Tobirama Senju had a heavy mind, and Yūshin's thoughts were no lighter—this could be seen from how he brought Akimichi Ninsei to visit the Nara Clan first rather than the Yamanaka Clan.
Since what they were about to do was, in a sense, equivalent to poaching from the local daimyo's corner, the two scheduled their visit for the evening.
With Akimichi Ninsei's connections, they easily obtained an opportunity to meet the Nara Clan leader. Under the guidance of a young ninja, the "two and a half" people made their way through a small village.
This village wasn't far from the local power center—or rather, this was the local power center, because Yūshin could see the towering, majestic tenshu-kaku just by looking up.
"Are all the residents of this village Nara Clan members?" Yūshin asked with some curiosity.
If so, compared to the Akimichi Clan, the Nara Clan would definitely be considered prosperous in population.
The ninja responsible for guiding them was called Nara Hiroichi. They had already introduced themselves when they first met. Out of consideration for Akimichi Ninsei, he answered Yūshin's question:
"No, Yūshin-sama. Most people in the village are ordinary folk with no blood relation to the Nara Clan. The proportion of our Nara Clan members isn't high."
This wasn't some unspeakable secret intelligence—anyone with intentions to investigate could find out easily.
The current population situation of the Nara Clan might be a bit better than the Akimichi Clan, but only just a bit.
"Living together with ordinary civilians—that's quite rare."
Yūshin thought to himself: it seems the Nara Clan is quite confident in certain aspects.
Because this mixed-living approach would complicate the village situation. With loopholes everywhere, enemy spies could easily infiltrate.
"Yūshin-sama, this injured person is..."
Nara Hiroichi was also curious. Seeing Akimichi Ninsei carrying an unconscious person, he found it very strange... Who would carry a wounded person while executing an external visit mission?
Yūshin calmly raised the stakes: "This is the son of the Senju Clan leader. On our way here, we happened to see him being surrounded and attacked by unknown enemies, so we rescued him."
The reputation of the Senju Clan was casually given away by Yūshin as a gift.
The identity of the unconscious victim made Nara Hiroichi gasp—wait, you could casually rescue the Senju Clan leader's son?
Imperceptibly, Yūshin's image was elevated.
"Do you maintain good relations with the Senju Clan?"
"Can't say they're good, only that our relationship with Senju (Tobirama) is decent." Yūshin hadn't lied—he just omitted some words.
This was important news. Nara Hiroichi decided to find an opportunity to inform the clan leader.
Yūshin was quite restrained. He didn't presumptuously continue inquiring about the Nara Clan's current situation. Due to the somewhat shocking news, Nara Hiroichi also fell silent.
So the four people (the unconscious one barely counted as a person) continued forward and soon arrived at the clan leader's residence.
The Nara Clan leader was called Nara Naoyuki. He was already standing outside the courtyard, prepared to welcome the visiting guests.
Additionally, two ninja stood behind him.
"Yūshin-sama, welcome to the Nara Clan... Akimichi Clan leader, we haven't seen each other for quite a while."
Nara Naoyuki had a gentle attitude with a smile on his face. His hospitality was impeccable, though when his gaze swept over Akimichi Ninsei, he couldn't help but pause for a moment on the other's forehead protector.
Since this was a formal visit, Yūshin had also rarely worn his forehead protector on his head.
Yūshin's first impression of Nara Naoyuki was quite good. The other appeared to be in his forties and didn't seem to be of the same generation as Akimichi Ninsei.
But being older was good—the older, the more cunning, and the more he would consider clan survival issues, understanding better that eggs shouldn't be put in one basket and that more escape routes were better.
Under Nara Naoyuki's guidance, Yūshin and Akimichi Ninsei entered the interior. During this time, Nara Hiroichi quietly informed the clan leader of Tobirama Senju's origins.
Nara Naoyuki nodded imperceptibly.
Arriving at a reception room, after another round of social pleasantries, they each took their seats.
Within Yūshin's sight, Nara Naoyuki arranged for someone to temporarily care for Tobirama Senju.
"Ninsei, when I received your letter, I was startled. I didn't expect your Akimichi Clan to join a new ninja organization..." Nara Naoyuki used acquaintances as a conversation starter. His words seemed to contain emotion, while internally he felt somewhat regretful.
