Betrayal and recruitment

After a few swings of his blade, Uchiha Mu stopped. His opponents had all lost the will to fight, and the shinobi sent by the great nations had retreated. All that remained was to bring the surviving, useful ones under his command.

He dispelled his Susanoo and surveyed his surroundings with his Sharingan. Soon, Uchiha Mu caught Kakuzu and his group trying to flee. He had no choice but to secure the stronger ones first. If the weaker ones escaped, so be it.

As Uchiha Mu approached, Kakuzu and his group swallowed nervously. One man's legs trembled. The overwhelming pressure crushed any thought of resistance. All they wanted now was to survive.

Kakuzu clenched his fists and hardened them with Earth Release, ready to fight to the bitter end, but someone spoke before he could.

"Lord Uchiha Mu, he was the one who put us up to this! He deceived us!" one of them said, hastily pointing at Kakuzu. All they wanted now was to survive. Of course, they had long intended to abandon Kakuzu; they simply hadn't found a suitable excuse.

"What?!" Kakuzu turned his head. Those words had come from the village chief-the Takikage himself. Had they abandoned him? Betrayed him?

"Yes, he put us up to all of it! Otherwise, we would never have lost our senses. Lord Uchiha Mu, we only ask that you spare our lives today. We'll do anything you want," another hurriedly added.

Their reason for targeting Kakuzu was simple. He was stronger than they were, which threatened their rule over Takigakure and their positions. That was absolutely unacceptable.

Watching the people he had worked so hard to protect turn against him together, Kakuzu was first bewildered, then furious. He couldn't understand it. Why had he risked his life to protect them and devoted himself to completing their missions, only to turn around and discover that every teammate he thought he could rely on had betrayed him?

It broke him. If Uchiha Mu hadn't been there, he would already have slaughtered every last one of them.

The accusations and blame-shifting continued until even Uchiha Mu couldn't stand watching. In the original story, people joked about Kakuzu having fought the First, but what had happened to the man was truly staggering.

Betrayal had shattered the convictions he held in his heart. Someone in that state would either rise up and kill or meekly take their own life. That was exactly where Kakuzu stood now. He could no longer find anything to believe in.

"How ugly. Was this your decision?" Uchiha Mu looked at Kakuzu, the shinobi who loved making money in the original story.

"No." Kakuzu shook his head. This hadn't been his doing, so he naturally wouldn't admit to it-especially in front of the people making him their scapegoat.

"What a joke! You still dare deny it? If it weren't for you, we would never have come here!" the former Takikage cursed, his face twisted with rage.

What is this guy saying? Is he even human anymore? Kakuzu turned to look at his ranting superior and saw utter terror of Uchiha Mu in his eyes.

"Kakuzu, I see potential in you. How about joining the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation?" Uchiha Mu ignored the clamoring crowd. As soon as he returned, he went to the place Hashirama often visited.

"What? Why?" Now it was Kakuzu's turn to be stunned. He had already been lost, but seeing Uchiha Mu, he realized this was different from before.

"You're still confused. Come find me here once you've made up your mind. Calling it the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation is more fitting now." Uchiha Mu waved a hand. He chose not to kill them, but given Kakuzu's personality, he was certain to make the right choice.

Once Uchiha Mu left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But their expressions turned vicious as they looked at Kakuzu.

"So you betrayed us long ago! You leaked our intelligence!" the village chief immediately roared.

"Let's kill him together." The others promptly prepared to attack.

These bastards are unforgivable. Kakuzu's gaze turned cold. He couldn't forgive them. He still had chakra in his hands, and his fists immediately hardened.

In an era when ninjutsu still required numerous hand seals, taijutsu was a required discipline for every shinobi, and Kakuzu's taijutsu was far superior to theirs.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Mu swiftly brought the surviving shinobi under his command through sheer strength. They wouldn't dare try anything underhanded. By the next generation, their loyalty would largely lie with the nation.

Uchiha Mu quickly led them to the other side to wait for the forces from the Land of Frost. This time, he would bring both small nations fully under his control. Combined, their territory was no longer particularly small.

Hyuga Lingnai looked at the assembled shinobi and said, "From now on, you're shinobi of the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation. Besides your missions, the nation will pay you a base salary sufficient to live on. Of course, you'll also need to help build the village to earn that salary."

"But we don't know anything about construction," one of them replied. As a shinobi, he only knew how to kill and carry out missions. What did he know about building anything? As for resisting Uchiha Mu, forget it. They had already been beaten into submission. Until Uchiha Mu died, they wouldn't try a thing.

"Don't worry. The work is simple, and anyone who knows Earth Release will earn more." Hyuga Lingnai smiled. She had already become well practiced at this.

"I do."

"So do I."

Everyone began volunteering. Since they were joining the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation anyway, they might as well make their future lives a little better. Perhaps under Uchiha Mu's leadership, they could gradually settle down. After all, who was born wanting to live amid war?

With a fighter as powerful as Uchiha Mu on their side, they saw hope. At least until he died, this nation would surely remain peaceful.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the shinobi leading the forces from the former Land of Frost blanched at the intelligence he had just received. He hadn't expected so many shinobi to gather on the other side, only to be wiped out instantly by Uchiha Mu alone.

"Boss, let's just run. We can flee to another country." After learning the news, another man readily decided to follow his survival instincts and flee. He didn't think he was stronger than those shinobi, especially since the great nations' covert support meant there had been assassination squads sent by those nations among them.

Yet even with so many people assembled, Uchiha Mu had defeated them in an instant. And that blue-green giant-what kind of ninjutsu was that? Everything about this went beyond their understanding.

"Yes, let's run. Those who want to follow can come. Those who don't can go get themselves killed. We'll head to the Land of Grass." The leader then passed the intelligence down to the others.

Within moments, people began turning to leave. None wanted to throw their lives away, and there wasn't much to gain from attacking Uchiha Mu anyway.

The leader took those willing to follow him toward the Land of Fire, keeping as far as possible from the area Uchiha Mu was developing as they traveled through the Land of Grass.

Uchiha Mu waited a while. Once he confirmed that this group of shinobi wasn't coming, he decided to return to the village. There was still much to do, and both construction and the diplomacy to follow would be troublesome.

With Black Zetsu and the Otsutsuki looming as threats, he intended to develop the nation as much as possible and earn system rewards, raising himself-the third man after Hashirama and Madara-to the strongest in the Shinobi World.

This was much faster than building up a territory in an ordinary world. After all, shinobi were remarkably efficient. He had cleared a forest and built a city in just one day, and he was looking forward to the days ahead.