On-Site Reconnaissance · Assassination Plan

After reading the intelligence, Uchiha Hara casually put it into the Demon Refining Pot and refined it.

Of course, one should never forget the one who dug the well after drinking from it. He did not forget to praise the greatest contributor to gathering the intelligence either. "Kuromai, well done! Your information was a huge help—far more detailed than I expected."

He paused, then added, "Your reward for this mission will be increased by ten percent. I'll give you ten extra fish later."

"Meow! Great!" Kuromai excitedly raised his tail.

He did not really care about the fish. He was happy because he had carried out a mission perfectly.

"By the way, how did you gather all this intelligence?" Uchiha Hara was rather curious. If he remembered correctly, Kuromai had only just reached adulthood.

And this information would not have been easy for even a Jonin to collect, let alone a Genin.

Could the Ninja Cat Clan's education really be that advanced? Were freshly graduated ninja cats already comparable to veteran intelligence shinobi?

Kuromai said smugly, "It wasn't difficult at all. Those three were way too careless. At first, I sneaked around and followed them carefully, but later I realized that even if I pretended to be an ordinary stray cat and openly sat on a wall watching them, they did not react at all. That Uchiha Amano even tried to throw pebbles at me, but his aim was terrible. Meow-hahaha!"

Uchiha Hara could only shake his head to himself.

When an organization had enjoyed peace for too long, corruption and complacency inevitably took root within it.

Back when the Uchiha and the Senju Clan had jointly dominated the Ninja World, the Uchiha had been sharp, vigilant, and keenly alert.

Now, the village's relative peace and the stability of their internal power had eroded their vigilant souls. Even their most basic sense of precaution had grown this weak.

Pitiful, and lamentable.

And considering that Uchiha Itachi would one day wipe out the entire clan by himself, they truly did not deserve any sympathy. Did they not even have anyone standing watch at night?

But intelligence alone was not enough. Director Lin had once said that a frontline commander must never rely solely on paper plans. Before actual combat, on-site reconnaissance was essential.

After finishing his meal, Uchiha Hara did not go train by the river. Instead, he personally went to scout several key locations marked by Kuromai.

He first examined the route Uchiha Osamu had to take from Jiecheng Ramen Shop to his home.

He had not originally planned to ambush Uchiha Osamu there, but he discovered a deep, narrow alley along that road, with high walls on both sides.

The area beyond the walls was not residential either, but a broad training ground.

In other words, even if someone lay in ambush in that alley, no one would know.

It was an excellent ambush location.

However, when he arrived near the homes of the widows Uchiha Amano frequently visited, he frowned.

He found that these places were not far apart and were all located in a relatively central part of the clan grounds. The streets were orderly, and homes were densely packed on both sides.

If he acted here and could not subdue Uchiha Amano instantly, even the slightest sound from him could easily alert the neighbors. The risk was extremely high.

As for the residence of the Third Elder, Uchiha Jiang, it surprised him even more.

As a clan elder, he had no guards stationed outside his door. The place seemed rather deserted.

Presumably, his authority had long since been carved up by his son and other subordinates, leaving him with nothing but an empty title.

As the saying went, a retired president was no better than a commoner.

Once he lost his power, even a dignified elder no longer had basic security.

Then again, the Uchiha clan head's home had no security either. Perhaps people of those statuses simply did not have guards?

In any case, given the situation at Uchiha Jiang's home, assassinating him would be relatively easy.

"The plan needs adjusting..." Uchiha Hara pondered for a moment, and a new, safer plan took shape in his mind.

"Kill Uchiha Osamu first. Strike in the alley on his way home—quick and clean. Then I'll transform into him and openly return to Uchiha Amano's home. I'll use the chance of father and son being alone to kill Uchiha Amano at close range! Finally, I'll disguise myself as Uchiha Amano and use the same method to secretly eliminate the isolated Uchiha Jiang."

This would not only avoid the risks of attacking Uchiha Amano in a crowded area, but also allow him to use disguise to approach his targets, raising his chance of success. It could even create the illusion that Uchiha Osamu had murdered his father and fled, or that the father and son had both vanished, throwing people off the trail.

As for why that father-son pair would murder their kin and betray the clan, who knew? Maybe they had run off with the money?

With the plan set, preparations immediately began in earnest.

First came the poison.

Uchiha Hara had Kuromai use the Ninja Cat Clan's channels to purchase fifty kilograms of almonds from outside the village.

While continuing his daily training, he used the Demon Refining Pot's extraction function to carefully separate and concentrate certain components from the almonds.

After a complicated process of handling and purification—though in truth, he merely gave the order while the Demon Refining Pot did the work—he ultimately obtained around 120 grams of a colorless oily liquid with the faint scent of bitter almonds: hydrogen cyanide.

It was an extremely lethal poison. Just 0.3 grams could kill an ordinary person.

Considering the special physiques and greater resistance of shinobi, Uchiha Hara decided to increase the dosage. He prepared forty grams for each of the three targets, ensuring nothing could go wrong.

Next were the weapons.

He found an iron pot, then had Kuromai buy a maple log and several strips of wild buffalo sinew from the market.

After repeated cycles of "refinement—impurity removal—component reshaping" within the Demon Refining Pot, the iron pot was ultimately forged into an intricately constructed composite bow of pure steel, gleaming with a cold, sinister sheen.

