Telling stories

After Uchiha Yan left, Genji immediately began writing a letter. He needed to send the intelligence back to the village; it was critically important to the village.

Their conversation soon reached Obito through White Zetsu. After hearing it, Obito froze.

"He survived even that?"

By now, Zetsu had separated, and Black Zetsu exclaimed in surprise as well:

"Is he even human? Shouldn't he have been killed right away? Obito, this clansman of yours is something else!"

"You think I don't know?"

Obito snapped, "Now I'm wondering whether he's already guessed what's going on with the Fourth Mizukage."

"You're still not killing him? If this keeps up, sooner or later he'll find out about you."

"Impossible! Unless Kakashi reveals his Mangekyō Sharingan, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan is his limit."

"True!"

Black Zetsu nodded, more or less agreeing with Obito:

"If you won't kill him, bring him into the fold. Doesn't he think you're carrying out a secret mission?

"Go ask him how to get the One-Tail without the other shinobi villages noticing."

"Are you all right? That's a Tailed Beast. There are only nine in the entire Shinobi World. How could no one notice?

"You might as well ask him how to find nine Kage-level shinobi, or how to get Kage-level shinobi to defect."

"Exactly! Hurry up and ask!"

"I feel like I'm about to awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan!"

"Have you gone stupid?"

"You're the stupid one. Uchiha Yan could awaken his Sharingan because other people were stupid, so why can't I awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan because you're stupid?

"Asking me to go ask him-how did you even come up with that? How am I supposed to explain myself when I show up in front of him? Tell him I have the Mangekyō Sharingan? Use Space-Time Ninjutsu?"

"How was I supposed to think of all that!"

"That's why I said I'm about to awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."

Obito's gaze was scornful. "Haven't you met him before? Why not ask in Nagato's name? Nagato sent you to provide him with intelligence anyway."

"Call me stupid again, and we're through!"

"Through, my ass. A lump of will thinks he can turn the world upside down? You really think you're Madara Uchiha himself!"

"Hmph!"

Black Zetsu snorted and sank straight into the ground.

Obito raised his chin slightly. "An idiot who doesn't know he's an idiot. You give Uchiha Jinyan a run for his money."

Kill Uchiha Yan? Do you think I'm stupid? Once the Cursed Seal is removed, let's see how Madara comes back to life. I'll create peace with my own hands. The dead should stay in the Pure Land. Why come out and cause trouble?

Obito did not want to kill Uchiha Yan. The man was both clever and kind, and could even find a way to help him break the Cursed Seal. What a good person.

But he did not want to save him either, for fear of arousing Black Zetsu's suspicions, and for fear that Uchiha Yan would figure it out.

Uchiha Yan was very conflicted at that moment. He had only talked so much with Genji to buy time; he had never considered that Genji might release him because of it.

He wanted to send intelligence out through White Zetsu, but if it failed to interest Obito, sending it would be pointless.

While transmitting the intelligence, he also could not let Obito realize that he already knew about White Zetsu. That was another difficult problem for him.

*I need to interest Obito, make it understandable to White Zetsu, and get Nagato to learn about it and then notify Jinyan. I need to think this through.

"For Jinyan to understand, I can only start with the Uchiha family tree or Kayle's sayings.

"For Nagato to send word to Jinyan, I have to get the intelligence to Nagato first, then have him verify it through members of the Uchiha Clan.

"For White Zetsu to pass it on to Nagato, it needs to be related to collecting Tailed Beasts..."*

Uchiha Yan tapped lightly on the floor, staring at the moldy ceiling as he sank into thought.

Suddenly, a light flashed in Uchiha Yan's eyes. How did I forget?

"How stupid! I even forgot to sleep! I'm still growing. How can I go without sleep?"

Whenever he could not figure something out, Uchiha Yan was in the habit of sleeping first and leaving it until he woke.

It was like looking for something: the harder you tried, the less you could remember where you had put it, only for it to suddenly appear when you no longer wanted it. The wondrous brain was always so unfathomable.

Early the next morning, Uchiha Yan woke from his sleep, having already forgotten what he had meant to think about.

