Hundred Clans Melee

"If you married me, things would be different. With the Hyuga Clan backing you, even if you were useless yourself, you could still hold a position of considerable importance in the Uzumaki Clan."

Shusen did not deny it. "You're right, but I don't have any grand ambitions. I just want to find someone I like someday. Whether we're poor or rich, as long as the two of us can live out our lives peacefully together, that'll be enough."

"What's the point of that?" Hyuga Rika curled her lip. "If you live a life, it should be earth-shattering and magnificent. Only then does it have value."

"Everyone thinks differently."

"Tch~"

Hyuga Rika looked at him disdainfully, then reconsidered and said, "But hearing you say that does make me feel much better."

"Uzumaki Shusen, you're only a little handsome. Take that away, and you're just an insignificant nobody with no ambition."

"I was always an insignificant nobody," Shusen admitted openly.

"So you really aren't worthy of me. I could crush you with one finger."

"...Whatever makes you happy."

Shusen was getting a little fed up with her. He decided that someday, he would definitely beat this girl up while disguised as Black Zetsu.

"I'm quite happy. I want to hear you say again that you aren't worthy of me." Hyuga Rika giggled.

"I'm not worthy... mmph!"

Shusen's eyes suddenly widened.

At some point, Hyuga Rika had moved close and pressed her lips to his. From such close range, he could even see the fine fuzz on her face, while a fruity fragrance filled the space between their lips.

A moment later, their lips parted.

Hyuga Rika patted her backside and stood, her face brimming with pride like a haughty white swan.

"I, Hyuga Rika, dare to love and dare to hate. Uzumaki Shusen, it's not that you refuse to marry me—it's that you aren't worthy of me!" The girl raised her head and puffed out her chest as she proclaimed it beneath the sunlight.

Shusen stared at her blankly in disbelief.

I was violated?

I'm no longer pure??

"Nobody, I'm going back to the clan to do something earth-shattering. If we meet on the battlefield in the future, I won't kill you."

After leaving those final words behind, Hyuga Rika leaped onto another treetop and disappeared from sight after several bounds, her figure light and nimble.

Shusen touched his lips, as though he could still feel the warmth she had left behind.

"Girls in the Warring States era are kind of interesting," he realized belatedly.

He actually could have resisted just now, but he had not. It definitely was not because he did not dislike that feeling. He had merely been worried about exposing his strength. Yes, that was it.

"Fine, I won't lower myself to your level either. I won't beat you up in disguise later."

Shusen thought to himself, abandoning his previous decision.

On the fourth day after the Hyuga Clan arrived at Whirlpool Village, they left with the sealing techniques they wanted.

Shusen felt deeply helpless about this. From now on, he could forget about digging out Byakugan on the battlefield. The 132 Byakugan in his laboratory had become nonrenewable resources; every one he used meant one less remaining.

"If I fuse all these hundred-plus Byakugan and still can't produce a Tenseigan, then I'm screwed. All my efforts from so long ago will have gone to waste."

Shusen often muttered and sighed to himself in the laboratory.

Did he have to wait until Ōtsutsuki Toneri was born and dig out his eyes before he could obtain a Tenseigan?

But by then, he would have already died of old age and turned into a pile of yellow sand.

"I'll take it one step at a time."

Shusen was fortunate that he had not failed completely. The hundred-plus Byakugan in storage were his last chance.

With his hopes of acquiring Byakugan gone, he naturally shifted his target to the Sharingan. The Rinnegan was equally important.

He sent out a Shadow Clone to lurk near the Uchiha territory. The moment the Uchiha showed any signs of war, he would know immediately.

However, the Uchiha had been exceptionally well-behaved lately. Since their battle with the Hyuga half a month ago, they had not gone to war with any ninja clan. The reason for that was still the Uzumaki Clan's doing.

The Uchiha and Senju Clan were mortal enemies. The Kaguya Clan and Uzumaki Clan were mortal enemies, while the Uzumaki and Senju Clans were allies. Following the principle that the enemy of one's enemy was a friend, the Uchiha had allied with the Kaguya Clan long ago. The four clans often fought one another in heated battles to the death.

Recently, the Uzumaki Clan had built a village and broadly taken in civilians. Both the Uchiha and Kaguya Clans believed the Uzumaki would be unable to maintain control and would sooner or later be dragged down by the civilians. Thus, both clans had been conserving their strength, waiting for the day the Uzumaki collapsed so they could swarm in, divide the spoils, and then besiege the Senju Clan.

"They've got quite the plan. Unfortunately, even if you wait ten or twenty years, Whirlpool Village won't collapse."

How could Shusen fail to understand the two clans' intentions? He thought they were foolish and naive. They had all been kept in the dark. From the day they received the daimyo's aid, the rise of the Uzumaki Clan had already become inevitable.

With the Uchiha and Kaguya Clans conserving their strength, the Senju Clan naturally had no wars to fight either. They could only stay in their territory and focus on construction and development. Shusen wanted badly to get some of Hashirama's cells for experiments, but he had no way to do so.

Time passed, and another half month went by in the blink of an eye.

Many things happened during that half month. Whirlpool Village's population stabilized at thirty thousand, and the village's initial framework had already been built.

What excited Shusen most was that his Sharingan fusion experiment had finally achieved a major breakthrough.

After fusing dozens of Sharingan, that three-tomoe Sharingan's ocular power had increased tremendously. The three tomoe had also curved and grown larger, faintly showing signs of connecting together.

Shusen knew very well that once the three tomoe connected, it would evolve into a Mangekyō Sharingan. He eagerly anticipated that day.

Even though the Uzumaki, Senju, Uchiha, and Kaguya Clans were recuperating, the situation in Fire Country remained chaotic and turbulent. Shusen had placed Shadow Clones throughout the outside world as scouts, giving him a general understanding of the situation.

The main conflict on the battlefield now was between the Sarutobi Clan and Kurama Clan. The two clans were sworn enemies, and their foundations did not pale in comparison to the Uzumaki and Senju Clans. They were both first-rate great clans.

Sarutobi Sasuke, the young clan head of the Sarutobi Clan, displayed astonishing talent for war. He drew in smaller clans such as the Akimichi Clan, Yamanaka Clan, and Nara Clan as allies, which in turn brought out the Shimura Clan. The Shimura Clan had a longstanding feud with the Nara Clan, so they called on their ally, the Aburame Clan, and joined the Kurama Clan. Along the way, they encountered the Inuzuka Clan and mistakenly assumed the Inuzuka were part of the Pig-Deer-Butterfly Formation. They beat up the Inuzuka Clan, who had been caught in the crossfire for no reason and could not accept it. They then dragged their allies—the Namikaze, Hatake, and Gekkō Clans—into the battlefield...

The situation on the battlefield changed by the moment. One small move affected the whole board, and thus a new round of the great melee among a hundred clans began with tremendous fanfare.

Shusen was grateful that he had pushed forward Whirlpool Village's construction plans in advance. Otherwise, the Uzumaki Clan would surely have been drawn into the turmoil of war as well, and he would not have had so much time to conduct experiments as he did now.

Half a month later, Shusen received a summons from his father and returned home.

"Mito, Zhouxuan, the two of you should get ready. Tomorrow, you'll accompany me to the imperial capital of Fire Country," Ryū instructed.

"What are we going to the imperial capital of Fire Country for?"

Shusen felt uneasy. Had the matter of the daimyo's financial and grain aid been exposed?