Uchiha Four Laughing Masters, Plus One, Five Masters

Patter, patter!

A flurry of hurried footsteps approached.

Uchiha Fugaku, who had been sitting by the Naka River staring blankly at the old cherry tree in the courtyard, turned his head to look.

"Clan Head! Something has happened!"

Fugaku paused for a moment, then stood up. "Speak slowly."

The clansman who had come to report instinctively took half a step back—not out of fear, but because the sheer presence Fugaku exuded at this moment placed immense pressure upon him.

When Fugaku arrived at the Uchiha clan's medical ward, the narrow corridor was already packed with clansmen.

Aside from the three clan elders, the captains of the Police Force and several elite chunin were all present.

Seeing Fugaku approach, everyone parted to clear a path, and the three elders stepped forward to his side.

Even though there were dissenting voices within the clan, they still showed the proper respect due to Fugaku as their leader.

"Clan Head, only one team returned from the mission outside the village, and they came back with one dead and two wounded," the elder representing the conservative faction spoke up.

"Fugaku, this mission was definitely not simple. We must demand that the Hokage give the Uchiha an explanation!" Another elder nearby spoke with a fiery tone; he represented the faction that wanted the Uchiha to take a more militant stance.

Fugaku did not respond. He raised a hand to signal for silence before walking toward the closed door of the room.

Click.

The door was pushed open, and Hayato looked up.

Fugaku walked in slowly and closed the door behind him.

The scene before him made Fugaku's face tighten: Seiichi lay unconscious, and another person was covered by a white sheet.

Fugaku's gaze shifted to Hayato, the only person in the room who appeared to have sustained lighter injuries.

"Hayato, what is the situation?"

Fugaku had only received a notification; he did not know the specifics.

"Rest assured, what is said here will not go any further."

Hayato remained silent, composing himself and preparing to begin his performance.

Once everything was ready, Hayato looked up at Fugaku, his lips moving. His pitch-black pupils were already filled with an expression of fury.

"Is this mission scroll, bearing the Hokage's seal, signed by the Hokage himself?" Hayato pulled out the scroll he had already retrieved from Seiichi.

Fugaku frowned, took it, and examined it carefully.

After a long while, he spoke slowly: "Based on my experience, yes."

"Clan Head!" The expression on Hayato's face became exceptionally ferocious. "Is the Hokage trying to take the lives of our Uchiha clan? If that is the case, he could have just said so! Why go through such a roundabout way?"

"The Uchiha can die standing, but we will never be schemed against like this!"

"Hayato, watch your tongue." Fugaku's face twitched. If words like these were heard by the village's elder council...

There was no telling how much more the Uchiha would be oppressed.

"Clan Head! The way you say that... you knew about this, didn't you!" Hayato looked at Fugaku in utter disbelief, as if he could not bear the news.

Hayato's face was now a mask of betrayal and disbelief.

"Hayato, I need to know the specifics."

Fugaku was truly tired at this moment, because Hayato's attitude was exactly what he had to face from his clansmen all the time.

Almost all of them were like this.

Except for a few, but... (those who looked gloomy were even more dangerous).

Hayato took a few deep breaths, as if struggling to calm the rage within him. After a long time, he said in a hoarse voice, "We received the mission yesterday to go and assist in clearing out those who were harassing the border."

"However, when we were traveling along the designated route, there were already people lying in ambush!"

Hayato recounted with a manic look how those people had coordinated their tactics, how he had lured three of them away alone, and how Rin and Seiichi had ended up dead and wounded by the time he rushed back.

By the end, Hayato's voice began to tremble.

"Clan Head, everything they displayed was the combat style of the Mist Village, but when I cut off the head of one of them..."

"Guess what I found?"

Thud!

Hayato pulled out another scroll, unsealed it, and a head appeared before Fugaku's eyes.

Cold sweat trickled down Fugaku's forehead.

Hayato pulled out the head's tongue, which bore a strange, peculiar mark.

"Clan Head, after I cut this guy's head off, his entire brain was destroyed at the same time. Do you know what that means?"

As Hayato spoke, his pupils had already turned scarlet, and two tomoe were spinning incessantly.

Fugaku's mouth hung open. He had awakened his eyes, and they were two-tomoe Sharingan.

However, what was more important now was the seal on the tongue of this severed head.

"My father once performed meritorious service and was granted a sealing technique scroll by the clan; I have learned a little of it, more or less. This seal can be said to be of the same origin as some of the sealing techniques within Konoha used to prevent the leakage of information."

Hayato looked at Uchiha Fugaku, enunciating each word clearly.

Fugaku was startled upon hearing this, then immediately took the head and began to examine it.

As the head of the Uchiha clan, he had seen far more scrolls and techniques than most.

As he inspected it, Fugaku's heart sank bit by bit; it was real.

"I will handle this matter personally." Fugaku did not look up, and something seemed to be slowly congealing in the depths of his pupils.

"Clan Head, I do not trust you."

Hayato's voice was icy, and those scarlet eyes looked at Fugaku with absolute calm.

The expression on Fugaku's face froze, and he looked up at the Hayato before him.

This child's gaze was pure, devoid of any emotion, a coldness born of lost trust.

Fugaku opened his mouth, but no words came out; this stung him more than any look he had ever received before.

"Hayato, you need to calm down. Please, trust me, and trust the clan."

Not long ago, this child had stood by his side and rebuked Shisui because of Shisui's words, yet now...

"I will not trust anyone." Hayato's tone was flat, and the sense of a heart turned to ash pierced Fugaku's soul like a needle once more.

As for whether what he was doing now was excessive, Hayato only wanted to say that since he had the opportunity to use it, why wait? Should he save it for the night of the clan's annihilation?

Fugaku's shoulders tensed, but he felt not a shred of anger toward Hayato's attitude.

At home, he could be strict with his own sons, but within the clan, he was exceptionally lenient toward these members.

Especially children like Hayato, whose parents had sacrificed themselves for Konoha and the Uchiha clan.

"Hayato, I promise you in the name of the Uchiha Clan Head that the clan had no knowledge of this incident." Fugaku felt a bitter taste in his heart; it was his own incompetence that had allowed a child of the clan to suffer such a thing.

"But... I will not shirk this responsibility. I will go to the Hokage myself; I will certainly give you and the other two clansmen an explanation."

"An explanation?"

Hayato fell silent for a moment, then put on an expression as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world and began to laugh maniacally.

At this moment, the Uchiha Four Laughing Masters had gained a new member, becoming the Five.

It would have been even better if blood had just happened to stream from his eyes.

"Is Rin's life only worth an explanation? Then what about her mother, and her younger sister—what are they supposed to do!"

Hayato's voice was so loud that even the Uchiha clansmen outside the room could hear him; they were stunned at first, followed by a deathly silence.