Father in the Dead of Night

Shuo Ye woke up from the heat.

It was two in the morning. The lights in his room were off, and a sliver of moonlight seeped through the curtains. His blanket had been kicked onto the floor, and the back of his pajamas was soaked with sweat.

He turned over, intending to go back to sleep.

Then he heard voices.

They came from the living room—low, muffled voices. But in the silence of the dead night, the walls offered poor soundproofing.

Shuo Ye sat up.

He recognized one of the voices. It was his father, Takuma.

There were several others as well. Unfamiliar, low-pitched, and carrying a restrained gravity.

Barefoot, he walked to his bedroom door and pressed his ear against it.

"...Lord Fugaku's meaning is that we can't keep waiting." That was Takuma's voice. "The higher-ups have already made their position clear—the surveillance will only get tighter."

Another voice said, "There are objections within the Police Department too. Our people have been targeted by the ANBU several times already. How much longer are we supposed to endure this?"

"The gathering at Naka Shrine is next Wednesday," a third voice said. "Lord Fugaku will explain everything himself."

Shuo Ye's fingers tightened against the door.

Naka Shrine. Fugaku. A gathering.

Put together, those words pointed to a fact he desperately did not want to face.

The Uchiha Clan's coup plan—was already being prepared.

In the original story, the Uchiha Clan's coup had been led by Fugaku. As the clan head, he had borne immense pressure from his clansmen—after the Nine-Tails Incident, the Uchiha Clan had been distrusted, isolated, and even relocated to the outskirts of the village.

The clansmen's resentment had accumulated day by day, eventually becoming calls for action.

And Fugaku, as the clan head, had needed to protect the interests of his people while not wanting to completely tear relations with the village apart.

But in the end—he had chosen to support the coup.

Shuo Ye took a step back.

His heart pounded. His seven-year-old body was producing too much adrenaline in response to the stress, but his reason told him—he could not go out there now.

He pressed himself to the door and kept listening.

"...What about Itachi?" Takuma asked.

A stretch of silence followed.

"That child..." The first voice paused. "Lord Fugaku is still considering it. Itachi's talent is too great, and the ANBU are watching him as well."

"Promoted to jonin at thirteen—both sides would want to win over a genius like that," another voice said. "But if he stands with the village—"

"He won't." Takuma cut him off. "Itachi is an Uchiha child."

His tone was certain.

Shuo Ye closed his eyes.

Takuma was wrong.

Itachi would ultimately stand with the village. He would choose to slaughter his own clan with his own hands, to protect Sasuke and—to some extent—protect the village.

That was the inevitable ending.

But Takuma did not know that yet. None of the Uchiha clansmen did.

They believed their power was enough to contend with the village. They believed the Sharingan was a weapon that guaranteed victory.

They did not know that while they plotted their coup, the Third Hokage and his advisers had already received intelligence.

They knew even less that the final solution would be a massacre.

Footsteps.

Someone was moving.

Shuo Ye immediately backed away, silently climbed back into bed, and pulled the blanket up to his chin.

The light outside the crack beneath his door dimmed for a moment—someone had passed through the hallway.

Then the light returned. The footsteps faded away.

Shuo Ye stared at the ceiling.

He should pretend he had heard nothing. He should keep pretending to be a seven-year-old child who knew nothing about the adults' world.

But he could not sleep.

The coup.

The timing matched his memories. The night of the clan's massacre would occur one night when he was nine—and preparations for the coup would begin two years earlier.

Now was the beginning.

"...We can't keep waiting."

Takuma's words echoed in his mind.

He rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head.

About an hour later, Shuo Ye heard the living room door open and close.

The clansmen had left.

Takuma moved around the living room. There was the sound of cups being cleared away, the sound of running water, and then—footsteps approaching his room.

Shuo Ye hurriedly closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing.

The door was pushed open.

Moonlight from the hallway spilled in, drawing a rectangular patch of light across the floor.

Takuma stood in the doorway.

Shuo Ye narrowed his eyes, pretending to still be asleep.

Takuma watched him for several seconds, then gently closed the door.

The footsteps receded.

A few minutes later, Shuo Ye heard his parents' bedroom door open and close.

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

Moonlight shone through the gap in the curtains, casting a pale strip of light across the floor.

The coup.

He had to do something.

But what?

A seven-year-old child had no say in the Uchiha Clan. His father was merely a chunin in the Police Department and did not even qualify to attend clan meetings.

The people he could reach—Naruto, Ino, Iruka, Sasuke—not one of them could influence the Uchiha Clan's decisions.

But—

Something suddenly came to Shuo Ye.

The Third Hokage.

Hiruzen Sarutobi.

As Hokage, he must already know about the Uchiha Clan's coup plan. In the original story, he had chosen to have Itachi carry out the mission to wipe out the clan—a cruel but effective solution.

But what if—before the coup happened—someone told him?

No, that was too dangerous.

If a seven-year-old child went to tell the Third Hokage, "The Uchiha Clan is planning a coup," who would believe him?

And if the news leaked, the Uchiha Clan's first response would be—to find the informant.

He and his parents would all die.

Shuo Ye turned over.

Not now. At least, not yet.

He needed to grow stronger. He needed enough influence. He needed—

"Shuo Ye?"

His mother's voice came from outside the door.

Shuo Ye quickly closed his eyes.

The door opened a crack. Shizuka poked her head in, saw him "sleeping" in bed, and softly sighed.

She walked in and pulled the blanket he had kicked away back over him.

Her fingers touched his forehead—it was cool.

Shizuka stood by the bed for several seconds, then bent down and kissed his forehead.

"Go to sleep," she whispered. "There's nothing to worry about."

Then she stepped out and closed the door.

Shuo Ye opened his eyes.

The moonlight was still there.

"There's nothing to worry about."

Of course, he knew what his mother meant—he had probably asked about his father coming home late during the day. Shizuka had brushed it aside with those words.

But Shuo Ye knew it was not "nothing."

It was the calm before the storm.

He closed his eyes.

Two years.

Two years from now, if he did nothing, the Uchiha Clan would vanish from the map. His parents would die. Sasuke would live his entire life consumed by hatred. Itachi would carry his sins until death.

Two years.

He had to find a way to change all of it within those two years.

The next morning, Shuo Ye woke earlier than usual.

He sat at the dining table and watched Takuma drink miso soup.

There were dark shadows beneath Takuma's eyes—he had not slept well last night.

"Dad."

"Yeah?"

"Did you go out last night?"

Takuma paused with the soup at his lips.

"Work," he said. "Overtime at the Police Department."

"Oh."

Shuo Ye lowered his head and continued eating breakfast.

He made a note of it in his heart—

Preparations for the coup had already begun.

And he, Uchiha Sakuya, was seven years old, in his first year at the Ninja Academy, and had yet to awaken his Sharingan.

He had to speed things up.