How could he get every Uchiha ninja and non-ninja to hustle?
That was what Fucheng cared about most.
The Uchiha Contribution Points he'd introduced could be used for ninjutsu exchanges, secret technique exchanges, and resource exchanges.
Resources included high-end ninja tools, silver and cash, rentals for Uchiha-owned shops and properties, special medicines, and emergency treatment.
All of these could be obtained with Uchiha Points.
Ninjas especially eager to improve their strength could use points to redeem opportunities to study ninjutsu at the Escape Pavilion, qualify to learn Sharingan secret techniques, or take advanced training courses such as Hatake Sakumo's swordsmanship training and Uchiha Fucheng's Sharingan training.
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Once the policy was announced, the Uchiha ninjas who usually had nothing to do besides fool around at the Konoha Military Police Force were so eager their eyes practically turned red!
In recent days, they'd either been completing clan missions in the compound or frantically copying scrolls of the techniques they knew, making several trips a day to exchange them for points.
A bunch of Uchiha wage slaves were suffering and loving every minute of it.
They were all working themselves to the bone over the Sharingan.
Several Uchiha elders were astonished by the results of Uchiha Fucheng's reforms.
Take Obito's family. This year, simply because they'd welcomed a Uchiha child, they'd received a clan reward of fifteen hundred points for "promoting healthy births and child-rearing."
Uchiha Obito's jōnin father was so delighted he danced for joy, immediately spending his points on a ninja weapon he'd long coveted.
"My Obito sure is worth a fortune!"
He finally got his hands on the Hundred-Refined Odachi he'd always wanted but could never bring himself to buy.
"Uncle A-Tu" grinned at his son. "Isn't 'Obito' a little too down-to-earth? Maybe we should change it to 'Brings Wealth' or 'Invites Fortune.'"
Obito's father was over the moon. That very night, he wanted to get intimate with his wife. If Obito hadn't still been so young, his father would have been eager to add another Uchiha Brings-Wealth to the family.
Fucheng didn't just reform the clan from within. He also adjusted the Uchiha Clan's overall public-facing policies in response to sentiment throughout Konoha.
At the Konoha Military Police Force, he introduced the Foreign Auxiliary Police System to deal with crimes committed by ordinary people.
Ever since Konoha was founded, the Uchiha Clan had managed public order in the village. It was a thankless job that took plenty of effort!
On top of that, many villagers blamed the Uchiha for every petty daily annoyance and every grievance arising from disputes with their neighbors.
Uchiha Fucheng wasn't going to make that mistake again.
If Tobirama had used a scheme hidden in plain sight against the Uchiha, he shouldn't complain when Fucheng used the same kind of scheme to dismantle it.
Under Fucheng's reforms, the Police Force directly recruited ninja from Konoha's smaller clans as auxiliary officers.
The auxiliary officers earned decent salaries and handled ordinary police cases involving "non-ninjas in the village."
From now on, whenever there was a neighborhood dispute or some inexplicable conflict, a "temporary auxiliary officer" could silence plenty of complaints.
He didn't just reform the police force. Fucheng also established the Konoha Civil Dispute Mediation Center.
It couldn't provide the mediation services of neighborhood committees or community grid workers, but it could still resolve plenty of problems as a kind of judicial mediation office.
Fucheng sincerely hoped that minor frictions, simple accidents, neighborhood disputes, and civil cases caused by the villagers could all be brought to the mediation center, where ordinary conflicts could be resolved.
After setting up the Dispute Mediation Center, Fucheng also organized a Konoha Village Open Day for the Police Force, inviting the public to visit.
This kind of government transparency further helped bridge the mistrust between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha's villagers.
It couldn't be denied that some Uchiha clan members were arrogant and conceited because of their bloodline, especially the Uchiha elders.
Amid this series of reforms, a few conservative voices inevitably cropped up, insisting that "the laws of our ancestors must never be changed."
