Heiyan had been away from Konoha Village for exactly ten days.
During this time, all the assets under his name had already been sold, mostly purchased by various shinobi clans within Konoha. The Uchiha and Hyuga clans were the largest purchasers — clearly, Fugaku and Hiashi played a major role in this support.
When Heiyan returned to Konoha, he calculated all his available funds — including the proceeds from selling his estate, his previous savings, and the funds provided by the Fire Daimyo's Mansion for land acquisition. The total sum reached an astonishing one billion ryō.
This was no ordinary fortune — an incredible sum indeed, nearly equivalent to two or three years' worth of military expenditure for the entire Konoha Village. With such wealth, one could forge a prosperous new nation from nothing anywhere within the shinobi world.
Now that land had been secured and the money was sufficient for rebuilding, the only thing left was to relocate the people.
These past few days, under orders from Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Uzumaki clan had successfully procured all necessary supplies with assistance from various departments within Konoha, and they were now fully prepared to depart.
Heiyan visited the Hokage office.
After meeting with Hiruzen, he briefly explained the situation and mentioned that as the advisor to the Hokage, he might need to take an extended leave of absence.
"As the Uzumaki clan head, leading your people on such a long journey will surely be exhausting and demanding — you won't have a moment to spare. Take an indefinite leave from your duties — I'll wait until you've completed everything before expecting your return."
Hiruzen spoke with full understanding and support. He didn't ask Heiyan where the Uzumaki were headed — deep down, he already had a vague suspicion: it was surely some distant, hidden place far beyond the reach of the outside world.
At dawn the next day,
a crescent moon hung in the sky, stars flickering above. Around four or five in the morning, the air was damp and cold, and grayish dew covered the grass.
The village remained silent and still.
While most villagers were still asleep, the Uzumaki quietly departed the village on horseback, accompanied by their supplies, heading southward through the Land of Fire.
In this large procession, besides the Uzumaki clan members, there were also three companions — Kosuke Maruboshi, Fugaku Uchiha, and Hiashi Hyuga. They were Heiyan's mentors and brothers, completely trustworthy and reliable.
Five days passed.
Within the dense cedar forests of southern Land of Fire, a caravan of nearly two hundred people appeared. The group included armored rhinoceroses, giant flamingos, and sturdy horses carrying heavy loads. Like a long serpent winding through the forest, the procession advanced majestically.
Of course, this merchant caravan was nothing but a disguise created by the Uzumaki to avoid unwanted attention.
However, due to the sheer number of people and the large quantity of supplies they carried, the group's progress was naturally much slower than when Heiyan traveled alone.
Throughout the journey, despite their carefulness, it was inevitable that many eyes would begin watching them. After all, news about the Uzumaki being exiled by the Fire Daimyo's Mansion had already spread widely.
Behind them, in a grove nearly a kilometer away,
several unidentified ninja were using telescopes to monitor the Uzumaki's movements from afar, covertly tracking the group.
These individuals were Sensor-type reconnaissance ninja. Their purpose wasn't to launch an attack, but rather to confirm the final destination of the Uzumaki's mass migration.
Suddenly.
Whoosh!
An arrow flew through the air at tremendous speed, brushing past the faces of these ninja before finally embedding itself in a nearby tree trunk.
Tied to the arrow was a small note. On it were written these words:
*"No matter who sent you, this is your first warning. If you refuse to know your place, next time, my arrows will pierce all your throats."*
There was a clan emblem from the Hyuga family on the arrow.
It was from Hiashi Hyuga.
The few ninja quickly exchanged glances, beads of cold sweat breaking out on their brows. Fear was clearly visible in each other's eyes.
They finally realized—Hiashi's Byakugan had already seen their every move. And undoubtedly, they were already within his attack range.
Thinking this, their expressions turned bitter. For the sake of survival, they could only abandon their mission and retreat in disgrace.
Yet, there are always those without sense.
From another direction, another group also received Hiashi's warning, but still clung to hope and kept trailing far behind the Uzumaki clan.
In their view, once they found out where the Uzumaki eventually settled down, they could sell this intelligence to various countries and ninja villages for an enormous profit.
But they soon paid dearly for this idea.
Swoosh.
Fugaku Uchiha appeared using the Body Flicker Technique, his triple-tomoe Sharingan quietly activating. Before this group even understood what was happening, they had already fallen into his Genjutsu trap, frozen in stunned silence.
Then Fugaku swiftly and cleanly slit each throat with a kunai, ending the battle silently without causing the slightest disturbance.
Inside a carriage within the main group ahead.
Heiyan sat cross-legged with eyes closed, employing [Heavenly Sword — Ku no Taiga], remotely controlling the Murakumo Sword to patrol within a three-kilometer radius, continuously eliminating spies and tracking ninja sent from various ninja villages.
Thanks to the combined efforts of the Konoha Sannin, everyone tailing them was either killed or forced to flee. No one succeeded in completing their mission.
No one followed now—at last, peace.
This continued for half a month.
Night fell, with bright moonlight and sparse stars.
Since leaving Konoha, the Uzumaki had avoided passing any towns or villages to hide their trail, taking only extremely secluded routes.
At night, naturally, they would rest deep in remote forests.
Beside a campfire.
Heiyan held the Uzumaki clan roster and scanned through over a hundred names. But the one he was most interested in wasn't there.
Thus, he perked up and asked Ashina Uzumaki beside him,
"Senior Ashina, does the clan have a child named Nagato? Around three or four years old?"
"Nagato?"
Ashina Uzumaki paused to recall, frowning as he spoke, "I remember now. Nagato's parents chose to side with Genichiro during the battlefield conflict, so they were purged by the Uzumaki. As for Nagato himself, he seemed to disappear before that incident—he probably had already been sent to Kiri by the outcasts beforehand."
Was that really how it happened?
Hearing this, Heiyan couldn't help frowning too.
It seems Nagato still ended up in Madara Uchiha's grasp, becoming the vessel through which the Rinnegan was wielded...
Another dawn had arrived.
The Uzumaki clan finally reached the southern coast of the Land of Fire.
Heiyan notified Haruko and others to have the vessel steered away from the dock. After sailing along the coastline for over ten miles, they reached a secluded stretch of open sea.
This was where the Uzumaki were to board the ship.
"Lord Heiyan!"
As soon as she stepped onto land, Haruko caught sight of Heiyan and rushed toward him joyfully.
"I'll introduce you all."
Acting as the liaison, Heiyan introduced Haruko to his companions.
After a few polite greetings,
"Heiyan, we three will accompany you no further. We wish you all a safe journey."
With those final words, Kosuke Maruboshi, Fugaku, and Hiashi smiled and turned to make their way back to Konoha.
"So, it's time for us to depart as well."
Thus, Heiyan led the Uzumaki clan aboard the ship. As the first rays of dawn broke through the fading night, the vessel sailed into the vast ocean.
Toward a bright tomorrow.
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