This visit to the Senju clan brought both good and bad news for Genma.
The bad news was that the current ruling high-ranking members of the Senju clan harbored extreme vigilance and malice toward the Yinghuo organization. The warning from the "Five Elites of the Senju" served as one piece of evidence, while Hashirama Senju's conscious effort to prevent the Senju higher-ups from contacting Genma was another.
In theory, since Genma's purpose in coming to the Senju clan was to save the son of the clan leader, Butsuma Senju, and given that they had actually dragged Tobirama back from the brink of death, Butsuma should have at least made an appearance. Otherwise, it simply defied all courtesy and reason.
However, Genma never saw Butsuma. He didn't think Butsuma would be so utterly unreasonable, so it was highly likely that Hashirama Senju had become the fully authorized representative of the Senju clan for this matter.
After his conversation with the two brothers, Genma quickly adjusted his mindset. Was his own strength not enough? As long as he didn't compare himself to literal cheaters, everything was fine... And one shouldn't underestimate Tobirama Senju either; he was also a top-tier prodigy.
To put it another way, Hashirama's absurdity was evident right from birth, whereas Tobirama's growth potential stemmed from his ability to develop ninjutsu and kinjutsu.
From the Hiraishin, to Edo Tensei, and the Gojuonba, none of them seemed like techniques a normal human could ever develop.
Genma began to ponder the future balance of power between the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan.
If Tobirama had further grasped the Hiraishin during his previous life-and-death battle against a powerful enemy who outmatched him, then the offensive and defensive dynamic between the Senju and Uchiha might shift once again.
The Senju would overpower the Uchiha once more, and the situation on the battlefield would become even more unbalanced—the Hiraishin was a ninjutsu that could cause an incredibly staggering qualitative leap in a shinobi's strength.
This technique was almost a guaranteed "one-shot kill on first sight." There was a high probability that Izuna Uchiha would still end up dying by Tobirama's blade.
Having realized that Hashirama had already mastered Sennin Modo, Genma felt that Hashirama held back to some extent when fighting the Uchiha—or at least, he held back when fighting Madara Uchiha... After all, ordinary Uchiha shinobi couldn't possibly force Hashirama to use Sennin Modo, and Madara's Sharingan was currently only at the Mangekyo level.
But Tobirama was entirely different. Showing mercy? He hadn't practiced those words a single day in his life. He was the type of person who would poison his own food, go to the bathroom after eating, and then mix his own poisoned shit into the Uchiha's rations.
Izuna Uchiha was a textbook traditional Uchiha—his personality carried that somewhat unpleasant arrogance. With his little brain, could he really handle a sinister, underhanded Tobirama Senju who had also mastered the Hiraishin?
In terms of strength rankings, the Uchiha clan's current second-strongest expert was actually the solitary, drifting Sasuke Uchiha, whereas the Senju clan's second-strongest was still Tobirama Senju. The number two fighting the number three—there was almost no suspense.
The imbalance between the Senju and Uchiha originally stemmed from Tobirama's suppression of Izuna. From the exact moment of "Curse your fate for not having the Sharingan," there was no longer any expert within the Uchiha clan who could match Tobirama.
Sasuke Uchiha couldn't fill this vacancy either; he simply could not integrate into the Uchiha of this era.
Thus, it was hard to say whether Sasuke almost killing Tobirama was a good or bad thing for the Uchiha. It was precisely because Sasuke had pushed Tobirama that this guy developed the Hiraishin ahead of schedule... Wait, it seemed Genma also had a hand in this. If it weren't for the little lecture on space-time ninjutsu he gave Tobirama, Tobirama's brain might not have spun so quickly.
But all in all, on the original timeline, Tobirama mastering the Hiraishin, Izuna getting instantly taken down, Madara evolving the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, getting thrashed by Hashirama, and the founding of Konohagakure should have all happened in the same year—meaning Izuna died in the "First Year of Konoha."
Now, if Izuna wanted to maintain his already not-so-long lifespan, the difficulty of pulling that off next might be a bit... After all, Sasuke was a Konohagakure shinobi. While his mouth claimed his goal was to prevent the Uchiha from joining Konohagakure, his actual actions were accelerating the village's formation.
As for why it was certain that the year Tobirama mastered the Hiraishin was the same year Izuna died? The reason was simple: a ninjutsu like Hiraishin is at its absolute strongest the very first time it is deployed on the battlefield. A man as scheming as Tobirama had no reason not to understand this principle.
Even Hashirama hid his trump cards, let alone Tobirama.
