How to get stronger?

Picking up where we left off, Uzumaki Gamu looked at Hashirama and Madara and asked, "So, are you two willing to accept my invitation?"

Both fell silent.

After a while, Madara answered first. "Honestly... what you're talking about is too far beyond us. I can't quite wrap my head around it yet, but I think... we can work toward it!"

Hashirama said, "That's what I think too!!!!"

"Well, true. We're still small fry right now, so all that is a long way off. But knowing you two are willing to work toward it is enough to make me happy!" Uzumaki Gamu held out his fist. "To celebrate the three of us agreeing on our goal, let's bump fists!"

Hashirama immediately thrust out his fist with enthusiasm.

Madara questioned it. "Why do we have to bump fists to celebrate? Whatever, let's do it!"-It was rare to meet people who shared his ideals, and Madara was pretty happy himself! So he held out his fist too.

Once their three fists touched, Uzumaki Gamu said, "While we're at it, here's to our friendship lasting forever!"

"Oh~~ I like the sound of that~~" Hashirama nodded happily.

Madara kept complaining. "Hang on, we haven't even known each other for two days. How are we already friends?"

Hashirama looked at Madara through tear-filled eyes. "Waaah, we've already opened our hearts to each other. Doesn't that make us friends?"

Uzumaki Gamu joined in the crying. "Madara, you're abandoning us after leading us on..."

"Hey, don't cry! And you, stop making it sound like I did something to you!" Madara felt himself going numb-what kind of absolute weirdos had he stumbled across? When neither showed any intention of stopping, he said with a headache, "All right, all right! Here's to our friendship lasting forever!!"

The moment they heard that, Uzumaki Gamu and Hashirama stopped crying, bumped arms, and shouted, "Yay!!"

"Damn it, you played me!!!" Realizing he had been manipulated, Madara angrily charged in and started fighting the two of them-or rather, roughhousing!

After their roughhousing, Uzumaki Gamu took out yellow ritual paper, a roast chicken, and a statue of Lord Guan he had made himself. "No time like the present. Let's become sworn brothers!"-After meeting the two, Uzumaki Gamu had prepared all this for once he finished winning them over.

"Huh? We're already swearing brotherhood?" Madara was a little dumbfounded-wasn't this moving too fast?

Hashirama accepted it readily. "Sure!!"

Seeing Hashirama agree so easily, Madara couldn't help rolling his eyes. "Fine! You two are something else! Let's do it!"-What else could he say? He could only blame his luck for meeting two people with no common sense!

And so the three swore their brotherhood before the statue of Lord Guan, becoming sworn brothers-their relationship had taken another step forward!

"Wait, who's this statue supposed to be?" Madara, the one with common sense, immediately asked.

"A deity my family worships. His virtues are loyalty in duty, benevolence toward others, righteousness in seeking gain, and courage in pursuing progress. People generally pay their respects to him when swearing brotherhood!" Uzumaki Gamu answered.

"Loyalty in duty, benevolence toward others, righteousness in seeking gain, and courage in pursuing progress... that's wonderful!" Hashirama's eyes began to shine-he had practically found his idol!

Madara also sounded a little admiring. "If he really lived up to all that... he's certainly worth paying respects to!"

Thus, all three bowed to Lord Guan's statue-at last, they had become sworn brothers by the river!

We ask not to be born on the same day, in the same month, in the same year, but to die in the same year, the same month...

"That sounds unlucky. Let's skip it~" Uzumaki Gamu said.-They might have become sworn brothers, but even if the other two died, Uzumaki Gamu intended to keep living, so they could forget that line!

From then on, the three arranged times to meet there, spar together, help each other improve, and discuss what they should do in the future...

"You know an awful lot of ninjutsu!" Madara complained, sitting on the ground after a sparring session.

"Well, I can't help being a genius~ Of course I know a lot~" Uzumaki Gamu said casually, as though it were only natural!

