HSU: Ch. 283

Masashi was telling the truth. When the reincarnation began, this was the first question that came to his mind. After all, being reincarnated into his own descendant would feel awkward. But after his investigation, it turned out that his family didn't seem to be descendants of Aoi.

As for what eventually happened to that girl named Aoi, he didn't know, mainly because it was impossible to investigate. The Uchiha clan only kept records of the ninjas in the family, and she wasn't a kunoichi.

"Oh? What a coincidence?" Muzo didn't look like he was going to drop the topic. "So, what was her name?"

"She's not the same person you're thinking of. You don't need to worry about that," Masashi said.

"Well, maybe not. Fine then." Muzo shook his head, it wasn't really that important.

If there was no connection, he could just make one up. Back in his days, it wasn't like Aoi was the only girl he had a relationship with. In those times, ninja clans didn't just clash in open combat, covert tactics were common too, and honey traps were frequently used.

Even "handsome traps" were a thing. He himself had lost count. It was not like people now could prove he was making it up.

"Your body contains my chakra. Since I once studied Chakra Reincarnation Technique, only my descendants can possess my chakra."

Black Zetsu stopped munching on peanuts, glancing between Muzo and Masashi. This friend of his really knew how to play the game, assigning himself a spot in the family tree. And saying it out loud too, flipping positions like a gymnast.

Tsunade, who had just raised a cup to drink, froze mid-motion. She turned her head so fast, it made a cracking sound.

"Chakra Reincarnation is a mythological concept, it's fine to research, but taking it seriously is not ideal, is it?" Masashi said blankly.

This was turning into an outright bluff. He started to consider whether he should just reclaim the chakra right now.

"This is a grown-up's secret. Anyway, I know what I know." Muzo kept watching Tsunade's reaction.

She no longer had any family.

The Senju clan, descendants of Asura, inherited vitality and physical energy from Hagoromo, but they weren't a bloodline limit clan. In fact, they were less distinct than even the Uzumaki clan. That was because not all members of the Senju clan were direct descendants of Asura.

The Senju originated from the Shinobi Sect. After its collapse, some of Asura's descendants and his followers formed the Senju clan.

After the founding of the ninja villages and the loss of Asura's power, the members of the Senju clan had no reason to maintain the organization. By this era, Asura's descendants essentially no longer existed, and the dissolution of the Senju clan meant the family line had ended too.

According to modern standards, Tsunade and Nawaki no longer counted as ninja clan members. However, even though she had no family left, Tsunade still had relatives.

By bloodline, the Uzumaki and Uchiha were her kin, and some members still remained in the village. But to her, these connections lacked the foundation for a real sense of identity.

Muzo had spent most of his life clashing head-on with the Uchiha, yet he held no real prejudice against them. In fact, he didn't even feel much so-called pride or glory about being part of the Senju clan. Back in Tobirama's era, when Wood Release experiments were halted, the Senju clan already showed signs of disbanding, and even then, he didn't try to stop it.

Because from his perspective, disbanding wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At that time, the Senju clan was, in essence, out of successors. Tsunade was just a kid and couldn't be relied upon, and the clan was being supported entirely by a few elderly fighters. Given that situation, it was better to cash out while their assets still had value.

Selling at the peak was a good move.

He never had any emotional attachment to whether the Senju clan should continue. What he truly held dear in his heart were Hashirama, Tobirama, and a bunch of old comrades.

This idea, that Masashi was his descendant, he believed Tsunade would care about. Building ties with the Uchiha clan was actually a smart route. Because honestly, if not for Tobirama's measures, after the Senju clan disbanded, power in Konoha would have gradually fallen into Uchiha hands.

However, Tobirama had a deep belief in the strength of collective institutions, so he did everything he could to prevent the Hokage seat from becoming a hereditary role.

Even though Muzo looked down on how the Uchiha dealt with the world, he actually respected their intense loyalty and brotherhood. He also firmly believed that this aspect of their character would never change.

If it did, they wouldn't be the Uchiha anymore.

