After resting for a few days, Mu finally set out for the Nation of a Hundred Clans with a much larger group than before.
Uzumaki Keiko, Uzumaki Sana, and nineteen other clan members accompanied him on the return trip—twenty-one Uzumaki in all.
Mu was easy to talk to and readily gave them pointers whenever they asked questions, so the distance between them quickly disappeared.
Before long, several of them had reached the conclusion that Uchiha Mu didn’t seem like an Uchiha at all.
Pure stereotyping, naturally.
Mu didn’t particularly care.
He knew perfectly well what most of his clansmen were like.
The Uchiha had existed for so long and somehow only managed to produce one relatively normal Sasuke.
The clan had really exhausted all its luck there.
Of course, that excluded the ordinary clansmen who never awakened the Sharingan.
Keiko, as the ninja leading the Uzumaki group, was even more curious than the children.
She frequently pulled the three little ones aside and asked them about life in the Nation of a Hundred Clans.
Unfortunately, the three of them praised Mu a little too enthusiastically.
Mu gradually became stiff under Keiko’s increasingly frequent glances.
The return journey took much longer than the trip there.
They were traveling with twenty children, after all.
Talented or not, there was a limit to how quickly a group that large could move.
They encountered several groups of bandits along the way, all of whom were dealt with by Mon, Yufeng, and Yucheng.
Only then did Sana realize that Mon had still been holding back during their match.
The realization irritated her considerably.
“All right, everyone.
Tree-climbing practice first.
I want to see how good your chakra control is.”
During one of their rest stops, Mu clapped his hands and gathered the children.
At this point, practically every student in the Nation of a Hundred Clans had been taught by him personally.
Mu knew exactly how to train beginners.
After listening to his explanation, the children began running up the nearby trees.
Only about half of them succeeded.
Mu looked toward the nearby river.
“Those of you who passed, go try water-walking.”
In the end, Sana was the only one who managed it.
Everyone else failed spectacularly.
So the group divided itself naturally: those who still couldn’t climb trees continued climbing trees, while those who had passed moved on to water-walking.
Mu beckoned Sana over and began teaching her Fire Release nature transformation.
Naturally, his genjutsu teaching method was indispensable.
He first let his students experience what success felt like, allowing them to understand the difference between zero and one, then made them recreate the process step by step on their own.
“So that’s how it works.” Sana’s eyes brightened.
“This is really convenient.”
She couldn’t help envying the kind of education Mon and the other two had been receiving.
“You can call me Teacher too,” Mu said with a smile, rubbing the little girl’s head.
“Everyone in my country does.”
“Teacher…”
Sana lowered her head as she said it, her face turning bright red.
“Master the nature transformation first.
After that, I’ll teach you three techniques.”
As Mu finished speaking, Mon, Yufeng, Yucheng, and Keiko returned.
Mu took one look at Keiko’s expression.
“Did something happen?”
Keiko shook her head and sat down beside him.
“I used to think the clan was a cage—a set of shackles.
I didn’t realize it was also a warm harbor.
We’ve already encountered three groups of bandits since leaving home.”
“The hidden villages were only recently founded,” Mu explained.
“Building them requires money.
Normally, the daimyo fund a large part of that construction.
But if you’re building something from nothing, the cost is enormous.
The nobles aren’t going to willingly pay for everything, so where do you think the rest comes from?”
“The civilians?
Can’t the ninja clans pay for it?”
“The clans contribute some, sure.
But they’re joining the village, not donating their entire fortunes.
Konoha has Hashirama, so it probably didn’t have to spend nearly as much as the others.
The remaining four great nations are a different story.”
Keiko sighed.
“So there’s nothing that can be done.”
“Maybe I can’t change the entire shinobi world yet,” Mu said.
“But in the Nation of a Hundred Clans, I’ll show you that another way is possible.”
Keiko slowly rested her head against his shoulder.
“You already have Hyuga Ryono, yet you still came to provoke me.”
“Yeah.”
Mu gave a helpless smile.
“I really am doing her wrong.”
This had drifted rather far from what he’d originally intended when approaching Keiko.
But every time Mu looked at that face, which resembled Kushina’s so strongly, an absurd thought kept appearing in his head.
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Kushina Uzumaki had to call him Grandpa someday?
Just imagining it felt amazing.
Then Mu remembered something.
Wait.
If that happened, a certain blond brat would eventually appear too.
