Deep Investigation: The Origins of the Underworld

That night, Uchiha Hara reviewed the files Uchiha Jiang had left behind in the Demon Refining Pot space, only to discover that the Uchiha records on Konoha's lower-class social structure were practically nonexistent.

Did they not care, or had they simply failed to notice?

Since he could not rely on the Uchiha, Uchiha Hara could only handle it himself.

Over the following days, he no longer hurried home after school. Instead, using "keeping Kurenai Yuhi company" as an excuse, he held the girl's soft, warm hand and leisurely wandered through Konoha's streets and alleys.

Even if others wanted to be suspicious, they could find no reason—because every time they went out, Kurenai Yuhi was always the one to invite him first with sparkling eyes. "Hara, shall we go see the new flower shop on East Street? Please, please?"

They were both students. Though Uchiha Hara had money, he had no way to use it, and Kurenai Yuhi did not have much money either.

So, like an ordinary pair of inexperienced young lovers, they merely strolled along the streets, breathing in the sweet aroma of oden and watching the sugar figurine maker spin his wheel. They bought nothing, yet smiled more happily than anyone.

Yet this plain, simple companionship felt more real to Uchiha Hara than every grand and passionate date he had ever experienced in his previous life.

In his previous life, he had spent lavishly on his girlfriend, given her limited-edition jewelry, and taken her to expensive restaurants. But all his fingertips had ever touched was cold material wealth; he had never felt even a trace of sincere warmth. Here in Konoha, he had not even bought Kurenai Yuhi a candied hawthorn skewer, yet he could clearly sense the girl's feelings—she would quietly split her rice ball with him, and while he watched the street scenery, she would secretly trace his profile from the corner of her eye. Her gaze was as soft as a spring breeze, falling entirely upon him.

"No wonder everyone likes transmigration!" Uchiha Hara sighed. The worlds of fantasy really were far more beautiful than the real world.

Even if another world was dangerous, the genuine and intense emotions between people were something that cold modern society could never possess.

Of course, Uchiha Hara had not forgotten his real business while dating.

That was investigating the underworld.

Not only did he use his dates to investigate during the day, but he also sent Rat out to gather information at night.

To uncover more intelligence, he had even fed Rat Blood Essence [Rat] to strengthen the mouse's senses.

Blood Essence was far more effective on the mouse than on Uchiha Hara. His 0.001 became 0.1 when applied to the mouse.

In a single week, he fed the mouse ten Blood Essences, directly doubling the source of his mouse Avatar.

Now, the mouse's vision was no longer limited by Rat-Eyed Myopia. Instead, it could see as far as an ordinary person.

As for night vision, the mouse was even better than humans.

Considering that he might feed the mouse Senju Clan Blood Essence in the future and have it awaken Wood Release, Uchiha Hara even gave it a name: Senju Jerry.

With this two-pronged approach, Uchiha Hara quickly investigated Konoha's underworld situation from top to bottom.

The results of his investigation surprised him greatly.

There truly were gangs in Konoha, and quite a few of them.

These organizations were no different from the gangs he had seen in films and television in his previous life. At night, they even fought in dark alleys with iron clubs and short blades, their splattered blood staining half a flagstone red.

He had once pretended to be innocent and asked a seemingly well-informed vendor, "Don't the ninja lords do anything when they fight like that?"

The vendor merely sneered. "The ninja lords only care about ninja business. As long as they don't make a public spectacle of it or interfere with missions, who cares whether commoners live or die? The Security Force? They get off work at six!"

Further investigation confirmed the vendor's words. Gradually, Uchiha Hara also figured out the source of these gangs.

Konoha had a complicated population structure. Ninja and their families accounted for only about one-fifth of the population, while more than eighty percent of its residents were ordinary people who provided the ninja class with food, clothing, housing, transportation, forging, and repairs.

Yet neither the Hokage's Office nor the major clans seemed interested in extending their administrative reach into the daily lives of these commoners.

Logically speaking, the Uchiha Police Force should have been able to manage these commoners.

