In Konoha, tensions between the two great ninja clans were running high. If Hashirama had not intervened, they probably would have come to blows.
"You damned Uchiha Clan! Aren't you supposed to be a clan of honor? Don't you care about keeping your bloodline pure anymore? You actually tricked one of our Hyuga into leaving with you! Are you admitting that our Byakugan is the greatest kekkei genkai?" Hyuga Lingnai's father shouted. He had originally intended for her to inherit his branch of the family.
Not a single Uchiha could stomach that. They were already immensely proud, and Madara was still alive, not yet a figure of legend, so they shouted right back.
"Heh, I think the Hyuga wanted the Uchiha's kekkei genkai and deliberately planted a woman to get it. That Uchiha Mu is a fucking idiot, too. He actually let a Hyuga woman seduce him."
"Why would we want a bunch of lunatics' kekkei genkai?" the Hyuga Clan retorted.
"As if we'd care about the Byakugan!" the Uchiha Clan shot back heatedly.
The Uchiha looked down on Uchiha Mu. In this era, everyone valued the purity of their bloodlines and rarely married outside their clans. The Hyuga had never done so even once.
"Heh, don't you Hyuga have the Caged Bird Seal? Go on, activate it remotely." The Uchiha began goading the branch family.
The branch family members' expressions darkened. By this point, the Caged Bird Seal had long since lost its original purpose and become a means for the Main Family to control them.
The Main Family members looked just as grim, because the Hyuga who had run away was a young lady of the Main Family. They could not even use the Caged Bird Seal to kill her remotely.
"Ever since Madara Uchiha left, you can't even keep a single Uchiha in line. Heh." The Hyuga made no effort to hide their mockery.
The Uchiha instantly boiled over. How dare they rub salt in that wound? Enough was enough. They activated their Sharingan one after another, while the Hyuga likewise activated their Byakugan, veins bulging around their eyes.
"Stop." Hashirama Senju had arrived. His voice held none of its usual gentleness, only sternness.
The Uchiha and Hyuga immediately settled down. Hashirama Senju then said, "Tell me what happened, from the beginning."
Tobirama Senju stood silently to one side, taking the note Uchiha Mu had left and reading it. As for Hyuga Lingnai, both the Hyuga and Uchiha knew that she liked Uchiha Mu.
Even before the village was founded, she had dared to use trips outside as opportunities to meet him. After its founding, she had tried every possible way to see him. Anyone who still could not tell might as well find a block of tofu and bash their head against it.
[I've left. This isn't where I belong.-Uchiha Mu]
He had not written anything else. In truth, the Uchiha had initially paid little attention to Uchiha Mu's departure. To them, he was merely a clan member with a three-tomoe Sharingan, and this was an era still shaped by the Warring States period.
The Uchiha had plenty of members with three-tomoe Sharingan. Losing one hardly mattered. The problem was that this bastard had taken a Hyuga with him, forcing them to trade insults with the Hyuga.
"The Uchiha have no useful information. What about the Hyuga?"
The Hyuga clan members all shook their heads. The three branch family members who had accompanied Hyuga Lingnai explained what had happened: she had spotted Uchiha Mu and told them to wait off to the side.
Since this had happened quite a few times before, they knew the routine well. They simply had not expected her to run away outright.
"Hyuga Lingnai may have acted on a whim, but Uchiha Mu definitely planned this long ago. And he intends to take a different path from Madara," Tobirama Senju said decisively.
"Huh?" The Uchiha looked at one another. They had seen no sign of that at all.
"The Land of Fire sent us a mission. Some of their money has gone missing. While the losses weren't crippling, every noble lost money, and none of them could explain why." Tobirama Senju explained the mission the Land of Fire had issued a few days earlier.
"Genjutsu." The Uchiha understood at once. They were masters of genjutsu themselves, after all. Otherwise, they would never have earned their reputation: if you faced one alone, run.
"We can be fairly certain that once we find Uchiha Mu, the mission will essentially be complete."
"Lord Hokage, leave this mission to us Uchiha," the Uchiha volunteered.
"No, leave it to us Hyuga. Finding people is our specialty."
"Heh, not to be rude, but can you Hyuga even beat an Uchiha?" an Uchiha sneered openly.
"This mission will go to both your clans." Tobirama Senju began assigning the mission. Although his prejudice against the Uchiha had not faded, his elder brother was here. With Madara Uchiha gone, this was an opportunity to help the Uchiha integrate properly into the village.
Hashirama Senju nodded, thoroughly approving of Tobirama Senju's arrangement. At his gesture, neither the Hyuga nor the Uchiha said anything more. They simply considered whom to send to capture the pair.
The Hyuga Clan had a headache on their hands. Branch family members were unsuitable, since Hyuga Lingnai knew how to control the Caged Bird Seal. Main Family members generally only used it on their own branch, but that did not mean they could not use it on other branches.
Otherwise, the branch family would have exploited that loophole to rebel long ago. They could only send Main Family members, but sending them outside posed a risk: their Byakugan might be stolen.
Perhaps sensing the Hyuga's concerns, Hashirama Senju said solemnly, "If anyone takes this opportunity to attack the Hyuga, I will never forgive them."
For such an easygoing man to say that meant he was serious. Ninja from other nations would have to think twice, too. Stealing a Byakugan would bring Hashirama Senju down on them, and they would still have to return it in the end. It was nowhere near worth the trouble.
The Uchiha Clan had already decided to send members of its moderate faction. Completing the mission would help them integrate into Konoha and join the Hokage's faction.
The Hyuga Main Family had another problem. For years, they had relied largely on the branch family to fight their wars. Now that they could not rely on them, they were at a loss. Mainly, they knew damn well what they were capable of. Face an Uchiha who had survived the chaos of war in their current state? Heh, what a joke.
In the end, they sent Hyuga Tenka, the next head of the Hyuga Clan. He had some skill, though not much. After all, as Hiashi and Hizashi's father, he had not even been given a name in the original story.
And so, the Hyuga and Uchiha formed a four-man squad and headed to the capital of the Land of Fire to gather information.
"Tobirama, if they've gone to find Madara Uchiha, wouldn't it be unwise to send only those four?" Hashirama Senju was a little worried.
"Brother, you don't understand the Uchiha. If Uchiha Mu had intended that, he would have followed Madara when he left, not waited until after Madara was gone." Tobirama Senju shook his head. No one understood the Uchiha better than he did.
"Ah..." Hashirama Senju sighed as he gazed at the thriving village, where children played and laughed. Unlike them, those children did not have to go to war at four or five years old.
That was why he and Madara had founded Konoha. Yet once the village was built, Madara had said some inexplicable things and left, and Uchiha Mu had departed right on his heels. Was Konoha really so terrible?
But whatever happened, he had to protect Konoha. This was the home he had built, and he would not allow it to suffer any harm, no matter who the enemy was.
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