"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 193: The Defection Incident
No matter what era it is, one thing is certain...
Chakra truly possesses a kind of magic—one could even say it has a certain "addictive quality."
According to the Sage of Six Paths' design, the Ninja Sect's use of chakra was somewhat like elderly men practicing tai chi in the park: slow and gentle, serving to cultivate both body and mind.
However...
As everyone continued practicing, there was an inevitable trend toward "traditional martial arts"—the combat-oriented kind.
This was unavoidable. As long as something keeps developing forward, it's difficult to maintain its original purity. Even deities cannot change this reality... From this perspective, one must reluctantly admit that Uchiha Madara's vision of forging eternal peace through Infinite Tsukuyomi wasn't entirely without merit.
If he could give everyone in the world a choice—those willing to enter dreams could dream, while those unwilling could continue beating each other's brains out in reality—that would be ideal.
Well, that's somewhat wishful thinking. Infinite Tsukuyomi was essentially still a world-ending plan, because people immersed in genjutsu wouldn't remain "happy" forever. They would ultimately lose all self-awareness and transform into White Zetsu.
Negating war equals negating humanity as a species. Using human extinction to eliminate war is inevitably putting the cart before the horse.
After Yūshin began training in Six Paths Yin-Yang Release, he no longer followed the Sage of Six Paths on ascetic journeys. He temporarily remained in this village.
The God Tree had long vanished without a trace, but this village's location wasn't far from where the God Tree once stood. In a sense, this was the "nuclear contamination" zone of the God Tree's chakra—though this nuclear contamination was harmless.
If one wanted to scavenge wood, they could definitely find remnant branches of the God Tree nearby.
"Come on, big watermelon in the left hand, big watermelon in the right hand, draw tiles, stack tiles..."
With the Sage of Six Paths away, Yūshin couldn't just do nothing in the village. So besides training in Yin-Yang Release, he occasionally guest-starred as an elementary teacher, instructing the village children in basic chakra operation methods.
Among Yūshin's students, Indra and Asura took the lead, along with several children from Hamura's lineage... This job positioning reminded Yūshin of a certain guy in future Konoha who specialized in teaching Konohamaru ninjutsu—what was his name again?
As the ancestor of the Uchiha, Indra didn't deviate from Yūshin's stereotypical impression. Around ten years old, his expression remained perpetually arrogant.
"It's this basic stuff again. Can't we learn something fresh that I haven't studied before?"
Indra would stop practicing halfway through—not skipping class, just finding these exercises boring... From his perspective, this attitude was understandable, since he'd already completely mastered basic chakra operation.
Moreover, he wasn't targeting Yūshin specifically; he maintained this attitude toward all substitute teachers.
"The problem is, this is all I know... Indra, you can rest now and go do whatever you want." Yūshin said.
Honor students had the right to skip class for other activities. One couldn't expect Yūshin to correct his personality... Even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't accomplish that, so Yūshin was naturally powerless.
"Hmph, utterly useless."
Yūshin thought to himself: What are you acting so cool for? Do you know what you are in my eyes? Just an NPC.
Respect others' destinies—NPCs have their own fates.
Compared to people of this era, Yūshin naturally possessed more knowledge. However, if he transmitted this knowledge to others, the Sage of Six Paths would cause him trouble... Chakra is such a wonderful thing, yet you're weaponizing it? With such impure intentions, everyone would want you dead.
"Big Brother Gan, I haven't mastered it yet. Please continue teaching me."
Indra left with a cold snort, but Asura remained. Regarding chakra knowledge, he appeared somewhat slow.
But this guy was, after all, the inheritor of the "Sage's Body." One couldn't judge him as weak just because he learned slowly—people like him needed "sudden enlightenment."
After enlightenment, his achievements would surpass his genius older brother.
After all, Asura was the one who ultimately inherited the Ninja Sect.
"Alright, what don't you understand?"
As the saying goes, you can see the man in the child. Yūshin thought: No wonder most Ninja Sect members later chose to follow Asura. Even if he wasn't the Sage of Six Paths' designated successor, just observing how these two brothers treated others, everyone would know whom to follow.
