected.
"Please follow me."
Yūshin led the guests who had come from afar into the village.
Walking along, Uzumaki Ruri suddenly moved close to Yūshin's side, seemingly wrinkling her nose to sniff.
Yūshin: "..."
What kind of problem is this, lady? Don't you understand social distance? When one ninja gets so close to another ninja, it can easily trigger bloodshed.
"Ahem, I just feel that Lord Yūshin's chakra... mm, is very unique, creating a sense of intimacy."
What kind of talk was this?
However, as if to prove she was telling the truth, the several ninja behind her actually nodded together.
Yūshin's mind raced, and he quickly found a reasonable explanation... What's this about? Do you all have the urge to "return to the tree" too?
As everyone knows, the Uzumaki are a branch bloodline of the Ōtsutsuki, the Ōtsutsuki are connected to the God Tree, and Yūshin had absorbed too many White Zetsu, seemingly equivalent to a God Tree substitute.
"Is... is there? Not long ago, someone complained about my chakra."
Yūshin could barely hold it together. He somewhat regretted coming to receive the Uzumaki clan members... What's with all of you, regardless of age, crowding toward me?
I'm just a stinking White Zetsu-Man, not a ginseng baby—there's no need for this, right?
Too terrifying—more terrifying than facing Madara Uchiha alone. Yūshin could only hurriedly go through the motions of receiving these guests, then handed the remaining matters to Yamanaka Takeya before quickly departing.
The Uzumaki Clan's perception was indeed sharp, with a vague sense of sniffing out Yūshin's true nature. But what kind of situation was this?
Originally, he'd planned to go out hunting White Zetsu. To avoid prolonged exposure to Uzumaki ninja perception, Yūshin felt he should move this matter up on his agenda.
Having won stable external space and participated in a large-scale battle, Fireflies Village now needed to digest the fruits of victory. It wouldn't take any external actions for a short time, and with Yūshin having nothing to do, this was perfect timing to go hunting in the mountains.
As for Sasuke Sarutobi's upcoming wedding, Yūshin planned to send a high-level squad to congratulate him—he personally wouldn't participate... The words "wedding" gave him a headache and somehow triggered certain avoidance emotions.
His increasingly active and proactive approach to dealing with the Black Zetsu and White Zetsu groups wasn't solely motivated by revenge.
From a practical perspective, he truly needed to further enhance his strength.
On the other hand, after careful consideration, he realized Black Zetsu actually wasn't that frightening anymore. Now that he had certain strength and had witnessed the Shinobi World's "top experts," Yūshin had completed his disenchantment with Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu's most terrifying aspect was only that you couldn't detect it, but this point completely didn't apply to Yūshin.
Previously, Yūshin hadn't wanted excessive exposure to Black Zetsu's view because he worried Black Zetsu would scheme and plot, bringing ninja of Madara Uchiha's level to bring catastrophic disaster to his side.
But what about now?
While establishing good relations with Hashirama Senju, Yūshin had already thoroughly offended Madara Uchiha.
So what was there to fear about Black Zetsu?
Black Zetsu had no direct power at all—later, even a random Kirigakure swordsman's blade could harm it. Didn't Yūshin have big swords?
Perhaps one should worry about Black Zetsu's possession and control abilities, but would Black Zetsu at this stage dare possess Yūshin? What about the mother revival plan?
Therefore, for someone who could see Black Zetsu, it was actually quite weak.
Simply put, Black Zetsu wasn't a formidable enemy but a soft target. Even though Yūshin ultimately couldn't completely deal with it, what methods could it employ?
Since Yūshin had grown stronger, Black and White Zetsu were contrasted into a disadvantaged group before him... Under these circumstances, what was there for Yūshin to be polite about?
As the saying goes, "Heaven gives but you don't take, you'll suffer the consequences; the time comes but you don't act, you'll suffer disaster." White Zetsu was precisely what Heaven bestowed upon Yūshin—the stepping stones for him to become a powerful ninja.
If he didn't make good use of them, would he be worthy of White Zetsu's sincere devotion?
However, before departing for action, Yūshin gathered several ninja clan heads and other management-level ninja to assign them an important task.
"Five-tier ninja system?" Nara Naoyuki savored the words coming from Yūshin's mouth—he felt this leader could always come up with new innovations.
"Correct: Leader, Jōnin, Tokubetsu Jōnin, Chūnin, Genin—five tiers. For better team assignment and task distribution, such tier division is very necessary."
Yūshin wasn't doing this for fun. As the organization's scale expanded, dividing ninja tiers could better manage the organization's internal ninja.
Similar upper, middle, lower ninja classifications weren't Yūshin's original creation—some ninja clans had such honorary titles, but establishing it as a fixed system was probably Yūshin's first.
"Tokubetsu Jōnin is..."
"Ninja whose strength exceeds Chūnin, with some particularly outstanding ability, but whose overall strength isn't as comprehensive as Jōnin—these can be called Tokubetsu Jōnin."
"Understood. We'll create assessment plans as quickly as possible."
"Don't rush. The key is not to make errors and ensure assessment fairness."
"Yes, Lord Yūshin."
After instructing this matter, Yūshin left the meeting room, leaving the discussion space to the various high-level members.
"Lord Yūshin..." Nara Naoyuki pondered briefly before finding an appropriate word to continue, "His ideas are truly boundless."
"Yes, not mentioning the leader being supreme, normally shouldn't it be implementing a three-tier system for a period, discovering flaws, then supplementing with a Tokubetsu Jōnin tier?"
"Lord Yūshin's thinking has always been very meticulous."
"Lord Yūshin is very good—it would be even better if he could rest for a while."
Everyone was intelligent and could naturally see the significance of the so-called five-tier system, but the problem was...
Leaders move their mouths, subordinates run their legs off.
Yūshin seemed to have that hyperactivity disorder, never able to rest for a moment, so everyone inevitably had to complain a bit.
But after complaining? They still had to continue working like oxen and horses.
After assigning important tasks to subordinates, the restless Lord Yūshin was about to head into the mountains to hunt, preparing to meet Black Zetsu at the next intersection.
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