"I'll be watching you…."
Uchiha Itachi stopped resisting, allowing the clan guards to grip his arms tightly. His eyes, cold and unreadable, locked onto Uchiha Kazuto's calm face as he was dragged away.
"Ah," Kazuto chuckled softly as Itachi's silhouette disappeared into the hallway.
If not for one crucial reason that he had yet to create a law to prevent blindness, he would have killed Itachi on the spot.
After all, the son of the previous clan head had just attempted to assassinate the new one. That alone was reason enough for execution.
Once Itachi was gone, Uchiha Kazuto finally turned his full attention to the task before him: creating his first laws.
Law One:
Members of the Uchiha clan, except for Uchiha Kazuto himself, are strictly forbidden from harming one another.
Law Two:
The villagers of Konoha are prohibited from committing murder within the village boundaries.
Two laws; the first decreed as Patriarch of the Uchiha, the second as Head of the Konoha Security Department.
The moment the laws took hold, Kazuto felt a sharp blur in his vision. His left eye burned, and the world dimmed for an instant.
The price of lawmaking was steep, each decree consumed his ocular power.
But after that sudden drain, he sensed something new; a faint, gradual regeneration. His power was replenishing itself, proof that his laws were already taking effect.
He didn't announce these laws publicly. They hadn't been ratified by the Uchiha Council or Konoha's administration, but that didn't matter.
They didn't require recognition. They simply worked.
Still, a limitation existed. Kazuto wasn't yet powerful enough to enforce punishments directly.
Without complete political control, such enforcement could draw suspicion and worse, expose the true nature of his eye technique.
When he later examined the results, he noticed something odd: the second law, the one affecting all of Konoha was barely generating feedback.
Logically, it should have produced far greater returns. The village had thousands of people, far more than his clan, yet the power he received was almost the same.
"It seems… I still have to become Hokage," he murmured.
"Even though I'm head of the Security Department and technically maintain order in the village, I'm not the Hokage. Without standing at the true peak of Konoha's hierarchy, I can't enforce this law fully."
He sighed, eyes narrowing. His next goal was clear: ascend higher, to the Hokage's seat.
And as he pondered this, another thought surfaced.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was merely the acting Hokage, not the true one.
And as for Danzo , that fool had left behind a mess of corruption and forbidden experiments. Where had he even found the audacity to conduct such atrocities under the Hokage's nose?
'Now it'll be your turn, Hokage-sama.
Meanwhile, inside the Uchiha prison...
"Father… is this true?"
Uchiha Itachi knelt on one knee, his expression taut with disbelief.
Uchiha Fugaku sat before him, shackled, his head bowed. Behind them, Uchiha Mikoto wept quietly, her shoulders trembling.
"Itachi," Fugaku said hoarsely, slowly raising his eyes. "Go. Follow the new clan leader. You are no longer the son of the patriarch. Don't repeat my mistake… don't walk the same unforgivable path."
His words were heavy with resignation. Though he felt deeply wronged, perhaps even furious, he knew there was no point in resisting.
The verdict had already been decided. His name was tarnished beyond repair.
Even if he shouted his innocence, no one would believe him. After all, what criminal ever admitted guilt? And yet… what was the truth?
"How… how could this be?"
Itachi's voice cracked. He staggered to his feet, stunned.
The man before him, his father, his role model branded a traitor? The very idea shattered his mind.
'No… impossible. There must be a mistake!'
"Go, Itachi. Leave."
Fugaku's tone was weary, final. He didn't even look up again.
'No! Something's wrong. There has to be something wrong!'
Itachi clenched his fists tightly, lowering his head as he turned to leave. His father's guilt…Danzo's involvement…Kazuto's rise, none of it aligned.
The phrase that had once haunted him echoed again in his mind:
The Uchiha are a cursed clan.
He refused to accept it. Somewhere beneath all this, the truth was buried and he intended to uncover it.
Was all of this simply a smokescreen to lull the village into complacency before a true coup?
Had the clan really surrendered so easily?
No! Itachi didn't believe it. He couldn't.
There had to be a deeper conspiracy.
And at the heart of it was Uchiha Kazuto.
"What are you planning?" he muttered to himself, eyes hardening.
At this point, Itachi hadn't yet awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan; Shisui was still alive, and Fugaku's downfall hadn't struck him deeply enough to trigger it.
For now, he was simply a genius without the eyes to see through the full truth.
Konoha Guard Department.
The organization's duty was simple: maintain peace and stability within the village, to catch criminals, rogue ninjas, and anyone deemed dangerous to Konoha's order.
It had been created by the Second Hokage to serve as both protector and counterweight, a silent leash around the Uchiha clan.
"Chief! Loyalty!"
"Loyalty!"
"Loyalty!"
A chorus of voices echoed through the training grounds as rows of uniformed Guards saluted in unison.
Uchiha Kazuto stood before them, arms crossed, eyes gleaming.
"Good," he said, nodding approvingly. "Very good. You're all full of spirit."
He gestured, and several attendants brought out newly issued weapons, steel batons wrapped in reinforced rubber.
"From today onward," Kazuto declared, "you are the First Unit of the Security Department under my direct command. These are your standard-issue weapons. Use them well."
Uchiha Tetsuka and the others accepted their equipment, standing tall and disciplined as Kazuto continued speaking.
Then came the next decree, the expansion of the Guard.
They were to recruit not from the Uchiha clan this time, but from the broader population of Konoha.
Two more units would be formed: the Second and Third Divisions, both under Kazuto's authority.
"Patriarch, may I ask…"
Uchiha Yashiro hesitated before speaking, confusion flickering in his eyes. "Why are we recruiting outsiders?"
The question mirrored the thoughts of many others present.
Kazuto's smile didn't falter.
'Why? To prepare for a coup, of course.'
He needed a larger army, soldiers loyal not to the clan, but to him.
But such thoughts could never be voiced aloud.
Not yet.
The Uchiha had just publicly renounced rebellion. To speak of launching one now would only invite chaos and suspicion.
So Kazuto merely smiled faintly, the corners of his lips curving in a calm, unreadable expression.
"Hehe… you'll understand soon enough," he murmured.