Early morning, The Fireflies office building.
Change just one character and this building would share its name with a future great nation's armed forces headquarters—but alas, it cannot be changed.
Outside an office in the corridor, a ninja was carefully tending to a bird in a cage, replacing cooled boiled water with fresh water and adding new chunks of meat.
Don't let the bird's small size fool you—though it looked like a sparrow, it was actually some type of owl, definitely a bird of prey. This made sense; otherwise, if a messenger bird got randomly killed by other birds en route, that would be too ridiculous.
Besides the bird's importance, the ninja was being extra careful for another reason.
He'd been on duty all night, and soon after, his replacement arrived.
"This is..."
The newcomer was obviously new and seeing this bird for the first time.
"It's Tobirama Senju's messenger bird. In emergencies, we can use it to contact the Senju Clan."
"Such important communication... I mean, Tobirama Senju's bird is just hanging here in broad daylight for display?"
"What else? Everyone should get familiar with it."
"Why are you lowering your voice?"
Actually, he sensed a certain atmosphere, so he'd instinctively started imitating his predecessor by speaking quietly.
"Oh, Lord Yūshin isn't in a good mood. Some ninjutsu development seems to be going poorly... We should try not to disturb him."
"Understood, completely understood."
When leaders are in bad moods, subordinates instinctively tuck their tails and try to minimize their presence. This truth applies not only in the ninja world, but even in the underworld.
Just one wall away in the office, Yūshin sat in a chair with a troubled expression.
Everything was going wrong—not the usual "difficult beginnings" kind of wrong, since beginnings were actually easy.
Yūshin's attempt at developing puppetry had succeeded yet failed, or rather, because it wasn't successful enough, it could only be considered failure.
Creating chakra threads wasn't difficult—the "simulation experience method" worked for training.
First, try feeling chakra flow along a fine thread. Once proficient enough, remove the thread... As long as your chakra is refined enough, making chakra threads isn't hard.
The difficulty lay in creating enough chakra threads and using them with incredible precision to manipulate puppet joints, making the puppet perform desired actions, evolving it from a performance prop into a weapon capable of executing killing orders... Just thinking about it showed how troublesome it was.
Making puppets from human bodies plus other components wasn't hard either, but creating precise, durable, lethal puppets required medical knowledge and carpentry/smithing skills. No matter what, Yūshin couldn't allocate his "skill points" in those directions.
Most crucially, Yūshin couldn't reproduce kekkei genkai through corpses' bodies and hearts, which eliminated most of the point of developing puppetry.
Sasori of the Red Sand being called a genius wasn't for nothing—his puppetry mastery was truly peak-level. How did he preserve the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release ability?
Or was Magnet Release not a chakra fusion-type kekkei genkai, but a bodily organ-type like the Sharingan? Could a ninja use Magnet Release not because they could create unique chakra, but because they had a unique body?
Whether due to objective limitations or Yūshin's subjective stupidity, he couldn't reproduce puppets' pre-death kekkei genkai.
No choice—those three Hagoromo Clan corpses he'd collected could only have their hearts extracted and given to those in need: Wutong, Tachibana Wakamatsu, and Fūma Chi.
As Yūshin expected, thanks to these high-quality hearts, the three respectively gained two or three chakra nature transformations.
For them, this was certainly a huge gain, but compared to kekkei genkai, it wasn't much... Cursed Grudge Fear also couldn't reproduce kekkei genkai.
This showed the Hagoromo Clan really wasn't much—they couldn't make outstanding contributions to Yūshin. No wonder the Senju Clan became the chaos's final victors while the Hagoromo Clan vanished in history's river.
Look at the help Tobirama Senju brought Yūshin, then look at these three corpses—everything was clear without words.
So after much thought, Yūshin decided to abandon puppetry. From excited arrival to disappointed departure took only a few days.
His disappointment at not reproducing kekkei genkai was one aspect; another was Yūshin discovering certain characteristics of puppetry.
This technique required enormous effort to learn, plus crafting precise "puppets." After all that, puppetry's overall combat effectiveness was just so-so—standard high effort, low reward.
This fighting style suited artistic youth with aesthetic pursuits, not someone like Yūshin who pursued violent output without artistic sensibilities... Yūshin preferred plain, unremarkable fighting methods over flashy ones.
Hadn't he already started reducing technique frequency in combat? Let alone prancing around battlefields with puppets.
Simply put, learning puppetry required enormous effort. With so much time and energy, wouldn't Yūshin be better off using it elsewhere?
So after organizing puppetry's general development approach, he stuffed the related materials into the archives—at least these few days weren't wasted.
Hopefully puppetry could shine in some destined person's hands.
No problem, nothing to be depressed about. The previous project succeeded, this one should fail—keeping Yūshin's research success rate at fifty percent... Yūshin took a deep breath, adjusted his mood, and prepared to find Uchiha Shichimi to ask about something.
He wanted to ask if Shichimi had mastered Earth Release ninjutsu and whether she was proficient in earth-nature chakra transformation. If he got positive answers, he planned to learn.
Since he temporarily had no other ideas for increasing strength, Yūshin would honestly return to chakra nature training.
White Zetsu was Yūshin's biggest hope for strength growth, but couldn't be the only hope. When it was time for down-to-earth, honest effort, Yūshin had no complaints.
...
Meanwhile, in a building opposite The Fireflies office building—the combat readiness building where ninja received daily missions, duty assignments, rest and preparation.
