Uchiha Fugaku!

In the Land of Fire, Konoha.

Night fell. Cooking smoke curled above Konoha's streets as Kagami Uchiha walked slowly through the village. Shinobi and villagers stopped to greet Lord Hokage and pay their respects.

Half an hour later, Kagami returned to the Uchiha Clan compound for the first time in ages.

His clansmen came forward in a steady stream, greeting him warmly and stopping to chat.

He answered them kindly. It took some effort to escape their greetings and make it back to his quiet courtyard alone.

He took off his Hokage Robe and changed into the Uchiha Clan's standard attire. Then he stood beneath the veranda, straight-backed and alone.

An evening breeze stirred the cherry tree in the courtyard, sending blossoms drifting onto the flagstones.

Kagami held a confidential letter that had just arrived. It contained intelligence from the Land of Wind, along with astonishing news from Sunagakure: Ebizo had put all 860 million ryō into the Angel Plan.

Kagami slowly rubbed the edge of the paper between his fingers. His expression remained calm, betraying little emotion, but deep in his eyes lay a heavy concern.

What was Sunagakure thinking?

Wasn't Shamon supposed to be a crafty old fox? How had he trusted the Angel Fund so easily?

Truthfully, Sunagakure had gone further than Kagami expected.

They'd bet everything? Weren't they afraid of losing it all?

Or had greed completely blinded them?

Leave it to Sunagakure to be driven mad by poverty.

Then again, it made sense. The Shinobi World had never seen a scheme like this. Even in his previous life, plenty of people had fallen for such scams over and over...

One after another, they had rushed in, refusing to learn!

His expression grew grave once more.

The Angel Plan still carried one enormous risk:

Once the