Fugaku Strikes

The Anbu's sudden intervention meant that Lord Hokage already knew about the incident.

On the surface, no one dared question the Hokage's authority, no matter who they were. Even the deeply unwilling Uchiha were no exception.

Thus, the struggle that had just escalated immediately died down. Neither side dared resist, and they followed the Anbu away.

Meanwhile, the badly injured Aoba was also taken away for treatment by an Anbu member.

As for everyone else, they would have to await Lord Hokage's judgment.

On the other side, Itachi had returned home in a rather good mood, but Fugaku Uchiha immediately summoned him.

"Father, I'm back."

Itachi knelt properly and obediently beside Fugaku.

"I heard you ran out early this morning. Who did you go to see?"

Fugaku's opening question made Itachi's heart sink. He no longer dared conceal anything and could only tell the truth. "It was a civilian child. After the last Hokage succession ceremony..."

After explaining the whole story, Itachi saw his father's displeased expression and immediately added, "Father, you taught me to repay kindness and keep my promises. I've now repaid the debt of that meal, so naturally, I won't go out and cause trouble anymore."

Although he had promised Aoba that he would visit again, Itachi decided to bury this friendship deep in his heart so that the other boy would not be implicated.

Seeing that Itachi had admitted his mistake readily and concealed nothing, while his account was basically consistent with the information Fugaku had obtained through his investigation, Fugaku did not criticize him further.

"Very well. I know about this matter now, and you did well. But you must understand that you are the future clan head of the Uchiha. Revitalizing the Uchiha Clan is your mission. Instead of wasting your time, you should train harder and not squander your energy on irrelevant people. Do you understand?"

Clearly, because Aoba had caused trouble during the Hokage's inauguration ceremony, Fugaku's first impression of him had been terrible. After all, Fugaku had a fairly good personal relationship with Minato, so he disliked seeing Itachi associate with someone who liked to boast and cause trouble.

On this point, Aoba, who was elsewhere, had guessed the reason incorrectly.

"Yes, Father."

"Go on. Spend some time with your mother later."

Itachi nodded in agreement, then left with somewhat heavy steps.

Not long after Itachi left, a figure arrived with bad news.

"Clan Head, Uchiha Han acted on his own and attacked that boy without authorization. He has now been taken away by the Anbu. Several other clan members who were caught up in the incident were taken away as well. I'm worried Danzo will use this opportunity to make trouble for us. Please issue your orders, Clan Head."

"Absurd!"

After hearing the full report, Fugaku's expression darkened.

The Uchiha Clan had no justification whatsoever in this entire matter. They had even been caught red-handed. How was he supposed to save them now?

"If I remember correctly, that Uchiha Han hasn't awakened his eyes yet?"

"That is correct, Clan Head."

Fugaku came to a decision and said, "Then we can only abandon him. Send people to bring back the other clan members, and don't say anything unnecessary. Also, compensate his family properly. No matter what mistake he made, I, as the clan head, bear an inescapable responsibility."

"Then... what about Lord Hokage?"

"I'll personally go and apologize."

The dignified Uchiha clan head had personally stepped forward. Not only had he refused to shield his clan member, he had also lowered his stance and provided ample compensation.

This left Danzo, who had wanted to make an issue of the matter, feeling as though he had punched cotton.

However, once news of the incident spread, it would inevitably deal another blow to the Uchiha's reputation.

After all, no matter the circumstances, a ninja attacking a civilian without authorization was an unforgivable crime!

Fugaku had gone even further. After Uchiha Han admitted his guilt, Fugaku personally killed him, then brought the body back under the pretext that the Kekkei Genkai could not be allowed to leak outside the clan.

He did not leave even a single hair behind for Danzo, who had always been hostile toward them.

After all, the man was already dead. It was too late to smear him now.

Once the civilians learned what had happened, they would do no more than curse him with a "Good riddance!" With no follow-up, public opinion would soon die down.

It could be said that the losses had been reduced to a minimum!

As for the resentment within the clan, Fugaku could only find a way to gradually quell it.

Still, after this incident, the name Shimiya Aoba had become known within the Uchiha Clan.

Those who disliked him would probably only increase in number...

The day after the attack.

In a hospital ward, Aoba slowly awoke.

The tingling pain coming from all over his body immediately twisted his little face into a grimace.

"You're awake?"

Aoba was startled at first, but after recognizing the speaker, he immediately relaxed again.

"Am I in the hospital? Right, where's that bastard?!"

Listening to the boy's indignant shouts, Jonin Mikawa's expression became rather strange.

Which one of them had the stronger grudge?

He had just woken up and was already shouting about finding trouble with the other party. Who knew whether this boy would grow up to become a menace?

But then Mikawa thought of the injuries covering him and the suffering he had endured at such a young age, and he could not help sighing. If he were in Aoba's place, he probably would not let the matter go either.

Even the medical ninja who had treated him had said that she had never seen such severe injuries on such a young child. The person who had done it was practically a beast!

To be honest, if the culprit had not already been executed, Mikawa would have wanted to kill that bastard himself all over again!

He was simply beyond redemption!

"All right, stop cursing. The person who attacked you was named Uchiha Han. Not only did he confess, he was also executed by the Uchiha clan head, so at least justice has been served. Lord Hokage's intention is to let this matter end here. Pursuing it further could very well cause even greater trouble. Of course, the Uchiha's compensation was quite generous. They not only paid for your treatment, they also provided one hundred thousand ryo as compensation."

"He's dead? Then he got off easy!"

Aoba curled his lip, but he also knew that turning a major issue into a minor one and a minor issue into nothing was the safest course of action.

For the sake of the village's stability, he could only suffer this injustice.

The silver lining was that he had managed to survive, completed the mission issued by that damned system, gotten his revenge, and received a considerable amount of compensation.

After this incident, his name would probably become familiar to even more people.

After all, he had successfully survived under the attack of a Chunin from the Uchiha Clan and had even blinded one of his opponent's eyes.

With such an impressive record, he was one of a kind among ordinary people.

Of course, legendary figures like Kakashi were excluded!

Itachi's situation was the only thing he did not know. Did he know about this? Would he overthink things and burden himself even more?

(PS: To clarify, Han acted on his own initiative, and Fugaku immediately went to apologize. He even personally executed his own clan member in order to ease the increasingly deep conflict between the village and the Uchiha. The Nine-Tails Rebellion was the point at which the conflict fully erupted, not the beginning of their discord. Besides, Danzo had always been looking for an opportunity to wipe out the Uchiha, so they had no choice but to be on guard.)

PS: Reading the comments recently made me laugh. Someone said I was vilifying the Uchiha, claiming that the Uchiha were geniuses with pride, love, and equality as their traits, and that they would never act arrogantly or domineeringly.

Sorry, but I laughed out loud at that.

Perhaps there were people like that among the Uchiha, such as Shisui and Itachi, but there were far too many clan members who attracted hatred.

I don't remember which episode it was, but an Uchiha once grabbed a civilian and prepared to teach him a lesson right there on the street. That showed just how arrogant and domineering they could be.

So, is there anything wrong with the character Uchiha Han?