Shisui's Reconciliation, the Bigger Picture First

Shisui fell silent for a moment. He seemed to know this was somewhat unfair to Xuanye, but he still forced himself to say, "But aren't you fine now? On the contrary, Root lost so many ninja, including an elite jonin."

"Xuanye, I hope you can put the bigger picture first. The Uchiha will always be Konoha's Uchiha. We absolutely cannot come into direct conflict with Konoha's higher-ups."

The smile vanished from Xuanye's face.

Was the Will of Fire's brainwashing really that powerful? Even when his own clansman had been attacked, the first thing Shisui wanted to do was persuade Xuanye to endure it.

And his reason sounded utterly righteous—consider the bigger picture.

But whenever someone told you to consider the bigger picture, it meant there was definitely no place for you in that bigger picture.

Xuanye had originally been considering whether to pull Shisui out of this.

But after what happened today, Xuanye suddenly understood a truth.

Pitiful people always had something hateful about them.

As an Uchiha, even the Ninja World's greatest user of Illusion Techniques, with a cheat-like technique such as Kotoamatsukami, Shisui had still been successfully ambushed by Danzo and ended up meeting the same fate as in the original story. There was a reason for that.

"You're worried I'll lead people straight to Root and attack them?" Xuanye looked at Shisui with an amused smile.

Shisui looked at Xuanye seriously.

Whether it was his speeches at clan meetings or everything he had done lately, Xuanye had proven himself to be a thoroughgoing hawk.

An Uchiha like that was capable of anything.

If things reached the point of no return, Shisui would stop Xuanye even if he had to display force.

Shisui still did not know that Xuanye had awakened the Mangekyō, and he was extremely confident in his own abilities.

The Mangekyō was not merely about possessing two ocular techniques and awakening the third power, Susanoo.

The moment one awakened the Mangekyō, a ninja's strength would surge dramatically for a short period. Their chakra reserves alone would almost certainly reach Kage Level.

Not to mention the Mangekyō's dynamic vision, which surpassed the Three-Tomoe, as well as its unknown ocular techniques.

Therefore, even though he knew Xuanye had dealt with Root's assassins almost completely unscathed, Shisui still did not consider Xuanye a match for him without knowing Xuanye had awakened the Mangekyō.

From this perspective, Shisui was also a true-blue Uchiha, possessing an almost arrogant faith in himself after awakening the Mangekyō.

No wonder he had naively believed in the original story that simply using Kotoamatsukami to change Fugaku's mind would prevent the Uchiha coup.

Of course, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with his reasoning. As long as he controlled the Uchiha Clan's only two pairs of Mangekyō, the Uchiha could never successfully stage a coup no matter what.

But whether they could succeed and whether they would launch a coup were two entirely unrelated matters.

The former represented the result, while the latter was merely the process.

At that moment, Xuanye suddenly smiled.

"If that's what you think, then rest assured. I have no intention of causing trouble for Danzo or Root."

That was right. Xuanye had never intended to trouble Danzo over something like this.

Because that old schemer Sarutobi Hiruzen would definitely play peacemaker afterward. Unless Xuanye used force to intimidate them, he would not gain anything at all.

Even if he revealed his Mangekyō, Sarutobi Hiruzen would only smooth things over. In the end, Danzo would receive some insignificant punishment, perhaps confinement for reflection, while Xuanye would have exposed his trump card. It was completely not worth it.

Since he knew there would be no real result in the end, why waste effort on thankless, pointless work?

With venomous snakes, if you could not guarantee killing them with one blow, then do not waste your strength.

However, Xuanye had no intention of swallowing this insult. He aimed directly at the origins of those ninja.

Root's ninja had families before joining, and some even had clans.

Danzo's right-hand men, Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune, were respectively geniuses of the Yamanaka Clan and Aburame Clan. They had merely been taken by Danzo when they were young and brought into Root for training.

Under the Security Division's full investigation, the identities of the ninja who had attacked Xuanye were thoroughly exposed.

The Uchiha elites led by Inabi had already set out. Shisui had arrived a little too late.

Hearing Xuanye's answer, Shisui breathed a sigh of relief, then felt somewhat guilty.

"I'm sorry, Xuanye... I know you've suffered an injustice, but you must believe that everything I do is for the Uchiha."

Xuanye smiled. "Of course. Everything is for the Uchiha."

As he said those words, Xuanye silently made a decision in his heart.

Uchiha Inabi moved extremely fast. After receiving Xuanye's order, he immediately led two Uchiha elites straight to the Yamanaka Clan's grounds.

At the entrance, Uchiha Inabi took Yamanaka Fu's corpse from a sealing scroll and began shouting loudly.

"You Yamanaka Clan have some nerve! You actually dared to attack the Captain of the Konoha Security Division in broad daylight!"

"Do you Yamanaka Clan still have any respect for Konoha's laws? Any respect for the laws established by the Second Hokage?!"

"By doing this, are you trying to openly rebel?!"

Thinking back to the crash-course training Xuanye had given every member of the Security Division, Uchiha Inabi's main tactic now was to slap labels on them first.

As for whether to fight, that could wait until after the labels had been firmly attached.

Nearly every sentence he spoke invoked the Konoha Security Division, and every time he opened his mouth, he mentioned the Second Hokage.

Every three sentences were about Konoha's laws, and he even pinned the charge of rebellion on the Yamanaka Clan.

It was as though the Yamanaka Clan had become a group of madmen who trampled Konoha's laws and acted even more arrogantly and tyrannically than the Uchiha.

Even villagers gathered around when they saw there was excitement to watch.

The Yamanaka Clan was considered one of Konoha's major clans. Gossip about a major clan like this was rarely seen.

Yamanaka Inoichi, the Yamanaka Clan's current head, approached with a dark expression.

Normally, the guards should have been able to handle someone coming to cause trouble at their door.

But the Uchiha were also one of Konoha's prominent clans. Furthermore, after hearing the word "rebellion," the guards did not dare make any decisions and immediately reported the matter to the clan head.

Yamanaka Inoichi looked at the Uchiha who had come to cause trouble, drew a deep breath, and slowly said,

"There seems to be no grudge between the Yamanaka Clan and the Uchiha. What do you mean by coming here today?"

Although he was wary of the Uchiha's formidable military strength, if Yamanaka Inoichi cowered before an ordinary Uchiha Security Division member in public, then he might as well stop being clan head.

The saliva of his own clansmen alone would drown him.

Uchiha Inabi lifted the corpse in his hand and sneered.

"Watch your words. It was clearly Yamanaka Fu of your Yamanaka Clan who attacked the Captain of the Konoha Security Division in public. Do you know how serious the consequences of this are?"

Yamanaka Inoichi froze. Unaware that the Captain of the Security Division had changed today, he assumed Yamanaka Fu had attacked Uchiha Fugaku.

Had Danzo gone mad? He had actually done something like this?

But he quickly came back to his senses. No matter what Yamanaka Fu had done, he absolutely could not admit it at a time like this.