Fugaku's Visit

"So Menma, how exactly did you spot us?" Sakura asked Menma, full of curiosity.

Hearing Sakura's question, everyone's eyes snapped toward Menma, as if eagerly awaiting his answer.

"Well, about that..." A mysterious smirk tugged at the corner of Menma's mouth. "I'm not telling you," he added.

"What a troublesome guy!" Shikamaru looked away, his expression showing a hint of annoyance.

"Alright, it's getting late. Everyone should head home!" Menma suddenly announced. He had almost blurted out the second half of his thought, but caught himself just in time, remembering that Naruto was present.

The group was clearly reluctant, sighing and groaning.

"Ugh, I really don't want to, but fine—I'll tell you all tomorrow," Menma said, acting as if it were a great burden.

He then started walking home on his own. "Hey, Menma, wait for me!" Naruto immediately scrambled after him, chattering away about something, while the others had no choice but to head home as well.

The moment the two reached their doorstep, they saw the Fugaku family sitting right in front of their house. Menma was startled, fearing they had come to hold him accountable for something.

He immediately ducked behind Naruto, pushing him forward.

"Hey, hey, hey, Menma, what are you doing?" Naruto was baffled by Menma's inexplicable behavior, then looked ahead and saw the people sitting at their door.

Hearing the commotion, the Fugaku party turned toward Naruto and Menma.

Menma felt as if he were being stared down by a lion, and he couldn't help but shiver.

The group stood up and walked to the gate of the courtyard.

"Um, Auntie, Uncle, who are you? Is there something you need at our house?" Naruto asked first. Usually, Menma handled these things, unless it was someone Menma didn't recognize.

"You must be Naruto, right? I'm a good friend of your mother's!" Mikoto spoke up first.

"A good friend of our mother's?" Naruto looked at them, confused.

"We didn't know you were Kushina's children before, but once we found out, we decided to come and see you," Mikoto added.

"Is that so?" Naruto looked at Menma, unsure. Menma didn't know what to say, so he simply stayed silent, adhering to the principle that saying less meant making fewer mistakes.

"That's right, this is our first time visiting you." With that, Mikoto stepped forward and pulled both of them into a hug.

"Let me tell you, I even touched your bellies when your mother was still pregnant with you! Hahaha..." Mikoto laughed.

Naruto was at a loss, and Menma had black lines running down his forehead. No wonder she and Kushina were best friends; their personalities were quite similar.

"Mom!" Sasuke, seeing this, shouted out as if jealous.

"Oh, right, let me introduce you. This is Uchiha Sasuke, my youngest son. He's a few months older than you, so you should call him brother. And this is my eldest son, Uchiha Itachi," Mikoto said, letting them go and introducing them.

Itachi was genuinely surprised by this; he hadn't expected Mikoto to act so impulsively.

"Well, we can't just stand out here. Let's go inside," Menma said, deciding that this was something he had to face sooner or later.

Menma walked to the door, pulled out his key, and opened it, with the others following him inside.

Menma invited them to sit in the living room and then arranged for Naruto to make tea. Since Kakashi, Might Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai Yuhi often visited, they kept the house well-stocked.

"So, you didn't just come over for a casual visit, did you? The head of the Uchiha Clan getting this close to a jinchuriki—aren't you afraid of causing trouble?" Menma looked at them and got straight to the point.

"What a little adult you are," Mikoto chuckled.

Fugaku, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "This morning, you and..."

"That's right, I was out playing with my brother all morning," Menma immediately interrupted, glancing at Naruto.

Fugaku understood Menma's meaning instantly and said nothing more.

"Uncle, come with me. I have something for you. Itachi, you come too." With that, Menma headed upstairs.

Fugaku stood up and followed Menma to the second floor, with Itachi trailing behind.

"Brother, just stay downstairs and keep Auntie and Sasuke company. We might be a while," Menma said near the railing before ushering the two into his room.

"What is this? I'm the older brother, yet Menma always uses that elder tone to boss me around," Naruto grumbled, looking up at the stairs, feeling indignant.

Seeing this, Mikoto covered her mouth to hide a smile and began chatting with Naruto.

Once inside the room, Menma pulled the curtains shut before turning on the light.

As the light flickered on, Fugaku and Itachi saw Minato's Hokage cloak.

"Make yourselves at home." After greeting them, Menma flopped onto his bed and dispelled his shadow clone.

The moment it vanished, Menma felt a wave of exhaustion. Sigh... I barely managed today, he thought to himself.

