"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 179: The Legend of the Second Hokage
Sakumo Hatake was sealed within a block of ice. That face which had once carried such bitter resentment now appeared solemn and dignified—though regrettably, all that dignity was concealed beneath the sealing scroll.
While sealing consciousness sounds far more complex and challenging than sealing a physical body, in reality, freezing someone's body is no simple task either... Yūshin had practiced countless times, freezing to death numerous adorable rodents and despicable ninja before mastering this technique to perfection.
The ice encasing Sakumo Hatake wasn't merely ice—it incorporated sealing jutsu foundations as well. Under normal circumstances, this ice couldn't be shattered, nor would it naturally melt... As long as no one threw Sakumo into a volcanic crater for incineration—though honestly, his crimes didn't warrant such extreme measures.
After completing the seal, Yūshin moved Sakumo to a corner of this underground chamber. Simply leaving him there posed no issues—the seal on his body was extraordinarily durable.
You had to admit, as a decorative piece, it looked rather impressive.
Based on the principle that the more complex something is, the more prone to malfunction, Yūshin hadn't programmed any automatic release mechanism into the seal... Upon reaching the "future," Sakumo Hatake's seal would require manual removal.
If Yūshin was still around then, he could handle the task himself. If not, he'd record this matter in The Fireflies organization's major affairs memorandum—someone would take care of it when the time came.
Uzumaki Mito watched Yūshin's actions, his expression one of wanting to speak but hesitating.
"Don't worry, ordinary ninja wouldn't have the qualifications to reach a place like this. Keeping him here is very safe."
Yūshin assumed Uzumaki Mito had concerns about the sealed object's placement. He considered it carefully—by the time Sakumo Hatake would truly be active, Konoha still wouldn't have opportunities to take "earth airplanes" directly skyward, so storing Sakumo here wouldn't be problematic.
"No, Lord Yūshin... I simply don't understand why this person would willingly submit to being sealed."
Uzumaki Mito was sentimental by nature—he merely felt Sakumo Hatake was somewhat pitiable.
However, the soon-to-be time-traveler Sakumo was actually thrilled beyond measure.
"Sealed? Not quite—he's simply chosen a special method of traveling to the future... For various reasons, he must do this."
Uzumaki Mito remained silent for a while. He might be naive about worldly matters, but he wasn't stupid.
"I understand, Lord Yūshin. I'll bury this matter in my heart."
"Excellent... Rest assured, this is something beneficial to Konoha."
After "burying" Sakumo Hatake, Uzumaki Mito took his leave, and Yūshin returned to the surface levels.
Near evening, after a busy day, Nara Hideyuki appeared before Yūshin.
"Lord Yūshin, you summoned me?"
"Yes, nothing urgent... Let's walk and talk."
Though The Fireflies organization had officially disbanded, whether due to internal or external factors, this organization would continue existing indefinitely.
Internal factors needed no elaboration—every ninja clan deeply identified with The Fireflies' ideals. During those arduous years, they forged beautiful memories together... All these elements created an indelible centripetal force, binding them tightly together.
External factors were even simpler: within a village, competition among ninja clans was inevitable. To contend with the great clans, objective circumstances demanded that small and medium clans advance and retreat together.
Internal cohesion, external pressure—for quite some time, The Fireflies would remain unbreakable... When Konoha began showing its age, perhaps The Fireflies' pure ideals would become even more attractive.
The two walked through the village one behind the other. As they proceeded, Yūshin spotted that abstract sculpture relocated from The Fireflies village, now standing in the central plaza... Yūshin's eye twitched, and he silently took a detour.
That thing reminded him of Hashirama's actions during Konoha's founding ceremony—a clumsy imitation of Yūshin's behavior during The Fireflies village's establishment... Hashirama had also conducted blood-mixing rituals.
Personally presiding over such activities was one thing, but observing from a third-party perspective, Yūshin found the whole affair excessively chūni.
Fortunately, not everyone had to take a blade that day—only clan leaders participated.
This meant Yūshin hadn't appeared, since the Yūshin Clan's leader was Tachibana Wakamatsu.
"What have you been busy with lately?"
As they walked, Yūshin inquired of Nara Hideyuki.
