At this moment, deep within a forest more than fifty miles away from Iwagakure Village.
Shimoku's figure suddenly flickered into view.
"Phew—"
Shimoku appeared with a sudden flicker of space-time energy—courtesy of the Flying Thunder God Technique—and exhaled sharply.
A slight shake of his head helped clear the dizziness from that long-range jump.
Clearly, still new to mastering this space-time jutsu, he remained somewhat unskilled.
He needed time to get used to it.
Moreover, several fierce battles, long-distance travel, and consecutive uses of space-time techniques had nearly drained all of Shimoku's chakra.
Otherwise, he would've gone back and given that old man Onoki another punch earlier.
No way he'd leave just like that.
Now.
Using the cover of night, Shimoku casually jumped onto a large tree.
Secretly scanning the surroundings with his sensory abilities.
After confirming no one else was around, he settled cross-legged on the thick branch.
He took two pills that restored chakra, quickly recovering a decent portion of his energy.
This was the Ninja World—full of dangers at every turn.
At any time, Shimoku needed to maintain a certain level of combat power and chakra reserves.
Even the most skilled taijutsu user would lose most of their edge without chakra boosting their strength.
From all the movies he'd seen in his past life, Shimoku had no intention of falling flat on his face and failing in such a stupid way.
Several minutes later.
Once his combat strength had returned, Shimoku felt slightly reassured.
Then he started tallying up the gains from tonight.
First: Successfully recruited Kabuto and Nonou, two medical ninjas. Naturally, this was great news.
Second: He robbed the Iwagakure Village Vault and brought back seventy million silver taels, equivalent to 7,000 gold coins—a truly lucrative haul!
These 7,000 gold coins alone would allow him to spend heavily within the System again, strengthening his power.
Plus, those unexpected seventy million taels could greatly ease the economic pressure on his Homura Hidden Village, accelerating the village's basic development and ensuring the comfort of his clanspeople's daily lives.
Of course, these were all material gains visible to the eye.
Beyond that, there were also significant intangible benefits.
Among them, the biggest gain was getting Konoha and Akatsuki to unknowingly take the blame for this incident!
Tonight's actions—
From outfit to action to every spoken clue—
Throughout the whole process, Shimoku had deliberately disguised himself as someone from Akatsuki, someone clearly linked to Konoha.
In fact, he even went as far as exposing the Flying Thunder God Technique to Onoki intentionally.
Just enough to give the old man something to remember.
All in an effort to divert Iwagakure's suspicion and fury toward Konoha.
Iwagakure, already full of hatred for Konoha,
Would surely feel even more resentment after tonight.
In the future, all he'd need to do was add a tiny spark, and war between Iwagakure and Konoha would erupt.
Allowing him and Homura Hidden Village to sit back and reap the spoils of war like a silent third party.
On the other hand,
He had also deliberately exposed some of Akatsuki's strength and threat.
Well, thinking about it, that certain "Big Bro Tu" wearing a red-clouded robe and mask would definitely receive a warm "welcome" once spotted by the ninja of Iwagakure Village.
Tsk, tsk, tsk! Let's take a moment of silence for poor Big Bro Tu...
After tidying up his loot and making sure nothing was left behind,
Shimoku immediately set off, heading toward his Homura Hidden Village.
He'd already been gone for over a day now.
It was time to return quickly. He hoped there hadn't been any serious troubles in the village.
...
The next day at dusk,
Shimoku, covered in dust from the road, finally returned to his village.
And during these two days,
the village remained in peace and prosperity.
All the clansmen were throwing themselves into building the new village under the leadership of several elders, making impressive progress day by day.
Obviously,
the place had become far more lively since he first arrived.
Even on the main street,
several snack shops had opened, where elderly men happily sold various snacks and sweets, greatly loved and chased by groups of children.
If he were still in Konoha, such a warm scene probably wouldn't have appeared.
There, whenever more than three Uchiha gathered together, they would be secretly monitored by Konoha.
No wonder so many Uchiha clan members were driven to rebellion and defection.
Indeed, his decision to lead the clan to defect from Konoha had truly been wise.
...
