"While your plan has boundless prospects, considering there might be a few... tiny issues with the actual execution, it's better if we stick to my plan for now."
"Think about it. If Senju Hashirama were assassinated while under my roof, the only one to suffer would be my organization. It would have virtually no impact on the Uchiha."
"More importantly, your goal is to keep the Uchiha away from the Senju. But if we follow your lead, the two sides will most likely break into a fierce battle. It's even possible they would annihilate each other simultaneously. Wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?"
"So, if you want to make these two shinobi clans truly incompatible, you'd best adopt a more roundabout approach."
Genma's words seemed to carry a shred of logic, but in reality, they were complete nonsense. The Uchiha and Senju were already incompatible at this point in time—yet didn't they eventually merge anyway?
Even the name 'Konohagakure' was ultimately chosen by Uchiha Madara.
"Your plan? What do you intend to do?"
Uchiha Sasuke was stubborn, but he wasn't yet at the point where he was completely deaf to reason... provided he hadn't already locked onto a specific target. Once he did, no one's words would move him.
"I plan to play the long game. When I need you, you'll know. Regardless of what you're trying to achieve, you can use this time to think things through clearly."
"In the meantime, follow me on a mission. While we work toward the goal of 'driving a wedge' between them, you can also get a feel for the combat intensity of the shinobi world in this era."
Seeing that Genma had no intention of explaining the details of his so-called plan, Sasuke merely let out a cold snort and turned to leave. He seemed somewhat salvageable; at least this time, he chose to walk out the door like a civilized person instead of jumping through the window.
But that was about it. You couldn't blame the road for being uneven when the person walking it was the problem; the kid didn't even understand basic manners.
In truth, Sasuke had taken some of Genma's words to heart. Since arriving in this timeline, he had indeed been in a state of confusion.
On one hand, he could not forget his hatred. The events of the future weighed heavily on his heart, yet it seemed he could never go back. On the other hand, even if he set a goal to prevent the Uchiha from joining Konohagakure in this timeline, how exactly would he operate? He needed to think.
It was precisely because his mind was in such a mess that Sasuke chose to stay for the time being. Otherwise, given his personality, he wouldn't have cared what Genma said; he would have long since turned his back and set off to "explore" this world in his own way.
In short, based on his personal temperament and family tragedy—and the misfortune of being fed a mountain of toxic information by certain individuals—Sasuke's restless, trouble-making heart was already reaching its limit.
Regardless of the ultimate goal, he simply wanted to see blood flow like a river.
And then, he had been summoned to this godforsaken "prehistoric civilization" to play house with primitive natives... Under such circumstances, anyone's mind would be a tangled mess.
Sasuke had quickly found a "suitable" goal for his chaotic life: to eliminate the tragedy of the Uchiha in Konohagakure at its very root. To be able to figure that much out in such a short time could already be considered a stroke of genius.
Therefore, he needed a stable environment. He needed peace. He needed to think.
After leaving the meeting room, Sasuke walked a short distance until he saw Lan sitting on the outer railing of the corridor, her face turned toward the night sky as she cradled a long sword.
"You're an Uchiha shinobi too, aren't you? Do you know what the Uchiha will go through in the future?"
Sasuke seemed to have a sudden urge to talk, especially when he encountered a fellow clansman he could actually communicate with.
Lan didn't know how he had seen through her origins, but she was one of the few people Genma had told about this Uchiha's background. She knew he was a so-called "person from the future."
But asking Lan such a question? Sasuke had chosen the wrong person to talk to.
"I don't know, I don't want to hear it, and I don't care. Please do not interrupt my moon-gazing."
Sasuke: "..."
Lan was actually on duty guarding Genma. She was working the night shift; she had no interest in idle chatter. Furthermore, she truly didn't want to hear the name 'Uchiha' ever again.
Genma didn't care about the future of the Uchiha, nor did he care about his own "depressing end." This Uchiha shinobi before him, who had lost her Sharingan, was equally uninterested in the clan's future. This caused a sense of indignation to inadvertently well up in Sasuke's heart.
Shouldn't someone who traveled from the future to the past possess incredibly rare information value? Why were their reactions so indifferent?
He walked away, maintaining his expressionless "poker face," but internally, he had transformed into a bitter "Uchiha Lin Daiyu."
