Mad Wolf Under the Moon: Hatake (2)

"Have you already prepared to move against the Senju Clan?"

Mingye gave a slight nod, then shook his head. Seeming to be lost in thought, he chose not to explain further and instead shifted the topic. "You only need to enjoy the fruits of victory. Tell the Hatake Clan Head that in three months, my Uchiha Clan will openly absorb your Hatake Clan. I hope you are prepared."

"Then I shall go and manufacture the illusion now!"

Hatake Yūya knew that he would get no more answers from Mingye here, so he turned and left immediately after speaking.

"I must also take my leave."

Facing Hatake Yūya's lack of social grace—turning and walking away the moment he finished speaking—Mingye felt not a hint of anger. A blade should be sharp; a blade without emotion is the strongest blade. The Hatake Clan had proven what kind of existence they were through their actions, and Mingye would grant them the respect they had earned.

Having resolved the issue with the Wind-Thunder Clan, Mingye returned to his clan without a moment's rest. Upon arriving at Madara's bedchamber, he found Madara and Izuna seemingly in the midst of a dispute. He pushed the door open, stepped inside, and asked, "Big Brother, Second Brother, what are you arguing about?"

Madara looked at Izuna with a look of annoyance, then pointed at Mingye and spoke. "Hmph! Izuna, the third one is here too. Ask him how this matter should be handled! I will not use the authority of the Clan Head to pressure you, but we three brothers must be of one mind!"

Izuna, refusing to yield in the slightest, argued his case while locking eyes with Madara, explaining the source of their conflict to Mingye. "Mingye, according to what Big Brother read on the stone tablet, every ninja in our clan actually has a sliver of potential to evolve the Mangekyo Sharingan. However, Big Brother intends to use the clan's ninjas for experiments. Do you think this should be stopped?"

Mingye had long anticipated such a development. The Mangekyo Sharingan was far too tempting; its power was terrifying, and a single user could stand against a thousand ninjas. The phrase "one against a thousand" was perfectly suited for those capable of unleashing the Mangekyo Sharingan. Yet, Mingye also knew the weaknesses of the Mangekyo. He sat silently on a cushion to the side, pondering for a long time before deciding to veto Madara's proposal, for the Uchiha Clan did not yet fully belong to Uchiha Madara.

Mingye had not forgotten the scenes from the manga, where a millennium of hatred would eventually lead to a surrender to the Senju Clan out of a weariness of war—an outcome Mingye absolutely refused to accept. Mocking his own hypocrisy and ruthlessness in his heart, Mingye spoke slowly to the two of them.

"The Mangekyo Sharingan is enough with just Big Brother and Second Brother. I do not believe the clan needs a third voice offering unnecessary suggestions at this time. If Big Brother can unify the world and control order in our generation, why continue to use brute force to dominate? We should rely more on laws and systems. Without rules, nothing can be accomplished. Force can indeed produce miraculous results, but it carries great side effects. Big Brother, if you lack confidence in your own strength, then by all means, begin your experiments!"

Madara was prideful. Mingye knew well that Madara's self-confidence had reached the point of arrogance, and only he and Izuna could voice opposition in front of him. Even Shimizu, their uncle, likely could not offer a dissenting opinion under Madara's gaze. Thus, one could only use reverse psychology on him. Sure enough, stung by Mingye's words, Madara quickly retorted.

"Bullshit! When did I ever say I lacked confidence in myself? Since you disagree as well, consider it unsaid. Let this matter end here! Third one, shouldn't you give us an explanation now regarding the Wind-Thunder Clan?"

Facing Madara's questioning, Mingye knew his little ploy had succeeded, so he began to earnestly explain the situation regarding the Wind-Thunder Clan. "Big Brother, haven't you always wanted to launch an attack on the Kurohabaki, Haguro, and Togakushi clans? We must have a pretext. If we attack those clans without cause, it will inevitably incite resentment, or even lead to them banding together against us. Do not forget, once we become the target of public criticism, the Senju Clan will be pushed to the forefront by those large clans who are unwilling to confront us directly and exhaust their own strength!"

Izuna, hearing Mingye's words, nodded with a serious expression and interjected, "Our situation is indeed as you say. Big Brother, although our clan's power is formidable, looking across the entire Land of Fire, there are ninja clans capable of contending with us for a time—even more than three. The Sarutobi, the Hyuga with their Byakugan, and the Senju of the Forest. If it were a one-on-one contest, we would have nothing to fear, but if they truly united, even if only in appearance, it would deal a heavy blow to our Uchiha Clan!"

Mingye nodded and continued, "Therefore, we need leverage against them. Furthermore, the Wind-Thunder Clan held the Blood Pact Scroll of Ryuchi Cave, which is why I had to kill them. The Blood Pact Scroll must remain in the hands of the inheritor; the Wind-Thunder Clan had already been abandoned by Ryuchi Cave!"