Menma closed his eyes to process the day's training results, then sat up and said to Fugaku, "Uncle, you mainly came to see me today, right?"

Fugaku nodded and asked, "Menma, what did you mean by what you said to Itachi and the others this morning?" Fugaku sat on a chair, watching Menma.

"Uncle, let me ask you a question first: which is more important, the clan or the village?" Menma asked.

Fugaku froze, looking at Menma in astonishment. He had been struggling with this very question; the conflict between the clan and the village was intensifying, and the radicals were even planning a coup, aiming directly at the Konoha leadership.

Fugaku couldn't answer; he was still contemplating how he should respond.

Itachi was equally shocked, staring at Menma with wide eyes.

"Uncle, Itachi, why don't you think about it? If your Uchiha Clan really did launch a coup, what would the final outcome be?" Menma continued.

Both men were stunned, looking at Menma with disbelief. Only a handful of Uchiha knew about the coup, and they wondered how Menma could possibly know. They even began to suspect whether the village leadership was already aware of it.

"How did you know?" Fugaku finally began to feel a hint of panic.

"So, Uncle, you're admitting it? I might as well tell you: the Nine-Tails can sense malice, probe psychological states, and peer into people's hearts. Do you believe me if I say it like that?" The highest level of lying is half-truth and half-falsehood; besides, no one knows if this is real or fake anyway.

Fugaku fell silent. He suddenly realized he seemed to have fallen into Menma's trap.

"Brother Itachi, if you truly love Sasuke, then please hide your strength. Although your reputation is already loud enough, you still need to hide—hide until that man is dead." Menma suddenly brought up Itachi again.

"That man? Which man?" Itachi looked at Menma curiously.

"Shimura Danzō," Menma said slowly.

Fugaku's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at Menma with an expression of disbelief.

"I shouldn't need to say much about a man like Danzō; he is responsible for many unexpected things. He is very eager to slaughter the Uchiha Clan, after all." Menma suddenly sat up, looking at Fugaku with a weary face.

"How is that possible? No matter what, he is still..." Fugaku wanted to refute Menma, but he was interrupted before he could finish.

"If Brother Itachi continues to develop as he is now, he will likely join the Anbu. Given his personality, he might become a spy—a double agent. As for the reason, Uncle, you should understand if you think about it. If one day a rebellion by the Uchiha becomes unavoidable, and Brother Itachi is caught in a dilemma, and at that moment Danzō appears and demands that Itachi personally slaughter the clan, promising to let Sasuke go, then as the clan head and father, what would you do?" Menma waited for Fugaku's answer, saying nothing else in the meantime.

"I might... not resist, because I do not want to see father and son kill each other." Fugaku thought for a long time before speaking.

"Then the problem arises. According to my speculation, this is the best outcome. The worst outcome is that not a single person is left, because there are Root members watching outside my house. If Danzō cannot restrain himself, he might act early," Menma said.

The two fell into silence. Suddenly, Fugaku reacted: "Itachi hasn't joined the Anbu yet, so there wouldn't be such an arrangement. Since that's the case, I would definitely resist. In that scenario, the Konoha higher-ups would also suffer significant losses." Fugaku spoke as if he had found a loophole.

"Indeed, but what if the other major clans of Konoha were to surround and suppress the Uchiha under the pretext of quelling a rebellion? What would you do then? When the time comes, Konoha's strength will decline, and other ninja villages will take the opportunity to attack..." Menma did not finish, just looking at the two of them.

The two fell into deep thought, digesting what Menma had said.

"Then what should we do? Are we destined to be wiped out?" Fugaku felt a bit discouraged; he didn't know what to do either.

"It's simple: kill Danzō, have one of the Sannin, Tsunade or Jiraiya, succeed as the Fifth Hokage. Beyond that, vigorously cultivate the new generation of the Uchiha, find ways to make them disciples of the Sannin, and relinquish all power of the Konoha Military Police Force. Finally, there is one more point, which is the most important: the radicals must die!" Menma spoke without any expression; no matter how you looked at it, it didn't sound like something a child under four years old could say.

The two fell silent again, not knowing what to say.

"Let me tell you one more secret. Aside from Kakashi-sensei and the Hokage, no one else has ever known this secret. However, I can only tell you this secret after I have your answer," Menma looked at the two mysteriously.

The two stared blankly at Menma; for some reason, Menma gave them an impression of being unfathomable.

"Sacrifice a few to exchange for the majority, and then enter the high-level circle—how about it? That's a pretty good plan, isn't it?" Menma continued to look at the two, waiting for their reply.