Both Orochimaru and Uchiha Yoru had already realized that Yoru had broken free from the hierarchy of ordinary shinobi.
From an inconspicuous chess piece, he had leaped directly into becoming one of the players on the shinobi world's board.
Now, every opponent Uchiha Yoru faced was a legendary figure.
The players Orochimaru knew of included the progenitor sages of the Three Great Sage Regions and the progenitor of shinobi, the Sage of Six Paths.
Uchiha Yoru knew of one more.
Black Zetsu—
The supreme filial son who had spent a thousand years scheming in the shadows, determined to split the moon apart and rescue his mother.
What Uchiha Yoru did not know was that Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo's younger brother, Ōtsutsuki Hamura, was also a player of considerable weight.
And in order to better exert his strength and obtain greater benefits, Hamura had already personally descended into the mortal world.
More importantly—
Ōtsutsuki Hamura's most direct target was none other than Uchiha Yoru, the soul thief who had been stealing from the Pure Land.
An interesting situation had emerged.
Uchiha Yoru only knew that he had offended the Sage of Six Paths and was devoting all his attention to guarding against him.
He had no idea that an enemy specifically targeting him had already entered the shinobi world.
Ōtsutsuki Hamura knew that the enemy he needed to deal with was in Konoha.
But he did not know that person was Uchiha Yoru.
Two enormous monsters, both almost completely blind to the other's identity, were quietly lurking inside the muddy waters of the shinobi world, trying to locate and eliminate their enemy.
A proper dark pond.
Despite the astonishing danger involved, this kind of struggle on an entirely different level was precisely the sort of life Orochimaru dreamed of as a long-lived species.
Through the series of concessions Uchiha Yoru had made, Orochimaru confirmed that Yoru had already reached this stage.
That made the snake unbearably envious.
So much so that he couldn't help openly expressing his jealousy.
However—
The Uchiha Yoru whom Orochimaru envied so much was currently worrying to himself.
He clearly understood that his identity had changed.
But after changing his perspective, he was shocked to discover that as a player—
He had no pieces in his hand.
The entire set of Konoha Heroic Spirits he had gone to such lengths to steal could not be casually released now.
One mistake—
And the pulling force of the Pure Land might snatch them back.
When the Third Hokage died and Yoru recovered the Heroic Spirits, he had encountered an enormous force of attraction.
Forget Senju Hashirama, who had remained in the Pure Land for decades.
Even Hatake Sakumo, who had only been there for a few years, had been extremely difficult to retrieve.
What frightened Yoru most in hindsight was Senju Tobirama.
After spending several days inside the Hall of Heroes, Tobirama had absorbed a large amount of divine power and established a stable connection with it.
Yet even he had nearly been dragged away by the Pure Land.
In the end, Uchiha Yoru had been forced to use everything he had.
He split his consciousness into three portions and separately mobilized the power of faith from the River Capital, the national faith of the Land of Demons, and his own spiritual power.
One portion of his consciousness drove the Heart Ape into the Heart Ape Mask.
It combined with the divinity of the Southern Fire Spirit, supporting the persona of Zhurong and allowing it to truly manifest in the shinobi world.
This helped it digest the faith of the River Capital more efficiently, convert it into divine power, and interfere with the Pure Land's attraction.
Another portion of his consciousness entered the Divine Court Hall.
There, it supported the persona of the Heavenly Emperor and linked with the Land of Demons' national divine-power sealing formation, maximizing the Hall of Heroes' pulling force.
The Heavenly Emperor had even personally reached out and seized the weakest among them, Nawaki, before throwing him directly into the Hall of Heroes.
The final portion of Uchiha Yoru's consciousness sank from the Purple Mansion into his dantian, approaching the Golden Core as closely as possible.
Through the Golden Core, he temporarily projected an illusory world over that battlefield.
That world contained only three laws—
Causality.
Space.
And the natural energy of the Five Spirits.
It was crude to an outrageous degree.
Under the crushing pressure of the shinobi world's laws, it lasted only an instant before completely collapsing.
The backlash even inflicted severe injuries on Uchiha Yoru.
But that final move was still a meaningful weight on the scale.
For one instant, it genuinely disrupted the laws governing that piece of space.
As a result, the Pure Land's attraction disappeared for one or two seconds.
The Heavenly Emperor immediately seized the opportunity and increased the pulling force.
That finally completed the retrieval of the Konoha soul set and preserved Yoru's most important starting assets.
Uchiha Yoru understood the truth very clearly.
