Konoha: Uchiha's Two-Way Travel in One Piece

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"By the way!"

Uzumaki Mito suddenly turned to Tsunade. "Later, go to the Uchiha clan and find Uchiha Jiri. Arrange a long-term contract to purchase nutrition pills and body-tempering potions."

"Huh?"

Tsunade was confused. "Why? If we need them, we can just buy them directly from Kaito."

"It's different," Uzumaki Mito explained, shaking her head. "Those are extras. We need to secure an open, consistent supply for ourselves."

"First, it keeps our dealings with Kaito hidden, so others won't know we're buying extra nutrition pills."

"Second, we need to reserve enough supplies for the Senju and the Uzumaki clans, who will inevitably join in the future."

"Do you think they don't need these pills to enhance their strength?"

"If we don't take our share, someone else will!"

Sacrificing their own benefits to strengthen others was foolish.

"That's right!"

Realizing this, Tsunade stuck out her tongue sheepishly. "I forgot about that! I'll head there right now!"

"You need to start taking family matters seriously. You can't keep slacking off like this!"

Uzumaki Mito shook her head helplessly.

Tsunade had been too well protected. She never needed to worry about family affairs, which made her overlook such important issues.

"Hehehe! Isn't that what I have you for, Grandma? I'll be off!" Tsunade quickly fled, sensing trouble.

These kinds of things were better left to Nawaki.

Her grandmother should teach Nawaki how to handle family responsibilities.

Tsunade believed in her foolish younger brother—this would help him grow wiser and less naive.

---

Meanwhile, other prominent ninja clans—like the Hyuga, Aburame, and Inuzuka—had varying reactions, but one thing was clear: they all coveted these medicines.

In the Hokage's Office:

"Damn it! I'd heard the Uchiha were planning to open a pharmacy, but I didn't pay much attention at the time."

"I didn't expect it to be this successful!"

"They've hidden their capabilities too well!" Utatane Koharu was furious.

Seeing the enemy make a fortune felt as bad as losing money herself.

More than that, the Uchiha had something so valuable in their hands. She wished she could take it for herself and earn the profits.

Beside her, Mitokado Homura frowned deeply and said, "Everything changed when Uchiha Jiri returned. Ever since then, we've been in the dark!"

"To this day, we still don't understand what caused the Uchiha's sudden transformation!"

"All we know is that it's tied to Uchiha Jiri, but beyond that, we have no clue. It's a complete failure on our part!"

Previously, they had reliable spies providing insight into Uchiha affairs.

Recently, though, it was as if they'd gone blind. They couldn't uncover anything about what was happening inside the Uchiha clan.

Even those they had swayed or brainwashed seemed to waver, and the intel they provided was unreliable.

It was frustrating.

"Sigh! You think I don't know that?"

"But what can we do? We have no way to deal with the Uchiha right now!"

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sighed heavily as he puffed on his pipe.

This situation was an ongoing source of frustration for him.

"Hiruzen, we can't let this continue!"

Danzo finally spoke up, his voice cold and stern.

"From what I see, that pharmacy earns the Uchiha a fortune every single day. If this goes on, they'll never lack money again!"

"The stronger they become, the harder it will be to control or suppress them!"

"Their arrogance will only grow!"

"We should simply shut down their shop and force them—under the village's name—to hand over the medicine formulas!"

"After all, these medicines can be considered strategic resources. How can such vital assets remain in the hands of a single clan?"

"If you agree, I can take action."

Danzo's words shocked Koharu and Homura.

They immediately tried to dissuade him. "Danzo, calm down! You can't act recklessly!"

"That's right!"

Hiruzen also nodded, his face serious as he looked at Danzo.

"We can't do that! It's unjustifiable! If we try to force the Uchiha to hand over their formulas for such a flimsy reason, they'll never agree. The other clans won't stand for it either!"

"If we use such an absurd excuse against the Uchiha today, what's stopping us from demanding other clans hand over their secret techniques tomorrow?"

"We can't open that door."

If they did, the backlash from the village's other ninja clans would be catastrophic.

The Uchiha might not be able to defy the entire village, but could Hiruzen's Sarutobi clan and the other three clans withstand that pressure?

"Then what's the plan? Are we just going to sit back and watch the Uchiha grow stronger by the day?"

Danzo growled in frustration.

He thought Hiruzen was being far too conservative and hesitant.

If they combined the power of their four clans, along with the Anbu and the Root, they could easily deal with the Uchiha.