But Uchiha Fucheng was exceptionally forceful, and the Mangekyō Sharingan gave him considerable authority over ordinary Uchiha clan members. So those objections didn't make much of a splash.
Of course, the reforms to the Police Force also depended on the support of Uchiha Fugaku, Fucheng's own brother.
As the police captain, Fugaku's wholehearted support made things much easier for Uchiha Fucheng.
After handling the Police Force, Fucheng also took the lead in establishing the Clan Industry Management Center.
He reassigned the Third Elder, who currently managed the Uchiha Clan's commercial assets, and Mikoto's mother, "Konoha's renowned businesswoman" Uchiha Meiling, along with Uchiha Baijing, the father of Uchiha Hezi of the Second Elder's faction.
These three would coordinate the clan's assets and commercial operations.
Only with substantial income from the clan's businesses could the Uchiha Clan rely less on ninja mission fees.
That would let the clan continue to thrive with greater independence.
So far, this consolidation and management of the clan's commercial assets had proven very successful.
Many unused properties that existed only on account books, farmland outside the village that hadn't been properly cultivated, and vacant Uchiha commercial premises had all been put to good use after the Clan Industry Management Center was established.
Fucheng used some of the clan's idle land and estates outside the village to launch a protection and adoption program for orphans of the ninja wars.
The recent battle between Konoha and the Sand Ninja had left at least a hundred children in Konoha orphaned.
And the number of war orphans who'd fled to the outskirts of Konoha was close to a thousand.
As Fucheng remembered it, some of these orphans had been taken in by the Sarutobi Clan and Shimura Clan, becoming their clans' peripheral forces.
A much larger number had been used by Shimura Danzō for Root's ninja training and secret human experiments.
Yamato, Shin, and Sai, the Root ninjas who appeared in the manga, all seemed to have come from among the war orphans.
And Fucheng also had a capable ally in Yakushi Nonō, who had originally been the director of the Konoha Orphanage.
In Fucheng's view, the Uchiha Clan had a small population, so taking in war orphans as affiliated outsiders was unquestionably a wise move.
The younger war orphans could also be organized to develop basic newspapers and an internal intelligence network covering all of Konoha.
It was now the thirty-seventh year of Konoha.
Hashirama Senju's wife, Uzumaki Mito, was already very old.
As the Senju Clan gradually gave up their surname and integrated into Konoha, those who married ordinary villagers had become an easy source of valuable ninja bloodlines.
The Uchiha Clan could also take the opportunity to benefit from Senju blood.
One major advantage of Senju blood was that its descendants were "easy on the eyes"!
Easy on Uchiha eyes, that is.
Appropriately bringing in members with Senju blood and attracting them to marry or marry into the Uchiha Clan was what Fucheng, an outsider without any prejudice about clan boundaries, most wanted to accomplish.
For now, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's power in the village was very secure.
With the Sannin and numerous clans supporting him, a coup was hardly a possibility.
In the short term, Uchiha Fucheng only wanted to kill Danzō. He had no intention of competing with Sarutobi Hiruzen for immediate gains.
At present, the Uchiha Clan had no need to fight the village's ruling faction for additional political power.
The Hokage position might help unite people, but to be honest, the title didn't mean as much as everyone imagined.
When it came to taking a stand on matters of principle, especially with war clouds gathering over the Land of Rain, Uchiha Fucheng had firmly taken his side.
He had publicly declared on several occasions:
He firmly supported Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's wartime decisions!
He would firmly resist provocations and invasions of Konoha by other ninja villages!
He had also pledged on behalf of the Uchiha Clan that, as Konoha's heroic ninja clan, the Uchiha would contribute even more to the coming ninja war in the Land of Rain.
This political maturity and sense of the bigger picture made both Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō see this unusual Uchiha in a new light.
"Since when did those red-eyed Uchiha get so good at talking?" Hiruzen and his old buddy Danzō looked from one to the other, both completely baffled.
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