Kirigakure

Kirigakure

Late night.

Madara hid within the boundless darkness, quietly gazing at the looming Kirigakure in the distance.

If everything went smoothly, this mysterious village hidden in thick fog would become his vital base of operations for a long time to come.

Before arriving in the Land of Water, Madara had originally planned to use genjutsu to control the First Mizukage, Byakuren, and subsequently usurp his position to achieve total rule over Kirigakure.

However, once he stepped onto this land and conducted a thorough investigation of the village, this seemingly perfect plan crumbled instantly, even causing him to consider finding a new location.

The most critical factor was that the current poverty of Kirigakure was truly staggering.

Compared to the prosperous and powerful Konoha, Kirigakure was like heaven and earth.

Even Sunagakure, built amidst the vast desert, was far wealthier than Kirigakure at this moment.

Such a massive gap forced Madara to re-evaluate whether his initial decision had been wise.

Beyond that, another issue causing Madara a headache was the many long-standing ninja clans within Kirigakure.

These clans had been passed down for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, each possessing unique secret techniques or bloodline limits.

Although the First Mizukage, Byakuren, had used his excellent eloquence and relatively strong power to successfully persuade them to set aside their prejudices and unite to form Kirigakure, intense competition inevitably remained between the clans. Some even viewed each other as mortal enemies, as incompatible as fire and water.

This made it as difficult as ascending to heaven for Byakuren to push any policy within the village.

The behavior of these clans was jaw-dropping; they would scramble for anything profitable, never letting an opportunity slip, yet when faced with missions, they would all dodge and weave, unwilling to take responsibility.

Such a scene was the true portrait of Kirigakure today.

In the eyes of Uchiha Madara, the root cause of this situation was ultimately that Byakuren lacked sufficient strength to suppress all the clans.

On the surface, it seemed that Byakuren had used his personal charisma to successfully convince the many clans to build the village together.

But in reality, the deeper reason was that other nations had already established their own ninja villages.

For the clans living in the Land of Water, if they could not unite and rely on each other for survival, their only fate would be annexation by other nations.

It was precisely because of this that Kirigakure came into being.

Otherwise, even if Byakuren possessed the eloquence and charm to pluck the moon from the sky, those clans would never have agreed to create Kirigakure.

Thinking of this, Uchiha Madara felt a bit bored. After shaking his head helplessly, he strode openly and brazenly toward the village.

His purpose in coming here was to personally observe the situation of the various clans in Kirigakure and see if any possessed the foresight to understand the future trajectory of the world.

If these clans were all as uncarvable as rotten wood, he would not hesitate to find another place to serve as his base.

A Kirigakure guard on duty was vigilantly scanning his surroundings. When he caught a glimpse of Madara, he shouted loudly, "Who goes there? Stop!"

However, before his voice had even faded, a flash of red light suddenly crossed Madara's eyes.

Immediately after, the guard stood there in a daze. The next moment, he scratched his head in confusion and muttered to himself, "Huh? Did I see things? Why did it look like there was a shadow just now?"

Madara stood quietly in the middle of the street in Kirigakure, slowly coming to a halt.

He looked around; although it was late at night, the thick fog made visibility extremely low.

These mists were like a heavy curtain, obscuring everything so thoroughly that Madara had the illusion that he was the only person left in the entire world.

"It truly is a village 'hidden in the mist'! Such thick fog makes one feel inexplicably depressed and irritable!" Madara couldn't help but mutter.

This foggy weather undoubtedly affected his already poor mood.

Originally, he had intended to wander around the village and observe properly, but the terrible fog made him lose all interest instantly.

As Madara searched quickly, a large clan compound gradually came into his view. Above the tall gate, two vigorous characters were written: Hozuki.

"The Hozuki Clan?" Madara raised an eyebrow slightly, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

He possessed some intelligence regarding the Hozuki Clan.

For instance, their secret technique that allowed them to transform their own bodies into a liquid state at will...

On some level, the Hozuki Clan did indeed possess a certain degree of mutual restraint against the Uchiha Clan.

The reason for this was that the chakra attributes of the Uchiha Clan were mostly inclined toward fire or lightning...

At this moment, with little patience left, Madara walked straight through the open gate.

The moment Madara stepped into the Hozuki territory, a shocking scene occurred—a puddle of water that had been lying flat behind him seemed to come to life, and the outline of a person's upper body slowly emerged from it.

Just as this person intended to punish the uninvited guest who had intruded into the family territory, Madara stopped steadily, turned his head abruptly, and stared at him with eyes like torches, coldly spitting out a single sentence: "Have your clan head come see me!"

This blunt remark left the Hozuki clansman, who had just condensed from the water, looking indignant. "Who do you think you are to see our clan head?" With that, he raised his blade and attacked.

However, the moment his attack reached Madara, he suddenly caught sight of the clan crest on Madara's clothing...

Although he knew nothing of the Madara before him, the mere sight of the unique crest embroidered on his garment and his unwavering posture in the face of the attack made him pause.

He instantly retracted his offensive, retreated two steps, and watched Madara with great vigilance.

"Go find your clan head," Madara said again, watching the man's series of small movements.

This time, the man did not delay or hesitate, responding respectfully, "Guest, please wait here for a moment; I will go report to our clan head immediately!" Having said that, he turned and hurried away, disappearing in the blink of an eye.