Are You Even Worthy of Testing My Measure, Uchiha Itachi?

[Ōnoki: Clan Head Fugaku, you might as well come to Iwagakure. We would never treat the Uchiha Clan like this.]

[Fourth Raikage: Exactly. Rather than suffer in Konoha, you might as well join another ninja village. If they don't want you here, there's always somewhere else that will.]

Seeing the other ninja villages constantly stirring the pot, Fugaku could only refuse.

[Fugaku: The Uchiha Clan would never stoop to the level of other ninja villages.]

Everyone else was still watching, so he couldn't openly say anything about betraying Konoha.

[Tsunade: Old man, you don't actually think Fugaku would do that, do you?]

[Hiruzen Sarutobi: Tsunade, you have to trust this old man. How could I possibly do something like that?]

[Tsunade: That's hard to say. Maybe you listened to some elder. Fugaku doesn't seem like the kind of person who would betray Konoha.]

[Fugaku: Thank you for your trust, Princess Tsunade. The Uchiha Clan would never betray Konoha.]

Seeing that another of his disciples was also refusing to show him any respect, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a little embarrassed for a moment.

Orochimaru was like this every day, and Tsunade was the same. In the end, only Jiraiya showed some consideration for the old man.

[Mitokado Homura: Tsunade, watch what you say and do.]

[Utatane Koharu: Tsunade, don't forget that you're a member of Konoha too.]

[Tsunade: How annoying. Why are there two flies buzzing all the time?]

Tsunade simply ignored the two troublemakers. In the original story, those two old bastards bore at least half the responsibility for pushing the Uchiha Clan into staging a coup.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were helpless in the face of Tsunade's domineering words. Even leaving her background aside, Tsunade was one of Konoha's Sannin and had rendered the village countless meritorious services.

The two advisers generally didn't dare provoke Tsunade.

[Tsunade: Where's Jiraiya? Where are you wandering around?]

After being disturbed by the two advisers, Tsunade had the urge to hit someone. Unfortunately, Jiraiya, her punching bag, wasn't by her side.

At the same time, Jiraiya, who was about to gather material, suddenly sneezed.

"Could Tsunade be thinking about me?" Jiraiya wondered aloud.

But he soon turned back and continued working out the ideas for his first novel.

Lying on the table was Jiraiya's first novel, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi.

[At this time, Uchiha Itachi had just managed to move past Shisui's dying words.

He couldn't stop anything. He might have to let Shisui down.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open.

The newcomers were Uchiha Tekka and Uchiha Inabi.

After entering, the two kept looking Itachi over, strongly suspecting that he had killed Shisui.

Itachi still hadn't recovered from Shisui's death and didn't want to deal with the people in front of him.

"Uchiha Itachi, why didn't you attend tonight's clan meeting?" Uchiha Yashiro asked.

Ever since Itachi joined the Anbu, the clan had been suspicious of him. They had probably barged in this time because they suspected him too.

"Understood. I'll be more careful from now on. Please leave, everyone," Uchiha Itachi said expressionlessly.

"All right, but there's something else I want to ask before we go. It's about Uchiha Shisui, who threw himself into the Naka River yesterday evening," Uchiha Yashiro finally said.

At the mention of that, the expressionless Itachi could no longer hold back. He did his best to suppress the anger in his heart, not wanting to talk to these people any more than necessary.

"I recall you admired Shisui like an older brother, didn't you?" Uchiha Inabi demanded.

Itachi closed his eyes. No one knew what he was thinking.

"Is that so? We hardly saw each other recently. What a shame." Uchiha Itachi spoke expressionlessly, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"The Police Force has decided to do everything it can to investigate the truth," Uchiha Inabi said.

But Itachi wasn't in good shape himself and paid no attention to what he was saying.

At that point, Uchiha Yashiro took out the suicide note Shisui had written.

"This is the suicide note Shisui wrote. The handwriting has been examined and confirmed to be his." Uchiha Yashiro handed the note to Itachi.

Itachi took the note and said, "If you've already determined it was suicide, what is there to investigate?"

Uchiha Inabi spoke up, his words full of hostility. "For someone with a Sharingan, copying another person's handwriting is child's play."

"Besides, he was the strongest in the Uchiha Clan, the man known as 'Body Flicker Shisui.' Ask anyone in the clan: whatever the mission, he always led the way. It's hard to imagine someone like that leaving something like this and killing himself."

But Itachi didn't care about any of that. All he wanted now was some peace and quiet by himself.

"In any case, it's better not to judge someone based solely on appearances or subjective impressions."

Inabi didn't want to hear Itachi's explanation either. He said bluntly, "Anyway, we'll leave this suicide note in your care. Take it to the Anbu and ask them to help investigate."

"Understood!" Uchiha Itachi said.

But no one knew what the Uchiha was actually thinking.

Uchiha Yashiro and the brothers, Uchiha Tekka and Inabi, then left. As they were leaving, they said loudly:

"It'd be good if we could find a clue."

Everything they said implied that Uchiha Itachi was the one who had killed Shisui.

Itachi could finally no longer tolerate their suspicions. Clutching Shisui's suicide note tightly, he said in a cold voice, "Why don't you just come out and say it?"

