The Hyuga Clan's Mission

Chapter 38: The Hyuga Clan's Mission

Chapter 38: The Hyuga Clan's Mission

"Madara, what did you say? The Hyuga Clan sent the Uchiha Clan a mission and specifically asked for me?"

Uchiha Jobu found it hard to believe. The Hyuga Clan and the Uchiha Clan had never been on good terms. They could even be called enemies. There was no way either clan would offer the other a mission.

This was not the Shinobi Village Era, when team composition mattered. Each clan completed missions independently. The Uchiha Clan had a formidable reputation across the warring states, the highest mission success rate, and the greatest strength of any shinobi clan.

Plenty of nobles and wealthy merchants hired the Uchiha Clan. Even lesser shinobi clans turned to them for help when they encountered a difficult mission.

But...

Why the Hyuga Clan?

Uchiha Madara nodded. "That's right. Setsuna told me about it earlier. I thought it was unbelievable too."

Uchiha Jobu fell silent for a moment. "What's the mission?"

If he could not work out why the Hyuga Clan had approached the Uchiha Clan, he might as well stop trying.

It was a mission. He would do it.

Uchiha Madara said, "The Hyuga Clan wants you to serve as a taijutsu teacher for the head of their Branch Family for a while."

"Me? Taijutsu? The Hyuga Clan wants to learn taijutsu from an Uchiha? Does that sound possible to you? Everyone across the warring states knows the Hyuga Clan is famous for taijutsu. The reputation of their Gentle Fist has spread from the Land of Fire to every other land."

"That's why I can't understand why the Hyuga Clan offered the Uchiha Clan this mission, much less why they asked for you specifically."

"What does the clan say?"

"Several elders think it could be a trap and don't want you to accept. Even Setsuna, Yagami, and the others think we should openly declare war on the Hyuga Clan and show them the Uchiha Clan isn't easy to push around."

The Hyuga Clan had attacked them a few years earlier. Supplies the Uchiha Clan had commissioned from the Hagoromo Clan had nearly been seized by the Hyuga and Kaguya Clans together.

The Uchiha and Hyuga Clans had already been on bad terms. Sitting down to negotiate was even less likely now. When word came that the Hyuga Clan had offered the Uchiha Clan a mission, everyone in the Uchiha Clan took it for a trap and clamored to teach the Hyuga a lesson.

"I'll accept the mission."

Uchiha Jobu chose to take it after all.

He wanted to learn what the Hyuga Clan was planning, but he also wanted to test them.

Besides...

Uchiha Jobu was confident in his strength. Even without awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, and even if he could not match Uchiha Madara, the gifted son of the Six Paths Family, he could fight a Jonin without losing. He was confident he would not die in a trap.

As far as Uchiha Jobu knew, the only exceptional fighter the Hyuga Clan had during this period was an Elite Jonin named Hyuga Tennin. He was their strongest member and would reach Kage Level.

But Hyuga Tennin was about the same age as Uchiha Madara. There was no way he had already reached Kage Level. At fifteen or sixteen, he was probably a Jonin at most.

What did the Hyuga Clan rely on?

Taijutsu and the Gentle Fist.

With the Byakugan, they could see the chakra pathways throughout an enemy's body and use the Gentle Fist to strike and seal them.

Uchiha Jobu was not afraid. Once he activated his Shikotsumyaku, he could tear through the Hyuga Clan's ranks. He alone could leave them powerless to fight back.

At the Hyuga Clan...

The meeting hall was silent. Every senior member of the Main Family frowned as they considered what the new clan head, Hyuga Tennin, had said.

Hyuga Kuji asked, "Clan Head, you say the time has come for the Hyuga Clan to choose a side. May I ask why? Even if your analysis is right and the warring states grow more chaotic, the Hyuga Clan is strong enough that we need not worry about being affected too badly. If we stand firm and stay out of every war, we can come through unharmed."

"You still don't understand. Think about the recent war between the Uchiha and Senju Clans. Haven't you noticed how many clans have begun choosing sides? The Hagoromo Clan pledged itself to the Uchiha Clan, while the Uzumaki Clan chose to stand with the Senju Clan. Both made their choice."

"On the Uchiha side, there's the Hagoromo Clan, the Fuma Clan, and the wavering Kisha Clan. Add the eyes their current clan head, Uchiha Madara, awakened—the Mangekyō Sharingan—and ask yourself this: once those clans strengthen the Uchiha Clan, will the Uchiha still be content with their little patch of land? Or will they conquer everything around them?"

"The Senju Clan is much the same. Several clans have already agreed to stand beside them, including the Sarutobi Clan. According to our intelligence, the one truly in charge is not their clan head, Senju Hashirama, but the ambitious Tobirama Senju."

"Faced with two powerful clans, which one could the Hyuga Clan resist with the strength we have now?"

At Hyuga Tennin's question, several elders murmured thoughtfully. Then one asked, "Clan Head, even if other shinobi clans join the Uchiha and Senju Clans and make them stronger, as you say, that doesn't prove either will attack the Hyuga Clan. Couldn't we simply choose neither side? Then neither the Uchiha nor the Senju would target us."

Hyuga Tennin gave a cold snort. "Foolish. If the Hyuga Clan gained more power than the Uchiha Clan, would you leave them alone? Remember where we are. In the warring states, the strong survive and the weak are eliminated. We will not come through unharmed just because you wish it."

"If we don't choose a side, the Hyuga Clan will be wiped out."

"This old man understands. Back then, the great clans fought one another, and only the powerful Uchiha and Senju Clans survived. They absorbed the foundations of the other clans and became the two strongest clans in the Land of Fire.

"Now our choice is between survival and destruction."

"Then why choose the Uchiha Clan? Doesn't the Senju Clan have the better reputation?"

"Heh. Reputation is what they show outsiders. Do you know what they're really like? Tobirama Senju is ambitious and ruthless. On the battlefield, he agreed to return the Sharingan to the Uchiha Clan, then tampered with it at the very moment he handed it back. Do you think he's a kind man?"

Everyone was startled. It was true. On the battlefield, Tobirama Senju had shown just how ruthless and devious he could be.