That had merely been the Pure Land's natural law of death activating.
He had not yet suffered a conscious attack from the Sage of Six Paths.
Otherwise—
With his current strength, that incident might have become a serious disaster.
From that day onward, he never used Edo Tensei again.
And he made up his mind that until the Hall of Heroes became completely stable and the ownership of those souls was truly changed—
He absolutely would not use Edo Tensei.
He had no intention of losing such precious bargaining chips.
On the day the Third Hokage died, the three people who knew the details of Edo Tensei tacitly kept silent.
None of them revealed the secret that a person resurrected through Edo Tensei could potentially be controlled by the caster.
Uchiha Yoru had deliberately concealed it as well.
When he wanted Shimura Danzō to expose his crimes, he would rather go through the trouble of using Sharingan genjutsu than rely on the Edo Tensei body's control mechanism.
But just because he refused to use it—
Didn't mean others wouldn't.
If the souls of the First Hokage, Second Hokage, and Uzumaki Mito returned to the Pure Land and fell into the Sage of Six Paths' hands—
Then Hagoromo could repeat Uchiha Yoru's own trick.
If the deceased Hokage were all resurrected together and unanimously accused Uchiha Yoru of being an evil man—
Claiming that he had used a forbidden technique to manipulate the souls of the previous Hokage and murder the Third Hokage—
Then accused him of colluding with Orochimaru to completely cover up the heinous crime of killing a Hokage and helping Orochimaru steal the Fourth Hokage position—
The legitimacy of Fourth Hokage Orochimaru's rise to power would immediately be shaken.
Konoha's opposition faction would celebrate.
Enemy villages would celebrate even more.
That would be extremely troublesome.
At that point, Uchiha Yoru might be forced to choose—
Should he imitate Uchiha Madara and violently suppress the entire shinobi world?
Or should he decisively withdraw from Konoha, hide in the Land of Demons, and establish a new base from scratch?
"Yoru! Yoru!"
"It's going to burn, meow!"
"It's going to burn, meow!"
Miwa Masayo's startled cries and the sizzling iron plate snapped the distracted Uchiha Yoru back to reality.
He hurriedly checked the squid rings in his hands.
Fortunately—
They hadn't burned.
They were only slightly overcooked.
He quickly brushed them with a layer of oil, flipped them, spread barbecue sauce over the surface, then flipped them again.
The hot oil fried the sauce together with the squid flesh, releasing an overpowering fragrance that made mouths water.
These were glowing squid, the Giant Octopus's favorite food.
The Uchiha had just caught them and specially sent them back to Konoha.
Protected by the Water Release: Fresh Seafood Technique that Uchiha Yoru had taught them, they had survived several thousand kilometers of overland transport and arrived in Konoha alive.
These squid naturally contained natural energy.
They needed nothing more than the simplest teppanyaki preparation to become a delicacy that struck directly at the heart.
And once paired with Uchiha Yoru's secret barbecue sauce—
The flavor was practically torturous.
Anyone who smelled it would find it unbearable.
Miwa Masayo loved this dish more than anything now.
Every day, she pestered her human servant to make teppanyaki for her.
She could eat it five times a day without getting tired of it.
After all, these squid were true deep-sea creatures.
Aside from appearing in Squid Bay during breeding season, they could not be found at any other time.
If she didn't eat her fill over these few days—
She would have to wait until next year.
After eating noisily until she was completely full, Miwa Masayo could only lie sideways on the ground.
Her tongue hung out as she hiccupped.
She was so stuffed that she couldn't even drink water.
Uchiha Yoru was also extremely satisfied.
He held a cup of thick rice wine he had brewed himself and slowly sipped it.
Sure enough—
He couldn't leave.
As long as he controlled the Uchiha clan, maintained a stable alliance with the Fourth Hokage, and operated freely within the Land of Fire at the center of the shinobi world—
He could get whatever he wanted much more easily.
If he wanted delicacies from the Eastern Sea, all he had to do was provide detailed information.
Uchiha shinobi would then travel all the way to the Eastern Sea without complaint, wait there until the right moment, catch the seafood, and expend considerable effort transporting it back.
If he had to do all that personally—
How much time would he waste going back and forth?
So for the sake of living comfortably himself, Uchiha Yoru could not abandon the Uchiha clan.
Nor could he ignore Konoha.
He even needed to maintain sufficient influence over the Land of Fire.
As long as he spent a small portion of his time maintaining control over the Uchiha clan and helping stabilize their position within Konoha—
They could save him ten times, perhaps even a hundred times, that amount of time.
