Chapter 7

The north wind swept past, and a dry, cold snowflake landed leisurely on the tip of a nose. The golden-eyed kitten sneezed, waved a paw, and shifted into a new position to doze off.

The squirrel pressed beneath Matatabi's belly shivered, snuggled closer to the warmth, and continued to sleep soundly.

"Lord Matatabi? Are you here?"

"Stupid An'an, it's not here!"

"Zhita, this is an illusion, an illusion! Why do you always fall for it?"

"In any case, I will definitely find Lord Matatabi!" He clenched his fist, his fighting spirit boiling.

A bunch of idiot brats. Matatabi rolled over, exposing its belly to the wind. The clingy squirrel took the opportunity to sprawl out on its stomach.

Babysitting—to think that it, Lord Matatabi, was reduced to babysitting! When would these days of playing hide-and-seek with children ever end?

The image of a certain person's faint smile surfaced in its mind, and Matatabi curled its fluffy tail and shivered. No, no, no, it was better to play hide-and-seek with children... Heaven knew if that bastard was the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths! It protested against such blatant cheating!

"Land of Water, Tokugawa Clan..." Slender, articulated fingers, not at all like those of a ninja, slowly traced over a roster. "They need not exist. Pass the word down: there is no need for our clansmen to do it themselves. Send people to monitor, and be careful not to miss anyone."

Land of Water, Toyota Clan.

"You are all degenerating!"

Toyota Ishi's face was full of murderous intent. "Under the threat of ninjas, you have forgotten the pride of being a samurai clan! You cowards!"

"Why did we change our ancestors' surname and endure humiliation to stay here?! Is it to kneel at the feet of our enemies and lick their scraps? Have you forgotten the surname Oda! Forgotten the teachings of the samurai! Our ancestor Oda Nobunaga defeated enemies ten times his number! He never abandoned his courage and valor between life and death!—What are you doing!"

"Look at your samurai swords; what qualification do you have left to possess them!"

Toyota Ishi's tone was impassioned and filled with grief. "What has these many years of peace brought you, other than the sinful thought of merely surviving? If you continue to slack off so shamelessly, we will one day suffer the same fate as back then! Hatred! Only hatred! Only hatred can inspire strength! Only by washing away the shame of the past can we restore the dignity and glory of the Oda Clan as samurai!"

"The Tokugawa Clan! They are our enemies!"

"There is no betrayal that doesn't require a price! Yet, the Tokugawa Clan lives comfortably after their betrayal. As the descendants of Oda Nobunaga, why do you not seek revenge! What are you doing! What are you afraid of! Speak!"

Those below lowered their heads one after another, too ashamed to speak.

"It's the ninjas! Isn't it!"

"Cowards! Cowards!! All of you are cowards!!!"

"Those lowly tools! How could they ever compare to our samurai way! Do not forget, our enemies are all human! Cannot a blade pierce their blood vessels and stab into their hearts? We will use their blood to pay tribute to the heroic souls of the Oda Clan!"

"If you don't even have the courage to swing your sword, how can you possibly win!"

"Better to die standing than to live on your knees! Who will join me in creating the most tragic history of the Oda Clan?! After this battle, our descendants will restore the Oda surname! Proudly and upright! And you, you will be remembered by future generations!—Who is with me!"

... "My Lord!" "Clan Head!" "We are willing to go!" ... Hot-blooded men were the easiest to incite. The crowd below was stirred to a fever pitch by his words, wishing they could immediately draw their swords and slaughter their way into the Tokugawa estate.

Oda Ishi laughed, both gratified and fanatical. "Good! You are all fine men of the Oda Clan!"

"Prepare your gear! In two days, I will go to my death with you!"

"Yes!"

"Ancestors!" Toyota Ishi knelt before the ancestral hall, his face streaming with tears of excitement. "We are about to use the full strength of our clan to kill our enemies. We will no longer live in shame; we will not hesitate to shatter like jade! We will restore the glory of the Oda samurai!"

Responding to him was a pair of golden, slit pupils flashing with a bewitching light.

Uchiha Madara did not deliberately hide his decision; those within the clan who needed to know already knew. The social customs of this era were relatively simple, and the professional ethics of Uchiha ninjas were quite high. Their acceptance of such a low-handed act by Madara was, as expected, low.

We Uchiha have always operated legally, followed proper procedures, maintained a good reputation, and paid our taxes honestly... Ah, no one dares to collect? That is their dereliction of duty.

In any case, killing a client is something only a rogue ninja would do!

At the clan meeting, clansmen questioned Uchiha Madara's move one after another.

"The Tokugawa Clan has task dealings with us; we shouldn't do this."

"That is precisely why we must borrow a knife to kill." Madara crossed his fingers, resting his chin upon them. His lips curled into a faint, indifferent smile, but his words were cold-blooded to the extreme.

"This—" The Sixth Elder, Uchiha Minyue, hesitated. "But the Tokugawa Clan has no grievances with us..."

"The Tokugawa are extreme leftists in the Land of Water and have always supported the Daimyo of the Land of Water in initiating wars. As an ally, the Land of Lightning does not need war at this time." The implication was that they didn't need the Tokugawa Clan either.

Uchiha Minyue said, "Even so, you don't need to insist on an extermination order."

