Naruto: Building the Strongest Uchiha Starting with Gacha Pulls

Seeing that neither of his two teammates objected, Uchiha Gen simply took command of the team and began to give instructions:

"I'll go to the lord of River Valley Town alone to get more specific information from the client. Liuli and Yanjun, you two split up and go into the town to gather other intelligence to get a more comprehensive understanding of the mission. Also..."

Gen Uchiha bit his right thumb, then immediately formed hand seals.

"Hai-Xu-You-Shen-Wei"

Five hand seals were quickly completed. As the right hand was slammed to the ground, a thick plume of white smoke rose up, and a dozen jet-black ninja crows appeared in mid-air, cawing loudly.

"The ninja crows will monitor the surroundings and scout the terrain, just in case. They might even be able to find relevant clues."

Although these ninja crows had only recently formed a summoning contract with him and their combat strength and teamwork were not particularly high, they had all undergone basic training from the Uchiha clan. Therefore, it was not difficult for them to carry out a simple reconnaissance of this town and the surrounding area.

On the surface, in secret, and even in the heavens, Uchiha Gen made arrangements with utmost caution.

"You've learned a new ninjutsu? I've never seen you use it at school before."

Sarutobi Enjun scratched his head, watching the flock of crows scatter and fly into the sky.

Uchiha Gen didn't explain anything, but simply looked at Sarutobi Enjun and said:

"Let's act quickly, lest we delay too long and Orochimaru-senpai become dissatisfied. Try to complete the intelligence gathering before 5 PM, and regardless of the amount of information, return here to meet up at 5 PM."

Sarutobi Enjun then realized what was happening.

It would indeed be a very shameful thing if they failed Orochimaru's trial and were sent back by the Jonin in charge.

At the very least, he'll definitely get a lot of nagging from Biwako and the Third Hokage.

We need to hurry.

Soon, Sarutobi Enjun and Uzuki Ruri, disguised by a transformation technique, entered the town as an elderly couple visiting relatives from afar.

Uchiha Gen simply tidied his clothes, making the red and white fan-shaped clan emblem on his clothes more eye-catching, before entering the town and asking the soldiers guarding the city gate for information.

The lord of River Valley Town is named Hase, and his ancestors were vassals of a daimyo. In terms of rank alone, he can be considered a mid-level nobleman.

Having one's own fiefdom with a population of over 100,000 would place one in the upper-middle tier among the nobles of the Land of Fire. While not as powerful as the great nobles who even the daimyo had to respect, they were certainly not as poor as the lesser nobles who were about to lose their fiefdoms.

A few minutes later, at the lord's manor.

"I never expected that they would be members of the famous Uchiha clan, here to help the clan head deal with the bandits."

A short, stout man wearing small round sunglasses led Uchiha Gen into the mansion.

Uchiha Gen had never seen what a daimyo's palace looked like, but this mansion was also decorated with painted beams and red curtains, with tiered terraces and pavilions, exuding a noble air.

"You flatter me, Lord Ito. This mansion looks magnificent; it seems your patriarch and Lord Ito are both very capable in managing their household."

Uchiha Gen sized up the passing servants and addressed the Ito family head.

This person's name is Itono, the steward of the lord of River Valley Town, which can be roughly understood as a role similar to a butler.

When the lord is capable, the steward is only responsible for household affairs, servants, and arranging schedules. If the lord does not want to get involved, he will entrust the management of government affairs and the operation of the territory to the steward.

As for which type it is in River Valley Town, Uchiha Gen believes that they need to continue to observe.

What he just said was a test.

Unfortunately, Ito Kei laughed it off and got away with it.

"Haha, Mr. Yuan, you flatter me. I was merely following the Lord's instructions and doing some insignificant things. River Valley Town's current state is entirely due to the Lord's wise leadership!"

The chubby Ito clan leader led Uchiha Gen into the attic.

A fat man, much fatter than Ito Ieya, was sitting cross-legged on the tatami mat, stuffing sweets into his mouth.

She was dressed in gorgeous clothes, adorned with gold and jade, but she was a bit ugly.

"Master, this is Uchiha Gen, the ninja sent by Konoha to deal with the mountain bandits."

