"Huh? Lady Tsunade, I..." Uchiha Yuzhen turned in surprise as she grabbed his arm. The scene before him made him fall silent.
Tsunade's eyes were wide, her pupils trembling slightly.
Her lips quivered.
"What's going on with your chakra? I remember... you're an Uchiha, aren't you?!"
Tsunade felt as if her entire worldview had been shattered.
She had detected a familiar chakra signature in an Uchiha!
The unique chakra signature of the Senju of the Forest...
She couldn't possibly be mistaken!
The reaction from the necklace around her neck, her grandfather's keepsake, couldn't be wrong either!
But that was exactly what made it so hard to believe!
Hearing Tsunade's question, Yuzhen finally realized what was going on.
It was caused by the Bloodline Affix he had.
Still, he couldn't exactly explain it.
Yuzhen's expression darkened. "Lady Tsunade, there's nothing wrong with my chakra. It works just fine."
Hearing Yuzhen's reply, Tsunade came back to her senses.
She asked urgently, "Are both your parents Uchiha?"
The Uchiha Clan had one unusual trait.
They didn't care about keeping their bloodline pure!
If an Uchiha married out of the clan and had a child who awakened the Sharingan, that child would be given the Uchiha name, and the whole family would become Uchiha.
The reverse was even easier to understand.
The custom in this land was that a woman took her husband's family name when she married.
She wanted to know which of the boy's parents...
Could one of them have been a Senju of the Forest?
"Huh?" Yuzhen was just as confused by Tsunade's question. "My parents died when I was young. I don't remember much about them."
As soon as he said that, he noticed Tsunade's expression change.
Yuzhen continued, pretending not to know why.
"Also... why are you asking, Lady Tsunade?"
Tsunade felt a headache coming on at his question.
That was right...
She had looked into the boy's past over the past few days.
His parents had died young. He had enrolled in the Ninja Academy, graduated, and joined an ordinary squad.
After the other members of the squad had died, he had joined Team Minato with Kakashi.
And then...
His strength had grown by leaps and bounds!
His speed at mastering techniques was extraordinary.
He also had terrifying talent in battle.
He had even held his own against Sasori of the Red Sands... that hateful old woman from Sunagakure's grandson.
But none of that changed the fact that...
Half a year ago, he had still been a low-ranking shinobi.
An Uchiha...
Even after awakening the Sharingan, no one could possibly improve at such an astonishing rate.
And then there was the remarkable amount of chakra he had...
That wasn't the amount an Uchiha should have!
Only the Senju and Uzumaki had chakra reserves like that!
But she couldn't just ask him so bluntly.
She could slowly investigate these questions while the boy was on the battlefield!
After sorting through her thoughts, Tsunade let out a soft breath.
"Phew... It's nothing. Something just crossed my mind. Don't worry about it!"
"Let's get back to treating the fish!"
Yuzhen replied without letting anything show.
"Yes, Lady Tsunade."
He didn't want to cause trouble at a time like this, either.
He immediately lowered his head and resumed treating the fish.
But Tsunade no longer cared about the results of the test.
She casually told Yuzhen that he had passed, then took out a pile of books, packed them into a Space Scroll, and handed them to him.
After telling him to carry out his mission properly, she hurried out of Konoha Hospital.
Uchiha Yuzhen watched Tsunade hurry away.
He knew she had misunderstood something.
He couldn't help giving a bemused shake of his head.
"She asked about my parents? I guess she wants to investigate whether there's any Senju blood in my ancestry."
"But this comes from the system's divine power. What could she possibly find? It'd be a miracle if she did!"
After a brief reflection, Yuzhen got busy and packed away the books and scroll.
Then he set off for the Ninja Tool Shop.
He needed to prepare supplies for his mission.
"Military Ration Pills, Kunai, Shuriken, specialized wire, Explosive Tags... Good. Everything's in order."
After confirming that all his supplies were in perfect condition, Uchiha Yuzhen got up.
He strode outside.
Bam!
He shut the door and headed for the Military Police Force.
He had received notice of this mission two days ago, when he was at Konoha Hospital.
This time, he would be going with the main Uchiha force.
They were heading to the coastline of the Land of Fire.
Their task was to keep the restless Kirigakure in check.
Uchiha Yuzhen had immediately sensed something was off.
Konoha...
Or rather, the customs of the Ninja World.
Every group valued political identity.
In Konoha, his political identity was...
First, he was Namikaze Minato's student.
Only after that was he a member of the Uchiha Clan.
The Uchiha Clan accepted this.
After all, there was the precedent of Kagami Uchiha.
More importantly...
This was the era of the hidden villages, not the Warring States period.
Shinobi now had a true lord.
The Kage—
was the lord of the shinobi!
The lord always outranked the clan. That was a universal truth!
It was true of nobles, samurai, and even more so of lowly shinobi!
So here was the strange part.
Why was someone like him, a member of the Hokage Lineage through and through, being separated from Team Minato and sent straight into an Uchiha operation for this mission?
A Jonin Squad could only be disbanded if it had been broken apart in battle.
Otherwise, the only condition was for every member of the squad to be promoted to Chunin.
So who was behind this?
He was certain someone was trying to stir up trouble!
Yuzhen didn't care.
With the Mangekyō Sharingan at his disposal and an invincible Dojutsu bolstering him...
No matter what schemes he faced, he would deal with them as they came!
As he pondered, Yuzhen arrived at the Military Police Force.
Most of the Uchiha had already gathered in the Military Police Force's courtyard.
"Yuzhen-kun, come over here." Fugaku spotted Yuzhen from the platform and called him over.
"Yes, Lord Fugaku!" Yuzhen answered readily.
Among the Uchiha, there was no room for false modesty.
He went over to Fugaku and stood properly beside him.
The Uchiha below who weren't on Fugaku's side didn't jump in to make trouble, either.
As one of the most prominent clans in the Ninja World for a thousand years, the Uchiha might not have much political sense...
But they had no shortage of military sense.
Whatever their internal differences, they had to give way to the war for now!
Besides, they didn't dislike Uchiha Yuzhen.
The Uchiha Clan was deeply Obsession with the Hokage's seat.
When it came to an Uchiha with a chance...
of becoming Hokage,
who would dislike him?
After Fugaku delivered a speech that Yuzhen found extremely boring, the Uchiha force set off.
They headed for the coastline of the Land of Fire!
In a gloomy cave,
Zetsu slowly emerged from the ground.
"The boy should be setting out by now, right?" Uchiha Madara asked Zetsu with interest.
"Judging by the time, it should be about now..."
Before you continue