Madara had left Konoha, and not a single clansman had followed him.
The Uchiha compound was anything but peaceful.
Madara had only been gone for a short while, and although none of the clan had left with him, his departure had still dealt them a tremendous blow.
At the very least, no one in the clan dared pick another fight with the Senju inside the village.
Hashirama was still there, after all.
Without Madara, the Uchiha had no one capable of standing against him.
A teenage boy sitting off in a corner ignored the arguments around him.
He stared at the glowing screen before his eyes with a troubled expression.
Of all times for this thing to appear, why now?
He was Uchiha Mu, a transmigrator and practically invisible within the Uchiha Clan.
Using his knowledge of the future, he had taken a massive gamble and transplanted Hashirama’s cells into himself.
He had also learned the Rasengan and Shadow Clone Technique.
Naturally, Wood Release was something he had never dared reveal.
As for how he had gotten Hashirama’s cells in the first place—Hashirama was powerful, but he wasn’t invincible.
Before Madara left the village, the two of them had fought each other on relatively even footing more than once.
Mu had taken advantage of the periods when Hashirama was recovering from battle to collect bits of his flesh.
Eventually, he had gone all in and transplanted the cells into his own body.
Fortunately, the gamble had paid off.
He survived.
Maybe being an Uchiha had something to do with it.
Either way, that had been the limit of what he dared do.
He certainly hadn’t expected a system to awaken on top of everything else—and a management-type system, no less.
If this thing had appeared earlier, he could have struck out on his own and started poaching members from the various ninja clans.
But now?
The Five Great Villages had already been established, and their clans had settled down.
Nobody was going to let themselves be poached anymore.
Worse, Mu had spent years keeping such a low profile that he had never shown any real talent.
As far as the Uchiha were concerned, Uchiha Mu was merely a decent clansman with a three-tomoe Sharingan, some skill with a sword, and respectable Fire Release.
[Please establish your village.]
“I know.”
Mu quietly stood up.
While everyone else was still busy arguing, he slipped away and headed for the Uchiha armory.
His eyes immediately fell on Uchiha Izuna’s sword.
Madara had left it behind.
Mu guessed that seeing the weapon probably reminded Madara too much of his brother, so he had chosen not to take it with him.
“Heh.
Don’t mind if I do.”
Mu decisively took the sword, returned home long enough to leave behind a note, then headed straight for the edge of the village.
Konoha was still under construction, and every ninja clan was busy with its own affairs.
Madara had left, but Hashirama didn’t even have time to grieve.
He needed to stabilize the village and establish relations with the other four great nations.
The village’s barrier system was still far from complete as well.
But with Hashirama around, nobody considered that much of a problem.
So Mu’s departure went unnoticed by everyone.
Everyone except one person.
“Hyuga Ryono, why are you looking for me?”
Mu stared at the young woman from the Hyuga main family.
“Mu, what are you planning?
Are you leaving Konoha?”
Ryono’s Byakugan stared straight at him.
Mu felt a headache coming on.
He was fifteen now.
Before the village system had been established, the various ninja clans had all been enemies.
The Senju and Uchiha had fought the most viciously, especially after producing two legendary monsters like Hashirama and Madara.
Everyone else had practically been reduced to supporting cast.
During that period, this young lady of the Hyuga main family had been attacked while traveling to pay respects at a shrine.
The Byakugan was valuable.
Everyone wanted one, and members of the Hyuga main family rarely ventured outside.
It had been a perfect opportunity for her attackers.
By coincidence, Mu happened to be passing by and saved her.
That was the beginning of this troublesome connection between them.
From then on, the Hyuga heiress would sneak over to the Uchiha compound every now and then just to see him.
Wasn’t that just asking for trouble?
Her visits had raised his profile enormously.
Otherwise, the Uchiha would have known even less about him than they already did.
And after Konoha was founded, things only got worse.
With Hashirama alive, the various clans were at least willing to show him some respect.
