Collecting Rent Again

After examining the map, Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "The Land of Earth has expanded again. This time, in addition to seizing our territory, the Iwagakure has also annexed the Land of Bears."

Even at our peak, we didn't expand outwards as relentlessly as Iwagakure.

"This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The Land of Water, which previously focused on protecting its territory and maintaining its position among the Five Great Nations, should now see through the ambitions of the Iwa ninja."

"The honeymoon period between the Land of Earth and Land of Water is almost over; we can try to make contact with the Mist ninja."

Tsunade hesitated, after all, the two sides had just fought a major battle.

Hiruzen Sarutobi chuckled and said, "There is no eternal hatred between nations. Iwagakure is at its zenith, displaying unparalleled strength."

"I believe Kirigakure) also has this idea."

"Of course, the Mist ninja has just experienced a major battle, and the losses from the previous battles have not yet been recovered, nor have they had time to digest the gains they previously won."

"They won't be too enthusiastic towards us right now. They still need the Iwa ninja to help them consolidate their gains. But in time, the Mist ninja will understand what to do."

Tsunade nodded.

Hiruzen Sarutobi continued his analysis, "The Tsuchikage is very powerful. Even before the war was over, he was already planning the post-war Ninja World situation."

"The Tsuchikage should know the situation the Iwa ninja will face next, and also guess that he and the Mist ninja may become adversaries."

"So the Tsuchikage did two things: first, he forcefully helped the Land of Water cut into our Land of Fire, thereby deepening the hatred between us."

"At the same time, let the Mist ninja see the wealth of the Land of Fire. Once they've landed, it won't be easy to get them back down. They'll become increasingly eager to get more land from the Land of Fire."

"Secondly, we will suppress the Sunagakure with all our might. The Tsuchikage will not give the Sunagakure another chance to rise. This can be seen from the peace treaty Land of Wind and Earth and Tsuchikage."

"The conditions imposed by the Land of Earth on the Land of Wind can be described as extremely harsh. The Tsuchikage has suppressed the Land of Wind in every aspect."

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this suppression will continue, and the Sunagakure will only become weaker in the future."

"In contrast, the peace treaty between the Tsuchikage and the Cloud ninja was merely a lukewarm compensation. The Tsuchikage's post-war policies toward these two villages can be inferred from this."

"However, this is good news for us. The Tsuchikage has finally shifted his focus of suppression from us to the Sunagakure Village. We must seize this opportunity to completely resolve the Uchiha problem."

Tsunade stiffened; she sensed a resolute will in Hiruzen Sarutobi's calm tone.

Danzo, who hadn't spoken until now, glanced at his best friend with some surprise. "I've always been the one to take the blame for these things. Hiruzen, don't you need me anymore?"

Taking a deep breath, Tsunade said, "I understand."

After a pause, Tsunade continued, "After you left this time, the Uchiha Clan did indeed cause trouble again. Izumi Uchiha attacked Shisui."

Danzo's brow furrowed, and he immediately listened attentively; he was still quite interested in Shisui Uchiha.

Tsunade said, "Shisui said that Izumi Uchiha's Dōjutsu absorbs eye power. In the very short time he and Izumi Uchiha eyes, the eye power in his eyes was severely depleted."

Danzo's face darkened, thinking, "Those are my eyes! Damn it, Shisui Uchiha is truly useless; he can't even protect the eyes I've stored in him."

"It seems I can't wait any longer; I must get my eyes back as soon as possible."

Various plans flashed through Danzo's mind in an instant, but in the end everything became calm, and his face remained expressionless.

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned and said, "Does Shisui still have the confidence to control Fugaku Uchiha?"

Tsunade said, "Shisui said he needs to rest for a while, and he should be fine after that."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded and said, "Then we'll wait a little longer, but preparations can begin. We need the explicit support of the various clans."

"The Uchiha with Izanagi are too difficult to deal with; the Anbu and Root are not enough. We need the secret techniques of the major clans."

