Following

A short distance away, an old man leaned on his cane and strolled out.

Yu narrowed his eyes slightly and asked a question he already knew the answer to, "And who might you be, old man?"

"Hmph! Such extreme insolence. Is this how Fugaku has been teaching you?" Danzo glared at Yu with venomous eyes.

"How my father chooses to educate me is none of your business, old man!" Yu retorted with disdain. While his current strength wasn't enough to challenge Konoha single-handedly, he didn't fear old men like Danzo or Sarutobi. As long as he wasn't being swarmed by Kage-level fighters, the outcome remained to be seen.

"Lord Danzo!" An Anbu ninja standing on a notice board jumped down and knelt on one knee before Danzo.

Danzo nodded, and the Anbu ninja followed respectfully behind him.

"Brat! The decisions of the high command are not for you to question!" Danzo walked forward slowly, staring coldly at Yu.

"To hell with the high command's decisions. This village belongs to everyone. If the high command can't keep their promises, they shouldn't bring up relocation at all. Don't give me that 'war is tense' excuse just to get a free meal. Why isn't it the Sarutobi Clan or your Shimura Clan making the sacrifices?"

Yu fired back without a second thought.

Danzo's expression turned icy. "Brat, you are questioning the high command's decision. Men, seize this ignorant boy and bring him back. Since Fugaku doesn't know how to teach his son, the village will do it for him."

In an instant, dozens of Root ninjas leaped out, surrounding Yu completely.

However, just as the tension reached its breaking point, suddenly...

"I'd like to see who dares to take away the Young Clan Head of my Uchiha!"

A voice filled with intense indignation rang out. Several young men wearing standard Uchiha clan attire with blades at their waists hurried over, led by the swift footsteps of Uchiha Lieyang.

They surrounded Yu and drew their blades without hesitation, pointing them at the Root ninjas.

"Young Clan Head, are you alright? It's all my fault for arriving so late and letting you suffer such grievances!" Uchiha Lieyang said to Yu, his face full of shame.

Yu wanted to pat Uchiha Lieyang on the shoulder, but halfway through, he realized he was too short to reach!

He felt awkward and tried to pull his hand back.

Before he could, however, Uchiha Lieyang immediately knelt on one knee. "Today, we will surely defend the dignity of the Young Clan Head!"

Uchiha Lieyang said with a firm expression, his back turned to the men he had brought.

"Yes! Captain Lieyang!" the group of youths replied excitedly. They had heard plenty of stories about Young Clan Head Yu from their captain over these past few days and had long since developed a sense of admiration for him.

The fact that the six-year-old Young Clan Head dared to stand face-to-face with Konoha's high command only deepened that impression.

Yu was suddenly moved; with subordinates like these, what more could he ask for?

He gently patted Lieyang on the shoulder, then turned his cold gaze toward Danzo.

Danzo narrowed his eyes. He couldn't understand why Uchiha Yu, despite his young age, commanded such prestige within the clan, but it was clearly not the time to ponder such things.

"Hmph! Are you all attempting to incite a rebellion?"

"Heh, old man, whether or not it's a rebellion isn't for you to decide. Right now, we only want to demand justice from the Hokage. Why was the relocation funding for our Uchiha clan canceled? Not only that, but you intend to force our clan to relocate. This alone forces us to question the Hokage's credibility. You should know that my father holds a document issued by the Hokage himself, in black and white. Or does the high command intend to welsh on the debt?"

When Yu finished speaking, the surrounding clansmen immediately began to clamor.

"That's right! We just want justice! Why break the agreement?"

"Justice! We demand an explanation from the Hokage!"

However, Yu didn't notice that Itachi, who had been following him, had already disappeared somewhere.

Seeing the situation spiraling in an unfavorable direction, Danzo's face grew increasingly ugly.

"Even if you want justice, it is not something a sharp-tongued brat like you can handle. Bring Fugaku here; I want to see what kind of justice he thinks he's entitled to."

"You will see it! But for now, Lord Danzo, are you still going to block our path?"

