Nara Tadashi served as team leader, bringing Yamanaka Reiya from the Yamanaka Clan and Akimichi Mikage from the Akimichi Clan—a three-person team that departed The Fireflies organization's camp at dawn, heading west like pilgrims on a sacred journey.
With Yūshin needing to remain at base to guard against sudden attacks from powerful enemies, the ninja who had previously accompanied him to the Ancient Well Clan would actually be better suited for this mission—after all, diplomatic exchanges particularly value familiarity.
Or more bluntly, such diplomatic relations heavily depend on personal connections and relationship-building.
The most suitable person to lead this mission would have been Nara Kenji, but unfortunately Kenji had been sacrificed in the previous Hagoromo Clan invasion incident.
As his replacement, Yūshin could only assign this mission to Nara Tadashi.
Nara Tadashi could certainly execute this mission well—after all, the Nara were all intelligent people, and Tadashi was the clan leader of intelligent people, meaning he was the smartest among the smart.
The journey west from the Land of the River Source matched Yūshin's description perfectly. After clearing out surrounding hostile forces, Nara Tadashi's group encountered no dangerous situations and traveled very smoothly.
When they entered the "Great Plains" region mentioned in the previous agreement between The Fireflies organization and the Ancient Well Clan—later to become the Land of Rivers—they soon encountered Ancient Well Clan ninja operating in this area.
As expected, after treating this plain as their backyard, the Ancient Well Clan had strengthened their control and surveillance here.
When both sides met, there was no misunderstanding, since they had all been specifically instructed not to act rashly against each other's forces.
Nara Tadashi could recognize the Ancient Well Clan's crest, and the Ancient Well ninja recognized The Fireflies organization's forehead protectors.
After the encounter, Nara Tadashi's three-person team first stopped in place, indicating they had no aggressive intentions. Only after the Ancient Well Clan ninja approached did they reveal their identity.
Nara Tadashi showed Yūshin's handwritten letter to the other party. It not only bore Yūshin's signature and The Fireflies organization's seal, but also the Land of the River Source daimyō's seal and even some kind of secret mark from the Ancient Well Clan.
The letter was as formal as a tender document, and the other party instantly believed Nara Tadashi's group's identity. So these two Ancient Well Clan ninja stopped patrolling and directly switched roles to become guides, leading the Nara trio toward the Ancient Well village.
Soon after, the group arrived at that village, and Nara Tadashi quickly met Ancient Well Retto, handing over Yūshin's letter.
The content of Yūshin's letter was simple. Besides necessary pleasantries, he clearly explained The Fireflies organization's recent experiences—encountering some setbacks along the way, but with overall results still under control.
The Fireflies organization would continue executing the not-yet-completely-finished clearing mission, hoping both sides could continue maintaining friendly and trusting relations... Actually, Yūshin was tactfully reminding the other party that The Fireflies organization was abiding by and would continue to abide by both sides' previous agreements, hoping the Ancient Well Clan could also do this.
At the letter's end, Yūshin mentioned that The Fireflies organization would soon formally establish a multi-clan coexistent shinobi village, hoping Clan Leader Retto could attend the ceremony.
After reading the letter, Retto placed it beside him.
According to previously obtained intelligence, The Fireflies organization had discovered a gold mine while clearing surrounding forces, which led to the Hagoromo Clan's invasion... Remarkably, Retto didn't care about any gold mine.
First, the Ancient Well Clan possessed the Magnet Release kekkei genkai, with abilities to manipulate metals.
Second, the desert had plenty of gold sand.
What hindered the Ancient Well Clan's development was production capacity and transportation capabilities in and out of the desert, not precious metals... It could even be said that the Ancient Well Clan was naturally not The Fireflies organization's enemy.
"A dispute arising from a gold mine... Completely an undeserved disaster. If you lack gold, we can support you with some." Retto shook his head.
Nara Tadashi couldn't take such words seriously—he wasn't a child, so how could he not recognize polite conversation?
"Clan Leader Ancient Well's kindness... we don't accept unearned rewards. But the previous incident was indeed an undeserved disaster. We clearly understand our own capabilities, so we never thought of coveting that gold mine. Fortunately, everything has ended."
