There were quite a few secret medicines in the Ninja World. Some could even make a ninja improve by leaps and bounds at the cost of damaging their physical foundation.
Take Uchiha Sasuke, for example. After seeking out Orochimaru, he took many Forbidden Drugs that harmed his body. Many Ninja Clans had similar drugs, but the most potent were probably the Three-Color Secret Medicine of the Akimichi Clan.
To increase their strength, ninjas came up with all kinds of methods, and secret medicines were one of them.
Compared with Health Supplements, secret medicines were much simpler. They were nothing more than things that restored stamina and maintained the body, so Ikemoto readily agreed.
However, he was a ninja and clearly had not thought about what Uchiha Yoichi wanted the medicines for. He only knew that the task was not difficult for him, and that Uchiha Yoichi's payment was extremely generous—worth three S-rank missions.
Jonin Ikemoto had originally planned to do only a little research, but Uchiha Yoichi valued him so highly and offered such a generous reward that he had no choice but to take it seriously. He had to live up to his employer's trust.
The next day.
Uchiha Yoichi went to see Elder Kenji again, explained the situation, and planned to sell the medicines confiscated from the Shimura clan.
The Shimura clan had originally planned to sell the medicines to Konoha. It was unclear whether Danzo and Utatane Koharu had arranged it beforehand, but this was what the Security Force had managed to uncover during their interrogation.
But Konoha could no longer receive them. Medicines were considered scarce goods in the Ninja World, and they were easy to sell anywhere.
Medicines worth tens of millions of ryo might even earn more money if sold elsewhere.
Uchiha Kenji nodded and told Uchiha Yoichi that he would send people to handle it.
Uchiha Kenji then asked if Uchiha Yoichi wanted to take a look at a warehouse depot belonging to the Shimura clan that they had recently discovered. The clan was planning to relocate it. Although the goods inside were not as valuable as those confiscated in Konoha, they were still worth quite a lot, so he wanted to know whether Uchiha Yoichi was interested.
Uchiha Yoichi naturally agreed at once. If one asked who in Konoha bore the greatest grudge against Danzo, it was definitely him.
The man had grown accustomed to throwing his weight around in the village, and now he had gone so far as to bully the Uchiha Clan.
Although the Shimura clan did not have many members, they still had some ninjas operating outside. Therefore, Uchiha Kenji planned to send two squads over and teach Danzo another lesson.
Most of the money the Shimura clan earned from its businesses went toward funding Danzo. After all, the Third Hokage could not possibly provide Root with a large amount of funding while leaving his own Anbu without support.
If Danzo wanted to develop Root, he had to pay for it himself. Uchiha Kenji clearly would not give him that chance!
" Hiruzen!"
The door to the Hokage's Office was violently shoved open with a bang. The people inside frowned and looked toward the entrance, only to see Danzo walk in with a gloomy expression.
Behind Danzo were the other two advisors, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed inwardly, then said to Minato Namikaze beside him, "Minato, you can leave for now."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
Minato Namikaze had already received his mission, and the matter that followed was not something he could take part in. He therefore left the Hokage's Office directly.
Only after he was gone did Hiruzen Sarutobi light his pipe and ask unhappily, "Danzo, what is it this time?"
"It's not about me. It's the Uchiha Clan. They're all planning to rebel now!"
Danzo's expression was extremely ugly. He gripped his cane and struck it hard against the floor twice before nearly shouting at Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Another one of the Shimura clan's businesses outside the village has been wiped out. They even killed seven ninjas from my clan!"
"Something like that happened?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi truly had not known. The Anbu had fewer than a hundred members in total. Half of them were needed just to gather intelligence from the Ninja World, leaving far too few to monitor every Ninja Clan in the village.
"Was it the Uchiha Clan?"
Danzo said with a gloomy expression, "Who else could it be? This is the Land of Fire. Could it possibly have been the Cloud Ninja? Hiruzen, this is already the second time!"
"Who told you to use that kind of method? It was utterly foolish. Sakumo is extremely displeased with you now—you nearly got his son killed!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression was just as ugly as he rebuked Danzo. He had trusted Danzo and given him authority, yet Danzo had gone and done something so foolish.
Reveal the information to another ninja village? If he had not forbidden the news from spreading, then once it circulated through the village, what would Konoha's ninjas think of them?
"As for a single Uchiha—"
Danzo had originally wanted to say that any method was acceptable when dealing with the Uchiha, since they were unstable elements. But when he saw that Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression was also unpleasant, he swallowed the rest of the sentence.
"Now is not the time to discuss that. Hiruzen, if you can't make the Uchiha stop, then I'll have no choice but to mobilize Root!"
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his hand on the table in anger and shouted, "Danzo, are you trying to start a civil conflict in the village?"
Danzo did not back down. "Even if it becomes a civil conflict, the Uchiha started it first. Hiruzen, don't forget that the Shimura clan has already lost forty-six people!"
In truth, Danzo did not want Root to fight the Uchiha either. The Uchiha were too powerful now. The Security Force alone had several hundred members. Although they were not all extremists, they were still far beyond what Danzo's Root could match.
In terms of both numbers and individual strength, Root was inferior to the Uchiha. If a battle broke out, the fruits of his decades of effort would be destroyed.
After hearing Danzo's words, Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent as well. By that count, the Shimura clan had indeed suffered heavy losses, even though what Danzo had done was incredibly foolish.
After the two fell silent, Utatane Koharu spoke up from the side. "Hiruzen, the medicines the Shimura clan bought last time were meant to be sold to the village as wartime supplies. The Security Force confiscated them long ago. When will they return them to the village?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked helpless after hearing this. He shook his head and said, "Koharu, forget about that. The Security Force has probably already sold those medicines. We'll have to purchase them again."
Hiruzen Sarutobi had almost said that it was fortunate they had not paid for them, but seeing Danzo beside him, he changed his wording.
The loss belonged to the Shimura clan, not the village, so Hiruzen Sarutobi did not feel too distressed. Besides, the Shimura clan had already made plenty of money in the village. This loss was not enough to cripple them.
"I'll go speak with Fugaku and have him put a stop to this. Danzo, behave yourself for a while too. Root is not to operate in the Land of Fire for the time being. Go investigate Kumogakure instead."
"Koharu, buy the medicines again. En, you go to the Daimyo's Mansion. It would be best if you discussed that matter with the Daimyo in person."
"That matter? Hiruzen, do you mean the Yunhe Iron Mine in the Land of Rivers?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe before slowly saying, "Yes. The Daimyo failed to reach an agreement with the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers, so he wants us to resolve the matter. I plan to send Sakumo there."
Hatake Sakumo?
He already has such a high reputation. If he succeeds in this matter, won't he surpass even me, the Hokage's Assistant? And last time, Hatake Sakumo even acted together with the Uchiha...
Danzo thought to himself, his eyes icy cold.
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