Chapter 135: The Idea of Unifying the Ninja World and Giving Itachi a Little Shock from the Uchiha Clan
"Will the leader agree?" Sasori asked, watching Onoki leave. He hesitated. This time, Kenichi had not contacted Pain at all and had negotiated with Onoki on his own.
"He will agree," Kenichi said, holding the sealing scroll. His mood was bright. Making money was already a good thing, but he still felt this way of earning was too slow.
As for Nagato, Kenichi was not worried. Nagato would not care. Bombing could bring greater immediate profit, but too much killing would turn Akatsuki into the common enemy of the entire shinobi world.
That was bad for Akatsuki's ability to hide, build strength, and wait for the right moment. Their plan required time, and it required space to move. They still made money this way, just less.
The advantage was stability.
Kenichi knew the villages would definitely study his weapons and search for counters. But as long as his technology iterated faster than theirs, it would be fine.
If conventional thermobaric delivery got solved, then there were still rockets. If rockets got solved too, then there were missiles.
Intercepting missiles was not easy. The shinobi world would need to leap forward several generations. Even if Kenichi wanted to complete missile development, it would not be simple.
Research needed money, and it could be brutally expensive.
Yet even so, this money making method still felt slow.
Kenichi fell into thought. Being a war shinobi was profitable, but he also knew the shinobi world would enter a rare period of peace in the next few years. When that happened, there would be far fewer war missions.
So how should he raise money then?
That was a question worth answering.
Kenichi looked toward the Land of Earth. Iwagakure's finances were tight. The other villages were not much better.
But behind Iwagakure, behind Konoha, behind every great village, stood something larger.
A nation.
And the daimyo controlled the nation's revenue.
"Wealth enough to rival a nation?" Kenichi murmured, stroking his chin. "No need. They already hold the nation's wealth."
Then another thought followed naturally, sharp and cold.
"Daimyo," Kenichi said softly. "What right do a bunch of ants have to control the wealth of the shinobi world?"
He had always found it strange. Shinobi possessed overwhelming power. Some individuals could destroy a country by themselves, yet these same people played childish games with daimyo, obeying their politics while holding all the real strength.
Even setting other issues aside, Hiruzen had power that could suppress a country outright. If Konoha wanted to, the Land of Fire could only bow.
After thinking it through, Kenichi reached a conclusion.
Shinobi were arrogant. They did not see ordinary people as their equals.
So the Kage managed shinobi and villages, while leaving ordinary civilians to the daimyo, as if the two worlds were separate.
"Sasori," Kenichi said, glancing sideways. "What does your Hidden Sand think of the Land of Wind?"
They were currently traveling toward the Land of Fire, because the Land of Sky had once been located south of it.
The exact location was unclear. The Land of Sky had been destroyed by Konoha, and the Sky Village existed only as a memory now. But they only needed a general direction.
If all else failed, they could ask locals. The fall of a country was not something people forgot quietly. It would become gossip, especially near the region.
"I don't have any opinion," Sasori said, shaking his head. "To be honest, I don't even care about the Land of Wind. It's just a place that paid me."
Kenichi was not surprised. When he first arrived in this world, he was the same. He only cared about Konoha, not the Land of Fire.
But now, a new idea had begun to take shape in him.
A strong, unified, sovereign nation was one of the keys to rapid technological growth. It could mobilize resources on a scale that no single village ever could.
The shinobi world had too many countries. The Land of Fire, rich and powerful. The Land of Wind, vast. And countless smaller nations scattered around them.
If these nations could be unified, then the shinobi world's development might finally step onto the right track.
In a sense, Nagato's idea resembled this. Gather all the tailed beasts, wield absolute force, and force peace.
That could work while Nagato lived.
Once Nagato died, the cracks would show immediately.
And Nagato himself was only a pawn of Uchiha Madara. Obito hid behind the scenes thinking he was the one playing the board, but in the end, he was a pawn too.
Madara believed he was the true mastermind, yet Black Zetsu was the one who had been moving pieces for centuries.
Nagato's defeat was inevitable.
Kenichi thought he could try to solve it from another direction.
Unify the shinobi world.
Merge the villages.
End the wars at their root.
After that, the next step would be to shift people's mindset. Make civilians accept shinobi as citizens of the same world, not a separate class. Encourage shinobi to resist true foreign invaders, like the Otsutsuki.
"There's someone ahead," Kenichi said suddenly, stopping.
His mask hid his expression, but his posture turned cautious. He had only just noticed the presence. The other person was extremely skilled at hiding.
"Foreign shinobi," a voice said from the shadows, "what is your purpose in coming to the Land of Fire?"
As if responding to Kenichi's words, the other party stepped out.
Kenichi's eyes narrowed in surprise.
Uchiha Shisui.
Shisui stared at them warily. Their clothes were strange. Their masks were stranger. Their identities were impossible to read.
But people who hid themselves like this were rarely good people.
The shinobi world did not have some lunatic bat man in a high tech suit wandering the night skies for fun.
"Just passing by," Kenichi said simply.
Shisui raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing it.
When Shisui reached for his weapon, Kenichi scratched his head.
What was Shisui doing hiding out here? When did he notice them? This was troublesome.
Sasori glanced at Shisui, interested in testing him. But the moment Sasori noticed Shisui's eyes and the Uchiha clothing, he held back.