His excellent mood immediately worsened.
The group continued traveling in fits and starts.
For the Uzumaki children, the journey was surprisingly fulfilling.
They traveled, trained, rested, and then trained some more.
Whenever there wasn’t a river nearby, one of Mu’s shadow clones simply created one for water-walking practice.
That was when the Uzumaki children finally discovered something deeply unreasonable.
Uchiha Mu apparently had even more chakra than members of the Uzumaki clan.
Once they crossed into the Nation of a Hundred Clans, conditions improved immediately.
At the very least, they stopped encountering bandits.
Mu had unleashed a rather memorable display of power here not long ago.
Bandits were thieves, not suicidal idiots.
They knew perfectly well that this country was no longer a good place to make a living.
As the group continued forward, a neat gravel road appeared beneath their feet, with trees planted along both sides.
Horse-drawn carriages were already traveling back and forth.
After surviving war and espionage, the country was finally beginning to enjoy the dividends of stability.
Once merchants realized the region was safe, they naturally came looking for opportunities to make money.
More importantly, the Nation of a Hundred Clans treated merchants better than any hidden village did.
Most ninja villages didn’t even bother building proper roads outside their main settlements.
A smooth, maintained route like this was practically a luxury.
The Uzumaki children had never seen anything like it.
They stared wide-eyed at the passing carriages.
Then a sweet smell drifted through the air.
One by one, their eyes turned pitifully toward Mu.
Mu sighed and bought sweets for all of them.
The cost wasn’t much.
Still, he was becoming increasingly desperate for Kakuzu to make faster progress with the economy.
He knew that sort of thing couldn’t be rushed, but his private treasury was shrinking by the day.
Knowing he shouldn’t be anxious and actually not being anxious were two very different things.
Mu led everyone leisurely toward the capital.
Before long, a figure descended from the sky.
Hyuga Ryono landed and threw herself directly into Mu’s arms.
“Mu!
I missed you so much.
Next time, don’t leave me here al—”
Her voice stopped.
Ryono had noticed Keiko’s expression.
Veins bulged around her Byakugan.
She slowly looked up at Mu.
“We’ll have a proper talk when we get home.
This Uzumaki sister is coming too.”
“Huh?
Me?”
Keiko pointed at herself.
“Yes.
Unless you don’t want to.”
Keiko clenched her teeth.
“I’ll go.”
The three little ones had just witnessed a whole new world.
Yucheng snorted.
“Teacher is way too flirtatious.
He already has such a good wife.”
“What do you know?
Men liking women is normal,” Yufeng said, looking almost admiring.
“Right, Mon?
Teacher somehow managed to get himself two wives.
Incredible.”
Mon tilted his head.
“What does flirtatious mean?”
“Don’t listen to him.
He’s trash.”
Sana walked over, grabbed Mon, and pulled him away.
“Hmph.
Trash,” Yucheng agreed as she hurried after them.
“Stay single for the rest of your life.”
“But I’m only ten!”
Yufeng scratched his head.
He was rather slow when it came to this sort of thing, although he did have some affection for Yucheng.
The three of them spent practically every day together, after all.
After entering the city with the Uzumaki clan members, Mu created a shadow clone and had it lead them to the ninja academy dormitory.
The dormitory had originally been built for orphans.
After all, one of Mu’s long-term policies was to go around the shinobi world “adopting” orphans.
The infrastructure needed to be prepared in advance.
The Uzumaki children were already dazzled by the city.
They had never seen streets this lively, filled with people and all kinds of merchandise.
That too was part of Mu’s economic policy.
The ninja working for the country were paid actual wages.
Previously, there had been almost nowhere for them to spend that money.
But now that the Nation of a Hundred Clans had become famous throughout the shinobi world, bolder merchants arrived first, and the more cautious ones followed.
The city was becoming more prosperous by the day.
Ninja could also accept escort missions, so the state wasn’t spending money without receiving any revenue whatsoever.
Of course, the income from missions still came nowhere close to covering the country’s enormous expenses.
The Uzumaki children once again looked at Mu with hopeful eyes.
Seeing those expressions, Mu naturally couldn’t refuse them.
“Mon, Yufeng, Yucheng.
Take good care of them.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
The three nodded.
Only Yucheng grumbled internally.
He was making them pay again.
She barely had any money left herself.
She’d already spent almost everything inside the village.