"Reorganizing The Fireflies organization's management structure. Lord Hokage has consistently regretted the group's dissolution, but Tobirama Senju remains quite wary of the organization."
"Perfectly normal. Tobirama is like that."
"Besides that... Lord Yūshin, you should know Konoha village's forehead protector symbol has been finalized, correct?"
"Mm, I know."
Konoha's symbol remained that leaf, no different from Yūshin's memories.
"Setting aside the village symbol, recently the village has been determining ninja uniform styles. We want to advocate for placing The Fireflies' emblem on the uniforms..."
Yūshin paused momentarily, thinking to himself—so that's how it connected. When Sakumo Hatake arrived in this era, his clothing was so ugly because of your efforts.
"Then work hard at it. Success or failure doesn't particularly matter."
"We'll definitely succeed. The Fireflies are Konoha's institutional foundation, playing a crucial role in the ninja village's establishment. You could say they're Konoha's skeletal framework... Such contributions deserve commemoration, otherwise it wouldn't make logical sense."
Indeed, highly commemorative—aside from ugliness, there were no flaws whatsoever.
"I originally intended to remind you of certain matters, but now it seems unnecessary... You're performing excellently."
Seeing Nara Hideyuki's ambition, Yūshin felt no need to elaborate further.
Beyond his village duties, Nara Hideyuki now served as The Fireflies club's executive secretary, officially the organization's second-in-command. However, given that Yūshin barely interfered with organizational affairs anymore, Nara Hideyuki was the de facto leader.
One reason Nara Hideyuki worked so diligently was that many within the organization believed Yūshin was being suppressed by the village, or that Yūshin had voluntarily severed his influence over The Fireflies for the village's sake.
Heaven cannot have two suns—enough said about that.
"Lord Yūshin, I'm deeply grateful for your trust... Though I was born into the Nara Clan, to demonstrate impartiality, from today forward I've decided to change my name to Yūshin Hideyuki."
Yūshin: "..."
What are you doing? That's completely unnecessary—you're even older than me... Yūshin nearly jumped three feet in alarm.
"Completely unnecessary. None of the ninja within the Yūshin Clan actually bear the Yūshin surname, so there's no reason for a Nara ninja to adopt it."
Nara Hideyuki considered this, then said:
"In that case, I've decided to conceal my surname and use only my given name from now on... until I step down."
This caused Yūshin to halt abruptly, because it reminded him of Sakumo Hatake's self-introduction... "one who conceals his surname within the organization."
It seemed that starting with Nara Hideyuki, Fireflies organization leaders concealing their clan surnames became a tradition.
No wonder Sakumo Hatake had been so excited upon meeting Yūshin, and felt such genuine affection for The Fireflies organization. Turns out this guy was a future Fireflies leader, not merely an ordinary member... Damn it, why didn't you mention this earlier?
"Lord Yūshin?"
"Mm, nothing. Concealing your surname already sufficiently demonstrates fairness, but the key to fairness lies in substance, not form."
"I understand, Lord Yūshin."
"Good, work hard... By the way, Gan Wencui from the organization has departed. He won't return for some time—devise an appropriate explanation to avoid arousing suspicion."
"Departed... Understood, Lord Yūshin."
Nara Hideyuki was somewhat puzzled. How could a ninja of Gan Wencui's caliber leave without reason, especially when Konoha had just been established?
However, seeing that Yūshin had no intention of explaining, he wisely suppressed his curiosity and refrained from inquiring.
In summary, Yūshin was gradually transferring power to Nara Hideyuki while repositioning himself closer to a mascot role. Before long, The Fireflies would enter Hideyuki's era.
...
A formal letter from Konoha's medical department was delivered to First Hokage Hashirama Senju.
This letter's general content expressed that the medical department was impressed by Hashirama's cells' powerful vitality and life force, hoping to utilize them for medical treatment. The short-term research objective was limb cultivation and transplantation, aiming to help ninja who lost limbs in warfare regain normal bodily function.
Honestly, this purpose deeply moved Hashirama Senju. As dark as his younger brother was, the elder brother was equally benevolent... Contributing his strength for all ninja—wasn't this precisely what a Hokage should do?
He hesitated not at all, directly approving the letter's requests and providing cellular tissue samples to the medical department.
