"Yūshin, you... you're really willing to help me?" Uchiha Shichimi's voice carried a trace of excitement.
When people face great difficulties, they naturally want to seek help from others. Shichimi had considered asking Yūshin for help before, but this matter was hard to bring up, so she'd been struggling with it.
She knew that if she went to rescue someone from the Uchiha alone, her chances of success wouldn't be high.
But even though Yūshin claimed he was providing personal help in a private capacity, considering his position as organization leader, how could public and private matters be so clearly separated?
Imagine if Yūshin were unfortunately captured by the Uchiha Clan—could he claim he was acting personally and this had nothing to do with the organization?
Though the Uchiha were renowned for wisdom, they wouldn't believe such words. Could they refrain from retaliating against the organization?
"Of course, I wouldn't joke about something like this... After all, we're not going to war with the entire Uchiha Clan, are we? So don't overthink it."
It's just a rescue mission—maybe they won't even need to fight.
"Thank you so much. The current situation doesn't allow for pleasantries. With your infiltration abilities, I'll feel much more confident..."
"We're certainly not going to war with the Uchiha. Though I shouldn't dampen our morale at this time, honestly, forget the entire Uchiha—the two of us together probably aren't a match for Madara."
Yūshin thought, isn't that obvious? To him, Uchiha Madara was equivalent to the entire Uchiha Clan.
"No need for courtesy. You're an important member of the organization after all. Though I don't care about the Uchiha Clan, what happens to you can't be completely separated from the organization."
Regarding public versus private matters, their thinking was quite aligned.
"Fortunately, the organization now has considerable combat strength. Considering the surrounding situation and the intensity of nearby threats, even if we leave the Land of the River Source temporarily, there shouldn't be major problems."
The Fireflies organization had achieved some "self-sufficiency." To put it bluntly, even if Yūshin went out and accidentally died, the organization could still continue existing for some time—it wouldn't collapse immediately.
Yūshin certainly didn't care about suffering Uchiha civilians. There are always people in dire straits in the world—he couldn't extend a helping hand to everyone.
This was something even the "True Several Thousand Hands" couldn't accomplish.
Whether in thinking or ability, Yūshin was no savior.
Even now, Yūshin didn't covet the entire Uchiha's power, because misfortune is contagious. The Uchiha Clan was cursed with bad luck—staying with them, who knows when he might suddenly collapse and never wake up.
Yūshin could get along normally with Uchiha Shichimi mainly because Shichimi was an atypical Uchiha—a normal human being. If Shichimi were the type to activate her eyes at every turn and scare people with retinal detachment symptoms, they definitely couldn't have gotten along smoothly for so long.
Given Shichimi's lackluster development of her Mangekyō Sharingan, her direct combat power wasn't top-tier. Though these eyes had powerful functionality and support abilities, she couldn't use those well either... But regardless, within The Fireflies organization, she was definitely a "high-level expert."
More valuable was Shichimi's considerable recognition of the organization's founding principles and development methods—she could definitely be considered truly "one of us."
If someday the organization unfortunately faced attacks from powerful enemies, in reality, only Shichimi could fight alongside Yūshin.
Strength, potential, recognition—where could he find such talent? Yūshin didn't want to get involved in Uchiha Clan affairs, but he was more worried about Shichimi never returning.
But could Uchiha Shichimi ignore the Uchiha Clan? She certainly wasn't cold-blooded to that degree.
If Yūshin suddenly had an episode and asked "Which is more important, the organization or the Uchiha?" the best answer he could expect would be "The organization is important, but I must return to the Uchiha."
So weighing two evils and choosing the lesser, Yūshin decided to help Shichimi and participate in her rescue operation.
Uchiha Shichimi was beautiful, spoke pleasantly, and was strong—The Fireflies organization couldn't do without her.
"However, my infiltration abilities aren't foolproof either. Based on necessary caution, before we begin operations, you need to inform me about the layout of the Uchiha Clan's powerful and important sensory barriers."