That was an extremely profitable exchange.
And in the matter of catching squid, the entire Uchiha clan benefited.
The Uchiha who carried out the fishing mission received mission rewards.
Ordinary clan members enjoyed free squid dishes.
The children in the Study Association especially benefited, because eating this squid greatly supplemented their nutrition and improved their potential.
And because they had caught far too much squid, the excess had to be sold in the market.
Unexpectedly—
The money earned from sales exceeded the rewards paid out by more than ten times.
The Uchiha clan had made an enormous profit.
The benefits had even begun spilling outward.
First, the Water Release shinobi they hired received a bonus.
He also learned a useful lifestyle ninjutsu.
Second, selling the squid caused the Akimichi clan's barbecue restaurant business to explode.
Even Ichiraku Ramen launched a limited-time squid ramen.
Some merchants even hired Konoha shinobi to transport the squid they purchased to the Fire Capital.
After reselling it, they immediately doubled their money.
Once the chain of profit expanded this far, the positive feedback became enormous.
Without realizing it, a large number of people began regarding the Uchiha clan as a kind of god of wealth.
Their old image of the clan as rigid and inflexible began changing.
Lying beside Miwa Masayo was Uchiha Shisui.
He had witnessed Uchiha Yoru's entire operation.
And after hearing Yoru explain the commercial process in detail, Shisui was deeply shocked and convinced by the logic of money generating more money.
But Uchiha Shisui was still too young.
He had difficulty understanding the changes in people's hearts involved.
He couldn't help asking,
"Clan Head, why did our Uchiha clan make money, yet also receive gratitude from so many people?"
"I remember Clan Head Fugaku gave up clan benefits more than once before."
"It made Grandpa Nobuyin very angry."
"And yet all he received in return was criticism."
Uchiha Yoru took a sip of warm thick rice wine.
He smiled.
"That can only mean my predecessor was a complete idiot."
"The structure of his thinking was entirely one-track."
"Give people money?"
"How could simply giving money ever earn cheers?"
"It'll only earn curses!"
Shisui asked in surprise,
"Why?"
"Because giving money when your interests don't align is essentially charity."
Yoru explained,
"Our Uchiha clan has money."
"But if we simply throw that money out and give it to others, all it does is make us look stupid and rich."
"It may even make people think that if we're this foolish, we don't deserve to have so much money in the first place."
Shisui scratched his cheek foolishly.
He said somewhat embarrassedly,
"I… don't understand."
Uchiha Yoru laughed.
"No need to be embarrassed."
"You're still young."
"You don't have enough life experience yet."
"It's normal not to understand."
"Actually, it becomes easy once you put yourself in someone else's position."
"I'll give you an example."
"Shisui, suppose I assign you a mission."
"You travel to the Fire Capital and deliver a letter to the daimyō."
"You complete the mission perfectly."
"As you're leaving, a noble suddenly throws a bag of money at you and shouts, 'Thank me! Praise me!'"
"What would you think?"
Uchiha Yoru did not merely describe the scene.
He also cast a genjutsu.
Uchiha Shisui instantly fell into what felt like a dream and experienced the event as though it were real.
When the money bag landed at his feet—
He stared at the inexplicable money.
Then heard the fat noble shouting those words.
Anger immediately rose in his heart.
Even with Uchiha Shisui's good temper, he couldn't suppress it.
He kicked the money bag straight back into the noble's chest.
The impact struck the noble like a cannonball.
His entire body folded backward at the waist and slammed into the surrounding wall.
The wall shattered instantly.
And the entire world shattered like a mirror along with it.
Only then did Shisui realize he had been caught in genjutsu.
The lingering fear extinguished his anger and allowed him to calm down again.
Uchiha Yoru smiled.
"See?"
"When someone gives you money for no reason, didn't you feel an indescribable sense of humiliation?"
"You saw a noble."
"And you were a shinobi."
"So your first reaction was to solve the problem physically."
"But what if you were an ordinary civilian?"
"Wouldn't you fear the noble's authority, have no choice but to accept the money, then turn around and curse him as an idiot in your heart?"
Uchiha Shisui nodded.
"I understand."
"So being given money for no reason really can make people feel uncomfortable."
"But…"
Yoru finished the question for him.
"But if someone works for you, then you give them a little extra money, that makes them happy?"
"Experience it yourself…"
"Ah, don't—"
Uchiha Shisui didn't even finish protesting before he fell into genjutsu again.
