Akatsuki Village.
In the conference room, the clans that had recently joined Akatsuki gathered together.
The Kaguya Clan, the Yuki Clan, the Kurama Clan, the Hatake Clan, the Suō Clan, and many other large and small houses. Some that should have belonged to Konoha had been poached by Uchiha Makoto. Stealing others' foundations felt addictively transgressive, like being a professional homewrecker. Sooner or later, Konoha's orthodoxy would reside in Akatsuki.
Even so, Uchiha Makoto felt unsatisfied.
The more clans the better.
Unfortunately, Akatsuki's roots were still too shallow. If not for riding Konoha's surge of attention, recruitment would not have gone this smoothly even with the daimyo's backing and cash power.
The other four great nations' mighty clans had begun founding villages of their own, and those first-generation Kage were vying for powerful houses. Heroes in the shinobi world were as numerous as carp crossing the river.
Aside from the famous clans of the world of the Hokage, most who joined Akatsuki were mid-size and small houses with no bloodline limit and no secret arts. Their presence in Konoha would have been negligible, so they settled for Akatsuki.
Uchiha Makoto welcomed them all.
Panning for gold in the muck.
With a large enough base, even if you never pull an SSR-tier prodigy, R and SR-level shinobi will appear. Among those, the ones who most interested Makoto came from the Land of Sky and the Land of Craftsmen. Compared with fighting, these shinobi preferred to spend their time and energy on working out technology.
In this world, "technology" meant ninjutsu research. Their path was unconventional, and traditional ninja struggled to like it.
It was not that people disliked better techniques, but research burned money. If the direction was wrong, the money spent was as good as sunk.
Spending on training produced immediate results.
Once new tech appeared, if its creators wanted to keep researching, they had to turn it into a mature product and monetize it.
If they would sell, why not simply buy.
Makoto happened to like it. He respected technique and was willing to pour money into it. Always buying from others made him feel insecure. Most importantly, he was rich now. If he weren't, that would be another story.
The meeting began.
Uchiha Makoto strode to the head seat. Behind him hung a red banner that read, Warmly Celebrate the Successful Convocation of Akatsuki Village.
The sense of ceremony was maxed out.
"Lord Akatsuki." Voices rose in unison.
"Everyone, today is your first time attending an Akatsuki Village assembly."
After a trite but necessary opening, representatives of each clan spoke in turn.
The atmosphere grew lively.
Overall, they were very satisfied with joining Akatsuki Village. They had the Land of Fire's official recognition, Konoha as a protective umbrella, and a wealthy leader.
His personal strength was anything but weak, even terrifying.
Kaguya Masao, the clan head of the Kaguya, knew this firsthand.
The Kaguya were battle fanatics. In sheer madness, a non-awakened Uchiha could not compare.
Money alone could not have persuaded them to join Akatsuki.
The key was Uchiha Makoto displaying overwhelming personal power.
Otherwise, recruiting them would only invite disaster.
With his system's support, Makoto's power was steadily rising. The system did not change his ninjutsu proficiency or combat experience, but his raw stats kept climbing. As the village grew stronger, he would one day become a stat monster like Hashirama Senju. That day was still far off.
Kaguya Masao had personally challenged him. From his perspective, a simple C-rank Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique turned the surroundings into a blazing sea that cut off his escape and forced him into close combat.
Because of the Sharingan.
Compared with ninjutsu exchanges at range, the Uchiha excelled at close-quarters fighting. With the Sharingan, they had unparalleled dynamic vision, could read every movement, spot every opening, and copy an opponent's taijutsu and ninjutsu with ease.
Born of the Kaguya, Kaguya Masao was a top-tier taijutsu master. Their bloodline limit was Bone Release.
Their bones could grow at will, providing maximum defense, and could be drawn out as weapons. They could attack and defend at will.
The two traded hundreds of blows, evenly matched.
Dust billowed and the ground was a ruin.
Chakra raged across their battlefield. Soon, Kaguya Masao paused for a breath, calmed the surging chakra within, and saw the scene change. No ash from a burned-out fire sea. No bone forest stabbing from the earth.
Uchiha Makoto stood quietly where he had begun, smiling.
Behind him, the Kaguya wore bleak expressions, looking like the defeated.
A veteran of many battles, Kaguya Masao realized what had happened.
"I fell into a genjutsu. When did it happen. The Uchiha's Sharingan is truly fearsome."
"It began the moment the fight started, when you first looked at me."
One move had decided it.
Had Uchiha Makoto meant harm in a real war, Kaguya Masao would already be dead.
Makoto's genjutsu was ordinary in technique, but the system kept raising his stats. Perhaps because shinobi in this world were glass cannons, the bodily boost was not striking, and most of the enhancement seemed to pour into his ocular power, strong enough to feel like brute force that could hurl stones.
Kaguya Masao was not weak. He was a terrifyingly capable shinobi. In the Warring States era, every veteran had a unique trump card, and the heads of great clans were almost uniformly Kage class.
But Makoto had planned this for maximum shock. He poured all his ocular power, laced with enormous chakra, into a single genjutsu.
Kaguya Masao had approached it as a friendly bout, expecting to trade a few probing moves out of courtesy between a clan head and a village leader. That was the usual strategy among shinobi: test the waters first, gather intel on an opponent's techniques, then target weaknesses to win. As usual, this excluded Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.
Makoto ignored the code of honor and exploited genjutsu, a move that could decide the match at once.
It was like two cars of similar capability, one easing off the line while the other launched at full performance. The result was inevitable.
Makoto got to put on a ruthless display.
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