Even though Yūshin seemed optimistic, he would never be blindly arrogant. The Uchiha Clan couldn't be taken lightly—thorough preparation was still necessary.
"No problem."
Unexpectedly, Shichimi agreed without hesitation to such Uchiha secrets.
"Uh... maybe reconsider? Those barriers are very important, even crucial to the Uchiha Clan's safety."
"No problem, I trust you." Shichimi repeated.
You trust me? I don't even trust myself. If he understood the Uchiha Clan's barrier distribution, wouldn't infiltrating the Uchiha become as simple as using the bathroom?
But Shichimi indeed understood Yūshin to some degree, knowing he wouldn't waste energy on the Uchiha Clan for no reason. If not for her, the two sides wouldn't interact at all.
"Good... then there's just one last key issue."
"Key issue?"
Yes, the key to the problem is finding the key problem.
"I need to think carefully about what identity to use if we accidentally expose our whereabouts."
Regarding role-playing, Yūshin felt he couldn't keep exploiting the Sarutobi Clan. If he caused trouble within the Uchiha under the Sarutobi name, it might actually trigger a clan war.
Shichimi: "..."
She felt this issue was truly unimportant—just disguise as mysterious figures in black. Why need a specific fake identity?
She simply didn't understand such matters. Mysterious strangers might have their true origins discovered. To prevent this, Yūshin preferred proactively revealing his identity... a "genuine" fake identity.
"Got it, I suddenly have a brilliant idea."
While Yūshin was thinking about whom to frame, a very clever idea suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Extend your hand."
Shichimi instinctively cooperated by extending her right hand. When their palms clasped together, she remembered The Fireflies organization's "traditional custom" and subconsciously thought her hand would also get a hole. But as she mentally prepared for this, she suddenly felt part of her chakra being drawn away.
Then, an incredibly shocking scene occurred.
The Yūshin before Shichimi's eyes slowly shrank by half a head, his body outline became more slender, even showing a waist and hips, his pale complexion took on a delicate, flawless beauty, and then his face became identical to hers.
"You, you... isn't this me?"
"It's you. This is a unique transformation technique only I can use, my ace in the hole. Everyone who's seen this move is dead... You must help me keep this secret." Yūshin smiled.
This way of smiling was different from Shichimi's, so when this unfamiliar smile appeared on that most familiar face, Shichimi felt tremendous dissonance.
She subconsciously nodded, still not recovered from shock, because only now did she discover Yūshin's chakra characteristics were identical to her own.
Chakra is equivalent to a ninja's fingerprint—how could it be mimicked so perfectly? Shichimi suspected Yūshin wasn't using any transformation technique at all.
"Anyway, chakra is very mysterious. Though we ninja mostly use it as energy, it's biological energy containing almost all information about a ninja's body and even spirit... Maybe someone could abandon their physical body and achieve immortality through chakra alone." Yūshin packaged certain facts as an unfunny joke.
After disguising himself as Shichimi, Yūshin also felt awkward. Certain discomfort made him perform some actions without thinking.
For instance, he subconsciously raised his left hand to support certain heavy parts.
Well, they were indeed quite heavy.
"Uh, sorry."
The unusual sensation immediately cleared Yūshin's mind. He lowered his left hand while releasing Shichimi's right hand.
Shichimi's face quickly flushed, her expression becoming somewhat embarrassed.
After apologizing, Yūshin realized he'd spoken too quickly... Wait, it's my body now—why apologize?
Not exaggerating, in the cruel war environment, most of the time Yūshin actually saw people as "gender-neutral." In fact, his basic classification of ninja usually only divided them into "can fight" and "can't fight."
Right now Yūshin felt a bit confused inside, but fortunately his exterior remained as steady as ever.
Feeling that continuing silence would lead to acting in "Your Name," he coughed lightly and said:
"Ahem, this solves my identity problem. Two Shichimis infiltrating the Uchiha together won't bring trouble to any other ninja clan."
