Resistance Experiment

In every sense of the word, Yuzhen's words were soft, but his work was hard.

Although he looked like a civilized man, he had at least seven guns tucked into his crotch.

Fūma Kotarō felt that what he had learned earlier was the gentle side of Yuzhen's personality. Now, he was getting to know the ruthless side.

A ninja who could treat his own hand as if it were nothing—that was no longer a question of ruthlessness. More precisely, it was a question of madness.

Yuzhen raised his arm and showed both sides the palms that had been pinned together by the short blade, forcing them to grip each other tightly.

Moving his palm tugged at the wound, and the pain made the corner of Fūma Kotarō's mouth twitch uncontrollably. Yuzhen, however, looked as if he had no sense of pain.

You know what? Actually, never mind. Regardless of whether Fūma Kotarō was in pain, all the members of the Fuma Clan had been intimidated by the gesture.

Immediately afterward, they felt an immense sincerity.

A ninja was willing to use his career to demonstrate his level of trust in newcomers. How could they possibly have any complaints?

Yuzhen glanced at Fūma Kotarō, who immediately understood what he meant.

Holding up his arm, he shouted:

"Today, the Fuma Clan joins the Ashes Organization. Let this blood serve as proof: we will never be hostile, and we will never betray you."

"Never be hostile... Never betray you..."

The shouts came from the Fuma Clan's side. They were somewhat disorganized at first, but after several repetitions, their voices became almost perfectly uniform:

"Never be hostile! Never betray you!"

There was nothing they could do. It wasn't as if their recognition of the Ashes Organization had suddenly skyrocketed. It was just that... the atmosphere had already been built up to this point, so they might as well put some effort into shouting a few times, right?

Only after seeing the Fuma Clan respond did Yuzhen lower his arm again.

The alliance ceremony could be called simple, but in a certain sense, it was also rather frightening.

Sister Takamatsu and Hagane Chihori quickly came to Yuzhen and Fūma Kotarō's side from within the crowd. Carefully, they pulled out the short blade. Once the two men released their grips, the women began bandaging their wounds separately.

On closer inspection, one could see that the short blade bore the "Five Rings" mark. This showed that it was actually a weapon Yuzhen had borrowed from the Sarutobi Clan.

The puncture wounds through both their hands looked extremely serious, but in reality, Yuzhen's injury barely needed bandaging.

Once his right hand had been wrapped in bandages, he immediately applied White Zetsu Transformation to the area around the wound. The bleeding stopped instantly, and his sense of pain was once again greatly reduced.

Yuzhen's behavior was somewhat devious. The injuries they had suffered appeared identical, but their recovery abilities were on completely different levels.

It was a little like bullying the locals for their lack of knowledge. Yuzhen thought to himself: Do you know someone named Ethan? People call him the "Mushroom Man" and the "Sanitizer God of War." I'm actually just like him.

The wound on his hand would recover very soon. As for sealing ninjutsu, he would be able to form the seals fluently by the next day.

After realizing that joining this organization was an extraordinarily serious matter, Yuzhen wondered whether Fūma Kotarō had begun to regret his decision.

Regardless, as the clan head, he should have been more cautious when making his decision.

The so-called alliance ceremony contained a meaning that was not difficult to understand...

They had bled when they joined. If they ever truly intended to leave, they would have to bleed again.

Regardless, Yuzhen had successfully completed the organization's recruitment drive in a relatively smooth manner, with an unexpected and frightening twist.

However, accepting people was not the same as swallowing cargo. Everyone had different thoughts, so Yuzhen would not act too hastily.

To truly integrate both sides, Yuzhen still had many things to do in the coming period.

In the short term, the most important point was equality: resources had to be distributed evenly. That, on the other hand, was not difficult.

After the ceremony ended, both sides returned to their respective camps, and the surroundings fell quiet once again.

The night was already deep, but Yuzhen did not choose to rest.

He was not thinking about the Fuma Clan. In fact, although he valued the organization's expansion, he did not value it that much.

For the moment, he set the Fuma Clan aside and considered how to improve his own strength.

Yuzhen was thinking about developing new ninjutsu.

After learning Water Release, the two types of nature transformation he currently possessed had become somewhat unbalanced. Compared with Water Release, which combined offense and defense and possessed both single-target and area damage capabilities, Yuzhen's Fire Release ninjutsu seemed somewhat weak.

Therefore, he was referring to those Water Release techniques while developing new Fire Release ninjutsu.

Although the hand seals for Water Release and Fire Release were completely different, the chakra flow used when performing Water Release was clearly worth taking as a reference.

Yuzhen already had some ideas for his new Fire Release technique.

Besides that, he felt that the abilities he had mastered were still not ordinary enough, so he planned to develop an even more "ordinary" way of fighting. He had made slow progress in that area, however.

Just as Yuzhen was racking his brains, Uchiha Nanami came over to his side.

She had observed Yuzhen's entire recruitment process today, but had not said much during it. After all, she had not been qualified to interfere in the first place.

"The Fuma Clan that joined today has more members than your original group. Aren't you worried that they'll take over as hosts?" Uchiha Nanami asked.

"Take over as hosts? That can only mean my abilities are limited. To be honest, if someone could truly handle everything fairly and impartially, I'd actually be happy to let them take my position," Yuzhen said.

He had no great desire for power. Most of the time, leading an organization was actually a burden to him.

Uchiha Nanami had not expected such an answer, and for a moment, she did not know how to respond.

Yuzhen glanced at her, then added an explanation:

"Don't worry about anything unexpected happening. For an organization or a group, its founding principles are certainly important. But if you want to maintain those principles, sometimes you have to rely on the leader's intelligence and wisdom, and sometimes you have to rely on the leader's violence and strength."

Hearing this, Uchiha Nanami seemed to understand.

Yuzhen did not want to discuss the matter further. Then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, he asked Uchiha Nanami:

"By the way, could I trouble you with something? I'd like to ask you for a favor."

"What is it?"

If she could provide help, Uchiha Nanami would not refuse. Overall, she was someone who repaid kindness.

"I'd like you to cast a genjutsu on me." As he spoke, Yuzhen moved his injured hand behind his back, then expanded the White Zetsu Transformation to cover his entire forearm.

"Genjutsu? Are you sure?"

"Sure."

Uchiha Nanami did not know what Yuzhen wanted to do, but seeing how determined he was, she did not say anything more... although the request was rather strange.

"Do you think every Uchiha is skilled in genjutsu?"

Uchiha Nanami muttered under her breath, but despite saying that, her eyes had already manifested the Three Tomoe state.

Then the two of them began staring wide-eyed at each other.

"Has it started?"

"It's already over."