Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Zhi Shui asked.

"I'm not hungry, I just ate."

Kimimaro answered quickly.

Since he couldn't defeat him by force, Kimimaro decided to try other methods to get out of his current predicament and return to Lord Orochimaru's side as soon as possible. The other method he thought of was to build a good relationship with Uchiha Shisui and sneak away when Uchiha Shisui became careless.

Don't think this plan is ridiculous.

This was the most reliable plan he could imagine for a child who had never received a normal education.

"Oh, okay! Then wait a moment, I'll leave after I finish eating."

Shisui didn't feel any ill will towards the brat in front of him. After reviewing Kimimaro's memories, he learned that Kimimaro was not a madman, but a child who was abused by his clansmen from a young age and then tricked into evil by Orochimaru.

Furthermore, Kimimaro also recalled the concept of a 'vessel,' though the details were somewhat vague. However, considering the mental and physical gaps Orochimaru experienced due to his research into forbidden techniques, it's possible to deduce what kind of forbidden technique Orochimaru was researching.

That is a forbidden technique that transfers one's soul into another's body.

It can be described as—

The most taboo of taboos

The most heretical path of all.

Having realized this, Shisui decided to take Kimimaro with him.

He was unlikely to actually kill anyone. Kimimaro had killed people, but it wasn't indiscriminate killing. All those who died at Kimimaro's hands were ninjas, and they were all doing so under the orders of his clansmen and Orochimaru. In Shisui's view, this was not Kimimaro's fault.

It's just that this damned world forces people to live like this.

Therefore,

He couldn't bring himself to kill Kimimaro.

But letting Kimimaro go back to Orochimaru's side and then waiting for Orochimaru to take over his body someday... it's better for him to come with me! Taking him back and handing him over to Sogen to deal with should be no problem for Sogen to settle such a small child.

Shisui had a well-thought-out plan in mind, but what the final outcome would be... remained to be seen!

"Set off? Where are we going?"

Kimimaro raised a question.

"Hidden Mist Village".

Zhi Shui, who ate rice cakes, gave a vague answer.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Crack!!"

The moment the silvery-white lightning disappeared, a deafening thunderclap echoed between heaven and earth, as if the gods were enraged. The rolling thunder reverberated in the sky, and after a morning of dark clouds, a torrential downpour, like the Milky Way bursting its banks, finally began. The raindrops, the size of soybeans, stung a little when they hit my skin.

The girl, dressed in ill-fitting old clothes, braved the torrential rain to return to her home.

It was an abandoned old house in a corner of the village. The house had a skylight and only a small corner with a roof to keep out the rain. That was also the girl's 'bed'. In reality, it was just a pile of old cotton wadding and cardboard boxes.

"It's so cold!"

The little girl wrapped her old clothes tighter around herself and quickly burrowed into the pile of cotton wool to slow down the loss of her body heat.

at this time,

The girl who had crawled into the pile of cotton felt her fingers touch something cold and slippery. The girl, who was brave enough, almost instantly realized what she had touched. It was probably a snake that had also come to take shelter from the rain and crawled into her territory.

The girl wasn't afraid of this cold-blooded animal that would terrify an ordinary girl to the point of screaming.

If it were a venomous snake, it certainly wouldn't be able to escape by now. If it's not a venomous snake... then it's perfect for lunch. The weather is bad today, and she hasn't found any food to fill her stomach yet. The heavy rain has started, and she's still hungry!

She reached out and tightly grasped the small snake, pulling it out of the cotton wadding.

"so beautiful!"

The girl stared wide-eyed at the flawless white snake she held in her hand, and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement. The little creature's beautiful appearance made her lose her appetite for lunch. Although she was very hungry, she wasn't so hungry that she couldn't go on without eating.

and,

My own name is also 'Bai' (白)!

After hesitating for a moment,

In the end, the girl couldn't bear to eat the beautiful little snake. Instead, she placed it on the cotton wool next to her. She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but she felt that the beautiful little white snake seemed very weak. It lay listlessly on the cotton wool, and if it didn't occasionally twitch its tail, she would have suspected that it was dead.

She wondered if the little white snake was hungry.

Unfortunately, the girl herself was also hungry, and kept croaking, so she had no extra food to share with the little white snake.

However, the little girl was distracted by the occasional twitch of the white snake's tail and failed to notice the golden vertical pupils beneath the slightly raised eyelids. She was looking at the girl with chakra in her body with a look of surprise. Upon closer observation, she discovered that the girl not only possessed chakra, but that the quality and quantity of her chakra were also quite remarkable.

"Looks like my luck is actually pretty good!"

Orochimaru, who had transformed into a small white snake to recuperate, was in a rather pleasant mood. Not only had he discovered how powerful the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan was, but after losing Kimimaro, a superior vessel, he had also encountered a new vessel that seemed quite promising.

[Chapter 140. The Visiting Master Yuan]

After two weeks of intense discussions, the high-ranking members of Kirigakure barely reached a consensus and decided to provide a certain amount of manpower in exchange for monetary and material compensation, under the guise of supporting their ally. Kirigakure was truly impoverished; their warehouses were so empty that even rats could starve to death. At this point, the only thing they still considered valuable was their ninjas.

Of course, in another sense, Kirigakure is still quite wealthy.

