As Uchiha Ren and Uchiha Mikoto savored the bliss of pure love,
elsewhere, Uchiha Shisui followed behind Uchiha Fugaku, his youthful brows knitted tight. The ideals of loyalty to the village and loyalty to the clan were nearly turning his brain to mush.
The young Uchiha couldn't help asking the broad-backed figure walking silently ahead of him,
"Big Brother Fugaku, what do you think about what happened at the clan meeting?"
"My thoughts?"
Fugaku's steps slowed. Under the moonlight, his broad shoulders seemed especially burdened.
He drew a deep breath, as if trying to expel all the pent-up frustration in his chest.
"From the clan's point of view, our cousin Ren isn't wrong at all..."
Fugaku paused, his voice growing lower. "But from the Konoha High Command's point of view, our entire Uchiha Clan is guilty of the gravest crimes."
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
Shisui quickened his pace and drew closer as he pressed, "Mikoto's on Ren's side now, too. With the two factions united, they control three-quarters of the clan's strength."
"Combined with Ren's formidable ability to get things done, they really could attack the Hokage Building and carry out their plan to assassinate the Hokage."
Uchiha Yakumi, Fugaku's capable aide, and more than a dozen Uchiha from his faction turned their gazes toward them.
Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Ren's speeches at the clan meeting had been truly eye-opening.
From the perspective of shinobi and strength, they had made everyone understand and seriously consider the relationship between the Uchiha and the Konoha High Command.
The small favors the Dove Faction and Clan Head Faction had earned through their wholehearted service to the Konoha High Command now seemed increasingly distasteful.
Did the Uchiha really need those paltry scraps?
Was the current Konoha High Command worth bending over backward for, only to be met with cold indifference?
If Uchiha Ren was right, then they might as well unite and openly oppose the Konoha High Command. They might even be better off that way.
The Uchiha of the Clan Head Faction waited for the young master they served to give them an answer.
Fugaku wasn't a complete fool. His thinking had simply fallen into a rut.
It was a habitual way of thinking, formed over many years in an atmosphere that favored compromise and closeness to the Hokage's faction.
It was like most men in his previous life in China, who thought they had to shoulder the burdens of the family before and after marrying a woman.
In their day-to-day lives, they were constantly taught to treat their other halves well and that men were the pillars of the family.
That wasn't to say there weren't bastards who beat their wives, but were there more of those bastards or more honest, responsible men?
It was almost like searching for a normal person within the Uchiha Clan.
Conversely, it could be seen as searching for an honest person among Black people.
"Does everyone remember something else our cousin Ren said?"
Fugaku tilted his head toward Uchiha Shisui and the others, then answered his own question.
"The Konoha High Command is the Konoha High Command, and Konoha is Konoha. The Uchiha's enemy is the vermin left behind by the Senju Clan, not all of Konoha."
"Unite with everyone worth uniting with and strike at the enemies who must be eliminated. At the end of the day, we need to recognize who our real enemy is."
Words that had once gone in one ear and out the other now came back to Fugaku more clearly than ever, as the Hawk Faction's influence continued to grow.
Thinking entirely from the clan's perspective, he could see that although his cousin's views were radical, they weren't entirely unreasonable.
Shisui asked in confusion, "But, Big Brother Fugaku, if the Konoha High Command doesn't represent Konoha, can they still be called Konoha's leaders?"
"Can the Uchiha Clan Head still be clan head if he can't command the Uchiha?"
Uchiha Yakumi chimed in from the side.
"There are disputes within our own clan. How could a village founded by a coalition of ninja clans and civilians be free of factional conflict?"
Everyone turned to look at him. At Fugaku's nod, Yakumi, who had dealt with the Hawk Faction the most, calmly analyzed the situation.
"Lord Ren said that the village's main internal conflict is between the old ninja clans and the increasingly powerful civilian shinobi."
"The Senju Clan fell, and Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others gorged themselves on its riches. The scraps they casually let slip were enough to make the civilian shinobi feel indebted to the Hokage."
"But as the number of civilian shinobi steadily increases and their overall strength grows, the Hokage's faction will inevitably turn its attention to the village's ninja clans once it has secured its own interests."
"Our clan is at odds with the High Command and controls the entire Konoha Military Police Force, while sitting on vast assets. Naturally, we've become their ideal target."
The more Yakumi spoke, the more excited he became, his voice trembling with dawning understanding.
"Pushed along by the Konoha High Command, the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha has become the main internal conflict in the village."
After laying out his entire argument, Yakumi felt clearheaded, as if everything had fallen into place. He ended with a firm declaration.
"They mean to trample over the Uchiha's corpses and take everything from us!"
This string of arguments left Shisui, who still hadn't fully understood, lost in thought.
Yakumi's final, emphatic conclusion in particular kept echoing in his mind.
Whether in the clan compound or at the Ninja Academy, young children learned mostly how to kill.
After that, they were taught to love their clan and their village. But why should they love them, and how?
As shinobi who knew only how to take lives, what could they truly understand?
And so, Shisui was lost.
"Wherever the leaves dance, the fire burns on. The fire will continue to light the village and help new leaves sprout."
He murmured, "Could that be wrong, too?"
"There's nothing wrong with those words. It's the people who are at fault," Uchiha Yakumi said mockingly.
"The two Senju brothers led by example and fought on the front lines. Just look at Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others. They've become the 'sprouts' basking in the firelight."
"No wonder Lord Ren thinks so little of them."
"Yakumi, we still need to show Lord Hokage the most basic respect."
Fugaku glared at Uchiha Yakumi, then reached out and patted his younger brother on the shoulder.
He thought highly of this promising young member of the clan.
Besides, Uchiha Shisui was descended from Kagami Uchiha, one of the Second Hokage's former members of the Hokage Guard Platoon. He served as a bridge between the Uchiha and the Konoha High Command.
Fugaku said gravely,
"Shisui, don't dwell on it too much."
"Let your older brothers and sisters decide which path the clan should take."
His big brother's reassurance helped Shisui collect himself. He managed a faint smile.
"Big Brother Fugaku, I understand."
Fugaku nodded slightly, then turned his gaze to the Uchiha gathered there.
"When you get home, rest if you need to rest and prepare if you need to prepare. And you all know what should and shouldn't be said."
"So, for the clan's future and a Konoha that belongs to the Uchiha, let's stand united, defeat Kirigakure, and return with glory!"
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