A Little Conscience

Half an hour later, Uchiha Gen arrived at a lushly vegetated mountain peak and entered a cave.

This cave was the safe house Uchiha Gen had prepared in advance. It contained stored food and water, enough for two people to live on for half a month.

The water came from a mountain spring. The food had been purchased by Uchiha Gen while disguised during solo missions in nearby towns, mainly instant noodles, canned goods, and other foods that could be stored for long periods.

After lighting the candles inside the cave, Uchiha Gen removed everything from Uchiha Yuichi's body, secured his hands and feet to a prepared cross, then went outside.

He found a tree in the forest as thick as a man's waist, drew the Kusanagi Blade, and exhaled. A pale cyan mass of Chakra wrapped around the blade. With a single swing, the tree crashed to the ground.

This was the latest Wind Release Chakra nature transformation Uchiha Gen had learned, mainly used to increase sharpness.

In the original story, Danzo infused Wind Release Chakra into shuriken, allowing them to slice through rock with ease. Infused into kunai, it created blades with razor-sharp edges.

After removing the branches, he cut off three meters and four from the trunk and began refining it. Sword light flashed, wood chips flew, and before long, two wooden figures appeared.

Since he had never learned woodworking, the wooden figures inevitably looked rather abstract, but they at least possessed human outlines.

He sheathed his sword and stretched out both hands. Two balls of white light emerged from Uchiha Gen's palms and landed on the wooden figures, once again temporarily granting them souls and lifespans.

The next moment, the two wooden figures came alive. They knelt on one knee somewhat stiffly and said, "Master."

Uchiha Gen gave a slight nod. "There is one person in the cave now, and there will be two in the future. Your task is to make sure they do not starve or die of thirst, and to keep the place clean."

"Yes, Master."

"You are too weak. Do not wander around during your free time. Play only outside the cave, and do not stray too far from it."

"When feeding them or cleaning, you are absolutely not allowed to speak to the people inside the cave. Treat yourselves as mute."

"Yes, Master."

"Do not take my words lightly. If you ruin my plans, I'll set you on fire and burn you as firewood."

Uchiha Gen's expression turned stern as he issued the warning harshly.

Upon hearing this, Wusheng flew out from its sheath while Zhurong flew out from his left arm. One danced with its sword, the other spewed fire. They had both woodcutting and fire-starting covered.

"Please don't, Master! We'll do the job properly."

"That's right, that's right! We'll definitely do it well."

The two wooden figures spoke one after another, terror on their faces.

"Where there are punishments, there are rewards. If you do a good job, I will not take back the souls and lifespans I granted you."

"Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!" The two wooden figures instantly forgot their fear and beamed with joy.

"Wait here."

"Yes, Master."

Uchiha Gen turned and entered the cave. Zhurong and Wusheng did not follow him inside. Instead, they circled the two wooden figures while continuing to threaten them.

"Remember the Master's words. If you mess this up, I'll burn you into charcoal—no, into ashes. I won't even leave your corpses behind."

"Remember the Master's words. If you mess this up, I'll slice you into pieces."

"Yes, yes, yes..."

The two wooden Homies were so frightened that they clung to each other, trembling as they kept repeating the same word.

As fellow Homies, the two wooden figures could sense Zhurong and Wusheng's power. It was a force they had no way of resisting...

Soon, Uchiha Gen emerged from the cave and tossed two black hooded cloaks in his hands to the wooden figures.

"Put them on."

"Yes."

Each wooden figure took a cloak and swiftly slipped it on. Once they fastened the clasps, two black-robed figures completely shrouded by cloaks stood there.

"Zhurong, Wusheng, the two of you go clear out the ferocious beasts on this mountain."

After thinking it over, Uchiha Gen decided to take things one step further.

These two wooden figures were barely stronger than ordinary people. Their bodies were somewhat harder, but they were even less agile. The wild beasts in the mountains posed a considerable threat.