After Shimoku returned, he only then realized that Orochimaru and Kabuto had not yet come back.
That wasn't particularly strange though.
After all, he had traveled alone, moving extremely fast.
They, on the other hand, had two dead weights with them, so naturally slower.
Besides, after witnessing the might of his Susano'o combined with the Divine Sword,
Orochimaru probably wouldn't even consider plotting rebellion anytime soon.
Nothing to worry about.
Soon, Shimoku quietly slipped into his residence.
"Head Clan Prince! You're back!"
Terumi Uchiha, who had been on serious duty, suddenly brightened upon seeing Shimoku's return, clearly delighted.
Life without the Head Clan Prince present had indeed felt uneasy.
"Hm. How has the village been?"
"All is well."
"Glad to hear that."
"Oh right, where is Lord Mooncake?"
Shimoku glanced around, only now realizing the little fat bear was gone.
"Oh! Lord Mooncake is taking a bath in the backyard..."
"A bath? Did you actually build a hot spring pool?"
"Well... It was Lord Mooncake's request. And besides, we figured it'd also help the Head Clan Prince relax when he came back."
"So we built a simple one..."
Terumi stuttered slightly, somewhat embarrassed.
"You guys! The village isn't even finished yet, and you're already fussing over fancy stuff like this."
"And as for Lord Mooncake—he's gotten pretty gutsy, huh? Daring to boss you all around like that..."
Shimoku chuckled and scolded lightly.
But he wasn't really angry; after all, it was just the good intentions of the clanspeople.
Moreover, after such a long journey home,
soaking in a hot spring and relaxing did feel really comfortable.
Isn't this exactly the kind of quality life he'd always wanted?
"Alright, since I'm back now—"
"There really isn't anything to worry about then."
"You may step down now."
"Oh, by the way, for the next two days, you and 'Tō' outside won't need to take shifts anymore."
"You all deserve a couple of days off to rest up..."
"No! Young Master, we..."
"No arguments. Just follow orders. Besides, the village is just getting started—your families need your help too. No excuses."
"Well... fine!"
Natsuya Riyō's heart warmed slightly. Without hesitation, he immediately agreed.
Then he promptly took his leave.
Truth be told, everyone knew the Young Master's strength well enough.
Though they were his guards, it was unclear who exactly protected whom.
...
After sending Riyō away, Shimoku made his way to the backyard.
Sure enough, as soon as he walked in,
he felt warm hot spring steam rush toward him, opening his pores and naturally making him relax a bit.
Meanwhile, beside the steaming pool,
that palm-sized "Mooncake" was leisurely soaking in the hot spring while chewing on a tender bamboo shoot,
seemingly enjoying every moment of his feline life.
"Damn it, even this panda knows how to enjoy life more than I do…"
Shimoku took off his clothes and jumped straight into the hot spring.
A large splash erupted as water droplets flew everywhere,
soaking Mooncake at the edge of the pool completely.
"Who?! Who?! Who's interrupting my bath?!"
Mooncake got startled and angrily clawed the air.
"Ugh, it's you again! Back so soon?"
"Lord Mooncake, you sure know how to live it up! Have you boiled yet after soaking for so long?"
Shimoku teased with a grin.
"Brat! What are you talking about? I'd never boil!"
"You splashed me completely and still haven't answered for it! How dare you show such disrespect!"
"Just wait—I'll rip you apart myself!"
Mooncake roared furiously.
First, he carefully set aside the half-eaten bamboo shoot.
Then, claws waving and teeth bared, he began swimming toward Shimoku.
Unfortunately, being barely palm-sized, Mooncake hadn't reached halfway across the pool
before clearly running out of energy.
Soon afterward, he began flailing around helplessly, gradually sinking below the surface,
leaving behind only a trail of bubbles.
...
Shimoku casually glanced at Mooncake.
The soothing warmth of the hot spring made him too relaxed to bother arguing with the panda. After all, as a spirit beast, drowning wasn't truly dangerous for him...
So without further thought, he stretched out freely, soaking in the hot water to relieve his physical fatigue.
At the same time, during this relaxing moment,
he submerged his consciousness once more into the System, ready to start another round of 'resource dumping!'
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