Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha lacks motivation.

No. 002, East Street

"Bang!"

In the dimly lit research room, a slender, pale fist slammed heavily onto the experimental table. The unintentional, brute force used to hammer a huge dent into the high-strength alloy surface.

"Damn it, what is that little monkey doing?"

Bathed in the flickering lamplight, Senju Hisa's small face appeared and disappeared, but her delicate features could not conceal the anger shining through her eyes.

After retracting her slightly numb fist, her scarlet eyes fell on a piece of intelligence delivered by a family member, her two rows of silver teeth grinding together.

"That's mine!"

Since the leader election, Senju Hishin has lived a secluded life, devoting all her energy to researching the Reanimation Jutsu, striving to return to her original form as quickly as possible and stage a Dragon King's return.

However, to her surprise, less than a few months later, her heir, Hiruzen Sarutobi, on whom she had placed high hopes, had not achieved anything remarkable.

Instead, they insisted on carrying out reforms in the village, causing chaos and disorder.

She had long seen through the core purpose of this reform; it was clearly a grand feast where the ninja alliance would carve up Konoha.

More than half of the functional departments that were once in charge of the Senju and Uchiha clans were forcibly taken back and redistributed to members of the Shinobi Alliance.

Faced with this situation, Senju Hii was truly willing but powerless. On one hand, her Senju clan currently lacked a strong member capable of stepping forward, and if she were to force herself to take the lead, she, as a woman, feared it would be difficult to gain the respect of the people.

Moreover, her current identity is that of an illegitimate child of unknown origin, and her voice in the family is not as powerful as that of the underage Tsunade.

On the other hand, it's because of the Uchiha clan.

Senju Hisana was quite surprised. As a clan that was also exploited, the eccentric Uchiha chose to remain silent and endure whatever the Ninja Alliance wanted without the slightest hesitation.

Not only that, they even voluntarily handed over the Tailed Beast Rider system to the village, which left Senju Hisama completely baffled.

Based on her understanding of Uchiha Izuna, if Hiruzen Sarutobi really dared to launch a powerful attack on the Uchiha clan, none of the members of the Shinobi Alliance would survive past midnight.

Even the ants in the house couldn't escape Amaterasu's scorching heat, and the eggs were fried into tiger-skin eggs.

Since the Uchiha clan has chosen to remain silent on this matter, the Senju clan cannot continue to speak out and can only wait and see.

"Phew, maybe he really has grown up."

Despite racking her brains, Senju Hisa couldn't understand why Uchiha Izuna was so tolerant. She could only attribute this behavior to the fact that the other party had finally grown into a qualified leader, possessed a certain sense of the big picture, and knew how to see things from the village's perspective.

"This is the one thing we absolutely must not give to those guys!"

Bringing her attention back to reality, Senju Hisami frowned. The contents of the information panel in front of her made it impossible for her to continue studying it; she had to take control of the Tailed Beast Rider System.

Of course, she didn't mind others becoming the Nine-Tails Knight, but at this critical juncture, the situation in the ninja world was changing rapidly.

The relationships between the various ninja villages are ambiguous and unclear. On the surface, everything seems peaceful and harmonious, but there's always the possibility of an enemy attacking at the city gates at any moment.

If war were to break out, a knight who can skillfully utilize the power of a tailed beast would definitely be able to influence the course of the war.

Shimura clan land,

Outside the training ground, which was heavily guarded, the long line of Shimura people wore complex expressions of trepidation and anticipation.

"Next!"

Under the direction of their family members, they entered the training ground one by one, while at the other end of the exit, unconscious members of the Shimura clan were being carried out on stretchers.

Everyone's face was etched with deep fear, as if they were trapped in a painful nightmare.

"Try to touch it."

Inside the training ground, Danzo frowned as he looked at the young man from his clan who had just entered, pointing to a golden card placed on a table not far away.

"yes!"

The young man nodded excitedly, strode forward, and his gaze was instantly drawn to the exquisite Nine-Tailed Fox card on the table. The card, shimmering with an inexplicable light, seemed to possess a deep magic, beckoning him to reach out and touch it.

Tempted by the power, the young man from Shimura didn't hesitate for a moment and reached for the Nine-Tailed Card. However, before his fingers could even touch the card, he was enveloped by a terrifying aura emanating from the abyss.

Suddenly, a huge fox head rose before the young man Shimura's eyes. Its vertical, beastly eyes were filled with deep contempt, and its ferocious mouth stretched to its ears, its mockery undisguised.

"You ant, do you even dare to look me in the eye?"