Cold bosses can't retain employees—only Mary Sues need domineering CEOs.
But it didn't matter. Yūshin might as well issue a disclaimer: Indra's personality was entirely innate, with responsibility lying with the Sage of Six Paths, having no relation whatsoever to him, an occasional substitute elementary teacher.
Another five years passed. Yūshin peacefully pursued his research. Just as the Sage of Six Paths had said, his research progress was indeed slow, but he wasn't anxious—as long as he was making progress, Yūshin was satisfied.
During these five years, the Sage of Six Paths returned to the village twice, then departed for a third time.
During the Sage of Six Paths' third absence, something unfortunate occurred in the village.
This day, Yūshin was buried in his research when he suddenly heard commotion from the village.
This was extremely rare, because this village was peaceful, with simple, honest people possessing noble moral concepts. Generally, no disturbances would occur.
Yūshin sensed something wrong. He quickly left his room and grabbed someone rushing forward on the street.
"What happened?"
That person was dizzy and disoriented, initially focused only on charging forward, but after discovering he couldn't break free from Yūshin's control, he finally spoke:
"Someone escaped from the village and kidnapped an Ōtsutsuki family child."
Uh, something's not right here. Did someone get high on chakra and lose their mind? Conducting defection activities during the Sage of Six Paths era... that's incredibly creative.
"Where is Lord Hamura?"
"Lord Hamura is out, apparently investigating problems with the God Tree's root system."
Yūshin's emotions immediately tensed. He smelled conspiracy.
This didn't seem like something people of this era could accomplish.
The village was somewhat chaotic. With Ōtsutsuki Hamura absent, no one knew who should take charge.
Yūshin sighed. Fine, time to catch some people.
Hamura had worked diligently—the Byakugan users in this village weren't numerous, but they weren't few either. They shouldn't lose track of the defectors.
Yūshin didn't need Byakugan—he was a trained ninja, skilled in pursuit and capturing traitors.
Therefore, after leaving the village, he quickly locked onto those people's trail... Four people total, with one child as hostage.
Since the other pursuers were all chakra cultivation-style users who couldn't even use ninjutsu, Yūshin intercepted those people first.
"You... something's wrong. You have residual God Tree chakra on you. What's going on here?"
After Yūshin approached these people, he immediately detected the problem.
No wonder these people could practice to the point of deviation in the Ninja Sect—they were guilty of "possessing chakra of unknown massive origins."
"Gan, don't obstruct us. We just want to use chakra freely... The Ninja Sect's philosophy is wrong—it severely restricts us. Chakra can accomplish far more than this, but the sage has us tightly bound."
"We have no intention of opposing the sage—we simply cannot endure our current life."
Understood. People with hammers naturally aren't content to just hold and play with hammers—they want to strike things.
Yūshin thought for a moment, then recalled the leader's name:
"Jiafu, how to deal with you will be decided by the sage. Right now, I only want to ask where you obtained God Tree chakra."
Could Black Zetsu be causing trouble?
"By the way, Gan, I remember you're very talented with chakra usage. How about coming with us? Staying in the village will only bury your talents."
This person didn't answer Yūshin's question but began trying to persuade him to defect.
However, even persuasion has basic principles—offering no benefits, who would willingly surrender?
"You're not thinking clearly. I don't want to communicate with people who have brain defects... Final warning: if you don't want to die, honestly answer my questions."
"Jiafu, three against one—let's finish him off."
"Gan, don't move, or this brat's life won't be guaranteed."
These people held the unconscious child in front, attempting to threaten Yūshin.
Yūshin didn't know what to say—he just felt speechless... Though these people could manipulate chakra, they had no concept of what ninjas were like.
"I'm sword sect, you're qi sect. I'm heretical cultivation, you're orthodox cultivation... Do we have any comparability?"
Why could Yūshin ignore the hostage? Not because he planned Russian-style rescue, but because the three opponents couldn't pose any threat whatsoever.
"You..."