Madara was somewhat astonished. He had not expected that the Wind-Thunder Clan, which had served Ryuchi Cave for over fifty years, would be ruthlessly wiped out by them simply because his brother had become the inheritor. Feeling annoyed by Ryuchi Cave's style of operation, he said to Mingye, "Mingye, if Ryuchi Cave is so heartless...!"

"Survival of the fittest!"

Before Madara could finish, Mingye interrupted him. "Survival of the fittest"—these were four words he had been trying to understand for the past three years, yet he still had not fully grasped them. He did not know how many more people these words would cause him to kill, but he had no choice but to keep moving forward, for there was no path of retreat behind him, and he did not allow himself one. A step forward opened the sky; a step back led to an abyss. Mingye constantly hypnotized himself: all of this was for a better tomorrow. Thinking of this, he stopped the topic of Ryuchi Cave and continued to explain his plan.

"The Wind-Thunder Clan has been completely wiped out by the Hatake Clan. Even if there are remnants outside, they will be hunted to death by the Hatake ninjas. I have already instructed the Hatake Clan to stage the scene at the Wind-Thunder base to look like a joint attack by the three clans. Once some time has passed and we intentionally spread the word, we will have the pretext to attack those three clans!"

Izuna listened, then asked with concern, "Is it not too fake? The Kurohabaki, Haguro, and Togakushi clans have no direct conflict with the Wind-Thunder Clan, and the four clans have never even had any interaction!"

Mingye shook his head, finding Izuna's thinking laughable. In his past life, that so-called "Flower Flag Country" acted exactly like this; right or wrong was determined by them simply because they were powerful enough. The current Uchiha Clan must emulate such statecraft. Of course, since he wasn't particularly skilled in this area, he could only draw a tiger by imitating a cat, sketching out a rough outline.

"Second Brother, you must understand: as long as we insist on our version of the truth and eliminate the three clans with the speed of wind and thunder, whatever we say happened will be the truth!"

Madara was very satisfied with Mingye's words and immediately asked for his strategy. "Good! Excellent. What is right is what we say is right, and even if it is wrong, we can blame others. Mingye, I support you on this. Now, tell me, what should we do next?"

"Big Brother needs to accompany me to Okayama. Since Big Brother already possesses the Mangekyo Sharingan, you should also be proficient in certain genjutsu, right?"

"What are you trying to do?"

"Let our General Sato have a dream that is half-real and half-illusory."

"In this thousand-year era of chaos, we so-called ninjas have become the nominal protagonists on the grand stage, yet we are still looked down upon by the world. Samurai and ninjas—though the former has declined, it does not mean that honor has ceased to exist because of that decline. In the current world, samurai are ranked above ninjas. Even if ninjas possess incredibly powerful ninjutsu as a backing, those people on the highest steps still treat us like hunting dogs! Just as it is written in books: a samurai's life is destined to seek a master, to follow a dragon and achieve a lifetime of glory and fame. But a ninja is merely a hunting dog at the flick of a master's whip, destined only to be cannon fodder, decoys, spies, and blades for assassination. Big Brother, do you think I am right?"

Sitting in a carriage, Mingye spoke eloquently to Madara. Madara was silent for a moment, then nodded and let out a long sigh. Madara's silence was so ironic; clearly, both of them knew this was the reality. Ninjas were always raised to be dogs. A dog with a master was called a hunting dog, while one without was called a stray. Madara had once thought about erasing that so-called power when he became strong enough, but unfortunately, even the extremely arrogant Madara knew he could not achieve such a thing.

Watching Madara fall into silence, Mingye knew that Madara's heart also longed for change, but the human heart was not something he could control. The current Madara was not yet insane enough to harbor the morbid, demonic idea of using the God Tree to farm everyone as nutrients, so no matter how strong he was, he had no way to change the human heart.

"We are always ninjas. No matter how strong we are, even if we possess the power to destroy mountains with a backhand, we are still just a ninja clan. In front of those so-called rulers, we are nothing more than slightly stronger hunting dogs. Has Big Brother never thought about changing all of this?"

As he grew older, Madara encountered more and darker things than in his childhood. With the growth of his strength, his way of looking at things began to change. Knowing Mingye's point was one thing, but admitting it was another. He retorted with disdain.

"Perhaps you are right, but aren't we seeking change? To cover the sky and turn the clouds—I do not believe that when I can achieve such things, the Daimyo will still dare to show that arrogant expression in front of me!"

Mingye shook his head and explained to him once more.

"I think so too. If Big Brother's strength truly reaches the level of breaking all laws with a single force, then we won't need to continue discussing these seemingly serious, but actually quite boring, topics!"

Madara fell silent again. After thinking it over and finding no answer, he asked Mingye in return.