At the Daimyo’s residence in the Land of Waterfalls, Uchiha Mu looked across the room at the nobleman.
“Well?
Have you made up your mind?”
“This land has been passed down through my family for generations…”
“The Five Great Nations have already established their ninja villages.
You know who Senju Hashirama is, don’t you?”
Mu cut off the pointless speech before it could get started.
“Of course.”
The Daimyo nodded.
“Once Senju Hashirama dies, the Five Great Nations will go to war.
I don’t think I need to explain what happens to a small country like yours when it’s sitting right beside the great powers.
Besides, the money I’m offering is enough to keep several generations of your family living comfortably.
And as long as the country continues to exist, you’ll receive another payment every year.”
Mu’s voice might as well have belonged to a devil whispering temptation into his ear.
The Daimyo swallowed.
He understood exactly what Mu meant.
If the Five Great Nations went to war, small countries like his would inevitably get dragged into the disaster.
If he truly ruled the country with absolute authority, perhaps he could simply squeeze the common people harder and ride things out.
Unfortunately, he had political enemies.
Once war reached his borders, would he spend money to save himself—or spend money to save himself?
It wasn’t even a real question.
Either way, he would bleed money, and that was something he absolutely refused to accept.
“One more thing,” Mu added.
“I’ll take your son as a student and teach him ninjutsu.
Ninja tend to have stronger bodies, so he may even leave you with more descendants.”
Mu attacked from every possible angle.
Did people really think nobles had no interest in learning ninjutsu?
During the Warring States Period, every ninja clan guarded its techniques like priceless treasure.
Someone who knew two or three actual jutsu was already considered fairly accomplished.
Now the Daimyo had an opportunity to learn directly from an Uchiha.
That temptation was lethal.
“Could…
I still learn at my age?”
The Daimyo swallowed again.
He was clearly interested.
The Daimyo weren’t ninja, but they did have plenty of women.
“Hahaha!
Of course.”
Mu knew he had won.
“Fine.
I’ll sell it to you.
I’ll have an announcement sent out immediately.”
The Daimyo gritted his teeth and made his decision.
“A wise choice.”
Mu reached out and shook his hand.
When Mu returned to the location where he intended to build his village, the land had already been leveled with Earth Release.
He had also used his own version of the Three-Bedroom-One-Living-Room Jutsu to create rows of houses while nobody else was around.
How could he build on such a ridiculous scale by himself?
That was related to his Mangekyo abilities.
Unlike Obito, whose abilities revolved around absurd space-time mechanics, Mu had only one desire when he awakened his Mangekyo: become strong enough to stop war.
His left eye amplified the power of ninjutsu.
His right eye amplified the power of genjutsu.
Using both eyes together amplified Susanoo.
Combined with the Hashirama cells he had transplanted, even without an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, Mu could use the Complete Body Susanoo with relative ease.
In terms of raw strength, he considered himself the third strongest person alive, beneath only Hashirama and Madara.
“Mu, you’re back.”
Hyuga Ryono approached with a large group of children behind her.
There were many orphans among them.
Quite a few were Uzumaki.
There were children from the Land of Earth with Explosion Release and children from the Land of Wind with Magnet Release.
He hadn’t visited the Land of Water, but he intended to make a trip there later.
A village needed bloodlines.
Lots of bloodlines.
The Uzumaki in particular were an enormous prize.
If he could establish a good reputation among them now, then when Uzushiogakure was eventually destroyed, he could step in and rescue even more members of the clan while earning their trust in the process.
“With this, I’d say the village has at least taken its initial shape.”
Mu smiled.
“What are we going to call it?
Takigakure?” Ryono asked.
“No.
We’re not calling it a village.
We’re calling it a country.”
Mu looked across the settlement.
“This is the Nation of a Hundred Clans.”
“Isn’t that a little too bold?”
Ryono looked worried.
Considering all the different bloodlines gathered here, wasn’t that basically announcing to the entire world that they were stealing kekkei genkai?
“Ryono, remember this.
Even if we try to stay low-key, the moment information about this place gets out, we’ll draw attention.
We might as well declare what we are from the beginning.
While Hashirama is still alive, we need to develop as quickly as possible.”
As the ninja world’s self-appointed ambassador of peace, Hashirama’s mere existence prevented the other great nations from casually starting wars.
Mu intended to become the reason they still wouldn’t dare invade after Hashirama died.