Ito Ike-rei bent over and spoke to the fat man on the tatami mat.

"Oh, you're a Konoha ninja. Hey kid, since you're an Uchiha ninja, you must be really strong! I heard you can all breathe fire, is that true?"

Lord Hase looked at Gen Uchiha with a very "wise" gaze.

The latter frowned slightly.

He roughly knows the situation inside the lord's house.

Because Lord Hase's idiotic demeanor... doesn't seem like an act.

After apologizing to Uchiha Gen, Ito-kei hurriedly went up to persuade Lord Hase.

It's probably because some lords are very precious, and the ninjas' ninjutsu is too powerful, which might accidentally injure the lords.

"I see, that's impressive. Then I'll leave the bandits to you. Ito, I'm going to the capital for a few days, so I'll leave the house to you."

The lord patted his large belly, creating a wave of flesh, and swayed as he straightened up. With the help of his maid, he left.

After bowing respectfully to the lord, Ito Kerei turned around and looked at Uchiha Gen.

"Since the lord has entrusted us with the entire matter, we will trouble the steward to cooperate."

"We will naturally cooperate to the best of our ability, but... is Mr. Gen alone here to carry out the mission? It's not that I don't trust the ninjas of Konoha, it's just that those bandits are cunning and treacherous. Without enough manpower, I'm afraid..."

Ito Kei looked at Uchiha Gen with some hesitation.

After all, no matter how you look at it, the ninja in front of him was too young, and he was all alone.

If he hadn't recognized the Uchiha clan crest and known the Uchiha clan's power, he might have already started to show his displeasure.

Uchiha Gen took a small sip of tea and replied to the Ito family head:

"It's alright. My teammates are still out there gathering information about the bandits. There's also a Jonin in the team, so their abilities are definitely not a problem. I just want to ask the lord and clan leader, who are the ones who issued the mission, to explain the information to me in more detail."

"Well, actually, there were no bandits in River Valley Town a year ago. It was only as the impact of the Ninja World War grew that this group of bandits emerged."

Ito Kei sighed as he looked at Uchiha Gen.

"Did they flee across the border?"

"Uchiha Gen asked."

"No, not only that. If it were just that, it wouldn't be so troublesome. The real trouble is the true identity of these bandits. They have a significant relationship with the residents of the town."

Uchiha Gen thought to himself, "Just as I thought."

If it were that simple, and they could just find the bandits, wipe them out, and recover the taxes, Orochimaru wouldn't have needed to give them this task as a trial.

There must be a deeper meaning behind this.

"The mountains surrounding River Valley Town are rich in mineral resources, and the quality of iron ore is among the best in the entire Land of Fire. In order to prepare for the war materials needed for the Ninja World War, the Daimyo has already issued an order requiring all lords with iron ore resources within their territory to pay enough iron ore."

River Valley Town has high-quality iron ore, so the daimyo has many requirements, but that doesn't mean the output is high.

As the rich mineral deposits on the surface were exhausted, miners had to venture deeper underground to dig for even more difficult-to-extract ores.

And in order to meet the Daimyo's quota, we...

"You've driven the miners too far, so they've been forced to the mountains to become bandits? And they're related to the residents of the town, hiding bandits among the people, well-informed, and impossible to catch."

As for tax evasion... since they are ordinary people, if they dare to evade taxes, it means that someone is about to starve.

What percentage of taxes is collected in your territory?

Faced with a barrage of questions from Uchiha Gen, Ito Kei's eyes showed considerable surprise.

This young ninja seems quite intelligent; he was able to deduce so much information from his words so quickly.

"In the past, the tax rate for the territory was five public and five private. However, after the miners all left, we needed to spend money to recruit additional miners in order to meet the daimyo's quota. But there was definitely not enough time, so we also needed to spend money to buy iron ore from other lords to temporarily meet the daimyo's needs. So the tax rate was changed to six public and four private after that."

That's a really high tax rate.

Five or six tenths of the fruits of hard work must be handed over to the state.

Perhaps in the past, a 50% tax rate would have kept many people on the edge of financial stability; life wouldn't have been too easy, but they wouldn't have starved to death. However, this additional 50% tax rate has now become the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Those miners who fled to the mountains to become outlaws were actually part of these townspeople; one was a cousin of that family, another was an uncle of this family.

