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 stream home to the Uchiha District, singing happily all the way.

He stopped in his tracks.

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 vendor selling dango on the street was still doing brisk business, and Sasuke squeezed through 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 excited tone received no answer.

The air seemed to freeze.

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

For some reason, Sasuke found those two gazes resting on him utterly unfamiliar.

Dad...

Mom...

Who are you looking at?

"It's Sasuke." Fugaku's voice shattered the silence, and his smile made Sasuke feel that familiar warmth again.

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

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

"Oh..." Sasuke stood there blankly for two seconds before his face completely fell.

His brother was out on another mission again.

Dinner was tasteless.

The only sounds at the table were chopsticks accidentally striking bowls and Sasuke chewing and swallowing his food. Outside, the streets had fallen silent as well. Even the training grounds had lost their usual lively clamor. There was no wind, no birds, no frogs croaking or cicadas chirping. The worlds inside and outside had somehow reached a strange tacit understanding.

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

After dinner.

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

He had never given Sasuke a chance to argue before. Likewise, a sentence with such a clear subject, verb, and object was never a suggestion. It was an order.

Affected by the dead silence and solemn atmosphere, Sasuke nodded quietly, his heart inexplicably filled with panic.

After night fell.

Uneasy, Sasuke crouched by the entrance with two skewers of dango in his hands. He could not focus on reading or playing with his toys. He only wanted his brother to see him the moment he came home.

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

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 half an hour.

At some point, it was as though everyone in the district had received the same signal at once. The distant, indistinct sounds of people stirring, like the buzzing of mosquitoes, rose once more throughout the Uchiha District.

It felt both strange and familiar to Sasuke, like someone who had been deaf for a while hearing sounds again but no longer being able to distinguish what they meant.

Footsteps drew near.

The door was pulled open.

It was not his brother, Itachi.

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

Members of the Uchiha Clan stood outside in groups, holding torches. They paid no mind to Sasuke at the door, and perhaps they no longer cared about those hidden gazes either.

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

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

Sasuke had no idea what was happening. He looked at his father in confusion.

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

He seemed like a different person. The warmth and dignity he possessed as a father had faded away, replaced by the decisiveness and imposing authority of a clan head.

Of course, he was still gentle when speaking to his clansmen. But to Sasuke, he no longer seemed like the head of the Uchiha Clan. Instead, he resembled the old Hokage who spoke at the school entrance ceremony.

What were they talking about?

Where were they going?

Was something about to happen?

The unease in Sasuke's heart reached its peak. Before Fugaku and the others had gone far, he gritted his teeth, pushed free from his mother's embrace, and ran barefoot into the street, shouting after the group.

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

Everyone turned to look at him.

Their expressions were icy.

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 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 look like this before.

"He's a coward."

Fugaku spoke calmly.

Regardless of whether he stood with Uchiha, if he had not appeared here tonight, then he was a coward.

A coward who had accepted Konoha's will, yet could not bring himself to strike at his clansmen.

A coward who had accepted the clan's will, yet could not bring himself to strike at Konoha.

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

That had once been the son Fugaku was 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. Like a turtle hiding in its shell, he had refused to make a choice.

Therefore.

He was a coward.

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

Several high-ranking Uchiha members gathered together.

"The operation plan has been exposed. Konoha is prepared. They've already laid their traps and are waiting for us to walk 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 recalled the slip of paper sent by the mysterious person earlier and could not help clenching his fist.

Fugaku understood the other party's intentions perfectly. That person absolutely did not want Uchiha to seize power. They wanted to use the Uchiha Rebellion to throw Konoha into complete chaos!

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

And now that Konoha knew, even if they canceled the rebellion, there was no telling whether they could quell the surging public sentiment within the clan. In any case, there was no possibility of returning to peaceful relations. It would merely be an even more foolish, slow destruction.

The one who had sent that note was exceptionally vicious.

They knew full well that the Uchiha Clan had no choice.

They could only do this.

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

The arrow was on the bowstring. It had to be fired.

Fugaku drew a deep breath. He could feel 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 possible path to survival and to ascending 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 to capture him and 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 they were necessary sacrifices.

According to the plan, once Sarutobi, Danzo, and the others had been dealt with, Uchiha Fugaku would step forward to "stop" the Nine-Tails' rampage. That would count as turning the tide in a crisis and saving a collapsing building. So long as no one discovered that the Nine-Tails' rampage was once again the work of the Uchiha Clan, such towering merit would surely place the position of Fifth Hokage within Fugaku's grasp.

The Uchiha Clan would transform from an ostracized fringe shinobi clan into Konoha's protectors.

Of course, releasing the Nine-Tails again would certainly inflict severe losses on Konoha, destroy countless families, and even draw the attention of foreign enemies. It might even become the fuse for the Fourth Shinobi World War—Fugaku had considered all of this.

But he did not care.

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

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 street in the distance, feeling as though his hands were already stained with the blood of innocents.

"Itachi... do you see this?"

His face was expressionless.

But this was the choice.

Whether it was 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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