The Last Move Before the Third War

More than ten days had passed since he left Loulan for the Land of Demons to capture and kill Mōryō.

After Centipede had been captured alive in Loulan, the Uzumaki survivors learned that the Third Shinobi World War was about to break out and devised a scheme using Centipede's identity as a puppet master.

It would not only meet Uchiha Makoto's need to build up Pakura's achievements and subsequently gain control of Sand Village, but also stir up the Uzumaki survivors who had endured all this—they wanted revenge!

Not against a single village or nation, but against more than half the shinobi world!

The destruction of the Land of Whirlpools had involved not only the major shinobi villages. During the subsequent flight of the Uzumaki survivors, many smaller shinobi villages had also contributed money and manpower, carving up countless Uzumaki survivors between them.

After receiving Uchiha Makoto's approval, they drew up a corresponding plan—using Centipede's ravaging of Loulan as an excuse to drastically raise prices and hunt Sand Village!

Sand Village was located in the desert and already struggled with civilian livelihoods. Combined with artificial manipulation of prices, everything would force Sand Village to launch a shinobi war!

When the time came, the Uzumakis would drag the other shinobi villages into it one after another, taking revenge on the entire shinobi world!

Likewise, this was Uchiha Makoto's final move to push for the Third Shinobi World War.

He just hadn't expected that the rising prices would affect his plans to sell off his assets as soon as they began.

Uchiha Makoto reviewed the plan. In sequence, it was about time for Sand Village's hero, Pakura, to make her grand debut.

At the same time, this was the last calm before the Third Shinobi World War.

Seeing Uchiha Makoto's thoughtful expression, Uchiha Xuan continued, "I heard prices across the shinobi world have been rising lately because some of our people have also been buying supplies in large quantities. That's why prices are shooting up so quickly."

Uchiha Makoto was somewhat surprised.

"Our people? Why did I hear that Sand Village destroyed large stretches of farmland in Loulan, causing prices to soar?"

Uchiha Xuan was equally surprised. "Wasn't it you who ordered the people below to purchase war supplies?"

Uchiha Makoto froze. That did seem to have happened!

It seemed he really had told Nonō and the others to purchase war supplies.

Not only had he asked Nonō and the others to buy supplies, he had personally sent them out of Konoha!

"What's wrong? Wasn't it your order?"

Uchiha Xuan frowned. If it had not been his order, then who were those people outside frantically buying supplies?

"It was my order. So much time passed that I forgot about it for a moment."

Uchiha Makoto answered awkwardly.

"Then that's fine..."

Uchiha Xuan nodded and suggested, "Still, I think this is an opportunity we can take advantage of. We can ride the wave and further intensify price fluctuations between the various nations."

"Since prices have already risen, we might as well secretly manipulate market prices and profit from it."

"???"

Question marks practically spilled from Uchiha Makoto's forehead. You thought of that? Since when did you have that kind of brain?

Noticing Uchiha Makoto's expression, Uchiha Xuan lowered his head and smiled shyly. "That's what everyone thinks too. This opportunity is rare. Rather than letting others profit from it, we might as well make a killing ourselves."

Uchiha Makoto sighed in relief. Good thing. Otherwise, he would have had to doubt his own intelligence.

Uchiha Makoto thought over the plan, organized his words, and spoke again.

"No matter what, since someone is deliberately driving up prices, we can't let them dominate the market alone. We should make a profit from this situation too."

"Pass down the word. Speed up the procurement of supplies, but keep the operation covert. We can't alert other forces."

"Also, during procurement, every side should contribute what it can. How much they make will depend on their own capabilities. Tell them to stay alert at all times and not get too deeply involved!"

Uchiha Xuan nodded. He had expected this, and most of the clan felt the same way.

But certain matters could cause disputes within the clan. Thinking of the elders' instructions, Uchiha Xuan had a terrible headache, yet he could only ask cautiously.

"What do you think about all those novels and storybooks about the Uchiha and Senju that have been appearing endlessly on the market these past few days?"

"What novels?"

Uchiha Makoto looked up at Uchiha Xuan with an amused, almost smiling gaze, eagerly waiting to hear what he would say next.

"I mean..."

Uchiha Xuan hesitated, unsure how to put it.

"What did you say?"

Uchiha Makoto leaned toward Uchiha Xuan and asked with an exaggerated expression.

"I mean... <Misplaced Love, Hashirama & Tobirama & Madara & Izuna, Forbidden Love | A Pitiful Life>."

Uchiha Xuan gritted his teeth as he said the title, and his entire body became restless.

He could not help it. What was written inside truly challenged everything he knew.

Yet this very novel had now entered the popular fiction rankings and even had a chance of taking first place!

As a result, rumors were now spreading through Konoha that the Uchiha Clan had bad tempers, the Hyuga Clan had abundant milk, the Uzumaki Clan had powerful waists, and the Senju Clan had great "strength."

Whenever they went out now, they had to endure Konoha villagers pointing and whispering about them. Yet they could not easily lash out, making the whole thing unbearably humiliating.

The Uchiha Clan was also sharply divided over this.

The radicals believed they should severely crack down on the mastermind and defend the Uchiha Clan's reputation at all costs.

The conservatives believed the radicals were too conservative!

Unless they dug up the ancestors of those people for eighteen generations and desecrated their corpses, they would never vent this resentment.

"You have no idea what they wrote us as! They made us sound like we were sexually frustrated!"

Uchiha Xuan said indignantly.

"Really? Something like that happened?"

Uchiha Makoto wore an "Oh~" expression that made Uchiha Xuan's face flush red.

Damn it, he seemed to have exposed the fact that he had secretly read it!

"Brother Xuan, this isn't that big of a deal, is it? Why did they send you to tell me about it?"

He had written that book himself, so he knew exactly what was in it.

In any case, plenty of people in the village were smearing the Uchiha. He might as well do it himself!

His original idea had been to drop some explosive gossip, seize the shinobi world's attention, and wage another propaganda war so everyone would know how tsundere the Uchiha really were.

But that alone should not have made them this upset!

Unless something had happened that he did not know about!

Uchiha Makoto stared intently at Uchiha Xuan. A few seconds later, he heard him explain again.

"Originally, it would have been nothing, but when we reported it to the Hokage Building and asked the Hokage to deal with those books, our request was actually rejected!"

So that was it!

Uchiha Makoto secretly nodded. As expected, something had happened that he did not know about.

He simply had not expected Konoha's upper ranks to directly ignore the Uchiha's request and allow those books to spread freely.

Just look at how furious it had made the Uchiha—they had come all the way to him.

"What do you think we should do? The elders believe we need to strike back hard against Konoha's upper ranks!"

As Uchiha Makoto listened to Uchiha Xuan, he pondered briefly before curling a finger at him, signaling him to come closer.

"This is simple!"

"Someone is smearing us, so we just smear them right back!"

"Forget anyone else—take Shimura Danzō..."