Over at Hotarubi Village, the Kurohitomi clan had already settled down.
At this moment, Chihori impatiently dragged Lan to find this group of medical ninjas, hoping to use their superb medical ninjutsu to seek any possibility of restoring Lan's vision.
After Shichimai passed away while protecting the ninjas led by Chihori, Chihori had become exceptionally caring toward Lan—it would not be an exaggeration to say she was raising her like a daughter.
The initial motivation was certainly guilt and pity, but as time passed and genuine affection was poured in, a sincere bond naturally forged between them.
However, after a joint consultation by the Kurohitomi medical ninjas, they arrived at an unfavorable conclusion.
"It's not just an issue with the eyeballs; her entire visual neural network has been completely burned out. It looks like an extreme negative feedback loop caused by forcibly breaking some kind of restraint..."
"Frankly speaking, if you want to restore her vision, medical technology alone cannot achieve it."
"Is there any other way?" Chihori asked, her voice tinged with agitation.
"That... might be beyond the scope of the Kurohitomi's capabilities."
"But—"
"Chihori-nee, please don't force them into a difficult position, okay?"
Lan sat up and asked a nearby medical ninja to help re-wrap the bandage over her eyes. She had long anticipated this outcome; she had only been dragged here by Chihori in the first place.
Or rather, the moment she directly tore through the seal the Uchiha had placed on her eyes, she had already foreseen this result. Therefore, she felt neither surprised nor disappointed by the diagnosis... because she had never harbored any extravagant hopes to begin with.
In fact, she felt entirely content. Being able to regain her freedom and leave the Uchiha alive had already far exceeded her past expectations for life.
Being blind wouldn't cause her too much inconvenience anyway. With her outstanding sensory abilities, she could still "see" everything clearly without her eyes.
As for the lost abilities of the Mangekyo Sharingan, to be honest, losing them meant she no longer had any connection to the Uchiha. For her, it was actually a form of psychological liberation.
Chihori wanted to sigh, but she clenched her teeth and held it in, merely reaching out to grip Lan's hand tightly.
After three days of diagnosis and treatment, Genma left the Senju clan's village, accompanied by four medical ninjas.
Senju Hashirama escorted them the entire way, looking very much like he intended to see Genma and the others all the way back to Hotarubi Village.
"Hashirama, there's really no need to keep escorting us. We aren't completely defenseless, you know," Genma said, somewhat speechless. Hashirama was treating them like kindergarten children.
However, comparison breeds misery. If they were to compare sheer strength, Genma was certainly stronger than a kindergartener in front of Senju Hashirama, but only by a very limited margin.
"Haha, because the conflict between the Senju and Uchiha clans is escalating, this route is very unsafe. You could be ambushed by the Uchiha at any moment... Of course, I believe in your strength, Genma. It's just that guarding four people by yourself is inherently difficult, regardless of how strong you are."
"Once you are tied down, the medical ninjas will be in trouble."
Hashirama's words were perfectly reasonable, and he truly seemed worried about an enemy ambush... To put it one way, he displayed excellent emotional intelligence.
If it weren't for the fact that the Five Senju Elites kept feeding him inside information, Genma might have actually believed Hashirama's words. After all, straightforward people usually tell the truth.
But someone like Hashirama also didn't mind telling a benevolent white lie, especially when the actual truth was a bit embarrassing to say out loud... While Hashirama didn't have a mind full of schemes like his younger brother, he wasn't so rigid that he would blurt out every single truth.
Worried about an Uchiha ambush? More like he's worried about the Senju higher-ups doing something irrational... Genma instantly understood Hashirama's deeper meaning.
The Senju, Hyuga, Uzumaki, Sarutobi, and Hotarubi would eventually integrate into a single entity. If practical realities were set aside, Hashirama would even willingly act as a subordinate, considering he was an honorary member of Hotarubi.
In a situation where everything was progressing so well, the Senju higher-ups were actually brewing undercurrents. Hashirama would absolutely never allow those old geezers to cause any irreversible damage.
Therefore, the best approach was to leave them with absolutely no window of opportunity.
For some reason, whenever it came to the most critical moments, Hashirama's brain always worked better than Tobirama's.
Perhaps their mother had been partial, leaving all the wisdom to Hashirama when he was born, while leaving Tobirama with nothing but underhanded schemes and machinations that couldn't bear the light of day.
"Then I'll trouble you."
"No, no, it's no trouble at all. You provided irreplaceable help with Tobirama's matter and the other wounded shinobi. We are the ones who should express our gratitude; this is the least I can do."
