Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha is not motivated.

Uchiha Madara, riding the Nine-Tailed Fox, roamed freely in the vast forests of the Land of Fire. After traveling day and night for a week, he calculated that he should be able to return home in another three days. By then, the Nine-Tailed Fox, this precious gift, would surely bring enough surprises to the hot mom.

"Hurrah~Gurrah~"

However, the rumblings from his stomach interrupted Uchiha Madara's imagination of a bright future. Remembering that he had not eaten for a day, he reached into the package and fumbled around, only to find that the dry food he had prepared had already been consumed.

"Looks like we need to find a place to resupply."

The Nine-Tails was already in his hands, and Uchiha Madara had no worries. He thought about it, then stopped the Nine-Tails from sweating profusely, looked into the distance, and happened to see some fluorescent spots, and he was immediately delighted.

"Don't move here. I'll go buy some dry food~"

The Nine-Tailed Fox was so big that if it rashly appeared in a populated area, it would only cause unnecessary panic. Therefore, Uchiha Madara ordered the Nine-Tailed Fox, whose eyes were red, to wait where it was and chose to go alone.

How could the Nine-Tailed Fox, which had been controlled, dare to disobey? It immediately retracted its tail and squatted on the spot, behaving like an obedient Husky.

"You did a great job. I'll bring you one later~"

Seeing the Nine-Tailed Fox so cooperative, Uchiha Madara nodded with satisfaction, changed into an inconspicuous outfit, ran towards the direction of the people, and arrived at his destination in a short while.

This is a small town with a large population. It is dinner time. Every household opens the windows to cook. The tempting smell of rice makes Uchiha Madara, who has been eating dry food for several months, even hungrier. He turns around and finds a restaurant that is open.

"Boss, please serve me all your signature dishes."

Having already gotten what he wanted most, Uchiha Madara was in a good mood and decided to enjoy himself. He immediately said to the boss with a big smile on his face,

"Okay~ How many people are there with this guest?"

This restaurant has quite a few signature dishes, and ordering them all is like starting a meal. Seeing that only Uchiha Madara was there, the boss asked out of caution,
"Well, there are only two of us. Another one is outside the town. I'll pack some for him when I'm done eating."

Just as he was about to say that he was alone, when he thought of the Nine-Tails waiting outside the town, Uchiha Madara's head twitched and he stretched out two fingers.
Taking advantage of the gap in his conversation with Uchiha Madara, the boss looked up and down at the black-haired man in front of him, with a pair of narrow and thieving eyes with an inexplicable look.

"The guest looks unfamiliar, is he from another place?"

He paused for a moment on Uchiha Madara's handsome face in a very subtle manner, and then glanced at his old clothes, and couldn't help feeling a little worried.

"passing by."

Uchiha Madara frowned when he heard this. It's just a meal, why is the boss so nagging? Is he worried that he will dine and dash?
"So you are a traveler. I am so sorry. There is a rule here in our restaurant that you have to pay after ordering."

The boss immediately understood. How could this poor-looking traveler be willing to order a large table of dishes? He must be trying to dine and fly. He would not be fooled!
"Oh! I've never heard of the rule of paying for meals."

Sensing his boss's thoughts, Uchiha Madara sneered with a look of disapproval.
"I'm sorry, this is a major transportation route. There are usually too many travelers coming and going, so it's inevitable that there are some unruly guys. I'm just a small business, so please bear with me~"

Without showing any dissatisfaction, the boss bowed his hands in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, and his words were even more watertight.
"You're so long-winded. I can't help you with this."

Although Uchiha Madara was unhappy, he expressed his understanding. As he spoke, he reached into the backpack behind him and began to search. The more he searched, the darker his face became. The boss, who was good at observing people's expressions, immediately saw the clue and a look of contempt flashed across his eyes.

Another scoundrel who wanted to eat and free food. Fortunately, I had a good eye for people, otherwise I would have been at a big loss.