"I'm so foolish, truly... I only knew that the broken brains of these ignorant shinobi in this war-torn era could only think about killing and fighting..."
Time flew by, and on the evening of the next day, Furui Rento, the leader of the Furui Clan, arrived at the Yinghuo camp with a squad of shinobi guards.
In fact, with several buildings having sprouted up, it wouldn't be wrong to call this place Yinghuo Village now.
Genma personally received him with great enthusiasm and even introduced him to the overly-friendly Senju Hashirama. For a time, the three parties conversed quite happily.
Genma had already learned about the relationship between the two sides from Tobirama beforehand. He knew there was neither hatred nor friendship between them; they were essentially strangers separated by the geography of the shinobi world.
With no grudge, there would be no fight. That meant they could talk.
Early the next morning, under the protection of several shinobi, Daimyo Shimizu Kisuke also arrived at the village. The Daimyo was a vital figurehead; legally speaking, it would be improper for him not to be present for such an event.
By mid-morning, more than two hundred people—the entire village—had gathered in the plaza in front of the main village building.
In the center of this small plaza stood an incredibly abstract statue. It depicted two palms clasped together, with a large "dagger" pinning them together. A series of iron spheres, shaped like falling droplets, formed a line connecting the palms to the base, propping the main body of the sculpture in mid-air.
The entire monstrosity was made of cast iron, standing about five meters tall. It had been forged with the heart and soul of every member of the Fuma Clan.
The "dagger" even bore the emblem of the Sarutobi Clan. Seeing this from a distance, Senju Tobirama's mouth couldn't stop twitching. This joke had gone too far; anyone who didn't know better would think the events here were related to the Sarutobi.
Then again, one couldn't say it was entirely unrelated. Although the Sarutobi Clan wasn't here, they were involved to some extent.
Directly beneath the statue sat a wooden barrel. The bottom of the barrel wasn't sealed; instead, it featured a drip mechanism.
Genma turned to Shimizu Kisuke beside him and said, "Lord Daimyo, would you like to start us off?"
Shimizu Kisuke was far too savvy when it came to social graces. He knew his status was symbolic, which was why he had to be there, but to steal the spotlight on-site would be a lack of tact.
He waved his hand and said, "Forget it. I'm not squeamish about blood, but I'm still very afraid of pain... You do it."
As expected of a clear-headed, top-tier Daimyo of the shinobi world. Genma didn't mind the Daimyo taking the spotlight, but Shimizu Kisuke himself had no desire to show a side that would make him "despised by man and dog alike."
Seeing the Daimyo refuse, Genma stepped toward the center of the plaza. He, too, felt the statue ahead was abstract and difficult to look at, but there was no helping it; his subordinates had been so insistent.
He had even provided his own hand as the mold for one of the palms.
Uchiha Sasuke stood on a high floor of a nearby office building, looking at the statue with the gaze one might use for a historical relic. So the root of it all is right here.
Even after everything he had experienced in Konoha, at this moment, he still felt as though he were witnessing history.
Genma arrived beneath the statue and turned to face the crowd.
"Today, the Yinghuo organization has officially established its own place of belonging. This is Yinghuo Village. This land is no longer a place of drifting in a chaotic world, and we are no longer rootless duckweed tossed by the tide."
"Though we are not yet a forest with deep roots and lush leaves... still..."
"We have already shed much blood for this land. In the future, we are willing to give even more, until we grow into a towering tree that no one can move, until we carve out a realm of peace for future generations."
Genma spoke only a few simple words. Had it not been to prepare for Uchiha Madara's eventual arrival, he wouldn't have bothered with such formalism.
Then, his right hand took up a certain dagger... honestly, this thing could practically be called a "Holy Sword" at this point. He gripped the hilt with his right hand and the blade with his left, then gently pulled the sharp edge across his left palm.
Blood instantly filled his palm.
"I swear by this blood!"
As he spoke, he raised his left fist, aimed it at the wooden barrel below, and squeezed hard. More blood was squeezed out, flowing into the barrel.
"I swear by this blood!"
The surrounding shinobi and clan civilians followed suit, shouting at the top of their lungs.
Afterward, Genma set the dagger aside and picked up a brand-new forehead protector. He allowed the blood to stain it, then tied it around his forehead.
"Shinobi, please step forward."
