"What did you say? The target of the mission got away? Is this what the Tsuchigumo Clan promised me?"
In the Hokage's office.
Tobirama Senju, who was handling Konoha's affairs, stopped writing on a mission document.
Tobirama Senju paused, his expression cold. He narrowed his eyes, and his crimson pupils bore into the man standing before him.
The man wore a conical hat and a long blue robe, with the Tsuchigumo Clan's spider crest embroidered on the back.
He was the Tsuchigumo Clan's First Elder.
Tsuchigumo Seishu.
"Lord Tobirama, we completed the task you gave us. As for Uchiha Raimon escaping our attack, that was a problem with your intelligence. You must have missed some crucial information. It has nothing to do with the Tsuchigumo Clan," Qingzhu said bluntly, unbothered by Tobirama's icy stare.
After all, although Tobirama was a renowned shinobi from the end of the Warring States period, with strength on the level of a peak clan leader, Qingzhu was no pushover himself. He was also at the clan-leader level, and he had forbidden techniques at his disposal.
If Tobirama really wanted to attack him,
he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice himself for his clan.
As a secluded clan, the Tsuchigumo had never wanted to come out of hiding. That is, until that bastard Hashirama Senju established the shinobi villages, uniting the shinobi clans across the nations and allowing the villages to oppress every clan that refused to join.
For centuries, thanks to their ultimate forbidden technique, the Tsuchigumo Clan had monopolized a small territory and lived like a Daimyo, enjoying a life of plenty. They didn't need to take on missions, as the resources produced on their land were enough to sustain them. All they had to do was keep studying their forbidden technique. If an enemy appeared, they could wipe out the entire opposing clan with a single use of it.
The cycle continued, time and again.
This sent a clear message to the outside world: the Tsuchigumo Clan was not to be trifled with. That allowed them to live in peace, and over the centuries, the clan had grown into a major force with tens of thousands of people. Not all of them were shinobi, but with numbers like theirs, they had no need to ally with other clans. To the outside world, they appeared as a Daimyo's clan.
They never had to take part in shinobi wars.
Unfortunately,
the winds in the Ninja World had shifted in recent years.
The God of Shinobi and the Asura of the Ninja World had appeared.
The Tsuchigumo Clan leader had once watched their battle from afar and realized he was no match for either of them. The clan possessed a powerful ultimate forbidden technique, but it could only be unleashed by sacrificing a clan member, and it required a long time to charge. On top of that, shinobi combat could suppress its use. Sometimes, there wasn't even time to perform the technique.
Under these circumstances,
the Tsuchigumo Clan leader, living in the Land of Fire and watching so many clans gather in Konoha Shinobi Village, had no choice but to change course. He hoped to form an alliance with Konoha. As for why they didn't join Konoha Shinobi Village—
there was an obvious reason.
Compared with their independent life as a Daimyo, ruling their own territory, joining Konoha and becoming the Daimyo's lackeys, risking their lives on missions for a pittance, was beneath the Tsuchigumo Clan.
Even the proposed alliance was only meant to build goodwill with the Senju Clan and keep them from becoming enemies.
As for Konoha,
it meant nothing to the Tsuchigumo Clan.
With their forbidden technique, Dohatsu-ten, the supposed advantage of numbers was nothing but a joke.
Sacrifice just one clan member, and they could unleash a devastating energy wave that reached from several kilometers to dozens of kilometers away.
What good would any number of shinobi in Konoha do against that?
The only ones the Tsuchigumo feared were the God of Shinobi and the Asura of the Ninja World. Of course, the Asura of the Ninja World was dead now, leaving only the God of Shinobi. The latter was said to be kind and benevolent, but the Tsuchigumo Clan couldn't stake their lives on his mercy.
So they still needed to make peace with him.
Though the Tsuchigumo Clan would have loved for Hashirama Senju to drop dead on the spot, they had to bury their hatred for the sake of the clan's future and begin negotiations for an alliance.
But Hashirama Senju was nowhere to be found in Konoha. Only Tobirama Senju was left to oversee the village's affairs.
So the Tsuchigumo Clan had opened communications with Tobirama, the Senju Clan's leader. But he didn't care about the Tsuchigumo Clan's reputation. He insisted they either join Konoha Shinobi Village and become part of it or be driven out of the Land of Fire. No clan could remain independent of Konoha within the Land of Fire. If the Tsuchigumo Clan refused both options, he even threatened to make them submit to the Senju Clan.
That immediately enraged the Tsuchigumo Clan's First Elder, Qingzhu. He had no choice but to take a hard line, hinting that if things came to that, war would inevitably follow. The Tsuchigumo Clan had never feared war, and he even let slip that his clan possessed a large-scale forbidden technique. If things couldn't be resolved, Konoha Shinobi Village would be destroyed along with them.
Tobirama Senju wasn't a fool. He had meant to test them, but he hadn't expected to draw out anything real.
