The Konoha No-Holds-Barred Fighting Tournament is About to Begin!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The giant shuriken arrived with high-speed rotation, suddenly ejecting a massive quantity of smaller shuriken from within, blanketing the area below where White Dove stood.

Thud, thud, thud!

The sound of shuriken, dense as raindrops, pierced through the sturdy wooden floorboards.

Had any flesh and blood stood there without dodging, they surely would have been riddled with holes like a sieve.

Yet White Dove remained rooted to the spot, merely waving his arm slightly, using a kunai to deflect the few shuriken that might have struck him.

Once the smaller shuriken had finished raining down, the area around White Dove was covered in them, yet the exact spot where he stood remained perfectly clean; not a single shuriken had touched it.

This is what you call strength!

"...How is this possible!"

The two remaining Kazama ninja guarding the noble Yaya could not help but exclaim.

They found it impossible to believe that an attack launched with such exquisite technique by their clan leader had been neutralized, and in a manner that so thoroughly challenged their worldview.

"The resistance of ants is always so feeble!"

White Dove sighed softly.

Flash Step!

His entire figure vanished from the spot, reappearing before the two Kazama ninja and slicing their throats with his kunai.

Thump! Thump!

Two corpses hit the ground.

For someone with his level of focus, even without activating the Mangekyo, their movements appeared as if in slow motion; they posed no threat to him whatsoever.

And this was precisely why, once the Uchiha Sharingan was activated, he loved to dance upon the edge of a blade.

Because while it might seem like a mere hair's breadth of difference, in reality, it was a chasm of heaven and earth.

Facing the figure standing mere inches away, wearing a moon mask and shrouded in a pitch-black cloak, Yaya could no longer maintain his noble composure. Scrambling backward on his hands and knees, he shrieked:

"You... you, how dare you! I am the noble Yaya! Someone come, quickly, hurry!!"

Watching this utterly pathetic creature before him, White Dove felt no surprise. As a transmigrator, he understood that true power always stems from "violence."

That was why he had always promoted the theory of ninja supremacy.

"You don't actually expect them to save you, do you?"

White Dove casually tossed out several senbon, finishing off the remaining samurai and servants. He kept his gaze fixed on the man sprawled on the ground, even as a flicker of surprise appeared on the man's face.

Whoosh!

A streak of scorching flame, like a spear, pierced through a translucent figure at his side.

"With such an obvious opening, did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

White Dove turned his head, staring with calm, ripple-less eyes at the man he had just dispatched with a Flame Spear, his tone laced with mockery.

Do not be fooled by his seemingly arrogant exterior; in reality, he had already secretly activated his Mangekyo to the three-tomoe state to ensure he wouldn't capsize in the gutter, which was how he had sensed the light distorting at his side.

Camouflage!

The opponent's killing blow was actually a disguise.

Had he allowed the man to get any closer, it wouldn't have been strange for him to be successfully ambushed.

One could only say that the ninja world was vast and contained all sorts of things; there were certainly no shortage of such "specialist" rogue ninja.

Using tools to achieve something akin to "Transparent Escape"—one had to give them credit for being a specialist.

Of course, this didn't mean rogue ninja were stronger than those from hidden villages; it was simply that they lacked access to proper ninjutsu training, so they were forced to develop their own unique tricks.

After finishing the opponent, White Dove had no intention of "looting the corpse."

In the ninja world, ninja had many ways to booby-trap their own remains. If one were to touch them carelessly, it was easy to get dragged down with them; there were plenty of such cautionary tales.

If the target possessed a bloodline limit, White Dove might have gone to collect the body, but for someone like this... he truly had no interest.

After carefully observing to ensure everyone had been dealt with by his kunai, senbon, and fire-style techniques, he walked slowly out of the hall and leaped to the very top of the castle, overlooking Golden Deer Town, which was lit only by sporadic lamps.

As for the people in other parts of the castle, they would naturally be handled by Tekka, Inabi, and Izumi.

One could only say that the lives of ordinary people were truly fragile in the face of ninja.

Therefore, the thing White Dove understood the least was... why did the villagers of Konoha dare to stare down the Uchiha every single day, treating them like targets for their daily grievances?

Wait!

The Uchiha were, in a sense, the "targets"... so that was fine then.

However, White Dove would not swallow this insult. Once his ordinary temporary workers were in place, he would make those unruly Konoha commoners understand the true meaning of the "Konoha No-Holds-Barred Fighting Tournament."

Ninja enforcing the law with violence would surely face pressure, but if it were ordinary people doing it, surely no one could accuse a ninja of bullying the common folk, right?

Not long after, three figures arrived behind him.

"Move!"

