It had been over ten days since the news of Shimura Daisuke, head of the Shimura clan, dying reached Konoha.
At first, it caused quite a stir after all, he was the head of one of the village's prominent clans.
One could say that, up to now, he was the most high-ranking individual to have died at the hands of the mysterious Wood Release kekkei genkai wielder.
However, people are forgetful. Although some still bring it up from time to time, the initial uproar has long since faded.
After Daisuke's burial, his corpse was quickly disposed of by men sent by Uchiha Fugaku, eliminating any possibility of it being used for Impure World Reincarnation.
In the backyard of the Uchiha estate, the young Uchiha Sasuke was diligently training.
Beside him, Uchiha Fugaku was also engaged in weighted physical training.
Since the death of Shimura Daisuke, he hadn't made another move—or more accurately, hadn't had the opportunity to.
The clan heads who had close ties with the Shimura clan and had actively worked against the Uchiha were now all holed up in Konoha, refusing to step outside.
"It seems they've grown cautious," Fugaku thought as he continued his training.
For someone like Shimura Danzō to rise to become the head of Root, he obviously wasn't a fool.
The successive attacks on Aburame Shibi and Shimura Daisuke likely led him to deduce that the Wood Release user was deliberately targeting his faction.
The allied clan heads now remaining hidden in the village must have been warned by him.
"With the disguise technique at my disposal, I could carry out assassinations even within the village... but—"
The disguise technique allowed him to impersonate someone close to the target, get near them, and then assassinate them.
With his strength, a sneak attack would almost certainly be fatal.
Assassination wasn't the hard part—the difficulty lay in escaping safely afterward.
If no one else was alerted during the operation, he could leave easily using the disguise technique.
But if others were alerted, escaping would become a major problem.
After all, he didn't possess space-time techniques like Uchiha Obito, who could teleport using them.
"To assassinate someone like Shimura Danzō without a trace would be nearly impossible."
Danzō had likely already implanted Hashirama's cells and a Sharingan, which meant he probably possessed Kage-level strength.
Assassinating Danzō silently and without alerting anyone was virtually impossible.
And the moment something went wrong, he'd be surrounded by Root elites and powerful Konoha reinforcements.
Even for him, escaping such a situation unscathed would be extremely difficult.
"Although I can't go after Danzō yet, those other clan heads who sided with the Shimura clan are fair game."
A murderous gleam flickered in Fugaku's eyes.
After working up a sweat, he stopped his training.
Sasuke had already finished earlier. Seeing his father stop, he ran over with a towel.
Fugaku smiled as he took the towel and wiped off his sweat.
At that moment, he noticed an Uchiha clansman walking toward him.
Realizing the man was here to report to him, Fugaku walked over to meet him.
"Clan Head," the man greeted respectfully, then handed over a small scroll with both hands.
"Mm," Fugaku responded, accepting it without opening it immediately. Instead, he stored it away.
He left the courtyard and entered his study before finally unsealing and opening the scroll.
It came from Uchiha Min, a completely loyal clansman.
Min was a high-level jōnin who had previously participated in the ambushes against Shimura Ryōma, Shimura Ichirō, and Shimura Sōsuke.
Fugaku hadn't heard from him in a while—he had tasked him with a secret mission: infiltrating the Land of Water to monitor the situation in Kirigakure.
"The Mizukage has begun targeting the kekkei genkai clans in the village…"
After reading the scroll, Fugaku couldn't help but smile.
He knew that Kirigakure had already fallen under Uchiha Obito's control. And now, Obito was preparing to purge the kekkei genkai clans.
Fugaku intended to take advantage of the chaos, harvest the corpses of those with kekkei genkai, and use them for corpse refinement—to extract and obtain the respective abilities.
Now, the perfect opportunity had arrived.
With Obito—disguised as the Mizukage—preparing to strike against the kekkei genkai clans, this was the best time to head to Kirigakure and seize their bodies.
"It seems I'll have to postpone my plans against the other clan heads allied with the Shimura."
Fugaku murmured inwardly as he burned the scroll to ashes.
Now was the ideal moment to go to the Land of Water, infiltrate Kirigakure, and obtain the corpses of kekkei genkai users.
Compared to that, everything else could wait.
"If the Wood Release kekkei genkai can be strengthened by fusing with similar types, then other kekkei genkai should be the same."
"I'll need to gather multiple corpses of those with the same kekkei genkai. That way, the power obtained will be even greater."
Originally, he had planned to collect a variety of kekkei genkai corpses—one of each would suffice.
But now, his strategy had shifted. He needed as many of the same kind as possible.
"The Uchiha clan's kekkei genkai… should also be able to evolve through this method, right?"
As the idea of strengthening a kekkei genkai through fusion took shape, Fugaku couldn't help but think of his own Sharingan.
He had already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
To evolve it into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, he needed the Mangekyō eyes of a close blood relative.
His target was Uchiha Itachi.
They were father and son—if he could obtain Itachi's Mangekyō, he would surely achieve the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
"What if strengthening the same kekkei genkai through fusion could offer an alternative method to achieving the Eternal Mangekyō?"
The idea had taken root—and he believed it was entirely plausible.
The Uchiha bloodline originated from Indra, the elder son of the Sage of Six Paths.
Indra had a younger brother, Asura, but Asura did not awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan. Instead, he possessed the Sage's physical body.
Which meant Indra had no way of obtaining another Mangekyō eye from a close blood relative.
So wouldn't his eyes have gone blind?
But in truth, Indra's eyes had not gone blind.
This could be confirmed through both Fugaku's memories from his past life and ancient Uchiha records.
"Why didn't Indra's Mangekyō Sharingan go blind, while his descendants' do?"
He believed the answer lay in bloodline strength.
As the Sage's direct son, Indra's bloodline was incredibly pure and powerful. The Mangekyō he awakened wasn't an ordinary one—it was Eternal from the beginning.
That was why his eyes never went blind.
So if one could enhance their bloodline, they might directly awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
"If strengthening the bloodline can directly awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, then Itachi's Mangekyō can be reserved for Sasuke—allowing him to obtain the Eternal Mangekyō too."
He remembered that Sasuke had awakened the Rinnegan only after acquiring the Eternal Mangekyō and receiving chakra from the Sage of Six Paths.
If Sasuke failed to reach the Eternal Mangekyō stage, and thus missed the opportunity to obtain the Rinnegan, that would be a tremendous loss.
After all, he was grooming Sasuke to become his foremost combat asset.