Uchiha Zaitian, who managed the clan's mission department, felt his eyelid twitch at these words.

Madara glanced at him with a smile and said, "They shouldn't have asked for Matatabi."

Uchiha Zaitian grumbled inwardly: The Tokugawa Clan, in their misfortune, placed a mission with the Uchiha asking for Matatabi, and the Clan Head doesn't want to give it up. According to the newly added clan mission regulation: "If the client dies, the mission is considered void, and the down payment will not be refunded." Anyone who dares to snatch things from our Clan Head deserves to die! As for the extermination... who told you to place the mission in the name of your clan, you idiots!

Uchiha Zhi looked completely disapproving. "This violates the ethics of a ninja."

"If the price of upholding ninja ethics is the extermination of the Uchiha, would you still do it?"

Uchiha Zhi choked; he still had deep feelings for the clan.

"Rules." Madara surveyed the room. "Are things set by the strong for the weak. What is established by convention is called ethics. If it is beneficial, uphold it; if it is not, learn to circumvent it. There are no dead ends in this world. You are ninjas, but more importantly, you are members of the Uchiha."

Silence was the only response to Madara. The Uchiha had been ninjas for generations; many things had become beliefs in their hearts, and they could not be overturned by a few words.

Madara said slowly, "Many of you do not understand the principles I set when I first took office, do you?"

In his first year of power, Uchiha Madara established this principle: The Uchiha Clan protects its own. Unless faced with the disaster of clan extermination, no one may sacrifice the clan's bloodline under any pretext, whether based on politics, economics, war, or other reasons. This rule was not only known internally but also made known to everyone else: This is the rule of the Uchiha, which means it is the rule of the ninja world. It must be executed without dissent; otherwise, be prepared to make an enemy of the entire Uchiha clan.

Outsiders merely took those words as a deterrent from the Uchiha, but those on the inside knew better. Dissenting opinions came flooding in: the creed of a ninja is that the mission comes first!

"Why do we become ninjas? Because of some so-called integrity or principles? Because of the Sage of Six Paths? No, because of power."

His voice lowered, resonating through the quiet council chamber with a unique sense of conviction: "Only with power can one survive in this chaotic world. If the strong are inevitably slaughtered, how can the weak hope to escape death? We gather together, bound by blood, merely to rely on one another for survival. To live without being bullied, to keep our loved ones from dying violent deaths, to ensure the next generation can safely reach adulthood—these are the fundamental reasons why we are a clan, why we are ninjas. If one day being a 'ninja' fails to achieve these goals, the Uchiha will abandon this profession without hesitation!"

The hearts of those present wavered, and Uchiha Tai smiled with satisfaction.

"You must understand that the Uchiha are no different from the Senju, the Daimyo, the nobles, or the commoners; we are all people seeking survival. If you cannot shed your old ways of thinking, your lives are meaningless. The Uchiha will forever remain a tool, a pawn in the hands of others, a vassal to the wealthy. And the final destination of that path can only be abandonment!"

"Being a ninja is merely an advantageous way to survive; it will never be a supreme creed! This point is not to be questioned, not to be changed, and not to be opposed!"

The resounding declaration shook everyone present.

Ninjas are tools, ninjas have low status... these absurd concepts left behind by the Sage of Six Paths—who knows where he died—were a deformed social structure, whether viewed through the lens of the law of the jungle or the development of human society. Yet, they had been accepted for generations. The nobles must be laughing themselves awake.

Uchiha Madara really wanted to ask the ninjas: did you donate all your brain cells to your muscles? Any normal person would know that in a situation where one possesses great power but holds low status, killing the officials and rebelling is the wisest choice. To be so stupid as to kill each other just to earn money to survive, it's truly...

After becoming Uchiha Madara, leading a whole family of invisible chuunibyou and stubborn old and young, openly rebelling to seize power was clearly not a wise idea. What does hegemony require? Military power, economic power, public opinion, and more professionally, cultural infiltration, and finally, a righteous cause. Aside from the righteous cause, which was temporarily unattainable, the rest were not problems. After all, Uchiha Madara was not a man who cared about titles—if he couldn't be the king, being the boss behind the scenes was not bad either.

He wanted a comfortable life, he wanted goals to pursue, he wanted to be able to control the existence he desired, and he wanted to stand above all living beings in any world. His elegance and calmness would never erase his competitive nature.

The Uchiha Madara of the original work was also competitive and ambitious, but the difference between him and that version was that he had long since passed the period of being sharp and exposed. He could see his own mistakes, he could pick things up and put them down, he was sufficiently patient, mature, rational, and composed. He would not be eager for quick success, nor would he allow his unfinished will to be exposed to the world.

If Senju Hashirama possessed the talent and luck of someone who seemed like the author's godson, then the current Uchiha Madara had cheat-like, high-initial character stats.

The victory or defeat of the future had already become blurred and unpredictable.

This was the first time Uchiha Madara had analyzed the situation for his clansmen. In his view, the previous strategic arrangements and development of influence were just groundwork; how could a tool control the world? Now, he was laying out another path before his clansmen, a path different from that of a pure ninja. If they could break free from the mental shackles of the ninja identity after this meeting, that would be the true beginning of the Uchiha's rise.

The crowd slowly straightened their backs, and the gazes they cast toward him held not only trust and reverence but also a newfound firmness.

"As you command!"