"Lord Yūshin, another secret letter."
An Aburame ninja, carrying a hawk on one arm, approached Yūshin.
At this moment, Yūshin was in his office on the top floor of the Fireflies administrative building, overlooking the village that had grown large and might become even larger in the future, experiencing a feeling of "regretting founding Fireflies Village."
It wasn't that he was being melodramatic—it was just that the village's current scale seriously violated his principle of quietly accumulating wealth. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
But what could be done? Things always develop forward, and the pushing sensation from the tide of history was simply too overwhelming.
"Lord Yūshin?"
Only after Nara Hideyuki at another desk reminded him again did Yūshin snap back to attention.
"Oh, a secret letter... How many has this made recently?"
"The fifth one, Lord Yūshin."
Yūshin sighed inwardly. While having people actively pass along information was a good thing, was it really necessary? He had merely established a ninja village that met the standards of the ninja village era ahead of time—he hadn't created a ghost.
Could this be the so-called cultural victory, institutional victory?
Yūshin raised his left arm horizontally, and after the bird flew over, he reached out to untie the message tube bound to its claws.
Then he placed the hawk on a nearby coat rack and extracted the secret letter to begin reading.
"To Lord Yan:
I am an ordinary ninja of the Mori Clan, wishing to inform your side of some recent developments within our clan.
Recently, the clan's upper echelons have shown increasingly negative attitudes toward your organization and village, viewing your side more as a threat than as people who could walk alongside us. This may bring some unpleasant changes in the future—I hope you are mentally prepared.
But please don't be disappointed in us. Those with outdated thinking who don't know how to adapt are our 'past.' Those who can see your prospects and perceive the future development trends of the Shinobi World are our 'future.'
Recently, the frequency of arguments between two elders in the clan and the clan head has increased, and the intensity grows daily... They share your ideology and are like-minded people. Our future lies with them.
Time stands on our side. In the near future, the Mori Clan will walk alongside you.
I write this letter not out of gratitude for your treatment of me, but because I still retain a sliver of light, hope, and the ability to see through the future and distinguish right from wrong in my heart.
Also, should sudden situations arise or major changes occur, I will notify you promptly."
Yūshin set this short secret letter aside and couldn't help shaking his head... You're all putting tremendous pressure on me with this approach.
This letter seemed to say nothing, yet appeared to say everything.
Without doubt, this letter came from the Senju Clan. Initially, when Yūshin received such letters, he thought Tobirama Senju was up to his tricks again. But after this happened repeatedly, he finally understood this was the so-called "direction of popular sentiment."
The key point was that Yūshin felt he hadn't done anything—so why had several Senju ninja begun actively revealing the Senju's movements to him?
For instance, the person who wrote this secret letter could know the frequency of arguments between Butsuma Senju and his son. Without asking, one could tell this person definitely wasn't an ordinary ninja.
Could this count as betraying the Senju's interests? Actually not really, but Butsuma Senju certainly wouldn't think so.
Never mind Butsuma Senju—even Tobirama Senju wouldn't be pleased to see such things happen... Having clan members tip off external forces—who could be happy seeing that?
Yūshin picked up his brush and paper, writing:
"Message received, deeply grateful. No need to take risks. Following those two young people is following the future."
He still cared about the sender's safety. Even if this reply were intercepted, it contained no substantial content.
Theoretically, not replying would be best—no reply meant no flaws to expose. But without replying, how would the letter writer obtain the emotional value of recognition and affirmation?
Without emotional value, how could one motivate them to write the next letter?
After tying the reply to the bird's claws, Yūshin released it.
"Are there any other important intelligence reports today?"
"None, just some routine news. For example, the conflict between the Uchiha and Senju is intensifying. Because Madara Uchiha has been unusually active, the Uchiha, despite losing allied support, have actually gained the upper hand in several battles against the Senju."
Yūshin nodded and said, "Very normal."
The Uchiha side had young people full of fighting spirit, while the Senju's leaders were cautious old-timers—how could the two sides be the same?
Moreover, if they weren't at a disadvantage in battles against the Uchiha, why would so many Senju ninja be writing letters to Yūshin?
The Uchiha were now fighting alone, but weren't the Senju also alone? The latter couldn't freely command allied forces like in the Hagoromo extermination campaign... Without proper status, who would follow you?