“Alright.”
Ryono nodded, accepting his reasoning.
“Besides, there’s no need to worry too much.
Look at the Uzumaki.
They’ve allowed us to adopt quite a few orphans, but they haven’t taught us a single sealing technique.
It’s the same with the other bloodlines.
At least for now, none of the clans have a reason to fight us to the death.”
Mu quickly set the next stage of development.
“We’ll build a ninja academy first.
I’ll use shadow clones to teach the children.
At the same time, we’ll keep developing the settlement and attract civilians and merchants.”
Recruiting entire ninja clans would be difficult.
But if his nation could produce even a handful of geniuses like Minato in the future, the Nation of a Hundred Clans wouldn’t collapse just because the first generation died out.
“Then what about us…?” Ryono asked.
“We’ll get married once I turn sixteen.”
Mu finally gave her the promise she had been waiting for.
“Okay!”
Ryono immediately beamed.
That was why she had followed him out of Konoha in the first place.
She wanted to be with the man she liked.
Was that so unreasonable?
While the Nation of a Hundred Clans developed at full speed, news that shocked the entire ninja world began spreading.
The Daimyo of the Land of Waterfalls and the neighboring Land of Frost had both publicly announced that they had sold their countries to Uchiha Mu.
The great nations and smaller countries alike were stunned, but there wasn’t much they could say.
The Daimyo themselves had willingly sold their countries for money.
Nobody had the right to condemn that.
If Mu had simply seized the land by force, however, that would have been different.
The political class would have pushed the Five Great Ninja Villages to unite and destroy him.
The nobles now also understood where their missing money had gone.
The amount taken from each family hadn’t been enough to seriously hurt them, but they still couldn’t swallow the humiliation.
They immediately began issuing assassination missions against Uchiha Mu.
They could live without the money.
Mu, however, had to die.
If they ignored what he had done, what would stop other ninja from copying him?
The Uchiha-Hyuga team that had already reached the Land of Fire’s capital immediately changed course and headed toward the Land of Waterfalls.
They had gotten ahead of everyone else and intended to use that advantage to complete the mission.
More importantly, the nobles of the Land of Fire had pooled together a bounty of one hundred million ryo.
That was a fortune.
The Uchiha Clan was stunned for an entirely different reason.
They never imagined that Mu had left Konoha to do something like this.
He had purchased two countries, merged them together, and founded a nation of his own.
Part of the clan felt proud of him.
Another part felt extremely complicated.
Mu had left without saying a word to any Uchiha and had taken only one outsider with him—a Hyuga woman.
Naturally, they concluded that the Hyuga girl with the Byakugan had bewitched him.
The Hyuga Clan’s feelings toward Ryono and Mu were equally complicated.
A single Uchiha who left Konoha had somehow founded his own country, and Ryono clearly held an important place beside him.
At least Mu hadn’t cast her aside.
That raised an obvious question.
Should the Hyuga split their bets and support both sides?
After some discussion, they decided against it.
Betting on both sides often meant pleasing neither.
Their foundation was still in Konoha.
They also had no intention of recalling Hyuga Tenka.
If Mu and Ryono couldn’t survive even this first crisis, then the two of them might as well die outside together.
The other ninja clans in Konoha also had complicated feelings about Uchiha Mu.
First and foremost, he was an Uchiha.
In this era, every ninja alive understood the terror associated with Madara’s name, and by extension they feared the Uchiha Clan itself.
Still, Mu’s new country didn’t directly involve their clans, so most of them weren’t particularly interested.
They were far more concerned with securing their own position and benefits within Konoha.
The other four great villages, however, opposed Mu almost unanimously.
From their perspective, both Hashirama’s Konoha and Mu’s nation had originated from the same place.
What if the two eventually merged?
How enormous would that territory become?
Unfortunately for them, their objections accomplished nothing.
A Daimyo had sold his own territory and country.
If ninja villages were allowed to reject such a transaction, who would a Daimyo be allowed to sell land to in the future?
On that point, the Daimyo were united.
The ninja world could fight itself bloody if it wanted, but it had better not interfere with their interests.
And with village funding hanging over their heads, the objections from the four great villages quickly quieted down.
They hadn’t disappeared, of course.
The Lands of Earth and Lightning bordered Mu’s territory.
Once Hashirama died, the Nation of a Hundred Clans would be first on their list.