Loyalty!

"Yes, yes, that's right, exactly! Shimura Danzō found me and told me to secretly incite the clan to stage a coup, kill Lord Hokage, and put Shimura Danzō in power!"

Uchiha Fugaku nodded.

Good!

Outside, the Dove Faction members heard the words coming from inside the room and all lowered their heads. This... it was actually true. It really was true. This was all a plot between Uchiha Fugaku and Shimura Danzō. Why, clan head? Why would you do this?

"This..."

Uchiha Shisui, blind and with all four limbs crippled, wore a look of shock. A plot? So it had all been a plot?

Lord Danzō, I trusted you so much. So the conflict between the village and the clan had been driven by you and Lord clan head all along. No wonder you always targeted the Uchiha Clan, Lord Danzō. No wonder you always gave in, Lord clan head—even when you agreed so readily to having the Uchiha Clan move to the outskirts of Konoha.

So it had all been a plot. Lord Danzō, did you want to become Hokage that badly?

So Elder Setsuna and the others hadn't wanted to stage a coup after all. He'd been so worried this whole time, but it had all been a plot.

Uchiha Shisui felt a weight lift from his heart, as if the mountain that had been pressing on his shoulders had vanished.

At first, he hadn't believed Uchiha Kazuto's story. But now he did. After all, Lord clan head had admitted it himself. How could it be false?

This was wonderful!

Itachi, you and I were both wrong. The ones who had undermined unity between the clan and the village were Lord Danzō and your father. No wonder Lord clan head sent you to join the Anbu. Perhaps he was using you to pass information to Lord Danzō without your even knowing it.

The more Uchiha Shisui thought about it, the closer he felt to the truth. Why had Lord clan head always been so yielding toward the village? Why had Lord Danzō always targeted the clan? It had all been a plot.

Nearby, Uchiha Setsuna and the other Hawk Faction members exchanged glances. Had he really admitted it?

Could this actually be true?

Was what Uchiha Kazuto had said was made up actually not made up at all? Was it true?

Was all of this really a plot between Shimura Danzō and Uchiha Fugaku?

They knew the purpose of this operation: stall for time and give Uchiha Kazuto more time to grow stronger, while letting him replace Uchiha Fugaku, that useless fool, as the new clan head. Once the plot was exposed, they could also put the village off its guard, making it believe the Uchiha Clan had abandoned its plans for a coup.

Then, at the crucial moment, they would stage the coup!

Everything now was something Uchiha Kazuto had made up. They were only going along with it. They knew perfectly well that Uchiha Fugaku had nothing to do with Shimura Danzō.

But now, they weren't so sure. Why did it feel as though there really was some kind of plot going on in there?

Thinking back on Uchiha Fugaku's behavior all this time, the more they pondered it, the more it seemed as though there really had been a plot. Uchiha Fugaku, could this be who you really were?

What a terrifying ambition!

They had almost been sacrificed as the price of Uchiha Fugaku's ambition.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with Uchiha Fugaku having ambition. But if the price of achieving it was sacrificing them, the Hawk Faction, then that was another matter.

Uchiha Kazuto's plan was much better.

Not long afterward, Uchiha Kazuto came out with the pale-faced Uchiha Fugaku.

"I'm sorry, everyone. I've let you down!"

Uchiha Fugaku bowed his head and apologized to the Dove Faction members.

"Lord clan head, why? Why would you do this?"

A member of the Dove Faction looked at Uchiha Fugaku and shook his head.

"...I know I've let everyone down. From this moment on, I voluntarily relinquish my position as clan head. From now on, please let Lord Kazuto be the clan head of our clan!"

Uchiha Fugaku didn't answer. Instead, he stepped back and bowed his head to Uchiha Kazuto.

"We greet you, clan head Kazuto. If it weren't for you, we would have remained in the dark, deceived by Uchiha Fugaku until our deaths. We might have died without even knowing why, or even dragged the clan into ruin. I believe that under clan head Kazuto's leadership, the Uchiha Clan will surely become better, and our relationship with the village will improve too!"

Uchiha Setsuna stepped forward and bowed to Uchiha Kazuto. Then he looked at the Dove Faction members and spoke with complete conviction.

"That's right! We have Lord Kazuto to thank!"

"Lord Kazuto, please become our clan head!"

The Hawk Faction members came over and looked at Uchiha Kazuto with excitement. They hadn't expected it to actually work. As expected of Lord Kazuto, who stood with them and wielded the Uchiha Clan's ultimate power!

Although Uchiha Shisui also had a Mangekyō Sharingan, he wasn't on their side—and Uchiha Kazuto had already taken his eyes.

"Thank you for your trust and support. Fugaku's actions have indeed made him unfit to continue as our clan head. In that case, I won't refuse. Everyone, rest assured: now that I'm clan head, I'll work for the clan's benefit, actively promote contact between the clan and Konoha, and devote myself wholeheartedly to building up the clan. Everything is for the clan! Loyalty!"

Uchiha Kazuto nodded. He looked at everyone present, his voice impassioned. Then he stood at attention, raised his hand to his temple, and shouted.

"For the clan! Loyalty!"

"Loyalty!"

"Loyalty!"

All the Hawk Faction members stood at attention and saluted Uchiha Kazuto. Their cries of loyalty echoed throughout the room.

The Dove Faction members got up from the floor. The effects of the drug had worn off. They exchanged glances, then stood at attention facing Uchiha Kazuto.

"Loyalty!"

"Loyalty!"

"Loyalty!"

A smile appeared on Uchiha Kazuto's face. He had finally become the Uchiha Clan's clan head. It hadn't been easy. His Mangekyō Sharingan had no offensive abilities at all, and he didn't have any powerful cheat-like abilities either, so he couldn't stage a coup by force. He could only take this approach.

His current body belonged to an orphan, and he had no siblings. That meant the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan had nothing to do with him. Although his eye power would keep recovering once he established laws, he still didn't have the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. With the abilities he'd had before, if he'd tried to stage a coup by force, he might have exhausted his eye power and killed himself in the process.

Sigh, there was nothing he could do about it. He really envied Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Sasuke. They'd only had to lose one brother to obtain the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. He didn't even have the chance to get one.