Back at Fireflies Village, the Kurokime Clan had settled in.
At this time, Chihori couldn't wait to pull Lan to find the group of medical ninja, hoping to use their advanced medical ninjutsu to explore the possibility of restoring Lan's vision.
After Shichimi died protecting Chihori and the other ninja, Chihori had become especially concerned about Lan—treating her almost like a daughter.
The initial motivation was certainly guilt and pity, but as time passed and genuine care was invested, sincere affection naturally developed.
However, after a joint consultation by the Kurokime medical ninja, they reached an unfortunate conclusion.
"It's not just an issue with her eyeballs. Her entire visual neural network has been burned out—it must be extreme negative feedback from forcibly breaking some kind of restraint..."
"To restore her sight, frankly speaking, medical techniques alone cannot accomplish it."
"Are there other methods?" Chihori asked with slight agitation.
"That... might be beyond the Kurokime's capabilities."
"But..."
"Sui-nee, don't make unreasonable demands, okay?"
Lan sat up, asking a nearby medical ninja to help rewrap the bandages over her eyes. She had anticipated this result—Chihori had forced her to come here in the first place.
Or rather, when she directly tore apart the seals the Uchiha had placed on her eyes, she had already expected this outcome. Therefore, she wasn't surprised or disappointed by the diagnosis—she had never harbored any extravagant hopes.
She wasn't even dissatisfied. Being able to regain freedom and leave the Uchiha alive had already far exceeded her life's expectations.
Blindness wouldn't bring her much inconvenience anyway. With her exceptional sensory abilities, she could still "see" everything clearly without her eyes.
As for the lost Mangekyō Sharingan abilities—honestly, losing those powers meant she no longer had any connection to the Uchiha, which was actually a kind of psychological liberation.
Chihori wanted to sigh but bit her teeth and held her breath, simply reaching out to tightly grasp Lan's hand.
...
After three days of medical treatment, Yūshin left the Senju Clan's village with four medical ninja.
Hashirama Senju personally escorted them, looking like he intended to walk them all the way back to Fireflies Village.
"Hashirama, there's no need to continue escorting us. We're not completely without self-defense capabilities." Yūshin was somewhat speechless—was this treating them like kindergarten children?
However, comparing person to person leads to death, comparing goods leads to disposal. If judging purely by strength, Yūshin was certainly stronger than kindergarten children in front of Hashirama Senju, but not by much.
"Haha, because the conflict between the Senju and Uchiha Clans is escalating, this route is very unsafe. You could face Uchiha attacks at any time... Of course I trust your strength, Yūshin, but one person protecting four people is naturally difficult—it has nothing to do with ability."
"Once you're tied up, those medical ninja will be in trouble."
Hashirama Senju's words were reasonable and well-founded, seemingly genuinely worried about external attacks... How to describe it—remarkably emotionally intelligent.
If not for the Five Heroes of the Senju constantly feeding Yūshin information, he would have believed Hashirama's words. After all, straightforward people are accustomed to telling the truth.
But such people also don't mind telling little white lies, especially when the truth is somewhat difficult to express... Though Hashirama Senju wasn't as single-minded as his brother, he wasn't rigid enough to blurt out every truth either.
Worried about Uchiha attacks? More like worried about the Senju leadership acting irrationally... Yūshin immediately understood Hashirama Senju's deeper meaning.
Senju, Hyūga, Uzumaki, Sarutobi, and the Fireflies would unite sooner or later. If not considering reality, Hashirama would even be willing to become a subordinate—he was an honorary member of the Fireflies, after all.
Under such favorable circumstances, Hashirama absolutely wouldn't allow those old fellows to cause any irreparable consequences.
Therefore, the best approach was to leave them no opportunity whatsoever.
Look—for whatever reason, whenever it came to crucial moments, Hashirama's mind always worked better than Tobirama's.
Perhaps it was maternal favoritism—when giving birth to Hashirama, she left him all the wisdom; when giving birth to Tobirama, only underhanded schemes remained.
"Then I'll trouble you."
"No, no, what trouble is this? You've provided irreplaceable help for Tobirama and several other injured. We should be expressing gratitude—this is what I should do."
