Minagawa Uchiha by the Naka River

In Konoha's 55th year, Land of Fire, Konoha.

Minagawa Uchiha walked expressionlessly along the road back to the Uchiha Clan Compound on Konoha's outskirts.

Seven years had passed since the Night of the Nine-Tails. Konoha's streets were now thriving, as though the battered village ravaged by the Nine-Tails had long vanished without a trace, leaving behind not even the slightest remnant of pain.

Though everything appeared to have passed and no one mentioned it anymore, in Minagawa Uchiha's eyes, invisible accusations left behind by that great disaster were everywhere.

"Heh, they say time is the best medicine, that it can heal every wound, wear down every hatred, and fade every emotion."

"What an irony. They kept yielding, saying that taking a step back opened up a wider world. But the Uchiha have yielded for seven years. Seven years of compromise not only failed to earn the Uchiha the trust of the village higher-ups and its people, but instead made their suspicion and hatred grow ever worse."

"No wonder the Uchiha eventually launched a military coup d'état despite the risk of igniting another Shinobi World War. For someone to make the absurdly proud Uchiha endure this much, Uchiha Fugaku, the Clan Head, did have some ability."

"But now, even Uchiha Fugaku probably can't keep suppressing the dissent within the clan. In other words, the Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall isn't far away. Heh, it seems I can't keep delaying either."

Faced with the countless gazes around him—indifferent, hostile, wary, and brimming with boundless malice—Minagawa Uchiha sneered inwardly. His face remained calm, but a sense of urgency inevitably rose in his heart.

After all, the present was already very close to the Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall in the Original Work. Though Nanga did not know the exact date, a long time had passed since the clan discovered Uchiha Shisui's suicide. Coupled with the increasingly frequent Anbu deployments lately, the Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall would likely occur within this month.

Speaking of which, Minagawa Uchiha's name came from the fact that his home stood beside the Naka River, where he had also been born. That was why his parents had given him such a name.

When Minagawa Uchiha sensed that the incident from the Original Work—in which Uchiha Shisui was ambushed by Shimura Danzō and ultimately committed suicide—was about to happen, he had gone to the lower reaches of the Naka River and waited there for a long time. Yet whether he had missed the timing or chosen the wrong place, he had not even caught sight of a Root agent.

"What a pity about Uchiha Shisui. Though he was loyal to the Konoha High Command, he still cared about the Uchiha. He sought peaceful coexistence between the clan and Konoha. At the very least, he had far more humanity than Uchiha Itachi, that filial son."

"In the end, when he could not have it both ways, he foolishly chose to escape through suicide. At its root, he trusted the Konoha High Command too much. He was stupid enough to reveal his trump card completely. An ordinary trump card would have been one thing, but he never realized just how feared Kotoamatsukami was. Otherwise, the Uchiha's situation would not have become this dire."

At that thought, Minagawa Uchiha could not help recalling the story of the Lich King's rise that he had read before transmigrating. Just as the prophet had told Arthas, the more desperately you tried to save your people, the more you drove them into the abyss.

Uchiha Shisui's actions had not been wrong to begin with. He had merely wanted to protect everyone while preserving his own little family, shouldering every burden himself. That burden had made him strong and outstanding, so outstanding that even Sarutobi Hiruzen had praised him, saying, "As expected of Kagami's descendant."

But he had overlooked the Konoha High Command's instinctive wariness toward the Uchiha Clan.

The more outstanding Uchiha Shisui became, the more vigilant and wary the Konoha High Command would be. Back then, the Konoha White Fang's reputation shook the Ninja World. He surpassed the Sannin and was even granted the right to wear the Hokage's half-cloak. Yet in the end, because the higher-ups feared him, he was assailed by rumors and driven to suicide to prove his resolve.

Not to mention that Uchiha Shisui was an Uchiha, a member of the clan the higher-ups deeply feared. The worst part was that another equally gifted Uchiha, Uchiha Itachi, appeared afterward. They had yet to trust one genius, and now another had emerged. What could the Konoha High Command do? They could only become even more wary of the Uchiha, a clan that produced endless geniuses beyond their control.

It had to be said that the Uchiha had remained at peace before because, ever since Uchiha Madara, they had never displayed strength that made the higher-ups wary. Then, on the Night of the Nine-Tails, everyone saw the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes. With Shimura Danzō coveting the Sharingan's power and fanning the flames, the Konoha High Command began to distrust the Uchiha.

Under those circumstances, instead of keeping a lower profile, the Uchiha paraded a Mangekyō Sharingan as broken as Kotoamatsukami before the Konoha High Command. Before that matter was even settled, another outstanding Uchiha, Uchiha Itachi, emerged. The truth was that those two overly gifted Uchiha had pushed their own clan into the abyss.

What was even more absurd was that Uchiha Shisui was not only foolish and naïve himself, but had also raised Uchiha Itachi to be even more foolish and naïve than he was.

Lost in Sarutobi Hiruzen's brainwashing dream of "having the mindset of a Hokage since childhood," the utterly bizarre-minded Uchiha Itachi ultimately concluded that slaughtering his clan would protect Konoha's peace, prevent war, and spare the Uchiha Clan from bearing the name of traitors.

Unfortunately, Uchiha Shisui had instilled in Uchiha Itachi the idea of Konoha as one big family, yet forgotten to instill the obvious fact that the Uchiha Clan was also part of Konoha. What a fine hand played into complete ruin. Three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan had still been manipulated into destroying their own clan without their enemies losing a single soldier. Not one person on their side had been reliable, leaving Minagawa Uchiha at a loss for how to even mock them.

"Sigh, if I had enough time, whether I raised my strength to break the situation by force or planned ahead to win through strategy, I wouldn't be so passive. What a shame. My memories of my previous life awakened at precisely this awkward time."

Minagawa Uchiha shook his head, throwing those chaotic thoughts from his mind. He still had to make the most of what little time remained. Otherwise, after only awakening the memories of his previous life half a year ago, he would die in the coming Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall. That would be far too embarrassing for a Transmigrator.

In his previous life, Minagawa Uchiha had merely been an ordinary office worker. He had encountered the currently popular method of transmigration: suddenly dying from overworking late into the night. Everything from that life had already become drifting clouds of the past.

As for Minagawa Uchiha's parents in this life, they had perished early in the Third Shinobi World War, leaving him with the standard orphan's beginning. Now eleven years old, he had not been as conspicuous as Uchiha Itachi and was still a student in the Ninja Academy's graduating class.