Obtaining Hotaru's flesh and blood was extremely difficult.
Although the Ice-Crystal White Dragon he had used was an empty showpiece, at the beginning, he had needed to deceive Uchiha Yoru. At the same time, in order to support that enormous body without collapsing during the process of storing chakra, the dragon's head and supporting framework had to be genuinely sturdy.
When it had first taken shape, Uchiha Yoru had attacked the ice crystals around Hotaru with all his strength.
Although he could damage them, it was extremely strenuous. The speed at which he destroyed the ice could not keep up with the speed at which the ice crystals condensed, forcing him to give up.
Now, Uchiha Yoru naturally knew he had been deceived.
This Ice-Crystal White Dragon as a whole was nothing more than a supercharged capacitor, a foamed-up empty frame. It had no actual combat ability at all.
Only the head portion encasing Hotaru's body possessed genuine ice-crystal hardness.
Fortunately, Miwa Masayo's Sage Art: Pure White Claws possessed both cutting and high-temperature properties. With her help, they finally dug out a passage only wide enough for one arm to reach through.
Uchiha Yoru carefully obtained a sufficient amount of flesh and blood. Then he struck two fist imprints burning with golden flame onto Hotaru's corpse, completing the total of nine punches. The corpse ignited, swiftly burning into a handful of ash.
He even manipulated the wind spirits to carefully sift through the white bone ash, ensuring that no treasure had been overlooked. Only then did he take Miwa Masayo and leave the icefield.
By the time Uchiha Yoru found the Kirigakure shinobi's starting point, the Tiger Unit, which had retreated ahead of him, had already wiped out the Kirigakure shinobi and occupied this uninhabited island.
After investigation, the Uchiha discovered that there were six large warehouses buried deep underground on the island. They were filled with grain, soldier pills, blood-replenishing pills, hemostatic bandages, gauze, and other supplies.
The most numerous items were still weapons and equipment.
In just one large warehouse, they counted twenty thousand ninja swords and one hundred sixty-five thousand kunai. As for even smaller items like shuriken and senbon, there was simply no way to count them properly.
Uchiha Yoru smiled so widely his face almost bloomed. He jokingly asked, "Even if you can't count them one by one, there should still be some number, right?"
Uchiha Tadamichi flipped through the stack of records in his hand and answered, "For now, all we can say is that we've counted fifteen thousand five hundred boxes of shuriken and nine thousand eight hundred boxes of senbon."
Uchiha Yoru looked at the large wooden crates that were half a person tall and accepted the statement that they could not be counted individually.
Kunai and ninja swords were large enough and valuable enough, so they were equipped with specialized kunai cases and sword racks. They were sealed together in sets of ten, and the quantity in each box was fixed, making them easy to count.
But shuriken and senbon had no such fixed number. Not only were they bundled together in random amounts, but once placed into boxes, there was even less accuracy. The Uchiha of the Tiger Unit simply did not have the ability to count them properly.
Uchiha Yoru asked again, "Did you find any explosive tags?"
Tadamichi curled his lip and answered, "Yes, but only two hundred twenty-seven. Not even enough for each of us to get one."
Uchiha Yoru said regretfully, "Alright. That's understandable. Kirigakure has almost no shinobi skilled in Fire Release, so their ability to produce explosive tags is basically zero. These were probably purchased from other hidden villages. Having more than two hundred is already quite good."
After making a round through all six underground warehouses and seeing the mountains of supplies piled up inside, Uchiha Yoru and everyone else smiled until their faces bloomed.
Because it was wartime, the value of weapons was quite high. The prices of these weapons were also truly impressive.
According to the Cat Castle's quotation, the unit price of a ninja sword had already risen to eleven thousand five hundred ryo, while the unit price of a kunai was one thousand six hundred ryo.
Mass-produced shuriken were very cheap, with a unit price of only one hundred forty-five ryo. Senbon were even cheaper. One was worth twenty ryo, and three of them could buy a bowl of ramen.
Based on an estimate of three hundred shuriken per box and seven hundred fifty senbon per box—
The total value of these weapons came to 1.315 billion ryo.
That was roughly thirty-seven and a half Asumas.
"We're rich. We're rich."
Uchiha Yoru had only roughly calculated the value of the weapons, but the happiness brought by such an enormous number instantly overflowed.
Even the remainder below one hundred million was more than the money he had spent on the Tiger Unit over these past few months. The Uchiha Clan Revival Fund could be said to have doubled in size.