Shisui had grown up.
He accepted a cargo transport mission from the mission center.
The deadline was tight.
The load was heavy.
He had to hurry.
Carrying the enormous cargo on his back, he traveled for two days and two nights without sleep.
He crossed half the Land of Fire and journeyed over a thousand kilometers before finally reaching the southern Land of Rivers.
When he handed the cargo over to the owner, the fat merchant repeatedly checked everything.
Only after confirming that every item was intact did he stop.
Just as Shisui began feeling annoyed—
The client handed him the mission completion certificate and a bag of money.
In an indifferent tone, he said,
"You worked hard."
"This is an additional mission reward."
Although the man's tone was unpleasant, Shisui ignored that immediately.
He felt that his effort had been acknowledged.
Two days of hard work had earned him a richer reward.
That made him genuinely happy.
"Hmph."
"That annoying merchant isn't actually so bad."
The moment those words left his mouth—
The world shattered again.
Uchiha Shisui escaped from the genjutsu.
This direct experience finally allowed him to understand something about human nature that words and logic alone were difficult to express.
So human hearts were this strange.
When a person had put in sufficient labor and received appropriate compensation—
Then received an additional reward—
They would feel deeply satisfied.
Excitement and happiness would naturally create goodwill.
But if they did nothing and someone simply shoved a bag of money into their hands—
They would feel angry.
As though they had been insulted.
If they were strong enough, they might explode on the spot.
If they were weaker than the other party, they would still curse them internally.
Uchiha Yoru explained,
"That is the human heart."
"So when I follow human nature and promote the squid trade, not only does the Uchiha clan make money, everyone else makes money too."
"And because of that, they feel gratitude toward the Uchiha clan."
"Meanwhile, Clan Head Fugaku went against human nature by directly giving away benefits."
"Not only did the clan become dissatisfied, the outsiders who received those benefits also felt humiliated."
"So he spent money only to buy more dissatisfaction and greater hostility."
"Understanding whether you are moving with or against the human heart—and then acting in accordance with it—is how you achieve twice the result with half the effort."
Uchiha Shisui suddenly felt as though his entire worldview had been reset.
It was as if a golden road had opened before his eyes.
The ideal he had dreamed of since childhood suddenly seemed achievable.
Just like the Shisui of history, this child dreamed of changing the Uchiha clan.
He wanted everyone to share the same ideals and work together to build Konoha.
Uchiha Yoru did not know how Shisui's inner hopes would change after his guidance.
Nor did he know whether the legendary strongest genjutsu—
Kotoamatsukami—
Would still be born.
Truthfully, he genuinely believed it would be better if such a bug-like technique never appeared.
Better for the Uchiha clan.
Better for Uchiha Shisui.
And better for Konoha as well.
The current Konoha and Uchiha clan were already in a very good state.
Their development trend was even better.
They didn't need something capable of disturbing people's hearts to create trouble.
After satisfying the curious little Uchiha Shisui and feeding the gluttonous Miwa Masayo until she was full—
Uchiha Yoru held his cup of thick rice wine and once again returned to the troublesome problem from before.
[Where should I find my chess pieces?]
Excluding the First Hokage, Second Hokage, and the others—
Uchiha Yoru quickly remembered something he had nearly abandoned.
The Divine Court Conference.
As he carefully recalled all the details from the previous three Divine Court Conferences, the more he thought about it—
The more he felt that this organization perfectly suited his needs.
Secret enough.
High-level enough.
Capable of suddenly inserting double agents into all kinds of organizations.
As long as he carefully selected the conference members—
Every single one of them could become an excellent chess piece.
Perhaps no worse than the reincarnations of Indra and Asura.
The problem that had been troubling him finally had a solution.
Uchiha Yoru immediately felt his chest open up.
He drained the thick rice wine in one gulp.
As the rich fragrance of grain spread through his mouth, he felt incomparably satisfied.
[Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, Gamamaru, the White Snake, Katsuyu, and Black Zetsu…]
[Since I'm here, the chessboard of the shinobi world is destined to undergo enormous changes.]
[Let's see who wins in the end.]
[Hm?]
[Strange.]
[Why did my intuition suddenly start warning me?]
[Did I forget something?]
Uchiha Yoru did not dare ignore his intuition.
So he carefully began searching through his memories.
Starting from the sudden realization he experienced in the Land of Demons—
He traced everything backward through time, little by little.
[What exactly did I forget…]
[That would make my intuition sound an alarm like this?]
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