Thus, the Third Hokage briefly explained the mission details to them.
When Nayou learned that the mission involved searching for the long-lost Kusanagi Blade, she became even more excited. In her opinion, during the quest to find such a legendary weapon, they would definitely encounter many powerful shinobi from the ninja world.
Shen really wanted to spill the beans about how Snake Uncle would eventually end up with two of those swords, but after a moment's thought, he wisely kept his mouth shut. Revealing that kind of foresight would basically get him sliced open on the spot.
There were a total of eleven Kusanagi Blades, and all of them were originally possessed by the Kusanagi Clan.
In the future, Orochimaru obtained two of these swords—the Extendable Kusanagi Blade, which could change its length freely, and the Chakra Channeling Blade, capable of infusing chakra directly into the steel. Snake Uncle once extended the Extendable Kusanagi Blade to over ten thousand meters to fight the Four-Tails Heir in his rampaging state, although ultimately, he still couldn't win.
The Chakra Channeling Blade was also known as the Chidori Blade. The name originated mainly because the Second Pillar had only ever used the Chidori Shape Transformation on this sword. However, considering the blade's characteristics, it should be able to channel more than just Chidori. Therefore, this sword still contained considerable potential waiting to be unlocked.
Additionally, Itachi Uchiha, Shen's future nephew, also owned one of the blades—the Sword of Totsuka, which was the most unique among all the Kusanagi swords. This particular blade could only be inherited genetically through the Uchiha Clan lineage.
(The author quietly adds: There's a rumor online that Lord Madara's father integrated this sword into the Uchiha bloodline—whether true or false remains a mystery.)
Also known as the Ten-Kusanagi Sword, the Sword of Totsuka was an extremely formidable weapon. Dubbed capable of sealing anything, it nearly ended our dear Snake Uncle's life.
Thankfully, Snake Uncle's life-preservation techniques were as numerous as Tom's snake-like survival skills. Otherwise, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, without support from Team Kakashi, the Heir and the Second Pillar might not have survived long enough for the Sage of Six Paths to arrive and bestow his power.
At that point, Naruto might have turned into Kaguya otsutsuki fighting against alien relatives—a storyline truly exciting to imagine.
Finally, the remaining eight Kusanagi swords were all located in one place. When the Kusanagi Clan was attacked by the Eight-Tails in the past, its leaders desperately ordered eight swords to be thrown at the beast. However, the attack was neutralized, each sword absorbed directly into one of the Eight-Tails' eight tails. Coupled with the subsequent decline of the Kusanagi Clan, humanity retained only three of the original swords.
Later, Killer Bee wielded these same eight swords embedded within the Eight-Tails' tails. But judging from those seemingly ordinary blades without special abilities, their powers must have already merged completely with the Eight-Tails. Otherwise, why would the remaining three swords all possess extraordinary powers while these eight appeared to offer nothing except sharpness?
As Shen recalled the whereabouts of the other swords, he felt extremely frustrated. Who knows where exactly Orochimaru found these two? At this rate, he probably wouldn't see his nephew's sword for at least another decade and would eventually have no choice but to go ask the Eight-Tails for one.
Like hell! Right now, before Killer Bee becomes the jinchuriki, will the Eight-Tails really be that easygoing? Without Mangekyō eyes, he couldn't do what the Second Pillar did and rip off one of its tails.
Shen Uchiha now finally figured out what the Third Hokage was really thinking. It was just some ridiculous plan to "force" him out of Konoha under the pretext of an S-rank mission, making him train across the shinobi world until he became "responsible."
"Hokage Uncle, how many Swords of Kusanagi do we need to find?"
"Just one will be enough," the Third Hokage quickly answered Nayou's question.
"Hokage Uncle, I want to—"
Facing Nayou's deadly stare, Shen Uchiha could only bite back the word "protest." With a strange expression, he began pondering while looking at the Third Hokage.
Soon, he gave his "real" reply: "No problem at all, Hokage Uncle."
