After a brief celebration, Shimoku turned his attention to pressing matters.
Though they had just barely escaped from Konoha, the danger was far from over. This was no time to relax.
"Terumi, how many people made it out? What are our casualties?"
"Terumi was one of Shimoku's trusted allies—an impressive recruit at just seventeen. He'd recently joined Konoha's Police Force and already possessed the strength of a Tokubetsu Jonin. At only seventeen, he was decisive yet thorough—truly dependable."
"Including you, Young Master, a total of 419 have escaped safely. During the escape, three clansmen were killed in action, and another five were captured..."
Shimoku frowned slightly, clearly displeased.
Despite himself and Fugaku drawing away most of Konoha's forces during their battle, losing eight people on top of that still frustrated him greatly.
"Eight lives lost..."
"Tch! Those Konoha ninja sure didn't pull any punches!"
"Putting this aside for now, I will find a way to rescue those who were captured."
"Lord Terumi, did your mission succeed?"
Shimoku asked seriously, turning toward another clansman on his right.
"Yes, Young Master! It was successful!"
"This," said Uchiha Terumi, cutting in quickly, "is all the money we looted from Konoha's treasury. As per your instructions, we only took half of what was there—a total of seventy-eight million taels!"
(One tael equals ten yen—or about six-tenths of a US dollar. That meant the total haul came out to around forty-eight million dollars. The treasury was stocked with actual gold and silver coins; meanwhile, the Administrative Department managed all the other billions in paper currency reserves.)
Uchiha Terumi hurriedly opened his backpack, revealing numerous spatial scrolls inside—more than a dozen!
Each scroll contained vast quantities of stolen treasure taken directly from Konoha's treasury.
Konoha probably never expected this—
Those who defected from the Uchiha clan would dare to raid their own treasury!
Therefore, the guards outside the treasury stood little chance against the genjutsu mastery of an Uchiha ninja.
Seeing this, Shimoku couldn't help but feel delighted.
This huge pile of silver truly was the real treasure!
In truth, using the chaos to raid Konoha's treasury had been one of Shimoku's plans all along.
After all, he wasn't escaping alone—he had over four hundred family members with him.
Once they settled down and founded a new village,
the daily necessities of food, shelter, clothing, and travel for the entire clan would require massive amounts of money—an endless expense.
And don't even get started on how much money it'd take to build a whole village from nothing.
His reason for rebelling against Konoha was to pursue a freer, wealthier, and better life.
Not to lead everyone into becoming savages living in the wild!
Moreover, branded as rogue ninja, taking high-paying missions from major countries wouldn't be possible any time soon.
So this huge haul from Konoha's treasury?
That was their startup capital.
Seventy-eight million taels—while insignificant compared to the Five Great Nations, for them, it was more than enough.
And why only take half instead of everything?
Simply to prevent Konoha from going too far in desperation.
If everything had been taken, causing Konoha's economy to collapse and fall into crisis,
Sarutobi and the others might really do something extreme.
They'd definitely have the entire village hunting them down like prey…
"Great job! With this money, our clan shall reclaim its former glory!"
"All thanks to Young Leader's wisdom and brilliant strategy!"
Tō Uchiha grinned excitedly as he praised.
After all, robbing Konoha's treasury was something he hadn't even dared dream of before!
For Tō, this was by far the most satisfying heist in over twenty years!
All of it owed to this Young Leader!
"Alright, no need for flattery."
"Gather everyone. We depart in one minute. Destination: the Land of Rice Fields!"
"I've already arranged personnel there. They'll properly receive and settle the clan members so they won't have to worry."
Shimoku quickly issued orders without hesitation.
"Yes sir!"
"Once ready, you go ahead first. I need to meet someone and will catch up soon."
"Yes sir!"
...
A few minutes later, over 400 Uchiha clansmen began their march again, organized and ready.
Heading toward the Land of Rice Fields.
The Land of Rice Fields bordered the Land of Fire, lying directly north of it.
At a normal ninja's speed, it would take just over a day to arrive.
But among these 400-plus people, more than half were elders, women, and children—not ninja.
Their stamina and physical strength were quite weak. Reaching the Land of Rice Fields would probably take at least three days.
Meanwhile,
they still needed to erase their tracks,
block pursuit from Konoha ninjas,
solve food and water supplies… countless issues.
This was no easy feat—any single misstep could spell total disaster.
Of course, that was a problem for the future.
Right now, another difficulty still remained to be solved.
...