But the Uchiha had limited their responsibilities to ninja disputes and major public security incidents. As for the darkness at the bottom of society after nightfall, they had basically allowed it to run unchecked.

The need for governance was there. If the rulers did not occupy it, then naturally, civilian rulers would.

In other words, gangs.

These gangs might initially have been hometown associations or industry mutual-aid organizations, but as time passed, they gradually evolved into dark forces that survived on violence, oppression, and exploitation.

So the question was, with so many gangs in Konoha, why did the ninja not interfere?

After investigating, Uchiha Hara discovered that organizational inertia might have been the original reason Konoha's ninja did nothing.

When Konoha had just been founded, eight or nine out of every ten villagers had either been ninja or ninja family members. It would have been impressive if commoners accounted for even one-tenth.

Creating a special organization just to manage that handful of commoners would obviously have been wasteful.

As time passed, Konoha's commoner population grew larger and larger.

But Konoha's upper ranks were busy fighting Uchiha Madara, fighting the First Shinobi World War, fighting the Second Shinobi World War, and scrambling for power. Their view was confined to the ninja class. They failed to notice the rapid growth of the lower-class commoner population, and naturally failed to notice the management needs that came with it.

Meanwhile, gangs began appearing one after another as the number of commoners increased.

But there had been long periods of peace between the end of the First Shinobi World War and the beginning of the Second Shinobi World War, and between the end of the Second Shinobi World War and now. Had Konoha really failed to notice these gangs?

Ninja specialized in intelligence work. How could they possibly fail to see that gangs existed?

But the problem was that while Konoha's upper ranks noticed the gangs, they also noticed how profitable they were.

That was right. Gangs were extremely good at making money.

This led back to the agreement Konoha had once made with the Daimyo.

The original agreement had limited Konoha's authority to military contracts and mission execution.

It was forbidden from interfering with tax collection, civilian administration, and similar matters. Konoha was so large, with so many commoners and such thriving commerce. Once taxes were collected, anyone could tell with their ass that the daily income would be enormous.

Yet Konoha's upper ranks had no authority to collect taxes, and could only watch helplessly as all that silver flowed away.

How could they possibly allow that?

As luck would have it, organizations like gangs appeared at precisely the right moment in Konoha's upper ranks' field of view.

Gangs handled the things that respectable, righteous figures were not suited to do.

For example, Konoha could not collect taxes, but gangs could collect protection fees.

Konoha could not open casinos, but gangs could.

Konoha could not open brothels, but gangs could.

Konoha could not run lending businesses, but gangs could—and they could even offer usurious loans!

Once Konoha's upper ranks discovered how useful gangs were, of course they were unwilling to wipe them out. Instead, they supported and managed them!

That was right. These gangs were not rootless trees.

Uchiha Hara's investigation showed that nearly every gang of any size had the shadow of a ninja clan behind it.

Because controlling these gangs could bring a clan enormous amounts of gray income that could not be openly displayed.

Uchiha Hara soon figured out the situation of several major gangs:

The largest, the Golden Ape Society, was backed by the Sarutobi Clan.

On the surface, the Sarutobi family ran legitimate grain, oil, and cloth businesses through the Sarutobi Trading Company. In secret, the Golden Ape Society controlled Konoha's largest black market and casinos, with influence extending beyond the village—more than once, he had seen unfamiliar ninja disguised as merchants quietly pass information to Golden Ape Society members.

No wonder Konoha could always follow clues to find Tsunade's whereabouts, Uchiha Hara thought to himself. And no wonder casinos in the Land of Fire dared chase the "Legendary Sannin" across the world for debts. Without the Sarutobi Clan's tacit approval, who would dare provoke such a major figure?

The second-largest, Root Tendrils, operated with exceptional ruthlessness and secrecy. Not only did they deal in assassination and intelligence trafficking, but they also meddled in contraband trading and human trafficking—the blood on their hands could probably soak an entire commercial street red.

They committed every evil imaginable: murder, arson, clan extermination, and household confiscation.

