The Patriarch

Yatsuhashi's sleep had been interrupted.

He decided to head to the northeastern corner of the village,

toward the Iburi Clan's settlement, where Gota and the others had been housed.

It was just after dawn when he entered the village.

He had already noticed that the village's wandering merchants

were all making their way, to one degree or another, toward the Iburi Clan's settlement.

At first, Yatsuhashi had planned to sleep in and see what was happening later.

But now that he was wide awake, he might as well go find out for himself.

Before he even reached the settlement, Yukimi's bell-like voice rang out in the distance.

"Lord Yatsuhashi!"

Yukimi bounced up and down as she waved,

while the Iburi people around her looked at Yatsuhashi with the utmost respect.

To Yatsuhashi's slight surprise,

Yamato, whom he and Yukimi had run into in the middle of the night, was there too.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi had conceded,

Danzo had been reinstated,

but Yamato and the other Wood Release ninjas had been transferred into the village's regular jonin ranks.

With his exceptional strength,

Yamato had even become the captain of the Wood Release Jonin Squad.

So Yatsuhashi remembered him fairly well.

Yukimi left Yamato, who had been clinging to her,

and ran to Yatsuhashi's side like a lively little deer.

Excited, she was ready to take Yatsuhashi to see Gota right away.

Yamato's expression changed when Yukimi left him behind.

Then, when he saw Yatsuhashi, he awkwardly turned his head away.

Yatsuhashi asked first, "What's he doing here?"

Yukimi pouted and glared back at Yamato. "Who knows? He's always hanging around near me for no reason."

Yamato blushed. He stammered for a long while, unable to get out a complete sentence.

His early years in Root had made it difficult for him to fit into normal life.

"Lord Yatsuhashi, you were right the other day. He doesn't look like a good person at all."

"Uh..." Yatsuhashi froze. Looking at Yamato's awkward manner,

he began recalling what he knew about him,

then reassured her, "He's probably a good person!"

"Huh?"

Yukimi wasn't the only one who froze. Even Yamato suddenly looked up.

After all, during all those years in Root,

Yamato had done nothing but kill and burn.

So far, Yatsuhashi was the first person to call him a good person.

Yukimi nodded thoughtfully.

"If you say he's a good person, Lord Yatsuhashi, then I'll believe he is."

With just that one casual remark from Yatsuhashi,

Yukimi's impression of Yamato changed quite a bit.

Yamato behind them clearly noticed,

and even the look he gave Yatsuhashi's back held a hint of gratitude.

Yukimi paid Yamato no mind and led Yatsuhashi farther inside.

In just a few short days,

the handful of houses and open space that had been here

had become a neat, spacious row of connected houses.

Yatsuhashi glanced at Yamato, who was following behind Yukimi.

That must have been his Wood Release: Four-Pillar House Technique.

When Yamato saw Yatsuhashi turn to look at him, he hurried forward to explain,

"It was the Fourth Hokage who sent me to lead the Wood Release Jonin Squad in helping rebuild the Iburi Clan..."

"Hmph." Yukimi tugged at Yatsuhashi's sleeve and quickened her pace. "You don't have to tell him. Lord Yatsuhashi already knows."

Along the way, Yatsuhashi also spotted Tenzō lying bored on a rooftop.

When Tenzō saw Yatsuhashi,

he didn't get up, but still called out softly, "Lord Yatsuhashi."

Seeing this, Yukimi glared fiercely at Tenzō and warned him, "You'd better show him some respect!"

But Yatsuhashi didn't mind.

After all, Tenzō was far more likable now than he had been back in Root.

Gota was talking with a wandering merchant. When he saw Yatsuhashi being led over by Yukimi, he immediately put down the ledger in his hands.

He hurried forward. "Ah, Lord Yatsuhashi, you're here!"

Tenmei, the wandering merchant who had been talking with Gota,

kept sizing up the young man before him.

The person the Iburi Clan's leader, Gota, treated with such respect

was an utterly ordinary-looking boy.

Naturally, this piqued Tenmei's curiosity.

Gota led Yatsuhashi to the seat of honor in the tearoom,

then sat beside him instead,

making a point of showing him the utmost deference.

It turned out the Iburi Clan had started mining the ore vein beneath the Forest of Death.

Although they weren't yet equipped to smelt the ore,

they could still trade what they mined with wandering merchants.

That was why so many wandering merchants had flocked to Konoha.

What surprised Yatsuhashi slightly was

that the Nara Clan's leader, Shikaku Nara, had come here too.

Gota respectfully explained to Shikaku, "This is Yatsuhashi, the leader of our Iburi Clan."

"What?!"

At those words, it wasn't just Yatsuhashi—

Shikaku and Tenmei were so shocked their jaws nearly hit the floor.

