Just as Uchiha Tenxiu's Shadow Clone was quietly waiting for his disappearance in Harvest City.
"Lord Patriarch, a merchant caravan requests an audience!"
Outside the door, a newly recruited attendant knelt on the ground outside the newly built temporary residence, speaking softly.
"Hmm? Where are they from?" Uchiha Tenxiu calmly asked in Ōtomo's voice.
"They are from the Land of Lightning; they claim to be merchants from Hidden Cloud Village!" the attendant replied softly.
"What, Hidden Cloud Village!" The Shadow Clone, Uchiha Tenxiu, seemed to recall something, a thought flashing through his mind. "I was just thinking of a way to disappear reasonably, and now, isn't this just delivering itself to my doorstep!"
A smile appeared on Uchiha Tenxiu's face, and he quickly said to the attendant outside the door, "Quickly, invite them in!"
"Yes!" The attendant hurriedly went to invite the Land of Lightning merchant caravan.
"This is the long-renowned Harvest City!" A burly man with dark, chocolate-like skin and a fierce expression, leading a dozen or so people, entered the Ōtomo's city lord's center, which had been burned to ruins, leaving only rubble.
Looking at the "noble" residence, which consisted of only three rooms pieced together from wooden boards, a look of confusion appeared on his face.
"What happened to Ōtomo, to actually..." The Kumogakure merchant couldn't help but wonder if the other party, having suffered such a severe disaster, would still agree to his request this time.
Thinking about being hired by the Village to purchase reserve grain in the Land of Fire, he couldn't help but feel a surge of worry.
It was said that Harvest City was the place with the most grain in the northwest of the Land of Fire, and had enjoyed several consecutive years of abundant harvests, even better than the best grain-producing areas in the Land of Lightning. Even today, after several years of peace, Kumogakure was only barely able to feed itself, let alone what would happen if a disaster occurred in the future.
Therefore, under a sense of crisis.
In the past two years, Hidden Cloud Village, having resolved most of its internal conflicts, began working on grain reserves.
And the Land of Fire, a grain-producing nation with abundant resources, was Kumogakure's primary target. Naturally, a large number of people were assigned tasks to acquire grain throughout the Land of Fire.
And now...
"Now that the city lord's mansion has been burned down, I estimate Ōtomo is furious. Will my visit at this time not delay my mission? Or should I give him several times more of the bribe Raikage-sama arranged for me?"
The Kumogakure merchant was still pondering internally, but he didn't notice the look in the eyes of Ōtomo's lord, who was now following the attendant into the room, as if he had seen some rare treasure.
"So, state your request." Uchiha Tenxiu, disguised as Ōtomo, said very enthusiastically.
"It's like this! We hope to purchase a batch of grain to transport and sell in the Land of Lightning. We heard that Ōtomo is one of the foremost families within the Land of Fire, and also a major grain-producing region. Therefore, we specifically came to visit you..." At this point, the Kumogakure merchant took out the gifts carried by several attendants behind him.
Uchiha Tenxiu took a closer look. Ha! Kumogakure truly lives up to its reputation, with plenty of dog-head gold!
Inside the gift boxes were numerous valuable ornaments made of gold nuggets, along with several pieces of natural dog-head gold placed together.
"It seems I'll have to visit the Land of Lightning in the future too! Goods can be taken, and people cannot be wasted. Hmm! The white ones can go farm, and the black ones can be taken to plant cotton. Hmm, the kind that gives a hundred draws upon logging in, guaranteed to bring blessings!"
Uchiha Tenxiu thought darkly, yet showed no unusual expression on his face. Instead, he nodded in approval, laughing heartily: "Hahaha, excellent, our Ōtomo is indeed one of the foremost grain storage locations within the Land of Fire. You've come to the right person by coming to me! However, recently, Ninja-born thieves have been wreaking havoc, and even my city lord's mansion and grain storage warehouse have been burned down. The remaining grain is what the people need to survive, so if I were to sell it to you..."
Uchiha Tenxiu, disguised as Ōtomo, his facial expression was like a chameleon, sometimes feigning reluctance, sometimes revealing a tempting look, as if hinting at something to the few people, clearly intending to extort more bribes.
"..." The Kumogakure merchant's face showed difficulty, but in reality, his heart was blooming with joy. A greedy lord like this in the Land of Fire would sooner or later be ruined. He was clearly already afflicted by disaster, yet he still wanted to sell the grain needed for the survival of his people.
Truly shameless.
Fortunately, I am from the Land of Lightning.
As soon as he thought of this, the Kumogakure merchant immediately gestured to the attendant disguised as a Ninja behind him, who took out a scroll from his Pregnant and opened it. Several more boxes appeared, and when opened, they revealed another dazzling golden color.
"Hahaha!" Uchiha Tenxiu's face immediately broke into a greedy smile, and he readily agreed to the other party's request.
Soon, the deal was struck.
With each side silently cursing the other as an idiot.
Uchiha Tenxiu, with a defiant expression, sent them off outside the city lord's mansion, cursing loudly. The Kumogakure merchant also acted as if the deal hadn't gone through, as per a hidden requirement of the transaction, and left the city lord's mansion grumbling.
After all, selling the grain of the people in the territory for greater profit would greatly damage the morale of the territory and also cause some harm to the lord's authority.
Therefore, Uchiha Tenxiu, disguised as Ōtomo, and the Kumogakure merchant devised a plan: they would outwardly reject their actions and let everyone see, but in reality, they would deliver the grain to them under the guise of it being stolen by bandits. This way, even if the common people were hungry without grain, it would not be the lord's business.
If such a thing could be done.
They could continue to buy grain from him next year and the year after, which would be a long-term business agreement.
Such a plan naturally garnered the Kumogakure merchant's approval, who secretly thought, "Ōtomo truly lives up to his excellent reputation as a lord within the Land of Fire. Not only is his entire territory developing quite well, but he is also so far-sighted."
Soon, under the gaze of the entire city, the wise Lord Ōtomo, for the sake of the life-saving grain of the territory's people, unceremoniously rejected the Kumogakure barbarians' request to purchase grain, directly expelling them from the city, which caused a stir. Everyone cheered for Lord Ōtomo, with various insults directed at the Kumogakure barbarians.
Unbeknownst to everyone.
That night, in the early hours when everyone was asleep.
The Kumogakure merchant, carrying a note from Ōtomo, entered the city and began moving all the grain from the city's only remaining two granaries.
At the same time, Uchiha Tenxiu also repackaged the received bribe into a sealing scroll, summoned a giant eagle summoning beast to carry the scroll away, and then, with a "poof" sound, disappeared without a trace as Chakra smoke rose.
On the other side, the Kumogakure merchant also left Harvest City, satisfied, with a batch of grain labeled "stolen by bandits."
Until three more days passed.
The city was in chaos due to a lack of grain, and Ōtomo had to step forward to give orders.
The attendant, who had been forbidden to enter the city lord's mansion, finally realized something was wrong and, suppressing his fear, pushed open the door and entered.
Only then did he discover that Ōtomo was completely empty of people!
He didn't think for long.
"It's over!"
A thought appeared in the attendant's mind.
"It was those Kumogakure barbarians! They murdered Lord Patriarch, destroyed the evidence, forged letters, and even carried away all the grain in the entire city, those damned Kumogakure!"
"It must be!" The attendant quickly spread the information, and casually rolled up a fortune, also swiftly leaving Harvest City.
Only the hungry residents of the chaotic city remained, constantly cursing and reviling the barbarians from Kumogakure.
...