One only had to hear the gang's name to know that it was undoubtedly an extension of Shimura Danzo.

The third-largest gang, Eye of the Forest, had a structure similar to the Golden Ape Society. It also had the United Trading Company as a front, with the three Ino–Shika–Cho clans jointly backing it.

However, compared to the first two, Eye of the Forest was relatively "orderly." It did not touch gambling or vice, nor did it involve itself in killing or trafficking. It merely monopolized Konoha's construction materials, medicinal herbs, and daily supplies—from rice in every household to ore in ninja tool shops, everything had to pass through their hands.

Though it lacked a vicious reputation, its influence was no weaker than the Golden Ape Society's, and its ability to make money was even stronger than Root Tendrils'.

Uchiha Hara recalled the Thunderbird Gang he and Kurenai Yuhi had encountered during their earlier picnic. It was precisely a branch under Eye of the Forest responsible for transporting supplies.

The fourth-ranked Fang Brawl Group consisted entirely of members who kept hunting dogs. It controlled Konoha's logistics and transportation, as well as some small and medium-sized entertainment venues—in plain terms, it ran a delivery business and earned hard money from errands. It was clearly backed by the Inuzuka Clan.

As for the smaller gangs that followed, they were not large in scale and acted with more restraint. Members of the Moonlight Society mostly operated at night and had close ties to taverns and pleasure houses; it was a force jointly controlled by the Moonlight Clan and Uzuki Clan. The Insect Nest, meanwhile, kept an extremely low profile. It specialized in warehousing, safekeeping, carving, and fine processing, occasionally taking underground jobs that required delicate work—it was clearly supported by the Aburame Clan. Although these smaller gangs bore gang names, they acted more like "unregistered companies" than actual criminal syndicates.

The emergence of gangs had indeed filled part of the ruling class's ecological niche, but their organizational nature meant that they profited by exploiting, oppressing, and even killing commoners.

Ironically, the supporters of these gangs were basically Konoha's supposedly righteous and honorable clans.

The Hyuga Clan and Uchiha, whom Konoha's residents constantly criticized as "arrogant" and "overbearing," turned out, after investigation, not to directly support any gang at all!

The Hyuga Clan might have been traditional and conservative, valuing its reputation. As for the Uchiha... perhaps they were truly too arrogant to stoop to such lower-class filth, or perhaps they focused on the "righteous" authority of the Police Force.

"How ridiculous... Those who look respectable are scheming like flies in the dark, while those with terrible reputations are the ones who have kept their bottom line." Uchiha Hara found it incomparably ironic.

Naturally, he had not investigated gang information out of a sense of justice or boredom.

He had felt a bottleneck in his strength—or rather, a bottleneck in his mindset.

Refining fish and steadily increasing his attributes by 0.039 every week would once have satisfied him.

But after experiencing the "rapid" growth of refining three people in one night and increasing his essence, energy, and spirit by 0.9, returning to this "snail's pace" accumulation made him feel miserable all over.

It could only be said that going from frugality to luxury was easy, while going from luxury back to frugality was difficult.

He was not bloodthirsty and could not simply seize people off the streets and refine them for power.

But among Konoha's gang members, there was certainly no shortage of people guilty of monstrous crimes. Uchiha Hara felt almost no psychological burden in targeting them.

After all, this world had always been one where the strong devoured the weak. Since they could "eat people" by exploiting commoners, why not let him "eat" these evildoers instead? Besides, if gang members disappeared or died, it would only be classified as gang infighting. No one would ever suspect a Ninja Academy student, so the risk was completely controllable.

"I've decided." Uchiha Hara clenched his fingers, a cold glint flashing through his eyes. "From now on, I won't eat fish at night anymore."

During the day, he would attend school and train as he should. At night... he would hunt.

His gaze passed through the window lattice and fell upon Konoha's deepening night—the "prey" hidden in the shadows of the alleys, stained with blood and greed, had already entered his sights. This was his new path toward accelerated growth, and another profound compromise with, and adaptation to, this world where the strong devoured the weak.