Chapter Eighty-Seven: Heat and Cold

Seeing that Shisui had already fully grasped his meaning, Uchiha Riku did not continue.

Shisui, however, could hardly wait and asked, “What do you need me to do?”

He had longed for the day when the clan could truly blend into the village. Now that the chance was right before his eyes, he would never let it slip away.

At that very moment, Shisui had already made up his mind.

If it truly came to it, then he would use the power of his Mangekyo to force the dissenters within the clan to agree.

For the sake of the clan and the village, he would show no mercy this time.

“It’s very simple,” Uchiha Riku said calmly. “I want you to convince the people within your faction. When the clan assembly is held, I want them to support my proposal.”

It had already been mentioned before that Shisui was a descendant of Uchiha Kagami, and that he belonged to the clan’s peace faction.

Though the peace faction was only the second-largest force in the clan and its numbers could not compare with the radicals, it was by no means weak.

Among them were several esteemed elders whose reputation carried great weight.

And with Shisui’s genius, he was exceptionally popular within the clan.

This could be clearly seen from an incident in the original story when Shisui died.

After his death, a great uproar broke out within the Uchiha clan.

Among those who worked in the Police Force, three elite shinobi—Uchiha Tekka, Uchiha Inabi, and Uchiha Yashiro, all jounin—went so far as to confront Itachi at his door and accuse him of killing Shisui.

One must remember that Itachi was the Hokage’s son, and yet they still chose to question him. That alone spoke volumes about Shisui’s prestige.

So if he did not wish to force the clan into action through violence, then winning over a portion of its people was the best choice.

Moreover, with the current situation, so long as the peace faction agreed and Clan Head Fugaku lent his name to it, the matter would be all but settled.

As for the clan, Uchiha Riku had never wanted to use overly harsh means to simply wipe out opposition.

Otherwise, how would he be any different in essence from the Itachi he despised?

“I understand. I’ll handle it later,” Shisui said without hesitation.

Seeing that Shisui had taken the matter completely to heart, Uchiha Riku smiled and said, “Thank you for your trouble, Shisui.”

Shisui shook his head. “How could that be called trouble? It’s you who understands far more, Riku…”

...

The discussion concluded.

Shisui, full of enthusiasm, went off to persuade the people in his faction, while Uchiha Riku returned home to wait.

At first he had thought the Clan Head and Yao should be back within three to five days, but he had miscalculated.

Day after day passed. Nearly half a month went by, and there was still no news that Fugaku and the others were returning.

Instead, Uchiha Riku received word that the day of publication for his own Tale of Terra had arrived.

During this time, a book touted as surpassing Hot-Blooded Paradise in every way had spread through every alley and street.

Combined with the rumors about Terra that had already been circulated by the Akatsuki, the buzz could be said to have reached its peak.

Every hidden village was taking it very seriously, though what they cared about was different from ordinary readers.

The higher-ups were focused on the opening content, hoping to uncover some useful information.

After all, according to Akatsuki’s publicity, Terra possessed two pairs of Mangekyo, more than even the Leaf.

A organization like that suddenly appearing in the world had to be investigated; otherwise, they might suffer from a lack of intelligence in the future.

At this moment, the bookstore in the Leaf Village was packed to the brim.

However, since there was still some time before the official release, everyone had to wait a little longer.

Just then, the bookstore doors swung open, and the owner shouted, “Tale of Terra, written by the Terra Apostle Bakal, is now on sale!”

The instant those words were spoken, everyone became excited and rushed to take out their money to buy a copy.

They could hardly wait to see what kind of content would justify such extravagant publicity.

One had to know that in all these years, anyone who tried to ride on the coattails of Hot-Blooded Paradise had ended up utterly ruined.

And now someone actually dared to challenge the ceiling of the entire industry.

Soon, the first batch of people at the front of the line had already bought theirs.

Some, worried about their dignity, chose to read it somewhere out of sight, but others felt no restraint at all and began flipping through it on the spot.

When they saw the early chapters, they all began cursing.

“What kind of bastard wrote this book? It’s nothing like the ads. This is fraud!”

But halfway through their complaints, they suddenly discovered the later contents of the book, and all their expressions changed in an instant.

“Wait, this is all stuff I’ve never seen before. My god, this is way too intense. You can even do it like this...”

Hearing these words from the early readers, how could the others still doubt the publicity?

Thus the entire queue erupted into excitement, and the news spread in an instant.

Watching this scene, Uchiha Riku could not help but smile.

He knew his marketing strategy had succeeded completely.

Although the people who came to buy it were mostly not there for Terra and the Apostle’s story itself, but for the later steamy material, that did not matter.

Terra’s name had been made, and the number of people buying the book would only keep growing.

Then the funding problem that had troubled him would no longer be a concern, and a steady stream of money would pave the way for his genetic research.

Thinking of this, Uchiha Riku decided not to linger any longer.

He now wished he could finish memorizing all the study materials at once and start experimenting immediately.

Quickening his pace, he returned home. Seeing Yao in the living room, he said with delight, “You’re back? Why did it take so long this time?”

Uchiha Yao was resting on the sofa. When she saw Riku, she smiled and said, “There were some unexpected complications, so it delayed us a bit.”

Hearing this, Uchiha Riku grew tense. “Are you all right? Were you injured?”

With Fugaku leading the team, they had still run into trouble. How could he not worry?

“It’s not what you’re thinking. Our team is fine,” Uchiha Yao explained calmly. “It’s just that the ninja world has been rather unsettled lately, so selling off the properties took some time.”

“Unsettled?”

Uchiha Riku blinked, feeling rather baffled.

At this point in time, there should not have been any plot events, and the Akatsuki was still in its early stage of development. How could things be unsettled?

Yao gave a quiet explanation. “I heard there’s a rogue bounty ninja causing trouble, extremely powerful, attacking merchant caravans everywhere.”

After a pause, she continued, “Oh, and wasn’t it just a few days ago that Danzo fled with a team? His group was attacked too.”

“Danzo’s force suffered heavy losses, and even Danzo himself had a root severed. In the future, I’m afraid...”

“What?!” Uchiha Riku did not react for a moment and froze in place.

Yao stroked her hair, her face half-hidden behind her hand as she spoke in a puzzled tone. “What is it, Riku? That fellow Danzo was assassinated. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

Uchiha Riku came back to himself and shook his head. “Of course I’m happy. I’m just... a little surprised.”

Hearing that, Yao turned fully toward him again, her smile gentle and refined. “All right, stop thinking about such things. You haven’t had any medicinal broth for several days, have you? I’ve already prepared some. I’ll feed you.”

Riku pressed his lips together. For some reason, he felt the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped quite a bit.

Was it an illusion? Why...