It's over.
At that moment, the despair in Unma's eyes deepened.
This was a madman, a lunatic!
Cold sweat poured from his palms as Unma frantically thought about how to escape.
Just then,
behind the mysterious man, a wandering ninja crept closer, preparing a sneak attack.
A glimmer of hope flashed through Unma's eyes, and he prayed fervently.
Akun, I'm counting on you!!!
If you can deal with this lunatic, I'll raise your monthly pay by two hundred!
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
A water bullet the size of a basketball shot toward the mysterious man's back.
Feeling that this wasn't enough to guarantee success, Akun drew his katana at the same time and swiftly closed in.
Shisui merely stood where he was and tilted his head slightly, dodging the Ninjutsu from his blind spot behind him.
Behind him, a cold gleam flashed across Akun's katana as he swung with all his strength at the mysterious man's neck!
Cruelty and madness filled his eyes! It was as though he could already see the mysterious man's head hitting the ground.
At that same instant, Unma, who stood facing Shisui, also broke into an ecstatic expression.
But...
Unma's flushed, broad face quickly turned deathly pale again.
The madness in Akun's eyes had yet to fade when he suddenly realized that the world seemed to be turning upside down.
His field of vision kept tumbling.
Huh...
Why does it seem like... it's my head that fell off...?
At that thought, Akun's consciousness grew hazy.
His face deathly pale, Unma could no longer spare any attention for the warm wetness at his feet.
He simply stared at the mysterious man before him with even greater terror and stammered, "M-m-may I ask, Lord Madara, wh-what are your orders?"
Five minutes later,
Madara Uchiha left with a bountiful haul, seen off enthusiastically by Kozuki Unma.
Konoha,
the Hokage's office building.
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned deeply after listening to Itachi's report.
"So you're saying Fugaku hasn't done anything unusual at all this past month..."
Taking a puff from the pipe at the corner of his mouth, the Third asked, "Then... what arrangements did Fugaku make for the people removed from their posts in the Konoha Military Police Force?"
Living in the clan compound, Itachi had long since learned these basic details.
He answered without hesitation, "Aside from being sent out on compulsory, high-paying missions, they're left idle in the compound most of the time."
"But..."
Itachi's brow furrowed. "Father ordered that all the clan members recalled this way must obtain approval before going out."
"He also held a secret meeting with them."
"Since the meeting wasn't far from our house, I sneaked inside."
A sharp gleam flashed through Sarutobi's eyes as he waited for Itachi to continue.
Itachi went on, "The central point of the meeting was to strictly forbid them from contacting the grand elder or participating in faction activities."
"Setsuna..."
"The representative figure of the Uchiha Clan's Hawk Faction."
The Third murmured thoughtfully, "First, he removed people from office and relinquished authority to improve their reputation. Now he's suppressing the Hawk Faction's growth."
"Could Fugaku really want to coexist peacefully with the village...?"
Itachi gave no answer.
He merely stood silently to one side, his expression cold.
The Third naturally knew full well that Fugaku had acquired a large amount of cash through the sweeping personnel changes in the Konoha Military Police Force.
Some time earlier, Sarutobi had invited the various clan heads to dine separately to gather information, and they had openly admitted to paying for their posts.
On the one hand, they wanted to tell the Hokage that they weren't secretly associating with the Uchiha Clan; this was purely a transaction.
On the other, they were telling Sarutobi that they had already paid and that Fugaku, the police force chief, had relinquished authority, so surely he wouldn't step in and obstruct them.
The Third naturally understood this, so he could only go along with it and let these clan ninja assume their posts legitimately.
Aside from selling posts, Fugaku had also established a clan rule requiring everyone to undertake at least one compulsory mission a month.
Through Itachi's reports, Sarutobi had also noticed the information hidden within: all of them were high-paying missions.
So what exactly did Fugaku want with so much cash?
That was what puzzled Sarutobi.
The Third then asked Itachi, "Have you found out what your father did with all that money?"
Frowning, Itachi answered in equal puzzlement, "There haven't been any additional expenditures in the clan. I've also spent a long time investigating the cash in Father's hands."
"But I still haven't found anything..."
"Instead, when I sneaked into the grand elder's room, I discovered that he had paid out of his own pocket to send people to other villages to buy large quantities of paper for Explosive Tags."
Sarutobi nodded in acknowledgment.
Sarutobi knew all about these little moves by Uchiha Setsuna and the Hawk Faction.
Even Setsuna's ability to send his subordinates out of the village to purchase tag paper, kunai, and other tools
had only been possible with the Third's tacit approval.
After all, as the saying went,
be a whore, but put up a monument to chastity.
A whore who didn't put up a monument to chastity wasn't a good whore.
If conflict broke out between the village and the Uchiha Clan, these little moves of Setsuna's would be blatant evidence.
They could then present the evidence and establish first that the Uchiha Clan had intended to rebel all along, while the village had merely been forced to strike back.
That way, Konoha's residents and the various ninja clans would direct all their condemnation at the Uchiha Clan.
It wouldn't implicate the village's leadership, or even him, the Hokage.
Suddenly attacking one of the village's powerful clans without any evidence, even one with a reputation as poor as the Uchiha Clan's,
would only cause panic among the residents and make the other clans wary and distant.
An old schemer like Sarutobi wasn't foolish enough to do that.
Things had to be done, but methods and reputation still mattered.
In Sarutobi's view, Danzo's approach of stopping at nothing to achieve his goals
was ultimately inferior.
Having obtained no further information, the Third could only instruct Itachi to remain undercover and focus on investigating the flow of funds.
The next day, Shisui returned to the recuperation area, looking physically and mentally exhausted.
In his left hand was a ninja storage scroll.
In his right, he held a black robe and mask for use outside.
Watching his best friend snatch the scroll with gleaming eyes and start counting the money, Shisui said awkwardly, "Next time! Can you please not send me on this kind of mission again?"
At that, Haruma's cheerful expression changed instantly. "What kind of Shinobi World joke is that?!"
Pointing at the pile of cash before him, Haruma shouted angrily, "Look! You made this much in just one month!"
"Such a great business with no overhead, and you still don't want to do it?!!"
"Besides, I've already been incredibly merciful! I agreed to your condition that we'd only rob crooked merchants who've done evil!"
Bang!
Haruma slapped the table and declared righteously, "We're speaking up for the innocent people they've cheated and harmed!"
"You won't even carry out justice on heaven's behalf! What do you want to do, then?!!"
"Shisui Uchiha, you've truly disappointed me!"
"But..."
"I..."
"Well..."
His best friend's reproachful gaze and words left Shisui at a loss for how to argue back.
But whenever he recalled those chuunibyou lines and the looks in those people's eyes,
Shisui, who had experienced social death, truly didn't want to keep doing this.