There is a certain individual whose entire clan was inexplicably wiped out by foreign enemies at a young age... It is said that the reason for their extermination was that his clansmen possessed beautiful crimson eyes, resembling gemstones.
This survivor remained trapped in agony throughout his life. From that point on, his life's goal became retrieving his clansmen's eyes and exacting revenge.
He possesses black pupils, which only transform into red when he is emotional or confronting an enemy—and those red eyes enhance his abilities in every aspect.
His growth rate is exceptionally fast; mere moments after unlocking his special abilities, he was capable of tackling world-class threats.
His personality appears cold and aloof, yet he is gentle beneath the surface. He is rational yet emotional, resilient to the point of stubbornness, and acts willfully to the point of being arbitrary. His combat intelligence and adaptability on the battlefield are far beyond the standard level. He possesses a certain degree of leadership that compels others to trust him. He hides all his emotions deep within his heart, shouldering all pressure alone without ever complaining. He places great importance on friendship, yet when his friends are critically injured or dying, he acts as if he doesn't care...
In the end, he will meet his finale on a ship sailing into the distance.
So, who is this person?
It's hard to say, but right now, Hane Genma was looking at someone with nearly the exact same character setting.
Suddenly, as if recalling something, Genma quickly stepped up to the woozy Uchiha Sasuke, wound up his arm, and delivered a vicious slap.
People are prone to drunkenness when they are vulnerable, and they are also easily knocked out by others. In short, the already dizzy Uchiha Sasuke passed out completely.
However, Genma didn't do this simply to inflict violence; even if he didn't like the Uchiha clan, he wouldn't go that far without reason.
After Sasuke took the slap and collapsed, Genma pressed a single hand against his back. Soon, four white, amorphous entities were forced out of his body.
One, two, three... only three. Sasuke was not yet in his prime, bearing the power of the Six Paths.
"This is..."
Genma's hand fell like a blade, instantly killing two of them. He didn't need to think twice to know that these White Zetsu were mass-produced versions from the future Gedo Statue; they were basically useless to him.
The "Mother" was withered and lacked sufficient milk; the White Zetsu she nurtured were all inferior versions.
"Which year did you come from?"
Genma attempted to extract some intelligence from the remaining White Zetsu. However, this thing had quite a temper. Although it wanted to transmit the information that it had experienced time travel, it had no idea of the current era or location. Where could it possibly transmit the intel to?
After Genma had revealed his ability to sense White Zetsu, the "Firefly" organization's surroundings had long been cleared of any Zetsu presence.
This mass-produced White Zetsu from the future could at least determine that the person before it was a shinobi.
Unable to transmit intelligence, it could at least prevent its own intel from leaking. The White Zetsu's vital signs stopped instantly, and its body began to slowly dissolve into a sticky fluid.
Genma frowned. Since it had come to this, to ensure the White Zetsu was thoroughly dead, he had to help by twisting its head off.
It happened too suddenly. He had to act with maximum speed to prevent this future White Zetsu from leaking information in this era, so he had no choice but to strike decisively.
Genma didn't have time to transform into a White Zetsu himself. Otherwise, by using deception and a sneak attack, he might have been able to wring something out of it.
Fortunately, there was still one person he could question.
Genma looked at Uchiha Sasuke, who was sleeping soundly like a baby, and couldn't help but furrow his brows.
Deciding to let the other party continue sleeping for now, Genma spoke to Little Seven, who was nearby.
"Little Seven, hand over the Sharingan..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the Sharingan in Little Seven's eye sockets rolled upward and hid away, replaced by its own natural fox eyes.
Genma: "..."
Holy hell, you can hide the Sharingan? Does that mean you can deactivate it too? Isn't that much stronger than Kakashi?
So, is Little Seven really just a fox?
Regardless of Little Seven's background, it didn't seem to have any intention of returning the Seven-Tails' eyes. Genma wasn't coveting the power to travel through time and space; right now, he simply thought that Little Seven shouldn't be allowed to use such power casually... Setting aside the species issue, Little Seven's brain was essentially no different from that of an ordinary fox.
By animal standards, Little Seven was smart. By human standards, its casual use of the Mangekyo Sharingan would only bring big trouble.
After dropping a massive problem in his lap, Little Seven transformed into a puff of white smoke and vanished, leaving Genma to clean up the mess.