"Good... um, I mean... good."
Yūshin: "..."
I know you said good, you didn't say not good—why stammer?
The benefit was that after this comic interlude, Shichimi no longer had the mind to wonder why Yūshin could use such perfect transformation techniques.
...
Shichimi naturally wanted to return to the Uchiha Clan as quickly as possible, but they couldn't leave directly—otherwise it wouldn't be launching a rescue plan but abandoning home and business to elope.
Yūshin had to assess the security situation around the Land of the River Source, confirming that most hostile forces were busy licking their wounds and had no time to organize large-scale invasions before he could safely leave Kikyō Castle.
Meanwhile, he had to explain to others in the organization, which wasn't troublesome—just honestly saying he and Shichimi were going to execute a rescue mission.
After completing explanations and temporarily delegating decision-making authority to Kansen Morinaga, Ryūnosuke Hayasaka, Akimichi Narihisa, and Gorō Fūma, Yūshin could finally depart.
Because Uchiha Shichimi was anxious, she traveled regardless of cost. In less than two days after leaving Kikyō Castle, she reached the location of the Uchiha Clan's village.
Theoretically, her behavior should count as going home, but she didn't choose to enter the village directly.
Shichimi stopped at a position where she could see the Uchiha village. She paused here, rested briefly, and after calming her emotions and recovering some chakra, began acting again.
She formed hand seals, used the Summoning Technique to call forth that "pangolin" again, stuffed a secret message under the summoning beast's neck, then immediately ended the summoning.
Perhaps the message wasn't discovered promptly by the summoning beast's master—after waiting an hour, someone finally sneaked toward Shichimi's temporary hiding place.
"Shichimi, is that really you? Where are you?"
After arriving nearby, the person asked in a lowered voice.
Why could Shichimi know Uchiha clan developments so timely? Because she'd planted "spies" deep in the Uchiha's core network... after all, she herself was part of this network.
Shichimi didn't rush to respond. She observed the situation ahead, confirming the newcomer had no tail before showing herself.
"Shikane, it's me, I'm back."
The big-eyed Uchiha third son had "betrayed" the Uchiha Clan.
However, since his "betrayal" target was Shichimi, the reason was unimpeachable, and if exposed, only Uchiha Madara would judge him, so even if he truly "betrayed," he'd definitely be innocent.
People commonly think Uchiha naturally have only two expressions—either cold faces or wild laughter—but this is mistaken knowledge, because Uchiha Shikane now smiled genuinely and brilliantly.
Like a kindergarten student who suddenly saw his mother after school.
If age were appropriate—if Uchiha Shikane were four to eight years younger—he'd definitely dive into Shichimi's embrace.
Shichimi reached out to ruffle Shikane's hair, saying:
"This isn't a place to talk... Can you quietly bring me into the village? I don't want those old folks to notice I'm back."
"Of course no problem." Uchiha Shikane immediately agreed.
Clearly, his feelings for Shichimi ran deep, even reaching blind faith.
Yūshin, hidden in the shadows, couldn't help curling his lips. Shouldn't Uchiha cubs and juveniles all have especially arrogant personalities? How is there a mama's boy type?
What an eye-opener.
Uchiha Shikane led Shichimi through a side entrance into the Uchiha Clan's village.
The side entrance naturally had guards, but...
"Remember, you saw nothing, understand?" Uchiha Shikane coldly instructed the guard.
That guard nodded vigorously. He recognized Shichimi and even seemed excited upon seeing her, so he easily let them pass... But he didn't take Uchiha Shikane's orders seriously.
Joking—could a clan leader's son's status alone make a battle-hardened ninja abandon his duties?
He planned to report Shichimi's return to his superiors after the two left.
However...
When he turned around, he saw a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
"You saw nothing."
"...Yes."
Uchiha Madara's orders were much more chilling, and his commands would be executed one hundred percent...
Guaranteed by the Mangekyō Sharingan's powerful genjutsu and control abilities.
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