"Would it be convenient to explain the previous battle situation?"
Retto wanted to assess The Fireflies organization's combat performance, losses, and whether they had exhausted their potential.
"We lost about forty people, roughly half our forces. The enemy left over thirty corpses before being forced to retreat."
Such an exchange ratio? A wild ninja organization could actually withstand the Hagoromo Clan?
Retto then understood—The Fireflies organization's average ninja quality couldn't compare to the Hagoromo Clan, but they probably had several very elite combat forces... In this warring era, the probability of an ordinary ninja organization producing one genius was far higher than producing ten experts.
Genius births occur from time to time, but wanting to mass-produce experts requires enormous organizational scale.
The Fireflies organization's development wasn't balanced, but conversely, as long as their experts didn't die, their combat power wouldn't weaken much.
However, Nara Tadashi spoke in installments. He continued:
"Although we suffered heavy losses, after the battle the organization again accepted several ninja clans, so we can complete previously agreed matters."
Retto felt Nara Tadashi wasn't thorough enough, showing far less decisiveness than the previous Yūshin. Splitting one matter into two statements showed too many ulterior motives—this was making evaluation of their strength difficult... No wonder he was the leader while you're just a subordinate.
"I understand. The more bloodshed, the more unity—you'll become stronger with each battle."
Retto suddenly discovered such ninja organizations had first-mover advantages. After making their reputation, ninja clans would "submit immediately."
"We will maintain friendly relations with you. If I have time then... no, I will participate in your shinobi village founding ceremony."
"Thank you very much for Clan Leader's support."
"However, I have one condition."
"Please speak."
"I hope to increase the scale and frequency of Ancient Well Clan trading caravans with the Land of the River Source."
"This... is completely without any problems." Nara Tadashi immediately agreed.
It seemed the Ancient Well Clan was preparing to strengthen connections with The Fireflies organization—this was good news... Indeed, being able to fight would cause others' wariness, but equally would earn others' attention and even respect.
...
"Becoming stronger with each battle" wasn't accurate—the premise was not getting killed in one go by others.
The White Zetsu responsible for monitoring Uchiha Madara, worried about someone's special sensing abilities, didn't even dare approach this area.
Long before Nara Tadashi and Ancient Well Retto's negotiations began, Yūshin and Uchiha Madara were confronting each other not far from The Fireflies' new camp.
Yūshin looked at Uchiha Madara, then at the restless Uchiha Izuna behind him, finally returning his gaze to Madara's face and saying:
"Whether dying on the battlefield from inferior skills or being schemed to death by allies due to poor judgment—isn't all this self-inflicted? There's nothing to discuss about it... Uchiha Madara, I don't know your reason for appearing here. You wouldn't be seeking justice, would you? You're somewhat laughable."
Leader to leader, at minimum you couldn't lose in presence, especially since Uchiha Madara wasn't someone good with words.
He was nearly infuriated by Yūshin's words.
"Is this your declaration of war? Using last words to declare war—you're the first."
Due to Shichimi's certain choices, Uchiha Madara had found Yūshin displeasing from the start. By now, his mood had even shifted toward phrases like "fight to the death."
Ever since Yūshin had instantly killed Uchiha Tajima using high-energy particle stream-like chakra jets, he seemed to have suddenly opened all his meridians. His control over his own chakra could be called "as natural as moving his arms."
Only then did he understand how crude and clumsy his previous chakra usage had been.
In fact, this kind of basic ability improvement was in some ways much harder than comprehending one or two high-difficulty, forbidden-level ninjutsu. Because such basic abilities were mostly determined by talent, very difficult to break through limitations via post-natal training.
Either you could or you couldn't—it couldn't be taught or learned.
Even without relying on special ninja tools like arm guards, he could now flexibly control Boil Release enhancements of various intensities to different parts of his body.
Therefore, Yūshin also wanted to test his current strength.
"Attack!"
The person who impatiently said this was Uchiha Izuna.
But before his words fell, two figures had already shot out like arrows from bowstrings!
Yūshin and Uchiha Madara rapidly approached. Just as their figures were about to cross paths, Uchiha Madara suddenly swung his arm horizontally.
Yūshin actually didn't dodge or avoid, taking this move head-on. Almost instantly, he was swept into mid-air.
