Chapter 26: Kakashi’s Inquiry

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“This is all legitimate business. It doesn’t make us much money—perhaps seventy or eighty million a month.” After hearing Uchiha Douhuan’s words, Yamamoto Taro hurriedly put on a smile and replied.

His answer was a kunai that instantly buried itself in the gap between his legs.

“Counting income from lending money and the like, it comes to around four hundred million ryo a month when business is good.” Yamamoto Taro immediately dropped his little schemes and spoke at lightning speed, terrified that the next kunai would be heading straight for his head.

“You do quite a large amount of business, Lord Yamamoto.” Uchiha Douhuan drew another kunai and lightly raised Yamamoto Taro’s chin with its tip, lifting the triple layers of fat beneath it.

“The Uchiha clan has recently come into possession of some spare funds. We would like to invest in your business, Lord Yamamoto. What do you think?”

“It would be my honor to have the Uchiha clan invest in my business, my lord. How much do you intend to put in?” Yamamoto Taro asked with an ingratiating smile.

“Invest?” Uchiha Douhuan chuckled. The kunai in his hand suddenly stabbed into the ground beside Yamamoto Taro’s foot. “This is the Uchiha investment. Is it enough?”

“Enough! More than enough!” Yamamoto Taro nodded repeatedly.

“The Uchiha clan wants seventy percent of all revenue.”

“Ah, this…”

“Hmm?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Yamamoto Taro nodded vigorously.

“Don’t make that face. The strength of the Uchiha clan is far greater than that of the Shimura clan. As your guards, we are absolutely worth the price.” Smiling, Uchiha Douhuan helped Yamamoto Taro to his feet.

“Yes… I understand… But my lord, what about the daimyo?”

“Faced with the threat posed by the rogue ninja Shimura Danzo, who intends to launch a military coup, Lord Yamamoto has seen the greater good, remembered the daimyo’s kindness, and joined forces with the Uchiha clan to crush Shimura Danzo’s conspiracy. How does that sound?” Uchiha Douhuan said with a smile.

“Yes, yes, yes, precisely! I always knew the Shimura clan had rebellious intentions!” Yamamoto Taro hurriedly agreed.

“Then sign and place your seal here.” Uchiha Douhuan took a sheet of paper from a sealing scroll and placed it before Yamamoto Taro.

Yamamoto Taro picked it up and looked it over. It was densely covered with evidence of the Shimura clan’s crimes, while another portion implicated the Mitokado and Utatane clans.

“My lord… must I really sign this?” Yamamoto Taro swallowed. He knew that if he signed this evidence—whether it was genuine or fabricated—he would be making mortal enemies of all three clans.

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“What do you think?” Uchiha Douhuan raised an eyebrow, wearing a warm smile.

“All right… I’ll sign.” Yamamoto Taro had no choice. Trembling, he wrote his name on the evidence and pressed his fingerprint onto it.

Uchiha Douhuan nodded in satisfaction and put away the kunai.

Afterward, with Yamamoto Taro willingly leading the way, the two of them went to the warehouse in the lord’s residence. Uchiha Douhuan took seventy percent of the wealth stored there. He was a man of his word—he had said seventy percent, so he took exactly seventy percent.

Even so, the two billion in cash completely filled the fifteen sealing scrolls Uchiha Douhuan had deliberately brought with him.

It seemed that when dealing with financial magnates, one had to strike hard.

That thought lingered in Uchiha Douhuan’s mind as he left.

By the time Uchiha Douhuan returned to the inn, everyone had finished their gathering for the evening. When he climbed back into his room through the window, however, he discovered someone sitting on the sofa.

Kakashi was alone, flipping through his copy of *Make-Out Paradise*. Only after hearing Uchiha Douhuan’s movement did he raise his head and ask, “You’re back.”

“When did you realize that the one following you was my shadow clone?” Uchiha Douhuan asked with a smile.

“When we left the restaurant.” Kakashi raised one of his Sharingan eyes. “Don’t forget, I can’t turn these eyes off.”

“All right, then. What does Captain Kakashi intend to do?” Uchiha Douhuan asked with a smile. “Make a note of it in the mission report?”

“Douhuan, you know I wouldn’t do that,” Kakashi said.

“Hahaha!” Uchiha Douhuan burst into laughter. “I knew Captain Kakashi wouldn’t do that. In that case, you must have waited up this late for some other reason.”

Kakashi drew a deep breath before asking solemnly, “After what happened last time, I was thinking of trying my hand at kyudo as well. But I don’t know where to begin. Do you have any advice, Douhuan?”

Hearing Kakashi’s question, Uchiha Douhuan felt deeply gratified. Kakashi was finally beginning to understand.

“Kyudo demands an upright body, a straight spirit, and a tranquil heart. If the body is crooked, the spirit unsteady, and the heart unsettled, then the arrow one shoots will naturally fly crooked as well,” Uchiha Douhuan said. “For a beginner, it is truly a long road of cultivation.”

After hearing Uchiha Douhuan’s words, Kakashi fell silent.

“Before you begin training in kyudo, you should first take care of your teacher’s son. That child is not doing well in the village,” Uchiha Douhuan reminded him with a shake of his head.

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After the Fourth Hokage’s death, why had the members of his former guard unit faded into silence? Wasn’t it because they had no one to lead them?

Kakashi had originally been the most qualified person to step forward and continue leading them. But what had he done? He had immersed himself in his own grief, failing even to care properly for the Fourth Hokage’s only orphaned son. How could those people dare stake their futures on following him?

“Naruto?” Only then did Kakashi come to his senses. “I understand. After this mission, I’ll request to leave the Anbu.”

Uchiha Douhuan nodded with a smile.

“Then I won’t disturb you any longer. Thank you.” After offering his solemn thanks, Kakashi rose and left.

After Kakashi departed, Uchiha Douhuan took a bath and went to sleep.

Early the next morning, the group assembled at the city gate. Once the deeply displeased Tatsuki Utatane and Hayato Mitokado arrived, they set out once more.

After the camaraderie they had developed the previous night, all barriers had vanished as they traveled. They chatted and laughed along the way, enjoying themselves immensely. Even the two Hyuga ninja who had seemed rather aloof the day before dropped their pretenses.

The only ones excluded were Tatsuki Utatane and Hayato Mitokado.

After enduring their isolation for a long while, the two finally lost patience. When Uchiha Douhuan announced that he would once again treat everyone to dinner that evening, they said coldly, “It seems some people have forgotten that we’re out here on a mission. Eating and drinking lavishly all the way—do you think this is an excursion?”

After his voice fell silent, everyone turned to look strangely at the two men at the back of the group.

“When the mission is over, I will report your conduct truthfully to the Hokage,” Hayato Mitokado added.

“Strictly speaking, you have no authority to write a mission report. I am the person in charge of this mission.” Before Uchiha Douhuan could respond, Kakashi spoke coldly.

“Kakashi, you…” Tatsuki Utatane had not expected Kakashi to take such an unequivocal stand on the other side.

“If you don’t want to carry out this mission with us, you can turn back right now,” Kaze Inuzuka said, making no effort to conceal the displeasure in his eyes.

What a joke. You two refuse to eat, and now you want to stop everyone else from eating too?

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