Just like how many people here were willing to sacrifice for Fireflies Village, but could Yūshin make them sacrifice for the Hagūgen? That's a joke—completely different matters.
The Sarutobi and Hyūga sacrificing for the Senju? That would be rather too abstract.
This made even Yūshin somewhat anxious. So why wouldn't Butsuma Senju contribute his final strength for the Senju Clan?
Forget it—anyway, it was the Senju brothers who were suffering.
"Are our attack teams still heading north?" he asked Nara Hideyuki.
Clearly, Yūshin was cultivating Nara Hideyuki as his deputy, so some important intelligence within the organization would be compiled and sent to Hideyuki first.
"Still heading north. The clan blocking our advance is the Kurokime Clan."
The expanded Fireflies Village could no longer hide. Continuing to hide at this point would be self-deception. Therefore, even if his original intention wasn't this way, the most correct approach for the village currently was to maximize its strength expansion in the shortest time possible.
But Yūshin wouldn't make the east the village's expansion direction—the east had the Senju, and the task of sweeping across the realm should be left to them.
West was Koizumi, south was the ocean—Fireflies Village's only attack direction was north.
"The Kurokime Clan... Most of the medical ninjutsu currently used in the village comes from the Kurokime Clan."
"According to intelligence we previously gathered, the Kurokime Clan is a ninja clan skilled in medical ninjutsu but reclusive, conservative, and xenophobic... They seem somewhat difficult to handle."
"If we could subdue them without fighting, absorbing the Kurokime Clan would be ideal. But such ninja clans with ancient heritage seem unlikely to abandon their independent names, right?"
Medical ninja, especially excellent medical ninja, were always scarce resources. Of course Yūshin wanted the Kurokime Clan to serve him, but the realistic situation seemed somewhat prohibitive.
Nara Hideyuki nodded and said:
"It's said the Kurokime's history is no shorter than ninja clans like the Hagoromo."
Yūshin glanced at Nara Hideyuki, thinking this kid was indeed learning quickly—he could already speak with implications.
What did "no shorter than the Hagoromo" mean? It meant if the other side was stubborn, their history could be just as long as the Hagoromo Clan's, right?
Unwilling to join, yet unwilling to die—we're in a difficult position.
After thinking briefly, Yūshin ultimately nodded, feeling he could approve of this attitude.
However, the Shinobi World was vast and full of wonders. By afternoon, Yūshin received urgent intelligence from the front lines.
Yūshin rose abruptly and instructed Nara Hideyuki:
"Leave this side temporarily in your charge. I need to reach the front lines as quickly as possible."
"Lord Yūshin, guards—you need to bring guards..."
But before Nara Hideyuki finished speaking, Yūshin's figure had already vanished.
Theoretically, if the organization's leader went out, according to safety regulations he must bring at least one team of guards. However, Yūshin violated this rule by example... He was very urgent now, and guards would be too slow.
Previously, when Yūshin needed long-distance rapid movement, he often used the Mayfly Technique—it was concealed and reasonably fast. But now Yūshin could be faster... He flew, needing only to activate the Light-Weight Rock Technique.
Using just a few hours, he traveled from Fireflies Village to the front lines. After descending from the sky and landing beside frontline commander Nara Naoyuki, without waiting for pleasantries, he immediately asked:
"What's the specific situation?"
"Lord Yūshin, well... the specific situation is, when we arrived at the Kurokime Clan's village, before we could call out or deploy other actions, they had already 'come out in full force.'"
"To avoid damaging the village, they came out to form battle lines?" Yūshin asked.
"No, quite the opposite... They want to meet Lord Yūshin to discuss surrender. Leaving the village entirely was just to demonstrate their 'harmlessness.'"
They weren't even preparing for urban warfare—how much more harmless could they be?
Yūshin wiped his face, which had been tightened by high-altitude winds, then pulled Nara Naoyuki aside, his voice carrying undisguised confusion:
"Thousand-year heritage? Medical family? Kurokime Clan? Are you sure there's no mistake?"
How could this thousand-year ninja clan surrender faster than ordinary small ninja clans? Something was definitely wrong.
