Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Subordinates like him who resolutely carry out their superiors' orders are exactly what all leaders like. On the contrary, one or two troublesome geniuses like Hozuki Mangetsu are enough; too many would just cause headaches and keep people up at night.

After speaking with Baiyun Yeshan

Zongxian looked at the bald man, Jilu, and a slight smile appeared on his lips. "So, Jilu, can you tell me what this 'disciple' is all about?" He emphasized the word "disciple" because, in the descriptions of Baiyun Yeshan and Hozuki Mangetsu, it seemed that he had inexplicably gained a disciple.

Hozuki Mangetsu rolled his eyes beside him.

He was lying all along!

But it doesn't matter. Anyway, he didn't work for nothing. He received praise from Zongxian and a reward whose true nature is currently unknown... It's already a great deal. If he could get such a result every time he was deceived, he wouldn't care even if he was deceived ten or eight more times.

"It was I who said..."

Di Lu looked ashamed, but did not regret his lie.

If it weren't for this lie, his body would probably be cold by now, and he wouldn't have the chance to sit here and talk.

Just as he was about to confess that he had lied—

"Brother Zongxian, can you teach me ninjutsu?" With red eyes, Tsuchigumo Hotaru, sitting next to Dunbei, suddenly interrupted Jiriku, crossing her arms and looking at Zongxian with great anticipation.

The little girl had already realized, amidst her wailing cries, that her grandfather would never come back.

Having lost her parents at a young age, Hotaru Tsuchigumo only has one relative, Yoru no Gyōzō.

Although there are still many blood relatives in the Tsuchigumo clan, since En no Yuki had fallen out with most of the clan members and even moved back to the abandoned old clan land with his granddaughter and followers, those clan members were just a group of strangers to Tsuchigumo Hotaru, whom she only saw once a year during festivals. She was not as close as Dunbei.

There was absolutely no need for deliberate guidance; when she understood from the conversation between Jiraiya and Hozuki Mangetsu that her grandfather had been murdered,

The seeds of hatred—

It naturally settled in her heart.

The once innocent and carefree little girl suddenly matured a lot. Many things she couldn't understand before became clear to her naturally. She vaguely understood why her grandfather had placed that bunch of scary skeletons where her parents were 'sleeping'.

but,

At this moment, she also realized her own weakness and powerlessness.

She wanted to kill the enemy who killed her grandfather... In her current state, she absolutely couldn't defeat him. So, could she do it in the future? This question was a bit complicated for her. Fortunately, she remembered that her grandfather had said that "Brother Zongxian" was very powerful, even stronger than him.

Therefore,

And that's how this whole thing happened.

"Whoa!"

Zongxian let out a soft chuckle.

Are you going to use this trick?

Seeing the genuine astonishment on Jiraiya and Dunbei's faces, it seemed this wasn't something they had planned beforehand. In other words, it was the little girl's own idea? Looking at the girl, who was about the same age as Fujika, his mind raced, and he asked:

"Hotaru, why do you want to learn ninjutsu from me?"

"Because Grandpa said that you are very powerful, even Grandpa can't beat you."

"That's it!"

Zong Xian nodded slightly. He lowered his gaze, staring into the little girl's beautiful, emerald-like eyes, and said:

"Hotaru, learning ninjutsu from me is going to be tough! You really... want to learn from me? Think it through! If you don't do well in your studies while training with me, you'll not only go hungry, but you'll also get beaten up!"

"Ok!"

Hotaru Tsuchigumo nodded vigorously. "I'm not afraid of hardship. As long as I can become stronger, I'm not afraid of any amount of hardship. Brother Sogen, please, teach me ninjutsu!"

Looking at the earnest little girl,

Zongxian suppressed his smile and earnestly corrected the incorrect address: "From now on, you can't call me 'brother,' you have to call me 'master.'" This disciple... he accepted him. To be honest, Tsuchigumo Hotaru's talent couldn't compare to Yakumo's.

Although the young girl is not exactly mediocre.

