Shimura Ryoma

The next day, Uchiha Fugaku woke up.

Looking at the beautiful woman with snow-white skin so close beside him and breathing in her fragrance, he confirmed that none of this was a dream.

He really had transmigrated—and had become Uchiha Fugaku, the last clan head of the Uchiha Clan, taking over this mess of a clan beset by internal and external troubles and teetering on the brink of destruction.

If he made no changes, then three years from now, the Uchiha Clan would be wiped out, and he himself would die on the night of the massacre.

The only fortunate thing was that he had gained a beautiful wife.

He lifted the covers, preparing to get up and dress.

"I'll help you get dressed!"

The movement of lifting the covers woke Uchiha Mikoto beside him. She slowly opened her eyes.

Seeing Uchiha Fugaku getting up, she smiled gently, rose to her feet, and stepped forward to dress him.

Dressed only in sleepwear, she revealed a large expanse of snow-white skin at her chest, while her lovely, perfect figure was faintly visible beneath the thin fabric.

"Mm."

Enjoying someone else dressing him for the first time in his life, Uchiha Fugaku felt a sense of happiness.

With a wife like this, his starting situation did not seem all that bad.

As for the crisis he faced, it was not an inevitable death sentence.

The Mangekyō Sharingan's Corpse Melting, combined with his foreknowledge, was enough to make his strength far surpass that of the original Fugaku and give him the power to resolve the crisis.

After breakfast, he left the Uchiha Clan compound with two Uchiha clansmen serving as guards and headed toward the Military Police Force.

As the captain of the police force, he did not take part in daily patrols, but there were quite a few documents concerning public security incidents that required his judgment and handling.

Thus, he went to the Military Police Force almost every day.

"It's someone from the Uchiha Clan!"

"The Uchiha Clan? That notorious clan?"

"Shh, keep your voice down. If they hear you, they'll definitely cause us trouble!"

"So what if they hear? It's not like they'd dare kill us, right?"

"Even if they don't dare murder people in broad daylight, they can still make up an excuse to lock us up."

"The Uchiha Clan wouldn't dare be that unscrupulous, would they?"

"You're too naive. My neighbor's friend's friend was locked up over something like that, and he still hasn't been released!"

As he walked down the street, Uchiha Fugaku could occasionally feel cold, indifferent, fearful, and distant gazes directed at him.

With his Kage-level senses, he could even clearly hear the hushed conversations around him.

Clearly, the Uchiha Clan's reputation in Konoha was extraordinarily terrible.

"What a clever tactic."

He could not help but snort coldly inwardly.

The reason the Uchiha Clan's reputation had become so foul was related to how arrogant the Uchiha clansmen were, looking down on civilian ninja and members of other clans.

But that was not the main reason. The main reason was Konoha High Command's manipulation of public opinion against the Uchiha Clan, even deliberately spreading false rumors.

For instance, what he had just heard—that someone had been detained by the Military Police Force merely for talking about the Uchiha Clan—was absolutely impossible.

The Uchiha clansmen might all be proud, but it was precisely because of that pride that they disdained doing things like falsely accusing others.

The pride of being an Uchiha would not permit them to do such things.

The reason such rumors had spread was that Konoha High Command had deliberately disseminated them in order to ostracize the Uchiha Clan.

It had to be said that it was highly effective. The Uchiha Clan could now be called Konoha's public enemy without any exaggeration.

"If I want to resolve the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha, I really must first deal with those creating the conflict!"

He thought to himself.

He strongly agreed with using force to change the Uchiha Clan's current situation of being ostracized and suppressed.

The difference was that he did not agree with using such a crude method as a coup d'état.

Because with a coup d'état, the enemy would be all of Konoha.

With the Uchiha Clan's current strength, they absolutely could not contend against it.

The Uchiha Clan was no longer as prosperous as it had been during the Warring States era. It simply did not possess the formidable strength needed to stand against all of Konoha.

"A coup d'état is not feasible. The best approach is to use bounties, ambushes, assassinations, and similar methods!"

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

To eliminate the Konoha High Command members hostile to the Uchiha Clan, there was no need to launch a coup d'état. Rather, launching one would be the most foolish course of action.

It would create far too much commotion, and the chances of success were not high.

Given the Uchiha Clan's current infamy in Konoha, if the Uchiha Clan launched a coup d'état, the other clans would inevitably stand against them.

In his view, the best approach was to use bounties, assassinations, and similar methods to eliminate, one by one, those within the Konoha High Command who targeted or harbored hostility toward the Uchiha Clan.

This would cause the least commotion. Since they would be acting in secret, there would be no need to make enemies of every clan in Konoha.

Just as Uchiha Fugaku sank into thought, three people approached him from the opposite direction.

The leader of the three was a middle-aged man of average height but a lean, capable build, exuding a formidable presence.

He was a powerful jonin—not merely an ordinary jonin, but an Elite Jonin.

"Isn't this Captain Fugaku?"

When the middle-aged man saw Uchiha Fugaku, his voice carried a trace of mockery.

"Shimura Ryoma."

Uchiha Fugaku's gaze fell on the middle-aged man, and a cold glint flashed through his eyes.

Shimura Ryoma was one of the Shimura Clan's Elite Jonin and held considerable status within the clan.

As the clan of Shimura Danzō, the leader of Root, the Shimura Clan bore deep hostility toward the Uchiha Clan, and Shimura Ryoma was one of its most vocal agitators.

Over the years, Shimura Ryoma had played a part in the political suppression endured by the Uchiha Clan.

"Captain Fugaku, are you heading to the Military Police Force? Maintaining Konoha's security every day must be such hard work for you!"

Shimura Ryoma said with a "smile."

He was clearly mocking Uchiha Fugaku.

Maintaining public order meant dealing with nothing more than trivial matters.

Such trifles could hardly be called exhausting, so his remark about hard work was obviously sarcastic.

He was ridiculing and sneering at how the once-proud Uchiha Clan had now been reduced to handling petty matters.

"That is none of your concern!"

Uchiha Fugaku said coldly.

Besides maintaining public order, the Military Police Force had originally been responsible for important duties such as patrolling outside the village and apprehending spies within it.

But under the Konoha High Command's suppression and weakening, those responsibilities had been stripped away one by one, leaving only the dispensable task of maintaining public order.

And the chief culprit behind all this was Shimura Danzō of the Shimura Clan.

"I'm only showing some concern for Captain Fugaku. Don't overwork yourself—it would be terrible if you damaged your health!"

Shimura Ryoma sneered.

"Then I truly thank you for that."

Uchiha Fugaku replied icily.

A senior member of a clan hostile to the Uchiha Clan, showing concern for him, the Uchiha Clan's head?

It was nothing more than a fox wishing the chickens a happy holiday.