You Can Rebel, but You Can't Actually Rebel!

Setsuna Uchiha's eyelid twitched.

Well, I'll be damned!

I really am well and truly damned!

You can't talk behind someone's back, so you're going to talk shit about me to my face, huh, you little punk?!

He gave Shisui a long look, matching the boy before him to a familiar face from his memories.

"This kid..."

"He must be Kagami's descendant, right?!"

"Heh..."

Setsuna Uchiha gave a cold laugh.

Even when he mentioned an old acquaintance, there wasn't a trace of nostalgia in his eyes, only endless scorn.

"I said it long ago. You can't rely on the Konoha High Command."

"The Senju never intended to let the Uchiha truly become part of Konoha!"

"The Police Force was never some privilege bestowed upon us, either."

"It was a shackle that trapped the Uchiha, forcing everything we did to take place under the watchful eyes of the Konoha High Command."

"The reason that operation failed back then..."

Setsuna Uchiha's voice gradually faded.

He raised his eyes and saw a tall, middle-aged man with a mane of silver hair sitting down across from him.

The man was Jiraiya, who had left the Third Hokage's office and hurried over to South District 4 in Konoha.

Jiraiya had planned to tell Uchiha Shingen in advance that Setsuna Uchiha had been released from prison and that the Uchiha might be headed for trouble.

It seemed he was a step too late.

The monster who had once stood against the Second Hokage had already set his sights on Uchiha Shingen.

"Old man, mind if I join you?"

Setsuna Uchiha lifted his eyes to Jiraiya.

"Did Hiruzen Sarutobi send you?"

"No."

Jiraiya shook his head and picked up the teapot from the table. He filled Setsuna Uchiha's cup, poured himself a cup of tea, then finally replied at an unhurried pace.

"I came to check on my student. That kid's a handful, and he's at the age when he needs guidance from his teacher."

"Guidance..."

Setsuna Uchiha looked Jiraiya up and down.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi's teaching skills are nothing compared to those of his teacher, Tobirama Senju."

"..."

"That's a bit of a personal attack."

Jiraiya blushed, silently took a sip of tea, and let the matter drop.

Thud!

The teacup hit the table with a muffled sound.

The carefree look vanished from Jiraiya's face. He fixed Setsuna Uchiha with an undisguised warning in his eyes.

"Shingen is my student, and a promising young man whom Fugaku Uchiha thinks highly of. Anyone who dares lay a hand on him had better consider the consequences first."

"I'm sure you're not foolish enough to do something like that."

"Heh..."

A quiet laugh escaped Setsuna Uchiha's lips. He reached down and rubbed his numb legs.

Decades of imprisonment in Konoha had failed to break his spirit, but they had irreparably damaged his body.

He could no longer stand, much less regain the incredible speed he had once been proud of.

His hatred for the Konoha High Command was naturally etched into his very bones.

But it hadn't shattered his resolve. If anything, it had made him see things more clearly.

"As you can see, I'm just an old man on his last legs, with little time left."

"Someone wants to use my ashes to set the Uchiha ablaze."

Setsuna Uchiha's lips stretched into a savage grin, steeped in deep-seated resentment.

"But I won't let them!"

Jiraiya's expression didn't soften in the slightest. If anything, it grew even more serious. Setsuna Uchiha lowered his head to look at the teacup on the table and said:

"Since you've given me this cup of tea, I'll offer you a word of warning."

"If the Uchiha ever fall, who's next? The Hyuga? Or the Sarutobi and Shimura?"

"There's an irreconcilable conflict between a clan's will and a village's."

"Heh..."

Jiraiya fell silent for a moment.

Before he could speak, Setsuna Uchiha turned to look toward Uchiha Shingen and Shisui in the distance.

"Don't worry."

"I'm not about to pick a fight with a junior from my own clan."

"I'm just curious what makes this young man so special that Danzo, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and even the current head of the Uchiha all think so highly of him."

After that, Setsuna Uchiha said no more and turned his attention back to Uchiha Shingen.

When Uchiha Shingen saw Jiraiya arrive and apparently hit it off with the old man, he didn't go over to join them.

What concerned him more was how Setsuna Uchiha's return would affect his laid-back life.

By now, Uchiha Shingen and Shisui had grown familiar with each other. After getting to know the kid's personality, Shingen no longer felt the need to hold back when he spoke or acted.

"Come to think of it, the coup Setsuna Uchiha led back then was discovered by the Second Hokage before it could even be put into action."

After a moment's thought, Uchiha Shingen brought up the events surrounding the coup.

"Someone must have tipped them off."

"And not long after that, Kagami Uchiha joined the Second Hokage's guard unit."

"If I remember correctly, the members of the guard unit the Second Hokage left behind are all high-ranking officials in the village now, right?"

"I can't believe there's no connection between those things."

Uchiha Shingen was speaking with great enthusiasm when he turned and saw Shisui lower his head. He thought for a moment, then said:

"Kagami Uchiha was your..."

Shisui scratched his scalp, looking awkward.

"He was my grandfather."

"Uh..."

Seeing that, Uchiha Shingen awkwardly changed the subject.

"If you ask me, you can chant slogans about a coup and hold drills, but you can't actually carry one out. And you definitely can't let people think you're going to."

"Politics, you know."

"If you don't resolve things at the negotiating table, you've already lost."

Shisui looked up, still bewildered. He clearly hadn't understood a word.

But Setsuna Uchiha, sitting in the distance, suddenly looked up at Uchiha Shingen. His fingers clenched uncontrollably, crushing the teacup again.

Crash!

Tea splashed over Setsuna Uchiha and all over Jiraiya as well.

Jiraiya looked down at his soaked outer robe and suddenly regretted coming here.

But this concerned the student he had just taken in, so he'd had no choice.

Jiraiya silently took out a new teacup and refilled Setsuna Uchiha's.

"Brat, you're talking nonsense. What do you know about politics?!"

"If someone hadn't leaked the plan ahead of time, there's no way my coup would have failed!"

"Does that mean, Senior Shingen, that if nobody had leaked the plan, Setsuna Uchiha's coup might have succeeded?!"

Shisui blinked his wide eyes, confusion clear on his face.

He'd used to think he could more or less keep up with Uchiha Shingen's train of thought, but now it sounded like utter gibberish.

"How could that be?!"

Uchiha Shingen shook his head.

He clearly had little faith in Setsuna Uchiha's coup.

Before Shisui could ask, Uchiha Shingen explained:

"It's not that it was completely impossible for it to succeed. But even if the coup had succeeded, then what?!"