The next morning, Uchiha Fugaku awoke.
Beside him lay a beautiful woman with snow-white skin, her scent lingering in the air. As he gazed at her peaceful face, the reality finally settled in this wasn't a dream.
He had truly transmigrated.
And not just into any body, but into Uchiha Fugaku, the final head of the Uchiha Clan. He had inherited the clan at its worst moment torn by internal strife, beset by external pressure, and standing on the brink of annihilation.
If nothing changed, in just three years, the Uchiha Clan would be wiped out—and he would die on the Night of the Massacre.
His only stroke of luck?
He'd gained a beautiful wife.
Throwing off the covers, he prepared to get dressed.
"I'll help you with that."
The movement stirred the woman beside him. Uchiha Mikoto slowly opened her eyes, her gaze softening the moment she saw him up. She smiled tenderly, rose from the bed, and approached to help him dress.
Clad only in her nightwear, much of her fair skin was exposed, and her flawless figure was faintly visible beneath the thin fabric.
"Hm."
It was the first time in his life someone had helped him dress, and the feeling brought a strange sense of warmth.
With a wife like this, maybe things weren't off to such a bad start after all.
As for the looming crisis it wasn't necessarily a death sentence.
With the power of precognition and the ability to absorb the Mangekyō Sharingan from fallen wielders, he was already far stronger than his predecessor, fully capable of altering the Uchiha Clan's fate.
After breakfast, Fugaku left the clan compound with two Uchiha guards and headed for the Konoha Police Force headquarters.
As its captain, he didn't handle routine patrols, but he still had a mountain of incident reports and security matters to review and decide on.
It was a trip he made nearly every day.
"Hey, isn't that someone from the Uchiha Clan?"
"That infamous clan?"
"Shhh, keep your voice down! If they hear you, you're asking for trouble!"
"So what if they hear? It's not like they'd dare kill us."
"Maybe not on the streets, but they could easily find some excuse to lock us up."
"The Uchiha Clan wouldn't go that far… right?"
"You're too naive. My neighbor's friend's friend got locked up for saying something about them and still hasn't been released."
...
As Fugaku walked through the village, he could feel the cold, fearful, and distant stares aimed at him.
And with his Kage-level senses, he could clearly hear the hushed conversations all around.
The Uchiha Clan's reputation in Konoha was nothing short of infamy.
"What a clever tactic," he sneered inwardly.
The clan's arrogance, their disdain for civilians and other families, surely contributed to the hate. But that wasn't the root cause.
The true source of the clan's infamy was Konoha's top brass—subtly manipulating public opinion, even spreading false rumors to turn the village against the Uchiha.
Like what he just overheard—people being imprisoned just for mentioning the Uchiha Clan. That would never happen.
Yes, Uchiha were proud and aloof, but precisely because of that pride, they would never stoop to such petty revenge.
That rumor? Pure slander, spread by those in power to further isolate the clan.
And it worked. The Uchiha Clan had become Konoha's public enemy.
"If I want to resolve the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha… I'll have to eliminate the ones who created it."
Fugaku's thoughts sharpened.
He didn't oppose using force to change the clan's situation.
What he disagreed with was a full-blown coup.
A coup meant going to war with the entire village.
And with the Uchiha's current strength, that was suicide.
The clan was no longer the powerhouse it had been in the Warring States era. They couldn't match the might of all Konoha alone.
"A coup won't work. The better path is bounties… stealth… assassination."
His eyes gleamed coldly.
The ones targeting the Uchiha in the upper echelons of Konoha didn't need to be confronted with an army. In fact, launching a coup would be the dumbest move.
It would cause too much chaos, and the odds of success were slim.
Given their current reputation, the moment the Uchiha made a move, the other clans would instantly oppose them.
Instead, the ideal plan was to eliminate those enemies in the shadows quietly and efficiently.
No need to fight the entire village. Just silence the key players, one by one.
While Fugaku was deep in thought, three figures approached from the opposite direction.
Leading them was a middle-aged man of average build, but with a powerful presence that gave away his strength.
A true elite jonin.
"Well, if it isn't Captain Fugaku."
The man spoke with a mocking undertone.
"Shimura Ryoma."
Fugaku's gaze turned cold as it fell on the man.
Shimura Ryoma an elite jonin of the Shimura Clan, and a prominent figure within it.
As one of the clans loyal to Danzo, leader of Root, the Shimura Clan was one of the Uchiha's staunchest enemies and Ryoma was one of its loudest agitators.
Much of the political suppression the Uchiha faced over the years had Ryoma's fingerprints on it.
"Heading to the police HQ again? Keeping the village safe every day Captain Fugaku sure works hard."
Ryoma "smiled" as he spoke.
It was a thinly veiled jab.
Keeping order meant dealing with petty crime—hardly noble work for a clan as prestigious as the Uchiha.
"You don't need to worry about me," Fugaku replied coldly.
The police force had once been tasked with border patrols and counter-espionage.
But under pressure from the village leadership, all those responsibilities had been stripped away leaving only minor law enforcement duties.
Danzo Shimura had been the main force behind that erosion of power.
"Oh, I was just concerned about your health, Captain. Don't overwork yourself."
Ryoma smirked.
"How thoughtful of you."
Fugaku's voice was ice.
A leader of a hostile clan, concerned for him?
A weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken.