After leaving the battlefield, Yakushi Kabuto and the others immediately went to find their mother, Yakushi Nonō.
"Mother! Big Brother and the Konoha shinobi are fighting!"
Little Kabuto wasn’t worried in the slightest.
He firmly believed that his brothers could hold off the five opponents.
An inexplicable confidence.
Nonō, who had been cooking, was scared half to death.
The ladle she had been using to scoop out broth before preparing the rice slipped from her hand and fell into the pot.
"What are you brats doing?! Did you run off to Konoha again to cause trouble?!"
Nonō raised her hand as though she were about to smack him.
The authority of a mother really could keep the mischievous Kabuto under control.
"No! We didn’t!"
At a time like this, they absolutely couldn’t admit anything.
Otherwise, they were going to get beaten.
Besides, the border between Konoha and Nanga hadn’t been clearly demarcated anyway.
So technically, they weren’t lying.
"It wasn’t us! The people from Konoha came into our territory and started causing trouble! Big Brother and Second Brother are defending us against an enemy invasion!"
"That’s right! That’s right!"
The other little Yakushi children immediately echoed Kabuto’s story.
Nonō believed them.
She couldn’t imagine that her sons would deliberately provoke Konoha.
But based on what she knew about Konoha, launching surprise attacks and starting wars without warning was exactly the sort of thing they often did.
Ever since the Third Hokage had taken office, Konoha’s victories had largely come through surprise attacks.
Nonō calmed herself down and began thinking rapidly.
"Kai, go to Nanga Shrine and ask for reinforcements."
"Kabuto, go to Lord Jūbei and explain the situation."
"Split up. Go immediately!"
"Yes!"
The five little ones answered.
Then they asked:
"What about you, Mother?"
Nonō straightened her clothes.
"I’m going to check on your brothers. I still have some connections in Konoha. I’ll go and take a look."
Even Nonō herself didn’t believe what she had just said.
She knew better than anyone how much influence she actually had in Konoha.
Without waiting for the children’s response, she set off.
"Leave getting reinforcements to you five."
What Nonō didn’t know was that she didn’t need to seek reinforcements at all.
The land where the Yakushi family lived belonged to Uchiha Jūbei.
This disabled man, who could read the heavens and predict fortune and misfortune, had drawn one of the most fertile pieces of land in Nanga on the day the territory was divided by lot.
Unfortunately, it was also one of the territories closest to Konoha.
Now, the man who had lost all four limbs and could only crawl using his abdomen had already summoned his shinobi.
He was one of the Kōga Ten, with more than a dozen Kōga Group shinobi and over a hundred and fifty members of the branch family who had been given the Sharingan.
The Sharingan transplantation procedures had also been completed recently.
However, Danjō, Tenzen , Gen, and Hyōma had all agreed that it would be better to keep things low-profile.
If more than three thousand Sharingan suddenly appeared, it wouldn’t merely frighten the Hokage.
It might even frighten the Uchiha of Konoha.
They had all decided to wait until Lord Kei was willing to rise and take charge before deciding how to announce the existence of those additional three thousand people to the outside world.
That was, after all, Lord Kei’s prerogative.
But today was different.
The moment the Sarutobi clan used ninjutsu on Nanga territory, Jūbei received the news.
A message was immediately sent out from his headquarters.
He needed clear instructions from above.
He had been waiting for this moment for a very long time.
Since the Sarutobi clan had made the first move, they couldn’t simply sit around and do nothing.
Unfortunately...
There were no orders.
Gen’s reply was:
"Send people to rescue our people. Everything else will wait for Lord Kei’s decision."
Jūbei wasn’t satisfied with that answer.
He felt that Gen and the others had fallen.
So he summoned the forces under his command.
He was going to seek justice for himself—and for Lord Kei, who refused to awaken.
The Uchiha’s uncompromising stance was the weapon Lord Kei had used to carve out a place for them to survive.
Jūbei would not allow those people at Nanga Shrine, who spent their days indulging themselves in comfort while occupying positions they were unfit to hold, to tarnish Lord Kei’s iron will.