Danzo looked coldly at the smiling Uchiha Yu. "What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing much. We are just going to the Hokage Building to hear the Hokage's explanation. Surely Lord Danzo isn't going to stop us from doing that, are you?"

Danzo looked at the youths standing guard around Yu with blades drawn, then back at Yu's hypocritical smirk.

At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to order his men to slaughter them all. But if he did, these hot-headed youths would fight to the death, leading to a total fallout between the village and the Uchiha. That was clearly not something he wanted to see right now.

"Uchiha Yu, you will regret the decision you made today!" With that, Danzo coldly cleared the path.

Yu revealed a row of white teeth. "Regret? Let's talk about that when the day comes! Let's go, clansmen! We're heading to the Hokage Building to ask the Hokage why he did this!"

Yu waved his arm, and the hundreds of Uchiha clansmen surrounding him immediately fell into a neat formation behind him.

They marched toward the Hokage Building in a grand, imposing manner.

Halfway there, Yu saw Uchiha Yashiro, the man his father trusted most, leading a group of Military Police Force members to join them.

Neither side said a word, simply marching in silence toward the Hokage Building.

The villagers on the street witnessed this scene with expressions of confusion, clearly unaware of what was happening.

Naka Shrine.

Uchiha Fugaku knelt alone before the ancestral tablets.

Under the dim light, Fugaku's shadow flickered and wavered, much like the look in his eyes at this moment.

Suddenly, the shrine doors were pushed open, and a small figure ran in, looking anxious.

"Father, it's bad! Brother has taken people and the Konoha higher-ups..."

"Itachi! Stop talking! Be quiet!" Fugaku interrupted before Itachi could finish.

"Father... the clansmen and Brother..." Itachi was overcome with anxiety; on one side was the brother he loved, and on the other, the village.

Fugaku remained unmoved, his voice deepening. "Itachi! I said be quiet!"

Under Fugaku's stern demeanor, Itachi felt a sense of helplessness and could only stand silently behind his father, gazing at the ancestral tablets.

Amidst Itachi's anxious waiting, Fugaku finally moved, walking out of the ancestral hall at a measured pace and slowly descending the stone steps toward the foot of the mountain.

Itachi hurried to follow. "Father, please go and stop Brother! If you're any later, he's going to lead the clansmen into a conflict with the village."

Fugaku looked down at the anxious Itachi. "Why should I stop him? What have your brother and the clansmen done wrong? He is the Young Clan Head; haven't you noticed the clansmen's attitude toward him this past month?"

Fugaku's barrage of questions left Itachi stunned.

Although he did not agree with his brother's philosophy, he had indeed felt how the clansmen's attitude toward his brother had grown increasingly respectful during his commute to and from school this past month.

Is this why Brother, even after having already left, turned back when he saw the Anbu ninjas preparing to oppress the clansmen?

Itachi's young mind recalled the sigh his brother had let out when he turned around that day.

"Father! Are we just going to ignore this? It will intensify the conflict between the clan and the village."

Seeing the confusion on Itachi's face, Fugaku couldn't help but sigh. "Itachi, do you know the difference between you and your brother?"

Itachi's eyes flickered.

Fugaku continued, speaking to himself. "He understands that the village is important, but he also understands that the clan is his foundation. When it comes to choosing between the village and the clan, he would choose the clan without hesitation. Even I, his father, am not his equal in this regard. That is why the clansmen revere him."

"Father, are you really not going to intervene? With Brother's extremism, he might cause a large-scale conflict with the village!"

At this moment, Itachi was even more bewildered. He could not understand why his father, who had instilled so many peaceful ideals in him as a child, would be so indulgent toward his brother's conflict with the village.

"Itachi, you underestimate your brother. He won't go that far, at least not while he lacks absolute strength."

Fugaku's eyes flashed. Sometimes he felt he understood his eldest son—usually low-key and uncompetitive, and despite possessing such formidable strength at the Ninja Academy, he had never gained a reputation as a genius.

Yet, at other times, he felt he couldn't see through that boy. When facing clan issues, he was extreme and aggressive, like a hunting wolf: when still, he hid quietly in the grass to rest and recover his strength, but when he moved, he was certain to leave a fatal wound on his enemy.