Yūshin was quite pragmatic in his actions. His approach of dueling and then directly letting people go clearly suggested ulterior motives.
So what could Yūshin want from a ninja clan?
It went without saying.
If Gorō Fūma still couldn't see through this at this point, he'd be far too foolish.
But should they take this opportunity to quietly eliminate the Reitō Castle daimyo who had come to the battlefield?
It could only be said that Gorō Fūma's thinking wasn't flexible enough—he simply couldn't keep up with Yūshin's train of thought.
Yūshin signaled the two Akimichi Clan ninja to directly take their clan leader away, which left them feeling somewhat incredulous.
They had clearly lost, yet didn't have to pay any price? Wasn't this a bit wrong? Could this enemy really be such an honorable and straightforward character, almost naively so?
Considering Yūshin's age, this wasn't entirely impossible—perhaps his youth meant he hadn't yet been polluted by the Shinobi World's harsh environment?
It could only be said they were overthinking things. Where in the world was there logic of sewage flowing backwards... The Shinobi World polluting Yūshin? Yūshin polluting the Shinobi World was more like it.
The Akimichi Clan could be said to be confused by their position in the situation—it could only be said that every gift of fate had already been secretly marked with a price.
"We... just leave like this? You really have no demands?"
As the two brothers lifted Akimichi Ninsei and were about to leave, they couldn't help but turn back and ask Yūshin.
Yūshin nodded decisively, saying: "However, the war isn't over yet. We'll schedule another battle."
The two brought their elder brother back to the daimyo's side. After confirming their big brother was safe and sound, they regained their rationality and felt deeply apologetic to the daimyo.
"Daimyo-sama, we're sorry—we were defeated."
The daimyo had personally supervised the battle, yet the Akimichi Clan had delivered a crushing defeat to the opponent—no matter how you looked at it, this was a humiliation.
But the daimyo waved his hand, indicating the other party needn't mind, since he had anticipated this outcome before setting out.
"How is Ninsei-san's condition? There shouldn't be any major problems, right?"
"From rough judgment, there's no major issue. Big brother only fainted due to excessive chakra consumption," Akimichi Kizuki stated his conclusion, indicating the daimyo needn't worry too much about his brother's condition.
"I saw Ninsei-san had just activated his true battle stance—why did he suddenly exhaust his chakra?"
The daimyo had a general understanding of the Akimichi Clan's fighting methods, so he was somewhat puzzled why Akimichi Ninsei had eagerly face-planted after activating his ultimate technique.
The two brothers looked at each other. Akimichi Kizuki could only bite the bullet and say:
"We're also not very clear about the reason. Perhaps after big brother wakes up, he can provide a reasonable explanation."
Shimizu daimyo nodded, not continuing to dwell on this awkward question.
From this, one could see that the relationship between Reitō Castle's political forces led by the daimyo and the ninja led by the Akimichi Clan was very harmonious.
To some extent, this was a very idealized relationship.
"By the way, what did that Yūshin-san say?" Shimizu daimyo asked again.
"He achieved victory but didn't make any demands, allowing us to take big brother back. Moreover, he said considering we're not satisfied with such an outcome, he'll schedule another time to battle us next," Akimichi Kizuki said.
"So that's how it is..."
"Daimyo-sama, what are you saying?"
"Nothing, nothing. I mean the other party is a magnanimous person. It seems we'll have to continue playing this game with him next."
"Playing a game?"
Shimizu daimyo had no intention of explaining. From the battle just now, that ninja named Yūshin was clearly stronger than their side. If their side didn't want to launch a large-scale decisive battle, they'd have to continue this series of duels.
But once a decisive battle began, things would become uncontrollable.
Moreover, could they win?
Shimizu daimyo suspected that since Kikyō Castle had one Yūshin, might there be a second fighter of this caliber?
Shimizu daimyo began thinking whether their side's military action was somewhat hasty? Whether their considerations weren't comprehensive enough?
No, he shook his head.