Madara looked annoyed, but he had no way to argue-Uzumaki Gamu really did know a lot, enough to make even him envious!

Still, despite Uzumaki Gamu's broad repertoire, there wasn't much difference between their combat strength.

Madara fought in the usual Uchiha style: fire release that blasted away bonds, shuriken throwing, and swordsmanship. Though he hadn't awakened his Sharingan yet, his natural abilities and constant hard training had already given him combat strength on par with an ordinary adult ninja.

Hashirama, meanwhile, hadn't awakened Wood Release either, but with his powerful physique, assorted ninja tools, and his ancestral Stomping Block, he was formidable too!

Uzumaki Gamu relied on the Uzumaki Clan's naturally enormous chakra reserves to combine shadow clones with the Five Basic Nature Transformations-he was essentially a miniature Third Hokage, with the potential to become a supersized Third Hokage in the future. (The Uzumaki had more chakra than the Sarutobi Clan no matter how you looked at it~)

However, while Uzumaki Gamu's skill list looked intimidating, spreading himself so thin meant his proficiency and the power of each skill were very limited. He wasn't much stronger than the other two, who were still fighting like cavemen.

More like these two cheating bastards are ridiculously talented! Uzumaki Gamu grumbled inwardly-honestly, he thought his own talent was pretty good, and he had the added advantage of over twenty years of experience from his previous life. But next to those two cheaters, he still felt inadequate. The only reason he was stronger for now was that his adult mindset and experience let him learn a little faster than them.

If things continued this way, the two would surpass Uzumaki Gamu... but that was a matter for later. All three still had room to improve. What mattered now was working hard together and helping one another grow stronger!

And so the three trained together, chatting about their dreams during breaks at the future site of Konoha... it was a truly happy time!

But good times never lasted. After a few months... their families discovered what they were doing!

It would've been stranger if they hadn't noticed! Uzumaki Gamu grumbled inwardly-the Senju and Uchiha were among the strongest ninja clans in the Shinobi World. If they couldn't even figure out what their future clan heads were doing outside, they might as well pack it in!

Of course, the reason Uzumaki Gamu had known this in advance was that he knew the plot-this was when the first rift formed between the two!

Whatever happens, as their friend, I need to find a way to help them!-And so Uzumaki Gamu quietly began preparing a few things!

Then the day that would change their destinies arrived-both fathers learned that their sons were having a childhood romance... no, that they had been getting friendly with the eldest son of the opposing clan's head. They ordered the boys to spy on each other, obtain intelligence about the other clan, and even find an opportunity to kill the other boy outright. This put tremendous pressure on them both.

Then, on a day when they had arranged to train together, both fathers brought their younger sons along and secretly followed Hashirama and Madara, preparing to deal the other side a devastating blow.

Naturally, Hashirama and Madara didn't want their friend hurt, but neither dared disobey his father's orders-no, it wasn't exactly a lack of courage. In terms of loyalty to their clans, there was a blood feud between them. In particular, both had lost younger brothers to the other clan-with that history, the two of them getting friendly looked wrong from every angle!

Thus, neither Madara nor Hashirama could openly do anything for the other. They could only secretly warn each other about the trap.

With uneasy hearts, the two arrived at their usual river and stood facing each other across it.

Hashirama greeted him. "Um... good morning..."

"Yeah, good morning..." Madara replied-the atmosphere was so tense and painfully awkward that both sensed something was wrong.

As though their minds were linked, they both skipped the stones they had prepared across the water-once they caught them, each saw the message carved on his stone.

There's a trap!-Run!!

Madara immediately replied, "Uh... I've got something to do~ I'll be going!"

Hashirama said much the same. "Ahaha... I've got something to do too. I'll head off..."

Having said their pieces, both immediately backed away, preparing to leave this dangerous place.

You're already here. As if you'll get away that easily! Uzumaki Gamu grumbled inwardly from his hiding place.

