Pressuring Fugaku Uchiha

In the Hokage's Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat rigidly in his wide chair. The pipe slipped silently from his fingers and struck the cold floor with a clack.

On the Canopy Screen, he had watched the brilliant young genius he loved like a son—Shisui Uchiha.

He had watched Shisui driven into a corner, gouge out his own eye, and fall into a bottomless abyss with that heartbreaking smile on his face.

"Shisui..."

His cracked lips moved, but no sound came out.

That boy of unwavering conviction, who had inherited the true Will of Fire... was dead.

He had not died on a mission. He had not died at an enemy's hands.

He had died because of... Konoha's darkness.

Because of the darkness in the village Hiruzen Sarutobi led—a darkness he had failed to root out and, to some extent, had allowed to remain.

Grief crashed against his heart like a tidal wave. A beautiful young life had been snuffed out.

Even at the very end, Shisui had thought of "protecting the village" and "the Uchiha name."

But heavier than grief was the guilt and self-doubt that threatened to drown him.

It was me... I was the one who failed him.

If only I'd stood firmer against Danzo.

If only I'd moved faster to reassure the Uchiha.

If only I hadn't allowed Root to exist, hadn't let that darkness grow beneath the sun.

Every "if only" was a blunt knife sawing at his conscience.

He had seen Danzo's fanaticism. He had known the Uchiha's plight. Yet he had kept wavering, searching for a balance between the "greater good" and "compromise" that had never existed.

And the result? The young man he admired most had been driven to his death by the comrade he trusted most!

In that moment, the mantle of Hokage felt laughable and hollow.

He preached the Will of Fire, yet could not protect a genius within his own village.

The peace he upheld had consumed one of the village's finest young people to survive.

He could almost see Shisui's final smile as he fell. It was not a farewell. It was a question—one that challenged Hiruzen's weakness, his policies, and the worth of a "peaceful" Konoha built on countless sacrifices in the dark.

The office fell silent. Hiruzen Sarutobi sat alone in the shadows, his hunched figure seeming to age ten years in an instant.

He reached out, his hand trembling as he tried to pick up the pipe, but at last it fell limply to his side.

Shisui's death was more than the loss of a genius.

It was a mirror reflecting every failure and compromise of Hiruzen Sarutobi's time in office, and the darkness beneath Konoha's bright facade.

He slowly closed his eyes. At last, two streams of tears slipped silently down his weathered cheeks.

In the Mizukage's office in the Hidden Mist Village, Mei Terumi watched the scene and thought, What a shame. Another handsome young Uchiha killed by that scheming old bastard Shimura Danzō!

The Canopy Screen paid no mind to how anyone felt. The next day, it began its broadcast on time as usual.

[The largest underground meeting hall at Naka Shrine blazed with candlelight, yet its feverish atmosphere seemed to reach straight through the screen.]

[Fugaku Uchiha stood at the front, his face weary and grave. He tried one last time to calm the clan members who were nearly boiling over:]

["Please, wait a little longer! Shisui has gone to negotiate with the Hokage. What we need is time, not reckless action!"]

["Wait? How much longer are we supposed to wait?" First Elder Setsuna Uchiha shot to his feet and slammed his cane against the floor. His voice was hoarse but rousing.]

["Until Danzo's Root puts a blade to every one of our throats? Until Konoha's leaders enforce their so-called 'final ultimatum'? Fugaku! Your hesitation and weakness are leading the clan to ruin!"]

["Exactly!" the second elder added sharply. "Shisui said he'd attend the meeting, but there's been no word from him! Itachi has vanished too! What are you still hoping for? Mercy from our enemies?!"]

[The crowd erupted. Cries of "Coup! Coup now!" rang out from all sides, nearly lifting the roof.]

[Fugaku Uchiha felt utterly powerless. The clan's anger had caught fire, and words could no longer soothe it.]

[Just then, a smile of certain victory crossed the First Elder's face.]

[He thrust his right hand high, holding a strange Remote Control that gleamed with dark blue light—the "token" Morpheus had left them.]

["Fugaku! And all of you clan members who've been kept in the dark! Did you think we came unprepared? Did you think I'd blindly send you against all of Konoha?"]

[The First Elder's voice rose with excitement. "Watch! See the power we possess! See what true hope looks like!"]

[He jabbed a button on the Remote Control.]

[BZZT—!]

[A beam of blue light shot from the device and struck a radical Uchiha Chunin in the crowd, one who had been positioned there in advance!]

["Aaaagh—!" The Chunin let out a low roar—not of pain, but of power surging through him!]

[The next instant, an astonishing change took place! His muscles swelled, and veins bulged beneath his skin!]

[Then he whipped out a Kunai. Without forming a single hand sign, he hurled it forward with sheer physical strength!]

[Whoosh—!]

[The Kunai tore through the air with an ear-piercing shriek and struck a massive stone support pillar in the distance—one so wide it took two people to encircle—at a speed the eye could barely follow!]

[Stone fragments flew! The throw's power, speed, and precision far exceeded what a Chunin should have been capable of, nearly reaching the level of a Special Jonin who specialized in Taijutsu!]

[The entire meeting hall fell silent. Everyone stared, stunned by the impossible sight!]

["Did you... did you see that?!" the First Elder cried, his face flushed and his voice trembling with excitement. "That is the power of the Uchiha!"]

["We can create powerful fighters in an instant! And we have an endless supply of weapons! Fugaku! What reason do you have left to stop us?!"]

[Fugaku Uchiha's face went white as a sheet.]

[He looked at the clan member whose strength had soared, whose eyes now burned with even greater zeal. He looked at the Four Elders and the ambition and madness mingling on their faces.]

[Then he looked at the fire now blazing in the eyes of the clan members below—a fire they called "hope." His heart sank into a bottomless abyss.]

[He could not understand what was happening. Had the Four Elders found some artifact left behind by the Uchiha?]

[After all, the treasury passed down through generations of the Uchiha had always been jointly guarded by the Four Elders. Even he, the clan leader, needed all four of their approval to enter.]

[Now Itachi and Shisui were both gone. He had lost his last support.]

[Fugaku Uchiha knew he could no longer stop them.]

[If he resisted, the Uchiha would immediately descend into infighting and split apart.]

[Despair seized him, stealing his breath.]

[But his duty as clan leader drove him to make one final attempt.]