White Dove took the lead, departing with the Body Flicker Technique.

A self-igniting trap had been set at the castle; it would trigger tomorrow after they left the town, burning away all clues and evidence to leave behind the impression of a "raid."

Upon returning to the inn, they slipped back into the group without a sound, and Kakashi's genjutsu was simultaneously dispelled.

In this way, the other party became a "witness," proving they had been with the group the entire time and had absolutely nothing to do with the events in Golden Deer Town.

This was the correct way to utilize Kakashi.

With him around, he could often serve as their alibi.

As for being suspected later?

Sorry, by that time his wings would have already hardened, and he would have no fear of suspicion.

The night passed without incident!

At the crack of dawn, the merchant caravan had already departed.

No one knew that the ruler of Golden Deer Town had already become a corpse.

Even if the man were dead, a new oppressor would simply take over the town, and the lives of the commoners would remain unchanged.

By noon, a paper bomb rigged with a pre-set mechanism inside the castle suddenly ignited.

BOOM!!

Amidst a sky-high explosion of flames, the entire castle was swallowed by fire.

Meanwhile, the merchant caravan was already far away from Golden Deer Town.

In a place like the ninja world, it was clearly impossible for anyone to find out who had done it.

Furthermore, the caravan had stowed its flags upon approaching the town, and they had not used their real identities when checking into the inn, so there was naturally no fear of information being exposed through those channels.

At the same time, for a piece of fat meat like Golden Deer Town, with the ruling noble dead, others would be too busy carving up the spoils to bother investigating the truth.

Back in the caravan, White Dove finally had the leisure to count the loot with Izumi.

Inside a container carriage specifically cleared for this purpose, several sealing scrolls were spread out before them, and White Dove formed hand seals and whispered.

"Release!"

He then pressed both hands onto the scrolls.

Poof, poof!

White smoke billowed continuously throughout the carriage.

"Wow!"

A sea of gold and silver first met their eyes, causing Izumi to gasp in amazement.

Gold Ban and Silver Ban were piled into small mountains, alongside wooden barrels, medicine boxes, and finally, a stack of high-denomination banknotes.

"Tsk tsk, he really was a 'fat pig'!"

White Dove sighed in admiration.

A single glance told him the banknotes alone totaled over several hundred million, and that wasn't even the bulk of it.

The Gold Ban and Silver Ban!

These were the real treasures. If calculated by market value, it was at least over a billion ryo to start, and since these were hard currency, they were universally accepted throughout the ninja world.

However, the more money there was, the greater the trouble that would follow.

It wouldn't be strange if the Daimyo and the nobility spent money to hire ninjas for an investigation; even if not for revenge, they would be willing to expend great effort just to recover this wealth.

He had been reckless!

White Dove had never "looted" these nobles before and didn't know they were this wealthy; it was a lack of experience that had made his methods so ruthless.

But for this haul, the risk was worth taking.

Fortunately, he had used the name of the Night organization to take the fall, rather than doing it himself; otherwise, he would have to start considering a rebellion with his clansmen right now.

With Night as a scapegoat, even if he happened to be in Golden Deer Town, he could easily deflect the blame.

In any case, he was the head of the New Uchiha and the Police Force Captain; he wasn't some minor character who could be investigated at will. If they wanted to cause trouble based on mere suspicion, he would naturally see it through to the end.

"Now we have money!"

Izumi murmured to herself.

She knew what this money represented.

When she first awakened her Three-Tomoe Sharingan, if White Dove hadn't poured massive resources into her, her body would have broken down long ago, which was why she was somewhat sensitive about money now.

"No, this money doesn't count for much!"

White Dove crouched before the wooden barrels and medicine boxes, sniffing the nearly imperceptible scent, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face.

"These Gold Deer Blood and Gold Deer Antler are worth even more?"

Izumi asked curiously.

"No, the price might not be considered too high, but for a ninja, even spending more money wouldn't be enough to get their hands on such high-quality goods!"

White Dove explained casually.

As a ninja who had been grinding away at knowledge of biology, botany, and medicine since childhood, he naturally understood the value of this batch of resources.

To put it bluntly, with these resources, he could not only improve his own physical foundation but also use them to cultivate ninjas for his clan.

"That's wonderful!"

Izumi cheered excitedly.

After White Dove finished tallying the haul, he didn't waste much time, instead preparing for the upcoming plan to "open up" the trade route.

No, rather than calling it opening up, it would be more accurate to call it "clearing it through slaughter."

He would directly resolve those obstacles once and for all, making the other side understand that the One Heart Chamber of Commerce was not to be trifled with.

Yet, what he did not know was that just as he was traveling, two factions were rapidly rushing toward the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire.