Izuna, restore the glory of the Uchiha!

As a long-standing and powerful clan, the Uchiha naturally harbored some shadowy forces beneath their glamorous exterior. These underground units, like the clan's tentacles, penetrated every corner of the ninja world.

However, with the vigorous expansion of the burden reduction reform policy, underground units that relied on killing and intelligence gathering were inevitably affected.

Redundant staff were laid off, organizations were streamlined, and the workload decreased visibly.

Therefore, when Izuna saw that the scroll on the table was unsigned but used a special scroll of a high level within the clan, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

It's no wonder he overthinks things. The person in charge of this unit is a stubborn, hawkish old man who hasn't given Izuna a kind look since the last family meeting.

The hostility of underground units is much harder to neutralize than that of regular units. It is one of the few strongholds in his clan that is difficult to conquer, and it is also a highly concentrated area for hawks and mentally ill lunatics.

Therefore, the motivation for setting aside my reservations and sending him the message this time is nothing more than two:

Either he's been too idle lately and wants to cause some trouble for the newly appointed second-in-command to make his presence felt.

Either the letter's contents were shocking enough that even these arrogant guys couldn't ignore it, and with Ban absent, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask for his opinion.

If it's the former, he'll feel annoyed.

Honestly, Ban was much more patient than him when it came to appeasing the group of intermittently mentally ill patients in the tribe.

He would just kick open the door for those guys, lock it, and then pull out his knife.

Conservatives need to make radicals think they are too conservative.

But what Izuna didn't want to see was the latter. It meant that the short but precious life he had fought so hard for was about to come to an end.

Unroll the scroll and browse at lightning speed.

Unfortunately, he was right.

After the secret meeting, Hashirama Senju did not obediently return to the Senju clan territory. Instead, he practically dragged the frail Hideaki Senju around the southern part of the Land of Fire.

Initially, he persistently wandered around the Uchiha clan's territory, and Izuna did indeed receive several affectionate letters—

Koichi read them aloud as if they were official documents, but before he was even halfway through, he became so sickeningly sentimental that he fell off his chair and crashed to the ground, his poor head lolling out.

Izuna believed Madara would like it. He didn't invade the intimate privacy between Madara and his best friend, and placed the thick stack of letters on Madara's desk, right next to the letters Madara hadn't sent. It looked surprisingly fitting.

Izuna adopted a policy of "not supporting, not interfering" in this matter.

He certainly couldn't forge Madara's handwriting to dissuade Hashirama, so the long-awaited lover didn't receive the reply he expected, not even a perfunctory reply hidden beneath the official document.

But if he thinks that Hashirama Senju will give up, he would be sorely mistaken.

Just like the other cells in his body, the cells in this brain were also unusually active and imaginative. After much mental conjecture, he was certain that Ban was definitely not in the tribe's territory at this moment.

Incidentally, the entry for "[Uchiha Madara's opponent]" in the dictionary often lights up unexpectedly and at inconvenient times—

Conversely, the entry for "[Hashirama Senju's rival]" only highlights at night, indicating that Madara did heed his words.

This made it impossible for Izuna to judge Hashirama's behavioral fluctuations by observing changes in the terms.

Just like this time.

When he realized something was wrong through this urgent intelligence, Hashirama Senju had already begun his swift march north towards the Land of Fire.

No one knows his exact location; this news has been circulating for some time.

Hashirama's journey in search of Madara was undoubtedly joyful and easy.

He brought enough checks to gamble wherever he could, and then lost everything.

He laughed heartily under Senju Hideaki's worried face, then found a hotel and slept soundly. The next day, he continued his journey to find Ban with renewed vigor.

Izuna's throat bobbed dryly.

The fact that things had progressed to this point was making his scalp tingle.

Because he knew the spot's real-time location very well.

That's right! It's also the damned northern part of the Land of Fire!

Based on the suspected traces and timing reported by his own informants, it was only a matter of time before he and Ban met.

But if the problem had ended there, the leader of the underground forces, whose mind was filled only with killing and smoking, wouldn't have rushed so frantically, even somewhat panicked, to present the reel to him.

News of the secret meeting between the Uchiha and Senju clans had been leaked.

No one would think it was a coincidence that Hashirama Senju, the dignified head of the Senju clan, appeared in a sensitive area where the Uchiha forces were intersecting.

Moreover, he had already caused quite a commotion at the casino that night in his quest to win money.

Of course, this wasn't the only true story that spread; there were also various rumors such as "secret ransom of the hostages" and "secret duel"...

All sorts of bizarre rumors.

But Izuna, as the person involved, knew that only the "secret meeting" was real.

In short, all sorts of true and false rumors spread like wildfire across the plains of the southern Land of Fire.

The Uchiha clan members were used to this, and the gossip within their ranks had evolved to an unknown number of versions—for example, the second-in-command was actually there for a political marriage.

Even a glimpse of Izuna from afar would spark new rumors throughout the clan's territory; the speculations outside were already outdated and ancient tales to them.

At this moment, Izuna didn't know whether this was a good thing or not.

But for other families, it's not just about that.

The most prominent example is the Hyuga clan.

At the end of the letter that Hyuga Hikaru had asked Izuna to convey to his daughter, he used tactful language to express his heartfelt concern for the future relationship between the two clans.

As a result, he will receive a warm greeting in the reply from Rihei, which he has yet to receive—Rihei hates it most when his father uses this as a pretext to do such petty things.

This illustrates that the less familiar a clan is with the Uchiha clan and the more guilty they are, the more willing they are to spread alarmist rumors, and naturally, they will take some extreme measures in a panic.

The Uchiha and Senju clans' inclination to make peace was already quite clear, and this news was like adding fuel to the fire.

For a time, families banded together to protect themselves, and various alliances, treaties, and secret agreements became commonplace.

This does indeed bear some resemblance to the original work.

According to the original timeline, after Izuna died, Madara and Hashirama fought another battle, and Konoha was established.

However, Izuna has already been in the past for half a year, and not only has Konoha been established, but the peace talks between the Senju and Uchiha have only just begun.

Other clans could not seek protection by joining Konoha, nor could they learn from the system of establishing ninja villages.

But they were watching closely and copied the family alliance's methods.

It was pretty much the prototype of a ninja village, only more loose and chaotic.

The alliance of various clans is indeed a major event, and underground intelligence cannot obtain core information. After all, they have even learned the trick of the Uchiha and Senju clans that "they appear to be unfamiliar on the surface, but are actually secretly in cahoots."

However, the main point is clearly not just that; the previous news seemed more like a sycophantic attempt to curry favor with the next request.

"Hashirama has a hefty bounty on his head?!"

Izuna exclaimed in surprise.

They really keep coming up with one set after another!

After Konoha was established, there were countless assassination attempts against Hashirama.

I have postponed things quite a bit, but the development of the ninja world is just too much of a momentum!

Therefore, those shady characters were tempted by the high price and wanted to sell their goods through this deal.

Is this just suicide mission?

Izuna gave a cold laugh.