Yūshin didn't expose Hashirama's words. At times like this, both sides playing dumb together was best for everyone.
Actually, even traveling alone, Yūshin's group wouldn't face much danger, because he could use Light-Weight Rock Technique to drag everyone along like flying kites... That's how he had come, otherwise how could an elderly person like Kurokime Yakushi endure high-intensity travel?
However, since Hashirama was willing to help, he accepted it, because accepting others' goodwill helps increase mutual trust.
But after walking for half a day, Hashirama suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong, Hashirama?"
Hashirama Senju shook his head and said, "There are definitely people ambushing us ahead."
"...Huh?"
"That's right. Although my sensory ability isn't as exaggerated as Tobirama's, at this close distance there's no reason for error."
Yūshin thought: What do you mean, not as exaggerated as Tobirama's but still much larger than my sensory range—are you implying I'm useless?
However...
They actually encountered such a situation? Yūshin looked at Hashirama's face, feeling this guy either had a cursed constitution or crow's mouth attributes.
Coming here was fine, but returning with one extra person in the group led to an ambush—using process of elimination, it was obvious whose problem this was.
Yūshin didn't think about being targeted for assassination—he was such a good person with such a good reputation, how could he face assassination?
"Come out, we've discovered you!"
He was too lazy to play any scheming games. If it was ordinary wandering ninja wanting to rob some food, he'd let them go.
After a while, six ninja appeared in their field of vision.
"Be careful, everyone. These people's chakra is very strong, far exceeding ordinary ninja levels."
Hashirama reminded everyone, mainly the medical ninja.
Medical ninja of this era certainly wouldn't be completely without combat ability, but Hashirama's reminder aside, there was definitely no role for doctors to fight here.
Yūshin thought the same way. Speaking of karmic retribution, if he made an eighty- or ninety-year-old Yakushi fight here, he worried the boomerang would hit him... If he had to fight at eighty, how tragic would that be?
Wait, didn't I die in depression after failing to compete for Second Hokage? Where would I get the fate to live to eighty?
But Hashirama's words were all nonsense. What did "these people's chakra is too strong" mean? That's not how you compliment people.
"Wait, these people... seem to be Earth Grudge Fear ninja. Hashirama, they seem to be coming for you."
For those familiar with Earth Grudge Fear, Earth Grudge Fear ninja's attire was quite recognizable, so Yūshin guessed these people's identity and origin.
Then he remembered the "Eight Hundred Li Shuriken Legend," but it still wasn't quite right—when Hashirama encountered Kakuzu's assassination, he had already become Hokage, and Kakuzu hadn't mastered Earth Grudge Fear at that time.
"Ah, how did they recognize me? But assassination—I haven't encountered it in a long time."
Because he was escorting people, Hashirama wasn't wearing armor, so he had no Senju symbols on him. His identity was actually hard to recognize... Except for his long hair, Hashirama was quite ordinary-looking.
But with the long hair added, he had his aura locked down tight.
Based on the principle of not letting talented individuals from other ninja clans grow up, Hashirama had faced endless assassination attempts in his youth, but after his teens, such incidents became rare—the reason goes without saying.
Therefore, encountering assassination again, Hashirama actually felt it was fresh and worth savoring—it brought back old memories.
From his heart, he wanted to play with these ninja, but considering he was currently executing a guard mission and couldn't let small things ruin big plans, he could only display his cold, ruthless side.
"Attack!"
Those six ninja slowly approached, then suddenly charged at full speed.
These people were very decisive, with no intention of communication. The leader only issued a brief command.
However, Yūshin most enjoyed helping others succeed. Don't like talking? Then never talk again.
So the opponent's action command became their group's last words.
Yūshin happened to have a new ninjutsu to test in combat. He raised his right arm, and a chakra sphere quickly formed in his palm.
This chakra sphere spun and continuously flattened out, like making a pancake. Then the "chakra pancake" began hollowing out, rapidly forming a pot-lid-sized ring.
As lightning flickered lightly, the ring was soon dyed blazing white.
