"You Senju Clan trash!"
"Heh, you naturally evil Uchiha! This is a trading post. You're still going to attack?"
"Heh, who dares stop the Uchiha? And who can stop the Uchiha?"
"You're getting more and more insane!"
At the end of the street, three shinobi dressed in Uchiha Gunbai attire were chasing two Senju Clan scouts.
The two sides clashed directly, trading ninjutsu in the narrow street.
Attacking in a peaceful area jointly governed by the various clans was an extremely reckless act, even in the Warring States Period.
The Uchiha weren't just making enemies of the Senju Clan. They were making enemies of every shinobi clan in the world.
That was what the many clans living in this settlement couldn't help thinking.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
An Uchiha Chunin formed hand seals and spat out several flames shaped like the fruits of a phoenix flower.
However, not all the flames hit the Senju scouts. Two of them were deflected by the Senju's Water Formation Wall and came flying straight toward the entrance of the Honest Man's General Store!
"Ah! My shop!"
The shopkeeper turned deathly pale with fright and froze in place, watching helplessly as the roaring flames—hot enough to set his wooden shop ablaze—raced toward him.
In this chaotic era, the shinobi clans never cared whether civilians lived or died when they fought.
Uchiha Yue, standing at the entrance, suddenly narrowed his eyes.
He hadn't wanted to get involved, but the shopkeeper was an honest man, and besides...
"Take this and step back. Don't get involved."
Yue shoved the bag of provisions into Hikari's hands and pressed his right hand to the hilt at his waist.
Just as the flames were about to devour the shopkeeper, Yue's figure flashed between them like a streak of black lightning.
His blade fell, and the Fire Release vanished without a trace.
Dirt scattered, but the shop and shopkeeper were unharmed.
"Who are you?!"
Yue ignored them and lowered the brim of his hat.
His right eye remained hidden in shadow. The Three Tomoe did not appear; instead, a pure, overwhelming wave of mental energy surged out.
This was the result of the past few months of training under Chiri.
Rather than relying on eye contact with the Sharingan, he used Yin Release Chakra alone to interfere with reality and deceive the brain!
"Yin Style: Five Senses Deprivation!"
Yue raised his right hand and snapped his fingers softly in the air.
"Snap."
The crisp sound stood out against the noisy street.
The three aggressive Uchiha shinobi suddenly stiffened.
In their world of perception, the surrounding noise, colors, and light all vanished in an instant.
The world became utterly dark and silent.
They couldn't see their comrades or hear the wind. They couldn't even feel their own hands and feet.
"Ahhh! My eyes! I can't see or hear!"
Overwhelming terror swallowed their reason. The three well-trained shinobi flailed their weapons like headless flies, rooted to the spot.
"Yin Style: Five Senses Parasitism!" Yue snapped his fingers again.
"Die, you bandits!"
The three Uchiha seemed to go mad, flailing their weapons like headless flies. One of them, panicking, even slashed his comrade in the leg.
To the onlookers, it seemed that the hat-wearing samurai had snapped his fingers, and the three arrogant Uchiha shinobi had started savagely attacking one another or kneeling to beg forgiveness from thin air.
This samurai was terrifyingly strong.
As for the two Senju scouts, they didn't even dare look back. They slipped away in the confusion.
Yue put the Yin Release techniques he'd learned over the past few months to practical use on the three Uchiha. Only then did he nod in satisfaction.
Now, these Yin Release techniques alone were enough for him to instantly kill shinobi at the Jonin level.
Dealing with elite Jonin might still be a little troublesome, but if he activated the Three Tomoe, he could kill them instantly.
He was still a little short of being able to take on Kage Level opponents. For that, he'd have to use the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Th-this is..."
The shopkeeper stared at the scene, dumbfounded, from behind the counter.
Yue slowly lowered his hand, ignoring the fearful, reverent looks around him.
He walked over to the three Uchiha shinobi who were still acting berserk and efficiently stripped them of their Ninja Tool Pouches and money bags.
"The spoils are mine. If the Uchiha want revenge, come find me. My name is Sosuke Aizen."
Yue hefted the money bag in his hand and spoke coldly.
Then he turned to the shopkeeper, took the largest silver ingot from one of the money bags he'd just stolen, and gently placed it on the counter, which had been cracked by the shockwave from the flames.
"Your shop probably won't be able to stay open, so take this as compensation for your losses. And... thank you for the red padded coat."
His voice sounded somewhat low beneath the brim of his hat.
"Let's go. Uchiha reinforcements will be here soon."
Before the shopkeeper could react, Yue grabbed Hikari, who was standing beside him in a daze. The two of them vanished into the crowded street.
The shopkeeper hurriedly packed up and fled as well.
Only after they had gone did the three Uchiha shinobi finally snap out of the genjutsu. They collapsed to the ground, drenched in cold sweat.
When the Uchiha reinforcements arrived, the nearby passersby finally dared to repeat Yue's words.
"Sosuke Aizen? He actually dares to offend the Uchiha!"
"Find out which clan he belongs to!"
"Sounds like an alias. Whatever. Whoever you are, if you dare offend the Uchiha, we'll grind your bones to dust."
In a dense forest several miles from the trading post,
Uchiha Hikari, dressed in the bright red padded coat, followed close behind Yue.
She watched Yue's slightly gaunt back, replaying what she had just seen over and over in her mind.
Uchiha Yue, who had once been called a madman for stopping at nothing to get revenge, had just risked exposing his strength to fight his own clan for the sake of a shopkeeper who had nothing to do with him.
"Why?" Hikari finally asked. "We didn't need to save that shopkeeper. This increased the chance of exposure."
Yue stopped and turned to look at the little girl, who, despite wearing a festive red padded coat, still saw everything in terms of mission logic.
"Chance?"
Yue felt a faint ache in his left eye, then smiled.
He reached out and, out of habit, tapped Hikari's little head, which was wrapped in a red hat.
"Hikari, remember this."
"We're not weapons anymore."
"Being strong isn't about how many people you can kill or how many missions you can complete."
Yue pointed to his bandage-wrapped blind eye, then to Hikari's chest.
"It's about whether, after gaining the power to trample everything underfoot, you can still hold on to your principles and protect those who have shown you kindness."
"That shopkeeper didn't treat us like monsters. He also gave us this nice outfit at a fair price. That was kindness."
"And we should repay kindness many times over."
Hikari covered her forehead, feeling the tap that hadn't hurt at all, then looked down at the warm red padded coat she was wearing.
Kindness... repaying it...
She nodded, seeming to understand, though she wasn't entirely sure.
Her logic was still a little muddled, but she thought Yue was right.
After all, she really was warm now.
"Then Yue, I'll definitely repay your kindness to me many times over in the future."
"Pfft."
Yue couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.
The Uchiha Laughing Maniacs had gained another member.
After a moment, he recovered and ruffled Hikari's hair.
"All right. With these supplies and this money, we can live pretty comfortably this winter."
In high spirits, he waved a hand. "Let's go! Back to grilling fish! This time, I'll teach you how to season it. Don't use Amaterasu on it again!"
"...Oh."
The two figures, one large and one small, faced the cold Warring States wind and gradually disappeared into the depths of the snowy forest.
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