Uchiha's personal opinion

For White Zetsu, who don't care about ordinary pleasures, this is the greatest happiness that their empty minds can imagine.

……

"Teacher, why did you let Uncle Fei lead the White Zetsu brothers away?"

Inside the cave in the Land of Snow, Nagato asked with some confusion.

"Everyone has their own ambitions, but that won't affect our grand plan..."

Black Zetsu chuckled.

This can also be considered a form of isolation. After all, Tobi's Wood Release has already been revealed. If he continues to stay in the Land of Snow, given his personality, he will probably cause problems sooner or later. So it's better to go with the flow and let the intelligent Tobi open a branch base. Even if something happens, it won't affect the existence of the secret cave in the Land of Snow.

In addition, he was still planning how to get in touch with Uchiha Tokumitsu, and the presence of Tobi, who was sharp-eared and obstructive, was a real problem. So, getting him out of the Land of Snow would make it easier for him to make connections and also make it easier to sell him for a good price later.

In this way, we can kill two birds with one stone!

Chapter 390 Love and Understanding

"Wood Release! It's actually Wood Release!"

Onoki's blood pressure spiked again.

Moreover, the Wood Release technique actually originated from a spy base they set up in the Kinki region of the Land of Fire! This is something that's impossible to explain away!

"A conspiracy! This must be a conspiracy by Konoha!"

The elders of Iwagakure were also somewhat flustered.

"No! It must be an Uchiha conspiracy!"

Another elder from the Hidden Rock Village delivered a precise cut.

Then the higher-ups at Iwagakure panicked even more.

If the Wood Release ninja who suddenly appeared belonged to Konoha, then there might still be a chance to mediate; but if the Uchiha clan planned this, then it would most likely be the pretext to start a war!

For the Iwagakure ninja suffering from "Uchiha PTSD", this was like a bolt from the blue!

They had no idea that the Wood Release ninja who inexplicably appeared at the spy outpost and successfully escaped after a fierce battle with Uchiha Tokumitsu had anything to do with their village!

If they had that kind of power, Onoki would probably be bursting with confidence and would have led his army south to fight the Tokugawa Shogunate to the death. He would never have placed such a valuable Wood Release ninja in an insignificant spy outpost.

Therefore—there must be a conspiracy involved!

"The most urgent task is to maintain strategic focus, neither giving the Tokugawa Shogunate any opportunity, nor retreating too much and causing our village's ninjas to lose their fighting spirit!"

An elder from the Hidden Rock Village uttered a correct but useless statement.

"But in that case, there will be no opportunity to interfere with the Land of Wind..."

Huang Tu said with some regret.

The disappearance of the Third Kazekage finally allowed Iwagakure spies to gather intelligence and relay it back to Iwagakure headquarters. Overjoyed, the Iwagakure ninjas planned to exploit the "weakest link in the shogunate system." However, due to the time lag caused by the destruction of their spy network, the earlier Kinki Wood Release incident was delayed in reaching Iwagakure. As a result, the Iwagakure ninjas had to temporarily shelve their plans against Sunagakure.

Without saying much, Onoki agreed to the elders' suggestion, canceled the military operation against Sunagakure, and appropriately withdrew some of the Iwagakure troops stationed outside the village.

Thus, the only victim of the Wood Release reappearance incident in Iwagakure was Tesshi Jonin, who commanded the Frost Country Expeditionary Army. However, after being terrified by Onoki's Dust Release, he no longer dared to challenge the village and could only silently accept the village's order to withdraw its ninja forces.

……

Wood Release!

Ashura stared at the sage Fukasaku in surprise.

"Is it really Wood Release?"

He couldn't help but ask one more question.

"The intelligence is accurate! And it came from Iwagakure."

Fukasaku nodded vigorously.

"This is a bit tricky..."

Ashura couldn't help but rub his forehead.

He had been hoping to find the reincarnation of his rebellious older brother and bring him back to raise and educate him while he was still a child, but who knew that this would happen again.

In that case, Ashura would have no choice but to make a trip to the ninja world.

"Do you know the identity of this Wood Release ninja?"

Asura asked.

"...No, there is no information about their identity or appearance."

Fukasaku said, "Iwagakure's intelligence system has been destroyed, so even we Greninjas, who are parasitic on Iwagakure's intelligence system, can't get any more information."

"In this way, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack..."

Asura muttered to himself.

"Could it be... that Mr. Ashura is planning to personally travel to the ninja world to investigate this person?"

