Let's face it, being under someone else's thumb never felt good. Shiyu Uchiha still wanted to fight one last battle with his own strength.
In his plan, if he could survive this crisis, the future would be wide open—neither Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi nor Danzo Shimura would be any obstacle anymore.
Therefore, Shiyu Uchiha decisively brought out nearly all of his war reserves accumulated over the years. Especially those incredibly powerful Explosive Tags—their quantity was simply staggering.
Back then, when Shiyu Uchiha bought up a massive amount of Explosive Tags in a short time, the price on the Black Market doubled overnight. This showed just how many he had stockpiled. However, compared to the stockpile of a certain woman named Mei, his was still inferior.
Yet, mentioning that woman wasn't entirely useless. Because of his high demand for Explosive Tags and considering that these were always controlled goods on the Black Market, although not scarce, their availability was far from sufficient.
After all, these things could be extremely deadly for ninjas, who generally had high attack but low defense. Even Kage-level experts could be seriously disrupted by a single Explosive Tag—for example, Nagato Uzumaki, who was left wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.
So later, when Shiyu Uchiha became unsatisfied with his current supply of Explosive Tags, he decided to give it a shot. With the help of the Ninken Clan, he successfully opened a commercial channel in Ame and found a supplier boss capable of continuously providing high-quality, reasonably-priced Explosive Tags.
Because of this, he abandoned the chaotic Black Market trading channels. Unfortunately, at this stage, the quantity provided by this supplier was still limited. However, through gradual accumulation, it was enough to meet his basic needs.
As for the Black Market, the price imbalance caused by Shiyu Uchiha's purchases hadn't fully recovered yet. Moreover, during the transactions, the Uchiha Clan had gotten involved in many conflicts with shadowy figures. Continuing down that path would only bring more losses than gains.
After all, the Uchiha Clan still needed to operate strategically in the future. Maintaining a good reputation and relationships was essential. Plus, he didn't want to overly provoke the F4 [Konoha's Inner Council]. After all, these were wartime supplies. It would be a problem if they developed paranoia over it. The current level of tension was just about right.
Meanwhile, Shiyu Uchiha also kept in mind securing a retreat path for the Uchiha Clan. Wanting an easier way to find backup routes in the future, when he unexpectedly discovered that the female spy seemingly sent by Konoha's Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was actually an undercover Cloud-nin named Lina, he deliberately promoted her to work closely by his side as a precautionary measure.
Certainly, due to her exceptional beauty and pleasant appearance, people couldn't help but question Shiyu Uchiha's motives. However, he couldn't properly explain the situation, inevitably causing many misunderstandings. On the bright side, it also dispelled many people's suspicions. All in all, it was a double-edged sword.
This made Shiyu Uchiha almost want to invite his ancestor, the Sage of Six Paths, to bear witness to his actions in this life. Everything he did was for the clan — purely and selflessly. Yet he was also slightly afraid that if the Sage actually appeared, he might just erase him on the spot.
However, before that, to prevent such an outstanding pawn from being wasted, Shiyu Uchiha racked his brain to carefully plan an extremely sophisticated strategy of letting someone else strike the fatal blow — naturally, this was also an act of revenge against Danzo Shimura.
Although they were far apart, this distance didn't stop Danzo Shimura from irritating Shiyu Uchiha. Due to the interference of Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, Shiyu Uchiha had been at a disadvantage this entire time. His greatest advantage — the distance between them — was also his greatest weakness. That's why he suffered so much.
In Shiyu Uchiha's plan, even if it ultimately failed, he wouldn't suffer any loss at all. It was a no-risk, high-reward move. Since that was the case, why not go for it?
Therefore, Shiyu Uchiha took the first move — the setup stage of the plan. He intentionally or unintentionally leaked a trivial piece of intelligence to the Cloud-nin female spy, Suzuki Mayuki, who was hiding in Konoha.
However, to make the female spy trust him fully, he deliberately arranged the scene of delivering the intelligence to take place right after Mayuki had served him. One of Shiyu Uchiha's subordinates brought in a pre-prepared report and he opened and read it in front of Suzuki Mayuki.
After reading it, Shiyu Uchiha feigned barely contained fury as he spoke, "Danzo really knows how to stir up trouble. He hasn't even figured out his own battlefield yet, but he dares to create obstacles for me."
At that moment, Mayuki wore an exaggeratedly innocent look, feigning curiosity as she asked, "Lord, is it that assistant Hokage, Danzo Shimura, again? How despicable! You're already struggling so hard at the frontlines, yet he still drags you down. He truly disgraces the Will of Fire. I wonder what the Hokage is thinking."
In an instant, Shiyu Uchiha recognized the hidden insinuation in Mayuki's words — she was trying to sow discord between him and others. But their relationship had long since crumbled beyond repair. The two of them were practically at war already. No outside provocation could make things worse.
Therefore, after several expressions flickering across his face, Shiyu Uchiha finally feigned a conflicted look and sighed, "Let's just keep this inside. For the sake of the Will of Fire, I'll go out and take a look around. You rest for a while, then help me tidy up this place."
"Yes, Lord. You're truly great," Suzuki Mayuki replied respectfully to Shiyu Uchiha, her eyes seemingly glowing with admiration.
Then Shiyu Uchiha adjusted his attire and left the tent discreetly. Before leaving, he glanced briefly at Mayuki's chest and inwardly scoffed, You're the one who's truly great. Then, he gave her room to maneuver.
Shiyu Uchiha included within this intelligence a crucial piece of information—the secret dealings between Danzo and the Iwa-nin regarding intelligence on the Cloud-nin. Shiyu uncovered this information through his own investigation of Danzo. Originally, this was typical Danzo-style maneuvering meant to frame the Uchiha Clan—much effort but little gain, with no regard for consequences.
However, Shiyu slightly altered it, turning it into Danzo gathering intelligence about the Cloud-nin, possibly implicating the Third Raikage, which he then planned to trade with the Iwa-nin in exchange for what he desired.
In addition, through Suzuki Mayuki, Shiyu passed along messages to both Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Third Raikage. In Hiruzen's case, he pinned the issue of Iwa reinforcements directly on Danzo Shimura, claiming that he had leaked it, allowing Iwa to see through Konoha's true strength, leading them to attempt wiping out its entire fighting force.
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