They could even use the profits from the medicines to lure other clans to their side.

Instead of spending enormous sums to buy medicines from the Uchiha every month, wouldn't it be better to take the formulas outright?

Unfortunately for Danzo, no one else supported his idea.

"Enough! That's not an option! We'll think of another way!"

Hiruzen saw that Danzo was still trying to persuade him, so he firmly rejected the idea, his face stern.

"You..."

Danzo glared at Hiruzen angrily, at a loss for words.

In the end, he turned his back on Hiruzen and sulked in silence.

At this time, Danzo was not yet the embodiment of the darkness of the ninja world.

Otherwise, he might have said something like, "Hiruzen, you'll regret this."

And then stormed out of the room.

Koharu broke the silence. "Hiruzen, while Danzo's methods are extreme, he's not entirely wrong."

"We can't just sit back and watch the Uchiha grow unchecked!"

"We need to think of a way to suppress their expansion."

"Otherwise, wouldn't we be betraying our teacher's efforts all those years ago?"

Of course, this was just surface-level reasoning.

The real issue was profits.

Konoha's market—and its resources—were finite.

If the Uchiha monopolized the profits from the medicine business, what would be left for the others?

In the past, this type of work was often left to the Uchiha, the Senju, or even cannon-fodder ninja from civilian families.

The higher-ups and their clans would never bother with such thankless tasks.

"Just wait. The opportunity will come soon."

Hiruzen spoke slowly, his voice heavy.

"In the past two years, the other major villages have been recovering their strength."

"Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and even Sunagakure are beginning to stir. The hawkish factions in those villages are on the rise."

"They're no longer content with the status quo."

"A new war is on its way!"

"And during wartime, our authority will be at its peak."

"When war breaks out, we'll have legitimate and irrefutable reasons to command any clan's ninja to complete any mission."

"Even if the missions fail and people die, it doesn't matter."

"It will all be seen as a glorious sacrifice for the village."

"These things are impossible to achieve during peacetime. Don't you agree?"

Hiruzen didn't like war.

He preferred peace and resolving conflicts through dialogue rather than violence.

The death of his teacher had left a deep shadow on his heart.

It had made him fearful of war.

He dreaded losing himself or his clan members on the battlefield.

But if war was inevitable, he could only prepare.

But now, his thoughts had changed.

Maybe he wouldn't need to step onto the battlefield himself. He could simply send others to fight in his stead!

"Isn't the Uchiha clan strong?"

"Don't they want to make a name for themselves and claim the Hokage position?"

"Fine, I'll give them that chance. Let them prove themselves on the battlefield!"

"As long as they come back alive… Heh."

"Is that…"

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura were stunned after hearing this. Their brows furrowed tightly.

Homura voiced his concern, "Hiruzen, is another war really coming?"

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, nodded solemnly. "From all the signs, it certainly looks that way."

"In the short term, one or two years. At most, three to five years—it will definitely break out!"

"The recent crisis in the Land of Whirlpools is actually another sign that war is approaching."

"The war hawks in various villages are trying to obtain powerful sealing techniques from the Uzumaki Clan, or suitable Jinchūriki candidates."

"They want to successfully seal Tailed Beasts, creating perfect Jinchūriki to serve as weapons of war."

"There are countless other indications as well."

"Many of the events you've handled yourselves, so you can't deny this."

"Don't hold onto false hope."

At the same time, wasn't this war also an opportunity?

"Haha! Hiruzen, you've finally come around!"

Shimura Danzo turned around at some point, a sinister grin on his face. "Dealing with the Uchiha requires these kinds of extreme methods!"

"That's right! War will be the best tool to weaken the Uchiha and other ninja clans!"

"As long as we remain in power, they will have no choice but to obey the orders we issue during wartime."

"Just like last time."

Back then, the Senju Clan was at its peak. Many people opposed their control and rejected Sarutobi's Hokage appointment.

If Uzumaki Mito hadn't supported them, they would've never managed to secure their position or establish authority.

But look at the Senju Clan now.

Their glory days were long gone. The clan's elite forces had been almost entirely wiped out during the last war.

The remaining branches had been systematically absorbed into the "civilian integration plan" initiated by the Second Hokage, completely disbanding the clan.

Many of the Senju Clan's loyalists were quietly eliminated during dangerous wartime and peacetime missions.

Now, how much power or prestige does the Senju Clan still hold in the village?