Sure enough, as they retreated, their fathers charged out fully armed with their younger sons-Uchiha Tajima and Uchiha Izuna versus Butsuma Senju and Tobirama Senju.

The adults were old rivals and naturally knew each other's abilities, so the true deciding factor in this battle was Izuna and Tobirama.

If one man's child was killed, his composure would inevitably crumble, giving the other an opportunity to kill him-they had genuinely spent so long fighting that their brains had gone haywire! They were treating their own children as expendable tools!

Thus, even as the two adults fought evenly, they threw concealed weapons at each other's younger son.

Madara and Hashirama couldn't stand by and watch their younger brothers get hurt, so they prepared to intervene and stop the fight!

But just then, something unexpected happened!

Dozens of kunai came flying from the forests on both sides toward Uchiha Tajima and Butsuma Senju!

Butsuma and Tajima said, "What the hell? Another ambush? Wait, why are they attacking him too?"-These two were pretty in sync themselves, saying exactly the same thing.

Neither could afford to keep attacking the other now-if they were still thinking about killing children, they would soon be turned into pincushions by those kunai!

Butsuma Senju began forming hand seals and used Water Release: Water Formation Wall, raising a vertical wall from the river beneath his feet to protect himself.

Uchiha Tajima was even more arrogant. Relying entirely on the Sharingan's powerful ability to track movement, he dodged the incoming kunai with footwork alone!

At the same time, he thought, Hmph, that useless Butsuma Senju even needs a ninjutsu to block kunai... curse your own lack of a Sharingan!!-This really was the father imitating the son's words. If Izuna beside him had heard it, he would surely have asked his dad for royalties.

However, after Izuna said that line, Tobirama wounded him with the Flying Thunder God Slash. And after his father said it...

Boom!!!-Just after inwardly mocking Butsuma's incompetence, Tajima spotted explosive tags attached to the incoming kunai!

Tajima scrambled to evade, but the explosion still sent him flying.

Now it was Butsuma's turn to mock Tajima. "Fool. You only dodged an unknown attack? Too naive..." -Just as he was sneering, he suddenly noticed a piece of wood floating downstream, right up to his feet. He took a closer look... an explosive tag was attached to it!

Butsuma hurriedly jumped, but he was still blasted away-both fathers had gotten too cocky and taken a beating for it!

After recovering from the shock of the blast, Tajima wanted to mock Butsuma, but he no longer dared let his guard down-both clan heads had fought their way through piles of corpses. If he could still be careless after getting beaten up, he would have died long ago!

The same went for Butsuma.

Once they stood up, both began searching for their attacker!

Just then, a blond young man wearing an Akatsuki Uniform emerged from the forest with a whole group of masked ninja!

The blond young man addressed everyone present. "The Uchiha and Senju clan heads are both here? Perfect. We'll wipe you all out in one go, and that'll be the end of your clans!!"

Tajima said disdainfully, "Hmph, the end of us? At the hands of you lowlifes from who knows where?"-To the Uchiha, the Senju were the Senju, and every other ninja clan was something else entirely. How dare a bunch of ants act so brazenly before them?

Butsuma thought much the same.

Of course, within a few seconds, both changed their tune.

"Hmph, let's see if you can still say that after witnessing this! Art is Patrick Star!!! Ha!!" At the blond young man's shout, the dozens of masked ninja around him began throwing rocks together... were they trying to stone people?

Of course not. Every rock had an explosive tag attached-in short, they were hand grenades!

Watching the rocks wrapped in explosive tags rain endlessly toward them, the two clan heads were dumbfounded-did this guy's explosive tags cost nothing? Why was he throwing them around like that?

The nonstop explosions left both clan heads' ears ringing-it felt like they had jumped straight from a ninja film set into a World War II film set.

Honestly, in an age of swords and close-quarters fighting, when ninjutsu was still just a supporting means of attack, this style of carpet-bombing was far ahead of its time!

