Patriarch, Please Rise

As for whether Fugaku would continue to act as he had before after the usage, Hayato had absolute confidence, because Fugaku had just been influenced by him at this very moment.

Even the flapping of a butterfly's wings could trigger a massive storm on the other side of the ocean, and the current Fugaku was the perfect subject for this Sin Retrospection.

'Sin Retrospection activated. Target: Uchiha Fugaku.'

Without hesitation, Hayato made his choice.

By the banks of the Naka River, under the old cherry tree in the courtyard, Fugaku was currently knitting his brows tightly.

Placed before him was the scroll Hayato had brought.

In the very next moment.

BOOM—!

Fugaku's pupils contracted sharply, and his mental world was submerged in a sea of blood!

The faces of countless Uchiha youths who had been turned into "accidents," the screams on the experimental tables, the Sharingan being gouged out, the cold scalpels...

Scene after scene slammed into his mind.

"Argh—!!"

Fugaku clutched his head and collapsed to his knees, his Mangekyo already manifested in his eyes, spinning frantically as searing pain surged into his brain.

He assumed someone had cast a genjutsu on him, but possessing the Mangekyo himself, he could not detect a single trace of any illusion.

Every face of his kin who had died a miserable death was questioning him:

"Clan Head, why didn't you save us?"

"You could have stopped it, so why did you just watch us die?"

Question after question, face after face, they rushed toward him, and he could not escape them at all!

Cold sweat soaked his clothes. This was a place where Fugaku usually stayed alone, and the guards around the perimeter had long since been withdrawn.

In the courtyard, Fugaku sat frozen, feeling as if ten thousand ghosts were gnawing at his heart.

And this was merely the beginning.

The next instant, an even deeper, scarlet blood-red color washed over him.

It was night, and in the distance, a red light flickered, staining the entire sky a dark crimson.

Fugaku saw a figure directly in front of him; the person's arm was raised, the blade reflecting a faint, cold light.

The blade fell.

His body tipped forward, and in his peripheral vision, he saw only the tip of the sword, a smear of crimson dripping from the edge onto the floor, drop by drop.

Screams echoed from all around, and the faint warmth in his hand was slowly fading away.

It felt as if he were holding someone else's hand.

No...

It was Minako's hand!

The blade vanished, leaving only two corpses on the ground, along with the bewitching scarlet blood and tears falling silently to the floor.

From afar, a childish voice drifted over.

"Papa! Mama!"

Sasuke's voice? Although it sounded a bit different from the toddler Sasuke of the present, Fugaku instinctively knew it was Sasuke.

Because of this voice, Fugaku felt as if he could lift his head to look at the person who had cut him down.

Itachi...?!

Within the blurred figure, that face was exceptionally clear in Fugaku's line of sight, and in those eyes, there was a pattern resembling a shuriken.

Mangekyo...

Then, Fugaku's soul felt as if it were being lifted by a giant hand, rising toward the sky.

Passing through the house, the Uchiha clan compound and its buildings came into his view.

Blood, there was blood everywhere.

Amidst the flames, countless corpses lay on the ground, and a small figure was running over quickly.

"Sasuke! Don't come over!"

Fugaku opened his mouth to shout, but no sound came out.

Following that, he saw countless masked Anbu landing beside the dead clansmen, raising their blades to slice at their eye sockets, gouging out the eyes of the kin who had died with their eyes wide open in resentment.

Anbu! No, Root!

How dare you!

Fugaku's eyes were splitting with rage, yet he could not move at all.

And then, voice after voice rang out around him; the souls of countless clansmen within the compound rose into the sky and sought him out, the expressions on their faces like those of vengeful ghosts.

Uchiha Fugaku only noticed one person: Hayato, whom he had just seen.

"Clan Leader, is this your guarantee?"

"Is this your so-called explanation? Rin is already dead, yet you allowed her mother and sister to suffer the same fate! You stood by while your son slaughtered the clan!"

"As the Clan Leader, you failed to protect your people! You have dragged the entire clan into a dead end of extinction!"

BOOM—!!!

Each word struck Fugaku's mind like a heavy hammer.

Countless voices echoed backward, and though all the blood-red hues faded, they did not truly vanish from Fugaku's mind.

At this moment, they were rooted firmly in his consciousness like maggots to the bone.

"Hah—!"

Fugaku's body collapsed toward the ground as if he had lost all control.

His vision blurred, then became veiled in an extreme, vivid crimson.

Drip. Blood slid from his eyes onto the ground, splashing upward.

As his gaze swept across the floor, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the pool of blood.

Is this... a warning from the Mangekyo?

That was the only thought in Fugaku's mind... his Mangekyo was capable of seeing fleeting fragments of the future.

Far away in the medical ward, Hayato clicked his tongue in secret. This Experience Card was quite impressive; he had watched the entire scene as if from a god's perspective.

The final part was him using the Experience Card to say those words directly to Fugaku.

Hayato opened his eyes and sat up, waving off the medical ninja who was preparing to examine him.

Now, let's see if our Clan Leader changes because of this premature vision.

[Bitter Fruit Entry System]

Target Detected: Uchiha Fugaku

Triggered Bitter Fruit Type: Regret Bitter Fruit

Content: Deepen Fugaku's regret through Sin Retrospection.

Harvesting...

[Harvest Successful!]

[Uchiha Fugaku Regret Bitter Fruit]

[Extractable Entry Reward: Chakra Capacity Doubled]

Hayato blinked. Was there only one reward because he had utilized an Experience Card?

Without hesitation, he clicked to accept.

Even if it wasn't a passive doubling, it didn't matter; his chakra was already far higher than before, which would allow for more versatility in future battles.

Within the clan grounds.

Fugaku stood at the very edge of the Uchiha territory, looking at the distant lights. For the first time, he felt that the prosperity of Konoha and the silence of the Uchiha were completely incompatible.

He had been standing there for a long time. When he had returned home earlier, he saw Sasuke, Mikoto, and Itachi.

He hadn't shown any of the emotions he should have, but a single thought in his heart had grown increasingly intense.

Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the flames rising within the clan grounds, the helpless cries, Sasuke's grown-up face, and his hollow eyes.

Enough.

It cannot go on like this.

Fugaku opened his eyes. The water of the Naka River continued to flow. He turned around to see three figures approaching from the distance.

He had summoned the three clan elders to meet him.

The two radical elders exchanged glances, unsure of what their Clan Leader intended, though their eyes were filled with vigilance.

"Three elders."

Fugaku scanned the faces of the three men before him, straightened his back, and bowed deeply. "In the past, I have failed you all."

"This... Clan Leader, please, stand up."

The three elders' expressions changed drastically as they hurried to help Fugaku up. One of them said with clear dissatisfaction, "Fugaku! What are you doing? You are the leader of the Uchiha clan; how can you act so carelessly!"