If carved properly,

It doesn't necessarily mean it can't shine brightly.

Moreover, having only Yakumo as a disciple was somewhat insufficient. If he could cultivate a few more outstanding disciples... he felt it would be very fulfilling. Also, this matter seemed quite interesting. In short, under the combined effect of various factors, he decided to take Tsuchigumo Hotaru as his disciple.

"Yes, Master!"

The little girl jumped up excitedly.

"Alright, Hotaru, stop making a fuss here. Now I'm giving you some homework. Go to the practice field and throw kunai a thousand times." Zongxian's 'big brother' kind of friendliness' was completely gone, replaced by a powerful aura called 'teacher's authority'.

"One, a thousand times?"

The Earth Spider Firefly stared wide-eyed, a hint of fear showing in her turquoise eyes.

She had practiced throwing shuriken before, but the most she could manage was three hundred. After that training session, her arms were so sore she couldn't lift them. A thousand times... her arms would break, wouldn't they? But the thought of never seeing her grandfather's kind and gentle smile again suddenly gave her a surge of courage.

She clenched her fists.

"I...I will do it, Master!"

"Then go!"

Zongxian said calmly.

He then instructed, "Swiftwind, go and bring everything we'll need to the training ground."

"Yes, my lord."

The Moonlight Gale, who was standing nearby, responded, not traveling with the Earth Spider Hotaru, but instead using the Body Flicker Technique to leave.

The young girl walked out of the reception room alone. Dunbei, who was sitting on the sofa, was as uneasy as if he were sitting on a bed of nails. However, he dared not move in front of Sogen, especially now that Miss Hotaru had really become the Hokage's disciple to assist him. How the master taught his disciple was his own business.

Even him,

They have no right to say anything.

After Hotaru Tsuchigumo left and closed the conference room door behind her, Sogen looked at Jiriku and said, "Jiriku, thanks to you this time. If it weren't for you, I might not have found out that he stole the forbidden technique of the Tsuchigumo clan until Kazuma and the others were fighting at the gates of Konoha. Although it might not have been of any use, it's always good to be prepared in advance."

"You flatter me. I was only entrusted by Senior Tsuchigumo, and I had no choice but to borrow your tiger skin and pretend that Hotaru was your disciple. I am truly sorry." Jiraiya apologized very sincerely, and also sincerely apologized to Hozuki Mangetsu and Shirakumo Hayama.

Hozuki Mangetsu chuckled and waved his hand, indicating that he didn't care.

Bai Yunyeshan's face twitched, but he didn't say anything.

"Compared to the information you leaked, that little thing is nothing, and in terms of the outcome, you weren't exactly lying. In short, you don't need to take it to heart." Zong Xian didn't intend to dwell on this matter any longer. Now that the lie had become the truth, there was no point in going on about it.

"As for the matter with the horses, once I return to the village, I will have people find a way to search for their whereabouts. If you are interested, you can participate. If you are planning to return to the Fire Temple, that would also be a wise choice. The choice is in your hands. Considering the information you brought out this time, you can choose freely."

"I... am preparing to return to the Fire Temple. My teacher's health has not been very good lately, but if I wait until he recovers, I would like to ask you, Lord Hokage, if you would allow me to join again."

"It's alright."

Zongxian didn't mind giving Dilu this small favor, "As long as He Ma hasn't been captured, you can get involved at any time."

Having said that,

In reality, there's nothing important left. The death of the Enno-gyoku-zō is, frankly, not a big deal and not worth causing any major upheaval. Of course, Sōgen still needs to send a message to the village. After all, Konoha and the Tsuchigumo clan are allies and have signed such an alliance.

Now that the En no Gyōja is dead, the Tsuchigumo clan may face some trouble. According to the alliance, Konoha is obligated to lend a helping hand when the Tsuchigumo clan is in danger, but this is not something that Sōgen should worry about right now.

Who should be sent to Mount Katsuragi to support the Tsuchigumo clan? This is a question the Hokage should consider.

[Chapter 287. About the Future of Hotaru]

sunset.

