"Suit yourself." Natsu curled his lips into an almost cruel smile, completely unfazed by Fugaku's imposing presence. "Uncle, you've clung to the Uchiha Clan's past glory for so long that you've forgotten the most fundamental rule of the Ninja World—survival of the fittest."
"You still think Konoha can coexist with us while accepting our differences? Do you know how many Sharingan are hidden in Root's underground laboratory? Do you know what Shimura Danzō hides beneath those bandages he wears every day?"
He leaned forward, his gaze like two poisoned daggers stabbing straight into Fugaku's eyes. "Do you dare go to the Hokage Building right now and force Shimura Danzō to unwrap those bandages so you can see for yourself?"
"As an Elite Jonin, do you really believe my parents died in an accident at the border?"
"They were carrying out a top-secret mission. Other than you and the Hokage, who knew their route? Why were they ambushed so precisely on their way back?"
"All these years, haven't enough clan members died without any explanation? Can you truly not see any of it?"
Each question struck Fugaku's heart like a heavy hammer. Natsu's voice grew deeper and colder.
"Uchiha Fugaku! Fifty years ago, when Konoha was first founded, our Uchiha Clan had more than thirty thousand members and a full three thousand shinobi capable of taking the battlefield! We were undeniably the foremost great clan of the Ninja World!"
"And now?"
"The entire clan has fewer than ten thousand people left, and we cannot even gather a thousand shinobi capable of wielding a Kunai!
"In just fifty years, we have lost more than two-thirds of our people. Do you truly think the Uchiha are still the same Uchiha who once stood equal to the Senju Clan?"
"Do you know how many people the Sarutobi Clan has now? Fifty thousand! More than two thousand registered shinobi! And that is only the number on the surface!"
"And the Mitokado Clan. When Konoha was first established, their entire clan had barely over a hundred people. What about now? More than ten thousand clan members and eight hundred shinobi!"
"What did they rely on to rise? Don't you know? The destroyed Senju Clan, and the exterminated Uzumaki! The foundations accumulated by two great clans over centuries fed the four clans of the Konoha higher-ups!"
"But fifty years have passed, and even the greatest fortune can be drained dry. Three Ninja World Wars have already exhausted Konoha's reserves! Even now, more than half the compensation for the shinobi who died in the Third War has yet to be paid!"
Natsu's voice abruptly rose, carrying a ruthless, all-or-nothing resolve. "How are they supposed to fill such a massive hole?"
"War reparations? The higher-ups divided those up long ago!"
"The military funding provided by the daimyo? It is not even enough for daily expenses!"
"Could they possibly make the Sarutobi pay out of their own pockets? If it were you, would you spit out the meat already in your mouth? Would you sacrifice your own clan's interests to fill that hole?"
The tea room fell deathly silent.
At some point, Fugaku had sat back down. Cold sweat dripped from his temples along his jaw, falling into the cooled tea and spreading delicate ripples.
He was not a fool.
It was not that he could not see these things. He simply did not dare think about them, nor did he want to pierce that final veil.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's words—"Konoha will always be the Uchiha's home"—had been bait. He had bitten down on it for so many years that it had already sunk into his flesh. Pulling it out would mean blood everywhere.
He had even foolishly held onto hope, sending Itachi into the Anbu because he thought he had planted a piece on the board. Now, Natsu's words shattered that illusion completely.
Shisui's death, Kagami's fate, the clan members who had died one after another on missions without explanation—their faces flickered through his mind.
His chest heaved violently as he gasped for breath. His Sharingan had long since faded, but his eyes shifted away in disarray, unwilling to meet Natsu's icy gaze again. The hand resting on his knee began trembling uncontrollably.
"Natsu, many things are not as simple as you think."
After a long silence, Fugaku's gaze remained nailed to the grain of the low table. His voice was heavy as lead. "Lord Hokage has already promised me that he will give the Uchiha an explanation..."
"Uncle, I have already found a place that no one knows about." Natsu looked at him, his tone calm but unquestionable. "The Uchiha cannot afford to keep wasting away. We need time to recover and rebuild."
"It is too risky. I will not agree."
"Uncle, you should have heard of Genno, the trap master from Blazing Sun Village during the Second Shinobi World War." Natsu's voice was utterly even, yet every word carried a bone-chilling coldness. "He buried a full one hundred thousand Explosive Tags beneath Konoha."
Fugaku's pupils abruptly contracted. He jerked his head up, scarlet Sharingan instantly swirling into view as he roared, "Have you lost your mind?!"
"I have not." Facing Fugaku's overwhelming fury, Natsu instead became completely calm, his gaze as cold as an icebound lake in the depths of winter.
"Unlike you, I will not give up resisting for the sake of my son. My Shadow Clone is beside Uncle Kei right now. The instant it disappears, Uncle Kei will immediately carry out the plan."
The words struck like a thunderbolt, leaving Fugaku cold from head to toe.
Uchiha Kei was his father's sworn brother, the man his father had dragged out from a heap of corpses years ago. He was also one of the few Elite Jonin in the clan who possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Ever since Natsu's uncle and aunt had died, Kei had become Natsu's sharpest blade and most dependable support. He obeyed only Natsu's commands and might not even listen to Fugaku, the clan head.
