In the Name of Uchiha

"See you!"

School had just let out. Sasuke slung his bag over his shoulder, said goodbye to his classmates at the school gate, then followed the creek home to the Uchiha District, singing happily all the way.

He suddenly stopped.

There were no corpses strewn everywhere like in that other timeline. The Uchiha District was still bustling and prosperous.

Sasuke did not notice the cold gazes lurking in the dark woods, nor did he notice the grave expressions on the guards stationed at the district entrance. The merchant selling tri-colored dango on the street was still doing brisk business. Sasuke squeezed into the crowd and used the allowance he had saved up to buy two skewers.

Bang!

The door was pulled open.

"Big Brother, guess what I bought you?"

The boy held up the two skewers of dango, but his eager tone did not receive the answer he had expected.

The air seemed to freeze.

His father, Uchiha Fugaku, and mother, Uchiha Mikoto, sat in the main hall as though praying to the gods, or perhaps waiting for fate to descend. They turned and looked at him calmly.

For some reason, Sasuke felt that the two gazes fixed upon him were strangely unfamiliar.

Dad...

Mom...

Who are you looking at?

"It's Sasuke." Fugaku's voice shattered the silence, and his smile gave Sasuke back that familiar feeling.

"Itachi... is still out on a mission. He hasn't returned yet."

There was no telling whether his tone held relief or disappointment.

"Oh..." After standing there blankly for two seconds, Sasuke's face completely fell.

Big Brother was out on a mission again.

Dinner was utterly tasteless.

The only sounds at the table were chopsticks accidentally tapping against bowls and Sasuke chewing and swallowing. The streets outside had fallen silent as well. Even the training grounds had lost their usual lively clamor. There was no wind, no birds, no frogs, no cicadas. The worlds inside and outside had somehow reached a bizarre understanding.

It was as though something was brewing, and everyone in the district, even nature itself, was silently waiting.

After dinner.

"Don't go to school tomorrow." Fugaku spoke his first words since the meal had begun.

He never gave Sasuke a chance to argue under normal circumstances. Likewise, a sentence so clear and direct was never a suggestion. It was an order.

Affected by the deathly silent and solemn atmosphere, Sasuke nodded quietly, inexplicable panic rising within him.

After night fell.

Uneasy, Sasuke squatted by the entrance holding the two skewers of tri-colored dango. He could neither read nor play with his toys. He only wanted Big Brother to see him the moment he came home.

Sasuke could not stay focused while waiting. From time to time, he tilted his head to look at his father's back as he sat in the main hall, confusion on his face.

From Sasuke's angle, the head of the Uchiha Clan was holding a slip of paper with no more than ten characters written on it. Yet Fugaku had been staring at it for at least an hour.

At some point, it was as though everyone in the district received some kind of message at the same time. The distant, indistinct murmurs of a crowd rose once more throughout the Uchiha District, like the buzzing of mosquitoes.

It felt unfamiliar yet familiar to Sasuke, like someone who had been deaf for a time hearing sounds again, yet no longer being able to make out what those sounds meant.

Footsteps approached from afar.

The door was pulled open.

It was not Big Brother Itachi.

"Tomorrow, we'll finally be able to give Danzo and the others a surprise. Everyone's morale is high, Clan Head!"

Members of the Uchiha Clan stood outside in groups, holding torches. They paid no heed to Sasuke at the door, and perhaps they would not even care about those hidden gazes.

Hidden sentries had been stationed in every corner around the district.

Tonight, not even a rat would be allowed to crawl out of the Uchiha District.

Sasuke had no idea what was happening and looked at his father in bewilderment.

At some point, Fugaku had already risen to his feet, and the note in his hand had vanished.

He seemed like a different person. The warmth and dignity belonging to a father had faded away, replaced by the decisiveness and natural authority of a clan head.

Of course, he was still gentle when speaking to the clan members. But to Sasuke, he no longer seemed like the head of the Uchiha Clan. Instead, he resembled the old Hokage who spoke at school opening ceremonies.

What were they talking about?

Where were they going?

Was something about to happen?

Sasuke's unease reached its peak. Before Fugaku and the others had gone far, he gritted his teeth, pushed himself out of his mother's embrace, and ran barefoot into the street, shouting after the group.

"Father, m-my brother Itachi... where exactly is he?!"