At this moment, Uchiha Madara was in an extremely embarrassing situation. He had been sleeping in the open air before, so he didn't realize that his money had been used up long ago. Now he was afraid that he couldn't even find a single copper coin on his body.

"Guest officer?"

"I... I seem to have forgotten to bring money. Can you do it first? I'll ask my companion to pay later."

Uchiha Madara remembered that there was a backpack on Kyuubi's head, which contained some sundries for camping in the wild, and at the bottom was the scroll that Uchiha Gin gave him when they parted.

According to my cousin's personality, he should put some money in it, and then send a clone to get the package when it's time to eat.

"hehe."

How could the restaurant owner believe such criticism? The flattering smile on his face immediately disappeared. After a cold sneer, he waved his hand in disdain at Uchiha Madara.

"Go! I've seen a lot of people like you. You have hands and feet but you don't go to work. You just think about cheating people all day long."

"you!"

Uchiha Madara never expected that he, the Dark Lord of the Ninja World, would be mocked by a commoner. He was so angry that his teeth were almost broken. However, the pride of a strong man prevented him from attacking a commoner. He could only glare at his boss hatefully and left without looking back.

"Wait~"

"what's up?"

Suddenly, Uchiha Madara, who had not yet stepped out of the restaurant, heard the boss's voice behind him and turned his head in confusion.

Could it be that this person was captivated by my domineering aura and was planning to treat himself to a free meal?
"Hey, young man, I see you have a good appearance. Are you interested in having a few drinks with me? You can order whatever you want to eat then."

The boss, who had a cold face just now, put on a strange smile, and looked at Uchiha Madara's handsome face with a pair of thieving eyes unscrupulously, and couldn't help licking his black lips with his tongue.

Unexpectedly, this boss was also a person who took a different approach. He ignored the water route and only took the land route.

"Gah Bang!"

He never expected that someone would dare to tease him so openly. After a brief moment of confusion, Uchiha Madara was almost so angry that his eyes turned red. He even lost control of his feet and actually stepped on the threshold of the hotel, leaving a big footprint.

Even Hasi Lama never told me that!
"what!"

The boss, who was frightened by Uchiha Madara's momentum, saw this scene and realized that he was almost hitting the wall. He screamed in fear, and his overdeveloped back door was not clamped, so he immediately urinated and defecated.

"What bad luck."

Uchiha Madara, who was covering his nose, suddenly lost his appetite, and also lost the desire to punish the civilian who offended him. He cursed inwardly and disappeared from the spot in an instant.

"Forget it, let's go back and get the money first."

Uchiha Madara's good mood was mostly ruined. He lost the urge to continue shopping and decided to go back to the Nine-Tails to find money before eating.

However, just as he was about to do so, a hooded figure approached. Uchiha Madara frowned. Judging from his skills, this guy was definitely not an ordinary person, so he looked at him with great vigilance.

"Don't get me wrong. I saw that you seemed to be in some trouble, so I wanted to ask if you needed help."

An adult male's voice came from under the hood, and his two eyes glowed green, with three parts of scrutiny and seven parts of inexplicable calculation.

"who are you?"

Without letting down his guard because of the other party's kind words, Uchiha Madara asked coldly,

"Don't get me wrong, I'm different from that boss just now."

It was obvious that this mysterious hooded man had witnessed everything that had just happened after Uchiha Madara entered the hotel.

"You're such a ghost, I don't need any help."

Seeing that Uchiha Madara was unmoved, the mysterious man took off his hood to show his sincerity, revealing his true face, which was an ordinary middle-aged man.

His slightly dark face had a bit of a mercenary look, his eyes were a very rare green color, and his sturdy body gave off an aura that made Uchiha Madara somewhat familiar.
"I'm a bounty hunter."

"Bounty hunter? I don't have a bounty on me, what do you want from me?"