If those one hundred thousand Explosive Tags truly detonated, more than half of Konoha would be blown apart.
At that point, no matter how Fugaku explained it, Hiruzen Sarutobi would use it as a pretext to brand the Uchiha as rebels and purge the entire clan with full justification.
Fugaku felt a chill surge from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, making his scalp tingle. Gritting his teeth, he growled, "You are completely insane!"
"Uncle, there are only two paths now." Natsu's voice did not rise or fall, yet it struck Fugaku's heart like repeated hammer blows. "Either come with me and save Sasuke, save the entire Uchiha Clan. Or cling to that vague, empty hope of yours and wait for the whole clan to be wiped out."
Fugaku's chest rose and fell violently. He stared fixedly at the boy before him for a long moment before forcing out a sentence through clenched teeth. "Aren't you afraid that I will kill you right now?!"
"Of course I am." Natsu curled his lips in a smile devoid of warmth. "That is why I arranged everything long ago. Uncle Kei has taken everyone willing to follow me, and they are all waiting for news.
"If you refuse today, I will certainly die. Either way, I die. So why should I not drag all of Konoha down to be buried with the Uchiha?"
A deathly silence spread through the tea room. It lasted so long that Mikoto's clenched fingertips turned white, and even her breathing softened.
Fugaku looked at his nephew, who was only eleven years old, at the ruthless resolve in his eyes that would rather shatter than yield. At last, like a deflated skin, Fugaku's shoulders gradually slumped. His voice trembled uncontrollably. "What exactly are you planning?"
"I awakened a special ability that can take the entire clan to a New World no one knows about." Natsu finally withdrew the hostility surrounding him, and his tone sank.
"That land is more vast than the Land of Fire. There are no Konoha spies, no enemies watching us like tigers, and no one knows where we came from."
"Before we leave, we will sell all of the clan's properties at low prices in exchange for enough supplies and provisions.
"At the same time, we will activate the Defense Formation around the clan grounds to buy time, then detonate the Explosive Tags to throw the entire city into chaos.
"Amid the chaos, I will open a Portal and take every clan member and all our supplies out of Konoha completely in the shortest possible time.
"Other than me, no one will know where we are going."
He paused before adding the most crucial part. "We do not have much time to hesitate. My ability showed me that Shimura Danzō has already joined forces with Orochimaru and developed a method to suppress Hashirama Cells."
"Hashirama Cells?" Fugaku froze, as if unable to believe his ears. Even his voice cracked. "You mean... the cells of Lord Hashirama, the First?"
"What else?" Natsu sneered. "Shimura Danzō began secretly digging up the First's grave more than a decade ago to research his cells.
"Hashirama Cells can defy fate, greatly enhancing a person's physical abilities and chakra reserves. Those with sufficient talent can even directly awaken Wood Release.
"But you know how terrifying the vitality of the First's cells is. Ordinary people simply cannot withstand them. They will only be consumed by the cells and turned into a heap of rotten flesh.
"Guess how many lives Danzo has wasted on his experiments."
His gaze abruptly turned cold, like an ice-tempered dagger. "In the end, he set his sights on our Uchiha. He discovered that the Uchiha's Three-Tomoe Sharingan could precisely suppress the backlash of Hashirama Cells."
The words were like a blade, piercing straight through Fugaku's final layer of self-deception.
All strength drained from his body. He collapsed where he sat, with nothing but utter despair left in his eyes.
So from beginning to end, the Konoha higher-ups had never intended to leave the Uchiha even half a path to survival.
What they had always watched was never whether the Uchiha would rebel. It was their Sharingan—their bloodline capable of suppressing Hashirama Cells.
He recalled how Itachi had rarely returned home after Shisui's death and could not even be bothered to attend clan meetings. It felt as though a hand had tightly gripped his heart, squeezing until he could barely breathe.
"Can you guarantee that world can truly let the Uchiha survive?" He lowered his head, his voice hoarse as though scraped by sandpaper. He did not dare look into Natsu's eyes.
Natsu lifted his chin, his brows carrying a ruthlessness and certainty far beyond his age. Every word landed with force. "As long as you follow me, the Uchiha will not only survive—we will rise again! Even the grudges of nine generations can still be avenged. Every humiliation Konoha has inflicted upon the Uchiha today, I will repay a hundredfold someday!"
Fugaku looked at the boy before him and recalled what he had just said about dragging all of Konoha down to be buried with them. Only four words came to mind: never forgive even the slightest grievance.
He had guarded for so many years, endured for so many years, retreated at every step and compromised at every turn. Yet what he received was extermination. Since his path led nowhere, he might as well gamble once.
He took a deep breath, as though exhaling decades of restraint and grievance. When he spoke again, his voice carried a ruthless, all-or-nothing resolve. "Fine! Natsu! I will trust you this once! Since Hiruzen Sarutobi refuses to leave us a path to survival, then the Uchiha are not helpless fish waiting to be butchered!"
Before you continue