"Lord Genma, who is this?"
The camp guard looked on with curiosity as Hane Genma emerged from the forest with a young shinobi in tow. It was odd; there hadn't been any reports of other ninja operating in that direction.
Looking closely at the stranger's face—had there been a conflict?
"A stray ninja I picked up on the way. He took a fall and got hurt. His brain might be a bit scrambled," Genma explained simply.
Uchiha Sasuke's brain was indeed a bit scrambled, but not because of a fall.
"Understood. Should I find someone to treat him?"
Genma turned his head and asked Sasuke, "Do you need treatment?"
Sasuke lowered his head, seeming to ponder. Initially, he felt that everything Genma had said earlier—about Uchiha Madara's era and the like—lacked credibility. But after walking out of the forest, he felt increasingly uncertain... When absurdity reaches a certain threshold, it ironically creates an indescribable sense of reality. A case of extremes turning into their opposites.
Seeing Sasuke's silence, Genma shook his head at the guard. Silence meant no. If you're going to be aloof, you might as well go all the way.
What? Was Genma not the best doctor around? You must be joking. He was the leader, after all; he had to maintain a certain stature and couldn't handle every little thing personally.
The guard's reaction was standard: The leader has the ability, but you should find someone else for the task. No one treats the leader like an errand boy.
It wasn't that Genma felt superior or was putting on airs. The reality was that once the framework of a Shinobi Village organization was erected, regardless of Genma's personal will, preferences, or style, he would be hoisted to a high position.
Of course, if he proactively reached out to help, it would be seen as a "man of the people" gesture, and everyone would appreciate it. But in times like these, the choice lay in Genma's hands.
Was Hane Genma willing to help Uchiha Sasuke? Leaving aside willingness, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind.
He had just slapped Sasuke's face until it was swollen. If he healed him now, wouldn't that slap have been in vain?
Besides, someone like Uchiha Sasuke surely had excellent recovery capabilities. It was better to trust in his self-healing.
After leading Sasuke a short distance forward, Genma pointed to an empty tent and said, "It's too late now, and you're likely not feeling well. You can rest here for a bit."
Uchiha Sasuke remained silent. He glanced at the camp, which was shrouded in the night and resembled a construction site, and then, surprisingly, obediently walked into the tent.
Genma was right; Uchiha Sasuke was physically in bad shape.
Although he had regained his rationality, traveling so far back against the flow of the timeline had issued a massive fine to Sasuke's body. He wouldn't recover without a period of rest.
He lay down in the tent and fell asleep immediately.
Genma returned to his own tent to rest as well. There were only three or four hours left until dawn, and there was much to do tomorrow.
He wasn't even worried about Uchiha Sasuke leaving without a goodbye. To be honest, once Sasuke understood his situation, Genma could guess to some extent what he would try to do. But so what?
Could Uchiha Sasuke, with his current strength, stand against the torrent of the era?
Far from the city, with no one around but the ninja in the camp, the night was silent.
When dawn arrived, Uchiha Sasuke immediately opened his eyes. The injuries on his face were mostly healed; aside from a handprint, the swelling had subsided.
With things on his mind and physical discomfort, Sasuke's quality of sleep had been poor.
Upon waking, he suddenly thought of a way to prove which spacetime he was in... or if not prove, at least falsify.
He immediately formed hand seals, attempting to summon a beast from Ryūchi Cave... This highlighted his personality perfectly. To put it nicely, he marched to the beat of his own drum with no regard for others. To put it bluntly, he was asking for a beating.
He didn't consider the consequences of summoning a massive beast right in the middle of a camp; chaos would have been inevitable.
Unfortunately, and fortunately, Sasuke's summoning failed. He couldn't sense the existence of Ryūchi Cave, as if the summoning contract had been voided—which was perfectly normal. At this point in time, the class roster at Ryūchi Cave didn't contain the name Uchiha Sasuke.
Having the plug was useless if they hadn't opened the port for him yet. Without a summon, he couldn't use the beast to block attacks. Uchiha Sasuke had essentially lost his true "Absolute Defense."
After the summoning failed, although his rationality still refused to admit it, deep down in his consciousness, he increasingly believed he had arrived in the era before the founding of Konohagakure.
Wait!