They probably didn't know it was tax money destined for the daimyo. Seeing the money and supplies, they simply conspired and robbed it.

Uchiha Gen finally understood.

No wonder Orochimaru said this mission was carefully selected.

Not only should those people be brought to justice, but their consciences should also be examined.

These bandits were all pitiful people forced into this situation, but as ninjas, since they had robbed taxes, they had to be wiped out completely.

Choose the mission, or choose your conscience?

This kind of trial that enjoys testing human nature is really in line with Orochimaru's consistent style.

Should we just kill them all and end it all?

Orochimaru probably thinks that if you can't even be ruthless enough, you won't be able to get past him.

Uchiha Gen then pulled Ito Ieyasu aside to ask him some other questions before leaving the lord's mansion with a small booklet containing a lot of information.

It was five o'clock in the evening.

The three of them reunited in the woods outside River Valley Town.

As for Orochimaru, he has disappeared without a trace, presumably off doing something.

A dozen or so ninja crows flapped their wings and fell from the sky.

"Let's all gather the intelligence."

Gen Uchiha pulled out two packets of dried meat from his pocket, fed them to the ninja crows, and asked his two teammates.

"There's not much useful information. Most of the townspeople are vague, and we can't get any information out of them about the number of bandits or their location."

Sarutobi Enjun shook his head regretfully.

"I'm afraid it's not that the information was vague, but that it was deliberately evasive. Yan Jun and I split up to investigate, and then we went to the tavern. We used money to question the waiter, and soon after we left, we were blocked in the alley. I arrested them, found a secluded place to lock them up, and used illusion magic to interrogate them."

Many of these bandits had connections with the townspeople, and some were even relatives. They often helped each other in times of trouble. This time, it was because the lord increased taxes, making it difficult for many townspeople to survive, that more people flocked to the mountains to become outlaws.

Uzuki Ruri sat cross-legged on the ground, her eyes fixed on Uchiha Gen, seemingly hoping he could come up with a solution.

"Well, it's similar to the information I gathered, but with a different focus."

Uchiha Gen tossed the remaining bag of dried meat to the crows, letting them divide it among themselves. He then recounted his experiences at the lord's mansion, concluding with:

"It's obvious that Orochimaru-senpai is deliberately using this method to test us. If we can't be ruthless and complete the mission, then we'll have to start over."

Uzuki Ruri spoke softly:

"So, what we need to do next is find these people, wipe them out completely, and recover as much tax revenue as possible?"

Sarutobi Enjun said in a low voice:

"Isn't there any other way? They... are just ordinary people forced into this situation."

"Yes, I have."

Gen Uchiha clapped his hands, looked at the flock of ninja crows that had finished eating, and released the summoning jutsu.

"What is it?"

"If you reincarnate now and go to the Pure Land, you might be able to meet the First Hokage or the Sage of Six Paths and ask them to revive you, quell the war in the ninja world, reshape the entire ninja world's system, and make the daimyo and nobles willingly give up a portion of their own interests to the people who create wealth. In that case, not only will what happened here not happen again, but more than 90% of the problems in the entire ninja world can also be solved."

"Let's not make such unrealistic jokes."

"Then there's nothing we can do. Don't forget, no matter what the emergency, a ninja must always prioritize completing the mission. Everything must be done with the mission in mind. This is clearly written in the ninja code and is a key part of the ninja academy's exams."

Ninjas are tools for completing missions, not heroes who uphold justice. Being soft-hearted and indecisive are not good adjectives to describe a ninja.

Of course, we don't want to be tools, but reality leaves all ninjas with no choice. Unless you become strong enough, so strong that no one can beat you, and everyone else combined can't defeat you, then you can be like the First Hokage, using absolute strength to make the whole world make way for your ideals.

As for now, we are just three genin. Even if you are the Hokage's son, you can't bring about any change.

Uchiha Gen looked at Sarutobi Enjun, who had a troubled expression, and said in a calm tone.

"Then at least we can do something within our power, right? For example, can we just arrest them without killing them?"

This kid...