Xuan was hastily bandaged and lay back on the same bed he had slept on previously, quietly waiting for Uchiha Dou's return.
He knew that since Uchiha Dou had managed to escape back then, with his strength, it was basically impossible for him to be chased down again.
Sure enough, just as it was approaching noon, a clamor arose outside.
Xuan hurriedly got up and pushed the door open himself.
In the courtyard, he saw Uchiha Dou surrounded by a group of Elite Jōnin and regular Jōnin.
He walked in carrying a heavy stench of blood.
The wound on his right shoulder was a shocking sight. His entire right arm was gone.
His face was ashen and gloomy as he walked directly into the main living room.
Xuan feigned weakness as he followed him into the living room and greeted, "Uncle Dou."
Uchiha Dou was visibly surprised to see him.
"You're actually still alive?"
The battle last night had been too intense, so much so that he had no way to pay attention to Xuan's situation.
But in his mind, since even the Peak Jōnin-level Secret Ninjas had suffered disastrous casualties, given Xuan's strength, it should have been impossible for him to survive.
To keep him from getting suspicious, Xuan pulled out a kunai and tossed it to the side.
While the kunai was still in mid-air, his figure vanished, appearing next to the kunai almost simultaneously and snatching it out of the air.
"I relied on this move to escape yesterday," Xuan explained.
Facing this move, not only Uchiha Dou but all the Uchiha ninjas present couldn't help but narrow their eyes.
What an incredibly bizarre Space Ninjutsu; it was something completely unheard of.
Only then did Uchiha Dou remember.
When he had returned to the clan compound previously, he seemed to have heard rumors that the next-generation genius, Uchiha Xuan, possessed a special Space Ninjutsu.
It was also by relying on this technique that he had escaped the combined assault of three Hyuga Elite Jōnin.
He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, but seeing it now, it truly was an unfathomably bizarre technique.
"It's good that you're alive. Good that you're alive."
Uchiha Dou said a couple of comforting words and had Xuan sit down to rest.
At the same time, he began swiftly and decisively issuing orders to the many Uchiha ninjas around him.
The Uchiha clan's strength in the North consisted of a Kage-level powerhouse leading two Peak Jōnin, alongside eight Elite Jōnin, over thirty regular Jōnin, and many Chūnin subordinates.
This level of power, back when the Twelve Families weren't united, was completely sufficient to deter the entire Northern region.
But now, not only had the Twelve Families allied together, but the Uchiha forces had also suffered disastrous losses last night, making their situation extremely precarious.
Uchiha Dou ordered the eight Elite Jōnin to set up defensive perimeters to prevent the Twelve-Family Alliance from taking advantage of the situation to attack.
Simultaneously, he ordered ninjas to be sent out along the escape routes to search for the whereabouts of the two Peak Jōnin and Ninja One.
After delegating everything, he wearily waved his remaining left hand, signaling them to get to work.
At the same time, he ordered a Medical Ninja to be summoned to help treat himself and Xuan.
Not long after, a Medical Ninja rushed over.
Regardless of the era, Medical Ninjas were incredibly precious resources, especially in a time like the Warring States period where people could die at any moment.
They were treated as absolute treasures by every clan.
The Medical Ninja who arrived was a woman around thirty years old with average looks.
She first helped Uchiha Dou stabilize the injury on his right shoulder.
Unfortunately, since the severed arm hadn't been retrieved, it couldn't be reattached.
This era did not yet possess the flawless medical capabilities of the future Konoha; they certainly couldn't use his own cells to clone and attach a new arm.
Barring any miracles, Uchiha Dou would only have one arm from now on.
After stabilizing Uchiha Dou's injuries, she treated Xuan.
Xuan's injuries only looked severe; in reality, they were mostly superficial flesh wounds.
After about ten minutes, the wounds had slightly closed up, and he would be fine after resting for a few days.
Afterward, she took her leave, and Xuan was also shooed back to his room by Uchiha Dou to rest.
Two days passed by in a flash.
During these two days, one of the Peak Jōnin under Uchiha Dou's command returned.
Although he came back heavily injured, he had finally managed to save his life.
It was just a pity that the other Peak Jōnin had been caught by the enemy and ultimately failed to escape.
As for Ninja One, Xuan knew that it was absolutely impossible for him to ever return.
Taking advantage of their great victory in the ambush, the Twelve-Family Alliance launched a heavy assault on Xin City the very next day.
Unfortunately for them, they had also lost quite a few experts themselves, and they were beaten back by the prepared Uchiha Dou, who used the terrain to bury a hundred thousand explosive tags in front of the city walls.