Hearing the other party reveal his identity, Uchiha Madara frowned in confusion. Could it be that that guy Senju Tobirama was unethical and put himself on the black market for a bounty?
"Bounty hunter is just one of my professions. I am also a very honest loan shark."

Loan shark?
Uchiha Madara suddenly realized that this guy was a door-to-door salesperson.
"I do not need!"

Uchiha Madara, who was not really short of money, directly rejected the sales pitch from this strange guy.

"No, you need to."

The bounty hunter who was lending money did not want to give up Uchiha Madara, a high-quality customer.

Just now in the restaurant, the aura that suddenly burst out from Uchiha Madara made Kakuzu, who was eating noodles and watching the show at a roadside stall, feel a chill in his heart. This seemingly poor man was by no means an ordinary person. He was most likely a Omura ninja who was in trouble, or a rebel ninja.

No matter which one it is, as long as you get yourself connected, you will definitely make money.

So after Uchiha Madara came out, he followed him immediately and first approached him as a bounty hunter. If the other party was a traitor, he would definitely feel guilty, so he would just capture him and take him to the black market to exchange for money.

However, after Kakuzu revealed his identity, Uchiha Madara not only did not feel guilty at all, but was extremely impatient. This shows that the other party is definitely a ninja from a big ninja village, but was in trouble for some reason, so his other identity could come in handy.

"If you have any valuables to pledge, I'll only charge you 300% interest. Don't miss this opportunity~"

Kakuzu, who was following behind, kept promoting the product, which made the already upset Uchiha Madara even more annoyed.
"Are you annoying? I told you I don't need it!"

"Since there is no collateral, we can sign a contract, but the interest rate will be increased to 500 percent."

Thinking that Uchiha Madara was in trouble, Kakuzu gritted his teeth and generously relaxed the loan conditions. If someone who really needed it saw this, he would only kneel down and express gratitude.

"roll!"

Uchiha Madara was so annoyed that his eyes flashed scarlet, and a cold pupil power overflowed for a moment. He cast a simple Sharingan illusion, ready to teach this annoying guy a lesson.

"Forehead"

Kakuzu, who was suddenly caught in an illusion, stood there in a daze, his green eyes instantly becoming dim. Seeing this, Uchiha Madara was too lazy to say anything more and turned and left.

At this moment, in the sea of ​​​​consciousness

"idiot!"

After being glared at by Uchiha Madara, Shigeaki pointed at Kakuzu's nose and attacked crazily.
"You are a guy who only cares about money and not life. Who would you dare to mess with?"

Nanao, recalling the unbearable past, wanted to open Kakuzu's head to see whether it was a defense or an answer.

"Master Divine Beast, who exactly is he and why are you so afraid of him?"

Kakuzu was scolded for no apparent reason, but he was not angry. Instead, he asked curiously,
"That guy is an Uchiha. I've fought him before. It's a 50-50 fight~"

Nanao was stunned for a moment, then she narrated the fictitious facts in a very calm tone.
It's a 50-50 split. Uchiha Madara cut it into five pieces in five minutes.

"Uchiha, he's from Konoha." Kakuzu was also stunned. When Konoha was mentioned, the unbearable memory of being almost sent away by the Wood Dragon came to his mind again.

"Forget it, I can't afford to offend you."

In reality, Kakuzu, who had already broken free from the illusion, looked at Uchiha Madara's departing back with some regret. It seemed that he would not be able to earn this money.
"But fortunately, there is a guy hiding in this town with a high bounty, so we managed to stop the loss in time."

Kakuzu did not pass by this place by chance. He had received news from the black market that there was a ninja with a bounty on his head in this town, but no one knew where he was hiding. He had been investigating for the past few days. As for Uchiha Madara, he just happened to pass by here.

On the other side, Uchiha Madara, who had just walked a short distance, suddenly found that the number of pedestrians on the road had suddenly decreased a lot, and the remaining ones were also in a hurry. The strange behavior made him curious, so he stopped a passerby.
"My friend, what happened?"

