Doubt and Panic

The deathly silence lasted only one second.

Then a tremendous uproar exploded like a tsunami inside the sealed underground chamber.

The sound waves slammed against the stone walls, shaking even the torches on the high platform.

"Flee?"

A special jonin in the front row took a fierce step forward, the veins on his neck writhing like crawling insects. He pointed at Xuan Shi on the stage, spittle flying.

"What kind of joke is this? We're Uchiha! We founded Konoha! Why should we run like homeless dogs?"

That roar was like a spark dropped into a powder keg.

"Exactly! Better to die fighting than live on our knees!"

"We have the Police Force, we have hundreds of pairs of Sharingan! Fight them!"

"Coward! This is the act of cowards!"

The crowd boiled over.

Especially the young, hot-blooded chunin and genin. They had grown up hearing of Uchiha glory, with the arrogance of the "greatest clan" carved into their bones. Getting them to admit they were lambs waiting for slaughter was worse than killing them.

Even some of the housewives holding children showed confusion and resistance in their eyes.

Their homes were here, their furniture was here, the streets they had watched grow with them were here. With one airy word, "flee," they were supposed to throw all of it away?

And go to some "past"?

It sounded like the ravings of a lunatic.

"Silence!"

Yashiro Uchiha drew his ninja blade and hacked hard into the stone pillar beside him. Sparks flew in all directions.

But this time, even his authority could not suppress the scene.

Anger and doubt spread like a plague.

"Clan head! Is this your intention too?"

Someone turned the spearhead toward Fugaku. "Are you going to lead the entire clan into becoming rogue ninja?"

Fugaku pressed his lips tightly together and was just about to speak.

A cold, clear voice suddenly rang out.

It was not loud, but it was like an ice blade, cutting cleanly through the clamorous sound waves.

"Is this your plan, Father?"

The crowd automatically opened a path.

Itachi Uchiha walked out from the shadows.

He did not look at the agitated clansmen around him, nor did he look at the Xuan Shi who called himself "commander in chief."

Those red eyes were fixed tightly on Uchiha Fugaku.

Even in this chamber where thousands had gathered, the loneliness around him was still thick as ink that would not dissolve.

"The whole clan fleeing..."

Itachi walked up onto the high platform step by step.

With each step, the air around him grew a little colder.

"Do you know what that means?"

He stood before Fugaku, his back to the clansmen below, his voice carrying no emotional fluctuation at all.

"Once we take this step, Uchiha will no longer be Konoha's Police Force, but wanted criminals of the entire ninja world."

"The village won't let us go, and the other ninja villages will pounce on us like vultures."

Itachi's fingers rested lightly on the hilt of his blade.

"For the clan's selfish interests, for so-called survival, you would break the village's peace and trigger the Fourth Great Ninja War?"

"Is this Uchiha's capacity?"

His questioning struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

The clamor below the platform quieted down.

Many clansmen showed hesitation.

They had lived in Konoha for decades. Though they had been ostracized, the teaching of "for the sake of peace" was still deeply rooted in them. Becoming rogue ninja meant spending the rest of their lives being hunted. To many who yearned for stability, that was a future more terrifying than death.

Itachi turned around, his gaze sweeping across the people below.

"If we go back now, confess to the Hokage, and hand over the mastermind, perhaps there is still a chance of survival."

His gaze finally landed on Xuan Shi.

It was the look one gave a dead man.

"Instead of listening to this mad nonsense and dragging the entire clan into the abyss."

The atmosphere changed.

Itachi's words were like a basin of cold water, dousing the radicals' anger while stirring up the moderates' fear.

The crowd began to waver.

Fugaku's expression turned extremely ugly. He looked at this eldest son who made him proud and broke his heart, his lips trembling as if he wanted to say something, only for the hard lump in his throat to block it.

Just then.

A burst of applause rang out abruptly.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Xuan Shi clapped his hands and walked out from behind Fugaku.

