As Uchiha Setsuna challenged him, some of the clan members who had grievances against Itachi began discussing the matter among themselves.
"I knew it. Last time, when we questioned Shisui's suicide, he flew into a rage and beat us."
"Itachi's an ungrateful wretch. He's forgotten who gave birth to him and raised him."
"What a despicable traitor."
"Do you think the clan head is also..."
Uchiha Izumi seemed to have taken a heavy blow as well. She could hardly believe it.
"Itachi, how could you? Why would you betray the Uchiha Clan?"
"This is the family closest to us!"
As he listened to the others' questions and suspicions, Uchiha Fugaku calmly took a sip of tea from his cup.
Then he activated his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, using its overwhelming pressure to cow everyone present.
Then he replied, utterly unruffled,
"My son was the one who leaked the information, but I'll give you an explanation."
"Well, Great Elder, are you satisfied with my attitude?"
"Then let's leave it at that."
Uchiha Setsuna's willingness to back down wasn't simply because Fugaku had promised to give them an explanation. It was because of Fugaku's Sharingan.
Uchiha Setsuna had lived from the Warring States Period to the present. He had met Madara Uchiha, and the pressure Madara's Sharingan had exerted on him had felt just like this.
Uchiha Fugaku didn't merely have the Mangekyō Sharingan. His eyes were an even more advanced form. That was why Uchiha Setsuna had backed down.
The Uchiha Clan revered the strong, especially those they could never surpass.
Seeing Uchiha Setsuna back down, the other clan members could only suppress their displeasure.
The other elders were shrewd people, too, and watched in silence.
Seeing everyone quiet down, Uchiha Fugaku put away his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. As for giving them an explanation, they could see who had the nerve to demand one after tonight.
If anyone really dared to come, they could find out whether their head was harder or Fugaku's Susanoo. Did they really think Fugaku had no temper?
Uchiha Setsuna then asked again,
"I wonder what the clan head plans to do about the village?"
Uchiha Fugaku laid out his plan.
"To keep things from reaching the point of no return, I've already ordered all clan members in the Military Police Force to withdraw."
"Next, I'll take action myself and cow the other side."
"As for the revolution, we should stop bringing it up for now. If we act now, all we'll get is a ruined Konoha."
"After all, the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan founded Konoha together."
"But I'll give you something to look forward to."
"After tonight, I'll lead you back to our original Uchiha Clan Compound and reclaim some of what we're owed."
"Great Elder, are you satisfied with that answer?"
Uchiha Setsuna considered it for a while, then said no more.
Now that their plan had been exposed, he had no better option than Fugaku's approach.
For the time being, Uchiha Setsuna could only accept it.
As for the other elders, the Hawks followed Uchiha Setsuna's lead. If their leader had no objections, what could they say?
The Doves had even less reason to object. They had never wanted a major conflict with Konoha that would cause heavy casualties.
When no one spoke up against him, Uchiha Fugaku issued another order.
"Come on. Let's go to the entrance of the compound."
"Let's go watch a good show."
Uchiha Fugaku then led everyone to a spot not far from the entrance to the compound.
From there, they could observe the entrance while staying out of sight of Konoha's Anbu.
They waited there in silence.
Before long, Uchiha Fugaku sensed that something was wrong.
A long time had passed, but the clan members from the Military Police Force still hadn't returned.
"Looks like Danzo's meddling behind the scenes again."
At once, Uchiha Fugaku gave Uchiha Zhi an order.
"Uchiha Zhi, take two squads of jōnin and find out what's happened to Uchiha Boka."
"Don't start a conflict. As soon as you get any information, send it through a Ninja Cat."
"Yes, Clan Head."
Uchiha Zhi immediately summoned seven jōnin from the Uchiha Clan and led them to the Military Police Force.
Seeing how seriously Uchiha Fugaku was taking this, Kagami Uchiha asked,
"Clan Head Fugaku, is it really necessary to send two entire squads of jōnin just to gather information?"
Uchiha Fugaku glanced at him and thought for a moment before explaining,
"Danzo may have made a move."
"I think you know Danzo better than I do—our Hokage's assistant, the nameless one who supports peace from the shadows."
The last words were meant more as a sarcastic jibe.
Danzo was merely a tool whose abilities fell short of his ambitions. If not for his relationship with the Third and his usefulness in handling tasks Hiruzen couldn't deal with personally, taking the blame along the way, Hiruzen would probably have discarded him long ago. The other Konoha clans would have torn him to pieces.
After all, aside from the Uchiha Clan, every other clan had been shaken down by him under the pretext of acting on behalf of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third.
He demanded that the clans hand over their young geniuses to be brainwashed, then branded them with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal and trained them into emotionless killing tools loyal only to Danzo.
Hearing Uchiha Fugaku's words, Kagami Uchiha said nothing more.
Danzo was their old adversary, after all, and they knew him well. He was behind the many Uchiha who had disappeared over the years without explanation.
And if he hadn't kept stoking tensions between the village and the Uchiha Clan, the clan wouldn't have fallen to this state.
Kagami Uchiha had also suspected foul play in the death of Shisui Uchiha, the Uchiha double agent who served both the Doves and the village. It hadn't been as simple as the suicide note Uchiha Itachi had presented made it seem.
Kagami Uchiha wasn't like those brainless clan members. He knew how close Itachi and Shisui had been. Uchiha Itachi could never have killed Shisui.
The only one who might have done it was Danzo. The higher-ups had always feared the power of the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan.
Shisui had awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan, visited the Hokage Building, and then been killed. Kagami Uchiha refused to believe Danzo hadn't been responsible. He had simply kept his suspicions to himself.
After all, with tensions between the two sides running so high at the time, Shisui's death had been a fuse. If the truth came out, it would inevitably lead to something neither side wanted to see.
And as one of the Doves, Kagami Uchiha wanted that even less.
Before you continue