"It is rather strange, but Lord Yūshin could first meet their clan head. The Kurokime Clan's current clan head is called Kurokime Yakushi."
"Very well."
Yūshin followed Nara Naoyuki to the front lines, where he saw the entire Kurokime Clan—over a hundred people—gathered together. Some who had grown tired of standing were already sitting relaxedly on the ground.
Kurokime Yakushi appeared aged and decrepit, looking at least eighty or ninety years old, with a bald head and a mass of snow-white eyebrows and beard.
After Yūshin approached, Yakushi forced his eyes open to carefully observe Yūshin... Yes, capable and guaranteed, young, meaning his strength's natural shelf life was relatively long.
So he decisively raised his walking stick with both hands, holding it high as if offering it to Yūshin:
"Lord Yūshin, the Kurokime Clan surrenders to you and your Fireflies Village. We hope to become one of you and contribute our modest strength to the organization's development."
Yūshin: "..."
Too damn decisive.
But what would he do with the walking stick? Yūshin reached out to help the other up—at this age, still bowing deeply, wasn't he afraid of breaking himself?
Though the Kurokime had a long history, they had always been primarily functional and supportive ninja, with direct combat capabilities that weren't outstanding. So their current actions could be considered... quite something.
But should he trust them? Yūshin couldn't decide for the moment.
"Lord Yūshin, you needn't doubt our intentions. We are all pure medical practitioners... According to ancestral teachings, we indeed must surrender to organizations like Fireflies Village."
"You all, this..." Yūshin still felt something was off.
"Lord Yūshin, how do you think ninja clans like ours have maintained our heritage for so long?"
"Ah, I understand now."
You should have said so earlier! If you'd explained it this way from the start, I would have understood immediately—you're also a ninja clan skilled at surrender.
"Ahem, welcome everyone to join. We seriously lack medical talent, and you'll receive appropriate treatment and respect... Clan head, I'll introduce you to Lord Shimizu of the Land of the River Source later. I believe you'll get along very well."
What can you do—our side always needs someone with such characteristics, right? Lord Shimizu's surrender syndrome was nearly cured, and now here comes a new batch of fellow patients?
"Daimyō? Good, good. I can help the daimyō with medical examinations."
Medical examinations? More like cross-infection.
"Everyone, when can you depart? Joining the organization means relocating to Fireflies Village is certain." Yūshin worried these people might be feigning surrender.
But this was like judging a gentleman's heart with a petty person's mind—everyone in the Kurokime Clan was very honest.
"When? Now! We've already packed our luggage."
Kurokime Yakushi, eighty or ninety years old, was about to embark on a journey at a moment's notice.
Having lived for nearly a hundred years, now was precisely the age to come out and strive.
Yūshin didn't know what to say—what kind of situation was this?
He'd just gone out for a trip and ended up picking up a top-tier hospital for free—who could he complain to?
What Yūshin didn't know was that all gifts of fate had their prices secretly marked. Being in the situation, he neither knew he was about to face an assassination nor that his picked-up "medical dream team" would soon prove useful.
In any case, the combat ninja sent out by Fireflies Village immediately switched to guard duty, beginning to escort the packed Kurokime Clan as they withdrew south to Fireflies Village.
The group was large and included elderly and children, making it hard not to attract certain people's attention. But with Yūshin personally overseeing and elite ninja providing left and right protection, nothing unexpected happened along the way.
Before long, they safely returned to Fireflies Village.
Fireflies Village was busy receiving new members. Knowing the new members were all medical ninja, the village people were exceptionally enthusiastic.
But just then, Yūshin received bad news from the "Five Heroes of the Senju" whose specific identities and names he didn't know:
His beloved friend Tobirama Senju had suffered severe injuries and the situation seemed rather dire.
Soon after, he received a formal medical assistance request from Hashirama Senju... This should be desperation leading to trying any doctor. News of the Kurokime Clan joining the Fireflies organization couldn't have spread so quickly.
Tobirama Senju severely injured—who could have done this? Yūshin couldn't figure out what had happened for the moment.
But it didn't matter. As the saying goes, good people don't live long while troublemakers persist for a thousand years—Tobirama Senju wasn't so easily killed.
Yūshin brought several high-level Kurokime medical ninja and prepared to visit the Senju Clan to assess the situation.
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