At Night, You Have to Sleep

Time passed quietly.

The Military Police Force kept growing until, eventually...

"Lord Hokage, after observing things for some time, I've realized that many ninjas don't have a deep understanding of the Will of Fire. They have no idea how great you are, Lord Hokage! So I hope to form a Study Corps and regularly have some of the village's ninjas join it to study your ideas and understand your greatness. You could even come give a speech in person and tell them what the Will of Fire truly means!"

Uchiha Kazuto stood in the Hokage's Office, gazing at Hiruzen Sarutobi with reverent admiration as he respectfully explained his plan.

"Hmm..."

Hearing Uchiha Kazuto's words, Hiruzen Sarutobi fell into thought. It really was a good idea—an excellent one, in fact. On one hand, it could strengthen the village's unity; on the other, it could help the village's ninjas better understand the Will of Fire and recognize the greatness of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Good. Kazuto, I'll leave this to you. But the training can't last too long, or it'll affect the village's mission completion rate."

Hiruzen Sarutobi slapped the desk and nodded. Then he decided that wouldn't be enough, so he approved some funding as well. Any ninja who took part in the training would receive a stipend for those days.

"Yes, Lord Hokage! I guarantee I'll complete the mission! Loyalty!"

A smile spread across Uchiha Kazuto's face. Sure enough, people always liked things that benefited them.

On the surface, this so-called Study Corps was meant to help the ninjas better understand the Will of Fire and grow more united. But that was only the surface.

As time passed, Uchiha Kazuto had gained enough eye power to create a new unit.

The unit's purpose was to influence Konoha's ninjas.

Uchiha Kazuto had already discovered that once someone joined his unit and was altered, they remained loyal to him even after being kicked out. It wasn't a temporary change, but a permanent one.

The only pity was that people weren't robots. Once they were kicked out and no longer had the unit constantly correcting them, their loyalty was no longer absolute. If Uchiha Kazuto did something they disliked, their loyalty would drop.

They would become ordinary people again.

But that was enough. Many of Konoha's ninjas didn't agree with Uchiha Kazuto, and some didn't even know who he was. By using this method, he could make them recognize him a little and become familiar with him. That was all he needed.

When he launched his coup, as long as he had a halfway decent justification, he could easily keep those ninjas in line instead of having a bunch of troublemakers jump out and accuse him of overthrowing Konoha's government or something.

He was digging away at Konoha's foundations.

In fact, if each training session lasted long enough to max out the loyalty of the participating ninjas, he wouldn't need to make any plans at all. He could just launch a coup.

After all, if every ninja in Konoha stood with Uchiha Kazuto, then I'm the Hokage. What does Hiruzen Sarutobi amount to?

Unfortunately, that was impossible. The old geezer Hiruzen Sarutobi would never agree to it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Uchiha Kazuto and nodded.

Suddenly, he remembered the mood in the village. Anbu had reported that the Military Police Force had started arresting villagers who spread negative remarks and using violence against them. Some of the villagers were starting to resent the Military Police Force. There had been resentment before, but never this much.

In reality, they didn't just resent the Military Police Force. They deeply resented him, too. After all, the Military Police Force acted in the name of Lord Hokage. Once those people were released, how could they dare complain about him? They could only take out their resentment on the Military Police Force.

If those villagers had any power, they would have stormed in long ago and beaten their vain Lord Hokage to death.

Of course, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't know any of that. In his eyes, the villagers hated only the Military Police Force.

"Kazuto, I know how loyal you are to me and how much you love the village. But even if those people have spread negative remarks, they're still members of the village. You should be a little more gentle with them."

"Lord Hokage, how can you say that!"

At those words, Uchiha Kazuto's expression changed at once. He looked utterly aggrieved and angry as he clenched his fists.

"Lord Hokage, those people are undermining the village's unity! They're harboring ill intentions. Deep down, they don't even consider themselves members of Konoha. They're no longer ordinary villagers. We have to hit people like that hard—hard enough to make them hurt and afraid to act against the village! If they were truly loyal to the village and considered themselves part of it, why would they spread such negative remarks and undermine its unity? Lord Hokage, there's no need to say any more. I will never let people who undermine the village's unity get away with it!"

"I haven't killed them only because they're villagers."

Uchiha Kazuto spoke through gritted teeth. Thanks to his efforts, hardly anyone in Konoha dared to voice their dissatisfaction with the village or the Hokage, let alone insult the Hokage. They were afraid the Military Police Force would catch them and beat them senseless.

Still, the pressure wasn't enough. He needed to tighten the screws some more.

"Is that so..."

Listening to Uchiha Kazuto, Hiruzen Sarutobi still felt he was a little too harsh, but there was some truth to what he said. Besides, this was exactly the kind of thing Uchiha Kazuto would do.

Not long afterward, Uchiha Kazuto left.

From then on, Konoha had another group running laps around the village and chanting slogans.

Uchiha Kazuto used extreme training methods to relentlessly suppress and torment the ninjas' minds, while offering free Ninjutsu and all-you-can-eat meals. He steadily corroded their hearts, and though they shouted about doing it all for Lord Hokage...

In their hearts, they had already begun to accept Uchiha Kazuto.

Meanwhile, as his eye power continued to grow, Uchiha Kazuto introduced some new laws.

For example, in the Uchiha Clan,

he added rules like these:

Everyone had to eat every day.

You had to wash your hands after using the toilet.

You had to sleep at night.

Unfortunately, there were too few people in the Uchiha Clan, and these rules were too ordinary to provide much power.