After learning that the Iburi Clan had mined ore, Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze

had sent Shikaku Nara to negotiate with them.

The main topics were taxes for Konoha and future cooperation on mining.

Although the Forest of Death belonged to Konoha,

the village currently lacked specialists with experience in mining ore.

Rather than taking over the operation and bringing it under the village's control, it was better to leave it to the Iburi Clan.

The village would only need the Iburi Clan to hand over a certain share of the profits.

That way, Konoha could gain a substantial new source of income without spending any manpower on mining.

But after Shikaku had been here for quite a while,

Gota had solemnly informed him

that the matter was too important to discuss without first speaking with the Iburi Clan's leader.

That left Shikaku confused.

After all, he had looked into this beforehand,

and Gota himself was supposed to be the Iburi Clan's leader.

"Gota," Shikaku said sternly,

with unmistakable displeasure in his voice, "I represent Lord Hokage. This is no matter to joke about."

Shikaku had heard about Uchiha Yatsuhashi from Inoichi Yamanaka before.

He was a once-in-a-century genius in the study of sealing techniques.

And he was a member of the Uchiha Clan.

How had he become the leader of the Iburi Clan?

Was this some kind of joke?

Yatsuhashi's expression changed too.

He looked at Gota, just as puzzled.

To his surprise, Gota continued to declare loudly and righteously,

"Uchiha Yatsuhashi is the leader of our Iburi Clan. He can represent us in all matters!"

That left Tenmei, standing nearby, so shocked that he couldn't speak.

His mouth hung open,

but the wandering merchant quickly recovered.

Tenmei chuckled obsequiously. "As expected, this young man has an extraordinary bearing. He's clearly an important figure."

Then he turned to Shikaku. "Konoha truly is a place where heroes emerge in their youth. Its future is bright, its future is bright!"

At that, Shikaku opened his mouth, then finally managed to respond after a long pause.

"In that case, Yatsuhashi, you'll represent the Iburi Clan and begin negotiating with Konoha over mining the ore vein in the Forest of Death!"

The words sounded strange to Yatsuhashi.

After all, he was a member of Konoha himself.

But a moment later, Yatsuhashi grew serious as well.

Shikaku briefly explained the situation,

and Yatsuhashi understood

that after the Iburi Clan mined ore beneath the Forest of Death,

they would need to negotiate with Konoha over its sale.

But they still needed to negotiate the division of the profits after the sale.

The village's current proposal was a thirty-seventy split.

In other words, after paying the usual taxes on the ore, the Iburi Clan would have to hand over seventy percent of the remaining profits to the village.

By then, Yatsuhashi had a general idea of the situation.

Suppose the Iburi Clan painstakingly mined a million ryō worth of ore in the Forest of Death.

After paying thirty percent in taxes,

they would still have to give the village seventy percent of the remaining seven hundred thousand ryō.

Yatsuhashi was utterly taken aback.

He hadn't expected the village to be even more capitalist than the capitalists.

This was nothing less than blatant exploitation and oppression.

How could anyone tolerate this?

Even though Yatsuhashi wasn't a member of the Iburi Clan, those outrageous terms

were something he absolutely couldn't agree to.

What Yatsuhashi didn't know was

that this was already the result of Minato Namikaze standing up to the village elders and arguing fiercely on their behalf.

The Konoha leadership had originally insisted on an eighty-twenty split, leaving the Iburi Clan with only twenty percent.

Yatsuhashi carefully examined the draft agreement Shikaku had prepared.

Suddenly, he spotted a loophole.

The agreement only specified how the profits would be divided when the ore was sold to wandering merchants.

But as far as he remembered, the Iburi Clan didn't just mine ore.

They could also smelt it and forge ninja tools.

It was only the current circumstances that kept them from smelting it.

So Yatsuhashi reconsidered and tentatively suggested,

"I have no objection to the thirty-seventy split for ore sales,

but I hope we can agree on a twenty-eighty split for the profits after smelting, with the Iburi Clan receiving eighty percent."

At that, Shikaku smiled.

He thought to himself that Yatsuhashi was still too young. Smelting ore wasn't that simple.

The village had considered it before, after all.

He would smelt the ore before selling it to the wandering merchants.

But after carefully calculating the costs,

he realized they lacked not only skilled smelters,

but also the upfront investment would be staggering.

So selling the ore as it was would be far more profitable.

Still, to make things seem fair,

Shikaku Nara took up his brush and added

the condition Yatsuhashi had proposed to the end of the agreement.

As far as he was concerned, that clause would never take effect.

Once Yatsuhashi had signed the agreement on behalf of the Iburi Clan,

Shikaku Nara rose to take his leave.

He had already spent far too much time here,

and now needed to report the situation to Lord Hokage without delay.

Gota looked at Yatsuhashi with such reverence that it practically overflowed from his eyes.