Everyone turned to look at him.

Their expressions were cold.

But that coldness did not seem directed at Sasuke. It was directed at the person he had mentioned.

The crowd parted on its own. Uchiha Fugaku, walking at the very front, silently turned around. Three sickle-shaped tomoe formed eyes as sharp as shuriken, making Sasuke's mouth fall slightly open.

[ ]

Father... your eyes.

Sasuke had never seen his father like this before.

"He's a coward."

Fugaku spoke calmly.

Whether Itachi stood with the Uchiha or not, as long as he had not appeared here tonight, he was a coward.

A coward who had accepted Konoha's will, yet could not raise his hand against his clansmen.

A coward who had accepted the clan's will, yet could not raise his hand against Konoha.

A coward who had chosen to run away on the eve of battle.

He had once been a son Fugaku had been immensely proud of. No matter what choice he made, Fugaku would have chosen to respect it.

But unfortunately.

He was a coward.

No one knew where he had run off to. He had hidden away like a turtle withdrawing into its shell, refusing to make a choice.

Therefore.

He was a coward.

Sasuke stood there blankly, holding the two skewers of tri-colored dango as he watched his clansmen disappear one after another into the distance.

Several high-ranking Uchiha members gathered together.

"The operation has been exposed. Konoha is prepared. They've already set traps and are waiting for us to walk right into them. Tomorrow's coup must be changed."

"What?!" Everyone was shocked.

"It doesn't matter. They don't know that we know we've been exposed... so we still have a chance." Uchiha Fugaku said.

He remembered the note from that mysterious person and could not help clenching his fist.

Fugaku understood that person's intentions perfectly. That person did not want the Uchiha to seize power at all. They merely wanted to use the Uchiha Rebellion to throw Konoha into complete chaos!

The consequences of the Uchiha Clan's failed rebellion would be catastrophic.

Now that Konoha knew, even if they called off the rebellion, there was no guarantee they could quell the surging public sentiment within the clan. In any case, they could never return to how things had been before. It would only be an even more foolish, gradual destruction.

The one who had sent that note was vicious beyond measure.

They knew the Uchiha Clan had no choice.

They could only do this.

—Even if the Uchiha might become sinners in the eyes of all Konoha!

The arrow was on the bowstring; it had to be loosed.

Fugaku took a deep breath. He felt even his outstretched hand trembling. He did not know what the future would bring after making this decision, but no matter what, this was the Uchiha Clan's only chance to survive and ascend to Konoha's highest position.

"...This is our only chance."

He emphasized it.

Then he took out a photograph and pressed his finger down without hesitation.

"—He is Naruto Uzumaki."

"The Fourth's son. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."

Facing the stunned gazes of the high-ranking members, Fugaku paused before continuing.

"Our target is him. Capture him, release the Nine-Tails..."

"I will use my Mangekyō Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails. Once the battle is settled, we will select a new Jinchuriki."

Countless people would die in this battle.

But it was a necessary sacrifice.

According to the plan, after dealing with Sarutobi, Danzo, and the others, Uchiha Fugaku would step forward to "stop" the Nine-Tails' rampage. That would count as turning the tide when all seemed lost and saving a collapsing structure. As long as no one discovered that the Nine-Tails' rampage had once again been orchestrated by the Uchiha Clan, then with such an enormous achievement, the position of Fifth Hokage would surely be Fugaku's for the taking.

The Uchiha Clan would then transform from an outcast ninja clan isolated by everyone into Konoha's protectors.

Of course, releasing the Nine-Tails again would certainly cause Konoha devastating losses, shatter countless families, and draw the covetous eyes of foreign enemies. It might even become the fuse for the Fourth Shinobi World War—Fugaku had considered all of that.

But he did not care.

—They had never even possessed the bigger picture. How could they possibly care about the bigger picture?

The several Uchiha higher-ups unanimously approved the new operation plan.

Only Uchiha Fugaku remained in the meeting room.

Through the window, he looked at the scattered lights along Konoha's central streets in the distance, feeling as though his hands were already stained with the blood of innocents.

"Itachi... do you see it?"

His expression remained blank.

But this was the choice.

Whether sin or glory.

This was a responsibility he could not escape as clan head.

He would bear it all alone.

—In the name of Uchiha.

The answer was revealed.

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