Considering that the current Uchiha Madara was still a young man, meaning he hadn't yet become the extreme, obsessed figure he would later become. In fact, to some degree—in his attitude toward his clan and his understanding of the shinobi world—he shared considerable common ground with Hashirama Senju.
Otherwise, two people born into mutually hostile ninja clans could never have become friends, much less enacted their own shinobi world version of "young Madara and Hashirama founding Konoha."
But don't let Madara's deep considerations for peace in the shinobi world create any rose-colored filters. Ideals are ideals, reality is reality—when it comes to killing, this kind of ninja shows absolutely no mercy.
If Shichimi Uchiha subjectively refused to return to her family, then he'd create an objective reason forcing her to return.
If a bird won't return to its nest, it's because it has found a more appealing perch outside. Destroy that perch, and it will spread its wings and ride the winds of return.
Yūshin didn't know if Uchiha Madara was thinking this way right now, but he couldn't rule out the possibility no matter what.
After all, for him at this moment, Uchiha Madara was simply too dangerous.
"Are you the clan leader here?"
After giving Yūshin a penetrating look, Uchiha Madara finally withdrew that extremely dangerous gaze. He wasn't surprised by Yūshin's age—he was accustomed to seeing people who were too young, even children, taking on the role of clan leader.
Yūshin shook his head and said:
"No, they just call me Chief."
As he spoke, he resumed walking, realizing he had stopped in place because of Uchiha Madara's single glance.
His words caused several nearby Fūma Clan ninja to show slightly puzzled expressions. Wait, why are you voluntarily revealing information to a stranger?
"Ninja alliance?"
Uchiha Madara looked somewhat confused. So this wasn't just the Fūma Clan? It seemed the intelligence he'd received wasn't entirely accurate.
Then he shook his head:
"It's a good idea, but uniting different ninja clans requires both mutual trust and the leader's strength for support... You won't maintain this for long."
This condescending attitude was like issuing a death certificate to Yūshin's organization.
Under normal circumstances, Uchiha Madara's judgment was sound. When small and medium ninja clans unite, friction easily develops over time because no one can achieve absolute fairness.
Once conflicts arise, the leader of such an alliance struggles to suppress the chaotic voices within the organization. The reason is simple: truly powerful ninja wouldn't play such childish games.
One could only say Uchiha Madara's assessment was accurate, but next time he'd better not make assessments.
Yūshin completely ignored Uchiha Madara's barbed words, instead adopting a "business" attitude:
"Big shot, what do you need? I think the quality of ninja tools produced by the Fūma Clan speaks for itself."
Indeed, judging by presence alone, Uchiha Madara was definitely a big shot.
However, even setting aside knowledge from the original work, Yūshin's first impression of Uchiha Madara was quite poor. Breaking down the phrase "bullying with strength," whether he actually "bullies the weak" was debatable, but he definitely "relies on strength."
Without any bias, only oddballs could become friends with Uchiha Madara. So after just brief contact, Yūshin knew he and his opponent were completely different types of people.
Uchiha Madara was difficult to get along with now, and future interactions would probably only get worse... if there was a future.
"One thousand kunai, five thousand shuriken, five hundred explosive tags."
Uchiha Madara glanced at Yūshin again, then began listing his shopping requirements.
"We only have kunai and shuriken. Currently, we haven't resumed production of explosive tags," a nearby Fūma ninja said.
Right, business is business—why make it so tense... Clearly, everyone around could sense the uneasy atmosphere.
No matter how excellent, kunai and shuriken are just battlefield consumables. The Fūma Clan could manufacture cold weapons effortlessly, so they could easily provide the quantities Uchiha Madara needed.
As for explosive tags, due to their more complex production process, even though the Fūma Clan had begun limited manufacturing, they had to prioritize internal organizational supply and couldn't sell externally yet, so that business definitely couldn't be done.
Someone handed Uchiha Madara samples of kunai and shuriken. He merely weighed them briefly, then nodded in satisfaction.
"Then skip the explosive tags—just kunai and shuriken."
Actually, ordinary kunai and shuriken couldn't showcase the Fūma Clan's capabilities. Various large shuriken and mechanical ninja tools were the Fūma Clan's specialty, but Yūshin had no intention of promoting them.
The Fūma Clan ninja opened the warehouse, loading sufficient quantities of kunai and shuriken into storage scrolls.
But when the Fūma ninja brought the scrolls to Uchiha Madara, Madara suddenly spoke:
"By the way, I didn't bring money with me. The payment for these ninja tools will need to be sent separately after some time."
You come to buy ninja tools without bringing money? Feeling deceived, the Fūma ninja immediately wanted to step forward and argue.
But Yūshin reached out to stop them. He looked at Uchiha Madara and said:
"No problem. The Uchiha name carries sufficient credibility."
Yūshin didn't care whether Uchiha Madara would default on payment. In fact, he rather hoped the other party would break faith, because that would cement the Uchiha Clan's identity as "deadbeats." If there were future opportunities to interact with this ninja clan, Yūshin could pin that exclusive title on them.
Anyway, the organization here had no real losses. The materials for manufacturing ninja tools were provided by Kikyō Castle, and Yūshin's only investment was some labor time from the Fūma Clan.
Was it because of Shichimi Uchiha... Uchiha Madara couldn't determine how his identity had been exposed, so he paused briefly before reaching out to accept those storage scrolls.
"Very well, the funds will be sent later."
Uchiha Madara had originally wanted to use this to cause some trouble and test Yūshin's reaction, but he hadn't expected Yūshin to take an unconventional approach and directly agree to the credit arrangement.
Uchiha Madara knew that this so-called "Chief" was on guard against him, which might be why he directly agreed to his conditions. Now he could only hold back.
After Yūshin made a "please" gesture, Uchiha Madara could only turn and walk toward the city exit.
While tucking the storage scrolls into his ninja tool pouch, Uchiha Madara became even more certain that this so-called ninja alliance couldn't exist for long, because when facing external pressure, that young chief displayed some weakness.
Weakness is the original sin of ninja.
By this time, Uchiha Madara had already left the ninja tool workshop and arrived at Kikyō Castle's main thoroughfare. Just as he was once again confirming his judgment about The Fireflies organization's fate and dismissing Yūshin's weakness, he instinctively looked back...
Then he discovered Yūshin's figure appearing about ten meters behind him, watching his back with a smile.
Uchiha Madara's mind went blank for a moment.
In an unfamiliar environment, he almost instinctively maintained vigilance, yet even so, he had been completely unaware of Yūshin's following.
Yūshin had moved soundlessly, without triggering even a trace of Uchiha Madara's alertness.
Just like a ghost.
...
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