Shisui fell silent for a moment, seemingly aware that this was unfair to Xuanye. Still, he forced himself to say, "But you're unharmed, aren't you? Root, on the other hand, lost so many Shinobi, including an Elite Jonin."
"Xuanye, I hope you'll put the greater good first. The Uchiha will always be part of Konoha. We absolutely cannot come into direct conflict with the Konoha High Command."
The smile vanished from Xuanye's face.
Was the Will of Fire really that effective at brainwashing people? Even after one of his own clansmen was attacked, Shisui's first instinct was to urge Xuanye to endure it.
And his reason sounded so noble: the greater good.
But whenever someone told you to think of the greater good, you could be sure you weren't part of it.
Xuanye had originally wondered whether he should give Shisui a hand.
After what happened today, though, Xuanye suddenly understood something.
People who invited pity often gave others reason to resent them.
Shisui was an Uchiha and arguably the greatest Illusion Technique Shinobi in the Ninja World. He possessed Kotoamatsukami, an ability that was practically cheating, yet Danzo still managed to ambush him and leave him with the fate he suffered in the original story. There was a reason for that.
"You're worried I'll take people straight to Root and attack them?" Xuanye looked at Shisui with an amused smile.
Shisui met Xuanye's gaze seriously.
Between what Xuanye had said at the clan meeting and everything he had done lately, there was no doubt he was a hardliner through and through.
An Uchiha like him might do anything.
If it came down to it, Shisui would stop Xuanye, even if he had to use force.
Shisui still didn't know that Xuanye had awakened the Mangekyō, and he had considerable confidence in his own abilities.
The Mangekyō did more than grant two ocular techniques and the third power, Susanoo.
The moment a Shinobi awakened it, his strength surged in a short span of time. His Chakra reserves alone would almost certainly reach Kage Level.
That wasn't even counting the Mangekyō's dynamic vision, which surpassed the Three-Tomoe, or its unknown ocular abilities.
So even though he knew Xuanye had dealt with Root's assassins almost without injury, Shisui still didn't consider Xuanye a match for him. After all, he had no idea Xuanye had awakened the Mangekyō.
In that respect, Shisui was a true Uchiha: he placed almost arrogant faith in himself now that he had awakened the Mangekyō.
No wonder Shisui had naively believed in the original story that changing Fugaku's mind with Kotoamatsukami would be enough to stop the Uchiha coup.
Of course, his reasoning wasn't fundamentally wrong. If he controlled both pairs of Mangekyō within the Uchiha Clan, there was no way the coup could succeed.
But whether a coup could succeed and whether it would happen were two entirely different questions.
One concerned the outcome; the other, the attempt.
A smile suddenly appeared on Xuanye's face.
"If that's what you're thinking, you can relax. I have no intention of going after Danzo or Root."
It was true. Xuanye had never intended to confront Danzo over this.
That scheming old bastard Sarutobi Hiruzen would undoubtedly take Danzo's side. Unless Xuanye used force to intimidate them, he wouldn't accomplish anything.
Even if he revealed his Mangekyō, Sarutobi Hiruzen would only smooth things over. Danzo would receive some token punishment, perhaps an order to stay home and reflect, while Xuanye would have exposed his trump card. It simply wasn't worth it.
If he already knew it would lead nowhere, why go to all that trouble for nothing?
If you couldn't be sure of killing a venomous snake with one blow, there was no point wasting your strength.
But Xuanye had no intention of swallowing his anger. Instead, he aimed directly at the backgrounds of the Shinobi who had attacked him.
Root Shinobi had families before they joined. Some even came from clans.
Danzo's right-hand men, Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune, had been prodigies of the Yamanaka Clan and Aburame Clan respectively. Danzo had taken them away as children and brought them into Root for training.
With the Security Division investigating at full strength, the identities of the Shinobi who attacked Xuanye had been thoroughly uncovered.
Inabi had already set out with the Uchiha elite. Shisui had arrived a little too late.
Hearing Xuanye's answer, Shisui breathed a sigh of relief, then felt a twinge of guilt.
"I'm sorry, Xuanye... I know you've been wronged, but you have to believe me. Everything I've done has been for the Uchiha."
Xuanye smiled. "Of course. Everything for the Uchiha."
As he said those words, Xuanye quietly made a decision.
Uchiha Inabi moved fast. As soon as Xuanye gave the order, he took two elite Uchiha with him and headed straight for the Yamanaka Clan's compound.
At the entrance, Uchiha Inabi took Yamanaka Fu's corpse out of a Sealing scroll and began shouting at the top of his lungs.
"The Yamanaka Clan has some nerve! You dared to attack the Captain of the Military Police Force in broad daylight!"
"Do you Yamanaka have no respect for Konoha's laws? For the laws established by the Second Hokage?!"
"Are you openly trying to rebel?!"
Recalling the intensive training Xuanye had given every Security Division member, Uchiha Inabi focused on one thing: making the accusation first.
Whether he needed to fight could be decided after the accusation stuck.
Nearly every sentence out of his mouth mentioned the Konoha Security Division, and he kept invoking the Second Hokage.
He talked endlessly about Konoha's laws while trying to brand the Yamanaka Clan as rebels.
To hear him tell it, the Yamanaka Clan had become a band of maniacs who trampled Konoha's laws and acted even more arrogantly than the Uchiha.
Villagers who noticed the commotion gathered to watch.
The Yamanaka Clan was a major clan in Konoha, and gossip about clans like theirs was rare.
Yamanaka Inoichi, the clan's current head, came over with a dark expression.
Ordinarily, the guards at the gate could have handled people who came looking for trouble.
But the Uchiha were also a prominent Konoha clan. Once the guards heard the word "rebellion," they didn't dare make a decision and immediately reported the matter to their clan head.
Yamanaka Inoichi looked at the Uchiha who had come to cause trouble. He took a deep breath and said slowly:
"As far as I know, there's no bad blood between the Yamanaka Clan and the Uchiha. What is the meaning of this?"
He was wary of the Uchiha's strength, but if he backed down before an ordinary Uchiha Security Force member in front of everyone, he might as well give up his position as clan head.
His own clansmen would drown him in criticism.
Uchiha Inabi hefted the corpse in his hand and said with a sneer:
"Watch what you say. Yamanaka Fu of your clan attacked the Captain of the Konoha Security Division in broad daylight. Do you have any idea how serious the consequences are?"
Yamanaka Inoichi froze. Unaware that the Security Division had appointed a new captain that day, he thought Yamanaka Fu had attacked Uchiha Fugaku.
Had Danzo gone mad? Why would he do something like that?
But he quickly collected himself. Whatever Yamanaka Fu had done, Inoichi absolutely could not admit to it now.