The Increasingly Radical Uchiha

"Mere trash of the Senju Clan!"

"Heh, the naturally evil Uchiha! This is a trading post; do you really intend to strike here?"

"Hah, who dares to stop the Uchiha, and who could possibly stop the Uchiha!"

"You people are becoming more and more insane!"

At the end of the street, three ninjas wearing the Uchiha Gunbai crest were seen pursuing two scouts from the Senju Clan.

Both sides immediately launched a barrage of ninjutsu in the narrow street.

Attacking in a neutral zone governed by the tacit agreement of various clans was an incredibly reckless act, even in the Warring States period.

The Uchiha were not just making an enemy of the Senju Clan; they were making an enemy of every ninja clan in the world.

The many clans residing here could not help but think this to themselves.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

A Uchiha chunin formed hand seals, spitting out several clusters of flames resembling the fruit of a balsam flower.

However, these flames did not all strike the Senju scouts; two of them were deflected by a Senju Water Formation Wall, flying straight toward the front door of the Honest Man's General Store!

"Ah! My shop!"

The owner turned deathly pale, freezing in place as he watched the fire—more than enough to ignite his wooden shop—come roaring toward him.

In this chaotic era, battles between ninja clans never took the lives of commoners into account.

Standing at the entrance, Yue Uchiha's eyes suddenly turned cold.

He had not intended to meddle in other people's business, but this owner was a kind man, and besides...

"Take this and step back. Don't you move."

Yue shoved the bag of grain into Hikari's hands while simultaneously resting his right hand on the hilt of his blade.

In the instant before the flames could consume the owner, Yue's figure moved like a bolt of black lightning, blocking the space between them.

With a single slash, the Fire Style vanished without a trace.

Dirt splattered, but the shop and the owner remained completely unharmed.

"Who goes there?!"

Yue ignored them, merely pulling his conical hat lower.

In his right eye, hidden beneath the shadows, the Three Tomoe did not manifest; in their place was a surge of spiritual energy of absolute purity.

This was the result of the training he had undergone with Chiri over the past few months.

Instead of relying on the visual contact of the Sharingan, he was using pure Yin Style chakra to interfere with reality and deceive the brain!

"Yin Style: Five Senses Deprivation!"

Yue raised his right hand and snapped his fingers in the void.

"Snap."

The crisp sound was exceptionally clear amidst the noisy street.

The three aggressive Uchiha ninjas suddenly stiffened.

In their perceived world, the surrounding clamor, colors, and light vanished in that very instant.

The world turned into absolute darkness and deathly silence.

They could not see their companions, hear the wind, or even feel their own limbs.

"Aaaah! My eyes! I can't see, I can't hear!"

Overwhelming terror instantly devoured their reason; the three well-trained ninjas began waving their weapons like headless flies, rooted to the spot.

"Yin Style: Five Senses Parasitism!" Yue snapped his fingers again.

"Die, you villain!"

The three Uchiha acted as if possessed, waving their weapons wildly like headless flies; one of them, in his panic, even slashed his companion's leg.

To the onlookers, they only saw the samurai in the conical hat snap his fingers, after which the three arrogant Uchiha ninjas began to slaughter each other in a frenzy or kneel on the ground begging for mercy from the empty air.

This samurai's strength was somewhat terrifying.

As for the two Senju scouts, seeing this scene, they didn't even dare to look back and took advantage of the chaos to flee.

Yue practiced a few more of the Yin Style mysteries he had learned over the past few months on the three Uchiha before nodding in satisfaction.

As he was now, he could instantly kill a ninja of jonin level using only these Yin Style techniques.

Dealing with an elite jonin might still be troublesome, but if he activated his Three Tomoe, he could kill them instantly as well.

Fighting a Kage-level opponent was still difficult for the time being; he would need to use the Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Th-this is..."

The owner, hiding behind the counter, stared at the scene in stunned silence.

Yue slowly withdrew his hand, ignoring the gazes of awe and fear from those around him.

He walked over to the three Uchiha ninjas who were still raving mad, skillfully stripping them of their ninja tool pouches and coin purses.

"The spoils belong to me. If the Uchiha want revenge, you are welcome to find me. My name is Sosuke Aizen."

Yue weighed the coin purse in his hand and said coldly.

Afterward, he turned and walked to the shopkeeper, fished out the largest silver ingot from the purse he had just looted, and placed it gently on the counter that had been cracked by the shockwave of the flames.

"Shopkeeper, I doubt you can keep this shop open any longer. Consider this compensation for your losses, and... thank you for the red cotton-padded jacket."

Yue's voice sounded somewhat low beneath his bamboo hat.

"Let's go. Uchiha reinforcements will be here soon."

Before the shopkeeper could react, Yue grabbed Hikari, who was watching in a daze, and their figures instantly vanished into the crowded street.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper hurriedly packed his belongings and fled.

It wasn't until they were long gone that the three Uchiha ninjas finally broke free from the genjutsu, collapsing onto the ground, drenched in cold sweat.

By the time the Uchiha reinforcements arrived, the bystanders finally dared to repeat Yue's words.

"Sosuke Aizen? To think he dares to offend the Uchiha!"

"Find out which clan he belongs to!"

"It sounds like a pseudonym. Forget it. No matter who you are, if you dare to offend the Uchiha, we will grind your bones to dust."

In a dense forest several miles away from the trading post.

Uchiha Hikari wore the bright red cotton-padded jacket, following closely behind Yue.

She looked at Yue's slightly lean back, her mind replaying the scene from moments ago.

The Uchiha Yue who was once called a madman, the one who would stop at nothing for revenge, had just risked exposing his strength to confront his own clansmen for the sake of an unrelated shopkeeper.

"Why?" Hikari finally couldn't help but ask. "We didn't need to save that shopkeeper. It increased the probability of us being exposed."

Yue stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at the little girl who, even while wearing a festive red jacket, was still filled with mission logic.

"Probability?"

Yue's left eye throbbed with a slight pain, and then he began to laugh.

He reached out and habitually tapped Hikari's small head, which was wrapped in a red hood.

"Hikari, you must remember."

"We are no longer weapons."

"Being strong isn't about how many people you can kill, nor is it about how many missions you can complete."

Yue pointed to his own bandaged, blind eye, then pointed to Hikari's heart.

"It is about whether you can still hold onto your bottom line and protect those who have shown you kindness, even after you possess the power to trample over everything."

"That shopkeeper didn't treat us like monsters and gave us this nice piece of clothing at a fair price. That is kindness."

"And for kindness, we must repay it twofold."

Hikari covered her forehead, feeling the painless tap, and looked down at the warm red jacket on her body.

Kindness... repayment...

She nodded, seemingly understanding yet still confused.

Although her logic was still a bit messy, she felt that Yue was right.

Because right now, she felt truly warm.

"Then Yue, I will definitely repay your kindness to me twofold in the future."

"Pfft."

Yue couldn't help it and burst into laughter.

Another member had been added to the Uchiha maniacal laughers.

After a moment, he recovered and ruffled Hikari's hair.

"Alright, with these supplies and money, we can live comfortably this winter."

He was in a great mood now and waved his hand. "Let's go! Back to roasting fish! This time I'll teach you how to use seasoning, and don't you dare use Amaterasu on it again!"

"...Oh."

Two figures, one large and one small, faced the cold winds of the Warring States period and gradually disappeared into the depths of the snowy forest.