The person who was stopped was a middle-aged man with a simple and honest appearance. He first looked at the unfamiliar Uchiha Madara in surprise, and then said,
"Little brother, are you a foreigner?"

"A traveler passing by."

"Well, you'd better leave before it gets dark. Ghosts always appear here at the end of the month."

When the middle-aged man mentioned ghosts, his eyes were filled with fear and his body couldn't stop shaking.
"Ghost? What did he do?"

Uchiha Madara had never seen a ghost in his life, so he decided to get to the bottom of it.
"When night falls, the ghosts will kidnap those who have not returned home on the street."

As the middle-aged man spoke, he nervously checked the sky. As the sun slowly set, he didn't bother to explain to Uchiha Madara any more and started running towards his home.

Uchiha Madara did not continue to ask questions, but instead looked at the setting sun with interest. He wanted to see who this so-called ghost was.

"Why don't you go home?"

Just as Uchiha Madara was waiting for the night to fall, an old man passing by shouted to him,
"I was just passing through."

Uchiha Madara replied calmly, looking nonchalant, and ignored the old man.
"Really? Come with me!"

Seeing Uchiha Madara's expression, the old man got anxious and grabbed him and walked towards a yard.
Uchiha Madara, who did not want to cause any more trouble, thought for a moment and chose not to resist. He followed the old man back to his home.

Arriving at the old man's house, Uchiha Madara looked around the not-so-shabby house without saying much. The old man looked out the window at the setting sun, patted his chest with lingering fear,
"You are so young, don't lose your life."

"Is there really a ghost?"

Uchiha Madara raised his eyebrows and asked curiously,

"So you know!"

“I just found out about this as well.”

"Phew~ Then I'll tell you about it in detail."

Seeing Uchiha Madara's curious look, the old man sighed first, then stood up and made him a cup of tea. After sitting up straight, he slowly spoke,

"I used to be the mayor of this town, but I have retired to enjoy my old age."

"Oh?"

Unexpectedly, this plain-looking old man in front of him was once a local official. Uchiha Madara took a sip of tea and found that it was indeed not something that ordinary people could afford.

"Our town is a major transportation hub for the Fire Nation. It was once prosperous, but five years ago, ghosts suddenly appeared in the town, and it gradually fell into decline."

There was a gleam of pride in the old man's eyes when he talked about the town, but when he mentioned ghosts, he became like the middle-aged man before, with only fear in his eyes.

"Have you all seen that ghost?"

"I've only seen his silhouette, but never his true appearance."

The old man shook his head.
"Anyone who has seen the true face of a ghost is already dead."

"How do you know he's dead?"

How can you be sure that the abducted person is dead if you don’t even know what a ghost looks like?

“There is wreckage”

The old man paused, a look of deep fear on his face.
"The remains mixed with excrement, the people who were abducted, were eaten alive by the ghosts!"

eat human?

Uchiha Madara frowned and immediately guessed the true identity of the ghost. In his impression, those who eat people are nothing more than wild beasts, so the true identity of the ghost is most likely some kind of powerful beast.

"Could it be a wild animal?"

Thinking of this, Uchiha Madara put forward his own guess.

"No, it's not a beast, that ghost, he wears clothes and can speak human language."

People eat people!
Now Uchiha Madara was not calm. Even in times of war, cannibalism was not common. Moreover, it was a time of peace now. How could anyone eat their own kind?

"Didn't you seek assistance, such as ninjas?"

After pondering for a while, Uchiha Madara asked, if it was really a terrible incident of cannibalism, the town should have issued a mission to seek help from ninjas.

"I looked for it before, but it disappeared. It's likely that it was eaten."

As the former mayor, the old man naturally knew everything about the town. When the kidnapping incident first happened, they had issued a mission and had ninjas come to carry it out.

"Have you been here? From Konoha?"

