"Then I'll be taking my leave."
Chiba gave Uchiha Fugaku, who had seen him out of the house, a slight bow. With a faint smile, he turned to depart.
"Take care."
Watching Chiba's departing back, Uchiha Fugaku also gave a solemn slight bow to see him off.
Only after watching Chiba leave the Uchiha Clan compound and vanish into the bustling district did he turn and head back.
"Clan Head, why are you..."
Just as he was about to enter his home, an Uchiha shinobi who had somehow come up behind him spoke up, his face showing both confusion and indignation.
"Why did you come out?"
Hearing this, Uchiha Fugaku frowned. There was little change in his expression and no obvious anger, but his words carried a trace of displeasure and irritation, his voice exceedingly low.
"I... I just..."
At Uchiha Fugaku's words, the Uchiha shinobi behind him visibly paled, his speech turning hesitant.
"Couldn't stand watching me humble myself before him?"
Uchiha Fugaku sighed softly, his stern expression easing somewhat.
"Yes... yes!"
His thoughts seen through by his clan head, the Uchiha shinobi answered with some embarrassment.
"You think that as the head of the Uchiha Clan, even if he is the Hokage Assistant, I need not lower myself like this. That even before the Hokage, I need not act this way. Is that it?"
Upon hearing the answer, Uchiha Fugaku spoke again. This time, however, there was already a chill in his words.
*Exactly... It is precisely because of this that our Uchiha Clan is so easily plotted against! Our bloodline may grant us talent and strength beyond ordinary people, but it is this pride born of being supposedly outstanding, supposedly elite, that caused the Second Hokage to distrust us and made every Hokage wary of us, never