What Does This Have to Do with Konoha?

Downstairs, the gamblers filled the room. Some lay sprawled on the floor, some knelt, and others trembled. Not one dared make a sound.

He walked to the center of the hall and raised a hand.

A kunai embroidered with a red cloud flew from his hand and struck the main beam with a thunk, sinking half an inch into the wood.

The room fell deathly silent.

"Go back and tell your masters..."

Uchiha En's voice was quiet, but it carried clearly into every corner. "This is what happens when you investigate Akatsuki."

He turned and swaggered out the front door.

No one dared stop him.

Land of Wind, Trade City.

Sunagakure had a monopoly on the gold dust trade, and this city held its purse strings.

The Gold Dust Trading Company occupied a three-story mansion behind high walls and a deep courtyard. Two rows of guards stood at the entrance, every one a Sunagakure ninja.

Of all the money under Rasa's "absolute defense," this was the stash he trusted most.

Unfortunately, even the tightest security could not stop someone who could teleport.

Uchiha En did not enter through the front gate.

He stood on a rooftop across the street, his Sharingan sweeping over the company's rear courtyard from the shadows.

At a side entrance, a manager was coming out. He was the company's bookkeeper.

A Sharingan illusion settled over him without a sound.

The manager paused. His eyes went blank for an instant, then returned to normal—except that no will of his own remained in them.

He turned, went back inside, knocked on the side door, and told the guards:

"The storeroom needs an inventory. It won't open tonight. Pull everyone out."

The guards knew him. Suspecting nothing, they withdrew.

Uchiha En dropped from the rooftop and followed the