The immortal looked somewhat surprised.

"Although it's somewhat risky, we have no choice but to do it this way."

Ashura sighed, "My strength is recovering too slowly now. It will take a long time to reach the level of my brother's descendant. As for regaining my former strength, I don't know when that will be..."

"So, we can't wait any longer."

"Moreover, those who use Wood Release should be related to my descendants, I just don't know if it's Senju or Uzumaki... but they should still be able to communicate and understand each other."

Ashura's expression held a hint of compassion.

"If it's related to the Uzumaki clan, it might not be trustworthy..."

The immortal, Fukasaku, couldn't help but offer a reminder.

Don't forget, you were planning to send the Uzumaki clan to Ryuchi-dō as a servant family!

Given the temperament of those ninjas, even the relatively mild-mannered Uzumaki clan, if they knew about this, would probably have drawn their swords on the spot and carried out a "righteous extermination of their ancestors," right?

"When Father bestowed chakra upon us, it was with the aim of fostering love and understanding between people. But that doesn’t mean that the ninja sect members are not skilled in combat."

"..."

The immortal was somewhat confused.

Just a moment ago he was saying that his current strength might be slightly inferior to Uchiha Tokumitsu, how come he's suddenly started bragging?

"Of course, I know that Master Fukasaku meant well, and I understand that."

Ashura continued speaking to himself.

"..."

The immortal was even more confused.

Did I say anything?

"As long as I don't encounter the strongest descendant of Indra, I should be able to roam the ninja world without any problems."

Ashura laughed and said, "After all, although my strength is slightly inferior to my brother's, I still have quite a few skills in magic and secret techniques."

"……All right."

The frog-like creature opened and closed its mouth a few times before finally managing to utter two words.

"There's no time to lose, I'll go right now!"

Full of energy, Ashura stood up and said, "If we delay any longer, my Wood Release descendant might be discovered by Indra's descendant!"

"……be safe."

The immortal, Shenzuo, said something casually.

"Do not worry!"

Ashura laughed heartily and formed a hand seal with one hand. "If anything happens, I will summon the Greninja of Mount Myōboku to help. At worst, I can return directly using a reverse summoning technique or a Sage Art talisman, so it's perfectly safe!"

After saying that, Ashura was pulled away by the space-time ninjutsu and turned into a cloud of smoke and disappeared without a trace.

"...Thank you so much!"

After a long while, the hermit finally managed to utter these words.

It always felt that something was off about this Asura.

While you might call him foolish, judging from his visit to Ryūchi Cave, he was actually quite courageous and resourceful; to be fair, outsmarting the White Snake Immortal was indeed a remarkable feat.

But if we're talking about Ashura's shrewdness, sometimes his views seem absurd even to non-human beings like Fukasaku, and are basically not feasible.

However, considering that the two sides are now on the same side, and that this is the result of the renewed cooperation between the Toad Sage and the Sage of Six Paths, and that the Toad Sage is of a higher seniority than himself, Fukasaku Sage couldn't say anything.

"I hope the trip to the ninja world goes well..."

The sage Fukasaku twisted his neck, stretched his back, shook his head, and walked back to his mushroom house.

……

"So this is the ninja world as it is today!"

After arriving in the Ninja World, Ashura lingered in a town in the Land of Rice Fields.

Whether it was due to the muscle memory of his own body or not, Ashura always felt an urge to rush into the taverns where those brightly dressed, scantily clad girls were, and to revel in unrestrained revelry. Fortunately, his willpower was as strong as steel, so he managed to suppress the physical urge.

However, the current state of the ninja world was enough to surprise Ashura greatly.

For example, electric lights, radio stations, and wired telephones were all novelties that people in ancient times could never have imagined.

Especially the businesses that claim to be local distributors of the joint venture are incredibly diverse and dazzling.

"This is really good food!"

In a noodle shop next to the shop, Ashura ordered a bowl of tonkotsu ramen and ate it with great relish.

Although he disliked his brother's descendants and the company system that seemed out of place with the simple, ancient customs, it didn't stop him from seeking out delicious food.

"This is a secret recipe from Konoha~ It tastes pretty good, doesn't it!"

There weren't many customers in the noodle shop, so the chef and owner came over to chat, saying, "Ichiraku Ramen has the best ramen in Konoha. We're a franchisee who learned a lot of their secret techniques!"

"Konoha! It's really quite nice!"