Tobirama only learned of this matter afterward, naturally expressing strong opposition. In his view, this constituted power leakage—researching his brother's abilities... Could such research truly avoid producing weapons targeting his brother?
You could say this guy was overthinking. Even if someone transplanted Hashirama's cells and achieved perfect Wood Release adaptation, could such a person threaten Hashirama?
Even Madara Uchiha could only use Hashirama's power to threaten the weakened Edo Tensei version of Hashirama.
But regardless of Tobirama's objections, it was already too late. He could only strengthen the experiment's security measures.
This letter naturally originated from Yūshin. On one hand, he genuinely hoped Hashirama cells could serve medical research purposes; on the other, he was providing Madara Uchiha with an opportunity.
Since Konoha's establishment, Yūshin had consistently avoided contact with Madara Uchiha, practically walking in circles around him... Unable to defeat the man, what else could he do?
Currently, though the Uchiha Clan hadn't suffered unjust treatment, their status couldn't compare to the original timeline... The original Konoha was founded jointly by the Senju and Uchiha as dual pillars, with other ninja clans joining subsequently.
But now things differed—the Uchiha were the final addition, thus they couldn't possess special privileges.
Regardless, by this point Madara Uchiha should already understand what "the power of all creation" meant. Theoretically, he'd already begun coveting Hashirama.
At this juncture, Yūshin presenting Hashirama cells saved Madara from having to bite Hashirama directly—how unsanitary that would be.
Would Madara Uchiha abandon such an opportunity? Or perhaps...
Would the Uchiha maintain their pride—if they could seize it, they'd never steal?
Regardless, Konoha's medical department launched research into Hashirama cells. This research project remained absolutely classified, but certainly couldn't escape observant eyes.
In Konoha Year Two, the ninja world experienced additional major events.
Kumogakure and Kirigakure successively announced their establishments. Subsequently, Kumogakure attempted their first Nine-Tails capture, but the plan failed with heavy losses... However, this definitely didn't involve the Gold and Silver Brothers—these two were still snot-nosed infants.
(Note: All Konoha chronology in this work differs from the original, as Konoha's establishment occurred five years earlier)
At year's end, Hashirama Senju and Uzumaki Mito had a daughter. Hashirama was exceptionally delighted, naming her "D."
Hashirama was perhaps so overjoyed that, to demonstrate his continued affection for Madara Uchiha and elevate the Uchiha's status, village rumors suggested Hashirama intended for Madara to succeed him as Second Hokage.
From Hashirama's perspective, this notion wasn't entirely unreasonable—after all, only he truly understood Madara's strength. However, ordinary ninja couldn't possibly endorse such thinking.
What status did the Uchiha hold? How could they possibly aspire to the Hokage position?
Simultaneously, another rumor claimed Lord Yūshin of The Fireflies intended to become Second Hokage.
Instantly, village rumors about Madara were swept away completely. Yūshin received unprecedented support, with momentum approaching a "purge the court" atmosphere.
Those who weren't clearheaded instantly became so.
To become Hokage, one ultimately had to compete in popular support. Madara wanted advancement? Had Yūshin agreed?
Throughout this entire year, Hashirama studied how to be Hokage, while Konoha village continuously organized internal affairs. This first ninja village in the ninja world was learning to walk unsteadily.
Ninja world warfare had essentially ceased, with all major ninja villages experiencing situations similar to Konoha's...
Except on the plateau.
Though the great ninja clans of the plateau were utterly exhausted, they continued fighting. After Yūshin delivered a crushing blow to the strongest clan, the various clan powers actually achieved balance, initiating a Gu King cultivation process on the plateau.
Until the Gu King emerged, they'd have to continue fighting.
But let them fight—this concerned neither other nations, other ninja villages, nor Yūshin.
At year's end, Yūshin traveled to The Fireflies village, visiting ninja stationed there.
Then, on a snowy night, he encountered Shichimi again.
"Holy crap, you don't actually believe the ninja world's peace is due to your summoning, do you?"
Yūshin had just sent Sakumo Hatake away—he didn't want to welcome new guests.
In peaceful times, don't create difficulties where none exist.
At this moment, Yūshin finally reached a firm decision...
If he couldn't reclaim Shichimi's Sharingan, he'd have no choice but to seal Shichimi.
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