Shishirō impatiently shook Gennozuke’s hand off his shoulder.
Lord Kei disliked Gennozuke, so Shishirō disliked Gennozuke as well.
That was simply the politically correct position to take.
[Uchiha Shishirō — Ninjutsu: B, Taijutsu: A+, Genjutsu: A]
He was Tenzen’s adopted son, raised by him from childhood. He was like an older brother to Oboro and the fiancé of Uchiha Chikako .
He wielded two large sickles and specialized in the Wind Scythe Technique, Kamaitachi. He was a young man who had truly clawed his way up from the bottom.
Shishirō and Gennozuke were fundamentally different kinds of people.
For one thing, Gennozuke had been born with the face of a natural heartthrob. He had stolen all the attention from Lord Kei, and most of the female shinobi of the Iga and Kōga Groups were fond of him.
A man like that was naturally difficult for a leader to like.
If Lord Kei disliked someone, Shishirō naturally disliked him too.
Hmph!
Instead of worrying about my wedding, why don’t you think about what you’re going to do about Kagerō?
Your relationship with her, and Oboro’s relationship with Uchiha Chikako , aren’t problems that can be solved so easily.
When it comes to matters between men and women, even Lord Kei can’t conveniently intervene.
Leaving Gennozuke standing there dumbfounded, Shishirō disappeared into the forest.
Gennozuke was left standing alone in the wind.
"Ah, what a headache! Kagerō is a good woman, but I only love Oboro!"
"What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to steal such an outstanding man as myself away for Kagerō?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a handsome young man appeared in front of Gennozuke.
His face was full of misery as he cried out,
"Lord Gennozuke, please! Please save us!"
The man’s name was Benmaru.
He was one of the more influential young members of the Red-Eyed Clan and a devoted admirer of Gennozuke.
It was precisely because of Benmaru’s wholehearted support that Gennozuke had hesitated for so long to adopt a harsh policy toward the Red-Eyed Clan.
With a certain amount of popular support behind him, Gennozuke had preferred to win the Red-Eyed Clan over through conciliation.
Uchiha Shishirō had spotted Benmaru from far away.
He didn’t think much of Gennozuke’s approach, so he casually found an excuse and left.
Shishirō’s dislike of Gennozuke wasn’t really because of those joking remarks Lord Kei had made.
The real reason was that Lord Kei was always teaching them not to be meddlesome do-gooders.
And Gennozuke happened to be exactly that kind of person.
Lord Kei always taught them:
"Our organization needs great ambitions and lofty ideals.
"To accomplish our goals, use whatever means are necessary.
"If you fail, don’t become discouraged.
"Don’t indulge in individual heroism.
"If something needs to be done, everyone does it together."
Gennozuke, however, happened to be overflowing with individual heroism.
Normally, he was lazy and aimless. His greatest ambition in life seemed to be preventing other people from achieving their ambitions.
When everything went smoothly, he considered himself extraordinary.
When he encountered setbacks, he became irritable and short-tempered.
But what could you expect?
He was a second-generation shinobi.
As long as his father remained in power, he would always be considered a genius shinobi, and opportunities would always come to him more easily than to others.
As the young master of the Kōga Group, he did indeed have some qualifications to act willfully.
That was why Shishirō, the adopted son of the second-in-command of the Iga Group, didn’t want to work alongside him.
During every mission, Gennozuke was the one in charge while Shishirō was always reduced to playing support.
Anyone would resent that arrangement.
But the person in charge was Gennozuke, and that was Lord Kei’s order.
Contradicting the team leader in front of outsiders would be too disrespectful to Lord Kei, who had personally appointed him.
It was better to stay as far away from Gennozuke as possible.
Besides, Lord Kei had placed control of the finances in Shishirō’s hands.
That meant Lord Kei intended for him to keep Gennozuke in check.
"Hmph. When all is said and done, Lord Kei still trusts me the most!"
Hidden among the logistics personnel, Shishirō of the Iga Group speared a piece of roasted meat with a senbon and teasingly spoke to Kasumi Hyōbu of the Kōga Group.
"Hey, your young master sure is popular."
Kasumi Hyōbu’s expression, however, turned dark.
[Uchiha Kasumi Hyōbu — Ninjutsu: B, Taijutsu: S, Genjutsu: C]
Through extreme suffering and brutal training, he had acquired an iron body.