This Yūshin was a purposeful person who could be reasoned with rationally. No matter what, dealing with such a person was very suitable... Shimizu daimyo pondered secretly.
He maintained his thoughts, then rose from his seat, preparing to bring the unconscious Akimichi Ninsei back to Reitō Castle.
At this time, his gaze inadvertently glanced toward the battlefield center and discovered Yūshin bowing slightly to him, seemingly politely seeing him off.
Shimizu daimyo's doubts completely disappeared. He showed a smile again, similarly returning the courtesy to Yūshin.
See? The other party was a civilized person.
Civilized people could only be good people.
After the other party left, Gorō Fūma, who had been holding back for quite a while, finally couldn't help asking Yūshin:
"Leader, are you preparing to absorb the Akimichi Clan into the organization?"
Yūshin nodded, saying:
"Yes. If the mountain won't come to me, I'll go to the mountain. We haven't expanded our scale for a very long time."
Very... very long time? Really?
As the latest members to join the organization, Gorō Fūma had no idea about the organization's average "recruitment" interval... Shichimi Uchiha had joined the organization later than them, but they had mistakenly thought she was already an organization member from the beginning.
Seeing the other party's face still showed doubt, Yūshin explained again:
"To better survive, we have to continue expanding members. Otherwise, with our current strength, it's very difficult to survive a medium-scale conflict..."
"Then, think about the Akimichi Clan's situation—aren't all their conditions excellent and very suitable for our organization's requirements?"
"Can fight, small numbers, combat requires cooperation..."
With such good absorption conditions, what more could you want? It was only because ninja clan alliances hadn't yet become the mainstream trend in the Shinobi World—otherwise, the Akimichi Clan would definitely be extremely sought after.
Gorō Fūma thought briefly and quickly understood Yūshin's meaning. As the organization's newest member, he definitely wouldn't and couldn't reject new members joining.
Next, it depended on how Yūshin would operate.
Would it be treating talent with courtesy and conquering with virtue? Or forcing good people into prostitution and strong-arming men?
...
Akimichi Ninsei had suffered ruthless draining and felt like his entire person had been squeezed dry.
After sleeping unconsciously for two whole days, he finally reopened his eyes. However, even after regaining consciousness, he felt his condition was very poor.
He had clearly just awakened from unconsciousness, yet he felt like he had pulled five or six all-nighters—exceptionally listless, temples throbbing, mind dazed, and his eyes were somewhat blurry when looking at things...
This was the aftereffect of having his chakra thoroughly drained. Yūshin had carelessly caused Akimichi Ninsei serious side effects.
Without ten days to half a month, he definitely couldn't recover to a mentally vigorous state.
Akimichi Ninsei knew how to handle this situation, so after waking up, despite feeling listless and physically uncomfortable, he immediately began eating and drinking heavily.
The consumption from battle and the nutrition missed from not eating for two days—he had to quickly make up for it all. Look at what he looked like now—he was practically starving to death.
Besides having chakra extracted, the previous battle had also caused him quite a few injuries, some even irreversible.
Fighting with Yūshin, such a high-temperature steam tank, meant any physical contact would inevitably result in burns.
Additionally, Akimichi Ninsei had also taken a Fire Release hit.
What made him most despondent was that his abdomen now had an additional footprint-shaped "tattoo"—the lifetime warranty, never-fading kind.
However, he soon understood what it meant that there was no most desperate, only more desperate.
Akimichi Ninsei was a married man with a wife and a five-year-old daughter at home.
His wife knew some medical ninjutsu. At this time, she came to his bedside, unwrapped the bandages on his head, and helped him change the dressing.
While changing the dressing, she said:
"Ninsei, do you know what alopecia areata is?"
"Alopecia... areata?"
To avoid being too harsh on her husband, she changed her phrasing:
"Ninsei, do you know what even the most exquisite medical ninjutsu cannot accomplish?"
"What is it?"
"Cough, medical ninjutsu can neither bring the dead back to life nor revive dead hair follicles..."