Both clan heads fought with everything they had, but they still couldn't withstand it-one explosive tag posed no threat, but dozens upon dozens were another matter. The violent winds produced by the explosions could even scatter their ninjutsu-quantity had become quality!

In both clan heads' minds, this battle had already become a trap laid by other ninja clans against their own two clans.

At a time like this, they could forget about their rival. Escaping came first! If both the clan head and his heirs died here, their clans would be in serious trouble!

Thus, after exchanging a glance, Butsuma and Tajima tacitly withdrew with their two children!

Of course, this wasn't a retreat. It was a strategic relocation!

On the way out, Tobirama asked Butsuma, "Father, were those people from other ninja clans?"

Butsuma shook his head. "I don't know. They had nothing on them that could identify them... only the blond young man leading them had distinctive clothes... they looked like a uniform!"-Not knowing who the enemy was was deeply irritating. They had no way to retaliate.

Tobirama analyzed the situation. "If they weren't carrying anything that could identify them, they must have planned this for some time... perhaps our enemy clans joined forces to ambush us?"-Even Tobirama himself found that hard to believe.

The Senju's greatest enemy was the Uchiha across from them, followed by the rather deranged Kaguya Clan. They were on good terms with the other major ninja clans... the Uchiha had just been blown up, so it definitely wasn't them. As for the Kaguya... those melee maniacs weren't the sort to use explosives... could ninja clans from other regions have come after them?

They could only investigate the truth slowly-of course, they would never have guessed that there had actually been just one attacker!

The blond young man was Uzumaki Gamu disguised as Deidara with the Transformation Technique, and the other ninja were copies he had created using Multiple Shadow Clone. Naturally, after creating so many clones, Uzumaki Gamu no longer had enough chakra to use ninjutsu. (He was only nine, after all. His reserves weren't enough to keep attacking with ninjutsu after making nearly a hundred clones.) That was why he had adopted the improvised grenade tactic of explosive tags attached to rocks.

Those explosive tags were what Uzumaki Gamu had been preparing during this period-he had learned how to make them. After all, the Uzumaki Clan excelled at sealing jutsu, and the principles behind explosive tags were similar. A little appropriate study was enough to produce them.

He had made all the tags himself. However, he wasn't a professional, and his materials were somewhat inferior, so they were weaker than standard explosive tags. That was why, despite hitting people, they hadn't caused much damage. (Uzumaki Gamu: Should I research Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags to compensate for these defective products' lack of power? No, why not just invent the Phased Array Explosive Tag Technique? Let true art manifest in this world!!)

Unable to figure out who the enemy was, Butsuma set the matter aside for the time being and looked at his eldest son, who had remained silent-Hashirama!

Remembering that his son was the reason all this had happened, he asked, "Hashirama, what are you thinking?"

"Me? I'm thinking what a shame it was... that we didn't wipe out all the Uchiha!" Hashirama answered. "This was clearly an evil operation prepared by the evil Uchiha to destroy us Senju. The next time we go to war with the Uchiha, we must eradicate them completely!!"

"Huh?" Tobirama was dumbfounded-had his big brother changed? Wasn't he always obsessed with tolerance, reconciliation, forgiveness, and all that? Why was he suddenly talking so viciously?

Butsuma, meanwhile, felt as though his child had grown up. "Finally, you've matured... heh, in that case, we did gain something from this!"-Butsuma smiled in satisfaction, then sped up as he took his children away!

Tobirama also gave his big brother a thoughtful look and said nothing more.

Was that what Hashirama really thought? Of course not~

Under Uzumaki Gamu's influence these past days, Hashirama was no longer as guileless as before. Spouting nonsense came easily and happily to him now!

The main reason he had said it was to keep his dad from continuing to dwell on the matter!

In reality, Hashirama was extremely happy!

He thought, That's Gamu for you. He actually prepared in advance... looks like he noticed the adults in our families had caught on to our movements... but why didn't he tell us beforehand? Oh well, as long as it worked out~-Hashirama was easygoing and didn't think too deeply about it.

