Whoosh, whoosh!
The giant shuriken spun toward them at high speed. A large number of smaller shuriken suddenly shot out from inside it, blanketing the area where White Dove stood below.
Thud, thud, thud!
A dense patter rang out as the shuriken pierced the sturdy wooden boards.
Any ordinary person who failed to dodge would have been riddled with holes.
But White Dove stood perfectly still. He merely flicked his arm, knocking aside with his kunai the few shuriken that might have hit him.
Once the smaller shuriken had flown past, the area around White Dove was covered in shuriken. The only spot left untouched was where he stood—not a single one had landed there.
Now that was what you called strength!
"...How is that possible?!"
The two remaining Kazama shinobi guarding the nobleman, Yaya, couldn't help exclaiming.
They simply couldn't believe their clan leader's exquisitely executed attack had been neutralized just like that—much less in a way that defied everything they thought they knew.
"The resistance of ants is always so futile."
White Dove sighed.
Flash Step!
He vanished in an instant and reappeared before the two Kazama shinobi, slashing their throats with his kunai.
Thump, thump!
The two bodies hit the ground.
With his focus sharpened, their movements seemed like slow motion to him, even without activating his Mangekyo. They posed no threat whatsoever.
That was why Uchiha with the Sharingan activated liked to walk so close to the edge of a blade.
It might seem like they were separated by only a hair's breadth, but in reality, the difference was worlds apart.
Faced with the figure standing right in front of him, wearing a moon mask and cloaked from head to toe in black, Yaya could no longer maintain his noble composure. He scrambled backward, crying out:
"Y-you! How dare you! I'm the noble Yaya! Someone, come quickly! Hurry!"
Watching the utterly disheveled man before him, White Dove wasn't surprised in the least. As a transmigrator, he understood that true power always came from "violence."
That was why he had always promoted the idea of ninja supremacy.
"You're not expecting them to save you, are you?"
White Dove casually hurled a handful of senbon, taking out the samurai and servants. He fixed his gaze on the man sprawled on the ground, just as delight began to show on the man's face.
Whoosh!
A scorching flame, like a spear, pierced the translucent figure at the side.
"That flaw was so obvious. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
White Dove turned his head and calmly stared at the man he had taken down with a single Flame Spear. A hint of mockery colored his voice.
He might have seemed arrogant on the surface, but he had secretly activated his Mangekyo to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan state, making sure he wouldn't get careless and land himself in trouble. That was how he'd noticed something off about the light coming from the side.
A disguise!
His opponent's killing move had been his disguise.
If White Dove had let him get close, it wouldn't have been surprising if the man had caught him off guard.
The Shinobi World was vast, and it really did have all sorts of things in it. There had to be plenty of rogue ninja with tricks like this up their sleeves.
By using tools, the man had managed to produce an effect similar to Transparent Release. You had to give him credit for that skill.
Of course, that didn't mean rogue ninja were stronger than the hidden villages. They simply couldn't find good ninjutsu to learn, so they had to develop their own specialties.
After taking the man out, White Dove had no intention of going over to search his body.
In the Shinobi World, ninja had plenty of ways to deal with their own corpses. Messing with one carelessly could easily drag you into trouble, and there were plenty of cautionary tales.
If the target had a bloodline limit, White Dove might have gone to retrieve the body. But someone like this... he had no interest.
After carefully checking that everyone had been taken out by his kunai, senbon, and Fire Release, he slowly walked out of the hall, then leaped to the highest point of the castle and looked down over Golden Deer Town, where only a few scattered lights still glimmered.
As for the people elsewhere in the castle, Tekka, Inabi, and Izumi would take care of them.
Ordinary people really were this fragile in front of ninja.
So what White Dove couldn't understand most was... why Konoha's villagers dared to pick fights with the Uchiha every day and treat them like punching bags.
Wait!
The Uchiha were kind of like punching b— Never mind.
But White Dove wasn't going to put up with that kind of nonsense. Once the ordinary temporary workers were in place, he'd make those unruly Konoha villagers understand what the "Konoha No-Holds-Barred Fighting Tournament" was all about.
Ninja using violence to enforce the law would definitely face pressure. But if ordinary people were the ones doing it, there was no way anyone could claim the ninja were bullying them, right?
Before long, three figures arrived behind him.
"Let's go!"
White Dove led the way, leaving with the Body Flicker Technique.
