Uchiha Koshiro and Gen’nosuke’s conversation contained not the slightest hint of restraint!
Kotetsu Hagane of Konoha was perched on a roof beam in Naka, and the more he listened, the more horrified he became.
"I’m doomed. I’m really doomed. Are these people openly plotting rebellion now? I know the rules of the underworld. Anyone who hears or witnesses this kind of thing doesn’t get to live. I’ve heard so many secrets. I’m definitely going to die!"
Then again, these people weren’t from Konoha in the first place. Could plotting against Konoha really be considered rebellion?
But what did that have to do with whether he would survive?
The more Kotetsu thought about it, the more desperate he became.
Just how confident were these Uchiha?
They were openly discussing their plans right outside Konoha’s doorstep. Weren’t they even slightly afraid of Konoha’s reaction?
Come to think of it, half a day had already passed.
Why had Konoha sent only Uchiha Itachi and then completely stopped responding?
Could Konoha really be abandoning them?
Kotetsu’s worries continued to pile up.
And indeed, Koshiro wasn’t worried about Konoha’s reaction in the slightest.
Besides, they had already frightened off one wave of Konoha’s response forces.
It was like dealing with the child who had been bullied by you since childhood. Until that child finally turned the tables on you, it was difficult to feel any fear toward him.
Koshiro felt that if Jūbei—who didn’t even have hands or feet—could accomplish something, then Uchiha Koshiro could naturally accomplish it as well.
Come to think of it...
Didn’t New Konoha also have a hundred thousand explosive tags that had never been dismantled?
That would certainly be interesting.
Koshiro’s imagination began to run wild.
Seeing him like this, Gen’nosuke became anxious.
"Koshiro, what exactly are you trying to do? Just tell me! Stop making me guess!"
Gen’nosuke felt that Koshiro was insulting his intelligence again, but he couldn’t find any evidence.
Koshiro, however, was genuinely focused on accomplishing something.
He wanted to collect every transplantable eye in this entire world and offer them to Uchiha Kei, thereby accomplishing a great feat.
But with only a little over five hundred people, trying to collect more than ten thousand pairs of eyes was clearly beyond their manpower.
Moreover, large-scale operations could result in casualties among their own people.
That was something Lord Kei would never want to see.
After all, he and Gen’nosuke were strong, but they weren’t invincible.
Simply guaranteeing their own safety in an unfamiliar world filled with malice was already difficult enough.
Protecting all the subordinates around them on top of that would make things even more troublesome.
Yet Koshiro was unwilling to give up the resources available in this world.
After all, there was no guarantee they would ever be able to return.
And even if they did, there was no guarantee they would return to this exact place.
Besides, when trouble arose, could one simply give up because something was troublesome?
Wasn’t the real question whether the benefits were worth it?
As long as the gains were large enough, there was nothing that couldn’t be done.
If they didn’t have enough manpower, then they simply needed to make use of someone else’s strength!
Thinking of this, Koshiro connected the words Branch Family with Cloud shinobi, then continued.
"Don’t rush, Gen’nosuke. We don’t have enough manpower, so we need someone else to do the work for us."
As he spoke, Koshiro wrote another line on the ground.
"If the known sources of eyes can’t satisfy our appetite, then we need to develop new sources."
Watching Koshiro’s movements, Gen’nosuke thought he was setting his sights on the Hyūga Clan.
The Byakugan might have relatively limited functions, but it could still evolve, and an evolved Byakugan had some useful applications.
They weren’t particularly impressive, but something was better than nothing.
So Gen’nosuke urged him on.
"Explain properly! How are you planning to make use of someone else’s strength?"
Hearing this, Koshiro realized that Gen’nosuke had misunderstood.
He smiled bitterly.
"Gen’nosuke, people with white eyes and people with red eyes have a hard time developing a sense of belonging toward one another."
A sense of belonging was intangible, yet very real.
Simply insisting that the Byakugan users and Sharingan users were one family wouldn’t make it so.
Koshiro’s words only left the thick-headed Gen’nosuke even more confused.
"If the Hyūga won’t work, then what exactly are you doing?"
By this point, Koshiro had finished writing and drawing on the ground.
He clapped his hands and said:
"Gen’nosuke, have you forgotten? In the Land of Lightning, in the place where Kumogakure exiles its prisoners, there is still a group of true relatives of the Sharingan—the Blood Dragon Eyes!"
"Blood Dragon Eyes!"
Gen’nosuke and the Konoha man hiding on the roof beam exclaimed at the same time.
They genuinely had no idea such an eye existed.
Gen’nosuke was a true spoiled heir who knew almost nothing and had never bothered to study seriously.
That was completely different from someone like Koshiro, who had risen from humble origins through chance and opportunity and constantly thought about improving himself.
Aside from chasing women and possessing what amounted to a protagonist’s halo, Gen’nosuke genuinely had little else going for him.
When it came to Naka’s accumulated knowledge, the only things he had seriously studied were women’s makeup techniques and postpartum care for pregnant women.
If someone tried telling him which clans were related in the current shinobi world or which families were sworn enemies, he simply didn’t care.
