Whispers After the Clan Meeting

At night, the Uchiha District revealed truer emotions than it did by day.

During the day, there were registrations, classes, training, wounded transfers, and house clearing. Everyone had something to do. Even carrying a charred plank kept their hands busy. At night, torches were lit one by one, shadows stretched along the edges of the ruins, and the words suppressed during the day seeped out through door cracks, window paper, and courtyard walls.

Uchiha Che had already lain down.

He had not practiced Fire Release today, nor had he continued fiddling with chakra. The structural diagram for the Great Fireball was tucked beneath the wooden chest like a quiet hot potato. He had planned to sleep properly and show this four-year-old body a little basic respect.

But footsteps sounded outside the courtyard.

More than one person.

The footsteps passed through the northern corridor, deliberately softened but not fully concealed. Uchiha Che opened his eyes and heard a gentle knock on Nao's door.

"Nao, the clan meeting is over."

It was Uchiha Jian's voice.

Nao quickly opened the door.

"How did it go?"

Jian did not answer immediately.

Uchiha Che lay on his futon, staring at the ceiling beams in the darkness.

Eavesdropping was bad.

In modern society, doing that would get him called rude.

In the ninja world, it might also get him caught and scolded.

But for an Uchiha orphan who wanted to survive, manners probably could not rank above intelligence.

He did not get up. He only made his breathing lighter.

The voices in the corridor were very low.

"The clan head told everyone to maintain order for now," Uchiha Jian said. "The Military Police Force will continue assisting the village with post-disaster patrols. The damaged houses on the south side will be cleared by the clan itself, and the death list will continue to be checked tomorrow."

Nao asked, "What about the village?"

"The Third has resumed handling affairs. The Hokage Office has ordered unified registration for all disaster-stricken areas. The Anbu will come again."

Nao fell silent for a moment.

"They'll come again?"

"Mm."

Some displeasure was buried in Jian's voice.

"They said it was for post-disaster resettlement."

No explanation followed that statement right away.

But the pause itself was explanation enough.

Uchiha Che's heart slowly sank.

The Anbu would come again.

That meant today's registration had not been the end, but the beginning.

Nao said softly, "What is the clan saying?"

"What else can they say?" Jian's tone finally sharpened. "Some think the village does not trust the Uchiha. Some think now is not the time for chaos. Some think the Nine-Tails' appearance was far too suspicious. The Military Police Force was restricted to the outer perimeter last night. That cannot be kept under wraps."

Uchiha Che closed his eyes.

Cannot be kept under wraps.

Those three words were dangerous.

The Uchiha clan was not stupid, nor were they blind to the position they had been placed in. The problem was what to do after seeing it. Endure for now, and the crack would continue widening; speak up and fight, and the suspicion would be more easily confirmed.

In his old memories, countless conflicts had been summed up as "the village suspected the Uchiha, and the Uchiha resented the village."

But hearing adults discuss it in hushed voices, that resentment was not just a matter of rules.

It had a voice, exhaustion, anger, and unwillingness.

Nao asked, "What about the children?"

"Don't let them hear too much yet."

The moment Uchiha Jian said that, the corridor suddenly fell silent.

Uchiha Che's heartbeat skipped half a beat.

He did not move.

Jian's voice came from outside. "Is Che asleep?"

Nao answered, "He should be."

"This child is not hard of hearing."

Uchiha Che sighed inwardly.

Uchiha Jian, why were you so strict in class and still so strict at night?

Nao seemed to glance toward his door.

"He knows his limits."

"I'm afraid he knows his limits too well," Jian said. "A four-year-old child, even after going through something like this, should not always look like he is weighing something."

That left Uchiha Che with no way to keep joking to himself.

Nao's voice lowered. "Both his parents are gone."

"That is why it is troublesome," Jian said. "Some people lose their parents and cry, make a scene, cling to adults and refuse to let go. Che is not like that. He puts everything away, knows what to say, and even knows to hold back during training. A child like that, if no one pulls him along, can easily think himself into a dead end."

Uchiha Che stared at the ceiling beams.

He suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

Being watched by the Anbu and being seen through by an adult from the clan were two very different feelings. The former felt like danger. The latter felt like someone suddenly reaching out amid the ruins, trying to pull him back from some edge.

Nao said, "I'll keep an eye on him."

Jian gave a quiet hum.

"Also, the clan head mentioned that several orphans had shown good instincts. They may be arranged for basic training early on. Not formal Ninja Academy training, just supplementary lessons within the clan."

Nao's tone changed. "Is Che among them?"

"Possibly."

"His shoulder injury has not healed yet."

"I know," Jian said. "That is why I will keep him in check. Mine is watching him too. We will not push the children too fast."

Uchiha Che's heart stirred slightly.

The clan head had mentioned children with good instincts.

He had saved Kiyo last night, landed in the outer ring during today's throwing practice, performed reasonably but not exceptionally in class, and had made no mistakes in Fire Release class. By all rights, he had tried to keep himself within an ordinary range.

But even within the ordinary range, there were ordinary people "worth cultivating."

He could not show no ability at all.

But neither could he perform so well that he was singled out.

The margin was narrower than he had imagined.

The conversation in the corridor continued.

Nao asked, "Will the village interfere with orphan placement?"

Jian's voice dropped even lower. "The clan head will not let outsiders take charge of Uchiha children."

"What about the Hokage Office?"

"Not openly."

Not openly.

Those words made Uchiha Che's back turn cold.

In his old memories, Danzo and Root had been best at operating out of sight. The Third had now resumed power, Konoha needed stability, and the Uchiha needed to be placated, but the hands in the shadows would not rest because of that.

He did not know whether Danzo had begun watching Uchiha orphans yet.

He probably would not be watching him specifically.

But he had already added "probably" to his list of unreliable words.

Footsteps sounded again.

Jian was preparing to leave.

Nao asked one final question. "Did the clan meeting mention why the Nine-Tails appeared?"

Jian paused for a long time.

"There was no conclusion. Someone only said there seemed to be traces of the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes."

Uchiha Che's breathing almost faltered.

Sharingan.

In the night, that word was like a kunai suddenly dropping.

Nao's voice changed as well. "Who said that?"

"It came from the village."

"What evidence is there?"

"None has been made public."

Nao lowered her voice. "That is the most dangerous part."

Jian did not refute her.

After a while, he said, "The clan head told everyone not to argue outside. The more we argue, the more it will look like we have a guilty conscience."

"If we do not argue, will they believe us?"

Jian did not answer.

Uchiha Che closed his eyes.

He knew the Nine-Tails had been controlled by the Sharingan.

He also knew it had not been done by the people here in the Uchiha District.

But who would believe that?

The masked man, Obito, would not step forward to explain. Konoha's higher-ups would not set aside their suspicions just because there was no public evidence. The more the Uchiha clan insisted on their innocence, the more others would think they were desperate to clear themselves.

It was a blame to be pinned on them.

And it had already been pinned.

The footsteps in the corridor faded away.

Nao stood outside for a while without coming in. She probably knew he was not asleep, and she probably knew he had heard part of it. But she did not expose him.

That, too, was a form of protection.

Uchiha Che waited until the outside had gone quiet before slowly sitting up.

The room was very dark, with only a faint remnant of torchlight filtering through the window paper. He took paper and a pen from the wooden chest. Without lighting a lamp, he wrote by that weak light alone.

His handwriting came out terribly crooked.

But it was legible.

He wrote:

"Information after the clan meeting."

"First, the Anbu will come again."

"Second, the village's unified registration will not be a one-time matter."

"Third, the Military Police Force was restricted to the outer perimeter, and the clan is dissatisfied."

"Fourth, someone mentioned traces of the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes."

"Fifth, the clan head ordered everyone not to argue."

"Sixth, orphans with good instincts may receive early training."

When he reached the sixth point, his pen stopped.

He added a sentence beside it.

"I may already be more conspicuous than expected."

It was not a pretty sentence.

But reality had no obligation to be pretty.

