Split in Two

"Lingnai, do you think all the Hyuga clan members are wealthy?" Uchiha Mu asked in return.

"Of course not. The Branch Family... You mean you're planning to recruit the poor members of the Uchiha?" Hyuga Lingnai realized what he meant halfway through her answer. Although the great clans had histories stretching back hundreds or even thousands of years, the outstanding members still received everything. As for those who fell short, tough luck-keeping them safe was already the greatest favor they could expect.

"Exactly. We'll take those people with us and give them the idea that they can get rich in the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation," Uchiha Mu explained his plan.

"You're so devious. I love it," Hyuga Lingnai said with a soft laugh.

Keiko Uzumaki felt the same way. The more time she spent with Uchiha Mu, the less he resembled the person the three little ones had described. Instead, he revealed plenty of flaws, but she felt that made him genuine.

"Don't flatter me like that." Uchiha Mu felt a little embarrassed. Birds of a feather flocked together, after all; like attracted like. Meanwhile, Hyuga Rei looked utterly exasperated, worried about the days ahead.

Back at the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Mu asked Uchiha Setsuna to gather all the civilians, as he had something to tell them. Knowing what Uchiha Mu intended, Uchiha Setsuna complied.

He seemed to age considerably in an instant. As the Acting Uchiha Clan Leader, he couldn't understand why the strongest Uchiha kept leaving the clan and Konoha. Were they disappointed in them?

Watching him walk away, Hyuga Lingnai said softly, "He seems to care a lot about you, Mu."

"Well, do you know why he can only be the acting Clan Leader?" Uchiha Mu understood what Setsuna was thinking, too, though his interpretation differed slightly.

"Because he isn't strong enough?"

"Yes. No matter how hard he works, even if he awakens the Mangekyō Sharingan, he'll never reach the heights that Lord Madara and I have." Uchiha Mu thought of the man strolling around the village, a true Asura of the Ninja World.

"Honestly, the Hyuga are rotten to the core, too." Hyuga Lingnai couldn't help looking back on her own clan. Unlike the Uchiha's Sharingan, their Byakugan could be swapped in and out by almost any shinobi without imposing the same burden.

In the original story, Kakashi had been perfectly decent before the eye drained him into a chronically depleted wreck. He was either out of chakra or on his way to running out. The side effects were far too severe, and he was an exception-plenty of others were practically ruined after having one transplanted.

"The Uzumaki seem all right, though?" Keiko Uzumaki ventured.

What is this, a contest over whose clan has it worst? Hyuga Rei silently grumbled. She had so much to say that keeping it all in was unbearable.

Ordinary people couldn't assemble as quickly as shinobi, but Uchiha Setsuna still gathered them all that same day. Looking at the clan members below the platform, dressed in ordinary Uchiha clothing, Uchiha Mu began to speak.

"Everyone, I'm Uchiha Mu, the Uchiha Mu who left on his own over a year ago..." Uchiha Mu started by introducing himself. Ordinary people didn't pay much attention to events in the Shinobi World, after all.

"I've already developed my village... my nation, and now I need people. Come with me, and I guarantee you'll live better than you do now and have more money..."

Uchiha Mu said neither too much nor too little. His overall message was simple: come quickly, money was practically lying on the ground. The Uchiha were a prestigious clan, certainly, but not every member was wealthy. Plenty had no money, and hearing that they could practically pick it up off the ground in the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation tempted them.

Uchiha Mu had borrowed the tactics of high-paying job scams from his previous life, precisely filtering out the people he wanted to take. People in this era really were endearingly naive.

Soon, some of those who had little money and relied on clan assistance expressed their willingness to go. Others who had a bit of money but wanted to get rich also agreed to follow him.

Uchiha Mu could take more people with him than Madara Uchiha had. Sure enough, no matter the world, everyone could be motivated by personal gain. If someone couldn't, the offer simply wasn't generous enough.

That went for ordinary people, too. Telling them the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation was safe wouldn't get through to them. Trying to persuade them with promises about the future was just like those experts in his previous life.

Still, fewer than fifty people chose to leave with Uchiha Mu. None had awakened their eyes, and all were on the fringes of the clan. The other clan members remained attached to their home. This was where their clan had always lived, and it was very safe now. There was no need to move to another village for that little bit of money.

Afterward, Hyuga Lingnai looked at Uchiha Mu. "Mu, that was a failure."

"Heh, this is already quite a few. Give it a few more decades, and it'll be enough." Uchiha Mu was quite satisfied with the result.

"How are we getting back?"

"Flying Thunder God. No need to take the slow route." As he spoke, Uchiha Mu used tailed beast chakra to link everyone together. This was his first time using tailed beast chakra.

The chakra alerted the shinobi in the village. Having dealt with the tailed beasts quite a bit lately, Tobirama Senju was the first to arrive and saw the Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak.

"Hey, Tobirama. See you around if we get the chance." Uchiha Mu waved, then used Flying Thunder God to take everyone there away.

Tobirama Senju looked thoroughly exasperated. That was his Flying Thunder God. He hadn't expected Uchiha Mu to steal the technique. Damn it, if patent laws existed, he would have taken Uchiha Mu to court.

Before long, the village's other shinobi arrived, but no one remained except Tobirama Senju. One of the Branch Family members spoke up. "Uchiha Mu and the others... he vanished in an instant."

"Don't bother looking. He linked everyone together with tailed beast chakra, then left using Flying Thunder God." Tobirama Senju knew Flying Thunder God inside out. He had invented it, after all.

"Flying Thunder God?" Every shinobi present knew it was a ninjutsu invented by Tobirama Senju. He had even used it to gravely wound Izuna, making it famous throughout the Shinobi World. Now, however, it seemed Uchiha Mu had learned it.

At the Black Zetsu Ramen Shop, Madara was having a thoroughly enjoyable conversation with the owner. He had discovered that someone in this world actually understood him so well. Even though the other man was just an ordinary person, Madara couldn't help opening his heart to him.

Of course-he was Black Zetsu Otsutsuki, a master of disguise who had been watching Madara Uchiha for ages. One fart from Madara, and he could tell what the man had eaten the day before.

Under those circumstances, chatting with Madara was like bringing a cannon to a knife fight. All he had to do was play along with him from start to finish and keep him happy.

"He's back. I'll be going now, shopkeeper."

"Come again." Black Zetsu gave him a professional smile, then his expression darkened. Through their conversations over this period, he had learned one thing: Madara believed the Eye of the Moon Plan had flaws.

He didn't know exactly how Madara had learned that, and he couldn't patch those flaws. But he only needed to make Madara understand that reality had more flaws than the Eye of the Moon Plan. He knew exactly how to do that.

Plunge the Shinobi World into chaos. War-if once wasn't enough, then twice; if twice wasn't enough, then three times. All he had to do was make Madara lose sight of hope, leaving him with nothing to rely on but the Eye of the Moon Plan. That was much easier than confronting Uchiha Mu.

Before pushing for war, however, he would have to wait for Hashirama Senju to die. Otherwise, no war could break out at all.