After getting the tools, Fū Uchiha, with Uchiha Takashi's tacit approval, took the dozen or so Uchiha clansmen who had followed them from the clan to the iron mine.
Uchiha Takashi was not worried at all about anything going wrong, or someone escaping and leaking news that the Uchiha were here.
What was there to worry about? Those dozen or so Uchiha clansmen had all awakened their eyes and were strong fighters. If they could let someone escape while fighting a bunch of ordinary bandits, they might as well not come back!
Even if they were too arrogant and actually let some bandits escape through carelessness, it would still be fine. After all, iron mines had always been something clans fought over, and the daimyo had never explicitly forbidden clans from seizing such things.
As long as it was not an official mine belonging to the Land of Fire, there was no problem. An abandoned iron mine like this produced nothing for the Land of Fire anyway, so the country naturally would not interfere.
Even if word spread, the Senju Clan would only think the Uchiha Clan was looking for iron mines to work as usual. After all, every clan did this from time to time, merely expanding iron production. Who would complain about having too many iron mines?
Meanwhile, Fū Uchiha quickly arrived near the camp from earlier with the dozen or so clansmen.
The Uchiha behind him swiftly scattered and split into two teams. One patrolled the perimeter to ensure no one slipped out of the camp.
The other followed Fū Uchiha and quickly advanced into the camp.
There was no concealing their movements, nor any so-called feint. Fū Uchiha chose to launch a frontal assault right from the start.
Before the bandits could even react or figure out what was happening, a blast of fire had already burned through the camp's gate.
"What happened? What happened?" a minor leader asked, staring at the burned-out gate in confusion.
His answer was a kunai that suddenly flew out from inside the gate. Before the minor leader could say another word, he croaked.
The other bandits did not even see clearly what had happened before them. They only felt a chill at their throats, then their eyes rolled back as they were sent to the Pure Land.
The surrounding bandits looked at the minor leader lying on the ground and silently swallowed, staring at the main gate in terror.
"Surrender and you'll be spared!" Shouting these words, the Uchiha clansmen charged in through the main gate.
To the underlings, these words sounded like heavenly music. Their eyes lit up, and they immediately threw their weapons aside and knelt.
Were you kidding? Had you seen how he took out that minor leader? Resist? With their pathetic strength?
The underlings: We're bad, but we're not stupid!
After the underlings on the perimeter personally witnessed the Uchiha clansmen enter the main building and emerge soon afterward carrying blood-soaked blades, every last spark of resistance or desire to flee was completely extinguished.
Although ninja were far removed from their lives, it was not as though they had never seen any. At the very least, they had known about ninja before becoming bandits.
And the people attacking them now were clearly ninja. What else was there to say? Brother, just kneel and surrender. Hurry up, or a lord ninja might casually slaughter you, and then you'd be done for.
Only then did Fū Uchiha slowly walk in. The entire camp was already under control, and those who had tried to escape had already been slaughtered by the Uchiha on the perimeter.
The whole thing had taken no longer than an incense stick to burn. In an extremely short time, the Uchiha Clan had taken control of this iron mine camp.
After coldly surveying his surroundings, Fū Uchiha asked in an icy voice, "Who's in charge here?"
Hearing this, the underlings kneeling with their hands over their heads lowered their heads even further. Not one answered.
Seeing how silent everyone was, Fū Uchiha thought the leader was hiding, so he said coldly, "If you don't come out, we'll kill everyone here! Do you think you can hide?"
At these words, a stir ran through them. One underling pointed at the main building and said, "I-in there. I just saw your subordinate go in and come out carrying a bloody blade."
Hearing this, Fū Uchiha took a deep breath, then turned to the surrounding Uchiha clansmen and swore, "Hey, where are your brains? Alive! Leave them alive! What the hell were you thinking, killing their boss?"
The Uchiha clansmen who had entered the main building and done the killing exchanged looks, then guiltily turned their heads away, avoiding Fū Uchiha's eyes.
Just as Fū Uchiha was glaring at those clansmen as though he wanted to stab them, several Uchiha conducting the search suddenly called out.
"Lord Fū, there's someone else over here!"
Fū Uchiha's attention was drawn over. He instructed a nearby Uchiha clansman to watch all the underlings, then went to the bandits' storeroom.
The door slowly swung open, revealing a young girl curled up in a corner. Her head was lowered firmly, and she kept trying to bury herself deeper in the shadows.
"Who are you?" Fū Uchiha asked expressionlessly.
Only after hearing his question did the girl slowly lift her head and look at Fū Uchiha. In a faint voice, she said, "My name is Tsukina Fujiwara. They brought me here by force.
"They robbed my caravan, captured me, and locked me in this storeroom."
Fū Uchiha looked the girl's clothes up and down. They were indeed more expensive than what those bandits wore, and by observing her microexpressions, he confirmed that she was not lying.
Fū Uchiha nodded. "So you were captured. Well, you're safe now. We're from the Uchiha Clan. This bandit camp belongs to us Uchiha now."
Tsukina Fujiwara's eyes brightened at the name. She knew the Uchiha Clan-the famous mercenary powerhouse of the Land of Fire, hailed as the number one clan in the Shinobi World.
Most importantly, although the Uchiha had all sorts of bad reputations among the clans for being belligerent, crazy, and unreasonable,
within the Land of Fire, their reputation was uniformly positive, consisting entirely of praise for the Uchiha's work as mercenaries.
Looking at the girl, Fū Uchiha had no idea what she was thinking. He turned and walked toward the door without bothering about where she would go.
After all, Uchiha Takashi had said he wanted these burly bandits. One look at the girl's thin arms and legs made it clear she could not mine. Keeping her would only mean feeding an idle mouth.
When the girl noticed Fū Uchiha heading outside, she immediately tried to jog after him. But for some unknown reason, she had barely stood up and taken two steps before she tripped over flat ground.
Hearing the noise behind him, Fū Uchiha turned around, looked at the girl sprawled on the ground, and sighed helplessly.
He walked over and tucked the girl under his arm, ignoring the shocked looks of the surrounding Uchiha clansmen as he carried her outside.