CH 573

Homusubi’s goal was obviously achieved, because when Sandaime Hokage and Elder Koharu heard that the real Uchiha Madara might still be alive, their expression turned aghast, and they could only stammer, “This… how is this even possible?”

Even if they don’t consider the issue of age, Uchiha Madara died at the hands of Shodaime Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

And even if they assume that Shodaime Hokage made some mistake, and did not finish Uchiha Madara, how could Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama make the same mistake when he went as far as to personally inspect Uchiha Madara’s body and confirmed that Uchiha Madara was indeed dead. As the disciples of Nidaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and Utatane Koharu are very clear about this… Uchiha Madara died at the battle of the valley of the end!

Sarutobi Hiruzen did not believe that his Sensei would make such a low-level mistake, which would allow Uchiha Madara to escape somehow, this is why no matter how much the masked-man claimed that he is Uchiha Madara, Sarutobi Hiruzen never once accepted that identity of his!

Homusubi chuckled, “The Uchiha is an ancient clan that has been in existence for nearly a millennium. The true depths of the Uchiha Clan are not something that just about anyone can know, even your Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama who knew the Uchiha Clan better than the Uchiha Clan itself did not know the true depths of the Uchiha…

We have a lot of forbidden Jutsu, forbidden Jutsus of the kind that can blur the boundaries of life and death, and ‘alter’ or ‘decide’ destiny and fool fate.

Don’t make a mistake by thinking that Uchiha Madara died at the Battle of the Valley of the End, not only did he not die there, but in fact, he even managed to gain the power of Shodaime Hokage before disappearing…

So, if you really ask me who was the true winner of the Battle of the Valley of the End, then undoubtedly it was Uchiha Madara, not Senju Hashirama!”

Elder Koharu asked with a frowned expression, “So… if Uchiha Madara did not die at the Battle of the Valley of the End, then what has he been doing all this time? The First Great Shinobi War, the Second Great Shinobi War, the Third Great Shinobi War what was he doing for so many decades?”

“Controlling the Shinobi World from the shadows… making the outcomes that he wants to see, all for the sake of whatever purpose he wants to fulfil…” answered Homusubi.

Elder Koharu’s eyes widened in realization, “The Akatsuki Organization… was he the one who created it?”

Homusubi nodded, “I suppose that’s one way to put it.”

At this moment Sandaime Hokage said with a solemn expression, “The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox’s Attack that happened around 8 years ago… was he the one responsible for that too?”

Sandaime couldn’t help but think so, after all, up until now there has been only one man capable of perfectly controlling the Kyuubi, and that man is undoubtedly Uchiha Madara… At the battle of the Valley of the End, he used Kyuubi together with his Susano’o… So, it wouldn’t be strange if that man was also responsible for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox’s Attack…

His objective could have been anything, to take back the Kyuubi for whatever plan he has, or to take revenge on Konoha…

Whatever his objective might have been behind the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox’s Attack, he failed in the end, but that came at a cost, at the cost of the death of Konoha’s Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and the Second Generation Jinchuriki of Kyuubi, Uzumaki Kushina!

The death of those two was a very big loss for Konoha, and even if more than 8 years have passed since then, Konoha has still not recovered from that loss, therefore, Sandaime really wanted to know if the person responsible for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox’s Attack was Uchiha Madara.

But it’s a pity that Homusubi was not willing to answer each and every question of Sandaime, and said, “Hokage-dono, you have too many questions… Amatsukami is neither obligated to provide such information to the Five Great Shinobi Villages nor are we interested…” and continued after a pause, “Now let’s get back to the why we are here and you give me the payment… I don’t think I need to emphasize the consequences of defaulting our payment, right?”

