Looking down at the Uchiha clan and trying to learn their jutsu wasn't as easy as I had hoped it would be. All I could do was see what they did, see the hand seals and how the chakra moved through their bodies.
Being unable to try it myself meant I had no idea if I was doing it right. I couldn't train, couldn't get a feeling of it, all I could do was commit everything to memory. Thankfully, it wasn't too hard; the huge amount of yin chakra I had vastly improved my memory over what a normal human might have.
Still, it was something to keep me busy, watching them invent their weapons of war, the tools of the ninja trade, even if there was no such thing as a ninja yet.
It was an interesting experience, watching the ninja world of Naruto, without either ninjas or Naruto around.
I would get to see the birth of the whole ninja part of this world. Which I was greatly looking forward to.
The world was just so very different from what it would be in the future. The very fact that ninjas weren't a thing was just… odd. Yet it made sense, ninjas were, in the end, just mercenaries, and there wasn't yet a real need for that.
One thing that was making me really curious was how the great clans went from being rulers of land to working and dying for rulers of land.
It had never made much sense that normal, powerless people were in charge while beings such as Madara walked around with the power to level mountains.
Why didn't they rule the world? Why work for others?
Right now, the Uchiha clan is the greatest and biggest one. They ruled vast lands, and they weren't doing too badly a job. So what would go wrong? I didn't know, but I would find out soon enough.
Until then, all I could do was keep an eye out for anything interesting or useful, try to see if I could spot Zetsu or Isshiki.
And so, I continued to watch the world move along, my legacy all but forgotten, the legend of the rabbit goddess slowly being lost to time. Only the glory of Hagoromo remaining due to his children, the Uchiha and Senju clans spreading it.
The Hagoromo clan wasn't far behind, taking even his name as their own, using it to legitimise their rule—not that they really needed it. Being able to use chakra was still seen as a noble trait.
Those skilled in it didn't just have the ability to do things normal people could never hope to do, but they also gathered respect, bordering on worship, from the unwashed masses.
It really was hard to not see the people of this time as lesser beings. Their behavior was just so… primitive. The great clans were better, with the Hyūga Clan being the best overall. They liked to keep clean, washed themselves, and their clothes a lot.
They liked to keep to themselves, not dealing with the people of their lands unless they had to. And honestly, I couldn't blame them.
Without running water, it wasn't easy to wash up, so I couldn't really blame the dirty masses either, but I was glad I couldn't smell anything.
Still, the Hyūga Clan had a problem. They were weak. The Hyūga Clan had never been shown to be very strong, and at this point in time, they really weren't.
For a clan with my blood, they really hadn't been blessed. My own Byakugan was powerful; at my peak, before the sealing, I could crush buildings and reduce my enemies to a pool of blood just with my eyes and Chakra.
The Hyūga Clan, however, couldn't do any of that; while their eyes were far purer now than they would have been during the time of Naruto's life, they were still unable to truly use them.
They just didn't have enough chakra.
While my sons had passed down other things to their own children, my Byakugan no doubt had great potential, but it also had the biggest requirement for its use. Normally, it would do little but allow one to be nearly all-seeing.
And the Hyūga Clan indeed had that; they could see far and wide, and none could hide from them. A dozen miles out, they could see everything clearly; none could sneak up on them. Yet that mattered little as they had nothing else.
This was long before they would make the Gentle Fist style, so they really had no real way of using their eyes.
None truly knew this yet; everyone still remembered the way Hamura ended the fighting; they remembered his power, and they feared it.
The problem was that the current Hyūga Clan had none of their forefather's strength, they lived on his reputation at all. That wasn't to say that many could beat them, they had more chakra then most, and that did allow them to be faster and stronger, but without many powerful jutsu, they had very little in the ways of using that chakra.
The Byakugan was more then an eye that could see far, it was so much more. It allowed one to manifest Chakra, to amplify it. with the Byakugan I had been able to use things like the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack.
An attack that had torn apart the full and final stage Susano like wet paper. The attack was just using pure Chakra, yet without the Byakugan for support such an attack would have cost tens of times the Chakra.
So, the Byakugan was strong, but only if used right, and the current Hyūga Clan didn't have a way of using it. And they wouldn't until they came up with the Gentle Fist.
I couldn't help but worry that something might happen, and I knew something would. There was currently no such thing as a main and branch family, so something was bound to change in a major way.
Still, for now, they were fine; as long as they didn't get in a fight with any of the other major clans, nothing could really harm them, at least not until more clans came about. For this was the age of blood clans, and none but those mattered.
