The fire country city pulsed with hidden rhythms — not the obvious beat of noble parades or merchant bells, but the quieter, lower heartbeat of back alley couriers, gambling dens, and ink-dark whispers. Neji, cloaked as Yamato Shion, had learned to hear that beat. It thrummed beneath the streets of Lantern Veins, beneath Ember Row, and now, it led him to the gambling den known only as **Hidden Flames**.
--
It was easy to overlook. Hidden Flames posed as a high-stakes card house, lit by hazy lanterns and protected by three layers of smug bureaucracy: a gate guard, a "membership-only" clause, and a rotating list of false names. But Neji was not entering through the front.
He had paid a drunk cook for the backdoor delivery route. Dressed as a spice runner, he slipped through with a box of "amber root liquor" and descended into the smoky inner hall.
It wasn't the gambling that caught his attention.
It was the **scroll vault** in the back, flanked by two shinobi with subtle chakra signatures and the tattoo of the **Kōhai Clan**, a minor offshoot often employed by the Uchiha for quiet logistics. More importantly, Neji spotted **Riku**, the courier Aya had found.
The boy couldn't have been more than ten, rail-thin and a satchel that looked too big for him.
Neji left the liquor with the kitchen master and slipped out, circling the building twice before Riku emerged and scurried into the alleys.
He followed at a distance. Riku moved fast — not with the trained elegance of a shinobi, but with the desperate efficiency of someone who knew which corners were safe and which ones meant death.
---
They cornered him at the west end of the tanner's row.
Aya stepped out first, as planned.
"Riku," she said. "I'm Aya. I want you to meet someone."
Riku stared at her, then at Neji, narrowing his eyes.
"I don't talk to strangers," he muttered.
Neji knelt to his height. "That's good. Most strangers don't deserve your words."
"Who are you?"
"A merchant. But I deal in people more than goods."
Riku tilted his head. "Like… trafficking?"
Aya groaned. "No, dummy. He's trying to build something. He pays well. And listens."
Neji reached into his coat and handed Riku a small card. On it was a drawing of a hawk, folded into the shape of a coin.
"You delivered a scroll today," Neji said. "Marked with red ring. Do you know what it means?"
"I don't ask questions," Riku muttered. But then he added, "But the guards who took it? They weren't gamblers. They were buying swords. A lot of swords."
That caught Neji's attention.
"Where from?"
"There's a warehouse on the outer district. Said they were building crates to move 'uncut tools.' But I saw them load chakra paper too."
Aya and Neji exchanged glances.
This wasn't just smuggling.
This was **mobilization**.
---
By the end of the week, Neji had set up a base of operations in the top floor of an abandoned silk mill. He registered it as a "cloth cataloguing house" — a perfect cover for maps, notes, and logistics.
Aya ran the eyes. Riku ran the feet.
They logged deliveries, mapped routes, noted schedules. What began as speculation crystallized:
- The red-ring scrolls were **coded orders**.
- Hidden Flames was the **relay point**.
- The Uchiha weren't just moving contraband.
They were **stockpiling weapons and resources** across multiple cities.
And the worst part?
Their purchases were masked through **civilian merchant companies**, using shell accounts, names of deceased traders, and forged shipping licenses.
Neji could trace at least **eleven purchases** linked to covert arming. Blade crates. Armor bundles. Chakra amplifiers. One merchant sold **exploding tags in bulk**.
This wasn't a rogue unit.
This was **a faction**.
---
"Why not stop them now?" Aya asked one night.
Neji sat cross-legged on the floor, a scroll open before him, dozens more forming a fan around his feet.
"Because we're still rats in the walls," he said. "And if a rat squeaks too loud, the ceiling falls."
Riku was pacing. "But this is a coup, right? That word's not too big for me?"
Neji nodded.
"The Uchiha — or at least part of them — are preparing to challenge authority. Maybe not the Daimyo. Maybe not Konoha directly. But something is coming."
"And we're just… watching?" Aya's tone was brittle.
"We're collecting proof," Neji said. "And if we're lucky, we'll be ready when the fire starts."
---
Three nights later, Riku returned white-faced.
"They're moving the crates," he whispered. "All of them. Not to Hidden Flames — to a **new merchant hub** by the river. I followed the wagon. I think they've started **distributing**."
Neji felt his stomach knot.
He had wanted time. Time to build deeper. To find more allies. To perhaps contact Konoha through back channels.
But this meant things were **accelerating**.
Aya pulled out a crude map and marked the path.
"We can't intercept it," she said. "They have tagged guards and real shinobi now."
"I know," Neji murmured. "It's too early."
---
That night, Neji looked over Ember Row from the roof of the silk mill.
Below, Aya and Riku played a game of throwing coins into a broken bucket. Their laughter was light, but Neji knew the weight they now carried.
The Uchiha were planning something far beyond the city walls.
But Neji couldn't act yet.
Not without burning everything he had built.
Instead, he would wait. Watch. Grow his network. Expand to nearby towns. Recruit more unseen eyes.
And when the first shadow moved on Konoha — **he would be ready**.
To stop it.
Or to redirect it.
Whichever was required.