This World Was Broken

The shinobi world was not normal. The root of all its abnormality lay not with the Sage of Six Paths or Kaguya Otsutsuki, but with the system governing the world.

In Suifeng's eyes, it was a system that was extremely unfriendly to shinobi.

Shinobi were a group that wielded extraordinary power, yet they received nowhere near the respect they deserved in this world.

They still had to earn money by taking on all kinds of missions, and the finances of each shinobi village were even subject to the Feudal Lords' control. Everything was completely backward and unreasonable. This unreasonable state of affairs had been caused by the First Hokage—Hashirama Senju.

Fine, I'll come clean. This is a broken world. It's not my fault; it's the world's fault!!

The world was broken. What was I supposed to do about it?

Hashirama Senju had trapped everyone in the world in his Infinite Tsukuyomi, and all Suifeng wanted was to turn everything around.

Why not? He might still be a little kid, but what was a person without ideals if not a salted fish?

A person shouldn't constantly change their ambitions; they should stick to a long-term goal. He was still young, so there was no harm in setting his sights on something far off.

As for whether he could achieve it, he'd take things one step at a time!

That was why he needed the Uchiha Clan.

Just as Hashirama Senju hadn't been able to create the current system on his own, Suifeng couldn't turn the entire shinobi world upside down by himself, either.

He needed support, and of all the support he could get, the Uchiha Clan was his base.

He had to make sure nothing happened to that base. At the very least, once his strength reached Hashirama's level, the clan had to rally around him and follow his will—not abandon him like Madara's clan had.

But now, everyone—including the members of his own base—had been poisoned too deeply by Hashirama's way of thinking. It wouldn't be easy to turn them around. He was only an eight-year-old kid, not an eighteen-year-old young man in his prime. He could only chip away at the views of a few key people, one step at a time. To turn everything around all at once, he'd have to use Kotoamatsukami.

But could he use Kotoamatsukami on a large scale?

So genjutsu could fool people for a while, but not forever. He still had to win them over with facts, little by little. He wasn't in a hurry.

Seeing that Fugaku seemed lost in thought, Suifeng didn't disturb him.

Sometimes, when the truth remained unspoken, everyone stayed in the dark. Once it was laid bare, things got complicated. Suifeng wanted to make things complicated.

War was a grave and brutal matter.

Waiting for war, however, was incredibly boring.

By the sea, darkness shrouded the waters, making them look gloomy and black. Waves boomed in his ears, and the salty sea breeze left Suifeng feeling as though his delicate skin was drying out. At this rate, the Leader would lose his good looks.

This was his third month on the front lines in the Land of Water. For those three months, aside from training, he'd been patrolling the coastline with Fugaku. Nothing much had happened.

Of course, the Land of Water wasn't completely inactive. Every so often, a few Kirigakure squads would sneak onto the shore. Some even came straight through the sea like water ghosts, without a boat. They all became merits for the Uchiha Clan.

Under the Sharingan, many stealth techniques weren't nearly as effective as people imagined. The Mist Ninja who snuck in were mostly low- and mid-ranking shinobi, there to gather information. There were no strong fighters to speak of, and barely any Jonin. They were quickly wiped out. There hadn't been the slightest ripple.

In theory, having no enemies should have been a good thing. But ever since Suifeng had said all those things to Fugaku that day, Suifeng had gone on with his life, carefree as ever, while Fugaku had kept a gloomy look on his face, his thoughts growing heavier.

"Suifeng, what do you think of Konoha?"

As they walked, Uchiha Fugaku suddenly asked him.

"I don't think much of it. It's just a village." Suifeng shook his head. He was sick of the way leaders always talked. Even a simple question had to be so roundabout and vague. Why did Fugaku care what he thought of the village? He could just state his own opinion and see whether Suifeng agreed. What a load of nonsense!

He was still too young!

Suifeng's youthful face did make it easy for people to underestimate him. Of course, that was also his best protection, especially against crafty people like the Great Elder and the elders of the Uchiha Clan.

Yes, he was wary of the old men in the Uchiha Clan, not the Hokage faction in Konoha. Whether intentionally or not, he had already taken a stand against them. Danzo would definitely come after him, no matter how he behaved. So he paid no attention to Konoha's attitude and didn't expect them to take a liking to him. He saved his deceptive side for the Uchiha Clan.

"By the way, the Great Elder asked me to find out how your technique is coming along."

My technique? Which one?

Suifeng wasn't researching many techniques at the moment. The Great Elder knew about three of them. One was his research into the Strength Enhancement Technique, which seemed to be going nowhere on the surface, but had produced spin-offs that made the Great Elder covetous. Another was the Finger Pistol designed specifically to work with Shave Body Flicker. The last was the genjutsu Suifeng had mentioned to him earlier.

The Great Elder was quite enthusiastic about that sort of thing. Half a month after Suifeng arrived at the front, he'd already sent over the materials Suifeng needed: the Kurama Clan's complete collection of genjutsu.

Suifeng didn't know how the Great Elder had gotten his hands on a clan's inherited genjutsu, and he hadn't asked. The Kurama Clan had only a handful of members left. Suifeng could have done it himself with ease, so there was no reason it wouldn't work with the Uchiha Clan taking care of it.

The Kurama Clan's genjutsu specialized in manipulating the five senses, and Suifeng found it more interesting than the Uchiha Clan's genjutsu. The Uchiha Clan's genjutsu relied entirely on the Sharingan. It was too crude, with no technical finesse at all. The Kurama Clan's genjutsu, on the other hand, was full of artistry and creativity!

He'd told the Great Elder that the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique had inspired him to come up with a more profound genjutsu. That was just to placate the Great Elder. In truth, he'd thought of two genjutsu, both related to manipulating the five senses.

The first was simple, crude, direct, and overwhelmingly powerful. He was sure it would suit the Great Elder's tastes. It would be enough to give him something to show for his efforts.

The second was extremely troublesome. He had an idea for it, but after trying a few times, Suifeng had temporarily given up. It was too complicated and intricate, and the technique was far too difficult to use on a shinobi with a strong will. He couldn't do it yet. Even with his Sharingan already at the Three-Tomoe stage, it only worked on civilians and some Genin. It failed against anyone at Chunin level. If this technique was to be useful in the shinobi world, it still needed further research and refinement. It might even have to be an exclusive genjutsu for the Mangekyō Sharingan.

An exclusive genjutsu, not an ability!

That was how Suifeng defined his second genjutsu.

Only someone with the Mangekyō Sharingan could even hope to use this genjutsu, because only the Mangekyō Sharingan's ocular power could meet the technique's requirements.

"I've made some progress on that genjutsu. The principle is actually very simple. It's just a matter of using my Ninja Art: Circle to make those who enter—"

"Enough. We'll talk about it when we get back." After listening for a couple of sentences, Fugaku immediately waved a hand and cut him off.

Even though everyone around them was from the Uchiha Clan, the few Ninja Arts Suifeng had developed—including Circle—had already become secret techniques passed down within the clan. Not every Uchiha was permitted to know about them.

And this new genjutsu needed Circle to work. It sounded even more extraordinary, which made it all the more important to keep it from others.

"Suifeng, you really are a genius. With you around, I believe the Uchiha Clan will rise again."

"Me? Heh. Isn't the Uchiha Clan already the greatest clan in the shinobi world? Why would we need to rise again?"

"Uh..." Uchiha Fugaku was momentarily speechless.