If a ninja from Konoha was missing, Uchiha Madara felt that he had to pay attention to this matter.
"Konoha? There was no Konoha at that time. The one who accepted the mission was a wandering ninja."

It has only been four years since Konoha was founded, and the time when the demon appeared was just before Konoha was founded. At that time, the ninja system was still very chaotic, and there were many ninjas from small families wandering around, accepting some insignificant small tasks to make a living.

"After Konoha was established, did you hire anyone?"

Uchiha Madara breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that it was not a Konoha ninja who was eaten.

"Yes, we have issued a B-rank mission. The ninja masters of Konoha have arrived in town today and should be investigating clues about the ghost now."

The old man took a sip of tea and showed a little relief on his face. The strength of the Konoha ninja is obvious to all, and this time they should be able to completely eradicate the demon plague.

"what?"

Uchiha Madara's heart tightened when he heard this. He was not ready to deal with his fellow countrymen from Konoha.

"Can you please tell me who the ninjas from Konoha are?"

"As I recall, it was a middle-aged ninja who looked like a monkey, and he brought a few half-grown children with him."

the other side

In a courtyard specially prepared by the current mayor, Sarutobi Sasuke sat on the tatami with a serious face, and in front of him, six little kids with excited faces were kneeling. They were Uchiha Gin's "favorite disciples".

"Huruzen, did you get any information during the day?"

Sarutobi Sasuke asked his eldest son first, with a scrutinizing look in his eyes.

As an elite jonin-level ninja, Sarutobi Sasuke had no need to accept this kind of B-level mission, but due to the homework left by Senju Tobirama, he had to take these children with him and go out to carry out a mission that was not too dangerous.

"Chief Sarutobi, I have assigned a few children a combat mission, but I really cannot be apart, so I would like to trouble you to supervise the escort."

Tobirama Senju, who was working hard at his post, spoke to Sarutobi Sasuke who was summoned with a very apologetic tone.

In fact, this white-haired guy just wanted to have a few days of leisure. Uchiha Gin forcibly took over the position of clan leader because Uchiha Izuna was on paternity leave, resulting in no one to discipline the energetic F6.

Senju Tobirama is now the village party secretary. The workload tomorrow is so heavy that even his shadow clones cannot handle it, so he has no time to teach students. So he has to arrange an extracurricular assignment and let the powerful Sarutobi Sasuke escort him.

"Father, I..."

When asked this question, Sarutobi Hiruzen's face tensed up and he was about to speak.
"You must behave in a manner commensurate with your position when you are out there!"

"Got it, Captain Sarutobi. We did some investigation during the day and found that there is something wrong with the owner of the largest restaurant in town."

"Oh? What's the problem?"

"Everyone says he loves to eat people, especially young men. I think this is a very important clue."

Sarutobi Hiruzen seriously reported to Sarutobi Sasuke the gossip he had heard today, which made his old father so angry that his blood pressure soared and his fists clenched.

"Hoo~ Very good. Do you have any more information?"

Suppressing the urge to enforce family discipline, Sarutobi Sasuke turned around and asked the other children,

"No~no~"

The other little ones were on a mission for the first time and had no idea about gathering intelligence.

It seems that Konoha Academy is imperative, and the qualities of a ninja must be cultivated from an early age, otherwise having strength alone will only harm oneself.

"Um. I have some information, I don't know if it's intelligence~"

Uchiha Jing hesitated for a moment and raised his hand.
"Okay, Jing, you go ahead."

Looking at Uchiha Kagami's nervous little face, Sarutobi Sasuke showed a smile that he thought was kind. This is Mr. Gin's nephew, he has to protect him well.

"Before us, there was another ninja who received the same mission, but he disappeared."

"That's all?"

Sarutobi Sasuke had already learned this information from the mayor, so it was not considered useful information, but Uchiha Kagami was able to discover it, which was already a task beyond his capabilities.

"I also found out that the missing ninja is named Kagami." (End of this chapter)