Shinku Yuhi didn't hesitate for even a second before giving in to temptation. He straightforwardly said, "Great idea! I had just scouted some intelligence and noticed a few secret jutsu from the Cloud-nin, although most of them were incomplete. Still, they hold great value. I'll prepare a copy for you all soon."
Shinku Yuhi didn't bother with false modesty, afraid that Shiyu Uchiha might take advantage of the opportunity to push further, which would have embarrassed him.
They were valuable treasures that could help strengthen his clan's foundation. Even if they couldn't be cultivated due to lacking the necessary base, they were still great for expanding one's vision and gaining knowledge. Naturally, Shinku couldn't refuse—perhaps it could even spark inspiration.
He also shared with Shiyu Uchiha some Cloud-nin ninjutsu he had collected while scouting intelligence, as a way to express gratitude.
Then Shiyu Uchiha went out and called Izuno Hiroshi and Gekko Ryo over. The four of them began dividing up the spoils and copying down the secret techniques. With the help of Shadow Clones, they worked busily throughout the night until finally finishing. Although none of them had rested the entire night, they remained energetic, their spirits lifted high after such a happy turn of events.
However, since Shiyu Uchiha didn't possess lightning-natured chakra and hadn't considered cultivating such chakra nature transformation yet, he couldn't practice these techniques himself. Still, these techniques held significant reference value for creating his own taijutsu and ninjutsu techniques. After all, accumulation comes bit by bit.
After finishing everything, Shinku Yuhi assigned a task to the three individuals: he asked them to bring back the four surviving members of the Whirlpool clan to Konoha. It was, after all, a lucrative assignment, and it would be easy to gain favor with the higher-ups. Meanwhile, he had Shiyu Uchiha send intelligence he had gathered about the Cloud-nin back to Konoha. However, the details about the Cloud-nin Anbu's death were only included after receiving Shiyu Uchiha's approval. At his request, those details were specifically placed at the very end.
Worried that someone might interfere and to ensure maximum personal safety and benefit, Shiyu Uchiha used the Summoning Technique to deliver the message through the ninken directly to Uchiha Shizhi. As for how to proceed afterward, Uchiha Shizhi was far more experienced and skilled than Shiyu Uchiha.
On the road, Shiyu Uchiha also actively interacted with the four members of the Uzumaki clan. With the advantage of having saved their lives, their communication surprisingly went extremely smoothly. The seven humans and one cat got along very happily on the journey.
Two days later, before Shiyu Uchiha and the group had even reached the village entrance, they saw a golden-haired man accompanied by a red-haired woman appearing before them. The red-haired woman's presence moved the four Uzumaki clan members to tears. The emotional moment overwhelmed them, and they couldn't help but rush forward, hugging each other tightly and crying.
Shiyu Uchiha immediately recognized them as Tsunade and Kushina Uzumaki. He quickly stepped forward and greeted them, "Tsunade-sama, Kushina-san, you're here! Are you going to take them straight back?"
In his heart, Shiyu Uchiha was well aware that at this moment, Tsunade likely still suffered from her fear of blood; otherwise, she wouldn't have waited inside the village for news.
While Kushina was still comforting her fellow clansmen and couldn't spare attention, Tsunade politely replied to Shiyu Uchiha's greeting, "Kid, thank you very much. The Uzumaki clan still has me, and I won't forget them. I need to take them away now. Any problems with that?"
"Of course not, Lady Tsunade. But when I submit my mission report later, I'll explain everything directly to Hokage-sama," Shiyu Uchiha thought to himself happily.
Delivering the mission directly to Tsunade would eliminate any middlemen and stop Hiruzen Sarutobi from exploiting him. This way, Shiyu Uchiha and others could earn favor directly from Tsunade and Mito Uzumaki.
This was precisely why Shiyu had the ninken clan deliver a message in advance to Uchiha Shizhi—it was a key part of his strategy. Moreover, he could obtain a free mission reward from Hiruzen Sarutobi, a delightful prospect that thrilled Shiyu beyond restraint.
After exchanging a few words with Tsunade, Shiyu handed over the four Uzumaki survivors to her and Kushina before watching them leave. Then, he returned to the village alongside his two teammates. Upon reaching the village, Saya and the other teammate headed home separately, while Shiyu alone had more work to do—submitting his mission report to the Hokage.
Shiyu waited outside for some time until an Anbu guard led him into the Hokage's office. He then retrieved the mission scroll and handed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi: "Hokage-sama, this is my mission log for this assignment, and the other scroll contains intelligence entrusted to me by Shinku Yuhi. Please take a look when you have a moment."
Hiruzen skimmed through Shiyu's mission log briefly before lifting his gaze. "What about those Uzumaki clan members?"
"Hokage-sama, we encountered Lady Tsunade and Miss Kushina on our way back. They've already been taken away," Shiyu replied calmly.
This response caused a slight frown on Hiruzen's face. Although he didn't press further, he decided later he should visit Mito Uzumaki. Then, he picked up the intelligence scroll from Shinku Yuhi again for closer inspection.
At that moment, Shiyu watched Hiruzen carefully from the corner of his eye. As expected, there was no surprise on Hiruzen's face regarding Cloud-nin interference—clearly, he'd already received prior reports. Yet, there was a brief reaction when reading the final section of the scroll before he quickly regained composure.
Instead of questioning Shiyu further, Hiruzen proceeded directly to rewarding him: "For this mission, your team will be credited with one A-rank and two B-rank missions, with payment based on the highest rank."
After a brief pause, Hiruzen added more firmly, "As for Gekko Ryo and Izuno Hiroshi, they may be promoted to Chunin once their skills are sufficient. As for you, I'm promoting you now to Tokubetsu Jonin—and this is a gift for you. I hope you'll continue striving forward."
Hiruzen then handed Shiyu a scroll, which he suspected contained a ninjutsu technique. He accepted it respectfully before bowing deeply: "Thank you for your guidance, Hokage-sama. I will continue to give my all in service to Konoha."
Under Hiruzen's approving gaze, Shiyu Uchiha left the Hokage's office. Although Hiruzen had wanted to discuss the Will of Fire with Shiyu, recent heavy workloads prevented him. Even more pressing was the matter concerning Mito Uzumaki, so he let Shiyu leave without further delay.
Shiyu Uchiha collected the reward money, left the Hokage Tower, and returned to the Uchiha Clan compound. He checked Hiruzen's reward and found it was the Sarutobi family's signature Fire Release jutsu called "Great Flame Technique." This annoyed Shiyu a bit — sure, a signature technique like that might be enough for an average ninja, but for someone from the Uchiha clan? It almost felt disrespectful. If it weren't for the fact that the giver was the Hokage himself, Shiyu would've definitely caused some trouble.
But then he remembered the huge amount of reward money inside the sealing scroll. Instantly, all his anger vanished. The generous payout instantly cooled him down — plain and simple, the payment was just way too good. The Fire Release jutsu now seemed like nothing more than a flashy little bonus.
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