"Knock knock knock."
The office door sounded, and Fugaku called out, "Enter."
A familiar squad leader from the Military Police Force stepped in, his chakra signature equally recognizable.
"What is it?" Fugaku asked.
"Captain, the village's Elders have expressed strong disapproval of how we've been handling conflicts."
'The Elders?'
Fugaku frowned. The higher-ups' dissatisfaction with the Uchiha clan wasn't new; it had been simmering for some time. The so-called "complaints from villagers" were just an excuse.
They had just aided the Fourth Hokage. And already those people were so impatient?
Fugaku took the document the squad leader handed him and began reading.
But the very next moment.
Thud!
His chest was pierced in an instant. Blood dripped continuously.
The sudden ambush left Fugaku stunned.
Impossible.
"You… you're not Jiang…"
"Who...are..you?"
As he struggled to speak, half of the man's face was overtaken by a creeping black substance, revealing a bizarre grin.
"Who am I? Based on seniority, I should be your great-uncle, perhaps? Descendant of Indra. Uchiha… I'll be taking your eyes."
As the voice fell, Fugaku grew weaker; his heart had already been pierced.
The White Zetsu impostor reverted to its original form, and a kunai was placed horizontally across Fugaku's throat.
Slash!
The trachea, still trying to form a cry, was instantly severed.
The blade severed the arteries and windpipe in one motion. Blood sprayed violently, drenching Fugaku.
"Guh… guh…"
He tried to speak, but with his windpipe cut, all he could breathe in was the scent of blood. Not a word escaped.
A blackened hand dug into his eyes, both Sharingan ripped out. Blood poured from the empty sockets.
At that moment, a white mass rose from the ground. The black coating on Fugaku peeled off and merged with the white, like melting mud.
In it's hand were two glass containers, one holding Obito's eye, the other, Fugaku's Sharingan.
"As the pawn of Madara, Obito can't die yet. That Mangekyō Sharingan with space-time ability cannot be left in Konoha… so I'm afraid you must die, current Uchiha Clan Leader, Uchiha Fugaku."
Thunk!
Fugaku's head jolted. A kunai plunged into his eye socket, destroying his brain. Afterward, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu slowly sank into the ground.
White Zetsu quipped, "What's the rush? I wanted to ask him what it feels like when you're about to poop."
Black Zetsu replied, "The Fourth and that Mangekyō Uchiha just left. We have to rescue Obito quickly. Someone in this village knows about us. Otherwise, Obito wouldn't have failed. Let's move."
Ten minutes later, horrified screams echoed from the Police Force headquarters. Minato and Shisui, not far away, rushed back.
But Fugaku was already lying in a pool of blood, his Sharingan missing, and Obito, once sealed in the holding cells, was gone.
Clack!
Shisui hurriedly opened a hidden compartment under the desk. The Mangekyō Sharingan that he and Fugaku had stored the night before—gone.
"So there really was an accomplice… Someone who could sneak into Konoha unnoticed and assassinate Captain Fugaku without a sound. Lord Hokage, could it be…"
He didn't finish his thought, but Minato understood: Uzumaki Ku
The one who intercepted Obito's right arm the night before, skilled in the Flying Thunder God technique, was that black figure from the intel exchange?
But based on the encounter, that black figure leaned in favor of the Uchiha. Why kill Fugaku to rescue Obito?
Fugaku was no weakling either…
"Lord Hokage," the medical-nin reported, "Captain Fugaku died from massive blood loss due to a kunai severing his artery and trachea. Judging by his posture, it appears to have been self-inflicted. But the kunai inserted into his brain… that was done by the enemy."
'Suicide?'
Minato frowned. Fugaku wouldn't kill himself.
A technique that manipulates others, like the Nara clan's Shadow Possession, might be responsible.
And the brain strike was standard practice in the Third Great Ninja War. All five great villages had such secret arts to extract intel from recently-dead corpses.
'But… Uzumaki Ku?'
Based on Shisui's encounter last night, this Flying Thunder God user wasn't overwhelmingly strong; without jutsu and taijutsu, he was worse than an average chunin.
In a surprise attack, maybe he could injure Fugaku, but not dominate him.
'Could it be a genjutsu from the Uzumaki clan, not the Uchiha? Or was the name Uzumaki Ku just a smokescreen?'
"Call the Barrier Team. I want a full status report. Also, have the Jonin Division dispatch a squad with a sensory-type specialist to track the enemy. Shisui, take a team of ANBU and follow them. Provide backup immediately if needed."
The ANBU behind him vanished with a flicker. Shisui followed soon after, his heart in turmoil.
Without Fugaku, the already unstable Uchiha clan would descend into more chaos. The hardliners and moderates would now clash for control. If a hardliner became clan head…
Meanwhile, underground, Obito had already been rescued and had his right arm restored.
After inserting the retrieved Sharingan, he demanded, "Who leaked my intel to Konoha? And Kakashi… that eye of his…"
White Zetsu replied in a strange tone: "Uzumaki Ku. I saw him when you got captured. You looked really pathetic, Obito."
Bang!
Obito smashed the wooden table with a fist. "If it weren't for that bastard Kakashi using my own eye against me… Damn it!"
Furious, he vented his rage until Black Zetsu handed him a scroll.
"Intel on Hashirama's cells and the Mangekyō Sharingan has been completely exposed. You need to calm down and study this well. It's the scroll he left for you. Inside is the power you need."
Taking the scroll, White Zetsu handed him a vial: "Fugaku's eyes. A fine pair of three-tomoe Sharingan. I remember Uchiha genjutsu needs Sharingan, right?"
Looking at what he held, Obito's tomoe began spinning rapidly.
Power.
Only with sufficient power could he capture the tailed beasts and launch the Eye of the Moon Plan.
And as for that shadow lurking in the dark, Uzumaki Ku, he'd deal with him too.
Three days later, in Konoha, Fugaku Uchiha's funeral.
Wearing black, Yun stood silently before the memorial stone.
Fugaku was dead, something he hadn't expected.
Though he'd long since thrown the original "plot" aside, the chaos that would now consume the Uchiha clan was predictable.
Fugaku was gone. Itachi was barely five years old, not even old enough to attend the ninja academy until next year. He obviously couldn't lead the clan.
And Shisui…
With the ability of Kotoamatsukami, if he could be persuaded, then maybe Fugaku's death wasn't all bad.
"The Fourth Hokage had just left the Police Force when the captain was assassinated…"
"The tracking squad and ANBU didn't find a thing…"
"Same with Shisui's team. It's like the enemy just vanished…"
"That kind of disappearance… During the war, didn't the Fourth kill 50 enemy ninjas in an instant using a technique?"
"A space-time jutsu. Only the Fourth can use it…"
"Konoha won't tolerate the Uchiha anymore. Even though we founded this village! We are its true heirs!"
"If even the captain were killed, then we have no future."
"Silence! Don't speak such things!"
Yun furrowed his brow listening to the murmurs of the Uchiha around him.
In the original timeline, Fugaku had never wanted rebellion. Yet even he was forced into it by the pressures of the clan.
Now, with Fugaku gone, one more voice of reason had been lost. Fleeing the village wouldn't bother him personally, but as someone used to stability and good food, Konoha was still the better place to live…