Akimichi Ninsei: "..."
Bald?
"Hair follicle revival isn't a medical field topic—it's a magical field topic."
This wife was even making jokes. After all, her husband being able to return alive from the battlefield was already divine protection—as for whether the gods protected her husband's hair, what did that matter?
Injured, bald, defeated, released by the enemy out of pity... After his wife finished changing the dressing and left, the already listless Akimichi Ninsei remained in a low-pressure state.
After hearing he had awakened, his two younger brothers quickly came before him.
His second brother Akimichi Kizuki explained to him what had happened after he lost consciousness.
Soon he felt somewhat relieved. Dying on the battlefield was indeed a ninja's destiny, but since he hadn't died, he couldn't possibly run to the enemy and question why they didn't kill him, right?
What difference would that be from an unreasonable shrew?
Hearing the other party wanted to schedule another battle, Akimichi Ninsei also perked up—next time he was prepared to go all out from the start.
"Big brother, why did you exhaust your chakra immediately after entering butterfly wing mode?" his second brother asked.
"It wasn't exhausting chakra—it was having chakra seized by the enemy. That Yūshin is very troublesome. He has both the ability to suppress our strength and the means to seize chakra..."
"Moreover, I have a judgment—I feel the more we're in a chakra burst state, the faster the opponent seizes chakra."
Akimichi Ninsei said while recalling.
This was correct nonsense. When all your "floodgates" were open, Yūshin could drain chakra to his heart's content.
"Then... how should we deal with the enemy's this ability?"
It didn't matter whether it was despicable or not—if someone had the ability to absorb chakra during battle, why would they choose not to use it?
"We can only try to avoid direct physical contact with the opponent as much as possible."
Akimichi Ninsei didn't have any good solutions for the moment and could only choose evasion.
...
On the other side, after Yūshin returned to Kikyō Castle, he felt the plundered high-quality, high-intensity Yang-type chakra.
When this chakra flowed through his meridians, he felt his physical strength received considerable enhancement.
This attribute change was much better than Yūshin had expected.
Having personally felt and experienced Yang-type chakra, plus having previously obtained medical ninjutsu learning methods, Yūshin began researching Yang Release transformation.
Simply put, it was about combining spiritual energy and physical energy, then making it manifest the vitality and vigor of physical energy.
This wasn't simple combination but required using spiritual energy to stimulate and strengthen physical energy.
Therefore, Yang Release transformation was different from other chakra nature transformations. In a sense, Yin and Yang attributes were purer, more self-contained, more internal.
It could be said that everyone had the potential to transform Yin-Yang attributes because this was the internal power they inherently possessed.
For some unknown reason, Yūshin felt learning Yang Release transformation was much simpler than other attribute transformations.
With Akimichi Ninsei's chakra as a sample and following the medical ninjutsu cultivation method, it didn't take long before he felt he could already stimulate the life force portion of his chakra.
Of course, this was still far from quantitative change producing qualitative change, but in the process of learning Yang Release transformation, Yūshin felt his own comprehension and talent for the first time—he even felt he was born for this...
At this moment, he wanted to quickly end the conflict with Reitō Castle so he could wholeheartedly devote himself to Yang Release research and cultivation.
This feeling of getting immediate results from effort was unprecedented, so he was somewhat unable to stop.
Therefore, after only three days, Yūshin placed another letter in the Reitō Castle daimyo's room.
According to convention, after delivering the letter, he still needed to stick paper slips on the Akimichi ninja.
However, after recognizing Yūshin's stealth capabilities, the Akimichi ninja began standing back-to-back in pairs during night watch, their four eyes wide open observing the surroundings—quite a feeling of not being able to play fair.
Yūshin was somewhat helpless. Look at the daimyo—knowing it was difficult to defend against enemy infiltration capabilities, he simply didn't specifically defend.
The room was whatever it originally looked like and still looked the same now—there was no intention of sleeping with a bedful of ninja.
In this situation, he could certainly find opportunities to continue sticking paper slips, but that would require considerable time.