Today, a total of seventy-odd shinobi were eligible to participate in the ceremony. Although many of them possessed average talent and combat power, they were the ones who had walked alongside the organization through thick and thin. It could be said they possessed the resolve to sacrifice themselves for the organization.
One by one, the shinobi came before Genma. Like him, they cut their palms and let their blood flow. Then, Genma would use his blood-stained left hand to pick up a new forehead protector and place it into the equally bloodied palm of the shinobi before him.
The blood of the leader, the blood of the shinobi, and the emblem of the organization merged into one.
Additionally, those who had already been selected for the elite combat squads received an extra armband bearing the organization's mark.
The ceremony was nothing extraordinary, and Genma didn't give any inflammatory speeches. Yet, for some reason, the moment the shinobi tied those blood-stained protectors onto their foreheads, everyone's morale visibly skyrocketed.
The painful experience of repelling the Hagoromo Clan had forged the spirit of everyone in this organization into something as solid as iron.
"Bi—"
Senju Tobirama almost shouted out loud, but because the occasion was so solemn, he could only scream in his heart: My dear brother!
Because, in a moment of inattention, Senju Hashirama had actually sneaked into the line of shinobi. It seemed Hashirama intended to participate in the blood-merging ritual... Well, an honorary member is still a member.
Seeing Hashirama, Genma's eyelid merely flickered, but he said nothing. Though Hashirama wasn't wearing a forehead protector at the moment, he had a white cloth tied around his head with the Senju Clan crest on it.
Hashirama spread his left hand, fumbled with a knife in his palm for a long while, and finally began to bleed.
Then, he adjusted his white headband so the Senju crest shifted to the left. He then tilted the forehead protector at an angle and tied it on; it didn't cover the Senju crest, but it allowed the Yinghuo emblem to sit toward the right. As the blood soaked in, the two symbols seemed to merge into one.
Genma: "..."
You really are a natural-born talent at this! This move even gave off the vibe of "destiny having the final say." All of Tobirama's lifelong, brain-racking schemes couldn't compare to Hashirama's mindless spontaneity.
As the blood dripped from the barrel, Sasuke, standing at his high vantage point, could clearly see the blood sketching a massive pattern on the ground: half a leaf and half a flame.
He was incredibly familiar with this pattern, for it had been printed on the Konoha shinobi uniforms from the very beginning.
By the time the pattern was finished, the ceremony had also concluded. Fortunately, everyone had been quite generous with their blood, so they didn't end up with a disaster where the people ran out before the blood could finish the drawing.
Following this, the clan leaders spent a great deal of time reading out the rules established after the founding of the hidden village.
The content they read spanned an enormous range—from the "Shinobi Code of Conduct" to "Methods for Encouraging Childbirth." It had everything.
Truly, no one understood the founding of a hidden village better than Genma.
Afterward came the ribbon-cutting for the Yinghuo office building and other structures. The guests who had traveled from afar needed to feel a sense of participation.
In the evening, another banquet was held.
It had to be said that formalism had its uses. After the founding of the hidden village, everything began to be standardized. The mental outlook of the shinobi was refreshed once more, becoming even more uplifted and determined.
Both Hashirama and Rento could feel it. This spirit of unity—though they couldn't quite explain why—was different from the unity within a clan. It felt grander, more majestic, and lacked the usual petty squabbles over interests.
The next day, the ceremony was officially over.
The Senju brothers took their leave. Genma promised to make a formal visit to the Senju village in the near future.
After the two brothers left, Genma accompanied Daimyo Shimizu Kisuke to formally receive Furui Rento. The two sides discussed commercial trade and mutual exchanges. These were matters Genma didn't need to worry about; he truly was just there for support.
Once Rento had also left, Genma conducted a small military exercise, thoroughly wiping out the surrounding minor forces that hadn't been cleared before.
He didn't touch the gold mine area, adhering to the principle of "getting back up where you fell." He planned to start mining there legally and openly in the near future.
Having settled the surrounding affairs, Genma officially began his plan. He led a team toward the Senju Clan.
To increase his persuasiveness, he brought along a token he had been preserving with great care. He hoped to use it to convince Senju Butsuma to agree to his plan.
This item was undoubtedly a heavy "weight" on the scales.
Because...
It was the head of Uchiha Tajima.
Since his "home" was starting from scratch and completely impoverished, nothing could be wasted.
As long as it was used properly, even "trash" could be turned into a treasure.
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