"ah!!!"

Under the onslaught of the Nine-Tailed Fox's terrifying aura, the once confident young man immediately screamed and fainted.

"Out!"

"Tsk! Next one."

Danzo seemed to be used to this situation, and shook his head slightly, signaling the medical team next to him to lift the person up.

"Does our Shimura clan truly lack any suitable knights?"

As time passed, witnessing one promising young man after another enter and leave in disarray, Danzo's mood gradually grew irritable.

"Give up. This is something our Shimura clan cannot control."

Shinji Shimura, who had appeared beside him at some unknown time, had a look of regret in his aged eyes. "Don't you even know who the previous Tailed Beast Rider was?"

"Grandfather, this may be the only chance for our Shimura clan, and I don't want to give up."

Turning to look at the strongest patriarch in the clan, Danzo's eyes were filled with conflict. If their Shimura clan could master the power of the tailed beasts, it wouldn't be long before they could surpass the other clans.

At that time, they can choose either the Hokage or the Party Secretary.

"There's no time left. Everyone already knows that the Shimura clan possesses the Tailed Beast Rider system. If we keep hiding it, we'll only become the target of everyone's criticism."

Danzo's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this. He had only obtained the Tailed Beast Cards a few days ago, how did the entire Hidden Leaf Village already know about them?

We agreed that each family would take turns sending someone to try it out first, and if there were no suitable candidates, then we would openly recruit.

There's a traitor in F6!

"hateful!"

But now, Danzo can no longer care about investigating who made the bluff; he must come up with a countermeasure, otherwise he will be accused by those with ulterior motives of embezzling village assets.

"Out!"

The last member of the Shimura clan also failed the test of the Rider System, falling before the Tailed Beast Card.

Seeing this, Danzo closed his eyes in despair, but when he opened them again, a resolute look appeared in them.

"Post the announcement! Proclaim it to the whole village!"

"Oh? So you've finally decided to let go?"

Shinji Shimura looked at Danzo, who was acting decisively, with deep admiration on his face. They say grandsons resemble their grandfathers, and it's true.

"It doesn't matter. No matter how strong the Tailed Beast Riders are, they are still the property of the village. As long as we still have control over the Drivers, we have a chance to turn the tables."

Danzo shook his head. Even if the Shimura clan did not select a knight, as long as the management of the tailed beast knights was still in their hands, it didn't matter whether the knight was named Shimura or not.

The next day,

A notice bearing the Hokage's seal was posted on the most prominent notice board in the village, and the news of the village's recruitment of a Nine-Tails Knight candidate instantly swept through the entire Hidden Leaf Village.

[Due to the disappearance of the previous Nine-Tails Rider, the Second Hokage Madara Uchiha, the village leadership has decided in a meeting that the village cannot be without a Rider for even a day. Therefore, we are now publicly recruiting suitable candidates for the Rider System. Anyone who meets the requirements can participate in the recruitment; the recruitment conditions are attached at the end of this announcement.]

The villagers who stopped in front of the notice board carefully read the extremely low recruitment requirements, their faces filled with curiosity.

"It doesn't restrict professions!"

"Even ninjas don't have this requirement, so shouldn't ordinary people like us be able to do it too?"

"Let me see. There's no requirement to have chakra, really?"

The ordinary villagers who had just come to watch the excitement instantly became excited after reading the recruitment conditions. This was too tempting!

There is an insurmountable gap between ordinary people and ninjas, but this time the recruitment of the Nine-Tailed Knight has also included ordinary people like them. This is clearly a chance for them to leap over the dragon gate and become superior people.

"You have to sign a waiver before you participate. If anything happens, the organizer will not be responsible."

"What's there to be afraid of? I'm not even afraid of being poor, why would I be afraid of dying?"

Even though it was stated that ordinary people needed to sign a waiver of liability, it still couldn't dampen the villagers' enthusiasm.

"Wait! Do I need to pay a registration fee to participate in the recruitment?"

"How many?"

"Two million taels!"

"Let's go, let's go~"

"Damn it, in the end, they still lost to capital!"

Years later, an elderly man who had missed out on becoming a Tailed Beast Rider due to the exorbitant registration fee recounted his past misfortune to his descendants with a sigh.

"Sigh~ I wonder if someone is plotting against me behind my back, or maybe I've threatened someone's interests. The capital behind the scenes has gone to great lengths to prevent me from becoming the Nine-Tailed Knight who saves the world. Capital, you win."

"This Danzo... he actually uses this method to amass wealth! All these years of teaching him the Will of Fire has been a complete waste!"

