Uchiha's personal opinion

"Going back now would be like walking into a trap. Do you think I'm stupid?"

Ashura chuckled, quite pleased with himself.

"..."

No! It is!

If Josuke Uchiha hadn't been unable to control his eyes, he would have rolled them back.

"So how do you plan to compensate them?"

“If given the opportunity, I wouldn’t mind sharing my chakra seeds with them.”

[Distribution]

Chakra Seed

Although he didn't understand how chakra, which is naturally extracted by the human body, could be bestowed, Josuke Uchiha deduced a general idea from the fact that his lord, Tokumitsu Uchiha, had bestowed upon him the seed of Sage Mode.

However, there is a fundamental difference between ordinary chakra and sage chakra, which may explain why this strange person's strength is still quite different from that of the master.

The two of them had been standing in the middle of the street for a long time, but passersby seemed not to have noticed their presence at all. They walked around them without making eye contact or physical contact, and it was unclear how they had done so.

Josuke Uchiha felt increasingly uneasy about it.

It's truly astonishing how this eccentric, unconventional entity has grown to its current state...

"By the way, since so many people are engaged in this low-profit, buy-low-sell-high-profit business, how is agricultural and handicraft production guaranteed?"

Ashura counted the money and casually asked.

Do you know how many people live in the ninja world?

"I don't know. How many people are there?"

"I do not know either."

Josuke Uchiha said calmly.

"you!"

Ashura was a little angry and raised his hand to prepare to form a hand seal to teach him a lesson.

"But the population under the rule of the shogunate alone was no less than ten million."

Josuke Uchiha casually made up a number that was only slightly off.

"And the city we're in now..."

Ashura was momentarily stunned.

"Utaki County is just one of many county towns in the northern region of the Land of Fire, and it can't be considered a big city."

Josuke Uchiha said calmly.

"If that's the case..."

Ashura was stunned again.

After a while, he slowly said, "Indeed, reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. The existence of merchants is still necessary..."

It seems... the truth of the ninja world differs somewhat from what the hermit Fukasaku of Mount Myōboku said about the deep-seated sins and incurable nature of the ninja...

However, this is probably due to the different perspectives of the frogs of Mount Myōboku and the humans of the ninja world. It would be better if the two sides could understand each other.

Ashura comforted himself inwardly.

"Yes, so you did something wrong."

"Yes, I did something wrong."

Ashura muttered to himself.

"The ninja world... really is completely different now!"

It was already nightfall, and the gas lamps on both sides of the street were lit one by one by the workers, illuminating the street as if it were daytime.

Feeling lost and dejected, Ashura carefully observed how these "commoners" worked, as if trying to figure it out.

"How were these novel lamps made? They can light up without relying on chakra. And what secret technique was used to create these tools that can make sounds?"

Ashura pointed to the carbide lamp and horn on the lamppost and asked.

"This is the result of progress in the ninja world, developed and marketed by the United Corporation's ironworks."

As a ninja, Josuke Uchiha didn't understand the principles behind these so-called technological creations. He only knew that although this thing had a certain smell, it provided better illumination than candles, consumed less fuel than oil lamps, and was easier to manufacture and promote than electric lights, making it a decent product.

"So, do you think the changes in the ninja world are for the better or for the worse?"

Ashura changed to a relatively simple question.

"All modernization is an evolution toward a better future."

Josuke Uchiha once again quoted the views in "The Sayings of Tokuko".

"I think... what you mean by modernization is the evolution and application of these things, right?"

Ashura asked again.

Josuke Uchiha nodded.

In fact, he didn't understand what "modernization" was; he just copied and pasted relevant statements from quotes to use as a way to deceive people.

"If five or ten years pass, will modernization still have any meaning? Or... can it still be called modernization?"

Ashura tried to understand Josuke Uchiha's point of view and asked a question in return.

Josuke Uchiha was somewhat surprised upon hearing this. This guy could actually think? And even apply what he learned to other situations?!

"...Everything we do has a positive or negative impact on the future, but in any case, it is driving the progress of the ninja world."

This time, Josuke Uchiha tried to answer in his own words: "It's like when you eat ramen, you feel full after the tenth bowl, but that doesn't mean the previous nine bowls were useless."