The wild beasts of this world were far more powerful than those in his previous life, so he had to take precautions.

"Alright, Master."

Zhurong transformed into a two-meter-long fire dragon. Wusheng perched on Zhurong's back, and the pair soon vanished from sight.

Although Wusheng, the Shuriken Homie, could fly, it could only fly at low altitude and over short distances. Only Zhurong could manage long-distance, high-altitude flight.

"You two, come with me. I'll teach you how to use certain tools and how to serve food to people."

"Yes, Master."

The reason he was going to such lengths was that Uchiha Gen did not want the lives of his clansmen. Otherwise, once the research was complete, he could simply kill them to silence them.

Uchiha Gen admitted that he was a self-centered person. Otherwise, he would not have done something like kidnapping fellow clansmen for research in pursuit of power. Yet he still had some bottom lines.

For people with whom he had neither conflicts of interest nor conflicts of position, he would avoid killing whenever possible. This was naturally even more true for members of his own clan.

Uchiha Gen believed that he needed to preserve at least a little conscience in his heart, lest he be assimilated by the darkness of the ninja world!

If he fell completely into darkness, then it would no longer be a person controlling power, but power controlling the person.

As for what others did, Uchiha Gen believed it was none of his business. He would simply do things his own way.

Being strict with others and lenient with himself was not his style.

According to his investigation, Uchiha Yuichi had a happy family. Both his parents were alive, and he had younger siblings. The family got along harmoniously and lived happily, so why go all the way?

He would let Uchiha Yuichi's family suffer a false alarm, then regain what they had lost.

It was not as though it could not be done. It would merely be more troublesome.

As long as Uchiha Yuichi did not learn his true identity, there would still be room to salvage the situation.

After the experiment ended, he would find a mission that involved conflict with Kirigakure and kill some Kirigakure ninja during it.

He would say that he had accidentally learned from the minds of Hidden Mist Ninja that Uchiha Yuichi had been secretly captured by Kirigakure ninja for research, then follow the trail to find where he was being held.

Then he would fight himself, create the sounds of battle, arrange several Kirigakure ninja corpses, and barring any surprises, the matter would be smoothly resolved.

If things went well, he might even gain two fiercely loyal Uchiha Clan ninja as subordinates.

It was troublesome, but if he truly pulled it off, it would actually be more profitable.

Half an hour later, the two not-so-bright wooden figures had learned how to use the tools and serve food, while Zhurong and Wusheng had also killed all the wild beasts on the mountain.

Only then did Uchiha Gen leave the mountain and return to the Konoha frontline camp to turn in his mission.

Although he had delayed for quite a while, as a genius of the Uchiha Clan and Orochimaru's disciple, the ninja responsible for clearing missions naturally would not make an issue of it.

After turning in the mission, Uchiha Gen went to see Orochimaru and asked his teacher to arrange a solo mission for him.

During wartime, missions could not be picked and chosen. Once assigned, they could only be carried out unconditionally. Yet no matter how airtight a system was, as long as people were the ones enforcing it, loopholes could be found.

With Orochimaru's prestige, authority, and connections, it was easy for him to arrange it. Even if Tsunade and the others learned of it, they would be unable to say much.

It could not be helped. Who knew when the next solo mission would be arranged? Naturally, he could not simply wait around.

The excuse was easy to find as well. He could say that he was tired from carrying out missions nonstop, and that completing a mission alone would give him more time to rest.

To Orochimaru, slacking off was hardly a big deal.

Thus, another ninja named Uchiha Sen was attacked by a Kirigakure Jonin while carrying out a mission.

The consecutive abductions of two Sharingan-awakened Uchiha ninja by Hidden Mist Ninja enraged the Uchiha Clan's ninja. Even after completing their missions, they refused to rest and instead formed teams to search.

Shisui Uchiha, Uchiha Gen, and two elders all participated, but who could have imagined that the culprit was an insider?

In the end, they found nothing, and the matter was left unresolved...

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