And there were six large underground warehouses here. The weapons had only filled two warehouses. The other four still held baggage supplies, grain, and medicine.
Although aside from medicine, the other materials were not as valuable as the weapons, they were still not to be underestimated.
Uchiha Yoru estimated that if all of this harvest were sold off, the total value should exceed 2.5 billion ryo. Kirigakure's fiscal surplus over two years would not even reach this number.
Murder and arson truly brought golden belts.
He had made a bloody profit, while Kirigakure had absolutely lost everything down to the bottom.
After this final thought surfaced, Uchiha Yoru's smile slowly vanished. He began urging the Tiger Unit to speed up the collection and transportation process.
He also had Miwa Masayo return to the Cat Castle to mobilize the ninja cats to help move the goods. Furthermore, he asked the ninja cats to directly transport the supplies to the Cat Castle.
Uchiha Yoru even said, "Move everything over first, then slowly count the quantities afterward. The money can also be settled several months later."
Hina, the ninja cat who served as the guard of the Karaza Tunnel, was also dragged over to help. This talkative ninja cat laughed loudly when he heard Uchiha Yoru's words and said, "Lord Yoru, why are you being so generous today?"
Uchiha Yoru smiled and answered, "This batch of weapons is far too large. The Cat Castle definitely doesn't have enough money to settle the payment directly, so of course we'll have to delay it a few months."
He looked toward the little tabby cat crouching beside Miwa Masayo, who was earnestly recording the transport quantities on a scroll, and asked for confirmation, "I'm right, aren't I, Tanineko?"
The little tabby Tanineko carefully wrote down the latest number of boxes, then answered in a milky voice, "Yes, nya. The Cat Castle doesn't have enough money, nya. Granny only has nya-wuwu…"
Miwa Masayo covered her little sister's mouth and scolded her, "Idiot, nya. The exact amount of money is a Cat Castle secret, nya. Did Granny Cat never tell you that you can't tell outsiders, nya?"
The little tabby cat's large eyes were filled with clear stupidity. She thought for a moment before answering, "I think Granny did say that, nya. Then I won't tell you, nya."
The stunned Hina smiled bitterly and said, "No one asked for the exact number in the first place, nya."
He looked at the little tabby again and muttered, "Little Sister Tanineko is this dumb. She won't make mistakes with the accounts, right?"
This foul-mouthed ninja cat's voice was not exactly quiet, so naturally Miwa Masayo heard him. She roared without any politeness, "Isn't it because all of you idiots spend every day fighting and bickering? You can't even do addition and subtraction beyond ten properly."
"Granny Cat had no choice but to let Tanineko help with the accounts. She's only two years old, nya!"
Hina shrank his neck after being scolded, then quickly carried a box and ran away.
Hina and Tahibi's batch of ninja cats were also four years old, only one month younger than Miwa Masayo. But they had been bullied by Miwa Masayo since childhood.
Among this generation of ninja cats, Miwa Masayo was not even the oldest ninja cat, but she was undoubtedly the big sister.
Whenever the large tabby cat roared, the younger ninja cats would instinctively shrink their necks, tuck their tails, and speed up their work.
Clearly, among the ninja cats, the bloodline suppression of the tabby cat elder sister over all the younger brothers had long since formed.
After driving away the talkative Hina, Miwa Masayo asked curiously, "Yoru, you seem very anxious this time, nya."
Uchiha Yoru answered, "I looked at the warehouses on this island. They're very old, and the stockpile is enormous. These aren't temporary-use warehouses. They've been in use for at least twenty years."
"Combined with the hidden-village-level stockpile in the warehouses, I can say with certainty that this is definitely not a temporary warehouse meant to supply five hundred shinobi. It's a strategic warehouse supporting the entire operation of Kirigakure."
"No wonder there are so many weapons and supplies, nya. So this is the entire stockpile of Kirigakure, nya."
"Heh. A warehouse this important won't stay secret, even if we killed every Kirigakure shinobi guard. Kirigakure definitely has a scheduled contact and warning mechanism. Once the time comes, the Fourth Mizukage will know something happened."
"Then they'll send a large force to reinforce it, nya?"
"Of course. Who knows how much money it took to buy all this? If you knew thieves had gotten into your warehouse at home, wouldn't you be anxious and furious?"
Uchiha Yoru exaggeratedly clutched his heart and joked, "If I were the Fourth Mizukage and heard that something happened to this warehouse, my heart would hurt to death."
"So we have to move fast, nya?"
