Home and Reflections

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Home and Reflections

"Dead? So the Chinoike Clan will be imprisoned, and we Uchiha have been given the job?"

"That's right. It's a long-term assignment with a generous fee. There's no reason to turn it down."

"Don't worry too much about the clan. Before we accepted the assignment, we hired ninjas from the Fuma Clan. Even if the Senju Clan attacks, they won't succeed."

"All right, let's get home. Even if we don't fear the Senju Clan, I won't feel at ease leaving the clan without us there."

The Land of Lightning's daimyō was dead after all. Chinoike Qian Hong had controlled him with a genjutsu and made him kill himself. That meant the mission was over.

The Uchiha received their payment: a full two hundred million.

They also gained an ongoing assignment: guarding the surviving Chinoike Clan ninjas.

As they were about to leave, Uchiha Jobu saw Shinteng Zoi. The man who should have been dressed as a noble now wore ceremonial robes reserved for a daimyō. He had become the Land of Lightning's new ruler.

Of course, whoever became daimyō had nothing to do with the Uchiha. Pay them to do a job, and Uchiha ninjas would serve you. Otherwise, there was no reason to chat.

The journey was uneventful, and they returned to the clan without trouble.

Uchiha Jobu found Izuna Uchiha and asked, "You want to use the Ketsuryūgan to try to repair your damaged Sharingan?"

The Sharingan Tobirama Senju had returned had been tampered with. A fine scratch ran across each eye, like a slit cut into a bag full of water. The ocular power within had drained away, making the eyes unusable even after Izuna got them back.

But while fighting Chinoike Clan ninjas in the Land of Lightning, Izuna Uchiha had begun to see possibilities in the Ketsuryūgan. It had similarities to the Sharingan: both were red ocular Kekkei Genkai, and both could use ocular power to cast genjutsu.

"I want to try."

Izuna Uchiha wanted to transfer the ocular power of the Chinoike Clan's Ketsuryūgan into Uchiha Sharingan.

He did not want to take eyes offered by other clan members. Repairing his damaged Sharingan would require a great deal of ocular power, but he could not bring himself to sacrifice his own people. That left the Chinoike Clan ninjas.

Both were ocular Kekkei Genkai, so they had to have something in common. If he found a way to transfer ocular power, he could not only repair his own Sharingan but also strengthen the Uchiha Clan as a whole.

"True. They're both ocular Kekkei Genkai. There must be some common ground."

"That's what I think. If we find a way to transfer ocular power, it will be a tremendous boon to the Uchiha."

"If it works, we may need to treat the Chinoike Clan differently. We shouldn't just imprison them as the Land of Lightning's daimyō requested. We should keep them as a source of ocular power."

"We'll need my elder brother to decide that."

"I'll speak to Madara Uchiha. You focus on finding out whether the Ketsuryūgan's ocular power can actually be transferred."

"All right."

Uchiha Jobu felt Izuna Uchiha was becoming more and more like Shimura Danzō. Had losing an eye somehow saddled him with the role of Konoha's shadow?

To be honest, Izuna Uchiha used to be lively and cheerful, and he treated his clan members well.

Now he was quiet, like a ninja from the organization Konoha would later call Root. He seemed to have lost both his feelings and his light.

Jobu hoped Izuna would find a way to transfer ocular power. Once his Sharingan was repaired, perhaps the feelings he had cast aside would return.

At least, that was what Uchiha Jobu hoped.

When he returned to his house, he found a table full of food and his maid waiting quietly beside it.

Ying said respectfully, "Lord Jobu, you're back. I've kept the food warm, so you can eat right away."

Jobu had handed the organization resembling Anbu and Root over to Izuna Uchiha, leaving himself with little authority. But his maid seemed quite talented. She did well both as a ninja and at helping train and manage the subordinates selected from among the refugees.

Should I give Ying more to do? Uchiha Jobu wondered.

Ever since returning from the Land of Lightning, Uchiha Jobu had been thinking about how to establish the first Ninja Village in the Ninja World, with the Uchiha at its core.

Throughout this age of warring states, the Uchiha Clan ranked among the strongest ninja clans. Its strength surpassed that of ninety percent of the Ninja World's ninja families, and it possessed the Sharingan, an ocular Kekkei Genkai feared across the Ninja World for centuries.

That was why many nobles were willing to hire Uchiha ninjas. They considered them worth the price.

But among other ninja clans, whether in the Land of Fire or elsewhere, the Uchiha Clan had a terrible reputation. Its domineering, high-handed ways left few clans willing to associate with it.

In reputation, the Uchiha had lost completely to the Senju Clan.

Did the Uchiha Clan need to improve its reputation? No. Not at all.

This was an utterly brutal age of warring states. What good was a fine reputation? It might earn praise from other ninja clans, but it would do nothing to help the clan grow.

Uchiha Jobu sat down to eat and considered his options. Should he use overwhelming force to make weaker ninja clans join the Uchiha? Or should he take a page from the heroes of Liangshan—pressure them first, then lend them a hand, and finally win their loyalty?

Whichever approach he chose, he would need people to carry it out.

Uchiha Jobu could not do everything himself. He needed to improve his own strength. Having a cheat did not mean he could sit back and coast to victory. Opening treasure chests would not make him invincible, and he was no reborn emperor.

Without enough strength, every plan was useless.

Only with overwhelming power could he realize all his ideas. Then, even if the Uchiha Clan remained unpopular and no ninja clan wanted to join it, he could bring them to heel by force.

At that thought, a glint flashed in Uchiha Jobu's eyes. The Chimera Technique...

After the Shinobi Village Era began, during the Third Shinobi World War, a ninja considered a failure in Konoha would develop a secret technique that could absorb different Kekkei Genkai. It was called the Chimera Technique.

Improving his own strength was best, of course. But if his subordinates grew stronger too, many things would become easier.

Take the few subordinates trained by Konoha's snake-loving genius. They were strong enough to face Konoha, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. If they had not run into the twelve youngsters with their own cheats, Konoha's second-rate Special Jonin would have been no match for the Sound Five.