"Ten bowls of ramen won't fill me up!"

Ashura shook his head, denying Josuke Uchiha's point of view.

"..."

Josuke Uchiha was speechless.

"You should have enough money for a meal, right?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, Ashura waved the banknotes and walked towards the ramen shop next to the United Company store.

……

"...Has Josuke still not been found?"

In the temporary command center of the joint anti-terrorism force in the Kinki region of the Land of Fire, Uchiha Tokumitsu, with an unhappy expression, fiddled with a small scroll in his hand and said indifferently.

This scroll is Hatake Sakumo's ninja dog summoning scroll. After being torn open, it can summon a ninja dog, which can then use a reverse summoning technique to summon Hatake Sakumo. Through this nested tactic, Uchiha Tokumitsu and Hatake Sakumo can meet and fight together in a very short time.

"Tracking..."

The reconnaissance ninja, sweating profusely, frantically sent telegrams to various departments for replies, while Uchiha Shiina and the others stood by their sides, not daring to breathe.

The capture of a dignified Uchiha Jonin with three tomoe in full view of everyone is the greatest disgrace in the history of the ninja village!

The anti-terrorism force, which prided itself on being able to detect any movement in the ninja world, lost face completely. After arrogantly covering up the situation for several days, Uchiha Shiina, unable to find any captured clansmen, had no choice but to honestly report to the shogunate and request "tactical guidance."

Fortunately, the strange man who kidnapped Josuke didn't seem to be hiding his whereabouts very well.

According to reports from ninjas stationed in various places, they had heard coughing sounds that resembled the rhythm of coded telegrams. At first, they didn't think much of it and assumed it was just a coincidence, but upon closer reflection, they realized it was a brief distress signal.

Therefore, after the joint venture reported the information up the chain of command, it was transferred to the counter-terrorism forces again.

Based on the location and frequency of the coughing coded distress signal, it seems that the unknown person who kidnapped Uchiha Josuke is heading from the Land of Rice Fields towards the capital of the Land of Fire.

However, considering that the unknown person possessed a similar technique to the Flying Thunder God Technique, in order to avoid alerting the enemy, Uchiha Tokumitsu rejected the counter-terrorism unit's proposal to mobilize a large number of ninja forces for a search, and instead adopted a more primitive approach of reasoning and location tracking.

Even the United Corporation didn't know why the central headquarters was doing this.

"Is it an Otsutsuki...?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu felt somewhat heavy-hearted.

Besides that, he really couldn't think of any other place in the ninja world where such a person could have come from.

Moreover, he couldn't turn a blind eye.

It wasn't just about the abduction of tribesmen; it was more about preventing future troubles.

After all, there's no way you can guard against thieves for a thousand days if you're a thief for a thousand days.

"Lord Tokumitsu!"

The communications ninja from another radio station quickly ran to Uchiha Tokumitsu's side and respectfully said, "The noodle shop under the United Company in Utaki County has received a large gold coin with a registration number belonging to Jonin Josuke!"

"Who is the user!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu's expression turned serious, and he asked in a deep voice.

"The clerks on duty couldn't remember... They only discovered they had received a large gold yuan note later, and then reported it to their superiors..."

The communications ninja replied in a low voice, "Furthermore, there's no 'Heavenly Eye' installed inside the ramen shop, so we couldn't capture any portraits of the people using the special gold coins, but we can confirm that there were two of them..."

"How long ago was this?"

About an hour ago.

Uchiha Tokumitsu casually pulled out a kunai and threw it toward the location of Utaki County on the map.

"It's getting clearer and clearer..."

Judging from the distribution of county towns on the map and the trend of their movements, their next destination is...

"Draw ninja troops!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu ordered: "The joint anti-terrorism force, the shogunate's direct ninja army, the Red Guard, the security patrol force, and other ninja forces shall immediately head north! We shall conduct a large-scale encirclement across counties!"

"Chief Ashina... May I ask if your clan's large-scale barrier technique can ensure the effective containment of space-time ninjutsu over a wide area?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu turned his gaze to the group of people in the Uzumaki clan.

Their mission is directly related to the success of Uchiha Tokumitsu's plan to "use ten thousand cannons to kill a mosquito".

"Lord Deguang, I can guarantee it!"