The funding gap was perfectly filled by Tokugawa Shigeru's "generous donation."

The small mountain piled up with gold and jewelry lay quietly within the Kamui Dimension, like a nuclear arsenal that could detonate the entire Shinobi World's underground economy at any moment.

The time has come.

In the secret chamber of Naka Shrine, Qi, Shisui, and Itachi were gathered around a massive map of the Shinobi World.

"The funds are all in place." Qi's voice was calm but carried a sense of decisiveness. "Now, initiate 'Operation Dawn'."

"Operation Dawn" was the codename Qi had set for this unprecedented mass procurement that would sweep the entire Shinobi World's underground world. The meaning was self-evident: complete all preparations before the dawn arrives.

"Follow the original plan." Qi's finger traced across the map, connecting several key locations. "Shisui, Itachi, you two are responsible for external procurement. I will hold the center, responsible for receiving and transporting."

"Yes!" Shisui and Itachi replied in unison.

The next moment, the figures of the three disappeared from the secret chamber simultaneously.

A storm was about to begin.

The Land of Iron is covered in ice and snow all year round. Its samurai culture is completely different from that of Ninjas, but precisely because of its neutral status, it has become the largest transit hub for bulk commodity trading in the Shinobi World.

Inside an underground trading market located deep in the snowy mountains, stoves were burning brightly, dispelling the biting cold. Merchants from various countries were arguing until they were red in the face over the price of a batch of iron ore.

Suddenly, at the entrance of the market, space twisted without warning.

A mysterious person wearing a swirl mask and a black robe with red clouds appeared out of thin air before everyone.

It was Qi, who had changed his attire.

The appearance was too abrupt, causing no Chakra fluctuations, as if he had been standing there from the very beginning. The entire market instantly fell silent, and everyone's gaze focused on this uninvited guest.

Qi ignored the astonishment of the crowd and walked straight up to the market manager.

"I want all the grain, ore, textiles, and basic medicinal materials here."

The voice, filtered through the mask, sounded deep and hoarse.

The manager was a shrewd fat merchant. He was stunned for a moment, then immediately put on a professional smile: "This guest, you really know how to joke. All the goods here added together, that's an astronomical..."

The manager couldn't finish his sentence.

A heavy box was casually thrown onto the ground by Qi. The lid opened, and the neatly stacked gold bars inside emitted a light under the lamps that stung the eyes of everyone present.

"I'll pay 1.2 times the market price." Qi's voice carried no ripples. "Cash transaction, settle it now."

The entire market fell into absolute silence.

All the merchants looked at Qi with the eyes of someone looking at a madman. 1.2 times the price—this wasn't doing business anymore; this was burning money!

The fat manager's breathing became rapid as he frantically calculated the profit this transaction could bring. After just a few seconds, he made his decision.

"Deal!"

The transaction proceeded at an unimaginable speed. The gold Qi paid soon filled the manager's office. Meanwhile, the mountains of grain, ore, and other basic supplies in the warehouse were transported truckload by truckload by workers to an open space.

When all the supplies were counted and piled into a small mountain, Qi slowly raised his right hand.

"Guest, your... your transport team?" the fat manager asked obsequiously.

Qi did not answer.

In his right eye, behind the swirl-shaped mask opening, the Mangekyō Sharingan turned quietly.

Kamui!

A huge, twisted spatial vortex appeared out of thin air above the pile of supplies. A powerful suction force came, and the small mountain made of tens of thousands of tons of supplies began to be dismantled and pulled, continuously being sucked into that deep darkness.

The entire process was silent, yet filled with an indescribable eeriness and shock.

In less than a minute, all the supplies disappeared without a trace.

The fat manager and the surrounding merchants were all so scared that they collapsed to the ground, their faces as pale as paper.

"Is... is this a god we've encountered?" a merchant said, trembling.

Qi ignored their fear, his figure turning into a vortex once again, disappearing from the spot.

Inside the Kamui Dimension, the small mountain of supplies appeared intact on top of a gray cube.

The Body Flicker Technique, under Shisui's feet, turned into an afterimage that the naked eye could not capture.

Like a ghost, he wove through the labyrinthine canyons on the border of the Land of Wind. Shisui's task was to procure those rare, small-batch strategic supplies.

The "Ghost Market" under the cover of night was the largest black market in the Land of Wind, where everything was traded, from the heads of rogue Ninjas to lost secret medicines.

Shisui wore a plain fox mask, walking through the noisy black market. He wasn't as wealthy and overbearing as Qi, but instead relied on his superb illusion skills and negotiation techniques to deal with the most cunning intelligence brokers and smugglers.

"I want three portions of 'Ambergris' extract, aged at least fifty years."

"Also, that manufacturing blueprint for the Sunagakure puppet core. I'll pay this price."

"Do you have'Silence Talismans' here specifically for breaking sensory barriers?"

Shisui's actions were efficient and precise; he could always find the most critical sellers and obtain the rarest supplies at the most reasonable prices.

Every time a transaction was completed, Shisui would take the goods to an empty corner.

Then, through a special signal, he would contact Qi, who was holding the center.

The next second, the supplies in his hand would be pulled away out of thin air by an invisible spatial force and disappear.

This elusive method made him a new legend in the "Ghost Market." People were all talking about the mysterious fox-masked man who spent lavishly but never took the goods away himself.

Compared to Qi's dominance and Shisui's agility, Itachi's actions appeared even more covert.

Using his "Konoha ANBU" identity, which had not yet been exposed in the Akatsuki, and the intelligence channels obtained from Root, he secretly contacted those merchants who had connections with the Konoha official authorities but were operating in the gray zone.

Itachi's target was those "controlled items" that couldn't even be bought on the black market.

On a cargo ship docked at the outer port of the Kirigakure, Itachi was conducting a transaction with a merchant.

"Lord Itachi, this batch of special metal 'Chakra Steel' you asked for is a strategic material of the Kirigakure. I risked my head to get it for you," the merchant said, wiping away cold sweat.

"I will remember your contribution." Itachi's voice was as calm as ever.

After checking the goods and confirming they were correct, he paid the final balance.

"Lord Itachi, such a large batch of goods, how will you transport it away? Do you need me to arrange a ship?"

"No need."

After saying this, Itachi took the few heavy boxes of special metal and disappeared into the fog of the port.

Arriving at a pre-arranged safe house, he likewise contacted Qi through the signal.

Kamui was activated, and the goods disappeared.

Qi, Shisui, and Itachi had a clear division of labor and worked in perfect synergy, like three precision engines running at high speed.

Qi's Kamui Dimension became the perfect central warehouse for this operation. No matter in which corner of the Shinobi World Shisui and Itachi completed their transactions, Qi could remotely suck the supplies directly into the Kamui Dimension through preset spatial coordinates.

Transportation and storage—the two most fatal problems in any large-scale operation—were thoroughly solved by Kamui in a way that was almost like cheating.

The Uchiha's operational efficiency was shockingly high.

Within just a few days, most of the supplies on that massive nation-building list had already been procured.

But such large-scale, high-frequency material movements and capital flows finally attracted the attention of an organization most sensitive to money.

An organization composed of rogue Ninjas, the most powerful mercenary group in the Shinobi World.