Tsunade needed a group of "ride-or-die" bad boys like that to be her friends, people like that would ensure she wouldn't get taken advantage of.

So whether or not Masashi accepted him, Muzo was going to solidify this narrative.

"Don't misunderstand, I mean no harm," Muzo suddenly reached out and ruffled Tsunade's hair. "I only have this one niece. That means, by extension, you guys are siblings. I'll be counting on you to look after her in the future."

At those words, Tsunade finally snapped out of her shock.

Muzo had descendants among the Uchiha, and that descendant just happened to be Masashi? Even now, once the others caught wind of this, it was bound to cause an uproar.

The names Muzo and Masashi appearing together was a "nuclear" combo for those people, this would definitely shift the village's political balance.

"..." Tsunade could barely process it all right now. She said, "Do you know what the consequences of this will be?"

Whether Muzo intended it or not, he was effectively endorsing Masashi. It was true that the Hokage role didn't belong to any one clan, but a Hokage still needed a strong background.

Muzo was a key figure in the founding of Konoha. His descendants, even if not of the Senju clan, would automatically qualify as candidates for Hokage.

That would completely change how the elders perceived Masashi. Previously, he was seen as "non-threatening." Now, the long-dormant power struggle between the Uchiha and the Hokage line could flare up again.

"Don't worry," Muzo said calmly.

He understood this stuff better than Tsunade, after all, Tobirama hadn't kept him in the dark. But when it came to political instincts, she was no match for Hiruzen, who had already made his move against the Uchiha.

His suspicion of the Uchiha clan had become second nature.

"That person's name… it's Obito, right? What are you planning to do with him?" Muzo asked.

Now that his "identity" had been revealed, the next step was to deal with Obito, to finalize and solidify the situation.

Obito was a perfect tool delivered to their doorstep.

To Konoha, this person was a massive bomb, too hot for anyone to handle. And for the Uchiha, he was the hottest of them all.

Just as Muzo predicted, Hiruzen had indeed handed Obito over directly to the Uchiha clan.

Now, only four beings were capable of perfectly managing this crisis for the Uchiha.

And none of them were human.

---

Prisons, by their very nature, have never been designed for comfort. At the very least, they should not be more comfortable than regular houses outside.

The private prison of the Uchiha clan took this idea to the extreme.

The Uchiha clan's underground dungeon had poor lighting, understandably so, ventilation was passable, the guard room was decently equipped, but the cells themselves were built extremely rough.

The cell Obito was held in was one of the old ones.

Back in hard times, the Uchiha clan's underground prison saw quite a bit of use. During the reign of the Third Hokage, while there were many covert operations targeting the Uchiha clan from the Hokage Building, even from Danzō, there was still a final line that was never crossed: never casually deploying official ANBU members.

It was always the temporary hires that primarily dealt with the Uchiha. They even went as far as hiring missing-nin.

And the Uchiha were equally unyielding, if it wasn't a formal Konoha ninjas, anyone who came looking for trouble was dealt with in the most violent way possible.

When they needed to dig for information from someone, they were thrown in here. Once the intel was squeezed out, the person would be killed and their body turned to ashes. However, as Konoha's, and perhaps the entire shinobi world's, most formidable Yin Release clan, the Uchiha's methods of extracting intel were similar to the Yamanaka clan's.

It relied mainly on mental clashes.

So, unlike what you see in TV dramas, this prison wasn't particularly filthy. It was relatively clean. There weren't many bloodstains on the walls; brain matter splatter was more common than blood.

All in all, at first glance, it didn't look that bad.

Obito sat inside the cell, all of his chakra was tightly sealed. After falling into the Uchiha clan's hands, Fugaku added another layer of insurance. Even if Obito found a way to use his chakra, he would find his ocular powers completely sealed.

But he wasn't panicked, because this didn't count as a loss.

Starting a war and then being suppressed, this was already considered a possible contingency. Even being captured had been factored in. Because his enemy was Konoha, the most powerful ninja organization in the history of the ninja world. Only such an opponent would be worthy of serving as the sacrificial offering to end the era of the ninjas.

