Seven in the morning.
Uchiha Makoto opened his eyes. After washing up, he put on the Lightshadow regalia and, as usual, headed to his Lightshadow office.
A carefully prepared breakfast was already on his desk. Ever since the village was founded there had been an overwhelming amount to do. He did not have a younger brother who could manage everything and handle daily affairs.
So he spent most of his time in the office.
Going home was only to sleep at night.
To save time,
he even ate all three meals in the office. Fortunately there was a dedicated chef team in charge of his daily diet. It was convenient and it also kept Uchiha Makoto safe.
As the head of a village, the most basic caution was necessary.
"The team I paid for really does have good skills."
Uchiha Makoto swallowed the last bite of bun and sighed.
Then he began the day's work.
"The Uchiha clan has finally written back?"
Kazuma handed over a letter.
It was a secret letter from the Uchiha.
When you are poor in a bustling market, no one asks after you. When you are rich in the deep mountains, distant kin appear. They truly had not expected that Uchiha Makoto could leave the clan alone and still found an Akatsuki Village that stood shoulder to shoulder with Konoha.
Uchiha Makoto flicked off the sealing wax and read quickly. There was not much in it, mostly empty pleasantries.
"You are the glory of the Uchiha."
"Write often. We are all one family."
"Looks like this was not written at Uchiha Madara's urging. He would not come up with words this mushy."
So said Uchiha Makoto.
He felt the letter was something the clansmen had done on their own.
In any case it was a good thing. He had to keep close ties with the Uchiha. For now they were living in peace in Konoha with no special schemes.
But later, when Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama fell out and both died, when Senju Tobirama took the seat as Second Hokage, things would be very different.
In Uchiha Makoto's memory,
after Tobirama became Second Hokage, a few people flying the banner of Uchiha Madara seemed to attempt a righteous judgment on him. Yet that pro-Senju old ghoul kept a constant watch on the Uchiha.
The righteous judgment was branded a coup.
Second Hokage. Hmph.
This time, Senju Tobirama, you may not rise so smoothly.
The Land of Fire can have twin shinobi villages.
Why can't Konoha have twin decision-makers?
Thinking this, Uchiha Makoto wrote back to the Uchiha with blazing enthusiasm.
Alive, I am of the Uchiha. Dead, I am a Uchiha ghost.
If the Uchiha someday can no longer hold on,
they can speak up at any time.
After he finished the letter,
Uchiha Makoto asked about the salt monopoly plan.
"How is it progressing?"
"Is everything going smoothly?"
As Uchiha Makoto's private secretary, Kazuma immediately reported on the plan's status.
First, Akatsuki Village acquired a nearby salt company, the first step in consolidation. For the small-time smugglers they launched a thunderous sweep. This world is ultimately the strong devouring the weak. Without backing, without strength, Uchiha Makoto had no intention of buying them out.
This market did not need so many smugglers.
As for the large salt merchants,
Akatsuki's attitude was much gentler. Anbu-led shinobi personally brought rice, flour, and oil to their homes, smiling as they asked whether they had any intention of selling the company. When leaving, they gently patted their shoulders and said it was fine if they did not want to sell.
If the deal fails, we can still part on good terms.
We wish your whole family good health.
These big salt merchants were already the gloves of some major figures in the Land of Fire. The sale of a company was not theirs to decide. Frightened, they rushed at once to consult those great figures. They discovered that those great figures also had bags of rice and flour from Akatsuki at home.
What a coincidence.
Many opposed Akatsuki's goodwill and furiously cursed the Daimyō of the Land of Fire for breaking the rules and letting shinobi meddle in such matters. Were they not afraid of inviting wolves into the house.
Such voices were far too sharp.
Uchiha Makoto disliked them very much.
Yet under various open and covert measures, those sharp voices quickly vanished. Whoever dared to damage the relationship between the Daimyō and Akatsuki had to disappear.
Disappear in every sense.
After some people vanished into thin air, Akatsuki's monopoly push slid forward with extreme smoothness.
But paper cannot wrap fire forever.
In these days Akatsuki's frequent deployments and a series of bloody incidents spread the news that Akatsuki intended to get into the salt trade.
No.
This was the Daimyō of the Land of Fire seeking to reintegrate the market, with Akatsuki merely assisting from the side.
The capital of the Land of Fire.
"What on earth is going on."
"Why is everyone saying I ordered Akatsuki to kill, that I am the one taking a knife to the salt market."
"What is Uchiha Makoto doing."
"Does he not know this will cause a huge incident."
The Daimyō of the Land of Fire roared in his chambers. His cheeks were flushed and his emotions were extreme. The attendant at his side bowed his head and knelt on the floor, not daring to breathe.
To attend a ruler is to attend a tiger.
If he blundered into the Daimyō's wrath,
that would be no joke.
Even breathing too loudly was a crime at a time like this.
After venting his rage by smashing things,
the Daimyō finally calmed down. Everyone knew he was close to Akatsuki. Now that Uchiha Makoto had acted under the banner of the Daimyō of the Land of Fire, even a denial would be useless.
Some people were already dead.
The pot of blame had been dumped on his head out of nowhere. Now the most important thing was to align with Uchiha Makoto at the same granularity and get a clear picture of the situation.
And the salt market was even more important. Uchiha Makoto had acted and he had already taken the blame.
For two straight years there had been war every day, plus every kind of natural and human disaster. The lowborn may be leeks that can be harvested again and again, but that is only a metaphor.
Leeks can photosynthesize. The lowborn cannot. They have to eat.
Disaster relief and reconstruction alone kept the treasury in the red. Robbing Peter to pay Paul was a common occurrence. The cause was simple: tax revenues would not come in.
If the salt market could truly be monopolized again, the tax take alone would be a major inflow.
At the same time,
Konoha also received the news.
"Hahahaha."
"That innately evil Uchiha brat is still too young. He actually went blundering into the salt trade. He probably has not even gathered the most basic intelligence. Does he not know salt is cheap right now."
"This is pure dereliction of duty."
Senju Tobirama let out a hearty laugh in his office.
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