— — — — — — —
"Kitaro, you're back!"
Hearing the commotion, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Shisui, and Uchiha Itachi quickly made their way over.
In the past six months, Uchiha Kitaro had returned several times, but he had spent most of his time in Empress Hancock's chambers or Vice Admiral Gion's bedroom. Those two women alone had occupied nearly all his attention.
As a result, he hadn't visited this place even once.
Of course, the rest of the Uchiha clan knew that Kitaro had ventured into another world.
"Brother Kitaro, how was the world you visited?"
Shisui eagerly asked. He had always wanted to follow Kitaro and explore new worlds.
However, since Kitaro was away, someone needed to hold down the fort, so Shisui had stayed behind.
"Not bad. That world is more advanced than this one. The combat system there is quite similar to ninjutsu, with various elemental-based attacks."
"However, compared to ninjutsu, it's slightly more specialized—most people focus on a single branch of magic."
"A more advanced world?!"
"Then, Kitaro, does that mean…"
Uchiha Fugaku now fully understood the value of entire worlds.
Once, the Uchiha clan had struggled to survive under Konoha's suppression, but now, they were on the verge of establishing an empire, ruling over multiple worlds.
Even though Kitaro hadn't appeared much in this world recently, and new strong individuals had emerged, he was still widely acknowledged as the strongest man in the world.
Under Kitaro's influence, the Uchiha Security Company had rapidly expanded over the past two years. More and more countries were opting to hire their services.
After all, the Heavenly Tribute imposed by the World Government was absurdly high. Many nations that couldn't afford the fees—or simply wanted to pay less—chose to sever ties with the World Government and work with the Uchiha Security Company instead.
Despite having their business blatantly stolen, the World Government remained eerily quiet, as if nothing had happened.
But the more silent they were, the more likely they were scheming something big in the shadows.
Not that Kitaro cared. Not only had his strength grown even further, but the Uchiha Security Company was no pushover either.
Shisui and Itachi were a given. After two years of training, Shisui could now match the former Marine Admirals in strength, while Itachi had truly reached the level of an Admiral.
Uchiha Fugaku, despite his unassuming demeanor, had also improved significantly, now rivalling Marine Headquarters' Admirals in combat power.
Then there were the company's elite captains: Marco the Phoenix, Diamond Jozu, Flower Sword Vista, Jinbe, Hatake Kakashi, Might Guy, and lastly, Orochimaru.
After two years of development, all of them had grown strong enough to be considered Admiral-level fighters.
On top of that, the Nine-Tailed Fox was stationed here as well.
Aside from these top-tier warriors, the Uchiha clan's elite members had also made significant progress. With the introduction of breathing techniques and Haki, their strength had skyrocketed.
Now, every single one of them was an elite among elites—stronger than most pirates with bounties exceeding 100 million berries.
With such a force, they had already surpassed any of the Four Emperors' crews. However, to outsiders, the Uchiha Security Company seemed on par with a Four Emperors' crew—only Kitaro's strength stood out as overpowered.
This was mainly due to the inheritance from Whitebeard's forces. Without it, they wouldn't have been as formidable as a Four Emperors' crew.
Most people still refrained from provoking the Uchiha Security Company solely because of Kitaro—the world's strongest man.
They had no idea that the company's true strength had already reached another level.
"That world is promising and highly suitable for our Uchiha clan's development, but we should wait until our empire is fully established before expanding there."
Uchiha Fugaku nodded in agreement. As things stood, the Uchiha clan was already stretched thin managing their current territories.
Even if they assigned every clan member to an administrative position, there still wouldn't be enough personnel.
Now, Fugaku truly understood the importance of having a large population. No wonder the Third Hokage's Sarutobi clan had such a vast number of family members.
The Uchiha clan had tried to expand their numbers, but the wars had cost them dearly. Each ninja war had seen a significant number of Uchiha casualties, as Konoha always deployed them in high-risk battles.
It was precisely because of these countless sacrifices that the Uchiha clan had gained its fearsome reputation.
Before, Fugaku had thought this was normal. Ninja had to grow stronger through battle, after all. Despite his dislike for Konoha's upper echelon, he had still considered the Uchiha part of the village.
So, naturally, he had sent Uchiha members into combat. But when he later discovered that the Sarutobi clan had over ten thousand members, he realized just how deceitful the Third Hokage had been.
"That makes sense."
"Brother Kitaro… Your aura feels different somehow…"
Itachi observed Kitaro carefully. He could sense an invisible pressure radiating from him.
Shisui was intrigued. "Yeah! Brother Kitaro, if that world is more advanced, then its power system must be incredibly strong, right?"
As men, the pursuit of strength was irresistible, and Uchiha men were no exception.
Both Shisui and Itachi had spent a lot of time honing their Haki. Under Kitaro's guidance, they had even awakened their Conqueror's Haki.
With ninjutsu, swordsmanship, Haki, and breathing techniques complementing one another, their strength had skyrocketed.
Now that Kitaro had said the world he visited was more advanced, they couldn't help but be curious about the power it offered.
"Yeah, I gained quite a lot this time."
"Brother Kitaro, how about a sparring match?"
Shisui asked eagerly. He wanted to experience firsthand the power Kitaro had acquired, and at the same time, gauge the gap between their abilities.
"A spar, huh? Looks like you've improved quite a bit during this time. Well, it's been a while since we last tested our strength as brothers. This could be a good opportunity to see just how far you've come."
.
.
.