As for why Tobirama couldn't hide the Hiraishin even longer—for example, learning it several years before killing Izuna?
That was impossible. Because although Tobirama was sinister, loved to hide his cards, and would launch despicable, shameless sneak attacks at the drop of a hat, his urge to kill the Uchiha was something he could hardly suppress. If given the slightest opportunity to strike, he would take it 1,010% of the time.
Taking down Izuna Uchiha—guess who would be the happiest? Naturally, the one who did the deed would be overjoyed.
But that was fine too. When the time came, Tobirama would surpass Genma to become the person Madara Uchiha loathed the most. After all, avenging a father couldn't compare to avenging a brother.
Furthermore, Genma had never admitted to killing Tajima in a direct confrontation; the grievance over the father's death was indirect, whereas the grievance over the brother's death would be direct.
What a good brother indeed. Tobirama was actually so eager to take the heat for Genma. What should be done about the massive amount of aggro Genma drew from Madara? No problem, Tobirama would draw even more, and he would probably thoroughly enjoy it.
"So the fate of the Uchiha is still hard to alter. This damn sense of destiny."
Would Genma feel pity for the Uchiha, then? No. At this stage, his line of thinking aligned perfectly with Black Zetsu's.
"As for... Sasuke Uchiha..."
Regarding Sasuke, Genma felt things were slipping a bit out of control. Although Sasuke could hardly hinder the grand scheme and might even give it a push, this kind of volatile variable instinctively made him uncomfortable.
How on earth did he manage to learn Sennin Modo?
Genma took stock of his various abilities and found that dealing with Sage Mode was indeed a thorny issue.
So, it would all depend on when Sasuke fell into the hands of Hashirama or Tobirama next. There was still a difference between the two: under the former, Sasuke might end up as meat paste; under the latter, it would be a backstab.
"Or..."
Speaking of Sasuke, Genma felt that his desperate desire to change the fate of the Uchiha likely stemmed from self-gaslighting. Did Sasuke truly love the Uchiha so much that he was willing to shoulder the entire clan's destiny?
Was he just inventing a tragic role for himself?
Or more accurately, Sasuke's love for the Uchiha likely originated from his hatred for his older brother. Escalating step-by-step from bitter hatred to remorse and then to overwhelming guilt, these progressive emotions made him believe he had to take on the responsibility of saving the Uchiha. After all, this was what his brother had risked his life for.
The human heart is truly a complex thing. Though Sasuke was a reckless youth who acted purely on instinct, beneath that deadpan expression lay a convoluted process of emotional transformation.
Of course, this was all psychological analysis Genma deduced based on the original timeline. As for what the Sasuke of this world had actually gone through, one would have to ask the deeply detestable Fourth Hokage.
After mulling it over, Genma decided there was no need to obsess over Sasuke. At any rate, Sasuke had no reason to target Yinghuo Village.
Next, Genma led the Kuroki Hitomi shinobi to conduct free medical clinics within the Senju clan. Since they were already here, they couldn't just turn around and leave... What? Asking if there were severely wounded in the Senju clan?
What a joke. Which shinobi clan didn't have its share of severely wounded?
Consider it an expression of gratitude to the "Five Elites of the Senju" who had provided Genma with information. Giving money was out of the question—that would be an insult to those righteous souls. Only by saving their clansmen could he repay the nobility in their humanity.
Meanwhile, inside a cave deep in the mountains, another righteous soul sat leaning against a stone wall, his face utterly pale as he coughed relentlessly.
Sasuke Uchiha had taken a direct swat from Hashirama's Wooden Golem and survived; at this point, paying any price short of death was only to be expected.
There were seven or eight other severely injured Uchiha shinobi in the cave, all of whom Sasuke had rescued from the battlefield.
"Lord Wuming, are you alright?"
An Uchiha shinobi in slightly better condition asked Sasuke, his tone filled with deep concern.
This "Wuming" had absolutely nothing to do with the "Wuming" from Lan. Since Sasuke consistently refused to disclose his real name, everyone had no choice but to address him as Lord Wuming.
"I'm fine. I just need to rest."
Sasuke remained as frugal with his words as ever. He felt the injuries on his body were truly nothing major. Hashirama Senju's strength was terrifying, yes, but hadn't Sasuke managed to escape anyway?
Except, compared to his physical wounds...
Sasuke instinctively reached up to cover his left eye. His vision was already considerably blurred... Only now did he truly comprehend what Genma meant when he previously said, "The ocular power of the Mangekyo is a scarce resource."