But Uchiha Madara felt something wrong, because the feedback on his hand was too light—this strike felt like hitting cotton.
But by this time both sides had already crossed paths, and Uchiha Madara had charged into the enemy crowd.
"I'll handle this!"
Akimichi Shenyu stood at the formation's front. His arms suddenly swelled a large circle, elbows tightly clamped at his ribs, hands spread vertically—"Akimichi Super Push" was ready.
If this move landed solidly, no one could withstand it...
The premise being it landed solidly.
Such attacks couldn't even hit the previous Yūshin, let alone Uchiha Madara.
Madara lightly broke through between Shenyu's arms, his right hand curved into a square fist, entire arm spiraling with force, knuckles like a sharp weight instantly piercing Shenyu's chest.
Boom!
Akimichi Shenyu's Super Push swept away several large trees ahead.
Bang!
Uchiha Madara's fist deeply embedded in Shenyu's chest.
Why were people like Madara or Hashirama strong? Because such ordinary attacks had super killing power that ordinary ninja couldn't achieve even with desperate effort.
Akimichi Shenyu's complexion first became deathly pale, then instantly swelled to liver color.
Madara's strike had indeed landed solidly, but he still frowned because he felt his fist was like hitting beef tendon or rubber balls.
Through Shenyu's torn clothing, Madara saw white threads coiled layer upon layer on his body.
What kind of muscle armor was this?
Madara felt his arm sinking deeper and deeper—these threads were tightening, seemingly wanting to restrain his arm.
So he instantly lifted his left leg, bent his right knee, front sole suddenly exerted force, then his left leg delivered a whip kick that tore through air, producing enormous explosive sound while fiercely striking Shenyu's waist.
Next, Shenyu was kicked like a ball, flying backward and crashing around, forced away from the battlefield.
The Akimichi Clan was naturally strong, and Akimichi Shenyu had even used the Cursed Grudge Fear hiden, yet still couldn't withstand Uchiha Madara for one round... Well, you couldn't say the hiden was useless—at least Shenyu avoided the terrible fate of instant heart-piercing death.
But while repelling Shenyu, Uchiha Madara had also entered Nara Hideyuki's control range.
When Madara tried to move his feet, he discovered he was controlled by Shadow Possession Jutsu.
"Petty tricks."
Madara's chakra suddenly erupted—he didn't use any techniques, just forcibly broke free from the restraints.
Nara Hideyuki was covered in cold sweat, because he wasn't fighting alone. At this time he had seven hearts in his body, six from Hagoromo Clan elite ninja, yet even so, he actually couldn't suppress Uchiha Madara at the chakra level.
"What kind of monster is this."
Meanwhile, Madara was still instinctively dodging left and right, making Yamanaka Keiya's mental control hiden unable to hit.
At the same time, he was also evading Lan's attacks... only when facing Lan did he only dodge without counterattacking.
"Insects."
Yamanaka Keiya and Aburame Junwa were standard long-range ninja—they didn't charge the front lines, only harassed from the flanks.
But when Aburame's insect swarm surrounded him, Madara erupted with dazzling lightning. Like an electric flyswatter, he instantly eliminated most of the swarm.
Almost in a blink, Madara had already pierced through The Fireflies' formation. At this time he had reached Uchiha Sasuke's front.
Sasuke: "..."
Could he say he was just here to watch the excitement?
But for unknown reasons, upon seeing Uchiha Madara at first glance, he was absolutely certain this person was one hundred percent Madara... no reason, just some kind of mysterious intuition.
But with his personality, who cared about Madara or not? Since the other party was coming at him, he would definitely go all out.
So what if it was Madara? Madara...
Madara instantly shifted sideways like teleportation, dodging Chidori Sharp Spear while seemingly not caring about Sasuke's Chidori Current at all.
He reached out with one hand, and in the split second before the other could make any effective reaction, grabbed Sasuke's neck.
Then Madara lifted his arm, pulling Sasuke up from the ground like pulling a radish.
"What's your situation? You feel like an Uchiha-born ninja."
Madara sensed a familiar feeling from Sasuke—right, this ninja's temperament was somewhat like Izuna's.
