Uchiha Itachi looked very calm at that moment, showing none of the awkwardness of betrayal or the dejection of failure.
He looked at Jinghuo Uchiha without saying a word, but seemed to be asking, "What is it?"
That attitude made the clan members grit their teeth in hatred.
"Traitor!"
"Damn Itachi!"
"I never should have given you dango when we were kids!"
At that moment, a young girl with a beauty mark at the corner beneath her right eye ran over from the Clan Land. She stared at Uchiha Itachi in utter disbelief as clear tears fell. "Itachi, why..."
Uchiha Itachi remained calm. He had long been prepared to bear everything.
Jinghuo Uchiha was equally calm.
"Itachi, I'll give you two choices."
"First, take your younger brother Second Pillar and leave the Uchiha Clan. From this day forward, you will have nothing to do with the Uchiha Clan."
"Second, become the head of Root. If you betray us again, you will be killed without mercy."
At the first choice, the clan members' faces turned cold. Only the young girl, Uchiha Izumi, looked reluctant.
At the second choice, the clan members stared blankly and turned to Jinghuo Uchiha, wondering if they had misheard him.
But Uchiha Izumi seemed to see hope. She stared fixedly at Uchiha Itachi, her eyes flickering as if she were continuously shouting, Choose the second one! Choose the second one!
"Why?" Uchiha Itachi asked calmly.
The clan members did not know whether he was asking why he had to leave the Uchiha Clan with Sasuke, or why he was being made the head of Root.
But Jinghuo Uchiha knew exactly what he meant—Why forgive him?
"Your abilities were lacking. You couldn't see hope, and you couldn't see any choices. I don't blame you," Jinghuo Uchiha said.
Uchiha Itachi's pupils trembled slightly.
He understood what Jinghuo Uchiha meant—Now I've shown you the options, and you've seen them. If you still refuse to choose, then the next time I see you standing against me, you will be my enemy!
But... he still could not see clearly.
The Uchiha had won now, but what about the conflict between the clan and the villagers?
What about the threats from Kumogakure and Iwagakure?
To be honest, he did not care whether Sarutobi Hiruzen lived or died.
That was obvious from the fact that he had never mentioned Sarutobi Hiruzen again after leaving Konoha.
All he wanted was for the village to remain safe.
No matter what, he still had feelings for the Uchiha Clan.
Even if it was not his highest priority, no one would destroy something precious to them for no reason.
He kept daydreaming about what Jinghuo Uchiha could do next to turn the situation around, but he could not think of anything.
In the end, he asked a question.
"The village... won't be destroyed?"
Those words shook the clan members to their core, as though they were seeing Uchiha Itachi clearly for the first time.
Their gazes no longer held the hatred and incomprehension from before, but a complicated understanding, as if they were saying—Even so... no matter what, you can't choose to wipe out the Uchiha Clan!
Jinghuo Uchiha answered Uchiha Itachi's question. "See for yourself."
With that, he turned and returned to the Clan Land.
The next second, golden light blazed around him.
An Anbu hidden on a rooftop was caught inside a cage of golden flames and lifted into the air.
"Jinghuo Uchiha! What are you doing?!" This was a spy Shimura Danzō had planted among the Anbu.
Jinghuo Uchiha did not know that.
But he knew that this Anbu's killing intent was the strongest. Making an example of him could not be wrong.
Everyone raised their heads and looked at the cage of golden flames.
Amid the Anbu's curses, the cage of golden flames suddenly contracted.
It was as if everyone's hearts had been clenched, leaving them unable to make a sound. The surroundings fell silent.
The next second.
A muffled sound rang out as blood and golden flames burst through the air.
Beneath the glow of the golden flames, the blood shimmered with golden light.
The dazzling mixture of red and gold completely evaporated before it could reach the ground.
Only a faint scent of evaporated blood lingered in the air.
"From this moment onward, anyone who dares monitor the Uchiha Clan will be killed without mercy!" Jinghuo Uchiha's voice carried an authority trusted by myriad people.
Everyone was stunned.
The clan members were no exception.
Their minds seemed to have crashed as they stared dumbly at Jinghuo Uchiha.
"Ten minutes. Whoever remains will remain in the Uchiha Clan Land forever."
Jinghuo Uchiha left, but before he did, he added, "My clan members will handle it."
The Uchiha Clan Members immediately grew excited.
They had long been fed up with these Anbu.
Monitoring the Uchiha Clan?
With a single glance from their Sharingan, they could tell where people were hiding.
Normally, they avoided them out of sight and out of mind, but now...
They only hoped these Anbu would obey Sarutobi Hiruzen's orders and refuse to leave even in death. If that happened...
Pairs of Sharingan gleamed with bloodthirsty light, filled with barely restrained excitement.
Unfortunately, at the urging of a Silver-Haired Anbu, all the Anbu withdrew under the pretext of "reporting the Uchiha Clan's opposition to surveillance to the Hokage."
The Uchiha Clan Land became even quieter.
Yet the clan members felt as though filth had been swept from their home. Even the smell of blood in the air seemed sweet.
The clan members walked shoulder to shoulder, their smiles radiant as they repeatedly praised Jinghuo Uchiha's strength and spoke of how much they admired him. They headed home, agreeing to eat meat and drink wine tonight in celebration.
It was clear that tonight would be a sleepless night for the Uchiha.
Uchiha Shisui gently declined their invitation and looked at Uchiha Itachi, who stood behind him with no one paying him any attention.
"Believe in Jinghuo once," Uchiha Shisui said.
Even now, he still stood behind Jinghuo Uchiha.
He had taken those words as eternal.
Uchiha Itachi's expression flickered between light and shadow, but he did not answer.
From that day onward, the Uchiha Clan disappeared from view.
The Police Force rarely saw members of the Uchiha Clan.
The Shimura Clan carried out its duties instead.
The villagers who heard the news were delighted.
"Great! Lord Hokage finally drove the Uchiha away!"
"Exactly! The Uchiha were never suited to serve in the Police Force!"
"Exactly! Whenever something happened, they hid off to the side. When nothing happened, they came out to throw their weight around."
"The Uchiha are so annoying!"
"The Shimura Clan will definitely be better than the Uchiha!"
"As long as it isn't the Uchiha, anyone will do!"
The villagers imagined a wonderful future.
The Shimura Clan also imagined the Uchiha Clan being incompetent and yielding step by step, until the Police Force became the Shimura Clan's possession.
Everyone was happy.
But only two days later, the way the villagers looked at the Shimura Clan became somewhat strange.
"It clearly wasn't his fault. Why was he arrested too?"
"Why was that person released? He threw the first punch!"
"Why is the Shimura Clan like this?"
"What are you whispering about?!" a member of the Shimura Clan shouted at the villagers.
The villagers' expressions changed slightly, and they hurried away.
This continued for a month. The villagers dared not speak out in anger, but their private complaints never ceased.
"The Uchiha Clan was actually pretty good..."
Before you continue