Thinking back to how recklessly he had squandered his ocular power before...
It was too late for regrets now.
The persuasiveness of an argument varies depending on the situation and the person, but persuasion from a superior to a subordinate is often far more effective than the other way around.
Sasuke's background couldn't convince Madara Uchiha, but after saving these Uchiha shinobi in the cave, they readily bought into his identity as a "person from the future" and understood his purpose for traveling through time.
Furthermore, after witnessing the plight of the Uchiha projected through Sasuke's genjutsu, they threw themselves under his command one after another, prepared to fight for the same goal—to alter the fate of the Uchiha.
After all, had it not been for Sasuke, they would have perished on the battlefield long ago. Since they survived, it was only fitting to dedicate their lives to the grand cause of changing the Uchiha's destiny.
"Lord Wuming, you heavily wounded that Tobirama Senju. With those kinds of injuries, it's virtually impossible for him to survive. Under these circumstances, will the prophecy of 'Lord Izuna dying by the hand of Tobirama Senju' still happen?" someone asked.
Sasuke directed his gaze toward the outside world, which should have been bright and beautiful but appeared dim and dull in his vision. After a brief silence, he spoke:
"I... don't know."
In theory, Izuna Uchiha's fate should have shifted, but why was the history he learned in the future still that Izuna died by Tobirama's hand?
Was history truly unalterable?
"No, it can definitely be changed."
Yet, the history known to the future Sasuke was the exact history obtained after all the variables on the timeline had been compiled.
It wasn't something that would bend just because he said it could.
The reason the Jiongu ninja had accepted the mission to assassinate Genma, aside from the exceptionally handsome reward, was another critical factor: the Yinghuo organization had stolen the secret technique of the Jiongu and mass-produced it.
Piracy, pure and unadulterated piracy. Zero respect for intellectual property, without paying even a single cent in royalty fees.
They couldn't just stand by and watch the secret technique their clan relied on for survival become a common commodity on the streets. If it lost its exclusivity and secrecy, could a secret technique even be called a secret technique anymore?
In their minds, as long as they could successfully assassinate Genma and toss his head into that village, Yinghuo Village would plunge into chaos. They could then seize the opportunity to reclaim the mass-production method of the Jiongu... after all, this method was far more efficient than their traditional cultivation process.
A leader-like figure emerged from a secret room, wiping his hands as he questioned the others:
"Have you figured out the target's movements?"
"We have. Luck is on our side; he happens to be out executing a mission, so we can make our move on his return journey... In any case, an ambush is bound to have a much higher success rate than a frontal assault on a village."
Yes, they had actually considered launching a frontal assault on Yinghuo Village.
These people seemed a bit too comfortable in their own little world, completely failing to realize that the shinobi world was currently on the precipice of a massive upheaval, yet they were still sticking to their old, uninspired tactics.
"My lord, we've interrogated him so many times already; there probably isn't any fresh information left to extract, right?" The shinobi's implication was that they should just finish him off, as continuing to drag it out was merely a waste of time.
"I just wanted to make sure he wasn't hiding anything else," the leader replied.
Through the gap in the door behind him, the situation inside the secret room was visible: a shinobi was tightly bound to a wall, already tortured beyond recognition.
If Genma were here, he would definitely recognize this poor bastard, because the poor bastard of the present was the very same poor bastard of the past... This man was the first experimental subject to successfully receive a flesh bud transplantation.
Evidently, the authentic Jiongu users had intentionally captured this bootleg shinobi who lacked a production license.
But would all their endless questioning yield any valuable intelligence?
Almost absolutely nothing.
"Is Li still opposing this mission?" the leader asked again.
Not everyone believed they should accept this mission. Li, a Jiongu user who had previously been to Kikyo Castle, had explicitly voiced his opposition.
"Yes. He believes that since those flesh buds can be obtained by paying a minuscule, negligible price, there is absolutely no need for us to risk attacking them... He feels those people possess considerable strength."
"Considerable strength?" The leader scoffed. "Short-sighted. As long as we can recover the method for manufacturing those flesh buds, we can mass-produce secret technique users, and it won't be long before we expand into a genuine shinobi clan... How could we possibly pass up such a golden opportunity?"
"Of course I know the target is powerful, otherwise Lü wouldn't have died... Tell you what, to be safe, let Li stay behind to watch the house. As for the rest of us, we go in together."
Well, he had uttered the classic line, "We go in together," prematurely draining all suspense from an assassination that was supposed to be thrilling and fraught with danger.
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