Danzo's Covetous Gaze

Over the next several days, the Third Hokage resumed peace talks with the Cloud Village.

The Cloud Village had been very aggressive before, repeatedly probing Konoha's boundaries.

But the Uchiha Clan's forceful support had turned the Cloud Village into a toothless tiger.

They could neither win a fight nor afford to drag things out, so they could only let Konoha carve them up.

Killer B, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, had originally come to hold the line, but he was promptly beaten into the hospital and became a hostage.

They suffered even greater losses during the peace talks. The reparations alone amounted to Three Hundred Million, and they also had to hand over some of the Cloud Village's research technologies to Konoha.

Though those technologies might not have been the latest, they were at least not easy to come across elsewhere.

The Third Hokage did not dare keep them all for himself. He copied every document and sent a set to Uchiha Natsuki.

On Konoha's Yachimata Street, the merchants found something strange today. Every member of the Uchiha Guard Team was traveling in groups of eight.

Whether they were patrolling or enforcing the law, the eight of them were inseparable.

Fortunately, the merchants on this street had already been thoroughly cowed by the Uchiha Clan, and there were very few troublemakers.

The Uchiha Clan's patrols merely aroused some people's curiosity.

But Danzo felt as though he had swallowed a fly. Before he could even make a move, the path had already been blocked.

"Are none of those Uchiha ever alone!?"

"Reporting to you, my lord, all Uchiha Clan Members who have Awakened their Sharingan now travel together. There are never fewer than four of them."

Jito spoke quietly below him.

Recently, aside from implanting the Sharingan in his Right Eye, Danzo had used the last two Sharingan in his possession for experiments.

He wanted to know exactly how the Mangekyō Sharingan was awakened.

Yet it was useless. If the Mangekyō Sharingan could be researched so easily, the Uchiha Clan would not have been as it was before.

Now, due to his involvement, the Shimura Clan had severed cooperation with many ninja clans.

Since the Shimura Clan had gained no benefits, Root's funding naturally became even more limited.

Moreover, because of the previous incident, the Third Hokage had cut his expenditures.

Many of his experiments had come to a standstill.

The might of the Mangekyō that Natsuki had displayed at the Hyuga Clan had left Danzo intensely envious.

But now, his stock of Sharingan had been exhausted.

So Danzo set his sights on the Uchiha Clan's Police Force.

Yet before Danzo could make his move, the Uchiha Clan seemed to have foreseen it and had put every Uchiha on guard.

"Who leaked the news?"

Danzo's gaze darkened. While lost in thought, he concluded that it had to be that old fox, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Only the Third Hokage could command such a large number of Anbu. They knew best whenever there was the slightest disturbance in Konoha.

Back when he needed this old man, he was all warmth and affection. Now that this old man's power has grown, he suppresses me.

"Go around the Uchiha Clan Compound and see whether there is an opportunity."

Jito worriedly said, "Wouldn't that be too risky? Even the Hokage's Anbu cannot enter the Uchiha Clan Compound now."

Danzo smiled confidently.

"That is because the Third Hokage was threatened by Natsuki. The Uchiha Clan Compound is so large—can Natsuki guard all of it alone?"

"Too many people would only make it less safe. Have Aburame Ryoma go and see if there is an opportunity."

Jito looked somewhat alarmed. "My lord, Aburame Ryoma has already been imprisoned in the dungeon by the Third Hokage."

"Secretly let him out. Tell him that there is now a cure for his illness, as long as he helps me capture an Uchiha with the Sharingan."

Though he did not want to face Aburame Ryoma, Jito still gritted his teeth. "Yes!"

Inside the dungeon.

A man wearing a black trench coat leaned within the shadows at the foot of a wall.

His muscles were well-developed, but they faintly carried a bluish-gray hue.

Tap, tap, tap. Footsteps approached.

Jito came to the cell door. "Ryoma."

Ryoma seemed distracted. He opened his mouth in a yawn before walking to the door.

"You are... Jito?"

Jito nodded.

"Lord Danzo says there is a cure for your illness, but the condition for treatment is that you help Lord Danzo capture an Uchiha Clan Member with the Sharingan."

"The Sharingan?" Were Uchiha Clan Members hard to capture?

Ryoma had been in the dungeon for too long and knew nothing of the changes outside.

"No problem. When do we go?"