Thinking this, he turned back to look, just in time to see Yūshin in mid-air, hawk-like, lightly changing direction from a high point, then suddenly accelerating and diving straight at Uchiha Izuna.
Fooled you—I can fly.
Yūshin trusted his subordinates wouldn't be instantly killed, so he completely ignored Madara and directly treated Izuna as his first target... wait, wasn't he supposed to test his own strength?
Well, he could test it on the younger brother first.
"Ishikawa Clan techniques?"
Madara saw Yūshin's movement and couldn't care about Sasuke anymore. He flicked Sasuke aside like snot, then turned back, trying to quickly return to Izuna's side.
Boom!
Yūshin crashed down in front of Izuna, fingers formed like a blade instantly thrusting forward, aiming at Izuna's neck.
Uchiha Izuna was personality-wise an even more standard Uchiha ninja than his brother. Facing attacks from nameless small fry, his proud soul wouldn't allow him to retreat one step.
So he slashed sideways with his left-hand long sword while hooking out a kunai with his right hand, making almost identical counterattack movements to Yūshin.
"Come!"
Yūshin shouted loudly, ignoring the sword slash and maintaining his thrusting motion.
Both their arms crossed as they sidestepped and turned their heads, so Yūshin dodged the kunai while Izuna dodged the hand blade.
However, Yūshin's evasion direction met Izuna's sword edge head-on, so he wore a contemptuous smile... he thought Yūshin's earlier shout was provocation toward him, but Yūshin never did such boring things.
Sharingan could see Yūshin's attack movements and trajectories clearly, but what about ordinary people? Ordinary people had no room for counterattack before Sharingan.
"Hate, hate without..."
Clang!
Someone held a large sword in reverse grip, helping Yūshin block Izuna's attack.
Half-face mask protector, white hair, cold expression, using unparalleled Body Flicker Technique to traverse the battlefield, arriving at the most needed location... Senju Tobirama had arrived.
Yūshin's palm landed between Izuna's shoulder and neck. His arm pressed down while Tobirama added a sweeping leg attack. Under the pincer attack, Izuna was caught off guard, his body spinning and slamming horizontally onto the ground.
Yūshin stepped forward, one foot stomping on Izuna's arm, making the other's hand bones crack rhythmically.
Simultaneously, Tobirama kicked Izuna's abdomen viciously, as if responding with a drum beat.
High mountains and flowing water seek kindred spirits—see, this is the devious duo...
This is the bond between beloved friends!
"Tobirama, you came too slowly!"
"No, I was already fast enough. The slow one is still behind!"
Honestly, Tobirama's coordinated attack wasn't as valuable as this statement. Yūshin instantly understood—the big one was still coming.
Two against one, Uchiha Izuna was at absolute disadvantage, especially with these two scheming minds combined.
But they still missed the opportunity for a finishing blow.
Uchiha Madara attacked from behind.
But Yūshin and Tobirama had great coordination—even while kicking, their hands weren't idle.
At this moment, they simultaneously turned, opened their mouths, and twisted their necks:
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave"
High-pressure, high-speed water blades attacked from both sides. Uchiha Madara stopped abruptly, even having to perform a backward lean to barely dodge this attack.
Boom!
Without any visible movement from Yūshin, the ground beneath his feet instantly caved in. Somehow, his steam-wreathed right leg was already raised high.
Next, a mountain-splitting strike smashed into Madara's waist.
At this time, Yūshin's left hand pressed on Senju Tobirama's shoulder. Tobirama immediately had a bad premonition... his premonition was very accurate. The next second, his chakra began rapidly draining.
"You..."
Before he could finish speaking, he was attracted by the jutsu in Yūshin's right hand.
As mentioned before, Yūshin's chakra control ability was now incomparable to the past.
A massive chakra sphere two stories tall was held in his palm.
"Ninja Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan"
Such techniques were extremely wasteful of chakra—under normal circumstances, Yūshin would never use them.
Fortunately, there was a portable charger beside him now.
Beloved... beloved friends?
High mountains and flowing water?
🔥 Want to read the next 50+ chapters RIGHT NOW?
💎 Patreon members get instant access!
⚡ Limited-time offer currently running...
👉 [Join on - patreon.com/GoldenLong]