Chapter 8 Uchiha Touhuan's Plan.
"First, I don't want to hear any talk of rebellion from the clan again," Uchiha Touhuan solemnly announced.
"Huh?" The previously fervent Uchiha youths were stunned. Shisui and Itachi, however, breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, Uchiha Touhuan still had his senses and knew that the clan couldn't rebel.
But the next moment, their hearts sank again.
"This village was originally founded by Madara and the First Hokage. In a sense, our Uchiha clan should be one of the masters of this village. What we need to do is simply reclaim our rightful rights."
"That's right! This village should rightfully belong to our Uchiha clan!" Uchiha Inahi exclaimed fervently.
"The second matter is the shortage of manpower in the Security Department. Starting tomorrow, recruit civilian ninjas. Within a week, I want the Security Department's manpower to double. The salaries of these civilian ninjas must be at least at the level of a D-rank mission in the village. Furthermore, all ninjutsu from the clan, except those related to the Sharingan, including the spoils of war accumulated by the clan over the years, will be used as rewards for ninjas with outstanding achievements." Uchiha Touhuan then dropped his second bombshell.
This time, the uproar was even greater, and even Shisui and Itachi were somewhat confused about Uchiha Touhuan's purpose.
If before it was just a nominal issue, now, Uchiha Touhuan's order was a real cut into their own flesh.
"Quiet!" Uchiha Touhuan stepped forward after seeing that the commotion below had subsided. "Most of you here work in the police force. I think you've all encountered this situation before: even if we enforce the law impartially, some villagers still complain about us. The police force may seem powerful and influential, but they've built a thick wall between our Uchiha clan and the villagers. This is the trap that the inherently evil Senju-no-Kami set for our clan!"
"To reclaim our power, the first thing we need to do is bridge the gap with the villagers. The First Hokage was right: it's not about becoming Hokage to gain their approval, but about gaining their approval to become Hokage!"
"The Uchiha clan has been estranged from the villagers for far too long. What we need to do now is actively embrace them!" Uchiha Touhuan's voice was incredibly infectious. His words even made Shisui wonder if he had misunderstood Uchiha Touhuan. Wasn't what Uchiha Touhuan was doing exactly what he wanted to do?
"Recruiting civilian ninjas is understandable, but aren't ninjutsu a bit too valuable?" an elder asked doubtfully.
"The foundation of our clan is our bloodline limit. These ninjutsu, instead of gathering dust in the clan's warehouse, should be used as a bridge between us and the village," Uchiha Touhuan said.
"But, Touhuan, have you considered that recruiting so many civilian ninjas at once, and demanding at least D-rank mission pay for them, won't sustain the clan's funds for long? After all, the incident six years ago forced the clan to move away from the village center," Uchiha Fugaku reminded him from the side.
"Elder Fugaku, don't worry about that. I'll get the money for the clan," Uchiha Touhuan smiled calmly.
"It's good that you have a plan. Well then, according to clan tradition, the clan head will serve as the head of the security force…"
"No, no, no," Uchiha Touhuan interrupted before Uchiha Fugaku could finish speaking, "Elder Fugaku, please continue as the head of the security force. I have more important things to do."
"More important things?" Uchiha Fugaku was somewhat puzzled.
"Of course, it's completing the task assigned to me by the Third Hokage," Uchiha Touhuan smiled.
"Speaking of which, since you've taken on the task of investigating Danzo and Root, shouldn't we start the investigation as soon as possible?" At this moment, an elder of the clan said.
"How can we start investigating now?" Uchiha Touhuan smiled meaningfully. "We need to give them some time."
Some time to destroy the evidence.
"Inahime, Zaito, starting tomorrow, you two will be with me, in charge of investigating this matter with Root." Uchiha Touhuan didn't elaborate, but instead turned to call out the names of the two Uchiha clan members who had been following him all day.
"Understood!"
"Understood!"
Just as the Uchiha clan was holding a meeting, at the Root base in the village, Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Ryoma were directing their subordinates to destroy Root's documents without a moment's rest. The target was Uchiha clan ninjas. Yamanaka Fu, whose abilities were naturally countered, had been left at the base by Danzo.
Aburame Ryoma was left for a similar reason; during the Third Shinobi World War, Danzo had sent him to attack Uchiha Touhuan, who had already made a name for himself. The two had clashed. The insects he cultivated would lose their way if they approached the electromagnetic field created by Uchiha Touhuan's Lightning Release ninjutsu. He had barely survived that attack.
Therefore, this time, Danzo had left both of them at the base. However, they never expected to receive news of Danzo's death.
Under Danzo's years of brainwashing, the few remaining Root ninjas worked like machines, collecting top-secret documents from the base and then destroying them using Fire Release.
A night passed, and just as everything was nearly finished, the two received news that Uchiha Touhuan was leading a group to the Root base.
They exchanged a glance, then looked at the remaining secret documents, nodded to each other, and headed out of the base together.
Uchiha Touhuan, along with Inahime and Zaito, walked unhurriedly towards the Root headquarters.
"This old bastard's den is pretty remote," Inahime couldn't help but complain after walking for a while.
Uchiha Touhuan smiled, then raised an eyebrow: "The bastards are here."
As soon as he finished speaking, blue lightning flashed from beside Uchiha Touhuan, and various insects appeared around them, crackling and falling. The plants growing beneath their feet withered the moment they touched the insects.
Seeing this, Uchiha Inahisa and Uchiha Zaito immediately drew kunai from their ninja tool pouches and assumed fighting stances.
"You Aburame clan ninja, didn't you learn your lesson last time? These things have no effect on me," Uchiha Touhuan declared loudly.
A barrage of shuriken responded to Uchiha Touhuan.
However, these shuriken all mysteriously hovered in mid-air when they reached within a foot of Uchiha Touhuan.
With a bang, one of the shuriken exploded in a cloud of smoke, revealing Aburame Ryuma's figure, his kunai aimed straight for Uchiha Touhuan's throat.
(End of Chapter)