Jito swallowed. For some reason, whenever he approached Ryoma,

he felt cold all over, and his thoughts became sluggish.

"The sooner, the better. Lord Danzo must be getting anxious."

As he spoke, Jito went to the cell door and unlocked it for Ryoma.

Aburame Ryoma leisurely walked out.

"Jito, you do not know why I was imprisoned here, do you?"

Unease welled up within Jito. He forced himself to endure the numbness in his scalp and said,

"I heard you were imprisoned for killing your teammates."

"Do you intend to make a move against me?"

Though uneasy, Jito also became alert.

Aburame Ryoma said blandly,

"I will not make a move against you, but my little darlings have not eaten for far too long, so... I will have to trouble you."

"Hm! Wha... t!"

In an instant, Jito found himself unable to move, and the Chakra within his body fell silent as well.

Jito's vision went dark, and he instantly lost all signs of life.

Buzz, buzz, buzz. A massive swarm of Kikaichū invisible to the naked eye flew out from Jito's body.

Jito had already become a desiccated corpse.

Outside the Uchiha Clan Compound, Uchiha Keimei was busy working alone on the ground.

He set up Chakra-conducting materials on the ground, then engraved Barrier Jutsu formulas onto them.

The three people who had been taught the Investigation Barrier had worked urgently and finished a week ahead of schedule.

Keimei's final task was the barrier node before him.

Ever since Uchiha Natsuki had become the Vice Clan Head, the Uchiha Clan had changed with each passing day.

Though many clan members had left, the Uchiha who remained in Konoha were no longer subjected to any harassment or injustice.

On the contrary, every Uchiha in the Police Force was now especially popular.

That was because the eight streets patrolled and guarded by the Uchiha Clan had consistently been the safest streets in Konoha.

Merchants from other streets would sometimes come over and secretly ask the Uchiha Clan Members whether they would patrol their streets.

After receiving the answer that they would not, they were often deeply disappointed, and the disdain in their eyes was gone for good.

Seeing the Uchiha Clan develop better and better, Keimei was sincerely happy.

He was not skilled at fighting. What he wanted was simply a thriving clan.

Now, the Uchiha Clan had withdrawn from Konoha's vortex.

Though the clan head now required everyone to be cautious when doing missions and prioritize safety, causing everyone's income to decrease greatly,

at least the oppressive atmosphere from before was gone.

Recently, the clan head had said that the Uchiha Clan had lost a great many elites when a group of members left.

So they had to prepare for the future and encourage clan members to have children.

Furthermore, for every family that gave birth to two or more children, each child born would receive a subsidy of two hundred thousand ryo. They could claim it once for every additional child, with further subsidies to follow.

Many families that already had children immediately began planning to have another.

Meanwhile, the young men and women of the Uchiha Clan were quickly pairing off.

After all, the subsidy for having one child was equivalent to the reward for a B-rank mission.

Uchiha Keimei did not stop working, intending to activate the barrier as soon as he completed this Barrier Jutsu node, allowing the Uchiha Clan to have an Investigation Barrier as well.

He had kept his head down at work and failed to notice that danger was already creeping closer around him!

Many black insects, scattered far apart, slowly flew toward Keimei.

"Buzz... buzz... buzz..."

The buzzing of insects gradually reached Keimei's ears.

Keimei had just finished the Sealing Jutsu formula in his Hands, and he instinctively poured Chakra into it.

An invisible ripple spread outward from the node.

Countless small dots representing Chakra appeared in Keimei's mind.

Buzz! Accompanied by a piercing shriek through the air, a huge swarm of Kikaichū descended from above.

Keimei rolled across the ground in a rather sorry state. A hollow exploded open in the ground, and he narrowly avoided the strike.

He rose to his feet and shouted,

"Who is it!? How dare you cause trouble at the Uchiha Clan Compound!"

Then he activated his Sharingan.

Keimei did not have a Signal Flare on him, so he could only raise his voice to alert his clansmen.

He had never expected someone to attack him beside the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Aburame Ryoma emerged from the shadows.

"Bad luck for you to run into me. What a pity it is only a Two Tomoe. It will do."

Keimei regarded the man before him as a formidable enemy. The man possessed powerful Chakra and a strong physique. More importantly, Keimei knew him.

"You are Aburame Ryoma!!"

Keimei was intelligent, so he consciously collected information on many matters.

Hadn't Aburame Ryoma been locked in the dungeon?