No one knew what Uchiha Takashi and the grand elder discussed, but their conversation lasted late into the night.
And that very night, while everyone else slept, quite a few clan members in the Uchiha Clan Compound put on black night gear and assembled in front of Naka Shrine.
The grand elder counted them, then said to Uchiha Takashi, "Everyone is here. As planned, we have two clan members with mitsudomoe, five with futatsudomoe, and ten with single tomoe."
Uchiha Takashi nodded, then took two steps forward and addressed the clan members. "Everyone, the Uchiha Clan needs you to carry out a secret mission.
"This mission will determine whether our Uchiha Clan can stand at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World in the future. Please give it your all!"
The seventeen clan members assembled there immediately straightened their backs, their faces filled with pride. Bringing glory to the clan was engraved in every Uchiha's DNA.
Uchiha Takashi swept his gaze over the clan members, then put on his own night gear, turned, and raced off in one direction.
The clan members quickly followed behind him, speeding into the distance.
Ninjas moved extremely fast. In just one short hour, they had already covered seventy kilometers!
Their destination lay not far ahead: a thoroughly dilapidated village with barely any inhabitants left.
Although the Land of Fire was vast, the territory its daimyo could actually control was very small, especially during the war-torn Warring States Period.
In the Land of Fire, only the capital and its surrounding areas were under the daimyo's absolute control. The Daimyo of the Land of Fire did not even bother with the other regions.
One village was wiped out today, another disappeared tomorrow. Such things were commonplace, and the Daimyo of the Land of Fire paid them no mind at all.
This was precisely the loophole Uchiha Takashi intended to exploit. The Uchiha Clan's main base was already quite far from the territory under the Daimyo of the Land of Fire's actual control.
Many surrounding villages were caught in the fighting and could disappear any day. The Daimyo of the Land of Fire did not even send anyone here to collect taxes.
What Uchiha Takashi intended to do was send a few clan members to take control of a village. The daimyo would not notice anyway.
Looking at the dilapidated village before them, one clan member bit his lower lip. "Third Elder... isn't this village a little too run-down? Should we find a better one?"
These people already knew about the Uchiha Clan's plan to choose a place as a base, so they all wanted a better village, which would make development easier.
Uchiha Takashi shook his head. "No, this is the place. If we choose a more developed village, it might attract the Daimyo of the Land of Fire's attention.
"After all, how could the Daimyo of the Land of Fire fail to notice a village capable of surviving in the cracks between the Senju and Uchiha clans?"
A dilapidated village like this was exactly what Uchiha Takashi wanted. It had to look as though it was on its last legs and about to fall apart. Only then would it avoid drawing attention.
Since Uchiha Takashi had spoken, the clan members behind him said no more. With a few flickers, they entered the village without attracting anyone's attention.
At that very moment, inside the village chief's house...
The village chief was counting the banknotes in his hands. "Three thousand eight hundred, three thousand nine hundred..." When he finished, a greedy smile spread across his face, and he set the banknotes on the table.
At a glance, the entire table was covered in neatly arranged banknotes.
This was all the village chief's handiwork. He regularly squeezed money out of the villagers, charging them one fee today and another tomorrow.
If anyone dared refuse to pay, he would have the village's samurai beat them up. Under the samurai's oppression, the villagers could only obediently hand over every bit of their savings.
Yet the village chief was not satisfied with this. Controlling the village's only armed force, he lived like a local emperor.
Calling him a bully who preyed on the common people would have been flattering him. Bleeding the people dry was an everyday occurrence.
He also had people search the villagers' homes for pretty young girls, for no reason other than to satisfy his perverse tastes.
Many of the girls he defiled could not bear it afterward and took their own lives.
The villagers here either fled because they could no longer endure it or were literally squeezed to death by him.
This caused the village's population to dwindle by the day, plummeting from over ten thousand to fewer than a few hundred. Such were this village chief's accomplishments over his ten years in office.
"Heh heh heh..." The village chief let out a sleazy chuckle as he gazed at the stacks upon stacks of banknotes before him.
He had already worked out his plan. This village was clearly on its last legs, and he was ready. Once it collapsed, he would simply say it had been destroyed in the fighting.
He would take all his savings to a nearby large town and live a life above the common folk.
For now, however, he still felt he did not have enough banknotes and planned one final round of extortion to squeeze every last bit of value from the villagers here.
"Samurai!" the village chief called outside. A samurai clad in armor slowly walked in. "My lord, what are your orders?"
The village chief stroked his chin. "Go to those lowlifes' houses and make them pay this month's breathing fee. If they refuse..." He made a gesture, signaling that they should be disposed of outright.
The fully armed samurai nodded and headed outside, while the village chief sat at home, fantasizing about the heaps of banknotes the samurai would bring him.
However, the samurai had barely left when he heard metal clashing outside the window. Then came a faint crack, and the figure outside collapsed with a dull thud.
The village chief shuddered all over and tentatively called out the window, "Samurai! Samurai!" But the answer he expected from his samurai never came.
Instead, his door was kicked open, and several people dressed in black walked in, holding samurai swords that were still dripping blood.
Uchiha Takashi casually tossed his sword aside, then addressed the village chief. "You're the chief of this village?"
By now, the village chief was on the verge of wetting himself in terror. Holy shit, who exactly are these people? They dealt with the strongest samurai under my command just like that?
But even though he was trembling all over with fear, the village chief still tried to put on an imposing air. "That's right, I'm the chief of this village!
"Who are you people? How dare you barge into my house! Do you believe I'll call the samurai over right now and have you all arrested?"
Having received a definite answer, Uchiha Takashi nodded and signaled to a clan member beside him, who stepped forward and drew a kunai.
Seeing the tip of the kunai gleaming in the candlelight, the village chief dropped to his knees with a thump. "My lords, don't kill me... I have plenty of money! Take all of it! I only beg you to spare me!"
Following the village chief's gesture, Uchiha Takashi looked at the table covered in banknotes, walked over expressionlessly, and collected them all.
When he took all the banknotes, the village chief thought he had been spared and immediately let out a long sigh of relief. But the next second, the kunai plunged into his chest.
He stared at them in disbelief. You took the money, so why are you still killing me?
Uchiha Takashi turned his head and glanced at him. "Once we kill you, all your money is ours anyway."
Having received his answer, the village chief opened his mouth. "You... you killed... an official... of the Land of Fire. Aren't you... afraid the daimyo... will hunt you down?"
At those words, the corners of Uchiha Takashi's mouth curled up. He slowly walked over to the village chief and gazed at him silently with those eyes.
The moment the village chief saw those distinctive scarlet eyes, he breathed his last. So they're Uchiha. Nothing I can do about that.