"Besides..."

This time, Hiruzen Sarutobi completely abandoned all pretense of shame and directly revealed his pre-planned strategy for dealing with the Uchiha.

The meeting has adjourned.

However, before the High-Level Meeting ended, Utatane Koharu suddenly announced her resignation as advisor. She had no choice; as a high-ranking official who signed the most humiliating treaty in Konoha's history, she had to bear the responsibility.

Not only does she have to bear the responsibility, but Hokage's position Tsunade is also shaken as a result.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's main purpose in attending this meeting was to suppress Danzo and prevent him from Danzo.

Fortunately, Danzo is currently focused on how to retrieve the Mangekyō Sharingan and hasn't made things too difficult for Tsunade.

However, Tsunade's prestige in the village is definitely not what it used to be.

In a corner of Konoha, at the Uchiha Clan's gathering place, Fugaku Uchiha asked Izumi Uchiha, who was training in front of him, "Have you fully integrated the eye power you absorbed from Shisui?"

"Yes, clan leader," Izumi Uchiha replied.

Fugaku Uchiha looked at Izumi Uchiha, whose eyes seemed even brighter.

After hesitating for a moment, Fugaku Uchiha still didn't get any information about the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

Even if Izumi Uchiha could evolve her eyes by absorbing ocular power, that amount of ocular power would definitely be far from enough.

"Have you tried Genjutsu? Has your eye power increased? Has the strength of your Genjutsu improved?" Fugaku Uchiha continued to ask.

Izumi Uchiha said, "I've tried it. Even with the same Three Tomoe, after absorbing Shisui's eye power, both my perception and my ability to amplify Genjutsu improved somewhat, but not significantly."

Nodding, Fugaku Uchiha said, "Quan Luo, you need to increase your training intensity from now on. Your strength is too weak."

"Shisui was careless last time, but I won't give you that chance next time. With Shisui's strength, if we fought seriously, you might be killed before you even used the Mangekyō Sharingan."

"Furthermore, starting today, you will receive two additional training sessions. The first is basic training, where you must keep up with all aspects of fundamental training. The second is combat training, where I will arrange for clan ninjas to spar with you every day."

"To defeat Shisui, you can't just rely on sneak attacks; you must improve yourself in every aspect."

Izumi Uchiha; she understood this perfectly well. Her only regret was that her sneak attack last time hadn't managed to blind Shisui Uchiha outright.

As a novice who had never been on the battlefield, she naturally couldn't understand how terrifying ninjas who had experienced the baptism of war could be.

Izumi Uchiha was unaware of was that Fugaku Uchiha's expectations of him had changed. Previously Fugaku Uchiha had only hoped that Quan Luo could become a Kage-level experts.

But now, having truly witnessed Quan Luo's ability to absorb ocular power, Fugaku Uchiha hopes that Quan Luo can surpass him and achieve the Eternal Mangekyo Mangekyō Sharingan.

A future strongest member of the Uchiha Clan cannot have any weaknesses.

After the peace treaty with Konoha was signed, and some time passed, Yichen's injuries were fully healed.

So, Yichen arrived once again above Obito Uchiha's base in the Land of Earth and shouted down, "Xian'er, an old friend has come to visit."

Then, many children in the underground space quickly disappeared from Yichen's perception.

Then Obito Uchiha emerged from underground. His face was grim as he looked up at Yichen and said, "Tsuchikage, what are you doing here again?"

Yichen stared at Obito Uchiha in shock, as if he had never expected Obito Uchiha to say such a thing.

Obito Uchiha, feeling increasingly irritated by Yichen's gaze, snapped, "Is the Lord Tsuchikage here to make fun of me?"

Yichen suppressed his shock and said, "Xian'er, I'm here to collect the rent. It's been a month, and you should pay it."

Obito Uchiha. "Damn it! He actually comes to collect a report every month!"

Obito Uchiha wanted to turn on them, but considering the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's difficulty in moving, he gave up.

