Gravely Wounded

What's more...

Deep down, Uchiha Tenshu had long since come to regard the other man as his mentor.

And now, his mentor had been so gravely wounded that his life might even be in danger.

How could Uchiha Tenshu possibly swallow his anger?

"Whoever hurt Elder Raimon, I'll never forget this grudge!"

Uchiha Tenshu clenched his fists, silently engraving his hatred in his heart and swearing to uncover the truth.

"All right!"

"Stop acting like a little girl! I'm not dead yet!"

Uchiha Raimon shook his head. Forcing a smile onto his pale face, he said, "This isn't like you. You're usually so composed! Remember, just as you said, the more dangerous the situation, the calmer you have to be."

After Uchiha Raimon finished speaking, his brow furrowed slightly, and fresh beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Damn it, this was the price of forcibly extracting too much Chakra.

His body and mind had both been severely damaged. He probably didn't have many years left.

Uchiha Raimon was in his forties, still in the prime of his life, yet at some point, streaks of gray had quietly appeared in his once thick, jet-black hair. The white strands mingled with the black and weren't very noticeable, but in the sunlight, they stood out painfully.

It shouldn't have been this way.

Uchiha Tenshu's gaze was as sharp as a hawk's. Naturally, he hadn't missed the subtle change in Uchiha Raimon's hair.

However...

He didn't ask about it right away. He simply watched Uchiha Raimon quietly, as if waiting for him to explain of his own accord.

Uchiha Raimon sighed.

"I was careless! Ten days ago, the Millennium Spirit Herb I'd spent seven years searching for was reported to the clan by Uchiha intelligence agents. I intercepted the information before anyone else could!..."

At that, Uchiha Tenshu frowned, instantly suspicious. What a "coincidence"—it was far too contrived.

Uchiha Tenshu spoke up. "Elder Raimon, everyone in the clan knows that you're the only one who needs the Millennium Spirit Herb to save a life. The intelligence agent seemingly didn't report it to you directly, and yet you just happened to intercept the information. That was nothing but an unnecessary, counterproductive move."

Hearing Uchiha Tenshu's metaphor, Uchiha Raimon thought it over and agreed that it was apt. There was indeed something sinister about the whole affair.

Uchiha Raimon continued.

"That's right. Perhaps it's just as you suspect! This was a plot against me!"

"But I was too anxious at the time!"

"As soon as I heard about the Millennium Spirit Herb, I couldn't bring myself to discuss it with anyone. I was afraid someone else would buy it and cut off the trail, so I left a body double behind and secretly went to the Land of Medicine. After all, it was the medicine that could save Yukino's life!"

At that, Uchiha Raimon paused. A trace of helplessness appeared on his face, but there wasn't much regret in his expression.

He only blamed himself for not having prepared more thoroughly.

Uchiha Tenshu had naturally noticed this. In his mind, the image of a frail, white-haired little girl calling his name again and again came to mind, and his heart softened.

He understood the significance of the herb. Elder Raimon's youngest daughter, Yukino, had been born with Kekkei Genkai Disease. Her congenital frailty had made it impossible for her to become a ninja, and as she grew older, the danger that she might die at any moment only increased.

One of the reasons Uchiha Tenshu had worked so hard to study medicine and Medical Ninjutsu was to treat her. The Millennium Spirit Herb could ease her symptoms. Even he would probably have rushed out to find it if he'd heard about it.

The trap had been truly insidious.

Thinking of Yukino's illness, Uchiha Tenshu could only shake his head helplessly. He could only keep it in his heart and swear that whenever he came across a Millennium Spirit Herb in the future, he'd do everything he could to find it, no matter the cost.

"I never imagined the information about the so-called Millennium Spirit Herb was fake. I walked right into an ambush. Three groups attacked me in succession, with fifteen minutes between each. The first group consisted of rogue bounty-hunting ninjas from the Ninja World. They were mostly at the lower and middle levels, but there were a great many of them—around a hundred."

"They were simply trying to drain my Chakra and test my abilities. The second group attacked when I returned to the outskirts of the Land of Fire. There were twelve of them, all elite ninjas at Jonin level. Most of them used Water Release. They may have come from the Land of Water..."

"The Land of Water?"

Uchiha Tenshu was puzzled. The Uchiha Clan had never had any major grievances with the Land of Water.

Even the ninja clans driven out to sea by the wars in the Land of Fire had been gone for decades. In the Ninja World, that was two or three generations. Could they really harbor the kind of grudge that demanded revenge even after three generations?

Besides, given the peace enforced by the current God of Shinobi, if the attackers really were from the Land of Water, ambushing a Konoha ninja—even one surnamed Uchiha—would surely incur the God of Shinobi's wrath.

Weren't they afraid of starting a war?

No matter how Uchiha Tenshu looked at it, he couldn't believe that the ninjas of the Land of Water would have such hatred—or the courage to act on it.

"As for the last group, they attacked me in Feiyu City, within the Land of Fire. That attack... that deadly attack..."

"Its range was enormous, and its nature was neither Fire Style, Wind Style, nor Lightning Style..."

"And yet it gave off light and heat..."

As Uchiha Raimon spoke, he recalled the attack and pondered it, reviewing every piece of intelligence the Uchiha had ever collected and comparing it with the attack methods that had appeared throughout the Ninja World.

For a long time, he said nothing.

Clearly, he hadn't identified who was responsible.

Even the entire history of the Uchiha Clan held no record of a similar attack. Its range had stretched for several kilometers—something no ordinary ninja could manage!

Uchiha Raimon's eyes were filled with wariness and alarm. Clearly, this was no ordinary attack.

Uchiha Tenshu waited calmly, while he too began to piece together the trap's route in his mind.

The Land of Medicine.

A small country near the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers.

The country's economy relied heavily on growing medicinal herbs and selling them abroad, but its military strength was pitifully weak.

It hadn't appeared in the original story.

Perhaps it simply hadn't been mentioned.

Or perhaps it had been wiped out in one of the coming Ninja World wars, its territory swallowed up by another country.

It was one thing for a small country like this to have a large number of rogue ninjas. But for elite ninjas—Jonin, no less—to appear on the border between the Land of Medicine and the Land of Fire...

That was simply too unusual.

No ordinary small country could pull off something like that.

And yet a team of twelve had ambushed Elder Uchiha Raimon, taking a route that bypassed the heart of the Land of Fire to fight him at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Medicine. They'd completely disregarded the possibility of running into Konoha ninjas.

Uchiha Tenshu narrowed his eyes. He couldn't help thinking of those fools in Konoha's F4 and their various schemes to have others do their dirty work. But those idiots hadn't risen to power yet. So the ones behind this were...

Perhaps he'd figured something out.

A murderous glint appeared in Uchiha Tenshu's eyes, and he clenched his fists as wave after wave of killing intent surged through him.

Once again.

Once again.

I almost lost someone important to me again.

Tobirama Senju.

If you really did this...

I'll make you pay in blood.