The highly resilient buffalo sinew was used for the bowstring and was likewise purified and reinforced by the Demon Refining Pot.

The maple was used to craft long arrows with sharp arrowheads and perfectly straight shafts.

At the makeshift training ground in his home, Uchiha Hara test-fired several arrows.

With the support of numerous talents such as [Cat's Coordination], [Enhanced Perception], and [Three-Dimensional Balance], his control over his body and perception of space reached astonishing levels. Combined with eyesight comparable to an activated Sharingan—

After only a few arrows, he had grasped the essentials. He could hit whatever he aimed at, without fail.

The stretch of alley between Jiecheng Ramen Shop and the Uchiha Clan Grounds was extremely open, without even a place to hide. A close-range assassination was unrealistic.

A bow and arrows, however, were perfect for such an environment as silent long-range assassination weapons.

Then came the close-range weapon. That was simple—the steel sword he had casually refined earlier would do. He only needed to fit a wooden grip over the hilt to keep it from cutting his palm.

Last came practicing the Transformation Technique.

This E-rank ninjutsu consumed very little chakra. The key lay in the precision of the physical transformation.

Uchiha Hara also discovered that he was remarkably skilled at fine chakra control.

He did not know which talent had enhanced his control over chakra. Perhaps it was the [Spirit Illusion] talent?

And [Enhanced Perception] allowed him to more keenly sense the flow of his own chakra and changes in its form. His Transformation Technique was therefore not merely similar in appearance—it even possessed some of the original person's bearing, making the difference impossible to discern with the naked eye.

Naturally, the Transformation Technique's flaw remained: he could not use other ninjutsu while maintaining it. But that had little impact on his plan, since he had no intention of using any ninjutsu besides the Transformation Technique.

As night fell, Uchiha Hara headed as usual to hunt by the Naka River and in the nearby woods.

Assassination preparations could not interfere with his daily training.

Unfortunately, the area was not particularly large, and there were only a few common types of animals.

He searched for a long time but could not find a single new animal capable of granting him a talent.

It seemed that if he wanted new talents, he would have to hunt somewhere else.

He shifted his attention to the water. There were more than just fish in the river, so Uchiha Hara caught several river shrimp and freshwater clams, wanting to see what talents he could obtain by refining them.

Unfortunately, he gained nothing after refining them.

The Blood Essence energy provided by the river shrimp and freshwater clams was negligible. It was absorbed by his body almost instantly, and his values did not increase at all afterward.

Moreover, the Blood Essence did not produce any talent fragments.

"It seems that to obtain a talent or skill, the refined creature must possess at least a certain degree of biological complexity or intelligence," Uchiha Hara surmised. "Creatures with simple structures, like river shrimp and freshwater clams, cannot form a unique 'Life Imprint,' so they naturally cannot grant me talents."

This gave him a deeper understanding of the Demon Refining Pot's mechanisms.

Since there were no new animals to catch and the Blood Essence produced from refining freshwater clams had no nutritional value, he could only continue consuming Fish Blood Essence.

Fortunately, the Endurance talent was still useful. Refining more of it was not a bad thing.

The following morning, after swallowing one Blood Essence and one Soul Essence, Uchiha Hara went to school as usual, his face pale and his gaze as calm as ever.

He was no different from the usual "dead last." No one could tell that a bloody storm was brewing in his heart.

A minor incident occurred in class that day.

Before class even began, homeroom teacher Daisuke Nakano entered with a new student.

The child had a thick bowl cut and wore the distinctive green bodysuit with a vest. With thick brows, large eyes, and a simple, honest expression that carried an unyielding spirit, he bore a slight resemblance to the youthful version of a certain Wang-surnamed action star from another world.

"Class, this is a new transfer student joining us today: Might Guy." Teacher Nakano introduced him, then looked at Might Guy. "Come on, introduce yourself!"

The bowl-cut boy immediately straightened his back and declared in a loud voice, "My name is Might Guy! I never give up! I specialize in taijutsu! My dream is to become an outstanding ninja worthy of trust through taijutsu!" His blazing gaze swept over the class before he suddenly asked loudly, "Teacher, who is the strongest in this class? I want to spar with him!"

Daisuke Nakano was clearly getting a headache. He pointed at the white-haired boy in the corner who had been reading the entire time. "That would be Kakashi Hatake... But Guy, first-years do not have practical combat classes yet. You can save the challenge for later. You can start by making friends with Kakashi."

At those words, flames instantly ignited in Might Guy's eyes. In one stride, he rushed to Kakashi's desk, wiped his nose with his right thumb, then struck a thumbs-up pose and loudly proclaimed, "Kakashi! Let us become eternal rivals—no, eternal best friends! Let us shed the hot-blooded sweat of youth together!"

Kakashi raised his dead-fish eyes from behind his book, gave him a completely emotionless glance, then silently lifted the book a little higher, utterly ignoring him.

Uchiha Hara quietly watched the farce, and the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

He knew that once Kakashi was entangled by this "rare beast," he would never be able to shake him off for the rest of his life.

However, none of that had anything to do with him right now.

He spread his textbook over the desk, then laid his head on it.

Time to sleep and conserve his strength. He had something big to do tonight!