The so-called Land of Whirlpools was, in practice, little more than a small village.
Most of the people here had red hair, and they all stared curiously at the famous genius of the Uchiha clan who had arrived in their midst.
“First, I’ll let you experience these two techniques for yourselves.”
Mu activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, and every ninja present was pulled into his genjutsu.
Uzumaki Ashina was extremely powerful.
He could break free from the illusion very quickly, but that only gave him a more direct understanding of how terrifying Mu had become.
Among true experts, victory and defeat could be decided in a single instant.
Sure enough, Uchiha Mu had already reached the same general level as Hashirama and Madara.
Ashina turned his attention to the two techniques Mu was demonstrating.
One required no hand seals at all.
The other required only a single seal.
Simple, practical, and powerful.
Both were excellent ninjutsu.
Ashina began reconsidering how much of the Uzumaki clan’s forbidden knowledge he was willing to trade.
Konoha already possessed these techniques anyway.
Giving Mu a little more would simply create another powerful ally for the Uzumaki clan.
Perhaps that would prevent the day when they had to face several hidden villages alone.
By the time that thought finished crossing Ashina’s mind, he had already grasped both techniques.
He broke free from the genjutsu, formed a seal, and instantly created multiple shadow clones.
A Rasengan then appeared in his palm.
The talent of these monsters from the older generation was honestly suffocating.
“Take these.”
Ashina tossed several scrolls to Mu.
Aside from the Reaper Death Seal, he had given Mu most of the clan’s sealing techniques and barrier techniques.
It could be considered an investment in their relationship.
“Good.
Mind if I stay here for a few days?”
“That’s fine.”
Ashina nodded and led Mu and the three children toward the village.
As they walked through it, Mon could clearly feel the difference between this place and the Nation of a Hundred Clans.
The first difference was construction.
The village was cramped, the roads were narrow, and even the ordinary civilians lacked the energy and liveliness that people in Mu’s country had begun to show.
At the end of the day, the old clans of the Warring States Period had merely become villages and countries.
They were still governed almost exactly the same way they had been before.
“Ashina, there’s something I’d like to try,” Mu suddenly said.
“Can I experience the Uzumaki clan’s special healing ability?”
It was a rather rude request, so he quickly added, “If the technique I’m thinking about actually works, I’ll share it with your clan as well.”
“Sure.
Bite me.
I have that constitution myself.”
Ashina volunteered his own arm without hesitation.
He was curious to see what strange idea Mu had come up with this time.
“Uh…”
Mu stared at the old man.
Biting an old geezer was definitely not high on his list of things he wanted to experience in this life.
But for the sake of medical ninjutsu, he endured it.
He activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and bit down on Ashina’s arm, carefully observing the way chakra moved through the man’s body while the healing effect took place.
Mu himself was a veteran of the Warring States Period.
It didn’t take long for him to understand the basic principle.
He released Ashina’s arm and raised his hand.
Green chakra gathered around his palm.
A medical ninjutsu that shouldn’t have appeared until much later had just been recreated in advance.
The Mystical Palm Technique.
“Medical ninjutsu?”
Ashina’s eyes widened.
So Mu really had come here with an idea already in mind.
He had simply been missing the final spark of inspiration.
Ashina’s healing constitution had supplied it, and Mu had almost immediately completed the technique.
“Not bad,” Mu said, examining the chakra around his hand.
“It doesn’t require hand seals either, but it demands extremely precise chakra control.
At least injuries won’t be nearly as troublesome anymore.”
Once he returned home, he planned to identify people with talent for medical ninjutsu and begin training them.
Yucheng had Yang Release affinity, so she would be the first person he taught.
Before that, though, he would have to improve her chakra control even further.
“Oh?
Use genjutsu and show me the principle,” Ashina said.
Mu glanced around.
“Got a fish?”
“We live by the sea.
I’ll just buy one.”
Ashina disappeared with the Body Flicker Technique and returned not long afterward with a live fish.
Mu placed Ashina under genjutsu and let him experience using the Mystical Palm Technique on the fish.
As expected of an old veteran, Ashina learned it almost immediately.
“Excellent.” Ashina looked genuinely delighted.
“You’re really a genius.