A large-scale war between the major ninja villages was about to erupt. All the villages and their allies would be drawn in. And this wasn't a turn-based war, it would be simultaneous.

Only a war like that could drastically weaken each village's strength in a short time. At this moment, all he needed to do was preserve himself. The Uchiha wouldn't have the spare energy to deal with him for now.

He was a troublesome person, if the Uchiha were to dispose of him easily, it would raise suspicions of "silencing a witness."

Footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. Too heavy to be a guard's footsteps.

He looked toward the cell door.

A man in red armor came into view.

He recognized him, because he had been the one to summon this man.

The First Hokage.

He was slightly surprised to see this so-called "God of Shinobi" in the Uchiha clan's underground prison.

"Young man," Hashirama looked at him, "You're very talented."

"To be praised by you, what an honor," Obito replied with a smile. "Are you satisfied with this new era?"

Tobirama might have laid the foundation for the village system, but this era was built by Hashirama.

The God of Shinobi referred not only to his strength, but to his vision that transcended all ninjas. When the alliance between the Fire Daimyō and Konoha was formed, the true era of ninjas began. From mere mercenaries, they became the force that dominated global order.

Before that, ninjas, like monks, were on the fringe of society. Despite their power and indispensable military value, they lacked corresponding political status.

Hashirama proposed hidden village system, gathering the scattered ninjas into a centralized structure. From then on, ninjas and nobility stood at the top, and all others were beneath them.

Obito had once admired this man.

"I heard your dream used to be becoming Hokage?" Hashirama asked.

After parting ways with Hikari and the others on the street, he had planned to return with Madara. But Madara absolutely refused to let him come along and even lost his temper, saying if Hashirama insisted on following, he'd go to the Hokage Building and pick a fight with Tobirama and Muzo.

Having been equally matched with Madara during their lives, he knew exactly what his old friend was capable of. Otherwise, back then, he wouldn't have faced Madara alone.

Both of them were the kind of people whose battles always went overboard. Anyone else present would only be a burden.

If Madara really stormed the Hokage Building, it would almost certainly be destroyed. He had no choice but to leave for now. He decided to wait until Madara had cooled down before trying to chat again.

Wandering the streets in quiet reflection, he happened to run into Fugaku.

Upon seeing Hashirama, the first thing Fugaku thought of was Obito, currently locked up in their prison. Although he had confidently told Obito he would be executed, the truth was, he hadn't actually figured out how to do it. Hiruzen, already advanced in age, had thrown him this thorny problem. And he couldn't exactly refuse it.

Those old men... each one more cunning than the last.

Hashirama's arrival was just in time. At the very least, he could vouch for the Uchiha clan's handling of the matter. So, while explaining Obito's situation, he brought the First Hokage to the prison.

To his relief, Hashirama made no comment about the Uchiha having their own private prison. Which brought things to the current moment.

Hearing Hashirama's question, Obito did not deny the truth.

"That's right. I once admired you, and my dream was to become Hokage," he said. "Of course, I had selfish reasons too. If I became Hokage, both my comrades and others would finally acknowledge me."

"Hokage is not that kind of role," Hashirama replied, sitting cross-legged in front of the cell door. "Only after gaining everyone's recognition can one become Hokage."

"I understand that well," Obito said with a mocking smile. "But the darkness of this village isn't what it was in your time. It's not just that anything can be done in the name of 'for the village.' Even ordinary villagers now won't hesitate to use verbal abuse. When I think about how I once wanted to fight to protect these people, it disgusts me."

"Hearing you say that, I think I understand what happened," Hashirama sighed. "But people like us, we possess power far beyond others. It's easy for others to fear us. If we don't take the initiative to be tolerant, how can we make the village better?"

"And that's where your naivety lies," Obito said. "You believed too much in the inherent goodness of people. You gave the tailed beasts to each village, turned against your own friends, and yet it didn't bring peace."

"You've misunderstood," Hashirama said, looking at Obito. It seemed he had begun to understand why this talented young man from Konoha had ended up like this. "Madara and I never truly believed the world could achieve complete peace. War and peace were never where our disagreement lay."