Teaching

Keiko Uzumaki faced more restrictions on her movements than the other two, because she was visiting Mito Uzumaki, the eldest daughter of the Uzumaki family, who had married Hashirama in a marriage alliance and sealed the Nine-Tails inside herself.

She could control the Nine-Tails' power perfectly, making her arguably the first perfect jinchuriki. The Nine-Tails, however, had been "volunteered" for the arrangement. At this point, Konoha had no real sense of how terrifying it was.

After all, Hashirama had caught it as casually as a toy, and Konoha had several other tailed beasts suppressed by the Wood Dragon and the Gate of the Great God. It was hard for Konoha to fear them. The terror people felt in the future came from war; most ninja in the shinobi world could not stand against a tailed beast.

"Lady Mito, it's been a long time." After passing through layer upon layer of checks, Keiko Uzumaki finally reached Mito Uzumaki. Mito's appearance had not changed much, though she looked more mature.

"Ah, Keiko," Mito Uzumaki said softly as she looked at her.

Unlike Uchiha Mu and Hyuga Lingnai, Keiko had come here simply to see Mito Uzumaki.

Mito Uzumaki also wanted to hear how the Uzumaki Clan was doing, and why Keiko Uzumaki had joined Uchiha Mu. At that moment, she had far too many questions to ask.

"Keiko, why did Father agree to Uchiha Mu's request?" Mito Uzumaki was puzzled. Konoha and the Land of Whirlpools were merely allies, after all.

"When Mu first came to the Land of Whirlpools, he fought the clan leader, then explained something to him..." Keiko Uzumaki briefly described how the two had become acquainted, and how Mu had then left with some Uzumaki orphans.

Eventually, he had brought the Uzumaki clansmen he had trained back to the Uzumaki Clan. They had demonstrated their talent and combat proficiency, decisively outperforming the clan's own prodigies. Uchiha Mu genuinely taught them what he knew, too. Apart from things like the Sharingan, which could not be taught, he taught them everything.

The clansmen had been won over and arranged for the family's prodigies to leave with Uchiha Mu for the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation. The two sides had formally established relations as a result. Then, half a year ago, the Uzumaki children had returned.

Uchiha Mu had also forged deeper economic ties with the Land of Whirlpools, giving the Uzumaki Clan another source of income. They had no daimyo supporting them, so this had been help when they needed it most.

Uzumaki Men and Uzumaki Shana had formally joined the leadership and begun exercising authority. At first, the family had objected-one was twelve and the other thirteen, after all-but strength rendered those objections meaningless.

With their unparalleled teamwork, the two had beaten every member of the older generation. The Uzumaki were not like the Hyuga, clinging to power in their old age. After losing, they had simply handed over their authority. Once Uzumaki Ashina had seen how the two handled things, he had left them fully in charge.

Uzumaki ninja naturally possessed enormous chakra reserves, making them tremendously efficient at construction work. Uzumaki Men followed the path Uchiha Mu had taken, while Uzumaki Shana focused on education and administration, arranging for more children to study in the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation.

This deepened the relationship between the two sides, and Uchiha Mu welcomed everyone who came. To him, unless a forbidden jutsu cost the user's life, it was not forbidden at all. Everything else could be taught.

In Uchiha Mu's view, hiding ninjutsu served little purpose and did nothing to encourage its improvement. But that only held true for him. His sheer strength could overcome any technique; what use was it for others to learn more if none of it could breach his defenses?

Uchiha Mu's approach was quite different from Hashirama Senju's. Of course, the Uzumaki Clan recognized Uchiha Mu alone, not the Uchiha Clan. In their eyes, the Uchiha were still lunatics, with Uchiha Mu the sole exception.

After hearing what Uchiha Mu had done, Mito Uzumaki sighed helplessly. What had begun as a simple exchange of techniques had developed into all this. It seemed Uchiha Mu really was different from the other Uchiha.

"Lady Mito, Uchiha Mu has arranged a teaching session in the village," an Anbu ninja came to inform Mito Uzumaki just then.

"All right. Let's go see this man." Mito Uzumaki rose, wanting to see just what sort of man he was.

Nearly all the village's Hyuga, Shimura, Sarutobi, Senju, Hatake, and Ino-Shika-Cho had come. Each ninja clan had its own specialties, and they had long wanted to see what Uchiha Mu, whose name was known throughout the shinobi world, could do.

At this point, Shimura Danzō was young and hot-blooded. He was merely wary of the Uchiha, with none of the signs of the notorious scapegoat he would become in the original story. Hiruzen Sarutobi likewise lacked the indecisiveness of his later years in the original story.

There were not many people Uchiha Mu knew in this era. Looking at these kids, he felt a surge of playfulness. Though he was not particularly old himself, he was considerably older mentally.

"Does anyone want to challenge me?" Uchiha Mu invited them with a smile.

"I will." Shimura Danzō stepped straight forward, drew a kunai, and looked at Uchiha Mu.

"Both sides, form the Seal of Confrontation." Hashirama naturally had to participate in something like this, while also ensuring the children's safety.

Shimura Danzō was proficient in Wind Release and taijutsu at this point, but not much else. Uchiha Mu simply used Uchiha taijutsu, without even activating his Sharingan.

But once the fight began, Shimura Danzō found that no matter what he did, he could not touch his opponent. Meanwhile, Uchiha Mu kept exposing the openings in his defenses with taps of a finger.

How is this possible? This is Uchiha Mu? Shimura Danzō could hardly believe it. He began forming hand seals to use ninjutsu, but his techniques could not even touch the hem of Uchiha Mu's clothes.

"Remember the attacks I just used." Uchiha Mu sent him flying with a kick.

Seeing that Shimura Danzō was unharmed, Hashirama laughed heartily. "Uchiha Mu, you're very strong, and you're an excellent teacher, too."

"Next comes a one-time lesson. Afterward, practicing what you've learned should be enough." As Uchiha Mu spoke, his eyes changed, the three tomoe spinning into a Mangekyō Sharingan.

Tobirama Senju narrowed his eyes slightly. That ocular power was immense. He had only ever seen such power in Madara Uchiha. Perhaps Mu's strength had already caught up to Madara's.

"Don't resist. I'll let you experience chakra nature transformation and the Mystical Palm Technique." As Uchiha Mu spoke, he drew everyone present into a genjutsu, including Hashirama and Tobirama. The difference was that Hashirama could break free whenever he wanted, while Tobirama could not.

Tobirama Senju experienced a peculiar sensation. He went through Water Nature Transformation all over again, as though this genjutsu had directly identified what he was best at. Is a genjutsu like this even possible? He then tried to break free.

"Hm?" Finding himself still inside the genjutsu, Tobirama Senju's expression darkened. He had developed all kinds of techniques to counter the Uchiha, especially their genjutsu. And now he could not break free?

Is his Mangekyō Sharingan specialized in genjutsu? Tobirama Senju felt he had been careless. He had actually let his guard down in front of an Uchiha. Damn it. If Uchiha Mu had any designs on Konoha...

The next moment, he experienced the nature transformations of the other chakra elements. Then, because he belonged to the Senju Clan, he experienced the Mystical Palm Technique as well-a medical ninjutsu that demanded extremely precise chakra control.

Uchiha Mu held nothing back when it came to these things. He took the broader view; with his strength, he had no need to worry about such matters.