"...You knew?" Uchiha Itachi respectfully sat on his knees before the two of them, his tone filled with astonishment.
"Yes." Uchiha Fugaku nodded. "Uchiha Shisui pretended to gouge out his eyes before committing suicide in order to conceal an important clue, but he was too foolish. The fact that he gouged out his eyes was itself a flaw!"
He sighed. "But it no longer matters. The moment he died, everything had already ended. We could not win this coup. Shisui was the strongest of our clan. If he had been willing to wholeheartedly help the Uchiha, perhaps we might have had a slim chance. Heh... the strongest of the Uchiha's younger generation had his heart set on Konoha. Isn't that the greatest irony? And then there's you."
"I'm sorry!" Uchiha Itachi lowered his head in apology, clasping his hands tightly without saying anything else, because there was no point in it.
"We do not blame you, so there is no need for you to apologize." Uchiha Fugaku spoke softly. "No one knows a son better than his father. I have watched every word and action of yours, and I understand why you made this choice.
The Uchiha are finished. Perhaps the seeds of cause and effect were planted when Konoha was first founded. Back then, perhaps our two forebears, Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Shin, saw this clearly and wanted to lead our clan away. What a pity..."
He sighed. "I do not know whether our choice to stay was right or wrong. Konoha is a warm village; even we Uchiha can feel that. Yet beneath that warmth lies bone-chilling coldness. Everyone's positions, interests, clans, and the village—when all these became entangled, conflict became inevitable."
"No!" Uchiha Itachi suddenly shouted. "Father, it isn't over yet. There is still a chance. You...