He could freely merge with the earth, disappearing and reappearing at will, before crushing his enemies with overwhelming physical strength.
Kasumi Hyōbu had endured inhuman torture to obtain power beyond ordinary people.
He was certainly not a soft-hearted do-gooder.
"Lord Kei once said that among those who steal while pretending to be gentle and virtuous, those who appear respectful while harboring contempt, and those who seem frugal and cautious on the outside but lack sincerity within, there are countless such people."
"Gennozuke is still too naive."
Kasumi Hyōbu was an illiterate brute.
And the less educated a person was, the more prone they often were to worship culture and learning blindly.
Uchiha Jōsuke had previously held the position Kasumi Hyōbu now occupied.
Having once had the good fortune to follow Uchiha Kei, Kasumi Hyōbu treated the aphorisms Kei casually let slip as the principles by which he lived.
Seeing Kasumi Hyōbu’s dark expression, Shishirō happily took another huge bite of meat.
"What is it? Even you people don’t approve of your young master’s plan?"
Kasumi Hyōbu tore off a leg of lamb and devoured it until his mouth was dripping with grease.
"Gennozuke has never experienced the suffering of the people at the bottom.
"
"In an environment where survival is so cruel, how could the people who manage to find a way to survive possibly be so simple-minded?"
He didn’t need to say anything more.
After witnessing the Kōga Group’s attitude, Shishirō nodded.
"Then I suppose we’ve reached an agreement."
Kasumi Hyōbu nodded.
"Mm. The sooner this ends, the sooner we can go home.
"I miss Lord Kei."
Shishirō shuddered at the brute’s sudden heartfelt declaration.
He then took the key to the storeroom and slipped away.
Keeping his distance, Shishirō had already made up his mind.
Gennozuke could do whatever he wanted.
Shishirō was responsible for logistics.
If the Red-Eyed Clan still thought that crying about their hardships and kneeling down would be enough to receive benefits, they were sorely mistaken.
Gennozuke cared about his social status and sincerely wanted to ease Lord Kei’s burdens.
But ultimately, he was also the grandson of Danjō, the leader of the Kōga Group’s Manjidani branch.
He had never experienced genuine hardship while growing up.
The greatest humiliation he had ever suffered was nothing more than verbal contempt from nobles.
People like that couldn’t truly understand the suffering of ordinary people.
Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that they always wanted to obtain a sense of psychological accomplishment and satisfaction by helping others.
It was the satisfaction of being able to stand above someone and extend charity downward.
Shishirō was different.
Before Tenzen adopted him, Shishirō had been a beggar.
For the sake of a mouthful of dried food crawling with maggots, he had killed another beggar who had been begging alongside him without the slightest hesitation.
How low a person’s moral boundaries could fall when survival was at stake was something no one could truly fathom.
It was precisely because he possessed such decisiveness that his adoptive father, Tenzen, had taken notice of him and adopted him as a shinobi.
Shishirō understood very well that people struggling on the boundary between life and death could be driven by circumstances to do absolutely anything.
He simply wondered what excuse Benmaru would use this time to persuade Gennozuke to help them.
When Shishirō saw that handsome young man kneel before Gennozuke once again, followed by a group of women in tattered clothes who brought their underage children and knelt as well, the corners of Shishirō’s mouth curled upward.
The same old trick.
The same familiar taste.
Back then, this was exactly how he had deceived those pampered nobles who had never needed to set foot on the ground themselves.
"Please have mercy on us!"
"Please help us!"
"Give us something to eat!"
Only nobles who never had to worry about food or clothing possessed enough spare compassion to pity others.
And only those nobles possessed enough surplus wealth to match all that surplus compassion.
If you happened to encounter a rich fool, you could lure him into a dark corner, rob him blind, and perhaps live comfortably for a few days.
"When dreams of returning home are shattered and people lose hope in the ravines of their homeland, how could they possibly avoid joining together and becoming bandits?"
A beggar who managed to survive was far more capable of surviving than an ordinary person.
Even the first bit of capital with which an ordinary person became wealthy was often acquired through deception, trickery, and exploitation.
How much more so for a group of beggars?
Shishirō casually picked his teeth with a senbon as he thought darkly to himself:
Does Gennozuke, who thinks himself so clever, realize that in everyone else’s eyes, he’s nothing more than a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered?
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