The problem was that the Senju were too straightforward.

Their minds were filled with nothing but "the glory of Konoha."

They viewed Konoha as the Senju Clan's private legacy.

All you had to do was use "for the sake of Konoha" as an excuse, and they'd willingly throw their lives away on suicidal missions.

This time, they could simply replicate the strategies from the First Great Ninja War to target the Uchiha Clan, as well as any remnants of the Senju.

Danzo even found Uzumaki Mito herself to be an obstacle.

"Why hasn't she just died already?" he thought maliciously.

Once she was gone, he could quietly manipulate or kidnap the remaining Senju descendants to conduct his long-awaited Wood Release experiments.

If he could recreate Wood Release, Konoha would reign supreme over all other villages.

If he mastered Wood Release, wouldn't the Hokage seat be his for the taking?

"Danzo!"

Although Hiruzen internally agreed with Danzo's logic, he still maintained a stern facade. "Don't say things that undermine unity!"

"Everything we do is for Konoha—not for personal gain."

"Hahaha!"

Danzo couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Sure, sure! Everything is for Konoha. Everything is for Konoha!"

"Hiruzen, you're far more ruthless and hypocritical than I am."

Danzo had always been blunt about his actions.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi?

He was a master of hypocrisy. He'd always play the righteous role while secretly acting just as ruthlessly.

"Maybe that's why you became Hokage back then, Hiruzen."

"You're insidious enough."

"I guess I'll have to learn from you, starting with waving the banner of 'for Konoha!'

Danzo smirked coldly to himself.

---

Time passed quickly, and five days went by.

During these days, the Third Hokage and the others made no major moves.

However, the various Ninja clans couldn't sit still. One after another, they visited Uchiha Jiri to negotiate for shares of the Uchiha's medicines.

At Kaito's current production capacity, there was no way to meet everyone's demands.

Still, each clan managed to secure at least a small share.

Among them, the Ino-Shika-Chō trio and Tsunade—who had the best relationship with Kaito—secured the largest portions.

However, Uchiha Jiri didn't allocate all of the medicine supply to the Ninja clans.

She reserved thirty percent to continue selling at the Uchiha pharmacy.

Even though most of these medicines were still bought up by members of the major clans, strict purchase limits ensured that smaller clans and even civilian ninja could buy some as well.

For these buyers, items like the restorative potions were too precious to use during training.

Instead, they carefully saved them for life-or-death moments during dangerous missions.

Because of Uchiha Jiri's orders, Kaito had no choice but to ask Kureha to help produce more medicines every day to increase output.

Of course, as payment, he offered top-quality plum wine and regular shipments of medical texts.

To avoid increasing Kureha's workload further, Kaito sighed inwardly and agreed.

"Maybe I should hire some pharmaceutical doctors from Drum Island to help with production?"

The idea suddenly struck Kaito.

After all, even if those doctors learned the formulas, the medicines they produced would be weaker versions, so it wouldn't matter.

Besides, with the abundant resources of the One Piece world, similar medicines could easily be made.

For example, the single-effect nutritional pills wouldn't sell well in this world.

They were too expensive and impractical.

For the same price, you could just buy a few pounds of Sea King meat, which offered better results.

With this idea in mind, Kaito discussed it with Kureha.

"Haha!"

Kureha laughed heartily after hearing his plan. "You should've done this ages ago! You could open a pharmaceutical factory in a nearby town specifically for producing these medicines."

"That way, you wouldn't have to trouble me, this 'busy person'!"

"Hehe!"

Kaito chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his hands together. "But as you know, I don't have much influence here. Starting a factory might require your name to smooth things over and hire some pharmaceutical workers."

"I'm willing to pay you with 500 bottles of top-quality plum wine and 10 kilograms of gold as compensation. What do you say?"

Kaito wasn't oblivious to Kureha's influence in this country.

The average citizen might not know her well, but the kingdom's upper echelon certainly did.

In fact, Kaito suspected that even the king of Drum Island feared her.

Otherwise, after Wapol's eventual downfall, how else could Kureha so easily occupy the royal palace as her residence?

"Oh?"

Kureha raised her eyebrows slightly, clearly intrigued. "You're pretty generous!"

"Fine! To make our lives easier later, I'll agree to this."

"But you better not skimp on the payment!"

"Also, purchasing land, building the factory, hiring workers, and setting up supply channels all require money. Are you sure you have enough funds for this?"

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