These people had clearly come looking for trouble today. If he didn't beat the shit out of them, there was no way he could vent his anger.

They were just a bunch of nobodies who had been cut down by Obito Uchiha in a single strike. What gave them the right to throw their weight around in front of Uchiha Itachi?

Hearing Uchiha Itachi's words, Yashiro and the other two all stopped. When they turned around, their Three-Tomoe Sharingan were already on display.

The atmosphere was on the verge of exploding. Yashiro and the other two were certain they had Uchiha Itachi in their grasp today.

"Are you suspecting me?!" Itachi no longer wanted to waste words on these pieces of trash. His Mitsudomoe activated in an instant. No matter what, he was going to beat the shit out of them today.

"That's right, you little brat!" At last, Uchiha Inabi stopped hiding it. He plainly suspected Uchiha Itachi.

But the moment the words left his mouth, before the three could react, several thuds rang out. Itachi had already beaten Uchiha Yashiro and the Tekka brothers bloody.

The swagger they had shown when they first came in was long gone. With blood all over their faces, the three were a sorry sight.

"I already told you, don't judge someone based solely on appearances or subjective impressions. What makes you think I'm a patient person?" Itachi said, enunciating every word.

The three of them had long since worn out Itachi's patience.

"All you ever talk about is the clan. You don't understand your own measure, and you don't understand mine either. That's why you were knocked to the ground." Itachi was looking down on the measure of the Uchiha Clan more and more.

Itachi now regarded everyone, including his own father, Uchiha Fugaku, as people without measure.

Uchiha Yashiro rose shakily from the ground and said, "Shisui... had been watching you lately. After you joined the Anbu, you started acting strangely. What exactly are you trying to do?"

Itachi had learned from Shisui long ago that the Police Force had recently sent him to watch him. The clan no longer trusted him.

"Fixating on an organization, a clan, fame and profit—those are terrifying things that bind you and limit your measure. They're also foolish acts born of fear and hatred of the unknown..." Uchiha Itachi, philosopher of the Shinobi World, looked with disappointment at these clansmen who had no measure.

"Stop, Itachi. Know your limits. What on earth is wrong with you?" Uchiha Fugaku, who had just arrived, intervened.

"Itachi... you've been a little strange lately," Fugaku said, looking at this unfamiliar son of his.

"There's nothing strange about it! I'm just carrying out my mission." Itachi looked at his father in disappointment.

"Then why didn't you come last night?" Fugaku asked why he hadn't attended the clan meeting.

"To get closer to the pinnacle," Itachi said calmly.

Fugaku could no longer understand Itachi. The little boy who used to follow behind him had changed, becoming a stranger to him.

"What do you mean?!" Fugaku still didn't understand what Itachi was talking about.

Itachi suddenly moved, throwing the kunai in his hand at his own father.

The kunai brushed past Fugaku's hair and lodged in the wall behind him.

"My measure has driven me to despair of this boring clan. It's precisely because you're so fixated on something as small as the clan that you can't see what's truly important. True change cannot be confined by rules, restrictions, preconceptions, or imagination." Waves of killing intent emanated from the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in Itachi's eyes.

Fugaku was stunned by his son's thoughts. His son didn't just look down on Yashiro and the other two, nor did he merely look down on him as the Uchiha Clan Head. He looked down on everyone in the Uchiha Clan.

"You're too arrogant," Fugaku scolded.

"Enough! Keep spouting nonsense and we'll throw you in prison," Uchiha Yashiro said angrily.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Uchiha Tekka stood beside Fugaku and stared at Uchiha Itachi as he spoke.

"I can't accept this anymore. Captain, give the order to arrest him," Uchiha Inabi said urgently.

Fugaku glanced at Inabi. Come on, are you stupid? Weren't you three the ones Itachi just beat to the ground? And now you want me to arrest my son? You really know how to make trouble for me.

"Brother, stop it," a childish voice called out.

Itachi turned and saw Sasuke standing at the door, watching everything that was happening. Not wanting Sasuke to see anything cruel, Itachi thought for a moment, then sank weakly to his knees.

"I didn't kill Shisui, but I still owe you a sincere apology for what I said earlier. I'm very sorry," Uchiha Itachi said.

Fugaku didn't want things to get out of hand either. After all, Itachi was his son. He immediately explained, "Itachi has been busy with Anbu missions lately. He's somewhat tired."

"Captain!" Uchiha Yashiro still wanted to say something.

But Fugaku cut him off. "The Anbu reports directly to Lord Hokage. Even the Police Force can't arrest him without a warrant."

"And I'll take responsibility for keeping an eye on Itachi. Please." Fugaku made his request to Yashiro and the others.

The others could hardly keep pressing a father to arrest his own son, so they could only say, "Understood!"

"Go inside, Itachi." Fugaku slowly returned home, and Sasuke, who was beside him, breathed a sigh of relief at the sight.

Unbeknownst to Fugaku, as he entered the house, Itachi, still kneeling nearby, secretly turned his head toward his father's departing figure. The Mitsudomoe in his eyes changed into a Mangekyō, and his gaze was full of killing intent as he looked at Fugaku.

Uchiha Tekka

Uchiha Inabi

Uchiha Yashiro