"That's right. If the Kirigakure shinobi attack in large numbers, especially if the Fourth Mizukage leads them personally, then the Tiger Unit and I won't be able to take it. We'll have no choice but to run for our lives."
Uchiha Yoru looked at the lively transport scene and sighed.
"To enter a mountain of treasure but fail to empty it… then it'll be my turn to have my heart hurt to death."
Miwa Masayo was amused by her litter-scooper and laughed with a string of meows.
…
Uchiha Yoru's guess was correct.
Because time had been tight, Hotaru's attack had been directly arranged to gather at Kirigakure's long-standing frontline storage base.
After the Kirigakure shinobi armed themselves, they directly launched an attack on the Tiger Unit. Throughout the entire process, no one thought to conceal anything.
This was caused by the inertia of their thinking.
This island had served as Kirigakure's storage base for a full twenty years. It had never once encountered danger. No enemy had even approached within five hundred kilometers.
For an entire generation, through two wars, the storage base had never suffered a single crisis.
After such a long period of peace, guard duties naturally stopped being taken seriously. At some unknown point, this island had even become an exile ground for the losers of Kirigakure's internal struggles.
Those children from shinobi clans that had nearly been exterminated, as well as politicians who had lost power struggles but luckily survived, were the members of the warehouse guard force.
When the Tiger Unit's Uchiha retreated from the battle and followed the Kirigakure shinobi's route according to the plan, the guard shinobi actually failed to sound an alarm.
When the battle broke out, the Uchiha were surprised to discover that among the Kirigakure guards, there were actually sixty-year-old shinobi.
And not just one.
Among the Kirigakure shinobi, aside from old men, there were half-grown teenagers. There were even children between six and eight years old, younger than the child soldiers of the Tiger Unit.
Such Kirigakure shinobi naturally had no combat power.
The Tiger Unit's Third Company dispatched two squads and launched a simple charge, wiping out this guard force completely.
The Uchiha did not even kill many people. Instead, they captured the overwhelming majority.
But Uchiha Yoru had also guessed one thing wrong.
Kirigakure's management was far more chaotic than he had imagined. Such an important warehouse was occupied by him for three days, yet Kirigakure did not notice at all.
Only after the Kirigakure shinobi who had fled from the battlefield, especially the Yuki clan shinobi, took a detour back to Kirigakure, and only after the Fourth Mizukage specially dispatched ANBU to investigate, did those ANBU discover that something had happened to the island.
One had to know that this island was only four hundred kilometers in a straight line from Kirigakure, located within the Land of Water's territory and along the patrol routes of Kirigakure shinobi.
Uchiha Yoru could not even imagine whether the Fourth Mizukage would be directly enraged to death after receiving this intelligence.
…
Yagura Karatachi was extremely grateful.
Grateful that he was young enough.
Even though he was so furious that veins bulged across his forehead, he did not suddenly suffer a serious illness like a cerebral hemorrhage.
His vision merely went black from anger, and his head swelled painfully.
By contrast, after Elder Genji learned the news, his expression remained normal as he continued drinking tea, his fingers not even trembling.
He was an old man from the era of the First Mizukage. During Kirigakure's continuous decline, he had encountered who knew how many maddening events. His heart had long since been tempered like bedrock, unmoved by the eight winds.
After taking two sips of tea, he comforted the Fourth Mizukage.
"Fourth, please don't be angry. This is only a small matter."
Yagura Karatachi smiled bitterly and sat down, saying with a hint of complaint, "Lord Genji, you really are calm. That was our old warehouse. A loss of more than a billion ryo."
"More importantly, there are the losses of Hotaru and the Yuki clan. Sigh… perhaps I should have gone personally."
When the Fourth mentioned Hotaru, Elder Genji finally could not help sighing.
"That child Hotaru… such a pity. Truly such a pity. I never imagined something would happen to him."
Yagura Karatachi said with both grief and confusion, "The Yuki clan led by Hotaru had coordinated ninjutsu that was definitely not inferior to the Explosion Corps in my memory. How could they be wiped out all at once?"
"Is Konoha's Tiger Unit too strong, or has our Kirigakure fallen too far behind?"
Elder Genji said, "Probably both."
Yagura Karatachi fell silent for a while. In the end, he still made up his mind and said, "I can't let anyone else handle matters involving the Tiger Unit anymore. Their power is too dangerous. The threat they pose to Kirigakure is too great. I need to personally go and take a look. If there is an opportunity, I will kill them directly."