This technique can be taught throughout the clan.”
“Hahaha.
I’m just standing on the shoulders of the people who came before me.”
Mu laughed.
There was a reason ninjutsu became so varied and specialized in later generations.
The biggest problem with the current era was that some people were simply too damn strong.
Take Hashirama.
The man’s body healed itself automatically.
Why would he ever sit down and think, ‘Maybe I should turn this recovery ability into a medical technique ordinary people can learn’?
Madara was the same.
When overwhelming force solved every problem, why bother developing a pile of complicated little tricks for the Mangekyo Sharingan?
Even the future Madara, after obtaining the Rinnegan, barely bothered using most of the Six Paths Techniques.
When your base strength was already absurd, spending time mastering abilities weaker than your taijutsu simply wasn’t worth the effort.
“Interesting,” Ashina said.
The words had barely left his mouth when Mu’s attention shifted toward a young woman nearby.
Mu immediately walked over.
“Hello there.
I’m Uchiha Mu.”
The girl looked about seventy percent like Kushina Uzumaki.
Mu figured he might as well see whether he could lure another future canon character into his camp ahead of time.
“H-Hello.
I’m Uzumaki Keiko.”
Keiko jumped slightly at his sudden greeting.
The crest on Mu’s clothes made his clan identity obvious.
“Hey, Uchiha Mu!” Ashina hurried over.
“If I remember correctly, you already have a Hyuga woman, don’t you?
Now you’re trying to seduce a woman from my Uzumaki clan too?
Why don’t you go find someone from your own clan?”
“What do you mean ‘seduce’?
Don’t make it sound so ugly.” Mu extended a hand toward Keiko.
“I merely want to show her a wider world.
You shouldn’t be chained down by your clan.
You have the right to choose your own life too.”
Keiko froze.
No one had ever spoken to her like that before.
Because of her special status, there was a very high chance that her future role would be similar to Mito Uzumaki’s.
She had enjoyed many privileges because of the clan, so she had never truly complained about the responsibility that came with them.
But hearing Mu say those words made her heart pound.
Could she really live for herself?
“Dump that Hyuga woman first, then I’ll consider letting you court one of mine,” Ashina shot back.
He firmly believed in one man and one woman.
He had never been particularly impressed by the way daimyo and nobles lived.
Mu immediately changed tactics.
“How about this, then?
I’ve established a ninja academy in the Nation of a Hundred Clans where I teach ninjutsu.
You can send some of your children there to study too.
What do you think?”
Mu intended to bring the concept of studying abroad from his previous life into the shinobi world.
He would teach them genuine skills, of course.
But education wasn’t only about techniques.
Ideas mattered just as much.
If the day came when the Uzumaki clan faced destruction, the children who had grown up and studied in his country could integrate into the Nation of a Hundred Clans with practically no resistance.
The Uzumaki were far too valuable a clan to simply watch them get wiped out.
Much better for everyone if they joined him instead.
“Your thoughts really do jump all over the place,” Ashina muttered.
“But fine.
I agree.”
There was a simple reason he accepted.
The Sharingan was famous throughout the shinobi world as the Copy Eye.
The Uchiha had accumulated an enormous number of ninjutsu over the years, so there was no concern that Mu wouldn’t have enough to teach the children.
And training against Sharingan users would sharpen their combat ability extremely quickly.
There was a reason the old battlefield rule said that if you encountered an Uchiha one-on-one, you ran.
Mu turned back to Keiko with a smile.
“Would you like to see some other countries, Keiko?”
“Yes.”
The answer slipped out before she could think too deeply about it.
Only afterward did Keiko sneak a glance at Ashina.
Ashina sighed.
“Fine, fine.
Go.
While we’re at it…
your student Uzumaki Mon is here, isn’t he?
Let him spar with some of our younger clan members.”
He wanted to see exactly how capable Mu was as a teacher.
The result would determine how many children he sent to study in the Nation of a Hundred Clans.
“No problem.”
Mu was more than happy to agree.
He looked at Keiko again.
“Then you’ll leave with us when we go?”
“All right.”
Keiko answered softly.
This might be her first chance to travel outside the clan.
It might also be her last.
Either way, she intended to treasure it and see as much of the outside world as she could.