Just then, Sasuke inadvertently caught a glimpse of the back of his left hand. Unnoticed until now, a deep purple, swirl-like pattern had appeared there.
"What is this thing?"
He immediately stood up, left the tent, and subconsciously went to find Genma to ask.
Dawn had passed, and the sun was rising in the east. The camp woke with the sunrise, bustling with the activity of countless ninja, the entire area brimming with vitality.
Someone had already reached Genma first, and Genma was smiling as he shook their hand.
"Lord Genma, we are about to depart. Do you have any final instructions for us?"
"Clan Head Naoyuki, just pay attention to safety on the road. We've maintained good relations over there... Actually, there shouldn't be any issues on the route, considering we've already cleared out the hostile forces in that direction. But in any case, safety first."
"I understand, Lord Genma."
After a moment of thought, Genma added:
"Don't be afraid to divulge intelligence about us. You can speak truthfully about our general situation and our recent encounters. It's best to let them understand that we are neither weak nor overbearing, requiring them to abide by our previous agreement to mutually maintain relative peace in the 'rear' direction."
Nara Naoyuki was about to lead an Ino-Shika-Cho trio to the Furui Clan village in the desert for routine "diplomatic communication."
Stabilizing external relations wasn't something that settled into dust just because Genma made one trip; it required constant back-and-forth communication and painstaking maintenance from both sides.
Having finally established normal contact and a rational relationship with them, Genma couldn't afford to abandon it.
"Lord Genma, your request is a bit difficult. The news that we repelled the Hagoromo Clan has long since spread over there... We will do our best to communicate."
Maintaining relations wasn't the issue, but the Furui Clan would undoubtedly become more wary of the Firefly Organization—much more so than before. As Nara Naoyuki said, with the spread of the news, no one could completely ignore the existence of Firefly.
Even if the specific details of the battle and losses were hard to ascertain, Firefly had at least fought the invading Hagoromo Clan to a draw.
Even if it was "giving it everything they had" versus a "casual strike," how many factions in the ninja world could accomplish such a thing?
As an outsider, Uchiha Sasuke wasn't stupid enough to forcibly interrupt a conversation, so he waited until Nara Naoyuki left before approaching Genma.
"Genma, do you know what this is?"
He directly displayed the pattern on the back of his left hand.
"Your tattoo?"
"No, this pattern appeared suddenly after I came here."
Hearing this explanation, Genma finally adopted a serious attitude... However, after staring at it for a long time, he couldn't make heads or tails of it.
A stamp? One could only say it was likely related to the summoning Sasuke had just attempted or his travel here.
"Don't know. Don't worry about it. At most, it's something like a quarantine certificate or a countdown to death."
The mark hadn't appeared on Genma, so naturally, he didn't need to worry, even cracking a dark joke.
"Death..."
Uchiha Sasuke could tell the man in front of him was speaking nonsense. A countdown to death? He didn't feel any discomfort.
Just then, Yamanaka Keiya and the Aburame Clan Head, Aburame Junwa, quickly approached Genma, interrupting his exchange with Sasuke.
"Lord Genma, that person is coming. Their speed is very fast."
The situation was urgent; Yamanaka Keiya didn't even pay attention to the stranger beside Genma, reporting the sensed situation immediately.
Beside him, Aburame Junwa nodded. In his thirties with a stoic "three-nothings" attribute, he was a standard Aburame ninja... Although the three clans hadn't formally joined the Firefly Organization, they had already begun to play their roles effectively.
By this time, Lan, Nara Hideyuki, and Akimichi Chūu had also arrived at Genma's side.
"Where are my beloved friends and kin? When will they arrive?" Genma asked as he walked toward the camp exit.
Aburame Junwa led the way, while Yamanaka Keiya explained from the side, "They should have arrived yesterday, but I don't know why they were delayed."
A few days ago, Senju Tobirama had taken the initiative to restore contact with Genma. In several exchanges, Genma hadn't asked about the situation with the Hagoromo Clan but instead explained his preparations for establishing a Shinobi Village. In his letters, he outlined the organizational structure and other concepts of the village system.
Clearly, Genma was chumming the waters. Senju Tobirama wasn't important; he wanted to attract a bigger fish... In a sense, it was for this big fish that he was preparing to hold a formal village founding ceremony.