Elder Genji asked, "Lord Fourth, who do you plan to take with you?"
Yagura Karatachi answered, "I'll bring Jonin Terumi, Jonin Kaguya Yoshi, Jonin Hozuki Oborozuki, and…"
He thought for a long while before smiling bitterly.
"I really have no one else to choose. Kirigakure's talent has truly withered."
Elder Genji nodded and said, "Yes. That is why the Seven Ninja Swordsmen plan is urgent. Through this plan, I hope we can select a group of outstanding jonin from the broader ranks of Kirigakure shinobi."
Then Elder Genji smiled and said, "But I do have some good news. The sealing of the Three-Tails jinchuriki has achieved preliminary success. We now have our first jinchuriki. Lord Fourth can bring him along."
Yagura Karatachi was overjoyed and asked happily, "The jinchuriki experiment succeeded? Who is the new jinchuriki?"
Elder Genji answered cheerfully, "The jinchuriki is Jonin Onishi Kyohei. However, the sealing cannot be considered a complete success yet. Onishi Kyohei can use the Three-Tails' chakra, but he cannot release the Three-Tails' power."
Yagura Karatachi said delightedly, "Good, good, good. Excellent. Being able to use the Tailed Beast's chakra is already enough. At the very least, it can allow a jonin to unleash tremendous power. In terms of attack power, he may even be stronger than me."
Elder Genji nodded and said, "Lord Fourth, you're thinking a little too extravagantly. The ninjutsu Onishi Kyohei uses is not powerful enough yet, but he can use ninjutsu endlessly. He should be able to help you."
Yagura Karatachi frowned slightly, then relaxed his brow.
He smiled and said, "I was too impatient. But even now, he can already be of use. I'll bring them and the ANBU to investigate the situation."
"Konoha's Tiger Unit has penetrated hundreds of kilometers into the Land of Water, yet they move as though entering an uninhabited land. If we cannot teach them a deep lesson, then the ocean barrier Kirigakure is so proud of will cease to exist."
"If the Tiger Unit escapes completely unharmed, Konoha shinobi will invade the Land of Water without restraint. Kirigakure will know no peace in the future."
Elder Genji stood up and agreed.
"Lord Fourth Mizukage is correct. Although Kirigakure has declined for so many years, we remain one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Our greatest advantage is the ocean barrier. It is the final line of defense protecting us. There must absolutely be no problem with it."
"Lord Fourth, even if we must pay a tremendous price, even if it costs the life of the jinchuriki Onishi Kyohei, we must annihilate the Konoha shinobi and make them tremble whenever they think of the sea."
While Kirigakure was actively mobilizing, the commander of Konoha's shinobi army, Orochimaru, had already completed a small-scale mobilization and was about to lead reinforcements into the Land of Water's territory.
Two days earlier, after receiving Uchiha Yoru's request for reinforcements, Orochimaru had immediately judged that this was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity to deal a heavy blow to Kirigakure.
It was even better than the opportunity at Kubota Village four months earlier.
The Tiger Unit had been attacked by Kirigakure shinobi, but these Uchiha had not only routed the enemy, they had counterattacked all the way into the Land of Water in one breath and occupied an important island.
This was something Kirigakure could not tolerate.
As long as Kirigakure still had even a little strength left, they would go all out to counterattack, attempting to destroy the Tiger Unit within the Land of Water's territory.
Orochimaru strongly agreed with Uchiha Yoru's analysis.
The fact that Kirigakure could organize an external attack meant that they had already confirmed the Fourth Mizukage.
Although Orochimaru still did not know who the Fourth Mizukage was, he knew that the Fourth Mizukage would definitely appear on the battlefield to encircle and eliminate the Tiger Unit.
As long as they could seize the opportunity and kill the Fourth Mizukage that Kirigakure had only selected after four months of internal strife, Kirigakure's situation would completely collapse.
Even if they could not kill the Mizukage, as long as they severely injured him, Kirigakure would at least decline for two years.
That was an enormous amount of military merit.
Unlike Uchiha Yoru, whose achievements only brought verbal benefits, the benefits Orochimaru received from military merit were real and solid. It would not even be impossible for several of his subordinates to be promoted to jonin.
But the impending merit also gave Orochimaru a headache.
Kirigakure's talent had withered to the point where the Fourth Mizukage could not even select four powerful jonin.
Meanwhile, what troubled Orochimaru was that he had more than sixty jonin under his command, and over a thousand experienced chunin.
Who exactly should he bring to the Land of Water?
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