As far as he was concerned, either you catered to Young Master Gen’nosuke and let him have fun...
Or Young Master Gen’nosuke would cut off your head and have fun with that instead.
Therefore, when actual knowledge was required, Gen’nosuke could only stare at Koshiro with a blank, ignorant expression.
Koshiro knew exactly what he was like.
With a helpless sigh, he explained:
"They are legendary eyes. Like the Sharingan, they are a Kekkei Genkai originating from the lineage of Indra. Their clan can also awaken their eyes through intense emotional stimulation."
"In fact, they were once known by the surname Uchiha."
"They were once Uchiha?"
"They were once Uchiha!"
"They were once Uchiha~"
Different exclamations rang out.
The Konoha shinobi and the hopelessly ignorant Gen’nosuke seemed to have just heard an earth-shattering secret.
The Uchiha of Naka who were watching them couldn’t help feeling embarrassed as their leader and the prisoner reacted as though they had never heard of such common knowledge.
They immediately began whispering among themselves and criticizing Gen’nosuke.
"He doesn’t even know basic common knowledge. How does he have the nerve to be our leader?"
"If the leader of a shinobi clan doesn’t even know his own clan’s history, how is he supposed to have a sense of belonging? That’s incredibly disloyal!"
"If it weren’t for Lady Oboro’s popularity, she’d have thrown Gen’nosuke out of office sooner or later. There’s no glory in this at all!"
How embarrassing.
It was truly embarrassing.
Koshiro looked at Gen’nosuke, who was behaving much like Uchiha Itachi in his ignorance, and was speechless.
"Don’t blame him. Don’t blame him."
The younger Uchiha hurriedly tried to calm themselves down.
"It’s our fault for spoiling him. Oboro and I are the ones who let him develop all these bad habits. When we return, we’ll send him back to the Iga Group to study."
It took Koshiro quite some time to calm down.
This wasn’t the time to worry about such things.
He still had to properly explain everything to Gen’nosuke.
Koshiro pointed at his own eyes.
"The Blood Dragon Eyes can be considered a mutated form of the Sharingan. Their ocular power can even rival that of an ordinary Sharingan."
"They are also known as the ’Hypnotic Eyes,’ and they excel in the field of Genjutsu."
Gen’nosuke nodded furiously.
Now this was something worth digging out of a relative’s eyes.
He liked it.
"You don’t need to explain that part, Koshiro. What do you mean when you say they’re our relatives? Does that mean their eyes can also be transplanted directly without rejection or side effects?"
Gen’nosuke’s concern wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
Although Naka possessed advanced medical techniques, anything called medical science inevitably had limitations.
Either one sacrificed power, or one had to pay some other price.
There was always a cost.
Gen’nosuke wanted to know the price of transplanting the Blood Dragon Eyes.
But Naka had never obtained such eyes before.
How could they possibly know?
And Gen’nosuke never seemed to think before asking questions.
Koshiro couldn’t answer that.
He shook his head.
"I don’t know. But they’re relatives, aren’t they? At worst, we can capture a few and run some experiments."
Gen’nosuke slapped his thigh.
"Dammit, don’t try to fool me just because I don’t read much! Even an idiot like me knows that practically every Kekkei Genkai clan with a name in the shinobi world traces its origins back to the ōtsutsuki. That’s not the kind of answer the meticulous Koshiro should be giving."
Gen’nosuke wasn’t wrong.
Most Kekkei Genkai ultimately traced their origins to the ōtsutsuki lineage.
Koshiro sighed.
He was genuinely troubled.
Why did idiots always manage to become clever at precisely the wrong moment?
"Gen’nosuke, that’s not what I meant!"
But Gen’nosuke refused to let it go.
"Then what did you mean?"
Koshiro gritted his teeth and answered:
"I mean that they once had the same surname as us—Uchiha."
"Perhaps we can learn many things by experimenting on them. And no matter what happens, experiments conducted in this world won’t affect Naka!"
"Isn’t that a good thing?"
That utterly self-righteous answer made Kotetsu Hagane click his tongue.
So our world isn’t worth anything, and you can just do whatever you want here?
These outsiders really were bastards.
He wondered whether there was some kind of Space-Time Administration that could deal with them.
There was a group of illegal immigrants from another world running rampant here, committing acts of terrorism!
Gen’nosuke, meanwhile, was still confused.
"So, Koshiro, what exactly are you going to do with these Blood Dragon Eyes?"
Koshiro finally calmed down and began explaining the story to Gen’nosuke.
"Everything has to start from the beginning."
"The descendants of this branch of the Uchiha are living miserable lives now. I want to see whether we can recruit them."
"What happened to them?"
Gen’nosuke finally became interested.
Koshiro saw that, at last, the conversation was heading in the right direction.
Inside, he couldn’t help complaining.
Why doesn’t this idiot understand?
Do you really think I’m explaining this story in front of everyone just to educate you?
But verbally, he had no choice but to continue explaining.
"Back then, the descendant of this Uchiha branch leader married into the daimyō’s family of the Land of Lightning as a concubine, hoping to obtain noble status through a political marriage."
