The confident smile on Uchiha Madara’s face grew even wider.
At this moment, he only felt that Uchiha Makoto’s well-intentioned advice was nothing more than alarmism.
Advice given to him in private could be considered a warning, but Uchiha Makoto voicing such advice publicly could be regarded as a challenge to Uchiha Madara’s personal authority.
However, Uchiha Madara didn’t care about that in the slightest.
It was both his trust in Senju Hashirama and his confidence in his own strength.
He was the proudest of the Uchiha, and in this vast shinobi world, the only person he considered worthy of him was Senju Hashirama.
As long as Senju Hashirama supported him…
the two of them would establish a shinobi village in the future, and with their combined strength, they would surely realize the ideal they had sworn to pursue together as children.
But…
The mysteries of fate were truly difficult to put into words.
People always had unrealistic fantasies about their white moonlight.
After the Hidden Leaf was established…
Senju Hashirama would change his heart!
Uchiha Madara would still be the same Uchiha Madara he had always been, but Senju Hashirama would have become the First Hokage.
He firmly believed that protecting the village was equivalent to protecting the people, the shinobi, and the children.
Therefore, in the eyes of the First Hokage, whether it was so-called fatherly affection or brotherly affection, as long as something threatened the future of the Leaf, it had to be eliminated!
Just as Senju Hashirama had said: “Whether it’s my friend, my brother, or even my child, if they dare to become enemies of the village, I will never let them off!”
“Since Lord Madara has already made up his mind and made his choice, then I can only say this much.”
“I will respect Lord Madara’s wishes and no longer seek revenge against the Senju clan.
But I also won’t establish a shinobi village together with the Senju clan.
I choose to leave the Uchiha clan.”
Uchiha Makoto couldn’t be bothered to continue arguing with Uchiha Madara about the Senju clan.
You can’t teach someone who refuses to learn, but experience will teach them a lesson.
Once Uchiha Madara experienced being stabbed in the back and found that none of his clansmen were willing to follow him, he would understand just how far-sighted the words he had spoken today really were.
“So that’s what you’re thinking…
I understand.”
Uchiha Madara nodded.
He didn’t say much about Uchiha Makoto’s decision.
The hatred accumulated between the Uchiha and Senju clans over a thousand years was simply beyond measure.
And it wasn’t only the Senju and Uchiha clans.
The other shinobi clans were the same…
During the Warring States Period, an unspoken rule had even emerged that shinobi traveling outside their clan territory absolutely could not reveal their surnames.
Otherwise, there was no telling when they might be unlucky enough to encounter a shinobi from an enemy clan.
The fate of such an unlucky person went without saying.
Training a shinobi was not cheap.
As the saying went, “Rather than making yourself stronger, weaken your enemy instead.” Shinobi from enemy clans were more than happy to seize such an opportunity and make a killing!
“If you want to leave the Uchiha clan, I can give you some traveling money and let you leave the Uchiha.”
Uchiha Madara could see how determined Uchiha Makoto was, and he didn’t try to stop him.
He even took the initiative to offer Uchiha Makoto some money so that he could leave the clan.
Wandering through the shinobi world alone was an extremely dangerous thing.
And if you didn’t have any money on you, you could truly end up in a situation where even a capable man was helpless because he didn’t have a single coin.
However, regarding this matter…
Uchiha Madara had somewhat underestimated Uchiha Makoto…
Hmm…
No, it would be more accurate to say that he had overestimated Uchiha Makoto’s bottom line.
Every country had its laws, and every trade had its rules.
The Uchiha clan had been passed down through the shinobi world for a thousand years, and the Uchiha family name had resounded throughout the entire shinobi world for generations.
They were a renowned great clan of the shinobi world, so Uchiha Madara himself, as well as the entire Uchiha clan, were actually very disciplined.
When purchasing kunai, shuriken, cultivation medicines, and the supplies needed for the clan’s daily consumption, they always paid every last coin.
They would never engage in forced buying and selling or rely on their power to freeload….
The proud Uchiha truly cared about their reputation!
But Uchiha Makoto was different.
This time, he was setting out to start his own business.
He wanted to establish a shinobi village independently, just like Orochimaru.
The Uchiha clan had long since passed through the stage of primitive capital accumulation, while Uchiha Makoto was about to experience this difficult, sinful, and bloody stage himself…
Tell him, what major company didn’t get its hands a little gray, or even black, when it was first getting started?
There was even a certain bold company that dared to issue tokens designed to rival a currency, with a one-to-one exchange rate.
Although it was later crushed by the authorities, that didn’t stop it from becoming an internet industry giant!
As long as you could launder your reputation and go legitimate later, that was enough.
Uchiha Makoto really didn’t mind using his own strength to do a little dirty work.
Of course…
Uchiha Makoto would never be stupid enough to imitate Kakuzu and make money by mindlessly taking bounty missions, either.
A gangster who doesn’t use his brain can only be a patsy for life.
If he wanted to make serious money, he would have to do business like Jimmy.
Collusion between officials and merchants, buying low and selling high—those were all routine operations.
According to Uchiha Makoto’s grand plan…
He first had to earn his initial capital, then establish a company and invest in a particular industry.
After that…
he would use his force to establish a monopoly and obtain huge monopoly profits.
Then he would open a bank, absorb deposits from the public, and use the company as collateral to borrow money from the bank, expanding the company’s scale and generating even more profits.
Eventually, those profits would flow back into the bank, and the cycle would repeat…
stepping on his own left foot with his right foot and spiraling straight into the heavens!
This approach did carry a little risk.
After all, for any company, expanding production could be considered a massive gamble, and there was certainly no shortage of bosses who lost that gamble.
But Uchiha Makoto had a way to deal with it.
If something went wrong with the company midway and caused a liquidity crisis, he would immediately liquidate the company.
Either sell all those bad assets and debts to some sucker, or simply declare bankruptcy, dump the bad debts, grab the cash, and run!
Although this approach was a little…
beastly.
It would definitely make money!
In this deceitful and treacherous shinobi world, a shinobi could spend their entire life being tormented by their conscience, but they absolutely couldn’t spend their entire life suffering and living in poverty.
Otherwise, what was the point of becoming a shinobi in the first place?
Those shinobi clans really were hopeless.
A thousand years had passed, and they were still making money by taking missions!
Even Senju Hashirama, who could already be considered a progressive thinker…
after establishing the strongest village in the shinobi world, the Hidden Leaf, had merely rationalized the classification of missions.
He wanted to assign corresponding missions according to a shinobi’s abilities and strength, but he hadn’t changed the fundamental survival logic of shinobi at all—shinobi accepted missions to survive, and sooner or later, they would die somewhere in the shinobi world.
Uchiha Makoto had a much greater ambition.
If he was going to build a shinobi village, he would make it the biggest one.
And if he was going to make money, he would make the most money possible with the least amount of effort!
Uchiha Madara was willing to give him some money to leave the Uchiha clan, and Uchiha Makoto was happy about that.
But he didn’t like the idea of receiving only a small sum of money.
Whether in the twenty-first century or in a shinobi village, what was the most expensive thing?
Without a doubt!
It was talent!