[Hyuga Sota's House]
The Hyuga people who had been rescued by Uchiha Fugaku from inside the Forest of Death all returned to the clan to report the matter to Hyuga Sota.
They had been monitoring the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki for years, though they'd been slack about it at times.
Still, they had contingency plans for things that might happen.
It was obvious now, the Third Hokage and the Uchiha clan had officially torn off the mask.
"Have the Third Hokage's people already taken the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?", Sota asked the key question.
The Hyuga members exchanged looks and then shook their heads.
"We were using Byakugan all the way. We found Naruto; he hasn't been captured."
"But the amount of Nine-Tails chakra in Naruto's body is clearly small. We don't know the exact situation."
"Near the tower there are corpses all over the ground. Those corpses were probably left to block Uchiha Rengoku by the Third Hokage's people."
Tap! Tap! Two!
Sota's fingers drummed on the table, while his mind spun quickly.
Fugaku had come specifically to rescue the Hyuga inside the Forest of Death, which meant the Uchiha clan had noticed or at least suspected the Third Hokage's movements.
'But the Third had left so many lives at the tower, has he failed?'
Naruto's condition was unclear; who had the Nine-Tails was still unknown.
'But perhaps this is an opportunity?'
Sota's eyes darkened as he looked at four Hyuga branch family members, "How is progress on the Seed of Legacy plan?"
These four were the three messengers left behind by Yuto, Motou, and Shuji respectively, plus one of Sota's own people.
Sota and the other three couldn't communicate freely, so they relied on branch-family youths to relay messages.
The so-called Seed of Legacy plan was a backup for the New Bud Plan.
The Seed of Legacy was a contingency if the New Bud Plan failed, how the clan would preserve its bloodline.
The New Bud Plan was a desperate, all-or-nothing scheme: even if it succeeded, at least half of the participants would die.
If it failed, no one participating in the New Bud Plan would get away.
In that life-or-death situation, Shuji proposed the Seed of Legacy plan.
Its essence was simple: during missions abroad, find women and leave offspring.
In the ninja world, ordinary lives were cheap; if the branch family wanted to find partners, they could.
But children born to ordinary people, although carrying Hyuga blood, had a very low chance of awakening the Byakugan.
And once such Hyuga-descended people were discovered, they would be taken back to the main family, bringing collective responsibility.
But at this critical moment of survival, who cared about that?
Hinata was already ten. In a few years, the main family would gain another branch.
And if Hinata, as a main-family girl, married Naruto or an Uchiha, the main family's power would surge.
For the branch families, that would be devastating.
Once Sota's strength was sufficient, he set a timetable.
Within three years they had to launch the New Bud Plan.
This was only the first year.
The three of them did some quick calculations, then added up the numbers, "Sota-sama, it's completed about sixty percent."
Eighty-four people had been recruited for the New Bud Plan; the rest of the clan did not know.
That meant, of those 84, fifty people had already left children outside.
Plans are plans; reality brings change.
The more they had children outside, the easier it was to be discovered.
Now launching the New Bud Plan was no longer hasty.
The Hyuga clan didn't have many chances to easily gather the main and branch families together.
"I'll go to the Uchiha. When I return I'll convene a full clan meeting. You inform Yuto, Motou, and Shuji, prepare to start the New Bud Plan."
"Yes!", The branch-family youths' eyes burned with fire. No one knew how many would survive after this.
———
The Forest of Death location was outside Konoha's walls, in the woods beyond the perimeter.
After Sarutobi Ishishu got the prize, before the Uchiha could launch a widespread manhunt, he immediately left Konoha's area together with Senku.
They came out to a rendezvous point in the wild, where Kakuzu was waiting.
Because the Third Hokage hadn't paid yet.
At this time Ishishu's movements were restricted by Senku.
When the Third learned Ishishu had succeeded, he immediately sent people to retrieve him.
He himself didn't go much. Chiefly because the Uchiha hadn't reacted loudly. It seemed they were waiting and gathering strength.
By the time Ishishu and the others arrived, Kakuzu had been waiting a long time.
After all, this job paid well, lots of money, but it was dangerous.
But no matter how dangerous, Kakuzu had to take it: this payout could be worth him decades.
Seeing Senku and the others, Kakuzu immediately came up.
He looked at Senku with hopeful eyes, like someone on a pilgrimage, "Master Senku, how did it go?"
Senku's expression was calm, "It's done."
Though Kakuzu had five hearts, this time the amount was so large even all five hearts beat faster.
"Good. Next we wait for the Third Hokage's people to bring the money," Kakuzu forcibly suppressed his excitement.
He kept telling himself, 'The money isn't in hand yet! The money isn't in hand!'
But wealth moves the heart, and in Kakuzu's slightly distorted voice you could hear it.
He simply couldn't calm down.
Sarutobi Ishishu and the others knew the Third had sent many people to intercept Rengoku, but they didn't know exact casualty figures.
Now they were also waiting for the Third's men.
They weren't far from Konoha. Before long, Jiraiya arrived carrying a huge scroll.
When Jiraiya arrived he exchanged a subtle look with Sarutobi Ishishu.
Ishishu closed his eyes and shook his head slightly to indicate no.
With so much money, the main thing to guard against was theft by one's own, black-eat-black.
Ishishu shaking his head meant he believed Senku had easily intercepted Uchiha Rengoku; Jiraiya might not be Senku's match.
Seeing Jiraiya wasn't planning to act, Senku was ready to continue with the first plan.
"Master Senku, thank you. This is the agreed payment," Jiraiya unstrapped the massive scroll on his back.
Senku just intoned a Buddhist chant, "Monastics do not touch gold and silver. Kakuzu, take it and go."
Kakuzu had been waiting to hear those words; his eyes lit up and he grabbed the scroll.
When the scroll was opened there was a huge character "WEALTH" on it.
It was a specialized large storage scroll. Vast capacity, but it could only store money.
Kakuzu broke the seal and instantly a mountain-like pile of large-denomination bills appeared before him.
The situation was urgent and dangerous; even though Kakuzu loved counting money, there was no time to count slowly.
He reached out and activated his massive cursed threads; countless threads flew out and in an instant crawled across the entire money pile.
Kakuzu was using his secret technique to help count the money.
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