A long shadow stretched across the training ground in the backyard of the Konoha embassy. Tsuchigumo Hotaru was still throwing shuriken. Throwing shuriken a thousand times was a very difficult challenge for the little girl who had never done similar high-intensity training before.

It's easy to give up halfway.

but--

Tsuchigumo Hotaru, however, displayed astonishing perseverance. The little girl had been throwing shuriken since the afternoon, under the still lingering heat of the sun, and continued until now, as the sun was about to set. She had not rested even once, enduring drowsy fatigue and the pain in her arm that felt like it was about to break, while maintaining the standard posture to throw each shuriken.

"Gale, how are you feeling?"

On the corridor under the eaves,

Zongxian silently approached from behind Gekko Hayate, startling the dark-circled youth who was intently watching Tsuchigumo Hotaru's training. The young man, whose katana was half-drawn from its sheath, only realized Zongxian was approaching and immediately let out a long sigh of relief: "My lord, you... that was terrifying!"

"Your alertness is still a bit lacking, and your sword-drawing speed isn't fast enough either. You should practice your sword-drawing technique more often. You're learning the Konoha-ryu swordsmanship that the Second Hokage summarized and organized. I remember there are three types of sword-drawing techniques in it alone. For you... 'Moon-Soothing' is more suitable. Focus on learning it, and you'll gain a lot. Your family should have a corresponding tradition, right?"

Zongxian casually offered a couple of pointers.

The so-called Konoha-ryu swordsmanship was not created from scratch by the Second Hokage. Rather, it was Tobirama Senju who integrated and modified many swordsmanship traditions he had collected at the time, creating a Konoha-ryu swordsmanship that, while not all-encompassing, was certainly rich in content.

The Second Hokage originally intended to use this thing as one of the training materials for the Anbu.

However, it was later discovered that the complete version of the Konoha-ryu swordsmanship was too complex and profound to be suitable as a teaching material for the Anbu. In the end, it was only taught to a few disciples and some members of the Shadow Guard who followed him. One of them was from the Gekko clan and happened to be Gekko Hayate's grandfather.

As for how Zongxian learned about these things...

Very simple,

Uchiha Kagami was also a disciple of the Second Hokage.

Putting aside the issue of his untimely death, Uchiha Kagami was undoubtedly a genius. He perfectly mastered the Konoha-ryu swordsmanship and left behind a manual in the clan. However, the Uchiha clan has its own swordsmanship tradition, which has been developed and continuously improved by generations of strong members of the clan with the Sharingan, making it more suitable for the Uchiha clan's Uchiha-ryu swordsmanship.

To be honest, not many people in the Uchiha clan are interested in this set of Konoha-ryu sword techniques. Only a small group of people who are obsessed with swordsmanship would look into these things. Sogen isn't obsessed with swordsmanship.

The reason he worked so hard to study swordsmanship was...

The main reason was that I felt swordsmanship and the talent "Knights Don't Die Unarmed" had good synergy.

Although this conjecture ultimately did not yield any reliable conclusions, and Zongxian no longer relies on swordsmanship to defeat his enemies, this effort was by no means in vain. His swordsmanship was also indispensable in enabling him to survive the battlefields of the Third Shinobi World War.

"Fuyue... This move is not in our family's traditional swordsmanship."

Moonlight Gale shook his head.

"No?"

Zongxian paused for a second before coming to his senses, then realized that not everyone could master the vast Konoha-ryu swordsmanship like Uchiha Kagami.

Nowadays, the Konoha-ryu swordsmanship passed down in the village by families like Gekko is only a part of it.

Besides the Uchiha clan, the only other clans that possess the complete Konoha-ryu swordsmanship are probably the Sarutobi and Shimura clans. Of course, the original Konoha-ryu swordsmanship has always been in the hands of the current Hokage. Like the Scroll of Seals, it is an important and reusable reward used by the village to reward those who have made contributions.

"Then watch it carefully tomorrow. Whether you can learn it or not depends on yourself."

"Yes, my lord."