An automatic ignition trap had been set up in the castle. It would ignite after they left town the next day, burning all traces and evidence and making it look like a robbery.
When they returned to the inn, they slipped back into the group without a sound. At the same time, Kakashi's genjutsu wore off.
That way, he was their "witness," able to prove they'd been with the group the whole time and had nothing to do with what happened in Golden Deer Town.
That was the right way to make use of Kakashi.
With him around, they could have him testify for them on plenty of occasions.
And if they were suspected again later?
Sorry, by then, his wings would have grown strong enough that he wouldn't care about being suspected.
The night passed without incident!
At dawn, the caravan set out.
No one knew that the ruler of Golden Deer Town had already become a corpse.
But even if he was dead, another oppressor would take over the town. The people's lives wouldn't change at all.
At noon, a specially prepared Explosive Tag in the castle suddenly ignited.
Boom!!
The explosion sent flames soaring into the sky, engulfing the entire castle.
Meanwhile, the caravan was already far from Golden Deer Town.
In a place like the Shinobi World, there was no way anyone could figure out who had done it.
Besides, the caravan had put away its flags before reaching town, and its members had used false identities when checking into the inn. There was no chance of their information being exposed that way.
And a place as rich as Golden Deer Town had plenty of people eager to carve up the spoils after its ruling noble died. No one would have time to investigate the truth.
Back with the caravan, White Dove finally had time to count the spoils with Izumi.
Inside a Container Carriage that had been set aside for the purpose, several sealing scrolls lay open before them. White Dove formed Hand Seals and called out:
"Release!"
Then he pressed both hands to the scrolls.
Poof, poof!
Clouds of white smoke spread through the carriage.
"Wow!"
Gold and silver were the first things to catch their eyes, and Izumi couldn't help exclaiming.
Gold Ban and silver coins were piled into little hills. There were also barrels and medicine boxes, and finally a stack of high-denomination banknotes.
"Well, well. He really was a 'fat pig'!"
White Dove exclaimed.
At a glance, he could tell there were hundreds of millions in banknotes alone, and that wasn't even the bulk of it.
Gold Ban and silver coins!
Those were the real fortune. At market value, they were worth at least a billion taels, and they were hard currency—accepted throughout the Shinobi World.
But the more money there was, the bigger the trouble that would follow.
The Daimyo and the nobles might well pay ninja to investigate. Even if it wasn't for revenge, they would be willing to spend a great deal to get their money back.
He'd been careless!
White Dove had never robbed these nobles of their "gold coins" before, so he hadn't known they were this loaded. It was his lack of experience that had made him go a little too hard.
Still, given what they'd gotten, the risk had been worth it.
Fortunately, he had let the "Night" organization take the blame instead of acting under his own name. Otherwise, he'd have to start thinking about leading his clan in a rebellion.
With Night taking the blame, he could easily deny any involvement, even though he'd happened to be in Golden Deer Town.
After all, he was the New Uchiha clan leader and the Police Force Captain—not some nobody people could investigate on a whim. If they wanted to cause trouble based on a mere suspicion, he would be happy to meet them head-on.
"We have money now!"
Izumi murmured.
She knew what all that money meant.
When she had awakened her Three-Tomoe Sharingan, her body would have developed problems if White Dove hadn't poured an enormous amount of resources into her. That was why she was so sensitive about money now.
"No, this money is nothing."
White Dove crouched in front of the barrels and medicine boxes, sniffing at an almost imperceptible scent. A look of satisfaction appeared on his face.
"Are the Gold Deer Blood and Gold Deer Antler worth even more?" Izumi asked curiously.
"No. Their price might not be that high, but for a ninja, even spending more money wouldn't get you these valuable things!"
White Dove explained casually.
As a ninja who had studied biology, botany, and medical knowledge obsessively since childhood, he understood the value of these supplies.
To put it bluntly, with these supplies, he could improve his own physical foundation and use them to train the clan's ninja.
"That's wonderful!" Izumi cheered excitedly.
After finishing his inventory, White Dove didn't waste much time. He started making preparations for the next step of their plan to "open up" the trade route.
No—rather than opening it up, it would be more accurate to say they would "kill their way through."
They would eliminate every obstacle and make sure the opposition understood that the One Heart Chamber of Commerce was not to be messed with.
What White Dove didn't know was that two forces were already hurrying toward the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire, just as he was making his way there.
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