Sandaime quickly waved his hands, and explained, “Don’t worry, we will not back away from our end of the deal, and Amatsukami will be given the full payment they were promised. We just want to talk with you, if we are going to establish a cooperative relationship to deal with the threat of the Akatsuki Organization, we need to at least understand a few things about who we are working with… that’s all…”

At the five Kage conference a few days ago, the five Kage have reached a consensus that only ‘Yama’ the leader of Amatsukami has the strength to check and balance Nagato, the leader of the Akatsuki Organization, so, if the Five Great Shinobi Villages want to maintain their dominance over the Shinobi World, then they have but one choice and that is to cooperate with Amatsukami… And based on this understanding, the five Kage have also made a unanimous decision to not do anything that would offend Amatsukami, because if Amatsukami abandons the five great Shinobi Villages, then the Shinobi World will be done for!

So obviously Sandaime Hokage wouldn’t be foolish enough to offend Amatsukami over just a few hundred million Ryo.

At this time, Elder Koharu said from the side, “If your leader Yama is also afraid of Uchiha Madara, it won’t be any harm for the Amatsukami Organization to cooperate with Konoha.”

Homusubi lightly glanced at Elder Koharu and said in a taunting tone, “Let go of your arrogance old hag. You have to get used to the fact that the Shinobi World is no longer within the grasp of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and the sooner you learn to start thinking from the perspective of weak people whose lives are never in their hands, then the more you will get to live… otherwise you will be squashed like an unknown bug with no one left to even remember or recall you after your death!”

Elder Koharu was angered, and shouted, “You…!”

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Before Elder Koharu could say or do anything the Five Great Villages, and more specifically Konoha Village might come to regret in the future, Sandaime Hokage stepped forward to stop her, and then immediately said to Homusubi, “In my capacity as the representative of Konohagakure and the Five Great Shinobi Villages, I express my sincere gratitude to the Amatsukami Organization for helping us out in the previous two conflicts against the Akatsuki Organization…”

After saying so, he waved his hands to the Anbu Commander standing on the side.

The Anbu Commander nodded, then took out two bags from a Storage Scroll and put them in front of Homusubi.

“And here’s the payment.” Sandaime Hokage said while pointing at the two bags, “The two bags contain about 150 million Ryo each, and the subsequent 245 million Ryo will be paid to Amatsukami in instalments within the next three months.”

When presented with the payment, Homusubi no longer paid attention to the offended Elder Koharu. She just took out a Storage Scroll of her own and sealed the two bags within the storage scroll, and after doing so, she turned around and started to walk towards the exit of the Hokage’s Tent.

Seeing that Homusubi was about to leave, Sandaime quickly said, “Please wait a moment.”

Homusubi turned around with a frowned expression under her mask, and questioned, “Is there something else?”

Sandaime Hokage exhaled a puff of smoke, and lowly said, “I don’t know if Amatsukami will be willing to accept a commission.”

“A commission, you say?” Homusubi became interested, and questioned, “What does Sandaime Hokage-dono want to be done?”

“On the night the Akatsuki Organization attack the Village, several children from our village were kidnapped by Orochimaru and Kakuzu of the Akatsuki Organization… We want Amatsukami to rescue those children… The village will be willing to pay 25 million Ryo each for the rescue of those children, and we are also willing to add an additional 50 million Ryo specifically for Uzumaki Naruto because he happens to be the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi.” Said Sandaime Hokage.

Naturally, Konoha Village does not place all hopes of rescuing the four children on the shoulders of Amatsukami, but Amatsukami’s help will undoubtedly increase the probability of rescue of the four children, especially the rescue of Uzumaki Naruto, who is not only the child of Yondaime couple but also the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi.

The Kyuubi is very important to the village so as Hokage, he cannot leave Naruto in the hands of Orochimaru, especially after the Akatsuki Organization has repeatedly shown their intention of collecting the nine Bijuu. Protecting the Bijuu and their Jinchuriki has become the top priority of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, so the rescue of Uzumaki Naruto is very important and urgent.

In fact, not only Uzumaki Naruto, but even the rescue of Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuga Hinata is very important whether from a political point of view or for the sake of the future of the village… As for Hyuga Neji? Well, if the village is willing to pay for the rescue of three children, then there is no harm in adding one more…

Homusubi smiled, and nodded, “The three children and the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi huh? Well, we will pay attention…”

Sandaime requested helplessly, “Then please…”

In front of Amatsukami, Sandaime can’t really afford to show a tough attitude, so all he can do is request politely.