The same thing happened on the Uchiha side!

Madara declared his loyalty with righteous indignation. "That inherently evil Senju brat! He actually used himself as bait to lure us in. I'll slaughter him the next time we meet!!"

"Big brother is absolutely right!!!" Izuna was much more of a big-brother worshipper than Tobirama and didn't doubt anything his brother said!

Tajima was also very pleased with his son's statement. And... there was another happy development: Madara Uchiha had actually awakened his Sharingan!

The Sharingan was the Uchiha Clan's hereditary kekkei genkai. It could awaken and continue evolving through intense emotional stimulation. It possessed powerful abilities, including observation, copying, and hypnosis. Its wielder gained extraordinary perception, could observe chakra flow, cast and see through genjutsu, and copy taijutsu and ninjutsu that weren't kekkei genkai. Merely awakening these eyes could transform someone's strength!

It seems the grief of his friend's betrayal awakened his Sharingan... looking at it that way, letting him go out these past few months wasn't a bad thing! Tajima thought in satisfaction.

What he didn't know was that Madara hadn't awakened his eyes out of sadness, but happiness!

Hahaha, what that lazy bum Gamu said really worked! The fighting really was stopped! Madara thought happily-today's incident had proved that even the blood feud between the Uchiha and Senju could give way before a powerful outside force. They would stop their fight to the death and choose to retreat!

The war had stopped before it even began!

If the method works, then what we need next is power! If the three of us work together, perhaps we really can change the entire Shinobi World?! At that thought, Madara nearly broke into the Uchiha's wild laughter. Fortunately, he was still young and had a strong sense of embarrassment, so he couldn't bring himself to laugh like an idiot!

But his happiness was real, and under that intense emotional stimulation, his Sharingan awakened!

To be fair, most people awakened their Sharingan through suffering. Those who awakened it out of happiness... were truly few and far between.

I'm a little annoyed that he knew about our fathers beforehand and didn't tell us, but since he worked so hard, I'll forgive him this once! Madara thought happily. Now our goal is clear. All that's left is to work hard! For our shared dream, I'll give my training everything I have and gain the power to change the world as soon as possible. So... Sharingan, you've come at just the right time!-Perhaps the Sharingan hadn't awakened because of happiness, but because Madara now genuinely desired power!

As for the last of the trio, Uzumaki Gamu was currently cleaning up the battlefield!

He had made the explosive tags himself, but the kunai and such... he had stolen those from his clan. If he lost them, he would be punished!

So, after everyone left, Uzumaki Gamu obediently collected the dozens of kunai he had thrown at the beginning, packed them up, and headed home!

On the way home, Uzumaki Gamu was pretty happy too. "Well, we got through this smoothly. There shouldn't be any rift between them now, and our plan for peace and changing the world should go ahead without trouble... ideally, those two will handle everything, and I can just enjoy myself!"

The only problem with doing this was that it might seriously alter the course of the future... perhaps Naruto's era would turn out completely different from the original story?

Who cares? I won't live that long anyway! It would take roughly twenty years to get from this era to Konoha's founding, and Naruto graduated as a genin in Konoha Year 63. If Uzumaki Gamu actually lived until then, he would be over ninety... could he really live into his nineties?

That would be tough~~ So there was absolutely no need to think so much. He could just do whatever made him happy!

As for what happened to later generations... he could trust their wisdom!

This guy really... had no sense of responsibility whatsoever!

"Still, while the explosive tag tactic works well, it really burns through money. Improving my own strength would be better. Besides, after this, those two cheaters' strength should start skyrocketing... I ought to think of a way to improve my combat strength too. Find a summon and sign a contract?"-The Summoning Technique was probably the quickest and most convenient way to improve his strength.

However, Uzumaki Gamu had no particular idea of what to contract with yet... he would study it carefully before doing anything else!