A Gangster Who Doesn't Use His Brain Can Only Be a Fall Guy!

The confident smile on Uchiha Madara's face grew even broader.

At this point, he only felt that Uchiha Makoto's advice was needlessly alarmist.

Advice given in private could be considered a warning, but Uchiha Makoto's public advice could be seen as a provocation to Uchiha Madara's personal authority. Still, Uchiha Madara did not care about that in the slightest.

This was both his trust in Hashirama Senju and his confidence in his own strength. He was the proudest of the Uchiha, and in the vast Ninja World, Hashirama Senju was the only person he respected. As long as Hashirama Senju supported him in establishing a shinobi village in the future, combining their strength would surely allow them to realize the ideal they had sworn to pursue together as children.

But

The mysteries of fate were truly impossible to put into words.

People always harbored unrealistic fantasies about their idealized first love.

Once Konoha was established, Hashirama Senju changed his mind!

Uchiha Madara was still the same Uchiha Madara as before, but Hashirama Senju had become the First Hokage. He firmly believed that protecting the village was equivalent to protecting the people, the shinobi, and the children.

Therefore, in the eyes of the First Hokage, whether it was so-called fatherly affection or brotherly affection, anything that endangered Konoha's future had to be eliminated!

Just as Hashirama Senju had said: "Whether it's my friend, my brother, or even my child, if they dare to oppose the village, I will never let them off!"

"Since Lord Madara has made up his mind and chosen this path, I have nothing more to say."

"I will respect Lord Madara's wishes and no longer seek revenge against the Senju Clan, but I also will not establish a shinobi village together with the Senju Clan. I choose to leave the Uchiha Clan."

Uchiha Makoto was already too lazy to continue arguing with Uchiha Madara about the Senju Clan.

People might not learn from other people, but they would learn from experience.

Once Uchiha Madara felt the sting of betrayal and realized that his clansmen were unwilling to follow him, he would understand just how prescient Makoto's words today had been.

"So that's what you're thinking. I understand."

Uchiha Madara nodded.

He did not say anything more about Uchiha Makoto's thoughts.

The hatred accumulated between the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan over a thousand years was simply impossible to count.

It was not only the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan. The other shinobi clans were the same. During the Warring States Period, there was even an unspoken rule that shinobi traveling outside could never reveal their surnames. Otherwise, they might have the terrible luck of running into a shinobi from an enemy clan.

The fate of such unlucky souls went without saying.

The cost of training a shinobi was not low. As the saying went, "Rather than strengthening yourself, weaken your enemy." Enemy clans were more than happy to seize such an opportunity and make a killing!

"If you want to leave the Uchiha Clan, I can give you some travel money and let you leave the Uchiha."

Uchiha Madara saw how resolute Uchiha Makoto was and did not try to make him stay. He even took the initiative to offer him money to leave the clan.

Wandering the Ninja World alone was an extremely dangerous thing. If he had no money on top of that, he might truly end up in a situation where even a hero was defeated by a lack of cash.

However, on this point,

Uchiha Madara had underestimated Uchiha Makoto—or rather, he had overestimated Uchiha Makoto's moral limits.

Every country had its laws, and every trade had its rules. The Uchiha Clan had been passed down through the Ninja World for a thousand years, and the Uchiha family name had resounded throughout the entire Ninja World. They were a famous and prestigious shinobi clan, so Uchiha Madara himself, and indeed the entire Uchiha Clan, were actually very law-abiding.

When purchasing kunai, shuriken, training medicines, and the supplies needed for the clan's daily consumption, they always paid every penny. They could never bring themselves to force a sale or take advantage of their power to get things for free. The proud Uchiha truly cherished their reputation!

But Uchiha Makoto was different.

This time, he was leaving to start a business. He intended to establish a shinobi village independently, just like Orochimaru.

The Uchiha Clan had long since passed through the period of primitive capital accumulation. Uchiha Makoto was about to experience that arduous, sinful, and bloody period. After all, which major company had risen without getting its hands a little dirty—or even stained with something black?

One particularly bold company had even dared to issue tokens modeled after a real currency, with a one-to-one exchange rate. Although it was later crushed by the authorities, that did not stop it from becoming an internet-industry giant!

All that mattered was successfully laundering its reputation and getting ashore in the end.

Uchiha Makoto did not mind using his own strength to handle a little dirty work.

Of course,

Uchiha Makoto could never be so foolish as to imitate Kakuzu and make money by taking bounty missions. A gangster who did not use his brain could only be a fall guy for the rest of his life. If he wanted to make serious money, he had to do business like Jimmy.

Collusion between officials and merchants, buying low and selling high—those were all standard practices.

In Uchiha Makoto's grand blueprint,

he first had to earn his initial capital, then establish a company and invest in a particular industry. After that, he would use force to create a monopoly and reap enormous monopoly profits. Next, he would open a bank, absorb deposits from the public, and then borrow money from the bank in the company's name to expand the company, earn even more profits, and ultimately feed those profits back into the bank. By repeating the cycle, he could step on his left foot with his right foot and spiral into the heavens!

This approach did carry a little risk. After all, for any company, expanding production could be considered a gamble, and there was no shortage of bosses who lost that gamble.

But Uchiha Makoto had a solution.

If something went wrong along the way and the company suffered a cash-flow crisis, he would immediately liquidate it. He could either sell all those bad debts and assets to suckers, or simply declare bankruptcy, dump the bad debts, and run off with the money!

Although this approach was a little beastly,

it would definitely make money!

In this treacherous Ninja World, a shinobi could spend an entire lifetime suffering the pangs of conscience, but they absolutely could not spend an entire lifetime suffering hardship and poverty. Otherwise, what was the point of being a shinobi?

Those shinobi clans truly refused to think outside the box. A thousand years had passed, and they were still making money by taking missions!

Even Hashirama Senju, who already belonged to the progressive camp, was the same. He had established Konoha, the strongest village in the Ninja World, but all he did was divide missions into appropriate ranks and assign them according to the shinobi's abilities and strength. He had not changed the underlying logic of the shinobi's existence at all—shinobi accepted missions to survive, and sooner or later, they would die somewhere in the Ninja World.

Uchiha Makoto had a far greater ideal.

If he was going to establish a shinobi village, he would make it the biggest one. If he was going to make money, he would make the most money with the least effort!

Uchiha Madara was willing to give him some money to leave the Uchiha Clan, and Uchiha Makoto was happy about that. But he did not like the idea of receiving only a single sum of money.

Whether in the twenty-first century or in a shinobi village, what was the most expensive thing?

Without a doubt!

It was talent!