Action

The focus of this operation was on Yuzhen and his two companions, but regardless of whether the remaining members would participate in the fighting, Yuzhen couldn't possibly leave them within Kikyo Castle's sphere of influence.

He was joking, of course. He had no trust in Kikyo Castle. What if the other side, taking advantage of their main fighting force being away, hired other Ninja to wipe out the rest of his people?

This risk was small, but not impossible.

In short, it's better to be safe than sorry.

After roughly discussing the operational plan, Yuzhen decided to rest there for another night before departing the next day.

"Thank you very much. If you weren't willing to offer your help, relying on me alone... I mean, relying on our own strength, we wouldn't be able to complete a battle where the few take on the many."

After the others had dispersed, Yuzhen said to Uchiha Nanami.

The most crucial part of their preparations for this operation was to freeload off Uchiha Nanami's combat power. Without the Sharingan, Yuzhen would have to spend a considerable amount of time gathering enemy intelligence.

The mission's difficulty would increase exponentially.

"You don't need to thank me. After all, if you hadn't helped me earlier, I might be dead by now," Uchiha Nanami said, shaking her head.

Her values were surprisingly normal.

Seeing that her attitude seemed genuine, Yuzhen smiled and didn't say anything more.

Then, the two parties parted ways and went to rest.

During this time, Uchiha Nanami had been quietly observing Yuzhen, constructing a personality profile of him in her mind.

Overall, she felt that Yuzhen possessed a certain sense of disconnect.

On one hand, Yuzhen looked young, but often acted without sharp edges, appearing rational and gentle.

However, she felt this was just a facade. While it couldn't be said he was "wicked disguised as righteous," there seemed to be an extreme way of acting hidden beneath his gentleness.

On the other hand, Yuzhen had unified a group of rogue Ninja and seemed to have a strategic plan for the organization's development. Yet, planning was one thing; when it came to actual action, he was very "random" and unrestrained.

At times, Uchiha Nanami felt as if Yuzhen stood in some lofty position, arrogantly looking down upon the cruel Ninja World. This detached gaze made her feel as if he were outside the world, like an observer.

Facing the harsh environment of the Ninja World, he neither took root within it, seeming disdainful of certain actions, nor could he completely step outside of it, as he lacked the strength to do so.

This feeling of being "superficial" made Uchiha Nanami sense a kind of "detachment" in Yuzhen.

No, not detachment. Perhaps it was a feeling of wanting to transcend but being unable to...

Often, Yuzhen was like a puppet, and only by parting the strings that pulled him could one occasionally discover his most genuine, essential self.

Of course, these were entirely subjective and emotional thoughts from Uchiha Nanami. She couldn't be sure if her feelings were right or wrong, but regardless, if Yuzhen were a Ninja from an ordinary background, these occasional traits he displayed would be very abnormal.

It had to be said, the Sharingan was worthy of its name. Her judgment of people and events was quite accurate.

The root cause was that Yuzhen was not "Hagane Zhen"; he was merely playing the role of "Hagane Zhen."

When Hagane Zhen encountered danger, this so-called Clan Leader would step forward.

When survivors from Hagane sent a plea for help, he would travel far to rescue them.

When he felt he had gained sufficient strength, he would go seeking revenge.

If one were to ask Yuzhen's true feelings, were these things he absolutely had to do?

Although he had been in the Ninja World for over a year, he had not assimilated with the local people.

He was not an unfeeling person. If asked whether he held a positive or negative attitude towards the Tsugawa Clan, it would certainly be negative, but would he therefore regard them as enemies that must be annihilated?

It seemed it didn't reach that level.

In short, although Yuzhen founded the "Ashes" organization, he had not yet found his place in the Ninja World.

Uchiha Nanami only had a vague inkling of these contradictory thoughts within him.

The next day, Yuzhen led his group out of Kikyo Castle's sphere of influence and began moving north.

Although everything seemed somewhat rushed, after the discussions the previous night, everyone was mentally prepared for battle.

As for material preparations, they were basically barely sufficient. On one hand, they benefited from the selfless assistance of the Sarutobi Clan; on the other hand, the Fuma Clan was not lacking in basic military resources.

In short, they would bring everything, useful or not.

Two days after leaving Kikyo Castle, Yuzhen found a suitable hidden area and left most of his people there.

According to the plan, Yuzhen and his two companions would depart first, while the remaining main force would follow their pace five days later... As for the location of the Tsugawa Clan's village, a considerable number of people would surely never forget it.

The reason for splitting up was twofold: first, to avoid their group suffering major losses; second, Yuzhen needed to borrow everyone's strength, and after borrowing it, he naturally had to give them time to recover.

Subsequently, when everyone understood what Yuzhen was doing, they were all utterly shocked.

Uchiha Nanami was particularly so.

When she saw Yuzhen extracting Chakra from the organization members and absorbing it for himself, the corners of her eyes began to twitch involuntarily, almost causing her to activate her Sharingan due to losing emotional control.

Fortunately, Yuzhen was busy collecting Chakra and didn't notice Uchiha Nanami's expression, as she was not a target of the collection. Otherwise, he would surely have become suspicious.

After harvesting this batch of Chakra, Yuzhen kept two-thirds for himself and distributed the remaining one-third to Fūma Kotarō, which startled the latter.

Fūma Kotarō felt he had never been so powerful.

As for Uchiha Nanami, it was assumed she didn't need this Chakra support. Yuzhen wasn't distributing it unfairly, but rather judging each person based on their surname and background, tailoring his actions accordingly.

After he finished dealing with these things, he noticed that Uchiha Nanami's expression seemed a bit unnatural.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" he asked.

Uchiha Nanami snapped back to attention, immediately shaking her head. "Nothing, I... I was just surprised you had this kind of ability."

Absorbing another person's Chakra, then converting it into his own, and even being able to distribute it – this ability was indeed rare.

However, Uchiha Nanami happened to know of a similar ability, though the one she knew relied on the Sharingan to activate and was overall much more powerful and effective than what Yuzhen had displayed.

Yuzhen withdrew his gaze from Uchiha Nanami, offering no further explanation.

Then he saw Fūma Kotarō, who had temporarily left after receiving Chakra and had now returned to his side. Yuzhen almost couldn't contain his expression:

"You... why are you carrying so much equipment?"

At this moment, Fūma Kotarō was practically fully armed. He had shuriken of various sizes hanging from him, weapons of different lengths and colors, his Ninja Tool Bag stuffed with Explosive Tags, steel wires of different specifications, scrolls of gunpowder and oil...

Fūma Kotarō's voice was muffled. "There's no helping it. This is how we Fūma Ninja fight."

Uh...

What could Yuzhen say? He couldn't exactly say the guy was over-equipped, could he?

"Let's go, the operation begins."

The three then set off. Uchiha Nanami followed behind Yuzhen, gazing absently at his retreating figure. She seemed to open her mouth, silently mouthing three words:

"Yachihoko..."