Genma did not expose Hashirama's lie. At this stage, pretending to be ignorant together was the best way to maintain harmony for everyone.
In truth, even if they traveled alone, Genma's group wouldn't be in any danger because he could use the Keijōan no Jutsu. He could drag everyone along like kites and fly right back to their old base... That was exactly how he had come here; otherwise, how could older practitioners like the Kurohitomi pharmacists endure such high-intensity travel?
However, since Hashirama was willing to help, he accepted it. Accepting others' goodwill helped build mutual trust.
But after walking for half a day, Hashirama suddenly halted his steps.
"What's wrong, Hashirama?"
Hashirama shook his head and said, "As expected, someone is lying in ambush ahead of us."
"...Ah?"
"Yes. Though my sensory abilities aren't as exaggerated as Tobirama's, there's no reason for me to make a mistake at this proximity."
Genma thought to himself, What do you mean by that? Even if it's not as exaggerated as Tobirama's, your sensory range is still vastly greater than mine. Are you subtly hinting that I'm useless?
To think they actually ran into an ambush. Genma looked at Hashirama's face, feeling that this guy either possessed an unlucky constitution or carried a jinxing attribute.
Everything had been fine on the way here, but on the way back, just because their group added one more person, they encountered an ambush. Using the process of elimination, it was clear whose fault this was.
Genma didn't think the assassination was targeted at him. A person as good as him, with such an excellent reputation—why would anyone want to assassinate him?
"Come out, we've spotted you!"
He didn't care to play any games of turning the tables through trickery. He figured if they were just ordinary rogue ninjas looking to rob some food, he would just let them go.
After a moment, six ninjas appeared within their line of sight.
"Be careful, everyone. The chakra of these individuals is very strong, far exceeding the level of ordinary shinobi."
Hashirama warned the group, mainly directing his caution toward the medical ninjas.
The medical ninjas of this era certainly weren't completely devoid of combat capability, but even so, there was absolutely no reason to make the doctors fight here.
Genma shared the same sentiment. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. If he let an eighty- or ninety-year-old pharmacist fight here, he was worried the boomerang would eventually hit him in the future... If he still had to go to the battlefield when he was eighty, how miserable would that be?
Wait, it seems that after I fail the struggle for Second Hokage, I'll die of depression anyway. I don't even have the lifespan to reach eighty.
But Hashirama's words were pure nonsense. What did he mean by "their chakra is too strong"? That wasn't how you complimented an enemy.
"Hold on, these people... look like Jiongu ninjas. Hashirama, they seem to be after you."
To anyone familiar with Earth Grudge Fear, the attire of Jiongu ninjas was actually very recognizable, which allowed Genma to guess their origins.
He then recalled the legendary "eight-hundred-mile kunai throw," but something still didn't align. When Kakuzu assassinated Hashirama, Hashirama was already the Hokage, and Kakuzu hadn't mastered Jiongu at that time.
"Ah, how did they recognize me? But an assassination, huh... I haven't encountered one of those in a long time."
Because he was just escorting guests, Hashirama wasn't wearing his armor. Without his armor, he lacked the Senju emblem, making his identity somewhat difficult to recognize... Aside from his long hair, Hashirama actually looked quite ordinary.
But with that long hair, his unique presence was unmistakably distinct.
Based on the principle of preventing geniuses from other ninja clans from growing, the assassination attempts Hashirama faced in his youth were endless. However, after he reached his mid-teens, such incidents rarely occurred for obvious reasons.
Thus, encountering an assassination attempt again actually felt quite novel and nostalgic to Hashirama, evoking old memories.
From the bottom of his heart, he wanted to play around with these ninjas. However, considering he was currently on an escort mission and couldn't afford to risk the greater goal for small amusements, he could only display his cold, ruthless side.
"Move!"
The six ninjas approached step by step, and then instantly burst into a full sprint.
These individuals were highly decisive and had no intention of communicating. The leader merely barked a short, sharp command.
Yet Genma was someone who loved fulfilling others' wishes. They didn't like to talk? Then they wouldn't have to talk ever again.
Consequently, the leader's command became the final words of their entire group.
Genma happened to have a new jutsu whose combat effectiveness he wanted to test. He raised his right arm, and a sphere of chakra rapidly formed in his palm.
The rotating sphere flattened out continuously, spinning rapidly before the center hollowed out, quickly forming a ring about the size of a pot lid.
As lightning gently crackled, the ring was soon dyed a brilliant, blazing white.
