"This..."
Hyuga Tokuma was so excited he couldn't speak.
Although Uchiha Yu had the Sharingan, he had copied the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm in such a short time.
There was no doubt about it—Uchiha Yu was a taijutsu genius!
"He's not only skilled in Konoha-Style Taijutsu, but in Gentle Fist Technique too?"
Hyuga Hiashi furrowed his brow slightly.
An outsider knew their clan's taijutsu inside and out.
For a moment, Hyuga Hiashi couldn't tell whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Yu..." Hinata's eyes widened.
She hadn't expected Uchiha Yu to be so skilled in Gentle Fist Technique, too.
The Sharingan's copying ability was still far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
Uchiha Yu gave a faint smile and lowered his arm.
After activating the Sharingan, one could not only predict an opponent's every move, but also copy nearly all of their previous movements.
Although the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm had been an improvised strike, it still left Hiashi and the others breathing hard.
Hyuga Hiashi's gaze softened, too.
Although the Gentle Fist Technique was a secret passed down only within the Hyuga Clan, now that Uchiha Yu had learned it, there wasn't much they could do about it.
Besides, Uchiha Yu's talent had won them over.
So why couldn't they make Uchiha Yu one of their own?
Why not?
"Yu, if you don't have anything else to do, stay for dinner at the Hyuga Clan compound. I'll have a good meal prepared for you." Hyuga Hiashi grinned.
Uchiha Yu said, "I'm fine with anything. Anything's fine."
After leaving the Hyuga Clan compound, Uchiha Yu felt the twenty thousand ryo in his pocket and could barely contain his delight.
It took a hundred Krypton Gold Value to fuse a Kekkei Genkai. He had twenty now.
"Why not go for a big score?"
Uchiha Yu rubbed his head.
At this rate, milking the ninja academy students to save up a hundred thousand ryo would take months at the very least.
But what he lacked most right now was time.
If he still didn't have Wood Release by the time of the Shisui incident, his chances would drop by at least half.
With Shisui dead, the Uchiha Clan would lose a powerful member, and the coup would certainly be delayed.
And if it was delayed, the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre would arrive.
Uchiha Yu urgently needed a good scheme!
"Rob a bank? Kidnap someone? Mug somebody?"
Uchiha Yu hesitated for a while, but still felt he couldn't be that shameless.
Be good. We're not doing anything illegal!
"Wait, what if I just threaten them a little without actually doing anything? Asking them for a hundred thousand ryo should be a piece of cake, right?"
Uchiha Yu paced back and forth for a moment.
"All right! Kidnapping it is!"
Who should he kidnap?
Hyuga Hanabi!
Hyuga Hanabi was the heir to the Main Family.
And she was still very young, only two years old.
As long as he moved quickly, kidnapping her would be a piece of cake!
But the Hyuga Clan had just invited him to dinner. Kidnapping one of their own afterward would be a little hard to justify.
Besides, he wasn't very familiar with the Hyuga Clan. If things went wrong, he'd be done for.
"Uzumaki Naruto? Who'd pay to get him back?"
"Sarutobi Konohamaru? Forget it. The Sarutobi Clan is no weaker than the Hyuga Clan. It'd be even easier to screw things up!"
"Why not... kidnap someone from my own clan?"
"I'll kidnap myself?"
Uchiha Yu's eyes lit up.
That could work!
He knew the Uchiha Clan inside and out. There was no way this could go wrong!
Night.
The Uchiha Clan compound.
An explosion erupted, and flames shot into the sky!
"What's going on?"
"Someone's attacking the Uchiha!"
"Damn it! Has Konoha finally decided to make a move against us? Brothers! Are we born to be lords and generals, or are we not?"
Amid the flames stood a muscular man dressed in black, with a black cloth wrapped around his head, leaving only his eyes exposed. He gripped the tightly bound Uchiha Yu in one hand, his gaze fierce.
"They shouldn't be able to tell this Shadow Clone apart, right?" Uchiha Yu muttered, looking at the human bundle by his feet.
To make sure they wouldn't recognize him, he'd not only dressed entirely in black, but had also worn two pairs of elevator shoes.
"Who are you?"
A crowd of Uchiha clan members surrounded Uchiha Yu.
Uchiha Fugaku stood before him with his arms crossed, killing intent in his eyes.
"Who are you? How dare you attack the Uchiha compound!" Uchiha Fugaku snorted.
Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke hurried over, too. When they saw the scene, they all sucked in a sharp breath.
"Did you come for Uchiha Yu?" Uchiha Itachi activated his Three-Tomoe and stared intently at Uchiha Yu.
Uchiha Shisui arrived among the crowd in an instant, too.
"What are you planning to do to our clan member?"
Uchiha Shisui fixed his Sharingan on Uchiha Yu.
"Nothing. I'm just kidnapping him."
Uchiha Yu lowered his voice, pulled out a kunai, and pressed it against the throat of his clone.
"As long as you pay up, letting him go won't be a problem."
As if I'd kill myself!
Knowing the Sharingan couldn't see through a clone, Uchiha Yu's Shadow Clone immediately began wailing.
"Dad! Big brother! Save me! I'm so scared! He's going to kill me! I want to live! Waaaah!"
Uchiha Itachi and Shisui kept looking into Uchiha Yu's eyes.
But Uchiha Yu knew what they were trying to do, and stubbornly avoided their gazes.
Too bad for you! I'm not falling for your genjutsu!
If Uchiha Yu activated his Sharingan, he could resist most of their genjutsu at their current level.
But that would expose his identity.
"How much do you want?"
Uchiha Fugaku snorted.
"This much!"
Uchiha Yu held up two fingers.
Uchiha Fugaku frowned slightly.
"Oh, so you're extorting the Uchiha Clan now!"
With that, all the Uchiha clan members drew their kunai and shuriken.
It looked as if they were about to turn Uchiha Yu into a pincushion the very next second.
"Two hundred thousand ryo! Not a single ryo less!"
Uchiha Yu steeled himself and decided to ask for an exorbitant amount.
Two hundred thousand ryo?
Uchiha Fugaku took a deep breath and put his hands behind his back.
"Give him the two hundred thousand ryo and get him out of here! What kind of idiot kidnaps someone and asks for only two hundred thousand ryo? Does he think I'm a joke?"
With that, several Uchiha clan members pooled their money together, filled a bag, and tossed it to Uchiha Yu.
"Here. Two hundred thousand ryo. Take it and get lost!"
Uchiha Yu: "..."
Did they just insult me on a personal level?
Should I have asked for more?
He did the math. A C-rank ninja mission paid between thirty and a hundred thousand ryo.
By that measure, two hundred thousand ryo really wasn't much.
At least for the Uchiha Clan, it was a mere drop in the bucket.
"I miscalculated. I should've asked for a million."
Uchiha Yu sighed.
Uchiha Yu stowed away the two hundred thousand ryo and sneered.
"Tomorrow morning, I'll return Uchiha Yu to you. I guarantee I won't harm a single hair on his head!"
With that, Uchiha Yu formed hand seals.
"Water Style: Hidden Mist Technique!"
In an instant, chakra swirled and generated a thick mist.
At the same time, as Uchiha Yu continued pouring in chakra, the mist grew denser and denser.
By the time it cleared, Uchiha Yu had already vanished.
In the forest on the outskirts of Konoha.
Uchiha Yu looked at the two hundred thousand ryo in his money bag, barely able to contain his delight.
"Fantastic! That's two hundred Pay-to-Win Points!" Uchiha Yu rubbed his hands together and chuckled.
Before you continue