After setting up the barrier, Uchiha Yan said coolly, "All right. Stay right here and behave yourself while we wait for those old fossils to come asking for you."
Orochimaru closed his eyes and ignored him.
Uchiha Yan didn't mind being given the cold shoulder.
After making sure the barrier was intact, he turned and left.
He seemed not to care in the slightest whether Orochimaru would try to escape.
Once Uchiha Yan was gone, Orochimaru closed his eyes and sensed his current condition and the strength of the barrier.
In the end, he gave up on escaping. He had a feeling Uchiha Yan had something up his sleeve to deal with him.
As Uchiha Yan walked out of the prison, he saw Fugaku hurrying toward him.
Uchiha Fugaku stopped in front of Uchiha Yan and asked urgently, "You captured Orochimaru?"
Uchiha Yan nodded. "Clan Leader Fugaku, if you mean the Orochimaru who carried out the Konoha Crush Plan, then yes, that's him."
Fugaku wasn't the only one there. Everyone else looked just as shocked.
Fugaku quickly asked, "Yan, why didn't you hand Orochimaru over to the advisers?"
Uchiha Yan heard his question and asked in return, "Why would I?"
Fugaku froze. But given Uchiha Yan's strength, all he could do was explain, offering up words even he didn't believe.
"Because the Uchiha are part of Konoha."
When Fugaku finished, Uchiha Yan simply stared at him.
Though Fugaku was a generation older by clan standards, Uchiha Yan's gaze made him uneasy.
The atmosphere by the prison gate grew heavy.
The other Uchiha wanted to speak, but didn't know what to say.
Then Uchiha Yan said coolly, "Clan Leader Fugaku, do you believe that yourself?"
Uchiha Yan's retort left Fugaku at a loss.
Uchiha Yan walked over and leaned close to Fugaku's ear. "What I want isn't for the Uchiha to need Konoha. It's for Konoha to be unable to do without the Uchiha!"
Uchiha Yan's words made Fugaku's pupils contract.
He watched Uchiha Yan's retreating figure intently.
He had never imagined that this younger clansman's ambition was so terrifying. He wanted to take advantage of the power vacuum in Konoha and extend his influence into the village.
Fugaku narrowed his eyes and watched Uchiha Yan's back until he disappeared.
A man didn't become head of the Uchiha Clan by being useless.
In the original story, Uchiha Fugaku had been a Hawk through and through.
He had simply bet wrong—he'd bet wrong on which side Uchiha Itachi would choose.
There was a saying that put it well:
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. That way, you can understand them better.
Uchiha Itachi wasn't Fugaku's enemy, of course. But Fugaku had believed he was close enough to Itachi to understand him.
He had never imagined that Uchiha Itachi could be so inhuman and utterly without limits, willing to kill even the elderly and infants.
That also made Fugaku realize the truth: the Uchiha had chosen to stand with the village once and for all.
As for why Uchiha Fugaku hadn't fought back, it wasn't because he didn't want to fight his own son.
It was because their final confrontation had been a gamble. Uchiha Fugaku had bet that Itachi still had a shred of compassion for his younger brother, Sasuke.
Uchiha Fugaku: "I'm leaving Sasuke in your hands."
Uchiha Itachi: "I understand."
That was why Uchiha Fugaku had finally offered his neck to the blade.
By then, because of his own missteps, the Uchiha had played all their good cards. They had nothing left.
All he could do was gamble on Itachi's final line and preserve a branch of the Uchiha Clan.
If two Mangekyō Sharingan wielders fought, they would inevitably both end up badly hurt.
That was Danzo's open plot.
He had promised to spare Sasuke, but if Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Fugaku killed each other, Danzo wouldn't hold back. After all, Uchiha made excellent test subjects.
Fugaku gritted his teeth and made the right call.
"Keep an eye on Orochimaru. Don't let him escape. From now on, no one is allowed in without my orders. Understood?"
With that, Fugaku personally took charge of Orochimaru and closed the prison.
When Utatane Koharu heard from the Anbu that Uchiha Yan had locked Orochimaru up in Uchiha Prison, she was so furious she swore aloud. "That hateful little brat actually dares to make fools of us!"
Mitokado Homura looked just as grim.
They had waited here for two hours, only to be told, "Go home and get some sleep"?
He stood up at once. "Koharu, we're going to the Konoha Military Police Force to demand Orochimaru."
Utatane Koharu nodded. "Exactly. We have to get him. If we let the Uchiha set this precedent, the other shinobi clans will follow suit, and managing them will be much harder."
The two quickly made up their minds and headed for the Konoha Military Police Force with their trusted men.
As for why they didn't bring the Anbu—
The Anbu only followed orders when it suited them. They seemed eager enough, but never actually did anything.
So the two had no choice but to bring their own people to demand Orochimaru from the Konoha Military Police Force.
Uchiha Yan walked to a secluded corner and called out, "Jiraiya, you can come out now."
Jiraiya slowly emerged from the shadowy corner nearby.
He looked directly at Uchiha Yan and asked, "All right, what did you call me here for?"
Uchiha Yan said coolly, "Jiraiya, do you know Uzumaki Naruto?"
"Uzumaki Naruto?" Jiraiya rubbed his chin, trying to remember. He recalled that Minato had mentioned him once while they were chatting.
His future son was going to be named Naruto.
Jiraiya folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "Do you want to see how your student's son is doing?"
Jiraiya asked curiously, "You know Naruto?"
Uchiha Yan shrugged. "Of course. He's just not doing very well."
"Not doing very well?" Jiraiya repeated, puzzled by Uchiha Yan's words.
He had wanted to visit Naruto for a while, but he'd been too busy lately.
Now seemed like a good time to go see him.
Uchiha Yan didn't say anything more. He simply gave Jiraiya a look, then vanished in a flash.
Jiraiya furrowed his brow and followed close behind.
The two eventually stopped in front of a dilapidated apartment building in a remote part of town. Its walls were cracked and peeling.
"This is the place." Standing in the shadows, Uchiha Yan pointed up at a third-floor window with a curtain that was half torn away.
Jiraiya looked at the apartment building, which seemed ready to collapse at any moment, and his doubts grew.
Naruto was Namikaze Minato's son, the son of the hero who had saved the village, and the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki. Jiraiya had expected the village to treat Naruto like a treasure. Even if they didn't, he shouldn't have been living in a place like this.
"Yan, why did you bring me to a place like this..."
Before you continue