"Come out! No need to hide anymore!"
Shimoku lightly called out.
Then he reached forward, lifting the backpack at his feet, gently stroking the many Spatial Scrolls inside.
[Ding! Congratulations! You obtained valuable points]
[Would you like to deposit the value points? 7820 Gold Coins will be added.]
(Note: Deposited silver will not vanish physically.)
[Deposit successful. Congratulations! You received 7820 Gold Coins.]
[Current balance: 7828 Gold Coins]
Seeing the system prompt flash through his mind,
and witnessing this sudden huge influx of wealth, Shimoku's heart danced with joy.
After all, he had saved his Lucky Money for ten whole years while living in Konoha.
Starting at age seven, doing countless odd jobs,
even using knowledge from his past life secretly to earn money,
he had barely managed to save ten million ryo, deposited for 1000 Gold Coins, just enough to exchange for the Mangekyo Sharingan!
Now, in just an instant,
he gained nearly eight thousand coins—this was real fast wealth building!
From now on, those expensive abilities in the system wouldn't seem unreachable anymore!
[Flying Thunder God], [Sage Mode], [Eight Gates], [Rinnegan], [Baryon Mode]... I want them all!
Indeed,
how could working ever compare to the quick riches of robbery!
Thus, this sudden windfall of nearly 8000 Gold Coins filled Shimoku with confidence.
His mindset grew calmer facing the powerful enemy about to appear.
Compared to Konoha's strategic reserve vault, the paper currency stored in the Administrative Department should be even greater—at least several billion in reserve.
However, those notes couldn't be exchanged for gold coins, and the defenses guarding the Administrative Department inside the Hokage Tower were even stronger. That's why Shimoku hadn't ordered an assault there.
...
As Shimoku shouted, not long afterward, a blurred figure appeared not far behind and gradually solidified.
Without a doubt, it was Obito—who had been chasing them all along.
With [Kamui] at his disposal, his travel speed far exceeded that of ordinary ninjas.
As long as he determined their direction, catching up with these defected Uchiha wasn't difficult at all.
"I can't believe you actually detected me!"
Obito leapt down from a tree branch and faced off against Shimoku, his eyes filled with mild surprise and caution.
He was right—the Uchiha Clan always produced prodigies now and then!
Like Shisui in the past, Itachi more recently, and now this Shimoku standing before him.
All of them monstrous geniuses!
When he himself was around this kid's age, he'd still been the dead last!
Yet this brat had already awakened his third power—[Susano'o]!
He'd even successfully led an entire clan in betrayal, manipulating the mighty Hidden Leaf Village as easily as turning his palm.
Truly terrifying!
"This kind of monster cannot be allowed to live!"
"Otherwise, he could threaten my Eye of the Moon plan!"
Obito silently concluded within himself.
To him, any threat that might possibly stop him from creating a 'new world' for Rin must be eliminated!
...
"The Sharingan? Are you also one of the Uchiha, or did you steal their eyes?"
Shimoku asked with mock ignorance.
He didn't rush to expose Obito's identity or his plans.
Doing so would likely force big bro Obito into a life-or-death battle with him!
Though he himself was powerful, defeating someone like Obito—who wielded [Kamui] and was slippery as a fish—was no easy feat.
Let alone directly wiping out Akatsuki entirely; that would still be quite difficult.
Especially Nagato—he didn't have that invincible tongue technique.
Therefore, provoking irreversible hostility with Akatsuki wasn't advisable yet.
The best course of action was to give Obito a brutal beating, making him back off and buying himself more development time.
Once he had enough resources under his belt, he could simply crush everything head-on.
...
"There's no need for you to know!"
"Soon, you'll be dead anyway."
"Don't worry about the Uchiha who escaped. I'll track them down and deal with them all later!"
Obito declared coldly.
Aside from Rin, he had never really cared for the Uchiha as a whole.
Much less in a twisted world full of war.
As for this Shimoku—though he was monstrous, though he was a genius—
he must've exhausted considerable energy after recently battling Fugaku.
This was exactly the best opportunity to eliminate him!
Tonight, he originally came here to exterminate the Uchiha Clan and collect their Sharingans.
At that moment, Obito would hold absolutely nothing back.
"Come on then. I hope you're tougher than that rotten mutt Danzo!"
Shimoku wasn't one for words either.
He snorted coldly. Then struck without hesitation.
The battle erupted instantly.
Except for that kid Naruto's [Kutogen],
among Ninja, there was no greater language than battle itself.
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