Given the relationship between Uchiha Fugaku and Shimura Ryoma, there was naturally no possibility of them stopping for a "friendly chat." The two groups simply passed each other by.
Uchiha Fugaku and his two companions headed towards the Garrison Force, while Shimura Ryoma and his two companions went towards the Shimura Clan's compound.
"He really can endure!"
On the way back to the Shimura Clan, Shimura Ryoma thought to himself.
His encounter with Uchiha Fugaku was not accidental; he had intentionally planned it, calculating that Uchiha Fugaku would appear on that street at that time, and deliberately showing up there himself.
His purpose was to test Uchiha Fugaku.
He wanted to see if Uchiha Fugaku could still endure after the successive suppressions of the Uchiha Clan.
The result disappointed him; Uchiha Fugakuwas not easily provoked and remained as skilled at enduring as ever.
"I wonder if you'll still be able to endure what's coming next?"
A cold sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth as he thought of the clan's upcoming plan.
As long as the Uchiha Clan existed, the Konoha high-ranking officials' suppression of them would not cease.
Just recently, the Shimura Clan, at the instruction of Danzo Advisor, secretly contacted other clans to prepare to strip the Uchiha Clan of their duty to monitor the Village's entry and exit points, further suppressing the Uchiha Clan.
By supervising the Village's entry and exit points, the Uchiha Clan had significant control over the merchant caravans entering and leaving the Village.
For a long time, the Uchiha Clan had used their supervisory power over the merchant caravans to obtain considerable "dividends" from them.
Once the Uchiha Clan lost their duty to monitor the Village's entry and exit points, it would clearly be impossible for them to obtain such "dividends," and the Shimura Clan and some other clans would replace the Uchiha Clan, dividing up these "dividends."
"If the duty to monitor the Village's entry and exit points is also stripped away, the Uchiha Clan will lose most of its economic sources. I don't believe you can still endure under such circumstances."
He was already somewhat looking forward to the next Village Council meeting.
Because at the next Village Council meeting, the Shimura Clan, in conjunction with some other clans, would move to strip the Uchiha Clan of their duty to monitor the Village's entry and exit points.
He really wanted to see what kind of expression Uchiha Fugaku would have after the proposal passed.
Would he be unable to suppress his anger and choose to erupt, or would he continue to choose to endure?
In the previous instances, Uchiha Fugaku had always chosen to endure.
But this time, it had touched upon the fundamental interests of the Uchiha Clan, and he did not believe the other party would still be able to endure.
And once he could no longer endure, the objective of the Shimura Clan and even the Konoha high-ranking officials would be achieved.
For Konoha, the Uchiha Clan, which had once produced Uchiha Madara, a Missing Ninja, was an extremely dangerous hidden threat that needed to be eradicated.
The occurrence of the Nine-Tailed Fox incident further solidified this belief among Konoha's high-ranking officials.
However, it was certainly not acceptable to act against a blameless clan.
If they did so, it would inevitably cause suspicion among the other clans in the Village, as no clan could guarantee that their own clan wouldn't be next.
Thus, a plan to suppress the Uchiha Clan and force them into rebellion was conceived.
Once the Uchiha Clan could no longer withstand the suppression and chose to rebel, the Village would then have a reason to act against the Uchiha Clan.
It must be said, Uchiha Fugaku was truly capable of enduring.
Facing the Village's repeated suppressions, he actually endured them all and even suppressed the voices of rebellion within his clan.
That's right, the voices of rebellion within the Uchiha Clan were already known to Konoha's high-ranking officials; rather, it could be said that Konoha's high-ranking officials had long been anticipating them.
He believed that this time, the Uchiha Clanwould inevitably be unable to withstand the suppression and would erupt.
Even if Uchiha Fugaku could endure, the Uchiha Clan's internal members would inevitably not tolerate it and would forcefully compel Uchiha Fugaku to rebel.
From the moment this plan was initiated, the fate of the Uchiha Clan was already sealed.
"Shimura Ryoma, huh?"
Walking on the way to the Garrison Force, an imperceptible cold glint flashed in Uchiha Fugaku's eyes.
To change the Uchiha Clan's current situation of being suppressed and ostracized, it was necessary to deal with the high-ranking individuals in Konoha who harbored hostility towards the Uchiha Clan.
Shimura Ryoma was clearly one such person.
Moreover, although this person held a high position within the Shimura Clan, his status was ultimately not as high as Danzo Shimura's, and his level of protection was limited, making him a very suitable target.
He had made up his mind, deciding to choose Shimura Ryoma as his first target.
"How should I make my move?"
There were two ways to deal with Shimura Ryoma.
The first method was to place a bounty on Shimura Ryoma in the Underground Black Market, using a high reward to incite Missing Ninja and Wandering Ninja to assassinate Shimura Ryoma.
This method was secretive and could completely dissociate Shimura Ryoma's death from the Uchiha Clan. The only downside was that it was expensive.
Shimura Ryoma was an Elite Jonin, and placing a bounty on such a Ninja would undoubtedly cost a lot.
This can be referenced by Asuma Sarutobi's bounty; in the original work, Asuma Sarutobi, also an Elite Jonin, had a bounty as high as thirty-five million ryo.
Of course, Asuma Sarutobi also had the special identities of a Twelve Guardian Ninjaand the Third Hokage's son, making his bounty higher than that of an average Elite Jonin.
Even so, to place a bounty on Shimura Ryoma would cost at least twenty million ryo.
The second method was to secretly deploy elite Ninja from the Uchiha Clan to assassinate Shimura Ryoma.
This method saved money, but the drawback was that it was not secretive enough.
If the assassination failed, or if clues were left behind during the assassination process and found by Konoha's Anbu, it could very likely lead to the exposure of the assassination.
And once the assassination was exposed, it would inevitably lead to extremely serious consequences, and Konoha's high-ranking officials would have sufficient reason to act against the Uchiha Clan.
"Although a bounty is covert, the cost is too high. Although assassination carries the risk of exposure, it can be avoided if done secretly enough."
Ultimately, he decided to adopt an assassination policy against Shimura Ryoma.
Issuing a bounty of twenty million ryo for Shimura Ryoma would naturally not be a problem for the Uchiha Clan's financial resources.
However, Shimura Ryoma was not the only person he had to deal with.
In Konoha, there were many people who harbored hostility towards the Uchiha Clan. After dealing with Shimura Ryoma, he would inevitably have to deal with these people one by one to resolve the Uchiha Clan's current crisis.
If he were to use the bounty method for so many people, even with the Uchiha Clan's immense wealth, it would be impossible to afford.
In the end, he would inevitably have to resort to deploying the Uchiha Clan's elite to assassinate the targets.
Since he would have to use assassination sooner or later, he might as well use it from the beginning.
Although assassination carried the risk of exposure, it could be avoided if done secretly enough.
Moreover, he had already decided that he would personally carry out the assassination.
With him, a Kage-level strength individual, making the move, the possibility of assassination failure would be even smaller, and the possibility of exposure would also be smaller.