"But if they really have a large-scale forbidden technique, then they could well be responsible for the clans that vanished throughout history. Those clans had indeed been embroiled in major feuds with the Tsuchigumo Clan. And as a clan that functions like a Daimyo's house, they have no major interests tied to Konoha's mission system..."
"They are both shinobi and part of the Daimyo class. If we really became enemies, then..."
With that in mind,
Tobirama Senju had to weigh the situation carefully and avoid risking Konoha's destruction in case they really did possess such a terrifying forbidden technique.
For a moment, Tobirama Senju was in a bind. With the entire village at stake, he couldn't afford to gamble on what the clan was capable of.
Even if his elder brother was the strongest man in the world,
the problem was that even if they defeated the Tsuchigumo,
their forbidden technique could still wipe out Konoha!
No matter how he looked at it, he'd be the one to lose.
Besides, the Tsuchigumo already wanted an alliance with Konoha Shinobi Village. If they really had a powerful forbidden technique, then taking this approach would only push them into the enemy camp. Wouldn't that be asking for trouble?
But soon,
Tobirama Senju came up with a good plan. Over the past two years, he had secretly maneuvered the various clans into selling off their estates in the Land of Fire. In secret, members of the Senju Clan who had been dispersed after his elder brother disbanded the clan had taken them over. This would allow the Senju Clan to conceal some of its strength while giving its scattered members a reliable means of survival. The clan could also buy back the cheap grain at a high price, storing it as provisions for any coming war.
Furthermore, when Konoha was founded, weapons manufacturing among the clans had been left barely functioning. It could still supply everyday needs, but no longer support the stockpiling required for war. The clans could no longer threaten Konoha as a whole, and with no grain reserves, they had already been halfway absorbed into the village. With a few more moves, Tobirama could control most of Konoha's clans.
But some clans had slipped through the net.
The Uchiha Clan!
Tobirama Senju thought bitterly of the Uchiha, his old enemies. Somehow, by a stroke of luck, their Seventh Elder, Uchiha Raimon, had foiled his scheme by using grain reserves and alcohol. The Uchiha Clan had ended up with a large number of estates outside Konoha, preventing the clan from ever fully integrating into the village.
That could not be allowed.
As long as Raimon was alive,
this old holdover from the end of the Warring States period would keep obstructing the Uchiha's integration into the village.
Let alone being tamed into Konoha's guard dogs.
Unfortunately, no matter how much Tobirama wanted him dead, the village's rules and his elder brother Hashirama Senju stood in the way.
Tobirama Senju couldn't make a move.
Now, however, the opportunity had come.
If the Tsuchigumo Clan really was as powerful as they claimed, Tobirama could lure Uchiha Raimon out and have them deal with him. If they succeeded, they would have made an enemy of the Uchiha Clan and would have no choice but to rely on the Senju Clan.
If they failed, it would prove the Tsuchigumo were no match for them.
Either way, Tobirama had nothing to lose.
Thinking of the inherently evil Uchiha Raimon dying soon, Tobirama Senju no longer cared that the Tsuchigumo Clan demanded independence from Konoha.
After all, any clan that was an enemy of the Uchiha Clan was a friend of the Senju Clan.
And so,
after a round of probing each other,
the two sides reached an agreement.
Tobirama Senju assigned the ambush of Uchiha Raimon to the Tsuchigumo Clan, who would carry it out themselves.
If the mission succeeded, Konoha would form a de facto alliance with the Tsuchigumo Clan and announce it to the Land of Fire.
The Tsuchigumo Clan would also retain the right to govern its own lands and wouldn't have to join Konoha Shinobi Village.
Since it was a secret mission,
as long as the Tsuchigumo Clan didn't expose themselves,
there would be no problems.
That way, Konoha Shinobi Village wouldn't have any grounds to take action against the Tsuchigumo Clan.
Tsuchigumo Seishu hesitated for a moment, but agreed.
The Uchiha were as renowned as the Senju, but the Asura of the Ninja World was dead while the Senju Clan's God of Shinobi was still alive. If he had to choose which clan to offend, he would rather offend the Uchiha.
If he didn't want to offend the Uchiha Clan either,
then the Senju Clan might join forces with the Uchiha to attack the Tsuchigumo Clan.
The two clans might claim to be bitter enemies,
but Qingzhu couldn't put his full trust in that.
After all, they had both joined the same village.
If the Senju Clan stirred things up, every clan in Konoha, large and small, might become an enemy of the Tsuchigumo.
The Tsuchigumo had no other choice.
For the clan's survival,
they had to make some concessions.
Of course, to keep Tobirama Senju from manipulating them completely and forcing them into a death match with the Uchiha, the Tsuchigumo Clan also invited him to send his own subordinates to take part in the mission. That way, Tobirama couldn't deliberately tip off the Uchiha Clan halfway through and set them up.
That way,
if he really dared to do it,
they would face the Uchiha Clan's retaliation together.
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