In many ways, Yujin's words might be soft, but his actions were anything but.
Although he looked like a civilized man, he carried at least seven metaphorical guns in his pants.
Gorō felt that what he had seen before was the gentle side of Yujin's personality—now he was witnessing the ruthless side.
For a ninja to treat his own hands as expendable wasn't just a matter of ruthlessness—it was a matter of madness.
Yujin raised his arm, showing both sides the hands that had been nailed together by a dagger, forcing them into a tight grip.
The motion tugged at their wounds, and the pain made Gorō's mouth twitch uncontrollably, while Yujin seemed entirely unaffected, as if he couldn't feel pain at all.
Say what you will, but regardless of how Gorō felt, the rest of the Fūma clan was clearly stunned by the gesture.
What followed was a profound sense of sincerity.
A ninja willing to put his career on the line to demonstrate trust in new members—how could they have any complaints?
Yujin glanced at Gorō, who immediately understood the signal.
He raised his arm and said loudly:
"Today, the Fūma clan joins the Ashes. With our blood as witness, we vow never to show hostility and never to betray."
"Never to show hostility… never to betray…"
The response came from the Fūma side. At first, it was scattered and disorganized, but after a few repetitions, the voices became nearly unified:
"Never to show hostility! Never to betray!"
It wasn't necessarily that their acceptance of the Ashes had suddenly soared—it was more that, well, the atmosphere had been built up this far, so they figured they might as well shout a little.
Seeing the Fūma clan respond to his gesture, Yujin finally lowered his arm.
One could say the alliance ceremony was simple, but in a sense, also a bit terrifying.
Sister Takamatsu and Chihori rushed to Yujin and Gorō's sides. They carefully removed the dagger, and once the two let go of each other's hands, they began bandaging the wounds.
A closer look revealed the dagger bore a five-ring insignia, marking it as a weapon borrowed from the Sarutobi clan.
The injuries piercing through their hands looked severe, but in reality, Yujin's wound barely needed any treatment.
As soon as his right hand was wrapped in bandages, he "White Zetsu-ized" the area near the wound, immediately stopping the bleeding and dulling the pain significantly.
It was a bit sneaky, really—while the wounds appeared the same on both sides, their healing capabilities were on completely different levels.
It was almost like taking advantage of the locals' lack of knowledge.
His hand would heal in no time. As for the so-called sealing of ninjutsu, by the next day he'd already be forming hand signs fluently again.
Now that the Fūma clan had realized how serious joining this organization really was, one could only wonder if Gorō was starting to regret his decision.
Regardless, as the clan leader, he should have been more cautious when making choices.
The so-called alliance ceremony carried a barely hidden implication—
If blood was shed when joining, then if they ever tried to leave... blood would have to be shed again.
...
In any case, Yujin had successfully completed a recruitment effort for the organization—smoothly, but with a disturbing touch of surprise.
But taking in new members wasn't like loading cargo. Each person had their own thoughts, so Yujin wasn't going to rush the integration.
To truly merge the two groups, he had many things to do in the days to come.
In the short term, the most important matter was distributing supplies equally and fairly—which, thankfully, wasn't too difficult.
After the ceremony ended, both sides returned to their respective camps, and peace settled over the area once more.
Night had fallen, but Yujin didn't choose to rest.
He wasn't preoccupied with the Fūma clan, to be honest. While he valued the organization's expansion, it wasn't his top priority.
For now, he was setting the Fūma matters aside and focusing on improving his own strength.
Yujin was contemplating the development of a new ninjutsu.
After mastering Water Release techniques, he found his two elemental releases were imbalanced. Compared to the versatile Water Release—good for offense, defense, single-target, and area-of-effect attacks—his Fire Release felt underwhelming.
So, he was using the water techniques as reference to develop new fire-based ninjutsu.
Although the hand signs for Water and Fire Release were completely different, the chakra flow he had learned from Water Release was clearly worth borrowing from.
He already had some ideas for the new Fire Release technique.
In addition, he felt that his existing abilities were still too ordinary, so he was also planning to develop even more "plain" fighting styles. But in that area, his progress had been slow.
Just as Yujin was deep in thought, Uchiha Mei approached him.
She had observed the entire recruitment process that day but hadn't commented, since it wasn't her place to intervene.
"The Fūma clan that joined today has more people than your original team. Aren't you worried they'll try to take over?" she asked.
"Take over? That would only mean I wasn't competent enough. Honestly, if someone else could handle everything fairly and justly, I'd actually be glad to let them take my place," Yujin replied.
He had little desire for power. More often than not, leading an organization felt like a burden.
Mei hadn't expected that answer. For a moment, she didn't know what to say.
Yujin glanced at her, then added:
"No need to worry about surprises. A group's core philosophy is indeed important, but maintaining that philosophy sometimes requires intelligence and wisdom—other times, it requires brute strength and violence."
Hearing that, Mei seemed to understand.
Yujin didn't want to continue discussing the topic, and after a pause, he suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to her.
"By the way, could I ask you for a favor?"
"What kind of favor?"
If it was something she could help with, Mei wouldn't refuse. After all, she was someone who repaid kindness.
"I'd like you to cast a genjutsu on me." As he spoke, Yujin moved his injured hand behind his back and extended the "White Zetsu-ization" to cover his entire forearm.
"A genjutsu? Are you sure?"
"Sure."
Mei didn't know what Yujin was trying to do, but seeing how determined he was, she didn't press further… though the request was certainly odd.
"What, do you think all Uchiha are genjutsu masters?" she muttered under her breath.
Still, as she spoke, her eyes took on the distinct appearance of the Three Tomoe Sharingan.
Then the two of them stared each other down.
"Did you start?"
"It's...already over."
...
Note: Choke me with stone please