Uchiha Toko's uncharacteristic string of curses left Shisui standing there in a daze. In Shisui's impression, Uchiha Toko had always been gentle in his dealings with others. Even when the two of them had clashed that night, Uchiha Toko had never lost his composure like this.
"So you knew about all this from the beginning, didn't you?" Shisui asked.
"More or less." Uchiha Toko had calmed down by then. "After all, I've read quite a few case files during my years in the Military Police Force. It wasn't hard to notice that some of the village's missing-person cases were suspicious. I just hadn't found any evidence before."
"So you've always suspected the village higher-ups? Why..." Shisui had originally wanted to ask why Toko had not told him, but seeing the look in Uchiha Toko's eyes, Shisui wisely shut his mouth. Right. Given how he had been led around by those people before, why would Uchiha Toko trust him?
And as that thought crossed his mind, Shisui suddenly realized what terrible things might have happened if Uchiha Toko had not taken Kotoamatsukami from him and had allowed him to successfully use the technique on Uchiha Fugaku, who had still been the Clan Head at the time. By then, the children of the clan might have suffered everything those missing children described in the Evidence of Crimes had suffered. And he, as the one who had set it all in motion, would have remained completely oblivious until the entire Uchiha Clan had been devoured whole.
It was Uchiha Toko who had stopped all of that, preventing him from becoming a sinner to the entire clan, even the entire village.
"Thank you," Uchiha Shisui murmured.
"There's no need to say that between clansmen." Uchiha Toko knew what Shisui meant and waved it off