Uchiha Shichimi's office area was here. Normally, she'd stay in this building, ready to respond to emergencies within the Land of the River Source.
Her combat strength often served as a stabilizing anchor for The Fireflies organization.
Having slept late yesterday, Shichimi's "work hours" were slightly delayed today. When she opened her office door, she saw her summoning beast Little Seven squatting in a room corner.
Little Seven looked like an ordinary fox, unlike those prestigious, traditional summoning beasts with hidden sanctuaries. It was basically "homeless," so sometimes appearing mysteriously was normal—Shichimi was used to this.
Originally Shichimi didn't care what Little Seven was doing. Canine animals ignoring their masters and playing alone—what was strange about that?
However, just as Shichimi was about to sit down, she suddenly noticed the thing Little Seven kept pawing between its front paws looked familiar...
It was a creature resembling a small pangolin. Uchiha Shichimi quickly walked over, pushed Little Seven aside, felt around the "pangolin's" neck area, and soon extracted a rolled-up secret message.
Seeing the message delivered, the "pangolin" that had been played with by the "dog" for a long time looked pitiful, then disappeared with a puff of white smoke.
Shichimi didn't care where it went, quickly unfolding the secret message with both hands. After reading the contents clearly, her body slightly froze.
In that instant, the secret message spontaneously combusted.
The burning sensation from her fingertips brought Uchiha Shichimi back to her senses. She slowly sat in a nearby chair, staring blankly ahead, her focus seemingly passing through walls and buildings, fixed on some unknown distant place.
Unconsciously, her facial expression kept changing.
At this moment, Yūshin knocked and entered. He was about to ask Shichimi about Earth Release, but noticed her strange expression... Yūshin was quite perceptive in these matters, immediately understanding Shichimi had discovered something he didn't know.
This matter was probably unrelated to the organization, but rather related to Shichimi's origins—the Uchiha Clan.
"What happened?" he asked directly.
Shichimi opened her mouth, hesitating, but after brief struggle, decided to tell Yūshin the truth:
"I just received a secret message from the Uchiha. Something happened in the clan..."
This seemed complex. Shichimi reorganized her words, trying to explain concisely:
"Our clan has a very special ninja. Her Sharingan has extraordinary, even clan-fate-changing abilities. Therefore, clansmen both fear and covet this power, keeping her secretly imprisoned."
"For unknown reasons, her existence and abilities have been leaked. Some force seems to have infiltrated the Uchiha internally, trying to seize this power."
There's such a Sharingan? Isn't your Mangekyō already overpowered enough? Yūshin felt confused.
First, he wasn't familiar with this era's Uchiha Clan. Second, he was the type who wouldn't pay attention to spin-off content after finishing the main work, so this reaction was normal.
But one thing Yūshin could understand from this brief conversation: anyone who could covet Uchiha power was definitely no simple character.
Wait, could it be Black Zetsu or White Zetsu?
Yūshin made this guess but immediately dismissed it. Black Zetsu and White Zetsu rarely did dirty work personally—they habitually hid in sewers, luring brain-dead ninja into free labor.
More importantly, if Black Zetsu and White Zetsu decided to act, how could they be detected so simply? Later events proved that even the Uchiha's peerless dōjutsu and insight, second only to the Hyūga's Byakugan, couldn't discover Black Zetsu, White Zetsu, and their conspiracies.
Even ancestral stone tablet prophecies were secretly altered by Black Zetsu—what more could be said?
If Black Zetsu and White Zetsu weren't involved, things wouldn't be too complex—just someone wanting to look at, steal, or use the Uchiha Clan's treasure.
This was just another "heavenly treasures belong to the virtuous" story, someone envying the Uchiha's red eyes—clichéd to the point of being commonplace.
"I don't care about powerful dōjutsu and ocular power, just feel sorry for that clansman's situation. Despite being blood-related clan members, others fear and exploit her."
Yūshin felt Shichimi's words concealed and beautified the Uchiha Clan's actions. That unfortunate Uchiha ninja's treatment was definitely more than just imprisonment.
Was this why Shichimi criticized Uchiha Madara with such disappointment?
Even under such enormous external pressure, a large clan would still have various internal voices. Expecting all members of a large, top-tier clan to cooperate wholeheartedly was too idealistic.
Thinking of his own situation, if The Fireflies organization grew larger... Yūshin didn't dare continue thinking.
Because continuing would mean establishing a department called "Anbu."
Damn Tobirama Senju, always having so many clever tricks.
"So, Shichimi, what's your plan?"
Despite Shichimi appearing hesitant, Yūshin had already seen through her thoughts.
Shichimi paced in circles, finally making her decision:
"I want to rescue that clansman... I know this has nothing to do with the organization's collective interests, and I don't want such personal matters to bring unnecessary trouble to the entire organization. So, Yūshin, I want to request leave, asking permission to temporarily leave the organization. Once this matter is resolved, I'll return immediately."
This is somewhat difficult, right? Things can't be perfectly resolved just by talking.
More importantly, once Shichimi returned to the Uchiha Clan, she'd be completely exposed to White Zetsu's surveillance.
So Yūshin quickly understood what he should do:
"The organization certainly can't provide help in such matters, but... I can assist you in a personal capacity. This matter is unrelated to the organization—whether successful or failed, gained or lost, all consequences and results belong only to you and me."
Yūshin didn't want to lose a helper like Shichimi—what else could he do?
He sighed inwardly...
Another yearly visit to the house of red eyes—hopefully there would be new discoveries this time.
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