"At least don't abuse that ocular power anymore," Genma admonished, though the vanished Little Seven couldn't possibly hear him.
Well, logically speaking, Little Seven was indeed more qualified to possess those eyes. Could Genma really forcibly rob them?
Little Seven could cancel the summoning, or even hide in the space-time dimension... Genma tried to summon Little Seven back but found the white fox did not respond.
He had a bad premonition. He had to clean up Little Seven's mess now, and even more tragically, he might face even more messes in the future.
In any case, he had to dispose of the White Zetsu corpses first.
Genma returned to the camp, grabbed a few case files, a blanket, and an oil lamp, then fully retreated back into the depths of the forest.
He spread the blanket over a wooden stump, hung the oil lamp on a nearby tree, picked up the files, and began working overtime... Well, the things he brought were obviously for his own use. What else? The moisture at night was very heavy.
Genma had very kindly helped Uchiha Sasuke eliminate the negative physical effects caused by the space-time distortion. Symptoms like dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and general lethargy would all fade after a good sleep.
In the latter half of the night, Uchiha Sasuke, who had been lying face down on the damp, decaying layer of leaves and branches in the forest, suddenly jolted. His limbs twitched a few times before he instantly regained consciousness and quickly stood up.
His head didn't seem so dizzy anymore, but for some reason, his left face felt significantly swollen and painful, and his teeth seemed a bit loose...
Genma, naturally, was keeping an eye on his movements. In fact, he had been pondering a question: If he could live until that future era, what would his opinion of the Uchiha be?
He realized he probably wouldn't care about the Uchiha clan at all.
Setting aside the present moment—where he would certainly launch a revenge campaign against the Uchiha clan if not for certain scruples—just considering his "years of service," by the post-Konoha era, he likely wouldn't be involved in Konoha's affairs at all.
Genma couldn't possibly fight from before the founding of Konoha all the way to the Fourth Great Ninja War, could he? Although he didn't know the specific time of Konoha's founding, Madara and Hashirama were right here. By the time that Black Zetsu became unusually active in the future, Genma might be a hundred years old.
Not retiring at one hundred years old would be a bit ridiculous, to be honest.
Of course, the greater possibility was that long before the post-Konoha era, Genma would have either lived a fulfilling life and gone offline, or lived a life of regret and been buried in the earth.
Thinking of it that way, Sasuke wearing the Akatsuki cloak didn't seem to be a problem.
"Who are you?"
Uchiha Sasuke looked at the young man under the dim oil lamp nearby, unsure if he was reading or daydreaming, and asked in a cold voice.
He was different from ordinary shinobi. If an ordinary shinobi were suddenly thrown into a completely unfamiliar environment and saw a stranger, they would at least keep their hand on their weapon while speaking.
But Uchiha Sasuke was confident. He simply stood with his hands at his sides, seemingly feeling that the person before him was not a threat.
Theoretically, his expression should have been very aloof and cool. But in reality, the tighter he held his face, the more ridiculous he looked... A person with a swollen face cannot pull off "aloof."
"You sobered up faster than I thought." Genma looked at the other party's face, then touched his own nose and silently looked away.
"Answer my question."
"My name is Hane Genma. Have you heard of me?"
"Hane... Genma?"
Uchiha Sasuke seemed to have heard the name. He had a vague impression, but couldn't recall it clearly.
Although he was a top graduate of the Ninja Academy, given his personality, he would absolutely never waste energy studying the history of the Ninja World or Konoha... By analogy, he wasn't the type to read history books; at most, he might have occasionally scrolled past "historical trivia" short videos.
People had tried to educate him about certain historical figures, but he hadn't remembered them.
Seeing this reaction, Genma felt that he probably did die quite early. Perhaps he died in battle, or perhaps his lifespan wasn't as long as he imagined... Genma had always subscribed to theories like "Chakra Poisoning." To obtain extraordinary power, one always had to pay a price.
Even if shinobi didn't die in battle, their natural lifespans were generally not long.
So, Genma changed the question: "Then have you heard of the Firefly organization?"
"I am from Konohagakure; I wouldn't go so far as to say I haven't heard of 'Firefly'."
Firefly and Konoha—there wasn't much to say about them. recalling Genma's previous theory of "First-rate Daimyo, Second-rate Shinobi" spoken to Shimizu Kisuke, it was clear Genma had made certain decisions... He couldn't compete with the protagonist of this era, so he could only become a supporting character.
