On the very day Uchiha Makoto made up his mind to inflate the tulip bubble in the shinobi world, he sent Kazuma, accompanied by Darkness, toward the capital of the Land of Fire as his envoy.
As for why he didn’t have Kazuma bring Aqua and Megumin along…
Obviously, everyone knew the reason.
If those two troublemakers went along, who knew what kind of mess they would cause?
Uchiha Makoto himself stayed behind at the shinobi village’s headquarters.
He had some more important things to take care of.
For example, recruiting shinobi clans.
This was one of the key projects at the moment.
But the process wasn’t going smoothly.
Within the shinobi world…
The Uchiha clan and the Senju clan were undoubtedly two of the most influential clans around.
The thousand-year feud between the two clans was common knowledge among shinobi.
Now that these two clans had suddenly joined hands, formed an alliance, and established a shinobi village, shinobi clans both large and small were paying extremely close attention.
Clan alliances weren’t exactly unusual in this shinobi world.
Take the famous Ino-Shika-Cho trio of clans, for example.
To strengthen their alliance, the three clans had directly moved their clan compounds next to one another, arranged in a triangular formation.
Not only that, the Ino-Shika-Cho clans had their younger generations live together from an early age, allowing them to develop bonds and teamwork.
They even arranged for members of all three clans to undertake missions together.
But that was as far as it went.
The concept of shinobi villages promoted by Senju Hashirama was far broader than a simple clan alliance.
It could only be described as ambitious.
There were obvious advantages to shinobi clans continuing to exist under the framework of a shinobi village.
The clans’ ability to withstand risks would increase dramatically.
After all, there were plenty of small shinobi clans in the shinobi world with only a dozen or so members.
A single shinobi war could leave their younger generation depleted, causing the clan to enter a vicious downward spiral until it eventually declined completely.
Of course, there were disadvantages as well.
Shinobi had always been famous for their discipline and obedience to orders.
Once a shinobi clan joined a village, its members would have to face a question:
Did they obey the clan head, or did they obey the leader of the shinobi village?
Joining someone else’s shinobi village meant that a clan had to make the necessary compromises and surrender some degree of autonomy.
Moreover, during the Warring States Period, the various shinobi clans were competitors for missions.
They could fight each other senseless over highly lucrative assignments.
As time accumulated, old grudges and new grudges piled up one after another.
Who didn’t have a few enemies?
The longer a shinobi clan had existed, the more enemies it would have accumulated…
Living under the same roof as those enemies in a shinobi village made it hard not to sharpen a blade in the dead of night.
Now, with Senju Hashirama being the first to propose the concept of shinobi villages, countless shinobi clans began to take notice.
Among them were some particularly perceptive clans that had already keenly sensed the changing times.
It seemed that trying to make a living in this shinobi world as an independent clan simply wasn’t going to work anymore.
They had to unite as much as possible…
After all, if you wanted to survive out in the world, you needed connections and influence.
These two colossal clans had already joined forces…
Could their own clans really continue surviving in the shinobi world by fighting alone?
You have strength?
So what the hell good is strength?!
No matter how powerful you are, can you really defeat the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan?
And they’ve already joined forces!
The shinobi clans of this era had always been known for being rigid and stubborn.
But when faced with something as serious as the survival of their entire clan, they could also become flexible and pragmatic.
Pragmatism was certainly worth trying!
The era of shinobi villages had begun.
The powerful major shinobi clans were filled with ambition.
They wanted to follow the example of the Senju and Uchiha clans by establishing their own shinobi villages and taking the initiative in the coming era of shinobi villages.
The smaller shinobi clans lacked the strength to establish their own villages, so they were waiting for the best offer.
First, they needed to sell themselves at a good price and find their clan a promising future.
…..
“Rejected again!”
“Hyuga clan, just you wait!”
“Ino-Shika-Cho, you just wait too!”
“Sarutobi clan, Shimura clan, Mitokado clan, Utatane clan…
the Konoha F4, is it?
Just you wait as well!!”
“…”
Uchiha Makoto’s progress in recruiting shinobi clans wasn’t going smoothly.
With the attitude of trying anything once, he had sent invitations to all the shinobi clans he knew, inviting them to join his shinobi village.
To make his shinobi village sound a little more impressive, Uchiha Makoto had even given it a nice name—
Akatsuki!
The name Akatsuki had a wonderful meaning.
It represented the first rays of the rising sun!
And the purpose of Akatsuki Village was to unite the shinobi clans and ultimately achieve peace in the shinobi world!
Although all of this had been shamelessly plagiarized, modified, and copied by Uchiha Makoto, there was no denying that he was genuinely serious about selling his grand vision.
Every word and every action spread positive energy throughout the shinobi world.
For the sake of peace in the shinobi world, join Akatsuki Village!
But…
These shinobi clans were extremely realistic.
At first, when they heard the name Uchiha Makoto, they had been incredibly enthusiastic.
Uchiha clan?
Could this be a shinobi village established by the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan, with someone personally writing to invite their clan to join?
Then they absolutely had to seize this opportunity and join the shinobi village family as soon as possible…
For the sake of peace in the shinobi world, they would do their part!
As another clan famous for its dojutsu—yes, the Byakugan, the Hyuga clan—they had even immediately sent someone to Akatsuki Village to conduct an on-site inspection.
But…
After making some inquiries…
They discovered that Uchiha Makoto had already left the Uchiha clan long ago and had chosen to establish a shinobi village independently.
“Uchiha Makoto, aren’t you misleading people?”
“I admit that Uchiha Makoto…
your strength is indeed impressive.
Three to five Jonin working together might not necessarily be able to defeat you.”
“But…
our Hyuga clan can add a zero to that number.”
The Hyuga shinobi thought this to himself before decisively rejecting Uchiha Makoto’s invitation.
“Lord Makoto, our Hyuga clan sincerely appreciates your kind invitation.
As for the matter of our Hyuga clan joining your shinobi village, we’ll continue considering it for a while.”
Of course, his outward attitude remained quite good.
At the very least, he was polite and courteous, properly displaying the demeanor expected of a Bloodline Clan.
“Consider it for a while…”
The meaning behind the rejection was obvious.
If the deal couldn’t be made, there was still no need to ruin the friendship.
Everyone could leave each other with a little dignity.
Although Uchiha Makoto was extremely annoyed by how realistic the Hyuga clan was, he merely cursed them verbally to vent his frustration.
Deep down, he could understand the Hyuga clan.
Even if you were going to work like an ox for a company, you’d still have to consider the company’s conditions…
What was the hourly wage?
Did they provide benefits?
Were there two days off every week?
Did you get triple pay for working on holidays?
Although if you went to work like an ox, you probably wouldn’t get any of those things…
But you could choose not to go.
The Hyuga clan was the same.
Deciding which shinobi village the Hyuga clan would settle in was a major matter concerning the clan’s future for the next hundred years.
How could they possibly make such a decision casually?
They had to find a shinobi village whose strength and treatment matched the status of the Hyuga clan.
The whole idea of “as long as we have love, even drinking water is enough”…
That was probably something they could only think about in their dreams.