Yūshin didn't want to waste too much time—he wouldn't let the opponent lead him by the nose.
These night watch people were so alert—you all had to sleep sometime, right?
He changed locations and continued to easily stick paper slips.
One could imagine—when the recuperating Akimichi Ninsei woke up and discovered a red paper slip stuck to his forehead, what kind of feeling would that be?
This was endless, wasn't it? Humiliated on the battlefield, and still had to be humiliated at home?
After the daimyo woke up and discovered the new letter, he began to take it in stride.
After reading the letter, he yawned and said:
"Still the same old place. However, since Ninsei-san is recuperating, let Kizuki fight in his place this time."
Akimichi Kizuki had no objections—he was prepared to do his utmost to restore the family's and daimyo's reputation.
Shimizu daimyo still planned to go watch the excitement because he felt Yūshin could still pull some new tricks... It could only be said his thinking was correct.
At noon, still at the original location.
This time, Yūshin's side brought several more ninja, while Gorō Fūma was absent... After knowing Yūshin's purpose, everyone wanted to witness Yūshin's strength and the Akimichi Clan's performance.
After setting up the stage, Yūshin saw that Akimichi Kizuki had come this time and didn't mind—he couldn't forcibly demand to continue fighting with the injured, could he?
After the big brother fell, the second brother stepped up. Akimichi Kizuki was equivalent to the "successor."
Akimichi Kizuki held a black staff taller than himself—clearly he had come prepared. Yūshin knew this was to guard against his chakra absorption ability...
However, today he was prepared to demonstrate other abilities, implementing a gradual, escalating, maximum pressure fighting approach.
"Thank you for sparing my big brother last time, but I won't show mercy because of it."
"Of course, war is war. Even if I die in battle here today, I won't regret my past actions."
Eh, this opening dialogue—wasn't the superiority immediately apparent?
As soon as he finished speaking, Akimichi Kizuki's chakra suddenly erupted. Next, butterfly wings appeared behind him. He leaped high into the air at high speed, swinging his staff forcefully at Yūshin's head.
Clang!
A crisp collision sound suddenly rang out. Looking carefully, Yūshin had actually raised his forearm to block the opponent's staff strike.
Yūshin emitted a small amount of steam, but with his physical strength, even using Boil Release, under normal circumstances he couldn't possibly directly meet the enemy's metal weapons with his bare body.
Akimichi Kizuki looked behind Yūshin, and his face immediately showed shock and panic. His mouth gaped open, his jaw nearly hitting the ground.
Behind Yūshin, a pair of chakra wings had actually unfolded.
The Akimichi Clan's thinking was straightforward. Yūshin could guess that at the start of battle, the opponent would immediately use their ultimate technique, so he was prepared early.
Naturally, the chakra wings behind him were merely crude external imitation, fundamentally different from the Akimichi Clan's butterfly wings.
His imitation wasn't very similar either—the opponent had beautiful, symmetrical pairs of butterfly wings behind them, while his side looked like enlarged fly wings that had been chewed by dogs.
But regardless, his imitation greatly shocked the enemy's psychology. Akimichi Kizuki, who had been full of fighting spirit before the battle began, immediately became flustered.
Yūshin hadn't yet learned Yang Release transformation. Whether the wings behind him or his strengthened arms, they all used chakra plundered from Akimichi Ninsei.
Therefore, this battle was equivalent to big brother fighting second brother. The fight had just begun, but second brother's heart was already in chaos, so the victory outcome had no suspense whatsoever.
Yūshin once again harvested a batch of Yang-type chakra, but this time he exercised restraint—at least he didn't turn Akimichi Kizuki into a human jerky state.
This battle's spectacle wasn't as good as the previous one, but due to Yūshin's tricks, it actually caused even greater sensation among the spectators, especially the Akimichi Clan—they even thought their family's secret techniques had been stolen.
The final result wasn't much different—it was just that the one who fainted had changed to Akimichi Kizuki.
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