He walked all the way to Itachi.

There was less than half a meter between them.

They could hear each other breathe.

"Very well said."

The corner of Xuan Shi's mouth curled into a mocking arc. "As expected of the Third Hokage's fine student. You've memorized that whole 'Will of Fire' spiel perfectly."

Itachi ignored his mockery, his eyes still cold.

"I am stating facts."

"Facts?"

Xuan Shi put away his smile, his eyes instantly sharpening like knives.

"The facts you speak of—is that the village's peace, or Uchiha's tombstone?"

He abruptly turned around to face the thousands of clansmen below.

"None of you want to flee because you think this place is home. You think the village will still protect us. You think that as long as we don't make trouble, we can survive."

"Itachi says the same. He says that as long as we confess, as long as we hand over the mastermind, we can live."

Xuan Shi pointed at Itachi, his voice suddenly rising.

"But what if I told you that Konoha's upper ranks already drew up a 'purge plan'?"

An uproar broke out below the platform.

"What purge plan?"

"What is he talking about?"

Xuan Shi did not give them time to react.

He pulled a scroll he had prepared long ago from his chest and snapped it open.

Though there was only blank space on it, beneath the dim firelight, that motion was extremely inflammatory.

"Codename: 'Bloodless Surrender.'"

"Execution time: the full-moon night three days from now."

"Executioners: Anbu, Root."

"Targets for elimination: the entire Uchiha clan."

Xuan Shi stared hard at every person below, his voice nailing itself into their ears like spikes.

"Not just the coup participants."

"Not just the Police Force."

"Everyone."

"Including the elderly lying in bed, including the women cooking meals, even including..."

Xuan Shi pointed toward the front row of the crowd.

There, Uchiha Mikoto was holding the five-year-old Sasuke, staring at the platform in terror.

"Even including that child who is only five years old!"

Sasuke was frightened, shrinking into his mother's arms and bursting into loud sobs.

The child's cries echoed through the chamber, stabbing every person's eardrums.

"Is... is that true?"

Someone asked in a trembling voice.

"Impossible... how could the village..."

"They won't even spare children?"

Fear burned through the crowd like wildfire.

If a moment ago they had not wanted to be cowards, then now, they began to fear becoming corpses.

Itachi's pupils suddenly contracted.

The hand holding his blade trembled violently.

He had not expected Xuan Shi to lay everything out so plainly. Still less had he expected the other man to know the core secret of "Bloodless Surrender," something only he and Konoha's upper ranks should have known.

"You're lying."

Itachi's voice was still cold and hard, but his confidence was already somewhat lacking. "The village promised me, as long as..."

"As long as you slaughter the whole clan, they'll leave Sasuke's life?"

Xuan Shi cut him off directly.

This sentence was spoken in a voice only the two of them could hear.

Itachi's body went rigid.

As if struck by lightning, he froze in place.

Xuan Shi leaned close to his ear, like a devil whispering.

"That's the deal you made with Danzo, isn't it? Trade hundreds of lives for your little brother alone to live?"

"You..."

Itachi jerked his head around, the three tomoe in his eyes spinning wildly, murderous intent almost exploding beyond his control.

Xuan Shi did not retreat.

Facing Itachi's murderous aura, he shouted out loud enough for the entire hall to hear.

"Tell me! Itachi Uchiha!"

"If the village wants to kill all your clansmen, kill your parents, even kill Sasuke!"

Xuan Shi pointed at the crying Sasuke below the platform.

"Will you still defend that so-called 'peace'?"

"Is your so-called capacity standing by unmoved as your loved ones die?"

"If that's the case, then that kind of peace..."

Xuan Shi enunciated every word, his voice like rolling thunder.

"I. Don't. Need. It!"

Boom!

That sentence completely detonated the emotions of the entire room.

"He's right! Screw peace!"

"The village is going to kill our whole families, and we're still supposed to reason with them?"

