Undercurrents stirring

As Uchiha Mu brought Madara Uchiha back to the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Village, the other nations turned their attention to Konoha. As for the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation, most chose to ignore it as long as Uchiha Mu remained alive.

Iwagakure.

In the Tsuchikage's office, the Tsuchikage roared with laughter. Even Mū breathed a sigh of relief. That scourge was finally dead, and Iwagakure's future was looking brighter by the day.

"Madara Uchiha is dead. Hashirama Senju is next. We mustn't rush, but we need to expand our intelligence network." The Tsuchikage began assigning their next tasks.

Konoha's Hokage, Hashirama, had spoken with them once. In the Tsuchikage's eyes, he was incredibly naive, actually dreaming of peace. What a joke. Perhaps if he handed over the Land of Fire's resources, that would be another matter.

Knowing Hashirama's personality, the Tsuchikage set intelligence gathering as their priority. For now, they would not poke the bear that was Konoha, though that might change once Hashirama died.

"Yes." Mū naturally agreed with the Tsuchikage's decision, especially when it came to the village. As one of its leaders, he could clearly feel the mounting pressure on the village, particularly with that merchant association from the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation still raking in money like mad.

Everyone knew that the money supply generally did not grow. The Daimyo and nobles would never devalue their own currency like that, and the more Kakuzu took, the less their village received.

And that shortfall made all the difference. Sometimes, that little bit of money was all it took to change their circumstances. Right now, for instance, Iwagakure had been planning to rapidly expand its forces and support a large number of shinobi.

Even if they were all Genin, their Combined Ninjutsu would still be tremendously powerful. No one could ignore such a force, except for those three, of course. Now, however, only two remained. That was good news.

Kumogakure expressed deep regret over Madara Uchiha's death. They slaughtered plenty of animals for the occasion, and their tears practically dripped from the corners of their mouths.

While celebrating, they reached the same decision as Iwagakure: focus on gathering intelligence and absolutely avoid testing Hashirama's patience.

After all, Hashirama had killed Madara Uchiha because the latter had invaded Konoha with a tailed beast. Yet the thought also pained them. They struggled desperately to defeat a tailed beast, while the Uchiha Clan settled the matter with a single glance.

That reminded them of the time Uchiha Mu had taken the Two-Tails away. The Raikage would never forget that sight. The gap between them was so vast that he could not even muster resentment.

"Can we get our hands on a Sharingan?" the Raikage asked, raising another question.

"Lord Raikage, that would be difficult. Those Uchiha are very strong. We'd have to send several squads," one man said. After Uchiha Mu had subdued the Two-Tails with a single glance, they had begun gathering intelligence on the Uchiha.

The Raikage understood. Several squads meant escalating the conflict, and Hashirama would not stand idly by.

"Wouldn't one squad be enough?"

"Lord Raikage, Konoha's shinobi rarely operate alone. And the Uchiha are practically unmatched in one-on-one combat." The Kumogakure shinobi sighed, equally helpless about the situation.

"Damn those Uchiha." The Raikage fumed. Hashirama Senju really had them boxed in at every turn.

The Uchiha of this era were certainly arrogant, but they had the strength to back it up. What shinobi of this era had never been on a battlefield? Those who survived had decent combat experience, especially the three-tomoe users they were targeting. Add their teammates to the equation, and it would take several squads to deal with them.

"Lord Raikage, be prepared for the possibility that the eyes won't be compatible," one man said. In his view, if the Sharingan were that easy to steal, the Uchiha would long since have developed a jutsu to counter it, just like the Hyuga Clan.

"I know. Besides, Hashirama Senju has been openly collecting tailed beasts across the shinobi world." The Raikage clenched his fists after speaking. He felt powerless to do anything about it. As the First Raikage, he lacked the strength to defeat a tailed beast. Even if he had that strength, he had neither the Sealing Jutsu to seal one nor the ability to command one with genjutsu as the Uchiha did.

"We can't stop him. But everyone knows the Hokage's temperament. Perhaps we can obtain a tailed beast in future negotiations."

"That's true." The Raikage agreed, then instructed his subordinates to keep focusing on intelligence and money from the smaller nations.

Sunagakure and Kirigakure adopted much the same approach as Iwagakure and Kumogakure, primarily gathering intelligence on Konoha. Naturally, they were collecting intelligence on the Hundred-Clan Shinobi Nation as well. After all, compared with Konoha, it was every bit as tempting a target to fleece.

That was thanks to Uchiha Mu's development efforts over the past year or so. His business operations spanned the entire shinobi world, and he had single-handedly brought it rapidly into the age of electricity, considerably earlier than in the original story.

Although shinobi knew little about finance, nobles, merchants, and Daimyo were extraordinarily sensitive to it. Since the other side was a nation ruled by shinobi, they could only resort to the same methods.

Thus, the four great nations already knew that Uchiha Mu was very wealthy. What they did not know was that he also spent money like water. Beyond improving pay and benefits, he continued modernizing the village. As the saying went, a generous reward would always attract willing hands.

If people from the other shinobi villages came to see this place, it would be like moving from a remote mountain hamlet into a major city. They would be utterly dumbstruck.

Meanwhile, Madara Uchiha had changed his appearance and disguised his chakra as well. Ordinary shinobi could not see through it, though that might not hold true for those who had dealt with him frequently.

His last visit had been rather rushed, and he had not had a chance to look around properly. As he walked along the main street, he saw level, clean roads and pedestrians hurrying along with relaxed expressions. It was unlike anywhere else in the shinobi world. It had only been a little over a year. Could development really happen this quickly?

Uchiha Mu, on the other hand, still felt it was a little slow. Population size was the limiting factor. Considering how quickly China had built things in his previous life, shinobi should only be faster once they truly got to work on construction.

As Madara walked along the street, no one feared him, unlike in Konoha. He found it difficult to be as warm and approachable as Hashirama. After all, he had lived through wartime, and even when he exercised considerable restraint, a faint trace of killing intent still leaked out.

"Hey, mister, are you a new shinobi here?"

"Yes. I'm Nisen." Madara had chosen a name for himself using the first character of his younger brother's name. To keep Tobirama Senju from making the connection, however, he had added a "two" in front. Being doting older brothers ran in the Uchiha family.

"Could we hire you to help us with something, mister?" A white-haired boy's eyes lit up.

"Who are you?" Madara did not agree immediately.

"We're second-year students at the Ninja Academy, and we're having trouble with our assessment." The white-haired boy looked a little dejected.

"Assessment?" Madara was curious. Had that fellow Uchiha Mu come up with something new again?

"It's an assessment Teacher Mu set for us. We have to stay upside down on a tree for five minutes without falling while Matatabi pressures us with her killing intent." The white-haired boy looked thoroughly troubled as he explained.

Matatabi, also known as the Two-Tails, was a mass of chakra. The moment she released even a little killing intent, they all fell to the ground.

Madara instantly understood Uchiha Mu's intentions and said, "All right."

"Great! Nisen, I'm Takeuchi, and they're Xiaoyu and Imai. Come with us." With that, Takeuchi grabbed Madara's hand and ran toward their destination.