For Absolute Secrecy

In fact, of this wealth, only the cash was something Uchiha Yu could use.

Gold, though hard currency, was primarily high-value gold used for large transactions between ninja villages, nations, and major clans. Without an equally powerful organization to provide channels, using it would be extremely difficult; he might not even be able to exchange it for money.

The even more valuable mines, docks, urban real estate, plantations, fertile fields, shops, and merchant associations were even harder to deal with.

Leaving aside whether Uchiha Yu could produce enough people to take them over, even if he had professional managers, why would anyone hand over the assets in their possession because of a single piece of paper without sufficient military deterrence?

Good grief, this was forcing me to establish a secret organization.

Ah, no. My perspective was wrong.

This wasn't prepared for me personally, but for the Uchiha clan. As long as I become clan head and take over the Uchiha clan, then join forces with Cat Castle's commercial network, there will be no shortage of manpower or military deterrence. This is a ready-made hen that lays golden eggs.

Impressive. Those old fellows were really impressive. They had long since guarded against a petty man like me.

There were also many things that were useful right now: information on ninjutsu, including complete Fire Style scrolls, complete Lightning Style scrolls, and core casting techniques accumulated over a thousand years.

Although Uchiha Yu had already strayed from the ninja path and embarked upon the independently developing Immortal Path, the guiding philosophy of his Immortal Path was the Taoist School rather than the distorted Onmyoji Doctrine, so it was not nearly so exclusionary.

The Immortal Path originated from shamanism and had always stood on inclusiveness. Thus, Uchiha Yu took the Immortal Path as his foundation and ninjutsu as its application, viewing ninjutsu as techniques for banishing evil and defending the Way.

As for why he chose ninjutsu as techniques for defending the Way, it was because ninjutsu itself was simple and effective, and it possessed a complete system. It was far more reliable than having Uchiha Yu develop Senjutsu from scratch.

Including the Sharingan's Kekkei Genkai, all powers within the ninjutsu system were targets for the Immortal Path to encompass and command.

The advantages of Immortal Path cultivation currently lay in its growth rate, the ability to merge into matter brought by Natural Energy, and the divine abilities nurtured during cultivation.

But as a transmigrator who came with his own worldview, Uchiha Yu's greatest expectation for cultivation was, of course, longevity.

No Yanhuang People could resist that temptation. Just think of all those emperors who howled as they swallowed heavy-metal pills, all in pursuit of eternal life.

Never mind swallowing metal pills—even if the price were greater, he would still have to give it a try. Besides, so far, Uchiha Yu's cultivation process had been—very enjoyable.

After inventorying all the goods, Uchiha Yu began moving them. Most were ordinary supplies, including gold, cash, scrolls, land deeds, and merchant association share certificates. All of these could be handled easily with Storage Scrolls.

But some were Sealing Jutsu items themselves, some came with spatial properties, and some were highly dangerous and could not withstand spatial changes. Those could only be moved laboriously, trip by trip.

When most of the items had been moved away, Uchiha Yu deliberately left behind the final few items for his last trip.

Uchiha Nobutada understood his intention and asked with a smile, "You're going to deal with the traces afterward?"

Uchiha Yu did not hide it. "Yes. My strength isn't powerful enough yet. I can't bear the risk of so much wealth being exposed. Every trace must be erased."

The old man somehow produced a wine bottle. It was very small, only holding perhaps a few mouthfuls. He pried open the cap, and Uchiha Yu immediately smelled a strong aroma of wine, along with a faint scent of bitter almonds.

Poisoned wine.

"Clean up your traces and leave. I'll take care of the final traces myself." Uchiha Nobutada smiled. "Hehe, nothing hides secrets better than a dead person."

Uchiha Yu snatched the bottle away, plugged it, and tossed it into his bag.

Uchiha Nobutada's expression darkened. His right hand slowly reached into his robes, his five fingers spread over his navel. As his Chakra circulated, layer upon layer of black Chakra patterns appeared there. Some terrifying Sealing Jutsu was clearly being activated.

"Child, I think you need to explain yourself. I don't believe I chose some useless fool overflowing with compassion at the very end."

Uchiha Yu smiled and made a gesture with his left hand. A stream of pure Natural Energy surged into the old man's body, instantly combining with part of his Chakra. Under his control, it transformed into Sage Chakra and fundamentally destroyed the Sealing Jutsu's structure.

"Senjutsu..."

"To think Sage Chakra could be created like this. Incredible... Your Senjutsu seems even stronger than the First Hokage's?"

"No. In terms of power, I am still far behind Senju Hashirama. But in terms of control, I am stronger than him."

"It seems I chose a monster in the end. A monster no less formidable than Uchiha Madara. That is truly wonderful."

"But you still need to explain why you stopped me from killing myself."

"Because the times have changed. Death no longer means an ending. Death cannot bury every secret; instead, it can become the source of an intelligence leak."

"What?"

"The Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu." As Uchiha Yu made strange preparations, he explained, "It was a forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. It used temporarily revived dead people in place of inflexible puppets, loading them with huge numbers of Explosive Tags to blow up Susanoo."

"It is an almost unsolvable forbidden technique. Susanoo may be powerful, but it has a hard time dealing with such a shameless mutual-destruction tactic."

"But now, someone has found a new use for this forbidden technique. Flexible puppets have become temporary resurrection, and they can be controlled absolutely to obtain the secrets they held in life."

"So even if you kill yourself now, it does not mean the secret can be buried."

Uchiha Nobutada shook his head helplessly and sighed. "I really am old. Before I knew it, the Ninja World had become something I no longer recognize at all. Yu, what do you intend to do?"

"Human memories are categorized. Any memory is first temporarily stored in the right temporal lobe of the brain's outer layer. Such memories are easily discarded and do not last."

"To form a deep memory, the hippocampus in the depths of the brain must process it, causing sufficient synaptic growth in the corresponding dormant brain cells so it can be stored for a long time, even permanently."

"But long-term memories require repeated stimulation and recollection to form, and that consumes a great deal of time."

"Less than ten hours have passed since you hinted this to me. We still have time to clear away the shallow memories that have not taken root."

"As long as no deep memories form, and you live for a few more years, the relevant information can be completely erased."

Uchiha Yu activated his Sharingan. The three tomoe spun rapidly, radiating intense ocular power. "So, you must live well. The longer you live, the better."

Feeling ocular power far beyond what an ordinary Three-Tomoe Sharingan should possess, Uchiha Nobutada was greatly astonished. "Such powerful ocular power... Could it be that you have already awakened the Mangekyō?"

"No." Uchiha Yu paused before continuing, "Not yet. But I will definitely awaken it someday."

"The Mangekyō Sharingan and the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan—I will have them both."

"Even without brothers, I will definitely awaken them."

Uchiha Nobutada gradually fell asleep. Uchiha Yu did not know the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques, but the memories he needed to erase today were easy to handle. He only needed to scour the old man's cerebral cortex with powerful ocular power and send false new memories into his brain to overwrite the old true ones.

This operation was harmful. The old man's memory would deteriorate. For instance, if he went out shopping, he might immediately forget whether he had locked the door.

But it was still better than suicide, and it was more effective at keeping the secret.