He was unwilling to hand over the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to the Iwa ninja; what if Yichen really did discover something? In Obito Uchiha's eyes, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path like Black Zetsu's body in Yichen's eyes—both held secrets to the Sage level.

However, Obito Uchiha was even more unwilling to let him use the Summoning Jutsu to transfer the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path again, because there really wasn't a single drop left.

After calming himself Obito Uchiha Yichen said, "What do you want this time?"

Yichen said, "It's still Madara Uchiha's experience. Just give me whatever you think is best; I'm not picky."

Obito Uchiha took out a scroll and tossed it to Yichen. After examining it, Yichen said, "Not enough, give me another one."

Obito Uchiha frowned and said, "Tsuchikage, don't push your luck."

Yichen laughed and said, "Xian'er, we already agreed on the price for your rented house in my Land of Earth, so there's no problem. I'm an honest and trustworthy person."

"But you added guests without my permission. Do you think there's anything wrong with me raising the price?"

Obito Uchiha speechless.

Yichen urged, "Stop talking nonsense, double the rent, pay up."

Obito Uchiha closed his eyes, which were visible outside his mask, took a deep breath, and said, "Okay."

After saying that, he threw out another scroll.

Yichen inspected it and accepted it again.

Seeing this, Obito Uchiha turned to leave, not wanting to say another word to Yichen.

Yichen said, "Don't go, Xian'er."

Obito Uchiha roared, "Don't call me Xian'er!"

Yichen laughed and said, "Hmm? Are you angry? Calling you Xian'er sounds more affectionate. What else should I call you? Madara Uchiha? Or Obito Uchiha? Tell me how I should address you, I have no objection, I'm easy to talk to."

Obito Uchiha activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and stared at Yichen high in the sky, slowly saying, "What else is there? Speak quickly."

Yichen avoided Obito Uchiha and said, "Let's talk about how you joined our Iwagakure."

"If you were coming to visit, you should have at least given me a heads-up so I could have welcomed you in the village. You had to come when I wasn't there, so I didn't get a chance to properly entertain you."

Obito Uchiha:...

"What do you want?" Obito Uchiha and spat out these words.

He had nothing to say about this. He had indeed harbored ill intentions, wanting to go to Iwagakure to find something useful to him and cause some damage along the way. Having been caught red-handed and being at a disadvantage, he could only accept his fate.

Yichen maintained his smile and said, "It's not about what I want, it's about what you want."

Obito Uchiha threw out three more scrolls.

After accepting the scroll, Yichen nodded in satisfaction. "Since you, Xian'er, are so sincere, then we'll forget about you entering our village."

"Our village also had some things stolen, but seeing how sincere you are, I'll be magnanimous and let it go."

Without saying a word, Obito Uchiha sank into the ground.

Yichen sighed dramatically and said loudly, "Why are you in such a hurry? It's been so long, we haven't had a proper chat yet."

Not getting a response, Yichen wasn't annoyed and happily put the five scrolls away.

After teasing Obito Uchiha and obtaining five pieces of Madara Uchiha, Yichen happily flew back to Iwagakure.

Obito Uchiha returned to the basement and said to Black Zetsu and White Zetsu, "Find me a new base. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path will remain here for now; I need to train my subordinates. I don't want to be disturbed by the Tsuchikage."

Black Zetsu thought for a moment and said, "You're planning to raise children, and these children aren't suited to living underground."

"So even if we have to change our base, it has to be a place where these children can grow up normally."

"The entire Ninja World is controlled by the Five Great Nations; we only have one place to go."

Obito Uchiha asked, "Where?"

"The Land of Iron," Black Zetsu replied. "The Land of Iron is a neutral country. Even the Kage Summit of all time was held there. Go to the Land of Iron, find a relatively remote place, use Genjutsu to control a few samurai, and then find some people to take care of these children. White Zetsu and I don't know how to raise children."

Obito Uchiha and said, "Let's arrange it as soon as possible."