A vassal’s vassal was not his vassal.
The retainers assigned to Jūbei belonged to Jūbei.
He had the right to mobilize his own private forces.
This would be a matter of clan retaliation.
If Konoha dared to cause trouble on his territory, he had to strike back.
Jūbei stood before the shinobi he had assembled.
The disabled man who had lost both arms and legs radiated the fiery passion of a true warrior.
The able-bodied leaders at Nanga Shrine might not dare to do what needed to be done.
But he did.
Jūbei began his pre-battle mobilization.
"I’m a cripple.
"I no longer possess the strength to provide Lord Kei with any meaningful military assistance.
"Protecting the territory he entrusted to me is the final Chapter of my remaining life!"
Jūbei crawled forward on his stomach as he spoke about his life.
People with physical disabilities often became more stubbornly extreme.
If someone treated them badly, they would repay it many times over.
If someone treated them well, they would repay that kindness many times over as well.
There was only one condition:
That kindness could not contain pity.
Lord Kei was the person who had never pitied him.
And Lord Kei was also someone who had treated him well.
Jūbei could tolerate nothing that brought shame upon Lord Kei’s reputation.
He crawled forward.
His body, reduced to little more than that of a crawling creature, made him look almost comical.
Yet the retainers gathered around him silently opened a path.
Not one of them found anything comical about their lord.
Jūbei continued forward as he spoke.
"Today, someone has attacked the people living on my land.
"If I turn a blind eye to it, I will have no face with which to answer Lord Kei when he eventually holds me accountable."
At that, Jūbei raised his head and looked toward Nanga Shrine.
"Those parasites at Nanga Shrine naively believe that Konoha, living in peace and prosperity, wouldn’t dare attack us.
"They think everything that happened today was merely an individual decision.
"They think Konoha doesn’t have the courage to go to war with us."
The more Jūbei looked toward Nanga, the more agitated he became.
"Those fools didn’t even consider what our contingency plan would be if Konoha made the first move.
"How dare they assume that Konoha is afraid of us?"
"How dare they?"
"Ah!"
When Jūbei reached the doorway, he turned around and looked at everyone gathered behind him.
"Our uncompromising stance toward Konoha was forged by Lord Kei over two years.
"Again and again, he put his own life on the line to force Konoha to back down.
"And yet those useless people who have been governing Nanga while Lord Kei sleeps intend to squander that hard-earned strength in just two months."
"Those parasites within the Uchiha clan have money and power now.
"They have become nobles who wear shoes.
"They are no longer the people they once were.
"They no longer possess the courage to fight a war."
"But I, Jūbei, am a man who will never wear shoes."
At that moment, Jūbei straightened his remaining body as much as he could.
"Konoha is testing our limits.
"I cannot afford to adjust those limits according to circumstances."
With that, Jūbei twisted his body and surged out through the doorway.
"Today, I will lead the charge!
"Everyone, follow me and carry on Lord Kei’s iron will!"
One figure after another followed without saying a word.
They followed the mutilated body of Uchiha Jūbei.
"Loyalty! Honor!"
At that moment, opportunity and challenge existed side by side.
Glory and dreams stood together.
From atop Mount Hando, Uchiha Gen watched the scene and smiled with a trace of self-mockery.
Major reforms always came accompanied by enormous disasters.
Moderate reformers had never been popular.
Many people simply didn’t believe the world before them needed to change.
And stubborn conservatives, seeking to protect their own vested interests, would do everything in their power to suppress the reformers.
Only when change became unavoidable would the moderate reformers finally be driven into becoming radical reformers.
Once they gained the upper hand in terms of power, people would be forced to accept change through suffering.
When moderate reform was neither understood nor accepted, everything that followed was already destined.
Gen had once been a moderate reformer.
Now, she was a radical reformer.
She needed someone to bring her a disaster.
Jūbei...
I’m sorry.
But don’t worry.
Things aren’t nearly as bad as they seem.
At the very least...
The weather is beautiful.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus Chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus Chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70+ Chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789