"If they dare touch my child, I'll take them down with me!"

Anger overwhelmed fear.

The will to survive overwhelmed glory.

People began to shove, began to curse, and the radicals even drew their weapons, staring viciously at Itachi. In their eyes, this young master who was still speaking for the village had already become synonymous with traitor.

"Grab him!"

"Don't let him run!"

Some people even wanted to rush up onto the high platform.

The situation was about to spiral out of control.

Itachi stood at the center of the storm.

His face was as pale as paper.

Xuan Shi's words had shattered every one of his logical defenses. Especially the part about Sasuke.

Would Danzo truly spare Sasuke?

Under an order to "kill the entire clan," could a five-year-old orphan really survive?

He wavered.

That heart, once firm as iron, developed a tiny crack.

Just then.

A vast, suffocating chakra suddenly erupted from the center of the high platform.

It was not aimed at any one person, but pressed down heavily on everyone's heart like a great mountain.

All the clamor came to an abrupt stop.

Those clansmen who had wanted to rush the platform felt their knees go weak and nearly dropped to the ground.

Uchiha Fugaku moved.

He had not activated his Mangekyo. Merely relying on his own terrifying amount of chakra, he suppressed the riot of thousands.

He slowly walked to the front of the platform.

He stood between Itachi and the agitated clansmen.

He did not look at those furious faces. Instead, he first looked deeply at Itachi behind him.

There was no blame in that gaze, only a profound sorrow and... guilt.

Itachi avoided his father's eyes and lowered his head.

Fugaku turned around and faced the dense, dark crowd below the platform.

He took a deep breath and straightened the clan head's robe on his body.

Then.

He did something no one had expected.

This clan head, who was usually stern, unsmiling, and deeply imposing, slowly bent at the waist, lowered both knees to the ground, and knelt on the cold stone platform.

His hands rested on his knees, his head bowed low.

It was an extremely solemn posture.

"Clan head?!"

Yashiro cried out in shock from below the platform.

"About the purge order..."

Fugaku's voice was hoarse and heavy, carried clearly into everyone's ears through an amplification ninjutsu.

"It is true."

A chorus of sharp intakes rang through the crowd.

With the clan head confirming it in person, even the most stubborn dreamers completely gave up hope in that moment.

"As clan head, I failed to lead everyone toward prosperity. Instead, I brought the clan to the edge of a cliff. This is my sin."

Fugaku raised his head.

There was no red glow of the Sharingan in those eyes, only the exhaustion and pleading of a middle-aged man.

"Tonight, I do not want to command you as the clan head."

"I want to stand as a father who failed to protect his child, as a husband who failed to protect his family..."

His gaze passed through the crowd, landed on Mikoto and Sasuke, and finally returned to everyone.

"And beg one thing of you."

"Lend your lives to Xuan Shi."

"Even if there is only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of hope, even if it is hell."

"As long as the children can survive..."

Fugaku's voice caught for a moment, then became incomparably firm.

"These old bones of ours are meant to pave the road."

"Run."

"Run from this man-eating village."

"Run to the far end of time."

After saying this, Fugaku lowered his head deeply, his forehead touching the cold stone surface.

Thud.

The muffled sound of that kowtow was more deafening than any grand declaration.

Below the platform, Mikoto covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

The radicals holding weapons slowly lowered their hands.

The crying children were hugged tightly in their mothers' arms.

The entire underground chamber sank into a tragic, deathly silence.

Xuan Shi stood to the side, looking at Fugaku kneeling on the ground, then at Itachi beside him, whose expression was complicated.

The timing was right.

Their pride had been shattered.

Their illusions had been torn apart.

Now, only one path remained.

He took a step forward and raised his right hand.

On the back of his hand, the countdown that belonged to the system was making its final sprint.

"Everyone!"

Xuan Shi's voice was cold and resolute.

"Heed my command."

"Sit cross-legged."

"Release your chakra."

"We are going to... smash open that door."