In the crowd, Senju Hisa, with her white hair, clenched her delicate fists with an icy expression, wishing she could punch Xiao Tuantuan on the head right now.

Teaching such a disciple is a stain that she can never erase in her life.

"Two million? We can still manage if we squeeze it out."

After hesitating in front of the notice board for a while, she finally gave up her idea of ​​storming the Shimura clan's territory to punish the traitors, and instead started thinking about registering.

The most important thing right now is to keep the power of the Tailed Beast Riders under our control, so that it doesn't fall into the hands of other unqualified outlaws and ruin Konoha's century-long plan.

"Huh! A Tailed Beast Rider? Things are starting to get interesting."

Just as Senju Hisa was plotting how to get some money from her sister-in-law, a figure with a faint salty, fishy smell stood beside her.

Hearing the slightly familiar, magnetic voice, she frowned slightly and turned her head away, whereupon a fiery red hue came into view.

Why is that smelly female diver joining in the fun?

Looking at Mito Uzumaki, whose figure remained as stunning and whose beauty remained unchanged over the years, Hisa Senju showed no outward sign of emotion, but inwardly she was filled with resentment.

His scrutinizing gaze swept subtly across Mito Uzumaki's curious face, lingering briefly on the purple diamond-shaped mark on her forehead before casually turning his head away.

Is it a Yin seal?

That curly-haired guy actually developed a pretty good ninjutsu.

However, Senju Hisana's series of subtle actions could not escape the keen senses of Mito Uzumaki. Noticing someone secretly observing her, she quickly locked her attention on the white-haired girl in front of her.

"That hair color...you wouldn't happen to be the legendary white-haired illegitimate daughter, would you?"

By recognizing the familiar hair color and the immense life force within Senju Hisama, she quickly identified the other person. Her slender eyebrows arched slightly, and a hint of something enigmatic appeared in her eyes.

"They really are father and daughter; even their chakra auras are exactly the same."

"!!!"

Upon hearing this, Senju Hisami's body tensed instinctively. Although she knew the Uzumaki clan possessed extraordinary sensory abilities, she hadn't expected them to be able to identify a person even by their chakra aura.

Fortunately, Mito Uzumaki did not connect her with the "dead" Tobirama Senju, otherwise she would have had to use the Great Memory Erasure Technique to eliminate the potential threat.

"Don't be nervous. Although I have a small grudge against your father, I won't harm my family. I won't do anything to you."

Sensing Hisa Senju's nervousness, Mito Uzumaki assumed the girl knew about her past feud with Tobirama Senju, so she smiled and shook her head, explaining that the young girl, who had just come of age, shouldn't worry about enemies coming to her door.

elder sister?

You shameless old woman!

Senju Hisa, who knew perfectly well that Mito Uzumaki's true age was vastly different from her appearance, almost rolled her eyes to the heavens.

But she didn't reflect on the fact that she was Mito Uzumaki's peer, with a super young face, and even her gender was different.

"You'd like to sign up too?"

Seeing that Senju Hisama was silent, Uzumaki Mito assumed that the other was a little shy, so she took the initiative to bring up a topic.

"Um."

At this moment, Senju Hisama only wanted to escape, but if she actually ran away, it would probably arouse unnecessary suspicion from Uzumaki Mito. She could only continue to nod slightly with a cold face.

"Then you won't have a chance, because I also want to try out the Nine-Tailed Knight's power and see if it's any different from that blue turtle and gray slug."

Upon hearing this, Mito Uzumaki laughed heartily and confidently pointed a thumbs-up at herself.

When she was in the Land of Whirlpools, she fought against the Tailed Beast Riders of Kirigakure quite a few times. Although their methods were quite strange, they could only cower and flee when faced with her wielding the Shipbreaker.

"."

Senju Hisa glanced at the confident Mito Uzumaki with a slight frown, and suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis.

Although she had previously reconciled with Kurama and transformed into the second Kurama Knight, she couldn't guarantee that Kurama could withstand the unpredictable sealing techniques of Mito Uzumaki.

Sign up!

Even if you borrow money, you have to get it reimbursed!

We must retrieve the Tailed Beast Cards before that stinky sea woman gets in touch with the Nine-Tails!

With this in mind, Senju Hisami, eager to get started, had no intention of lingering any longer. Without even saying goodbye, she turned and slipped out of the bustling crowd. Uzumaki Mito, seeing this, curled her lip in disapproval.

"No wonder they say daughters resemble their fathers; this rude manner is exactly the same." (End of Chapter)