The next day, Naruto met up with Sasuke Uchiha and Haruno Sakura with a guilty conscience, and they set off on another round of D-rank missions.
During the missions, though, Sasuke began stealing glances at Naruto. Even when Naruto did something stupid, Sasuke no longer mocked him as he once had.
Kakashi Hatake felt reassured as he watched the three of them get along. Bonds, after all, were the true source of a ninja's strength.
The so-called Will of Fire was also built on the bonds people shared with the village.
A month passed this way. Team 7 completed more than ten D-rank missions and two C-rank missions, and Naruto, Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura all improved greatly in combat.
Apart from occasionally talking with the Nine-Tails at night, Naruto never again used the Sheep Talisman to slip into anyone else's dreams.
Sasuke's Nightmare had left its mark on him, too.
A month later, the Canopy Screen appeared right on schedule.
Fluorescent light flowed across its surface, then slowly gathered into several enormous words formed from light—
"Uchiha Secrets: A Clan Entwined in Good and Evil"
Sasuke Uchiha's heart jolted at the sight. He clenched his fists and fixed his eyes on the Canopy Screen.
He would learn exactly what had happened back then. Then he would find those who had pulled the strings and avenge the dead of the Uchiha, one by one.
[The image showed a secret meeting place, where a large number of Uchiha were locked in heated discussion.]
A small line of text appeared in the center of the Canopy Screen.
[The underground meeting hall of Naka Shrine, several years after the Nine-Tails Incident.]
[The meeting began with an announcement from Fugaku Uchiha.]
[The room erupted like a volcano that had long been held in check, and the assembled Uchiha began to shout.]
["How much longer are we supposed to endure this?" A scar-faced Uchiha Jonin sprang to his feet, his voice hoarse with emotion.]
["After the Nine-Tails Incident, we were pushed to the edge of the village like garbage! Even ordinary villagers look at us as though we're monsters!"]
["He's right!" another voice cut in. It belonged to a young mother whose eyes burned with humiliation.]
["My child is shunned at school just because his name is Uchiha! And what has the Konoha Leadership done? They've allowed this insult to go on!"]
[Once someone had led the way, the accusations poured out like a broken dam.]
["They keep stripping power from the Military Police Force and calling it 'reform.' They're gutting the Uchiha's authority!"]
["Root's people lurk outside our clan grounds every day. That's no patrol. It's surveillance! An outright threat!"]
["I saw the Third Hokage's ANBU clearly side with the villagers when they handled a dispute involving our people! They've had it in for the Uchiha for a long time!"]
[The Uchiha's four elders sat in the front row of the meeting hall, their faces hard with anger.]
[The First Elder, Setsuna Uchiha, was an imposing old man with burn scars across the right side of his face. He struck the floor hard with his cane.]
[His voice was aged but forceful. "Konoha has long forgotten who founded it alongside the Senju Clan! And now we, the descendants of its founders, must endure suspicion and exclusion? The Sharingan is our pride, not our original sin!"]
[The Second Elder, Sanbi Uchiha, added coldly, his face dark. "Compromise won't earn us respect. It will only make them demand more."]
["Danzo's ambitions are plain to see. He wants to wipe out the Uchiha!"]
[The Third Elder, Hoshimi Uchiha, spoke with anguish. "The White Fang of Konoha once abandoned a mission to save his comrades. Condemned for it, he ultimately took his own life."]
["Does Konoha now have room only for ninja who obey without question? Were we wrong to speak up?"]
[The Fourth Elder, Futo Uchiha, spoke with grim resolve. "When the proper channels cannot deliver justice, when peaceful appeals are taken for weakness, the clan must consider every possible course for the sake of its survival and dignity!"]
["Coup!" No one knew who shouted it first. The word spread like wildfire, igniting the despair and fury in nearly everyone at the meeting.]
["Coup! Coup! Coup!" The cries grew louder, almost lifting the shrine's roof.]
[Just as the crowd was about to lose all control, the clan head, Fugaku Uchiha, rose. His face was as composed as ever.]
[He did not shout. He merely raised a hand and pressed it downward, and his commanding presence quieted much of the uproar.]
["Calm yourselves!" Fugaku Uchiha's voice was steady, his authority unmistakable. "I share your anger."]
["The wrongs you've suffered are a disgrace to our clan. As your clan head, how could I not know?"]
[He looked around at every agitated face. "But anger blinds us. Shouting will solve nothing."]
["A coup? That means turning our blades on former comrades. It means plunging Konoha into civil war and giving enemy nations waiting for their chance an opening!"]
["Win or lose, the Uchiha would become Konoha's villains. Is that the future we want?"]
[Shisui Uchiha then stood. Recognized as a genius by the clan, he was held in high regard.]
[His gaze was gentle but firm. "The clan head is right."]
[Shisui's clear voice carried quiet conviction. "Please trust the clan head and me. We're working to speak with the Konoha Leadership and find a peaceful solution."]
["Violence would only play into certain people's hands and give them an excuse to crack down on us even more brutally. Please give us a little more time, and a little more trust."]
[In one corner of the crowd, Itachi Uchiha leaned against a cold stone wall, as though he were in another world.]
[His dark eyes passed calmly over his furious clansmen, the worried elders, and his father and Shisui, who struggled to preserve the fragile bond between clan and village.]
[No one knew how fiercely Itachi Uchiha struggled beneath that utterly calm face.]
There, the images on the Canopy Screen ended.
In an inn in the Land of Water, Itachi Uchiha walked alone to the window. His fingertips brushed the deep slash across his forehead protector.
The images on the Canopy Screen drew his memories back to that night.
Watching his silent younger self, Itachi Uchiha thought, I was silent because I could see farther than any of them.
I saw more than my clan's anger. I saw the future that would follow if that anger caught fire: Konoha reduced to scorched earth.
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