Originally, the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi should have begun converging long ago. Who could have expected internal discord to interfere? Now the Akimichi Clan had taken the first step.
Before coming, Akimichi Ninsei had used special summoning beasts to send word explaining their intentions, so the Nara Clan was prepared.
It was precisely because he saw this communication method that Yūshin understood the relationship between these three ninja clans was actually closer than he had imagined. Because of this, he felt this trip would basically have no problems.
"At first it was half-hearted, but now I've experienced some benefits of uniting." Akimichi Ninsei was honest, saying whatever came to mind.
Half-hearted?
Nara Naoyuki then said to Yūshin: "Yūshin-sama, I already know your intentions. Could you introduce the Fireflies organization's situation?"
Don't think Yūshin considered himself a small fry and felt his organization was unremarkable—someone perceptive like Nara Naoyuki would naturally treat him with utmost importance... An alliance leader personally visiting deserved the clan leader's complete respect.
Yūshin explained the ideals behind establishing the organization, then focused on introducing the organization's current personnel composition:
"In short, among named ninja clans, the Fireflies organization currently only has the Fūma Clan and Akimichi Clan. The others are ordinary ninja..."
"Additionally, there are several members from major ninja clans, but since they only joined as individuals, I cannot reveal their specific origins. Please understand, Nara Clan leader."
Nara Naoyuki glanced at the unconscious Senju Clan leader's son. Based on intuition, he felt Yūshin wasn't lying.
Yūshin indeed wasn't lying. Wasn't Shichimi Uchiha from a major ninja clan? "Several" could include "one."
Nara Naoyuki nodded, seemingly deep in thought, but actually he had already made his decision before Yūshin arrived. After truly meeting Yūshin and briefly communicating, he naturally made up his mind.
It was just dispatching two ninja—not changing the entire clan's allegiance. Nothing to agonize over.
He temporarily didn't continue discussing this topic, instead preparing a simple banquet for Yūshin and the others. During this time, they chatted about the Fireflies organization's experiences since establishment and the current warfare they were encountering, increasing Nara Naoyuki's understanding of the organization.
After the banquet ended, Nara Naoyuki pointed to the two ninja who had been accompanying them and said:
"Hideyuki, Noriyuki, your next mission is to go to the Land of the River Source and follow Yūshin-sama's commands."
"Yes, clan leader."
"Thank you very much for Nara Clan leader's help. We will definitely protect both friends' safety." Yūshin finally showed a genuinely heartfelt, brilliant smile.
Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure—this Nara Clan leader was truly reasonable and transparent in his dealings.
Although not every Nara had outstanding intelligence, any ninja who could skillfully master the clan's shadow secret techniques definitely wasn't stupid.
After all, shadow secret techniques, Yin attributes, mental power, and intelligence levels had positive correlations—the first three strongly correlated, the last weakly... Well, part of that was Yūshin's embellishment. Actually, mental power strength had little relation to intelligence level.
Fortunately, Yūshin came here to hire fighters, not brains.
After the banquet ended, Yūshin and Akimichi Ninsei would rest here for the night and depart tomorrow.
Letting others clean up the reception room, Nara Naoyuki stood alone in the courtyard, looking up at the overcast night sky.
After quite a while, he sighed and murmured to himself: "Having one more escape route is always good..."
He had sufficient understanding of the current ninja world situation, therefore knowing what were correct choices and what should be done.
Early the next morning, having achieved his purpose, Yūshin chose to bid farewell and leave. By this time, his team had grown to five people.
With Tobirama Senju's vitality, he should have woken up long ago, but he could only continue being unconscious because Yūshin wanted him to stay unconscious... For this, Yūshin kept draining Tobirama's chakra, keeping him in a weakened state.
Want to recover? But there's no energy, so he could only stay fainted.
As the saying goes, all beginnings are difficult. When Yūshin established contact with the Akimichi Clan, it was most difficult and troublesome. Getting to know the Nara through the Akimichi was much simpler. When he brought the Akimichi and Nara to meet the Yamanaka Clan leader, things became even easier.