…
…
…
Seasons came and went, and the world continued on, nothing major happened, just more of the same. The tailed beasts all continued to grow larger, the great clans continued to grow in wealth and power.
The Uchiha continued to be at the forefront of making jutsu with their hand signs. One of the newest things was the establishment of lesser clans.
At this point in time, things were pretty simple. There were the clans and the rest of the people. There were the elites and the poor fools working for them. So naturally, those people wanted to reach the same level as the clans.
I had expected the first other clan to be the Yuki clan, given that I had seen someone gain a cold attribute chakra. Yet that wasn't the case; the first people to call themselves a clan were a small village living near Kokuō, the five-tailed beast.
I hadn't paid much attention to things, not until I noticed something was off at the Uchiha clan.
Within the main house, or rather the main palace of the Uchiha clan, there were some rather curious guests. Sitting in the main hall, the current head of the Uchiha, a person with the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, talked with three people who all had one common trait.
Laying next to them were wolves, not just normal wolves, but some with chakra. It was almost painful to see my chakra within animals of all things.
It didn't take much to figure out that what I was seeing was the birth of the Inuzuka Clan. No doubt there to seek some kind of approval and recognition from the mighty Uchiha Clan.
I was surprised that the dog lovers were the first clan to rise without a bloodline inherited from me. Yet I could understand how it came to pass.
Other Clans needed time, time for their chakra to take on attributes and for them to make entirely elements. The age of ninjutsu hadn't yet come, and the primitive jutsus made by the great clans were a far cry from what they would be in the future.
So, those clans were still a bit out, and the Inuzuka Clan was simple in its nature. It was just people living with canine companions, something humans had been doing for a long time.
What was different here was my son's Ninshū. The ability to use Chakra to facilitate communication and understanding. Here used between animal and human, rather than between humans.
Unable to hear what they were saying, I had to rely on reading their lips and expressions, and guessing a bit. But, while not perfect, it was still enough to give me an idea of what was going on.
Apparently, the village had conceived the idea of becoming a clan due to its way of life with pets or companions. They were a pack, and they weren't far from a clan; at least, that was their idea.
They had then gotten the approval of one of the great beasts, which I assumed to be Kokuō, and now sought the Uchiha's approval as well to become a true clan.
It was no doubt a historical moment, and I was glad I managed to catch it. it wasn't every day I managed to see something this big. Most days were boring, with little interesting happening.
It also seemed that the first clan head of the Inuzuka clan hadn't come empty-handed; he seemed to be bringing a little something to sweeten the deal.
If my interpretation wasn't too far off, what they were bringing was the secrets of using Chakra to communicate with animals, which was likely the precursor to the summoning jutsu. I was aware that the Uchiha had multiple contracts, so it made sense that they got in on the market early.
Something to keep an eye on anyway.
The meeting continued for a few days, with many Uchiha meetings behind closed doors. They might have had a rather unflattering end, but the current clan wasn't foolish. They understood very well the weight of the decision before them.
Currently, all clans could draw their bloodlines directly back to me. Though most people knew nothing about that and just focused on my sons alone, ignoring the fact that they had to come from somewhere.
If the Uchiha granted someone else, someone without those blood ties, the recognition as a clan, that could cause long-lasting ramifications. So, they took their time to carefully consider everything before making a decision.
Eventually, the decision came. The Inuzuka clan, with their unique bond to their wolves and their newly developed techniques, was granted recognition by the Uchiha. It was a momentous occasion, a moment that marked the beginning of the era where clans could rise without direct descent from my blood.
And much as I had expected, others took notice of it. The Inuzuka weren't living close to the Uchiha's base of power, but now worked as an extension of it. Being an ally, they were a significant new development.
It wasn't just other groups of people with ambition to become a clan that were watching; other clans too, saw this as something worth paying attention to. The great clans were already the elite of the elite, rulers of vast lands, yet with this, the Uchiha well and truly became superior to another clan.
Since they had now promoted someone else to the status of clan, that meant that they had raised their own status to above that, becoming truly a great clan among clans.
If I wasn't wrong, what I saw seeing now was the stones being laid for the next great conflict among clans.
(End of chapter)
Yeah, the Inuzuka clan is born, guess you all didn't see that happening. But really, it felt right. As Kaguya said herself, their clan is simple, just living with canines, and getting close to them. nothing else but a bit of chakra thrown in.
This is still the early stage of things. Clans slowly find their identity, their strengths and weaknesses, and their growth. Some, like the Uchiha, are powerful; their blood is still strong, making them strong.
Others like the Hyūga Clan is struggling, their blood gift weak in combat, and therefor they need more than just that, which will become the Gentle Fist.