Uchiha Itachi

Whether Minato Namikaze, who possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique, had grown even stronger now aside, Jiraiya's formidable strength on the battlefield back then was enough to make Fugaku Uchiha wary again and again.

Moreover, it was not as though he was wholly unaware of Shisui Uchiha's feelings toward the village. Though he believed that, when the time truly came, Shisui would certainly choose the Uchiha Clan.

Still, he needed to consider Shisui's feelings as well. All these factors led him to make this choice.

He was willing to trust Minato Namikaze once. Without the interference of the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzō, given Minato Namikaze's longstanding attitude toward the Uchiha Clan, and with Kakashi Hatake's Three Tomoe Sharingan, he was willing to gamble!

Even if he lost, their situation would only become worse. It was not as though they would have no chance to flip the table!

And perhaps by then, Shisui Uchiha would be able to give his wholehearted loyalty, without the slightest mistake!

Fugaku Uchiha sighed inwardly. His gaze drifted out the window, seeming to pierce through the barrier of space and fall upon the Hyuga Mansion at the other end of Konoha.

That clan, which possessed the Byakugan, one of the "Three Great Ocular Kekkei Genkai," and had once stood shoulder to shoulder with the Uchiha—had they not avoided paying such a price?

But how could the Hyuga Clan's circumstances compare to those of the Uchiha, trapped deep within a vortex of suspicion?

The Hyuga had never needed to worry about consequences when activating their Byakugan. Unlike the Uchiha, their relationship with the village's upper ranks was not at sword's point, and their foundations ran far deeper.

However... a sharp gleam flashed through Fugaku Uchiha's eyes as he keenly caught a subtle recent change.

Beneath the