As they approached the settlement, Uchiha Mu continued talking.
“Seven-Tails, I clearly have enough power to force a summoning contract on you, yet I’m still speaking to you properly instead.
Think about that.”
The Seven-Tails didn’t answer.
It carried Mu and Hyuga Ryono toward the enormous village ahead.
Its arrival caused chaos at first.
Then Mu’s shadow clones quickly calmed everyone down and explained that the giant creature would help protect them from now on.
Surprisingly, the fear rapidly turned into curiosity and even welcome.
Mu hadn’t expected that.
Ryono explained why.
“Most of them have never seen a tailed beast before.
Even I only knew creatures like this existed because of old clan records.”
“Ignorance really is fearlessness.”
Mu understood.
Why were tailed beasts so feared in the original era?
Because the great nations repeatedly tried to control them, and those attempts resulted in enormous destruction.
Over time, the entire world learned to associate tailed beasts with disaster.
These people had never experienced that.
Mu pointed toward a large forested area that hadn’t been cleared.
“That’ll be your territory.
If you want to visit human society, split off a small amount of chakra and make a miniature clone.
You can do that, right?”
“Yes.”
The Seven-Tails immediately formed a tiny version of itself.
Through the clone, it could sense everything nearby.
“Good.
I’ll call you if I need help.”
Mu gestured toward the forest.
The Seven-Tails hesitated.
It had expected Mu to bring up the summoning contract again.
Apparently not.
Mu noticed its expression.
“You’re thinking about the contract?
Don’t worry.
With or without you, my combat strength doesn’t change that much.
You mostly give me another way to fly.”
He spread his hands.
The Seven-Tails finally answered.
“I can sign a summoning contract with you.
But not yet.”
“Fine.
Then we’re companions from now on.”
Mu smiled.
“Do you have a name, or should I give you one?”
“Chomei.
My name is Chomei.”
“Chomei, huh?
I’ll make sure everyone learns it.
From now on, you’ll be the guardian beast of the village—no, the country.”
Mu paused.
“Though I’ll probably add the Two-Tails too.”
He had already decided to recruit the oversized cat.
Uchiha working with ninja cats was practically tradition.
As for the great nations and their future plans to divide up the tailed beasts?
Mu wanted these two.
Everyone else could work around that.
“Whatever you want.”
Chomei flew toward its new habitat.
The territory was smaller than the wilderness it had once occupied, but at least it retained a great deal of freedom.
As it settled in, it found itself thinking about the words of the old Sage of Six Paths again.
Could this be the person he had spoken of?
A descendant of Indra…
Uchiha Mu.
Since Chomei was going to live near humans now anyway, it decided to learn more about them.
Its miniature clone headed into the streets and began wandering around like a neighborhood loafer.
The first thing it noticed was that people weren’t afraid of it.
Part of that was because the clone was tiny.
Part of it was because Chomei’s grand entrance had been embarrassingly unimpressive.
Mu had literally ridden it back into the village.
To people who had never encountered a tailed beast before, Chomei looked almost harmless.
Then it noticed another detail.
Uchiha Mu had shadow clones everywhere.
That bastard had come to subdue Chomei while maintaining this many clones at the same time?
If this was what he could do while distracted, the other tailed beasts probably didn’t stand much chance either.
It looked like the Two-Tails would be joining it eventually.
“Humans actually gathered together and formed a country…”
Chomei couldn’t help marveling.
The humans it remembered had mostly lived in clans.
Had it simply spent too long hiding in the forest?
A child suddenly pointed at the miniature tailed beast.
“Mom!
That’s the pet the village chief brought back!”
“Come on, we’re leaving.”
The child’s mother hurriedly dragged him away.
Their family had arrived as refugees.
Like everyone else, they wanted to live somewhere safe, and the recently famous Nation of a Hundred Clans had become exactly that sort of destination.
The idea of ninja villages was already deeply ingrained in people’s minds, however.
So despite Mu constantly insisting that he ruled a country, most residents still instinctively called him the village chief.