Uchiha Che placed the paper on his knees and looked down at it for a long time.

The timeline in his memories was like a great river in his mind: Nine-Tails Night, suspicion falling on the Uchiha, the district being marginalized, conflicts deepening, Shisui's death, Itachi exterminating the clan, Sasuke surviving.

Those great bends had not changed.

At least, they did not seem to have changed yet.

So for now, he could still trust the direction of that great river.

But the small stones by its banks had already begun to change.

Nao and Jian's attention toward him, Mine telling him to keep records, the Anbu writing both Kiyo and the stuffed doll into their scroll, the clan head mentioning orphans with good instincts. His old memories had never told him about these details.

They might not change the river's direction.

But they would change where he stood.

Uchiha Che said softly, "The broad direction is reliable. The details are not."

After saying that, he felt he could treat it as a rule for the time being.

He wrote again:

"Old memories: map of danger."

"Reality records: the ground beneath my feet."

When he finished, he blew the paper dry, folded it, and placed it between his father's family records and the record of the Anbu interrogation.

There were more and more things in the wooden chest.

His parents' belongings.

Name practice.

Meridian sketches.

Great Fireball structure.

The masked ninja's interrogation.

Information after the clan meeting.

None of these papers or objects could make him stronger immediately, yet little by little, they formed his way of surviving.

Record.

Assess.

Hide his abilities.

Practice.

Record again.

He did not know whether this method would help him survive the night of the massacre, but at least it was better than closing his eyes and trusting fate.

A very soft voice suddenly came from outside the door.

"Che."

It was Nao.

Uchiha Che's hand paused.

He gently closed the wooden box and walked to the door.

"Aunt Nao?"

Nao did not open the door. She only stood outside.

"Can't sleep?"

Che looked at the door panel.

Lying would have been easy.

But lying to Nao had become harder and harder lately.

"A little."

Nao's voice came through the door. "How much did you hear?"

Uchiha Che fell silent.

"Enough to make it even harder to sleep."

It was quiet outside for a moment.

Nao sighed softly.

"Some things aren't for you to worry about right now."

"Will they not happen just because I don't think about them?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Che regretted them a little.

They sounded far too unlike something a child would say.

Yet Nao did not scold him.

She merely said, "No."

It was an honest answer.

Honest enough to be reassuring, and unsettling at the same time.

"But there's very little you can do right now," Nao continued. "Eat, sleep, recover, go to class, train gradually. Do those things well first."

Uchiha Che lowered his head.

"That sounds ordinary."

"Even ordinary things aren't easy if you keep doing them well."

He thought of what he had written today: "Be a little ordinary, but not so ordinary that I die." Suddenly, he felt as though Nao had seen those words through the door.

"Aunt Nao."

"Mm?"

"If someone asks what I heard tonight..."

"Say you didn't hear clearly."

Che blinked.

Nao added, "That isn't asking you to lie. You really didn't hear all of it clearly."

Uchiha Che could not help smiling.

"Learned something."

"Don't use it carelessly."

"I'll try."

Nao stood there for a while longer.

"Go to sleep."

Her footsteps faded away.

Uchiha Che returned to the futon and lay down again.

This time, he did not get up to write anything else.

He closed his eyes and repeated the two conclusions he had just reached in his mind.

Old memories were a dangerous map.

Records of reality were the ground beneath his feet.

The former told him where the distant abyss lay.

The latter told him whether his next step would land on solid ground.

Both mattered.

Neither could be trusted completely.

And neither could be discarded.

The night breeze passed over the window paper, and the torchlight's lingering glow slowly dimmed.

At last, Uchiha Che felt a little sleepy.

Just before he drifted off, an utterly inappropriate thought suddenly popped into his head.

If he really lived long enough to write a memoir someday, he should give these past days a subtitle.

<How to Pretend to Be Ordinary in the Uchiha District>.

The title was rather long.

But accurate.

With that faint smile, he fell asleep.

Outside the door, Konoha still slowly mended its wounds in the darkness, while quietly hiding new cracks where daylight could not see them.