After adapting to Wood Release, Genma had synthesized Storm Release over the past year. What he was using now was a secret Storm Release technique he had developed himself:
Ranton: Hachifun Kōrin (Storm Release: Eight-Segment Light Ring)
Yes, that's right—anyone can become light.
With a single flick of Genma's arm, the light ring pierced through the air like a phantom, appearing right before the enemy leader's eyes in an instant.
The technique was completely silent and arrived instantaneously, causing a cold sweat to break out over the leader.
But since he could become the leader of these Jiongu ninjas, he was naturally no fool. At the absolute critical moment, his neck snapped sideways at a ninety-degree angle, barely managing to evade Genma's attack...
Or did he?
Genma hooked his fingertip, and a flash of light traveled along an almost invisible chakra thread. The next second, the light ring that had just bypassed the leader's neck instantly snapped back, precisely slicing his head into two clean halves.
The cut was exceptionally smooth, and the high-energy density of the Storm Release slice directly cauterized the blood vessels at the wound, kindly preserving all of the man's blood inside his remains.
This move was highly environmentally friendly and hygienic, leaving the ground completely clean—making it particularly suitable for indoor use.
"Hashirama, when dealing with them, it's best to aim for the head... Never mind."
Genma didn't get a chance to continue showcasing his newly learned Kekkei Genkai because, at that moment, Hashirama had already clapped his hands together, spreading a massive Jukai across the entire area.
To be fair, Hashirama wasn't the type of person to drop a massive ultimate move right off the bat, but he felt these ninjas possessed significant strength. To protect their medical ninjas, he naturally unleashed as much force as possible.
The saying that sheer force overcomes all cleverness certainly held true.
It could only be said that the actions of this group of enemies were rather comical. From beginning to end, Genma never realized that the target of the assassination was actually himself. Under the misleading impression of Genma taking the initiative to strike first, Hashirama even assumed that he was the one who had brought trouble upon their party.
"I'm terribly sorry, everyone. These people were after me."
After finishing the job, Hashirama apologized to everyone with a look of embarrassment.
"It's... it's fine. It didn't take much effort anyway."
The old master pharmacist's eyes hadn't been wide open like this in a decade. He had long heard that Senju Hashirama was extraordinary; he had witnessed Hashirama's chakra before, but seeing raw chakra and seeing an actual jutsu manifested were entirely different experiences.
Genma seemed to recognize the origins of these ninjas, but Hashirama didn't bother to ask about it... Because he didn't care, there was no need to ask.
Reasonably speaking, six Jiongu ninjas could usually walk uncontested throughout the shinobi world. Genma could catch one off guard and eliminate him with a trick, but the same trick wouldn't work as effectively a second time.
Unfortunately, these men had kicked the single hardest plate of iron in the entire shinobi world—their luck couldn't have been worse.
Fortunately, they passed away very peacefully. Unfortunately, while Hashirama claimed they were strong, crushing them was practically no different from swatting the weakest ninja who had just learned to use chakra.
The old master pharmacist rubbed his eyes and said:
"Let's just go home quickly. The shinobi world is truly terrifying."
The sea of trees buried the ordinary ninjas, and under these circumstances, Genma had no way to collect any materials.
In this kind of environment, finding the bodies would take too much time, and piecing them back together would require immense patience... It was far too troublesome and inappropriate for the moment.
After this brief interlude, the rest of the journey passed without any further incidents. Hashirama escorted Genma and his companions back to Hotarubi Village, and without staying for a moment, he chose to return immediately.
Well into that evening, Genma was still contemplating how to make the old geezers step down from the stage.
The two brothers would certainly be powerless regarding this matter, and he couldn't display his intelligence in such a place either... If even a single flaw were exposed, the friendly relationship he had maintained with the Senju would be reduced to ashes.
To ruin the future of Hotarubi for the sake of an old fossil was an entirely bad deal no matter how he looked at it.
So, who else could he count on? Could he count on Uchiha Madara to put in some extra effort?
Then, right at that moment, a pair of Sharingan suddenly appeared outside his bedroom window.
Those eyes merely cast a single glance at Genma before turning around and ignoring him, walking straight toward the depths of the forest. The message conveyed by that retreating figure was clear: Come if you want, or don't.
It was Shichi.
Genma's heart skipped a beat as a terrible premonition instantly washed over him.
"Holy crap, don't do it. The previous mess hasn't even been cleaned up yet."
Shichi didn't care what Genma thought. If it weren't for the desire to find a guard to prevent any unforeseen accidents, it wouldn't have gone out of its way to notify Genma at all.
"Seriously, don't stir things up. There's really no need. No need, do you understand?"
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