Konoha, Is There Still a Place for Uchihas?

"Is there a reason for the Clan Head's summons?"

An elder, who like Fugaku did not belong to the hardline faction, asked with a hint of doubt.

"I am going to see the Third Hokage," Fugaku said.

The air froze in that instant.

"See the Third Hokage?" Uchiha Yashiro repeated, thinking he had misheard. "For what purpose?"

"To get a clear answer," Fugaku's voice was calm. "Whether this mission was truly issued by the Hokage himself, and why our clansmen were ambushed."

Uchiha Inabi, standing to the side, furrowed his brow. "Clan Head, is such a thing even worth asking?"

"Hear me out first," Fugaku interrupted him. "Now is not the time for this."

Fugaku did not want the three elders before him to veer off from what he intended to say because of other matters.

"I will say this again," Fugaku's gaze swept over them one by one. "I am going to see the Third Hokage to get a clear answer. The three of you must stand with me; the Uchiha cannot afford any more division."

Uchiha Yashiro's voice rang out, "Clan Head, are you hiding something from us?"

The Fugaku before them had changed too much. In the past, the Fugaku he knew seemed to treat himself as an outsider, completely ignoring their arguments.

Now, it was as if he had finally seen something clearly.

But Yashiro dared not believe it; he was more inclined to think that Fugaku had been crushed by the pressure.

Fugaku did not respond. Based on their past understanding, he figured Yashiro likely thought he was afraid, or that he had been broken by the village's pressure.

"I am hiding nothing from you," Fugaku's voice remained devoid of fluctuation. "I am simply thinking about one thing."

"What thing?"

"How long have we, the Uchiha, been proud?"

The three elders were stunned.

"From the Warring States period until now, we have always been proud—proud of our lineage, our eyes. This pride has kept us alive, but it has also blinded us to what we should be seeing."

Fugaku looked at the scattered lights within the clan grounds; those were the homes of every Uchiha clansman.

"I want to say that if the price of this pride is the disappearance of the Uchiha, or even the annihilation of our clan, then this pride is something I, Uchiha Fugaku, cannot afford to bear."

Uchiha Inabi's voice rang out, colder than ever before. "Clan Head, have you been swayed by those people in the village? Have you forgotten the dignity of the Uchiha!"

Fugaku did not respond, but the look of exhaustion in his eyes caused the three elders to falter.

"I have not forgotten."

"I must get a clear answer regarding this matter. If the Third Hokage did not know about it, then someone within the Anbu is hiding things from him and acting on their own. If he did know..."

"Then I will ask him if there is still a place for the Uchiha in this village—a village founded by the Senju and the Uchiha together."

"Not a place like the one we have now, but a place where the children of our clan can stand upright in the sunlight, without being ostracized, without being looked at with those kinds of eyes."

Fugaku let out a breath and looked at the three elders.

"Therefore, tomorrow, I go alone."

"No!" the three elders spoke in unison.

"Listen to me," Fugaku raised his hand. "I go alone because if something happens to me, the only loss is a Clan Head."

"You stay within the clan grounds and do what you must. If I do not return..."

"It will mean I was wrong, and you must proceed as you have always intended. But please, ensure that the Uchiha bloodline survives."

The three elders stared at Fugaku in disbelief.

Inside the room, Hayato sat on a chair to the side.

On the hospital bed, Seiichi sat motionless, his eyes dull.

Hayato glanced at him. Seiichi had barely moved since waking up, not even when the clan elders had come by.

"Seiichi, do you intend to continue like this?"

Still, there was no movement, as if he had lost his soul.

"What, is Uchiha Seiichi nothing more than a coward who only knows how to hide?"

A cold voice rang out. A glimmer of spirit returned to Seiichi's eyes. He snapped his head toward Hayato and growled, "I am not a coward!"

A single-tomoe Sharingan had already manifested in his eyes.

"Then what is this display for? Who are you showing it to? Have you forgotten how Rin shielded you from that blow?" Hayato looked straight at Seiichi with a calm gaze.

The Sharingan—was it really so impressive? He himself possessed the Three-Tomoe.

"Ah!!!! Shut up!" Seiichi clutched his head in agony and shouted, the single-tomoe in his eyes spinning incessantly.

Hayato watched quietly, his brow arching. Seiichi's eyes were showing faint signs of evolving toward the Two-Tomoe.

However, one shouldn't advance too quickly right after awakening the eyes; that wasn't growth in strength, but an overdraft of one's own vitality.

Thinking this, Hayato stepped forward and gripped Seiichi's shoulder firmly, forcing him to look him in the eye. "Your eyes were awakened because of Rin, so protect her loved ones well instead of showing them off at every turn."

"This is your responsibility. His mother and his sister both still need you to take care of them."

"I want revenge!" Seiichi was stunned for a moment, then said fiercely.

Slap—

Hayato raised his hand and struck him across the face.

Damn it, you want revenge with just a One-Tomoe? Do you think you're Long Aotian?

Seiichi looked stunned, looking up at Hayato in disbelief.

"Do you think you're something special? You can't even last a single move against me right now."

Before the words had even faded, Hayato's eyes had already turned scarlet, the Three-Tomoe spinning rapidly within them.

"You..."

Seiichi was shocked. Not long ago, he had clearly seen Two-Tomoe, yet now—

"Do you even know who the enemy is? Do you have the strength for this?" Hayato said calmly. "In your current state, you'd only be throwing your life away."

Hearing this, Seiichi lowered his head.

Hayato was right; he was angry, but he wasn't brainless.

"Do you trust me?" Hayato asked.

"I do!" Seiichi looked up. It was Hayato who had held those people off, and now that he possessed the Three-Tomoe, he answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Then follow me, but now is not the time. We still need to grow." Hayato looked at Seiichi before him. "You have only just awakened your eyes; you don't know the ultimate power of the Uchiha clan."

"Ultimate power?"

"That's right, the Mangekyo Sharingan." Hayato said in a low voice, "The ancestor of the Uchiha clan, Madara, was only able to contend with the First Hokage because he possessed this power."

"For now, we need to give ourselves time to grow properly. Do you understand?"

Seiichi frowned, not fully grasping Hayato's meaning, but he nodded nonetheless. "Alright, I'll listen to you!"

The Uchiha revered the strong. Hayato was stronger than him, and the fact that he had allowed him to bring Rin's body back under those circumstances was enough for Seiichi to submit.