To become a figure like Asura? That was an excessive expectation, and an unnecessary one. The chaotic times were coming to an end anyway, because this era had its own Asura.
"What about them?"
"Firefly is a hardline faction within Konoha. They often call themselves 'The True Hidden Leaf' or 'The Leaf within the Leaf'. Many others also recognize them as the true 'Konoha's Shadow'... Why are you asking this?"
Uchiha Sasuke felt a bit strange. He didn't know why, but he had actually answered the other party's question honestly.
"Simply put, this is the era before Konoha was formed, but Firefly has already been established," Genma said.
The amount of information in this sentence somewhat exceeded the processing capacity of Uchiha Sasuke's brain. He didn't even notice that Genma's reference to "Konoha" was incredibly smooth and natural.
"Wh... What do you mean? Your words aren't clear enough."
Genma had to switch to a phrasing that was more explicit for him:
"This is the era where Uchiha Madara is active."
"Uchiha... Madara."
Looking at his expression, it seemed he had already encountered "Madara." According to Genma's understanding, this Uchiha Sasuke should be the version from after the "Battle of Brothers" but before the "Capture the Eight-Tails" mission.
Of course, future events couldn't be exactly the same as Genma's knowledge.
But generally speaking, Uchiha Sasuke might be experiencing the most detestable period of his life, only for that life to be forcibly interrupted.
"Yes. Someone used a cross-time summoning technique to summon you from the future to this era."
Shit. Genma treated Little Seven quite well, yet here he was, diligently cleaning up its mess.
Uchiha Sasuke's first reaction was disbelief. You must be joking—who would believe such an absurd thing, let alone that it happened to them?
"Find it incredible? A shinobi like you should believe in the power of the Sharingan more than anyone."
Well, disbelief was normal, but Genma still offered a kind reminder:
"Whatever you were doing, trust me, those things are no longer important."
But Sasuke's focus was slightly different. He asked:
"You can tell I am a shinobi of the Uchiha clan?"
Genma smiled without speaking at first. Then, he remembered there was still a key question he hadn't asked:
"How should I address you?"
"I..."
Sasuke thought for a moment, feeling there was no need to hide his name, so he said:
"I am Uchiha Sasuke."
"Then, Uchiha Sasuke, have you ever heard of a name like Uchiha Sasuke in history?"
"No. I do not know of any historical figure with the same first and last name as me."
"Then the only Sasuke of this era, the true Sasuke, is still Sarutobi Sasuke... When you operate in the ninja world from now on, it would be best to conceal your identity."
"Why?"
Despite not believing the absurd talk of timeline summoning, the suggestion to hide his name immediately aroused Sasuke's suspicion.
Genma looked into Uchiha Sasuke's eyes, feeling they were as clear as a college student who hadn't yet left campus.
"Because there is a Uchiha Sasuke in this era, but the name Uchiha Sasuke has not been passed down in future history. This implies that either you changed your identity, or you died quickly in some obscure corner of the ninja world... Which of these two possibilities do you think is greater?"
"According to you, I was summoned to this era by the Sharingan, so can't you send me back?"
Sasuke still had many big things to do. His mind was in chaos right now, so he hadn't thought about changing history or anything of the sort; he just wanted to return to his own time.
"Huh? You're asking me? I'm neither the summoner nor the summoned; how would I know?"
Genma thought to himself, You're here and you want to leave? I came to this era and wanted to leave too, but could I?
No matter how you looked at it, this kind of summoning was likely one-way. Little Seven was just a fox; could one expect it to provide round-trip service?
Sasuke was just a youngster. His brain seemed unable to hold anything other than fighting and killing. The intelligence Genma obtained from him was very limited, so he wouldn't reveal too much information to him either.
You don't even know when I died, so what use are you?
Genma packed his things, lifting the oil lamp as he prepared to leave.
After walking past Uchiha Sasuke, who was still standing dumbly in place appearing to think, Genma stopped and said:
"You can follow me for now."
Sasuke thought for a moment and silently followed behind Genma.
After walking a certain distance, he felt nothing but bitterness in his mouth, so...
Hauk, ptui.
His mouth felt much fresher, but two teeth had been spat onto the ground.
Genma frowned and glanced back at him.
Spitting indiscriminately? A bit uncultured, isn't it?
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