Fugaku nodded thoughtfully.
That was right! According to this kid's proposal, he would remain the clan head in public, parrying the village leadership's moves to buy time. Meanwhile, the kid would secretly obtain more intelligence about the future and completely improve the Uchiha Clan's awkward situation.
At that thought, a trace of scarlet flashed through Fugaku's eyes. He absolutely could not let the village leadership find an opening or a chance to strike!
The hawks, always ready for an armed clash with the village, would also have to settle down for this year!
Individual lives or the clan's survival! That was a simple choice.
His space-time dōjutsu ability also had to be kept well hidden. Letting him keep hiding within the clan as an innocent little rabbit would be fine, too.
Although Fugaku still felt something was strange after thinking it through, he nodded at Haruma. "All right! I'll oversee things in public, while the direction of the clan's development behind the scenes will depend on you."
Haruma raised his head and declared confidently, "Rest assured, Clan Head. Having seen through the future, I'm already ninety percent certain I can make our Uchiha Clan bigger and stronger and restore its glory!"
"Ninety percent?"
Fugaku's heart skipped a beat.
Although the success rate was still frighteningly high, the remaining ten percent was not impossible. Fugaku frowned and asked in confusion, "What about the remaining ten percent? Why aren't you certain?"
Haruma chuckled. "The remaining ten percent doesn't depend on me. It needs you, our great Clan Head, to make up the difference."
Fugaku: "..."
Riddlers, get out of the Uchiha Clan!
"Depends on me? What does that mean?"
Haruma pointed at Fugaku and said, "If you can carry out my subsequent instructions and arrangements one hundred percent, then our success rate will rise to one hundred percent!"
"You must carry them out completely! There's no need to waste more time on meaningless discussions and tests."
"After all, I already have the future firmly in hand!"
You little brat. What a damn flex.
Fugaku finally realized why something had felt strange earlier.
This kid piled on all that flattery earlier, calling us a perfect match, two swords joining forces-pah!
To put it nicely, this kid would devise plans behind the scenes while I cooperated in public. To put it bluntly, this kid was treating me, the clan head, as a puppet.
If I carried out his arrangements and orders completely, wouldn't that make the whole clan his one-man show?
This sneaky bastard! That mouth must be how he managed to thrive among those old geezers in the compound's retirement area!
But remembering the scenes he had just experienced in the illusion, Fugaku still nodded reluctantly. "Fine! If you can restore the Uchiha Clan to its former glory, what does it matter if I become your puppet?"
Haruma tipped his head back, his smile widening. Success!
"You're no puppet, Clan Head. You're the leader who will restore the Uchiha Clan's glory!" With his goal achieved, Haruma did not mind flattering the puppet a little more.
"Enough. Save those tricks that wouldn't fool a ghost for those old ladies." Deep down, Fugaku already regarded Haruma as the ultimate sneaky bastard. His words were something to hear, nothing more.
Who knew how that kid was mocking him in his head? When he was useful, it was "our great Clan Head." When he wasn't...
With the matter settled, Fugaku asked directly, "Then what's our next step?"
A year was neither long nor short. They still had to race against time to rewrite the outcome of the clan's destruction as soon as possible.
Turning to business, Haruma put away his smile and raised a hand in a V.
"Two major tasks. Completing these two major tasks at this stage will change the crisis of the clan's destruction!"
Fugaku's gaze darkened. "Two tasks?"
"That's right!"
"First, at this stage, it isn't just the village leadership that's wary and fearful of us. Ordinary civilians and most members of the small and medium-sized ninjutsu clans are also very unhappy with our clan."
"I won't dwell on why the leadership is unhappy. It's simply fear of our power. On top of that, the culprit who controlled the Nine-Tails, destroyed the village, and caused the Fourth's death back then was also a member of the Uchiha Clan."
"As for why the village civilians reject us, it's because of the Konoha Military Police Force! You've held firmly onto the position of its captain and assigned large numbers of our clansmen to serve there. Years of maintaining order on the streets and arresting criminals in the village have offended far too many civilians and shopkeepers."
"The Konoha Military Police Force is the Uchiha Clan, and the Uchiha Clan represents the Konoha Military Police Force. Every Konoha resident already accepts that as fact. And the Uchiha Clan has always had an extremely poor reputation among the villagers and faced their rejection."
At that, Fugaku quickly raised his head. "I was..."
"I understand!"
Haruma cut Fugaku off and continued, "You just wanted the Uchiha Clan to integrate fully into the village. You held onto the captain's position because you wanted to use it as a foundation to join the village leadership."
"But the more you try to climb, the more wary the village leadership becomes of you. They'll never let you into the upper-level decision-making circle."
Fugaku nodded. He understood all of this, but he could not accept it.
It had clearly been his ancestors and the First Hokage who founded Konoha and spread the Will of Fire. Yet now, never mind the Hokage position-the Uchiha Clan could not even make it into the leadership.
To put it nicely, the captain of the Konoha Military Police Force already counted as a leadership position. But it was merely a position they had deliberately tossed him, specifically to offend people.
Fugaku suddenly asked, "So... the first step is for me to resign as captain of the Konoha Military Police Force?"
"Of course not."
"This position may offend people, but it still comes with considerable authority."
What the fuck does that mean? First you say it's bad, then you won't let me resign.
Fugaku frowned at the riddler talking so assuredly, his chakra beginning to waver again.
Haruma hurriedly explained, "What I mean is that you don't need to resign as captain, but you can gradually find reasons to dismiss all the other Uchiha members serving in the Konoha Military Police Force, or lay them off."
"Then what about public security in the village?" Fugaku frowned. "Over ninety-nine percent of the Konoha Military Police Force's personnel are our clansmen. If so many suddenly leave, the Third and the village leadership will definitely demand answers."
"Of course they can't all leave at once. But you can dismiss two today and remove three tomorrow. In about a month, they should all be able to withdraw with reasonable justification. After all, complaints about our Konoha Military Police Force have never stopped filling the village's complaint box."
"As for the vacancies left in the Konoha Military Police Force afterward, I imagine the other ninjutsu clans and some unaffiliated chunin and jonin will be very interested."
Fugaku nodded. That was true.
It was a civil service position, after all. They only had to handle disputes between village residents and maintain public order. The danger was low, and the pay was not bad.
It was far better than high-fatality work in the Anbu or on missions outside the village. Had he not rejected other ninja's applications in the past to maintain complete control over the Konoha Military Police Force and work his way into the leadership, plenty of people would have wanted to join.
Then Haruma said with a hint of excitement, "You can even approach the other clans first and negotiate with their heads, exchanging positions like squad captain for resources or money."
"In short, the first step is to hand over all the authority our Uchiha Clan holds in the village. First, it will lower the leadership's guard. Second, it can slightly improve our reputation among the civilians."
"Then we'll see how well those newly appointed police officers from other clans perform, and how badly they get cursed out."
Fugaku nodded. Indeed, after maintaining order in the village for so many years, the Uchiha Clan already had quite a comprehensive way of handling things.
If others took over... who knew what a mess they might end up in?
"Then what's the second task?"
Haruma flashed a brilliant smile. "Make money!"
"Huh?"
Fugaku: "Make... money??"
Haruma looked resolute. "That's right! Make money!!!"