If they were willing to offer secret techniques or forbidden techniques, Konoha would naturally not refuse. However, the Kirigakure ninjas were not foolish enough to undermine their own foundation. If the ninjas died, they died. As long as they didn't all die at once, the isolated Kirigakure village could close its doors and focus on having children, and would eventually recover its strength.

They actively participated in every Shinobi World War, never passively drawn in. Their geographical location meant that the nations of the continent wouldn't bother them for no reason. As long as they didn't cause trouble, they were quite peaceful.

"It's finally settled."

End of the meeting,

Yagura slumped on the sofa, looking as exhausted as if he had just survived a major battle.

This was indeed a long war, a battle that lasted for two weeks. In fact, it only took the Kirigakure leadership three days to make the decision to 'pay a certain amount of human resources in lieu of monetary and material compensation'. The next eleven days were spent arguing about how to share the 'human resources' that needed to be paid.

Whenever a war breaks out between Konoha and the Cloud and Rock ninja, everyone knows that Konoha will most likely send its manpower to the battlefield. The clan leaders obviously do not want their clansmen to sacrifice themselves in vain on a battlefield that has nothing to do with their clans' interests, so it is only natural that they would quarrel over this.

Even with the Mizukage and the Master presiding over the meeting,

Only today have we managed to get a result, albeit barely.

"It's not much different from the original way of sharing the costs, I don't know what they're arguing about." Yagura slumped on the sofa and muttered complaints. If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have just used the power of the Water Shadow to make the decision directly.

"Meaningless arguments are a necessary step toward a result."

Yuan Shi sat on the opposite sofa, leaning on his snake-head cane, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Lord Mizukage, are we going to negotiate with that Uchiha clan leader next?"

"Yes."

Yagura stopped his pointless complaining.

He sighed, looking quite troubled. "Just thinking about meeting that guy... makes my stomach hurt." He pressed his hand against his stomach. Whenever he thought about meeting Uchiha Munen, his stomach would start to cramp. The medical ninja who examined him said it was nothing serious, but advised him to relax and not put too much pressure on himself.

but--

How can I get rid of stress?

As the 'negligent Mizukage', the pressure on him was immense. If it weren't for the fact that the Konoha ninjas were still in the village and hadn't left, he probably would have already resigned. It was only because the Konoha ninjas were there that he had to continue sitting in this chair for the time being in order to protect the village's reputation.

Furthermore, being chosen as Mei Terumi was a bit too young, and being a woman, she didn't have the same distinguished achievements as the Fourth Hokage of Konoha. Of course, unlike the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, Mei Terumi, backed by the two major bloodline limit families of Kirigakure, was not a commoner ninja without any foundation.

"Lord Mizukage, how about I accompany you this time?"

"Master Yuan?"

Yagura looked over in surprise.

The Konoha ninjas have been in Kirigakure for two weeks now, but Master Yuan has not made contact with any of them yet, maintaining a distance from them at all times.

"Master Yuan, what are you planning to do?"

"Take this opportunity to see the Uchiha clan leader in person and see what kind of person he is. Also... Ao underwent surgery last night."

surgery?

Yagura understood.

"I understand. Then, Master Yuan, please come with me to meet the head of the Uchiha clan!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

When they arrived at the Konoha delegation's residence, Yagura and his group encountered a small accident. A group of kids were playing ninja games there, and an unsharpened shuriken almost hit Genji. Hozuki Mangetsu, who was with them, reacted quickly and directly raised his hand to knock the shuriken away. He was not injured because of his water transformation technique.

However, Gonbei, who was always protecting the master's safety, was furious and was about to deal with these brats when he was stopped by Yagura.

"Lord Mizukage, they almost injured Master Yuan."

Kwon Hyung-eun was furious.

Yagura was very dissatisfied with the person who blocked his way.

“Arguing with a bunch of kids will only make Master Yuan seem petty,” said Yagura Gojibana. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he glanced at the girl who jumped down from the wall. A sense of helplessness rose in his heart. The two shurikens that collided and changed direction in the air, which almost prevented the accompanying guards from stopping them, were thrown by this girl.

This technique of throwing shuriken

Like Fire Release, it can be considered a signature technique of the Uchiha clan.

Logically speaking, shuriken throwing techniques and fire release techniques are not high-level skills. However, these two techniques have undergone a complete transformation in the hands of the Uchiha clan. Their ferocious fire release techniques, which can suppress water release techniques, are well known. In addition, their unpredictable shuriken manipulation techniques combined with the Sharingan are also infamous.

"Grandpa, I'm sorry, I almost hit you."

Wisteria ran over and apologized loudly.

Behind her followed Naruto and a few other kids.

"It's alright, it's alright."

Master Yuan's smile was kind.

At the same time, he gently waved his hand, immediately silencing Quan Bingwei, whose face was still very unpleasant.

"You lot, throwing shuriken around is dangerous. If you want to play ninja games, go somewhere where no one is around." Yagura Karatachi scolded the group of kids. Besides Fujika and Naruto, there were seven or eight other kids from the village, one of whom, a kid with white hair and purple eyes, stood out.

"Shuiyue, what are you doing here?"

Hozuki Mangetsu frowned in confusion as he looked at his younger brother, who was mixed in with the crowd.

"I'm out having fun!"

Hozuki Suigetsu shrugged nonchalantly.