"The clan head summoned us. Is there something he wants to discuss?"
One of the elders, who like Fugaku had never belonged to the hardline faction, asked with a frown.
"I'm going to see the Third Hokage," Fugaku said.
The air seemed to freeze in that instant.
"See the Third Hokage?" Uchiha Yashiro repeated, thinking he'd misheard. "What for?"
"To get some answers." Fugaku's voice was calm. "Was this mission really issued by the Hokage himself? And why were our people attacked?"
Uchiha Inabi frowned. "Clan head, do we really need to ask about something like that?"
"Let me finish," Fugaku cut him off. "Now is not the time to discuss that."
Fugaku didn't want to let the three men before him get sidetracked by other matters.
"I'll say it again." Fugaku's gaze swept over them in turn. "I'm going to see the Third Hokage and get some answers. The three of you must stand with me. There can't be any more division among the Uchiha."
Uchiha Yashiro spoke up. "Clan head, is there something you're hiding from us?"
Fugaku had changed so much. The Fugaku Yashiro had known seemed to regard himself as an outsider and completely disregard their opinions.
But now, it was as if he finally saw something clearly.
Still, Yashiro couldn't bring himself to believe it. He was more inclined to think that Fugaku had simply been crushed.
Fugaku didn't respond. Based on what he knew, Yashiro probably thought he was afraid, that the pressure from the village had finally broken him.
"I'm not hiding anything from you." Fugaku's voice didn't waver. "I've just been thinking about something."
"About what?"
"How long have we Uchiha been so proud?"
The three elders fell silent.
"From the Warring States period until now, we've always been proud—proud of our bloodline, proud of our eyes. That pride kept us alive, but it also kept us from seeing what we needed to see."
Fugaku looked at the scattered lights in the clan compound. Each one marked the home of an Uchiha.
"What I'm saying is, if the price of our pride is the disappearance of the Uchiha—even our complete destruction—then I, Uchiha Fugaku, can't bear that price."
Uchiha Inabi spoke, his voice colder than before. "Clan head, have those people in the village talked you around? Have you forgotten the dignity of the Uchiha?"
Fugaku didn't reply. The weariness in his eyes, however, made the three elders pause.
"I haven't forgotten."
"I have to get to the bottom of this. If the Third Hokage doesn't know about it, then someone in the Anbu has been hiding something from him. If he does know..."
"Then I'll ask him: does this village—the village founded by the Senju and the Uchiha together—still have a place for the Uchiha?"
"Not the kind of place we have now, but one where the children of our clan can stand in the sunlight with their heads held high, without being shunned or looked at that way."
Fugaku exhaled and looked at the three elders.
"So tomorrow, I'll go alone."
"No!" the three elders cried in unison.
"Let me finish." Fugaku raised a hand. "I'll go alone because if something happens to me, we'll have lost only one clan head.
"You stay in the compound and carry on as usual. If I don't come back..."
"Then it means I was wrong. You'll have to do what you've always planned to do. But please, make sure the Uchiha bloodline survives."
The three elders stared at Fugaku in disbelief.
Hayato sat in a chair to one side of the room.
On the hospital bed, Seiichi lay motionless, staring blankly ahead.
Hayato glanced at him. Seiichi had barely moved since waking up, not even when the clan's elders came to visit.
"Seiichi, are you planning to stay like this?"
He still didn't move, as if he'd lost his soul.
"What, is Uchiha Seiichi nothing but a coward who hides away?"
At the cool voice, a little light returned to Seiichi's eyes. He abruptly looked at Hayato and growled, "I'm not a coward!"
A One-Tomoe Sharingan had already appeared in his eyes.
"Then what's with that look? Who are you putting on a show for? Have you forgotten how Rin shielded you from that blow?" Hayato met Seiichi's gaze without a hint of emotion.
So what if he had a Sharingan? Hayato had a Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
"Ah!!!! Shut up!" Seiichi clutched his head and shouted in agony. The One-Tomoe in his eyes began spinning rapidly.
Hayato watched in silence, raising an eyebrow. Seiichi's eyes seemed to be on the verge of developing into Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
But he'd only just awakened his Sharingan. He shouldn't advance too quickly. That wouldn't mean his strength was growing; it would mean he was burning through his own life force.
With that in mind, Hayato stepped forward and grabbed Seiichi by the shoulders, making him look directly at him. "Your eyes awakened because of Rin. So protect her family. Don't go showing them off every chance you get."
"That's your responsibility. Her mother and her little sister still need you to look after them."
"I want revenge!" Seiichi froze, then spat out the words through gritted teeth.
Smack—
Hayato raised a hand and slapped him across the face.
Damn it. He had a One-Tomoe and already wanted revenge. Who did he think he was, Long Aotian?
Seiichi looked up at Hayato, stunned and disbelieving.
"Do you think you're strong? You couldn't last a single move against me right now."
Before the words had even left his mouth, Hayato's eyes turned scarlet, the Three-Tomoe spinning rapidly within them.
"You..."
Seiichi stared at him in shock. He'd seen Hayato with Two-Tomoe not long ago, but now—
"Do you know who you're after? Are you strong enough to take them on?" Hayato said calmly. "The way you are now, you'll only get yourself killed."
Seiichi lowered his head.
Hayato was right. He was furious, but he hadn't lost his mind.
"Do you trust me?" Hayato asked.
"I do!" Seiichi looked up. Hayato had been the one to stop those people, and now he had a Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Seiichi answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Then follow me. But this isn't the time yet. We still have to grow stronger." Hayato looked at Seiichi. "You've only just awakened your Sharingan. You don't know the ultimate power of the Uchiha Clan."
"The ultimate power?"
"That's right. The Mangekyō Sharingan." Hayato lowered his voice. "Madara, the founder of the Uchiha Clan, possessed this power. That was how he could stand against the First Hokage as an equal."
"For now, we need to give ourselves time to grow stronger. Do you understand?"
Seiichi frowned, not quite understanding what Hayato meant, but he still nodded. "All right. I'll listen to you!"
The Uchiha revered strength. Hayato was stronger than him, and he'd even helped him bring Rin's body back under those circumstances. That alone was enough for Seiichi to obey him.
Before you continue