After adapting to Wood Release, Yūshin had synthesized Storm Release over the past year. What he was using now was a Storm Release secret technique he had developed:
"Storm Release: Eightfold Light Wheel"
Yes, that's right—everyone can become light.
Yūshin flicked his arm, and the light wheel pierced through the air like a ghost, instantly appearing before the enemy leader.
This thing was silent and instantaneous, startling the opponent into a cold sweat.
But to become the leader of this group of Earth Grudge Fear ninja, he naturally wasn't incompetent. In a critical moment, his neck instantly twisted sideways ninety degrees, barely dodging Yūshin's attack...
Right?
Yūshin hooked his finger, light flashed along an almost invisible chakra thread, and the next second, the light wheel that had just passed the opponent's neck instantly returned, precisely cutting this person's head in half.
That cut was as smooth as could be—the high-energy-density Storm Release cutting method directly carbonized many blood vessels at the cut, thoughtfully keeping all this person's blood in his corpse.
This move was very environmentally friendly and hygienic, didn't even dirty the floor, especially suitable for indoor use.
"Hashirama, it's best to attack their heads when dealing with them... Never mind what I said."
Yūshin didn't get a chance to continue demonstrating his newly learned Kekkei Genkai, because Hashirama had already clapped his hands and spread the "Tree Realm" across the area.
Frankly speaking, Hashirama wasn't someone who would go all-out at the drop of a hat, but he felt this group of ninja was very capable. To protect his own medical ninja, he naturally used as much strength as he had.
The saying "overwhelming force conquers all techniques" is truly accurate.
It could only be said that this group of enemies' behavior was somewhat comical. Yūshin never knew from beginning to end that the assassination target was actually him, and under his "preemptive strike" misdirection, Hashirama thought he had brought trouble to his own side.
"Sorry, everyone, these people were coming for me."
After finishing the job, Hashirama apologetically said to everyone.
"No... no problem, it didn't take much effort anyway."
Yakushi's eyes hadn't been this wide in ten years. He'd long heard that Hashirama Senju was extraordinary. Previously he had witnessed Hashirama's chakra, but chakra and technique demonstration effects were completely different.
Yūshin seemed to have identified these ninja's origins, but Hashirama didn't inquire about it... Because he didn't care, so there was no need to ask.
Honestly, six Earth Grudge Fear ninja could already run rampant in the Shinobi World. Yūshin could use trickery to instantly kill one of them, but this move wouldn't be as effective if used a second time.
But unfortunately, these people had kicked the only iron plate in the Shinobi World—they couldn't be called anything but unlucky.
Fortunately, they died peacefully; unfortunately, Hashirama said they were strong, but actually swatting them was no different from swatting the weakest ninja who had just learned to use chakra.
Yakushi rubbed his eyes and said:
"Let's go home quickly. The Shinobi World is just too terrifying."
The tree sea buried the ordinary ninja, and Yūshin had no way to collect materials either.
In this environment, finding people would take too much time, and piecing them back together would require sufficient patience... Too troublesome, inappropriate.
After this small episode, the rest of the journey was uneventful. Hashirama escorted Yūshin and the others back to Fireflies Village, then left immediately without stopping.
Until that evening, Yūshin was still considering how to get the old fellows to exit the stage.
The two brothers were definitely powerless in this matter, and he couldn't display clever schemes in this area... If even a tiny flaw was revealed, his maintained friendly relationship with the Senju would be destroyed.
Ruining the Fireflies' prospects for one old codger—no matter how you thought about it, it wasn't worth it.
So who else could he count on? Madara Uchiha stepping up his game?
Then, just at this moment, a pair of Sharingan suddenly appeared outside his bedroom window.
These eyes just glanced at Yūshin once, then turned and walked directly toward the forest depths. The meaning conveyed by that departing figure was very clear... Come if you want, get lost if you don't.
It was Little Seven.
Yūshin's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition instantly struck.
"Damn, no, the previous mess hasn't been cleaned up yet."
Little Seven didn't care about Yūshin's thoughts. If not for wanting a "guardian" to prevent accidents, it wouldn't have bothered to notify Yūshin specifically.
"Really don't do this, because it's unnecessary, unnecessary, understand?"
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