Not only based on trust in the two clans, the Yamanaka Clan trusted Nara Naoyuki's intelligence more. Since Nara Naoyuki made such a choice, they just needed to follow closely behind.
The Yamanaka Clan leader was called Yamanaka Tokiya. Yūshin easily took away a ninja named Yamanaka Eiya from him.
The Yamanaka Clan's situation was worse than the Akimichi Clan's. Their ninja numbers barely reached double digits, so being able to support Yūshin with one ninja was already quite good... This could hardly be called the Yamanaka Clan anymore. Any worse and they'd be the standard "Yamanaka family."
In summary, this external mission was very successful. Yūshin got the powerful sensory ninja he wanted, and if he wanted to form a team, he could also organize an "Ino-Shika-Chō."
Additionally, there was an unexpected harvest—Tobirama Senju.
Expecting Yūshin to actively send Tobirama back to the Senju Clan? That was somewhat unreasonable. Yūshin wanted to bring Tobirama back to Kikyō Castle. Only after Kikyō Castle's desperate treatment could he truly come back from the brink of death.
Yūshin's favor wasn't fully repaid—no problem with that, right?
...
Tobirama Senju found himself on a battlefield covered in blood and severed limbs everywhere.
The Senju Clan was trapped in enemy encirclement. Those enemies were individually powerful, and more importantly, although they varied in height and build, every enemy lacked facial features.
Just as he was stunned, a small figure passed by his side and rushed toward a large group of enemies.
"Banma!"
Before the words left his mouth, the small figure had already been pierced by blade after blade. On the faceless enemies' foreheads, the Uchiha Clan symbol began appearing. Those pebble-like expressions looked particularly sinister in Tobirama Senju's eyes.
"Wama!"
Then he heard another brother's scream.
Strangely, there was no sign of big brother Hashirama Senju on this battlefield. Having lost their main combat power, Tobirama Senju could only rely on himself.
He charged forward desperately, weaving and dodging among enemies. He killed enemy after enemy, quickly becoming riddled with wounds himself.
Not knowing how much time passed, the enemies were finally all dead, and only he remained on the battlefield.
Tobirama Senju rushed toward a clansman who still had breath. He saw the other's mouth constantly opening and closing, like a fish that had jumped onto shore.
He put his ear close to the other's mouth and finally heard clearly what this person was saying:
"Huh, how is it this kid again?"
"So pale, just as pale as before."
"I'll go call Takamatsu-neesan over..."
?
What the hell?
Just as Tobirama Senju was confused, his chest suddenly felt sharp pain. A long sword pierced through his heart from behind.
Tobirama stared blankly as he turned around, discovering a faceless person clinging to his back.
Then this faceless person's features gradually emerged, finally becoming a familiar image. This person whispered devilishly in his ear:
"Your Body Flicker Technique doesn't seem fast enough."
Tobirama Senju let out a scream, then his upper body suddenly shot upright from the bed. He forced his eyes open and scanned the surroundings, discovering several somewhat familiar male ninja and one middle-aged female ninja looking at him with very surprised expressions.
Following their gazes, Tobirama Senju discovered he was completely naked. Then, possibly because the sudden violent movement caused oxygen deprivation to his brain, or possibly due to spiritual-level "unbearable humiliation," he fainted again with a "gah."
Not knowing how much time passed, when Tobirama Senju regained consciousness again, he discovered someone was gently wiping his forehead with something.
He opened his eyes and found someone possibly a few years older than him sitting beside the bed.
"Oh? You're finally awake?"
Hagūgen Chihori moved away from the window, and the side light streaming into the room finally made her appearance clearly visible in Tobirama Senju's pupils.
"Awake or not awake?"
Seeing no response from him, Chihori waved her hand in front of his eyes.
"Sorry, I was a bit distracted... I'm fully conscious now."
Chihori smiled at the corners of her eyes, as if remembering something happy. She said:
"My companions were afraid of startling you, so they had me temporarily care for you in their place... Let me introduce myself—my name is Hagūgen Chihori."
How could Chihori not smile? She heard this person was the famous Senju Clan leader's son, yet for some unknown reason, he was scared by several clansmen into letting out pig-slaughtering screams. It was truly dramatic and full of contrast.
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