He picked up a cup to pour himself water out of habit. After casually filling it over halfway, Uchiha Yan began to concentrate. He needed to fill the cup without letting a single drop spill.

"One drop, just one drop..."

Not far away, Shiori watched Uchiha Yan's actions with an odd look on her face. How could this boy be so carefree? Shouldn't he be thinking of a way out?

"Uchiha Yan, what are you doing?"

"Training!"

"This counts as training?"

"Of course. It can increase the thickness of the cerebral cortex, and most importantly, slow cellular aging."

"I don't understand!"

"It can keep your skin youthful. Does that make sense?

"Princess Tsunade of the Sannin keeps herself eternally youthful by slowing cellular aging. Even though she's decades old, she looks no different from when she was eighteen."

"Hmph!"

Shiori snorted. "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do. I won't fall for it."

"Pour water like this seven times a day. You have nothing else to do anyway. Keep it up for a year, and you'll notice lots of changes in yourself.

"My mind works quickly because I've trained since childhood."

"If it really had that effect, would you teach me? Do you take me for a fool?"

Uchiha Yan shook his head. "Believe it or not, that's up to you. As long as it's something of my own, I'll teach anyone who asks.

"It's not because I'm particularly noble, but because the most basic practice for a practitioner of Confucianism is to educate the world.

"Still, most people don't like being lectured, so I usually present it in the form of stories..."

Halfway through speaking, Uchiha Yan stopped pouring water and froze in place. He had thought of how to pass on the intelligence without being discovered.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

Uchiha Yan resumed pouring. "Is there anything else you want to ask? Anything under heaven or on earth."

"Do you think Kumogakure will make concessions in these talks?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

Uchiha Yan smiled and said, "Because the Fourth Raikage needs prestige. His defeat by the Fourth Hokage last time wasn't enough to cost him his position as Raikage, but it dealt his prestige a heavy blow.

"He needs to secure benefits for Kumogakure through this war. Only then will people listen to him.

"Once Kirigakure withdraws from the war, Kumogakure still won't be a match for Konoha. He can't afford another failure."

"In that case, your Konoha will be in danger!"

"No!"

Uchiha Yan slowly shook his head. "The Land of Wind and the Land of Earth are still there. None of the three sides will fight to the bitter end.

"The final outcome will definitely be Konoha conceding some benefits to Kumogakure and Kirigakure, while victory belongs to Konoha.

"Of course, that's just what I think. If Konoha's Hokage suddenly becomes Danzo, then there's a very real chance that all three villages will destroy one another."

At that point, Uchiha Yan paused and glanced at the several Genin around him, the corners of his mouth slowly lifting:

"Since I've gone on for so long, let me tell you about Uchiha history as well. Would you like to hear it?"

"Uchiha history?"

A trace of suspicion flashed through Shiori's eyes. "Are you really that bored? Aren't you thinking about how to escape?"

"No need. I won't die!"

"How confident! Then let's hear it."

Hearing that, Uchiha Yan set down his cup, slowly walked onto the grass, and sat down:

"During the Warring States Period, roughly three hundred years ago, a pair of twin sisters was born into the Uchiha Clan: Kayle and Morgana.

"Both displayed extraordinary talent from childhood. By twelve, they already had the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

"If things had continued normally, one of the sisters would surely have become clan leader.

"But when they were fourteen, something happened. Because of that incident, the sisters became enemies, and their beliefs diverged.

"One believed that darkness did not equal evil. The other believed that the world contained only black and white, and that the fallen needed punishment.

"Each awakened her own Mangekyō Sharingan ocular ability through her beliefs. One could fly and sense evil, killing all sinners with the Blaze Sword in her hand.

"The other possessed the Soul Chain, sensed the emotions in sinners' hearts, and used black flames to burn away the evil in people's hearts."

"And then? What happened to the sisters?"

"They were born together and died together!"

Uchiha Yan sighed softly. "They opposed each other, but neither could defeat the other, so they thought of capturing Tailed Beasts.

"Both set their sights on the strongest Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails. It didn't take long for the Nine-Tails to fall, but because of the Nine-Tails, they fought each other and perished together."

"To die fighting over the Nine-Tails-what a pity for two such powerful people."

"They didn't die fighting over the Nine-Tails."