He even bowed slightly, showing his respect.

After all, the price of minerals would skyrocket once they were smelted and turned into ninja tools!

With just one casual remark,

Yatsuhashi had secured immeasurable wealth for the Iburi Clan's future.

How could Gota not respect him from the bottom of his heart?

And he wasn't the only one.

When the other members of the Iburi Clan learned what Yatsuhashi had won for them,

they all bowed whenever they saw him,

their eyes filled with genuine reverence.

They truly regarded him as the leader of the Iburi Clan now.

The wandering merchant Tenmei was just as delighted.

After all, the sooner the agreement was signed,

the sooner they could complete the deal and ship out the minerals.

Tenmei even threw an arm around Yatsuhashi's shoulders and said warmly, "Benefactor! You really are my great benefactor!

"Dinner's on me tonight. Please, you simply must do me the honor!"

Tenmei kept calling him "benefactor,"

and Yatsuhashi couldn't bring himself to refuse. He went along with Gota and the others.

It was during the meal that Yatsuhashi realized Tenmei's wife was already several months pregnant.

Tenmei was beaming, in high spirits,

and hoped that Yatsuhashi, his benefactor, would choose a name for their child.

Looking at everyone around the table, laughing happily,

Yatsuhashi couldn't help saying, "May we celebrate like this every year, and enjoy this day for years to come."

Tenmei's eyes lit up. He slapped his thigh. "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! That couldn't be better!"

"Lord Yatsuhashi, what a gift you have for words! 'May we celebrate like this every year, and enjoy this day for years to come'—that's just perfect!"

Tenmei paused,

then looked at his pregnant wife, overjoyed.

"Then we'll take our benefactor's suggestion. We'll name our unborn child Tenten!"

"Tenten?"

Yatsuhashi paused, then smiled. "That's a lovely, familiar-sounding name."

It wasn't until nightfall that everyone finally said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Yatsuhashi walked alone toward his rented room,

letting out a huge yawn.

At last, he could get a good night's sleep.

But suddenly, a powerful wave of perception swept past him.

Then it abruptly doubled back, focusing on him.

"Hm?!"

Yatsuhashi whipped around and looked toward the dark mountains beyond the village.

That power was somehow stirring the Mangekyō Sharingan inside him!

At the same time, Madara Uchiha grinned outside the village.

He hadn't expected

to find his target so quickly, before he'd even located the Uchiha Clan's settlement.

Yatsuhashi could clearly sense

someone outside the village calling him out.

It was the unique Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan resonating with his own.

"Uchiha Fugaku?"

"No."

Yatsuhashi quickly dismissed the thought.

After all, Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan hadn't caused such a powerful resonance that night.

"Then who could it be?"

Yatsuhashi headed toward his rented room, pondering the question.

Outside the village, Madara Uchiha

could clearly sense his target moving farther and farther away.

This left Madara Uchiha baffled.

Had the other man not sensed his summons?

He increased the strength of his perception once more.

"Damn it," Yatsuhashi cursed.

As the power grew stronger,

the resonance intensified as well.

It even made Yatsuhashi activate his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

If he hadn't kept the restless power in his eyes under control,

Madara would have drawn out his Mangekyō Sharingan, too.

Even so, Yatsuhashi still had no intention of turning back and leaving the village.

"Trying to lure me outside?"

Yatsuhashi snorted.

He didn't stop. Instead, he hurried home even faster.

"Tch. If you've got the guts, come in here yourself!"

He wasn't about to put himself in danger.

Humming a tune that was barely recognizable, Yatsuhashi continued on toward home.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the village,

Uchiha Shisui, who was drinking tea with Uchiha Fugaku, felt the powerful resonance as well.

Even though he wasn't the one being targeted.

"Clan head?!"

Shisui had just started to get up and investigate

when Uchiha Fugaku barked at him, freezing him in place.

"Do you even recognize me as your clan head? I told you to have tea, so sit there and drink your tea like a good boy!"

Shisui looked at Uchiha Fugaku, whose eyes were still wrapped in white bandages.

All he could do was sit back down, helplessly.

Then Shisui lowered his voice and asked, "Could it have something to do with Yatsuhashi?"

Uchiha Fugaku didn't answer.

After a long pause, he said, "Shisui, how many times can you still use Kotoamatsukami?"

But before Shisui could reply,

Uchiha Fugaku's eyes, which had only just regained a little of their sight,

began bleeding heavily once more.

In an instant, blood stained the white bandages wrapped around his eyes.

He nearly fell out of his seat.

"Lord Clan Head!"

Shisui hurried forward to support him,

but Uchiha Fugaku irritably shoved him away. "Enough. Enough."

It was as though he could see, across the reaches of time, that invincible shadow.

"Shisui, you're still too weak. Just keep drinking your tea!"