Despite repelling an attack from the Alliance, Dou continued to sigh in despair, his brows furrowed with worry.
At the same time, he wrote a letter reporting the dire situation here to Uchiha Tajima.
Xuan's injuries healed very quickly, having basically recovered by sixty to seventy percent.
He hadn't hit himself too hard to begin with.
Taking advantage of his recuperation time, he browsed the System and found that his current points sat at 25,000.
He knew this was the reward he obtained from killing the Peak Jōnin.
A single Peak Jōnin rewarded 20,000 points.
Another two days later, Xuan attended a combat meeting together with the Uchiha Elite Jōnin of the North.
Uchiha Dou pointed at the map on the table and said heavily, "We suffered disastrous casualties this time. Five Secret Ninjas and one Peak Jōnin! If placed in other major clans, this would be a loss sufficient to shake their very foundations."
"The Twelve-Family Alliance's morale is booming, and they are eyeing us like tigers watching their prey. Right now, we can only protect ourselves; we are fundamentally powerless to suppress them, let alone reclaim our territory. Sigh!"
The other Elite Jōnin also wore anxious expressions, not knowing what to say.
The atmosphere in the living room was oppressively heavy.
Just at this moment, an indifferent voice suddenly rang out:
"Actually, this situation isn't too bad. We at least still have the strength to defend our existing territory. We just need to wait it out, and that will be enough."
Everyone looked toward the source of the voice simultaneously, only to see Uchiha Xuan sitting cross-legged on a cushion, his expression incomparably calm.
Uchiha Dou frowned, but didn't reprimand him.
Instead, he asked, "What do you mean?"
He knew that back when they besieged the Hyuga clan, the strategy to cut off their food supply had been proposed by Uchiha Madara.
Now he wanted to see what kind of brilliant insight this other young genius within the clan had.
He didn't know that, in fact, that food-cutting strategy had also been proposed by the very person sitting in front of him.
Xuan elaborated, "It's actually very simple. Although we suffered heavy losses, a powerhouse like Uncle Dou is still here, along with a Peak Jōnin, and our Elite Jōnin roster is completely intact."
"We also occupy the geographical advantage; it won't be easy for the enemy to push through."
"I'll ask a question: In the past, our strength wasn't enough to suppress the Twelve-Family Alliance either, so why were we able to press the attack on them?"
An Elite Jōnin sneered, "Nonsense. Because they completely hadn't allied together back then. They were individual, separate families. Compared to our concentrated strength, it was naturally a world of difference."
Uchiha Dou looked thoughtful, as if he understood something, but he still couldn't completely grasp Xuan's angle.
"Exactly. They used to be scattered clans, so why did they ally together?" Xuan asked again.
Another Elite Jōnin replied, "It's because we wanted to reclaim our lost territory, putting too much pressure on them. Single families couldn't resist us alone, so they banded together."
Uchiha Dou's eyes lit up, finally figuring out what Xuan was trying to express.
He said in pleasant surprise, "You mean to say..."
Xuan smiled and nodded.
The Uchiha clan still had some smart people after all.
"Exactly. It was pressure that made them ally, but this cannot change the fact that they are twelve separate, self-interested families."
"Now that the pressure is gone, the balance of power is already skewed so that they are strong and we are weak. Over time, under the conflict of interests, will they still be of one mind?"
"A pack of wild dogs might band together under the pressure of a lion, but when the lion disappears, they will bite and tear at each other over a piece of fat meat, fighting to the bitter end."
"And that one-quarter of the territory we lost is the biggest piece of fat meat available. Human hearts are always greedy. Once they no longer have external pressure, the alliance will inevitably fail to hold up for long."
Xuan continued, "We just need to quietly wait, making it so they are powerless to conquer Xin City, while simultaneously releasing information that we are severely weakened and can only defend passively."
"They will gradually grow careless. When the time comes, we will secretly add fuel to the flames, and everything will naturally fall into place."
Uchiha Dou nodded heavily.
Looking at Xuan with a gaze as if he had discovered a rare treasure, he sighed with emotion, "With you and Madara emerging in the Uchiha clan's next generation, our prosperity is indeed promising."
Immediately following that, he frowned and said, "But I've already reported the situation here back to the clan. Knowing the Clan Head's personality, he will definitely be unable to swallow this insult. I figure there's an eighty percent chance he'll personally bring people over here to wipe out these twelve families."
To this, Xuan only chuckled silently in his heart.
Should I tell you that Uchiha Tajima definitely won't be able to make it?
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