The main reason is that Amatsukami is too strong, so strong that Konoha’s power or prestige doesn’t seem to deter Amatsukami at all. And the second reason is that Konoha owes a favour to Amatsukami, so Amatsukami is their benefactor.

If there was no help from Amatsukami in the battle against the Akatsuki Organization, then what would have been the consequences, Sandaime dare not imagine.

Homusubi nodded lightly then left the Hokage Tent unimpeded. After walking out of the Hokage Camp, when Homusubi was about to leave the village, two figures appeared before her.

Looking at the two people standing before her, Homusubi chuckled, and greeted the two, “If it isn’t the Uchiha Patriarch, and the so-called number one genius of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Shisui of the body flicker… I wonder why such famous people have come to me.”

That’s right, the two people standing before Homusubi are none other than Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Shisui.

Fugaku directly activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and looked at Homusubi, while Shisui with a helpless face awkwardly stood beside Fugaku…

Fugaku questioned tentatively, “You are Uchiha Tsukihi… are you not?”

“Oh my, you realized my identity so easily?” Homusubi was surprised, then said, “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised…”

Fugaku said with a stern tone, “Uchiha Tsukihi, I may not know who your parent was, and how you were born but since you are an Uchiha, should you not come to the clan where you belong…? I can see that you don’t harbour any hatred or dissatisfaction towards the Clan or the Village… As long as you are willing to return, I… I can…”

Before Fugaku could finish speaking, Tsukihi said, “It’s not impossible for me to come to the Clan, but you will have to give up on the position of the Patriarch of the Uchiha Clan…”

Fugaku was surprised by Tsukihi’s condition, and entered a pondering mode…

Shisui was also surprised, but he was more surprised by what Tsukihi said, ‘Will she really come to the clan?’

In fact, not only Fugaku and Shisui, even Tsukihi herself was surprised, she posed such a condition thinking that Fugaku will immediately refuse, never thought that Fugaku will start to seriously consider such an absurd condition, ‘You really deserve to be the indecisive Uchiha Patriarch.’

Uchiha Fugaku would subconsciously hesitate on such a critical question, this undoubtedly shows that he, with an indecisive character, is really not a very good candidate for the position of the Patriarch of the Uchiha Clan, a clan consisting of unruly clansmen who are driven by their emotions.

After a while of consideration, Fugaku nodded, “Come to the clan, if you can defeat me and Shisui, the position of the Patriarch of the Clan is not unnegotiable.”

Tsukihi smiled, and shook her head, “I am sorry Fugaku-sama, I was just joking with you… Neither am I interested in the position of the Uchiha Patriarch nor can I become one even if I want to… after all, Uchiha Tsukihi is dead, isn’t she? She died for the sake of the Konoha Village, right?”

Fugaku frowned when he heard Tsukihi’s reply… Putting aside the matter of Uchiha Tsukihi’s so-called ‘death’, when he heard that Tsukihi is not interested in the position of the patriarch, he was helpless… if even the position of the Patriarch is not tempting enough for the other party, then he really has no other bargaining chip…

At this time Tsukihi said, “Well, I’ll praise you for recognizing my identity and give you a piece of advice… If you wish for the prosperity of your Clan, then change your indecisive character Uchiha Patriarch… because this indecisive character will not bring a sense of security to the people around you…”

Tsukihi’s sudden words startled Fugaku, and he can’t help but fall into a thoughtful state…

Tsukihi found that her words seem to be doing their job, and continued to walk forward… And just as she was about to pass by Fugaku and Shisui, Fugaku suddenly interrupted her, “Wait… I am here to offer a commission to you…”

“A commission, you say?” Homusubi was a little interested, although she guessed what commission Uchiha Patriarch is talking about, she asked nonetheless, “What does Uchiha Patriarch want to be done?”

Fugaku took a deep breath, and said, “If Amatsukami can help me rescue my younger son Sasuke, I am willing to pay the corresponding remuneration.”