Yūshin waved his arm, and solid ice instantly froze the three people.
Normal Ice Release didn't have such rapid activation speed, but Yūshin had grown—his Ice Release now possessed some of the Ice-Ice Fruit's elegance.
"Since you're unwilling to speak, then wait."
Yūshin stepped forward, took the only unfrozen child, confirmed he was merely unconscious, then carried him on his back, preparing to leave.
Leaving the ice blocks here didn't matter. Though Yūshin hadn't added sealing techniques like making popsicles, ordinary people couldn't break these things either... Hamura could thaw them out after returning.
However, just as Yūshin walked some distance, a figure rapidly entered his sensing range, then rushed toward the ice sculpture location, and then...
Kicked the three frozen people to pieces.
Well, ordinary people, beasts, or even typical ninjas' chakra strength couldn't destroy Yūshin's ice sculptures, but the attacker was extraordinary—his chakra was exceptionally strong.
"Anyone who dares kidnap Ōtsutsuki clan members must be punished... Gan, are you trying to protect them?"
The newcomer was Indra.
He appeared exceptionally unrestrained, seemingly immersed in the pleasure of punishing evil and promoting good. Honestly, there really weren't opportunities to use chakra freely in the village, so Indra probably felt his current behavior was full of righteousness—even his true inner emotions could be concealed by this sense of justice.
Still something was wrong—one scheme after another. Indra must have been manipulated... Let's just say he was manipulated, otherwise, if all this was his autonomous behavior, Yūshin's stupidity allergy would flare up.
Thinking this was the Uchiha ancestor, one could only say some things truly run in the bloodline.
One could imagine that even if Yūshin hadn't appeared here by accident, Indra would have ended these three people's lives in an even bloodier manner...
In a sense, Indra was essentially the same as those three—they were all people who wanted to play with hammers.
"Indra, do you know what you just kicked to pieces? You're fifteen years old now—you must take responsibility for your own actions."
Yūshin glanced at him, left these words, then turned and departed.
Indra looked completely bewildered.
When Ninja Sect members made mistakes, they needed impartial handling by the Sage of Six Paths. Indra's emotional rampage was equivalent to vigilante justice—crucially, he thought he was right... What he kicked to pieces was his own chance to inherit the Ninja Sect.
When Yūshin returned to the village, Ōtsutsuki Hamura had already returned. He pacified the village's chaotic people and didn't launch any rescue operations... because he'd already seen Yūshin safely bring the person back.
"Lord Hamura..."
Yūshin returned the Ōtsutsuki child to him while explaining his experiences and Indra's actions—after all, he hadn't done anything wrong.
He'd only captured people—it was Indra who judged them.
Additionally, he emphasized the defectors' possession of God Tree chakra, subtly hinting that someone might be manipulating things behind the scenes.
"I understand. I'll notify my elder brother to return and handle this matter."
The situation couldn't escape Hamura's eyes, but this matter was quite serious, concerning both the Ninja Sect and Indra, so it required the Sage of Six Paths' personal handling.
However, investigating who was actually manipulating things wasn't simple. The opponent had tested the waters, planted a crack between Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo's two sons, and since the goal was achieved, would choose to continue lying dormant.
Thinking carefully, even Ōtsutsuki Hamura's investigation of the God Tree stump's root system was probably the beginning of the mastermind's conspiracy.
Yūshin wasn't worried about Black Zetsu appearing around him, because...
Cough, putting effect before cause—the future Black Zetsu didn't recognize Yūshin at all initially.
Who knows how Hamura notified his elder brother, but the Sage of Six Paths quickly returned to the village.
Now he faced three problems:
First, had the Ninja Sect's development deviated from its trajectory? No matter what, the fact that someone attempted defection was undeniable.
Second, how should Indra be dealt with for killing?
Third, who was manipulating things behind the scenes?
🔥 Want to read the next 50+ chapters RIGHT NOW?
💎 Patreon members get instant access!
⚡ Limited-time offer currently running...
👉 [Join on - patreon.com/GoldenLong]