As he spoke, Koshiro wrote the words Daimyō, Wife, Descendant, Bloodline on the ground.
Then he continued:
"That foolish clan leader thought that because his daughter was gentle in temperament and beautiful in appearance, she would win the favor of the daimyō of the Land of Lightning."
"And that love-struck girl thought she had married for love."
"But she never realized that she was nothing more than a bargaining chip in the struggle between the daimyō’s sons."
Koshiro spoke with great seriousness.
But Gen’nosuke found the words extremely irritating.
"’Love-struck girl’? Who are you talking about?"
He had no interest in other people’s love stories.
For some reason, he felt that Koshiro was taking an indirect shot at him.
Annoyed, Koshiro smacked Gen’nosuke with the branch in his hand.
"You bastard! Listen properly!"
After taking the hit, Gen’nosuke finally settled down.
Koshiro continued:
"Those foolish shinobi had no understanding whatsoever of the filth and brutality of political struggles."
"They became trapped in the struggle between the daimyō’s heirs without even realizing it."
"In the end, they lost without ever understanding what had happened, and were sent to Hell Valley."
"Hell Valley?"
Itachi and Gen’nosuke both exclaimed in surprise.
Koshiro deliberately adopted a solemn expression and began drawing a picture of Hell.
As he drew, he continued:
"Yes, Hell Valley. The living conditions there are even worse than those in the Land of Wind."
"Living there is no different from living in hell itself!"
Gen’nosuke, however, didn’t believe him.
"You’re joking, right, Koshiro? They’re still shinobi! And they’re Uchiha! If they couldn’t survive, couldn’t they just escape? How could they possibly be trapped in one place?"
Seeing that Gen’nosuke had taken the bait, Koshiro continued:
"That brings us to the foolish ancestor of ours—Uchiha Tajima, the foolish father of Madara Uchiha."
"Oh! What happened?"
Both Gen’nosuke and Itachi became interested.
Koshiro broke the branch in his hand and let out a long, sorrowful sigh.
"Back then, in order to humiliate this branch of the Uchiha, the daimyō of the Land of Lightning paid a huge sum to hire the Uchiha to guard them."
His tone was filled with indignation at the misfortune of his ancestors.
"And what was even more foolish was that the Uchiha of that era had absolutely no concept of ethnic solidarity."
"They actually accepted such a commission for money and seriously carried out the Land of Lightning’s orders!"
His voice trembled with pity for their failure to recognize what they were doing.
"As a result, this branch of the Uchiha was forcibly left in Hell Valley until the present day."
"Their miserable circumstances eventually drove them to change their surname to Blood."
"The name represented their hatred toward both the Uchiha and the Land of Lightning—a hatred as deep as a blood-filled hell that could only be filled with more blood."
As he spoke, Koshiro stood up and looked toward the setting sun.
"And because of that hatred, their eyes are even easier to awaken."
"Not only do they rival the Sharingan in Genjutsu, but they also possess all kinds of distinctive blood-based techniques!"
Gen’nosuke immediately became dissatisfied.
"Dammit! With that much hatred between us, what’s the point of recruiting them? It’s much more worthwhile to just dig out their eyes!"
Koshiro shook his head.
"Redemption naturally has to come at the moment of greatest despair!"
"Besides, this grudge dates back to the era of Senju Butsuma and Uchiha Tajima."
"Time has long since worn away those feelings."
"A life of hardship will make them willing to forget everything in exchange for a better future."
Koshiro spoke with absolute confidence.
Gen’nosuke had no idea where that confidence came from.
But Koshiro adopted the demeanor of someone determined to save the world.
"And once we have them, we’ll have a legitimate reason to force the Uchiha to pay for the mistakes of the past."
"That’s what the Konoha Uchiha ought to do."
Itachi, who was hiding above them, couldn’t help asking in a weak voice:
"Then what price are you planning to make the Uchiha pay?"
Koshiro suddenly turned around.
"Naturally, you’ll help us slaughter all the Red-Eyed people in the Land of Rivers!"
As soon as those words came out, Gen’nosuke wanted to curse.
"Dammit! After going through all that trouble and taking such a huge detour, that’s all you’re after?"
"Koshiro, what the hell are you trying to do?"
In Gen’nosuke’s mind, something this trivial could be accomplished by him in a matter of minutes.
Why go through all these elaborate schemes?
Zhuo’an had finally had enough.
"Idiot Gen’nosuke, you still don’t understand?"
"What Lord Kei means is that his orders must be carried out without fail!"
"If Lord Kei has ordered us not to suffer any casualties, then someone still has to do the dirty and exhausting work!"
"So?"
Gen’nosuke genuinely didn’t understand.
This nearly made the old man Zhuo’an die of frustration.
Whether Gen’nosuke understood or not didn’t matter.
What mattered was that Koshiro had intended to use this conversation to pass the information to the Konoha Uchiha.
And yet these two had such terrible coordination.
How had they managed to work together this long?
There was nothing he could do.
The old man could only continue explaining.
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