Chomei stared after the child.
“I’ve actually been reduced to that kind of creature?”
It wandered in another direction.
The mental state of the residents varied dramatically.
New arrivals still looked cautious and uncertain.
People who had lived here from the beginning carried obvious confidence in their faces.
A descendant of Indra had created this?
It completely contradicted Chomei’s stereotype of what Indra’s descendants should be like.
Eventually, it came across three children gathered together.
One red-haired boy immediately caught its attention.
“Class rep, what are we doing?” a white-haired boy asked.
“Catching spies, obviously.”
The red-haired boy sounded completely confident.
“A lot of ninja from other villages have been sneaking in lately.
And I just awakened the Mind’s Eye of the Kagura.
I can finally contribute to the country.”
His name was Uzumaki Mon.
After going through the ideological education at Mu’s academy, loyalty to the Uzumaki Clan had already been shoved far behind his loyalty to the Nation of a Hundred Clans.
“Huh?
But Teacher said we should just focus on training,” a blonde girl said.
The teacher was naturally Uchiha Mu.
“Idiot.
If all we do is train, when are we supposed to graduate?
When do we finally become real ninja?”
Mon didn’t mention that in the old Uzumaki Clan, children could be sent to battle at four years old.
They weren’t the Senju or Uchiha, but the endless conflicts between clans meant their lives hadn’t been fundamentally different.
Only the scale of the tragedy changed.
“I’m in,” the white-haired boy said immediately.
The three had already learned the basic ninjutsu and fine chakra control Mu taught at the academy.
Two civilian geniuses and one Uzumaki genius.
“But how are we supposed to find a spy?” the blonde girl asked.
“Wouldn’t they hide themselves?”
“I’ve already memorized the chakra signatures of every ninja living here.”
Mon grinned proudly.
“We just investigate anyone whose chakra I don’t recognize.”
There hadn’t been many ninja in the country when he began, which made the task possible.
“Great!
Let’s go!”
The white-haired boy’s eyes lit up.
“Yufeng, don’t get too excited.”
Mon immediately turned serious.
“We’re hunting spies.
They’re assassination specialists.
We’ve only learned basic ninjutsu so far, so be careful.”
These three were among the troublesome brats of the Nation of a Hundred Clans.
They were also some of the earliest orphans Mu had brought back.
In practice, nobody supervised them very closely.
Mu had countless clones, but he also had countless jobs.
It never occurred to him that a group of children might decide to hunt enemy spies by themselves.
The three arrived at the commercial district.
Yufeng looked toward Mon.
“You’re sure he’s here?”
“Of course.
I’ve watched that guy for ages.
He joined the country as a ninja, but every time he has free time, he wanders around the village.
Let’s follow him.”
Mon led the other two after their target.
Chomei turned invisible and followed as well.
It was curious about this thing humans called espionage.
Was this another new way they fought each other?
The Nation of a Hundred Clans had already eliminated nearly ninety percent of the recent infiltrators.
One of the survivors was an Iwagakure spy named Damu, who had entered the country pretending to be a wandering ninja.
During his time here, he had worked diligently.
Every day, he used Earth Release on construction projects until his chakra was almost completely exhausted.
When he had free time, he only wandered around the commercial district.
He didn’t even dare contact Iwagakure.
Despite being an otherwise ordinary ninja, Damu had gathered a considerable amount of intelligence.
If he could bring all these development methods home, Iwagakure would become stronger.
But right now, he needed to remain buried.
He had practically hypnotized himself into believing that he was genuinely a citizen of the Nation of a Hundred Clans.
Work seriously.
Earn money.
Then spend the money on food and shopping after work.
Today was no different.
After finishing his shift, Damu came to the commercial district for a drink.
Ninja liked eating and drinking after work.
And everyone knew that drunk people loved running their mouths.
That was exactly why Damu loved this place.
Naturally, he needed to blend in.
So he always ordered enough food and drink to justify sitting around for a long time.
At this rate, the operating funds Iwagakure gave him were almost gone.
Damu considered it money well spent.