The Clan Meeting Without Shisui, Itachi's Choice

Three ANBU operatives crouched on a treetop, the faces beneath their tabby-cat masks pulled taut.

The compound beneath their feet was the territory of the Uchiha Clan, the greatest clan in Konoha.

The leader's orders were singular—keep a close eye on the Uchiha Clan.

His name was Itachi Uchiha, and by now he had already taken the seat of an ANBU squad captain.

During the Third Shinobi World War, Itachi had seen the horrors of the battlefield up close, and from that day on a thorn had lodged itself in his heart—this world needed to be completely turned upside down.

How to turn it?

By first becoming the very first Hokage of the Uchiha Clan.

He wanted to live alongside the people he cared about under a sun free from the smoke of war.

He met Shisui back in the Ninja Academy, soldiered through the ranks of Genin and Chunin, and within a few years stepped through the gates of the ANBU.

He had thought he was stepping closer and closer to that goal one step at a time.

He never expected his father to come looking for him.

Asking him to act as a plant on the Hokage's side, serving as a spy planted by the Uchiha Clan.

His clansmen and the village—the scales on these two sides began to tilt.

Inside the shrine, the newly built ancestral shrine of the Uchiha Clan, was packed to the brim at this moment.

Voices were raised louder than one another.

"Six years ago when the Nine-Tails went on a rampage, the village flat-out refused to let us Uchiha get close, terrified that we would use the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails!"

"Just that? Someone flat-out pinned the blame on us, saying the one who let the Nine-Tails out was none other than someone from the Uchiha!"

"Cramming us into the remote corners of the village, isn't that just an attempt to tie our hands and feet?"

"Frankly speaking, ever since the Second's time, we've been herded together like cattle, as good as locked up, and once the Nine-Tails business happened, they were one step shy of driving us straight out of the village!"

"Even so, we haven't uttered a peep and worked all these years, yet the village's attitude toward us is identical to six years ago."

"And they even sent people to spy on us! Six years, a whole six years!"

"Captain! All we're asking for is fairness! Hiruzen Sarutobi uses every dirty trick in the book to cling to power, long tossing the rules laid down by the First Hokage back in the day to the winds."

"Hokage! How did this title of Hokage come about in the first place? Wasn't it because we Uchiha wielded Fire Release so well that it was called the Hokage! The Fourth Hokage has passed, by what right do we Uchiha not even have a single person sitting in that seat?!"

Fugaku Uchiha stood at the head of the room, the anger of the clansmen below practically blowing the roof off.

He knew better than anyone that the rift between the Uchiha and the Konoha higher-ups could no longer be mended.

The higher-ups drove the Uchiha to the edge of the village, chipping away at the Uchiha's weight bit by bit, and by today, the accumulated resentment had pushed right up to their throats.

All these years he had been holding things down in the middle, soothing the emotions of the clansmen with smooth words.

Yet the higher-ups grew more ruthless by the step, and his smooth words stopped working.

Fugaku's brow abruptly tightened, sweeping a glance across the people below.

"Where is Shisui? Wasn't the message delivered?"

Everyone froze.

A man wore a look of utter bewilderment, glancing left and right.

"That's impossible? I told him to his face, and Shisui nodded as well, saying he would definitely come, even swearing he'd be here."

As soon as those words left his mouth, the atmosphere in the shrine shifted.

The buzzing sound of whispering rose from the crowd.

"What's going on? We finally managed to persuade Shisui!"

"He's the strongest fighter we have in the Uchiha, without him, the odds of success for this matter drop by a huge margin."

"Look at you all, Itachi didn't show up either. His being in the ANBU is one thing, but shouldn't his primary weight be as an Uchiha?"

"Could it be he really thinks of himself as Hiruzen Sarutobi's dog now?"

"Hard to say. They sent him to gather intelligence, and it's already been half a year without a single fart sent back."

Fugaku sat in the main seat, his face as gloomy as a block of stone.

He was unwilling to admit it, but he had a rough idea which path his own son had chosen.

Outside the shrine.

Itachi Uchiha crouched in surveillance, his brow instantly knitting tight.

From a certain direction, chakra fluctuations pressed forward uncontainably, violent and fierce.

He lowered his voice and flung a remark at his two subordinates.

"Keep watching, I'll go take a look."