This was probably someone from Kenichi's clan.
Sasori knew Kenichi carried special eyes, eyes famous across Konoha and the shinobi world.
Kenichi's gaze shifted slightly.
"There's a kid behind you," he said. "Are you sure you want to fight us?"
He had noticed something off. Itachi was strong in the future, but right now he was still a child. He lacked experience.
Kenichi had caught the small mistake, a tiny slip in concealment.
Shisui instinctively shifted, blocking Kenichi's line of sight toward Itachi. A trace of embarrassment flickered across his face.
These two did not look like good people.
And they were not Konoha's ANBU or Root. Konoha did not dress like this.
His eyes flicked, silent, to Sasori's hand.
Flashy nail polish.
Konoha shinobi did not wear that either.
Or was the one beside Kenichi actually a woman? But if so, the figure was strange.
Kenichi sighed. "I hate trouble. So I'll say this clearly. If you attack me without thinking, you will die."
His voice cooled as he looked straight at Shisui.
Such good eyes, wasted on hesitation. If someone did not know how to use them, they might as well become research material.
Kenichi wondered if Shisui had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan yet. If he had, it would be annoying. Still, Kenichi had ways to deal with that too.
"Oh?" Shisui's pride flared instantly.
He had never seen someone speak so arrogantly.
But then he remembered Itachi behind him, and the hesitation returned.
If he were alone, Shisui would have rushed forward to test what gave this man such confidence. But Itachi was here.
For Itachi's safety, Shisui stepped aside.
Kenichi and Sasori walked past him, unhurried.
Looking at Shisui's silence, Kenichi found it strangely satisfying. Getting the genius Shisui to give way was not something that happened every day.
To be fair, Shisui was strong. He was not weak at all. If a fight broke out, it would be a headache.
Behind them, Itachi emerged from the woods and stood beside Shisui, looking guilty.
"Shisui," Itachi said softly.
"It's fine," Shisui said with a gentle chuckle. "Your safety matters most."
He ruffled Itachi's hair. Shisui liked this little brother of the clan head, three years younger than him. Being with Itachi felt like being with family.
Itachi secretly glanced at the two arrogant shinobi walking away. Their clothes looked impressive.
Then one of them seemed to notice his gaze.
The masked shinobi turned his head.
Their eyes met.
Itachi froze.
Behind the mask, there was a Sharingan.
Three tomoe, slowly rotating.
Sharingan?
Itachi's mind sparked with confusion.
Are they members of the Uchiha clan?
A question entered his small mind. He had heard his father say the Sharingan was unique to the Uchiha.
Yet he had seen it on two people.
One was Kakashi, a powerful outsider.
And now, this person.
"Itachi," Kenichi said with a faint smile, looking at the child peeking out from behind Shisui.
Young Itachi was cute.
Grown Itachi was another matter entirely.
Kenichi admitted it frankly in his own mind. He could not accept what Itachi would do on the night of the massacre.
There were many ways to solve problems. Itachi chose extermination, and he carried it out himself.
It was far too cruel.
Some people even claimed that in the beginning, Naruto was meant to be short, Itachi was written as a villain, and the Third Hokage as a good man. Then the series exploded in popularity, kept going, and the plot began to strain. Kenichi did not know if that was true.
But with Itachi, Kenichi always remembered one thing.
The way Itachi tortured Sasuke. The way he controlled Sasuke's mind to deepen hatred. The way he made Sasuke relive that bloody night again and again.
That trauma never faded. It also laid the foundation for Sasuke leaving Konoha later in pursuit of power.
Kenichi's smile deepened.
His eyes rippled.
The next second, Itachi's body went rigid.
His vision twisted into an ocean of blood.
He saw himself suddenly grown, face cold, holding a blade.
He saw himself slaughter his parents.
Then he saw himself cut off Shisui's head.
"Itachi?" Shisui snapped, instantly noticing something wrong. "Genjutsu? When did it happen?"
He grabbed Itachi and broke him free, then spun and glared behind them.
But the two masked shinobi were already gone.
Itachi was trembling, shaking as if he could not breathe.
"Itachi, are you alright?" Shisui asked quickly, patting his back. "Don't be afraid. That was just an illusion."
Shisui had no idea what that man had done, but Itachi had fallen into genjutsu without warning.
And Itachi looked genuinely terrified.
"It was the Sharingan," Itachi choked out, clutching Shisui's sleeve. "I saw a Sharingan, and then I saw… I saw myself kill my…"
He swallowed hard, eyes wet with fear.
"I saw myself kill my parents," he forced out. "And then… I cut off your head."
The Itachi of the future was the Itachi of the future.
The Itachi of now was not cold, not ruthless, not someone who could do anything.
He was still a child.
Hearing Itachi's words, Shisui's confusion deepened.
That man had a Sharingan?
Shisui had not noticed it earlier.
So the man could open and close his Sharingan freely?
And he might actually be Uchiha?
Shisui fell into thought.
The Uchiha's eyes were powerful, and there were always people trying to steal them. Even Kakashi, living in the same village, only had his Sharingan because an Uchiha had given it to him.
But Kakashi could not close it.
He did not have Uchiha blood.
Only the Uchiha could freely open and close the Sharingan. That was common knowledge within the clan.
That was why Shisui now believed the masked man must be Uchiha.
But Shisui had never seen anyone dressed like that.
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]