Members of the main family could move around Konoha much more freely than they ever could during the Warring States Period.
Of course, once the human pillar known as Hashirama died, both the Hyuga and Uchiha would slowly return to their old habits.
“Yes,” Mu said.
“Want to come with me?
And where are your guards?”
He was genuinely curious what kind of child an Uchiha and a Hyuga might produce.
“Sure.
I came up with an excuse and sent them away.”
Ryono smiled.
As a member of the main family, her parents had already arranged a marriage for her.
But she had never forgotten the boy who saved her that day.
She had originally only come out to get some fresh air, only to spot Mu heading toward the village gates.
“Then let’s go.”
Mu didn’t hesitate.
He motioned for her to follow and quickly left Konoha.
“Where are we going?”
Ryono pulled out her Konoha forehead protector and used it to cover her smooth forehead.
“First, we’re going to visit the nobles of the Land of Fire and get ourselves some money.”
Mu had a clear objective.
Building a village cost money, and the nobles of the Land of Fire had plenty of it.
He wasn’t planning to rob the Daimyo, of course.
There was no need for negotiations or anything so troublesome.
He could simply open with genjutsu, stuff the money into storage scrolls, and leave.
Why waste effort when getting rich could be that easy?
Naturally, if he intended to establish his village inside the Land of Fire, he would have needed a different approach.
But he didn’t.
The next day, Mu handed Ryono a mask and began his operation.
Ryono contributed almost nothing throughout the entire process.
Mu simply looked at people.
The Uchiha’s Sharingan naturally excelled at genjutsu, while most of the nobles only hired bounty ninja for protection.
Those ninja knew two or three jutsu at best and relied on taijutsu for everything else.
How were they supposed to resist an Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan?
Thinking about how he had awakened it still made Mu want to laugh.
He had awakened the Mangekyo in the middle of an especially brutal war, pushed over the edge by the sheer horror of the battlefield.
“Mu, how much are we taking?”
“As much as possible.
But only a little from each family.
We don’t want these nobles getting desperate.
They should only feel like some money mysteriously went missing.”
With Ryono beside him, Mu began what could only be described as a loot-and-run strategy.
He skimmed money from almost every noble family in the Land of Fire.
He never took much from any single household, but small amounts added up quickly.
Then he changed his plans.
He was going to make a tour of the other four great nations as well.
While all the major villages were still under construction, he wanted to gather as much capital as possible for his own village.
Along the way, he could also look for bloodline orphans scattered throughout the various countries.
Ryono sensed the amount of money sealed inside their scrolls and nearly had a heart attack.
Even as a Hyuga, she had never seen this much wealth before.
Were ordinary people unable to become ninja, so they put all their energy into making money instead?
If so, that was wonderful.
After spending an entire day and night giving the nobles of the Land of Fire a thorough “cleansing,” Mu and Ryono left.
His genjutsu had already worn off.
Once one household noticed something was missing, the rest would fall into place like dominoes.
Konoha soon received its very first S-rank mission: travel to the capital of the Land of Fire and capture the thief responsible for stealing the nobles’ money.
Unfortunately for them, Mu was already in the Land of Wind by then.
He took one look at the nobles there and was disgusted.
The combined wealth of every noble he robbed in the Land of Wind couldn’t even compare to what he had gotten from three families in the Land of Fire.
The whole country was simply too poor.
Fortunately, the Lands of Earth and Lightning restored his mood somewhat.
As for the Land of Water, reaching it required a boat, so Mu graciously let them off the hook.
He had plenty of chakra, but he wasn’t going to waste it on a pointless trip overseas.
What if someone boxed him in out there?
Once he finished his tour, he headed toward the Land of Waterfalls.
This time, he couldn’t simply seize territory by force.
That would alarm the other Daimyo and might even cause the Five Great Nations to unite against him.
He needed the great Daimyo to feel safe.
Which meant spending money was unavoidable.
Not that he cared.
It wasn’t his money anyway.