Shisui Uchiha

The lights in the Uchiha Clan Compound burned all night.

The Naka River flowed past the edge of the compound, its waters black beneath the moonlight. Ninjas from the Konoha Military Police Force came and went, while many clan members stood at the gates, their faces tenser than usual.

News from Central Street had already reached them.

Danzo was dead.

His arm had been covered in Sharingan.

On the night of the Nine-Tails' Attack, the Uchiha had been sealed off in advance.

Someone had planned to make the Uchiha take the blame.

The revelations burned through years of suppressed anger like fire.

When Naruto arrived at the compound gates, Uchiha Fugaku was already waiting.

He wore dark clan robes and looked composed, but his eyes were cold. Beside him stood a short-haired young man with a short sword on his back and exhaustion plain on his face.

Shisui Uchiha.

Naruto's gaze lingered on him for a moment.

He was the weapon Mitokado Homura intended to use next.

Fugaku spoke first.

"Naruto, the Uchiha owe you an explanation for what happened tonight."

Naruto looked at him.

"Owe me?"

Fugaku fell silent for a beat.

"At the very least, you were the one who showed our clan the eyes on Danzo's arm."

Naruto neither accepted the thanks behind those words nor brushed them aside.

He went straight to the point. "Mitokado Homura told me to meet him at the Old Naka River Bridge before sunrise. He has surveillance records on Shisui and says they'll prove the Uchiha are planning a coup."

Fugaku's eyes darkened.

Shisui's expression changed too.

"Surveillance records?"

Tekka filled them in on what Sarutobi Muneyoshi had said.

The Uchiha gathered at the gates erupted into murmurs.

A coup was hardly an unfamiliar idea to them.

For years, the Konoha Military Police Force had been pushed aside, the clan compound relocated, and their assignments restricted. Radicals at clan meetings had indeed raised the idea of resisting. But discussing it was one thing. Having an advisor present it as public evidence was another.

Fugaku turned to Shisui.

"You were under surveillance?"

Shisui pressed his lips together.

"I knew someone was watching me, but I didn't think it was the advisor's office."

Naruto glanced at him.

"You knew, and you didn't investigate?"

Shisui stiffened at the question.

Of course he had wanted to.

But he had long believed Konoha and the Uchiha stood at the edge of a cliff, and every step he took had to be careful. If he investigated the village leadership, it would only deepen the mistrust between them.

Naruto seemed to see right through him.

"You were afraid of making things worse."

Shisui said quietly, "If the Uchiha and the village go to war, many innocent people will die."

Naruto nodded.

"So you're planning to be the sacrifice?"

Shisui's head snapped up.

Naruto gave him no chance to hide behind an answer.

"You were watched, and you didn't investigate."

"You were suspected, and you didn't fight back."

"The leadership plans to use records on you to prove the Uchiha are plotting a coup, and you're still thinking about how to preserve the peace."

He took a step forward.

"Is that what you call peace? You die, the Uchiha are forced down, and the village looks calm on the surface—so that counts as success?"

Some color drained from Shisui's face.

Fugaku turned toward him.

"Shisui?"

Shisui said nothing.

Naruto continued, "You don't have to argue with me now."

"If Mitokado Homura is using you to set this up, his records won't just say who you met or what you said."

"He'll cut every hesitation of yours into proof that the Uchiha are guilty."

The faces of the Uchiha at the gates turned grim.

They knew that feeling all too well.

If the leadership wanted to convict them, even the way an Uchiha breathed could be called ambition.

Fugaku's voice was low.

"What do you want to do?"

Naruto looked toward the Naka River.

"Go to the old bridge."

"The Uchiha will go with you," Fugaku said.

"No."

Naruto's refusal was immediate.

Fugaku frowned.

"If you all go, you'll be playing right into his hands," Naruto said.

"I'll go," Shisui said.

Naruto looked at him.

Shisui's gaze was steady.

"If he's using records on me to set this up, I have to be there."

Naruto did not refuse at once.

Shisui did need to be there.

But Naruto could not let him handle this the way he normally would.

"You can come."

Naruto fixed his eyes on him.

"But from now on, don't say it's for the village. Don't say it's for the clan. And don't say you're willing to sacrifice yourself."

Shisui froze.

Naruto's voice turned cold.

"I'm tired of hearing it."

Fugaku studied Naruto for a long moment.

This six-year-old child's judgment of Shisui was frighteningly accurate.

So accurate it was as though he had already seen where Shisui's path would lead.

Shisui was silent for a while.

"If I don't sacrifice myself, what way forward is left for the Uchiha and Konoha?"

Naruto looked at him.

"Drag the real culprits into the open."

"Let those who deserve to die, die."

"Remove those who should be removed from power."

"And publicly clear the names of those who were falsely accused."

Shisui stared at him.

This was not the kind of reconciliation he knew.

It was too forceful, too dangerous, and too direct.

Yet everything that had happened tonight proved that Naruto's approach had at least torn open the secrets buried for years.

Fugaku turned and gave his clan members their orders.

"The Konoha Military Police Force will seal off the compound. No one goes to the Naka River without permission. All the radicals will remain in the clan meeting hall. I'll watch them myself."

Several clan members protested.

"Clan Head, after the way the leadership has treated us, we're supposed to keep taking it?"

Fugaku's eyes turned cold.

"Anyone who makes a move now will help Mitokado Homura prove the Uchiha are plotting a coup."

The men gritted their teeth and backed down.

Naruto's opinion of Fugaku improved a little.

At least anger had not clouded his judgment at a time like this.

Shisui stepped up beside Naruto.

"I'm coming with you."

Naruto turned.

Jiraiya and Kakashi had arrived as well.

Kakashi looked at Shisui with a complicated expression. This Uchiha, a few years younger than him, had once been held in extremely high regard by the ANBU.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto.

"This time, I'm coming with you."

Naruto did not object.

The trap at the old bridge was not just about a fight.

Someone needed to see what happened.

Someone needed to bear witness.

The group followed the Naka River toward the old bridge.

A faint gray had appeared along the horizon.

Sunrise was close.

Thick mist hung over both riverbanks, and dew had soaked the old bridge's wooden planks.

Mitokado Homura stood at the center of the bridge, with no guards behind him.

He held a scroll.

Another figure stood in the shadows at the edge of the bridge, wearing an ANBU mask, one hand resting on his sword hilt.

Shisui stopped when he saw him.

"Itachi?"