The Third Hokage felt extremely satisfied with Shen Uchiha's half-hearted response. He believed Konoha would finally enjoy peaceful days for the next few years and assumed that after this mission, the troublemaker wouldn't keep causing chaos every day anymore.
Thus, the Third Hokage left in a cheerful mood.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen, this isn't over between us, Uchiha Shen! I wasn't planning on dealing with something like this until several years later!"
Realizing he couldn't escape any longer, he decided to take fierce revenge against the Third Hokage for his "blade of sudden promotion," convinced that the other had recognized his importance and now intended to accelerate his growth by forcibly tempering his naturally mischievous personality.
"Shen, let's go tell Orochimaru-sensei and Nawaki about our mission! They'll definitely be super excited when they hear!"
Without waiting for his reply, Nayou grabbed Shen Uchiha's slightly bigger hand and dragged him off—her fiery determination completely unlike her usual Little Iceberg self.
"Nayou, my hand's gonna break off!"
That one sentence hung in the air for a moment, drifting on the breeze, before the two figures—one in black, one in white—vanished into the sunlight.
Inside the Hokage Tower that night, four elders of Konoha were engaged in an intense discussion.
"Hiruzen, I've agreed to your idea of peaceful coexistence with the Uchiha. I even agreed to promote that brat to chunin. But giving him an S-rank mission? What exactly do you think you're doing? Don't tell me you're planning to heavily cultivate someone from that dangerous clan?"
Danzo, who hadn't appeared for quite some time, expressed strong dissatisfaction over the sword-searching mission being upgraded to S-rank. In his mind, it was a clear signal—that the Hokage was intentionally focusing on training members of the Uchiha Clan.
"Danzo, where exactly is the danger in the Uchiha Clan? The Second trained Kagami thoroughly. Besides, thanks to the prosperity of Commercial Street, our village has gained considerable income recently. You can't keep seeing them through colored glasses forever!"
Koharu, the female advisor, naturally placed great emphasis on financial matters. Her vision was much broader than that of certain scheming individuals.
"Koharu, don't let their whole clan fool you! Can a bit of extra income truly buy off Konoha's leadership?"
"Don't forget that Root's increased budget also came partly because of the Commercial Street expansion!"
"If that's the case, then let's collaborate with other clans to build more commercial districts. If the Uchiha are already so wealthy, should we allow them to grow even richer?"
So this was Danzo's true intention. Now there's a schemer who'd rather die than miss a trick!
The Third Hokage rejected it without hesitation: "Absolutely not. Forget about those chakra-powered machines — even the video stores and ninja equipment shops don't have substitutes. The encryption method used is something even Orochimaru has no solution for."
"Then confiscate everything. We can't allow such insecure devices to be sold to the villagers of Konoha."
"???"
All three elders gawked at Danzo. They never expected him to actually resort to such a shameless excuse.
"That's impossible too," Adviser Menian pushed his glasses up and objected, "Are you going to confiscate items from every household in the village? You should know how incredibly popular these convenient machines are."
Danzo was furious inside but decided to drop the act and reveal his hand outright: "Then under the pretext of requiring supervision, we'll force the Uchiha to hand over their encryption method and let the village manufacture the core components!"
"!!!"
These words immediately alerted the Third Hokage. He originally thought Danzo merely wanted an excuse to limit the Uchiha's development, but he never expected Danzo would dare to demand such a massive concession from the Uchiha.
Realizing this, he shot back with a sharp question: "Konoha's principle has always been not to take what isn't freely offered — especially from a clan. Danzo, do you want the Uchiha to bear a grudge against the village?"
Both advisors instantly understood the conspirator's intentions. This former teammate was actually using the facade of collaborating with various clans to develop the Commercial Street as a means to create a rift between Konoha and the Uchiha.
This scheme could indeed be described as extremely insidious. That layered logic nearly pulled the wool over all three of their eyes.
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