For no other reason than to get the big fish to stay and visit for a while.
Why go to such lengths? Wasn't this just groveling?
Because the Uchiha Clan Head wouldn't die silently without consequence.
Uchiha Madara was destined to arrive.
Genma had to prepare a high-quality program, but at this moment, he could only think of a way to use their own momentum against them.
The group of six moved to intercept Uchiha Madara.
"Lord Genma, there's a tail behind us," Yamanaka Keiya alerted him.
"It's fine, let him follow," Genma said, indifferent to Uchiha Sasuke trailing them.
The Uchiha Sasuke of this specific point in time might be strong, but this Uchiha Sasuke being strong was unlikely... Without the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, and having been thrashed in taijutsu by the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, one could say Sasuke's strength didn't support his attitude as a ninja.
The only "Sasuke" in the ninja world of this era was, in fact, Sarutobi Sasuke.
After advancing more than thirty kilometers, the two sides met.
Separated by less than ten meters, they stood on opposing tree branches, tit-for-tat.
Genma had six people on his side, plus Uchiha Sasuke, who hung back in the distance, alternating between detachment and engagement. At this moment, the latter was staring at Uchiha Madara, dumbfounded.
Uchiha Madara had brought his younger brother, Uchiha Izuna.
Madara couldn't be blamed for arriving so late. Because the Hagoromo Clan had been ambushed from the rear by the Senju Clan, they were in chaos and failed to pass the message to the Uchiha in time.
As for the Uchiha ninja who participated in the operation? Annihilated. They couldn't explain the situation to Uchiha Madara unless one of them appeared in a dream.
Of course, there was also a certain psychology of avoidance at play. The Uchiha Clan Head had moved with the Hagoromo ninja, and then that Clan Head stayed on the battlefield and didn't return. How were they supposed to explain this to the Uchiha?
It was hard to say.
Due to deliberate concealment, Uchiha Madara hadn't even known what his missing father and brother had gone to do, assuming they went on a family outing.
The Hagoromo Clan dithered back and forth, only informing the Uchiha Clan of the news last night.
Uchiha Madara looked at Genma, then at Lan behind him. Not seeing Nanami's silhouette, the unease in his heart intensified.
"Where is my father and the other clansmen?"
"Except for Uchiha Shikan, they are all dead."
"Nanami..."
"I said all dead. Is there something wrong with your comprehension?"
The scene fell into silence for a moment. It seemed both sides had lost the ability to speak, leaving only the late summer wind weaving through the treetops.
"Why?"
"That question shouldn't be asked of me, should it? It should be asked of your Uchiha and Hagoromo clans."
Having experienced the previous battles, Genma wasn't without gains. In fact, he was a different man compared to before. It wasn't that he had acquired new abilities, but rather a significant improvement in his foundational skills—his chakra control, flow, qualitative change, and circulation had leveled up more than a notch. To say he had been reborn would not be an exaggeration.
Genma turned his head to glance at his personnel, and they exchanged subtle, tacit nods.
Reinforcements had not yet arrived. They had to proceed knowing the impossibility of the task. If they were to fight...
Kill the younger brother first.
Because the younger brother is far easier to kill than the older one.
Trying to subdue a ninja of Uchiha Izuna's level in front of Uchiha Madara was impossible; they could only choose to kill.
Genma's words just now had been harsh, but you couldn't expect him to cater to the Uchiha brothers' emotions at a time like this. Remember, his Firefly Organization was the one that had been attacked.
At this moment, Uchiha Izuna already had his blade in hand.
Scorching steam surged from Genma's body. The bark beneath his feet and the surrounding branches instantly curled from the high temperature... This Genma was different from before. previously, when he used this ability, it looked like a boiler explosion with steam spraying everywhere. Now, the leakage was almost negligible.
Just as the two sides were about to clash, a very exceptional sensory ninja far away sensed it all.
Then, defying the natural order, he began to complain and show disdain.
"Big Brother, you're too slow. I'm going ahead!"
However, this person who disdained his own brother could not yet use the Flying Raijin Technique.
Even if he knew Flying Raijin, there were no coordinates near Hane Genma.
So, how fast could he really be?
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