If he wanted to establish a shinobi village, money was important.
Hmm…
extremely important.
Very, very important…
Even the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, had to go around seeking sponsorship because of the village’s funding needs.
But for a shinobi village…
The most important thing was still a group of shinobi who could actually fight.
Uchiha Makoto understood this better than anyone.
After all, what was a shinobi village if not a village where shinobi gathered together?
However, starting from scratch and training shinobi was far too expensive, and it also took far too much time.
It was much more cost-effective to simply make use of people who were already trained.
Although the Uchiha clan had been beaten so badly by the Senju clan that they were currently fleeing in disarray, the Senju clan’s top combatant, Senju Hashirama, was simply an overpowered monster from an entirely different version.
There was no way to treat him according to common sense.
There was nothing anyone could do about that.
Against the Senju clan, the Uchiha clan was bound to be at a disadvantage.
But if Senju Hashirama were excluded from the equation, the Uchiha clan could continue fighting the Senju clan for another thousand years.
And when facing the other clans of the shinobi world…
“Hmph!
Have you ever seen the Uchiha clan’s Sharingan?
If you don’t kneel down and surrender, believe me, I’ll make you fly!”
So…
compared to money, what Uchiha Makoto wanted was people!
Even if they were merely low-level Genin, or even Uchiha clan members who hadn’t awakened the Sharingan, Uchiha Makoto wanted them all!
“Lord Madara, I believe I’m not the only person in the clan who thinks this way!”
“If they also want to leave with me…”
Uchiha Makoto began his dangerous probe.
If this matter were taken to its logical extreme, Uchiha Madara could completely characterize Uchiha Makoto’s actions as an attempt to split the Uchiha clan!
His intentions were utterly reprehensible!
However, considering Uchiha Madara’s usual way of doing things, as well as all the outrageous moves he would make in the future…
Whether as the clan leader or the head of an organization, his actions were practically indistinguishable from those of a machine with no emotional intelligence.
The Uchiha clan had only joined the Leaf for a few years before Uchiha Madara lost control of the clan.
When he defected from the Leaf, not a single person was willing to follow him.
Later, he became the mastermind behind the shinobi world’s biggest schemes, hiding behind the scenes and manipulating everything, yet all the people under his command were rebels at heart…
Therefore, Uchiha Makoto believed he could take a gamble and try this.
Uchiha Madara, this man simply didn’t look like a natural ruler.
Perhaps he would be arrogant enough to see through Uchiha Makoto’s intentions while not caring about them in the slightest!
“Hmph…
Is that really the case?”
“I don’t think so!”
Uchiha Madara glanced at Uchiha Makoto.
In his eyes, Uchiha Makoto was still nothing more than a wet-behind-the-ears brat, unable to break free from the thousand-year hatred between the Uchiha and Senju clans.
But he had already seen the future!
“My eyes are above yours!”
“I can see a path much farther than you can!”
As Uchiha Madara spoke, dense and heavy chakra erupted wildly from his body, and his Mangekyo Sharingan opened instinctively.
“Everyone, I am the Uchiha clan’s leader, the strongest shinobi of the Uchiha clan!”
“My eyes have seen the future!”
“I will put an end to the generations-old hatred between the Uchiha and Senju clans together with Senju Hashirama.
I will establish an unprecedented village together with Senju Hashirama.
I will pacify the wars and chaos together with Senju Hashirama…
In the village that Senju Hashirama and I establish, whether they are children of the Senju clan or the Uchiha clan, they will never have to set foot on the battlefield again…”
Uchiha Madara’s voice echoed throughout the entire room.
As the Uchiha clan’s leader, there was no need to explain the authority he commanded.
His impassioned speech, selling them a grand vision of the future, immediately filled the Uchiha clan members present to the brim.
The surviving Uchiha clan members didn’t possess Uchiha Makoto’s perspective as an outsider who knew the future.
They couldn’t see the Uchiha clan’s tragic fate…
They couldn’t see Uchiha Madara being driven to the point of defecting from the village, nor how the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, would lay the foundation for the Uchiha clan’s inability to enter the core of the Leaf’s political power…
Step by step, they would eventually descend into the abyss of clan extinction.
“So, are you willing to follow me toward a brand-new, brighter future, or leave the clan and follow Uchiha Makoto as he wanders the shinobi world?”
Uchiha Madara arrogantly gave Uchiha Makoto exactly what he wanted…
But there was just a tiny little deviation.
“An inherently evil Uchiha Madara!”
“Who told you to give a speech to Uchiha clan members while keeping your Mangekyo Sharingan activated?!”
“Don’t you know that the Mangekyo Sharingan has a special effect on members of the Uchiha clan?!”
Uchiha Makoto cursed Uchiha Madara in his heart again and again…
With you, it’s a brand-new, brighter future…
With me, it’s wandering the shinobi world together.
Hmph!
Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west—never look down on a young man just because he’s poor!
One day, Uchiha Madara…
You will definitely regret this!
“Bang…” (The door in his heart!)
The Uchiha clan members present couldn’t help but begin imagining the future Uchiha Madara had described.
The strongest member of the Uchiha clan and the strongest member of the Senju clan joining forces…
Uchiha Madara’s several-hundred-meter-tall Susanoo and Senju Hashirama’s several-hundred-meter-tall Wood Release Buddha were still vividly etched in their memories.
In this shinobi world, was there anything the two of them couldn’t accomplish?
No!
“Uchiha Madara…
Uchiha Madara…
Uchiha Madara…”
Very soon…
The Uchiha clan members present began calling out Uchiha Madara’s name uncontrollably, while Uchiha Madara spread his arms and basked in the cheers of his clansmen.
Uchiha Makoto stood there all alone…
For a moment, he looked like nothing more than a pathetic sidekick.
“I never imagined…
I’d get to experience what Uchiha Madara would have to experience in the future before he did.”
“No one in the Uchiha clan trusts me.
I have no companions.
Not a single person is willing to follow me…
What a disastrous beginning for a leader starting from absolutely nothing!!”
Uchiha Makoto was somewhat helpless.
At this point in time…
trying to compete with Uchiha Madara in terms of prestige within the clan was simply too arrogant of him.
“Don’t forget…
there’s also Senju Hashirama.”
“Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama…
Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama…”
Amid his dejected feelings, Uchiha Makoto resolutely joined the deafening wave of repeated slogans, adding “Senju Hashirama” to the chant.
The Uchiha clan members paused for a moment.
“That’s right!
The beautiful future is something Hashirama and I will create!”
Uchiha Madara also heard this “discordant” voice, but he was too busy enjoying the cheers of his clansmen to notice where the voice had come from.
But that wasn’t important!
That was a great thing to say!
Who had said it?
The clan leader really liked you!
Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama…
How nice those two names sounded when put together!
“Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama!!” xN
The Uchiha clan members looked at one another, all feeling that adding Senju Hashirama’s name at a time like this wasn’t quite appropriate.
Unfortunately, Uchiha Madara had already affirmed the voice first.
And so the chant became:
“Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.”
Over and over again.