Uchiha Hui talks Hokage!

Uchiha Fugaku leaned forward and felt Uchiha Hui's forehead, then touched his own with his other hand.

"You don't have a fever. Why have you started talking nonsense?"

If he had thought Uchiha Hui's analysis was insightful before, now he was beginning to wonder whether he had been a little too confident in discussing this matter with him.

"Why not?"

Uchiha Hui stared at Uchiha Fugaku's solemn face and asked with a smile.

"Well..."

Uchiha Fugaku considered it for a moment, struggling to find words. Then he said with utter seriousness, "In principle, I am qualified to run for Hokage. But you should know that the village leadership would never allow it. If the Fourth Hokage were still alive, perhaps the Uchiha could produce a Hokage someday. But now... it's rather unrealistic!"

"Unrealistic?"

Uchiha Hui was irritated by Uchiha Fugaku's pessimism.

He narrowed his eyes.

His whole demeanor seemed to grow a little more brooding.

"If the Third returns to office, the relocation of the Uchiha clan compound will definitely go through. You don't want that to happen either, do you?"

"Hui! Why are you so certain the Third will take power again?"

Uchiha Fugaku could not help challenging him.

As he saw it,

a new Hokage taking office would be their chance to break the deadlock. Yet Hui insisted that the very opportunity he was counting on would never exist.

He was finding that rather hard to take!

"If you don't believe me, we can wait and see whether things turn out as you expect or as I predict."

Uchiha Hui shrugged, returning to his earlier air of indifference.

He felt that all he could do was offer a few ideas.

If Fugaku refused to adopt them,

then it was all for nothing.

Surely they could not expect a mere "Chunin" like him to change the Uchiha's future?

They might as well ask him to fight Pain.

With a little luck,

he might even get in on a "Rinne Rebirth."

"Then what do you intend to do?"

After a long silence, Uchiha Fugaku spoke again.

He stared at his younger brother, his eyes filled with complicated emotions, anticipation mixed with a measure of heaviness.

If things really went as his brother said,

and the Third returned to office,

then the relocation of the Uchiha clan compound probably would go through.

That Elder Danzo was the Third's longtime companion, after all.

Although their relationship did not seem particularly good, after dealing with them over the years, Uchiha Fugaku knew that the Third was very accommodating toward him.

So,

the proposal Danzo had made earlier really might become reality!

"It's simple!"

Uchiha Hui met Uchiha Fugaku's gaze, a faint gleam in his eyes as he leaned slightly forward.

His movement made Uchiha Fugaku instinctively grow cautious.

He leaned forward as well.

The two looked as though they were plotting something, wary and secretive.

"Kill the Third!"

His heart lurched!

At the words that sprang from Uchiha Hui's mouth, Uchiha Fugaku's heart jolted in alarm. He began questioning everything he knew.

Just as he had feared.

Uchiha Hui's extremist nature had not changed at all.

Although he had been impressive lately, he still wanted to restore the Uchiha's glory through the bloodiest means, then seize control of Konoha...

"You..."

Uchiha Fugaku raised a finger and jabbed it at Uchiha Hui. After a long moment, he said in exasperation, "Could you possibly be any more absurd?!"

So his plan for becoming Hokage was to kill the Third before he could return to office?!

Was that a plan any sane person would come up with?

"Actually, I know someone else who's much more interested in killing the Third. He may already be plotting it."

Uchiha Hui had known Uchiha Fugaku would react strongly.

His earlier remark had only been a joke to tease him.

He simply loved the contrast in Uchiha Fugaku's personality.

He looked like a solemn, rigid patriarch.

But in truth, he was sensitive and gentle at heart, especially around his family.

And Hui naturally counted as one of that "family."

Uchiha Fugaku was startled by Uchiha Hui's words. He widened his eyes, his expression demanding an explanation.

"You know him very well too."

Uchiha Hui said it out of the blue.

At that,

Uchiha Fugaku could not help frowning. Soon, a hesitant expression crossed his face. "Is it Elder Setsuna?!"

Uchiha Setsuna had a history, after all.

So,

after hearing that explanation, he was the first person Fugaku thought of.

He had attempted to assassinate the Second Hokage and launched a rather unsuccessful coup. Elder Setsuna might genuinely be considering an attack on the Third.

Uchiha Hui shook his head.

Then,

he stopped keeping him in suspense.

"It's Shimura Danzō, the one who made that proposal."

"How is that possible?!"

Uchiha Fugaku cried out in shock.

He kept shaking his head, making his disbelief plain.

"Tch!"

Uchiha Hui scoffed. Then, under Uchiha Fugaku's renewed scrutiny, he began to explain. "You don't really think Danzo is content to remain an elder, do you? His desire to become Hokage is even stronger than ours. If he gets a chance, he absolutely won't let it slip away!"

"But his relationship with the Third..."

Uchiha Fugaku still could not understand.

As far as he knew, the Third barely concealed how highly he valued Danzo. And the Hokage's advisory council, consisting of Danzo, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu, stood at the very pinnacle of power in Konoha.

Surely Danzo had no reason to attack the Third?

"Anyway, you don't need to doubt Danzo's desire to become Hokage."

Uchiha Hui no longer knew how to explain it.

Was he supposed to say he had seen the story, so he knew Danzo would send people to assassinate the Third in an attempt to stop him from returning to office?

"So we send someone to join forces with Danzo, then kill the Third?"

Uchiha Fugaku felt that he could no longer follow the twists in this conversation.

"Yes and no."

Uchiha Hui nodded, then shook his head. "Killing the Third is difficult. Even if you went yourself, how confident would you be?"

"Then what exactly do you mean?"

Uchiha Fugaku felt like a complete idiot. No matter how hard he tried, he could not make sense of it all.

Or perhaps his younger brother simply had a talent for speaking in riddles. Everything he said was so vague and hazy that it felt as though Fugaku had been caught in the "Hidden Mist Technique."

"You're the Uchiha clan head. Are you close to the daimyo?"

Uchiha Hui shifted to another subject.

"I've met him a few times. I wouldn't say we're close."

Uchiha Fugaku answered simply.

As the head of a major clan, one of the oldest bloodlines in the shinobi world, he was naturally different from an ordinary shinobi.

Still, when it came to the ruler of the Land of Fire, Konohagakure's "financial backer,"

he honestly did not know much about him.

"Becoming the Fifth Hokage right away really isn't realistic. But we can take it step by step, starting with becoming a Hokage candidate!"

After some thought, Uchiha Hui began laying out his ideas. "First, protect the Third and earn more of his goodwill. Then build closer ties with the daimyo and gain enough of his trust to have him confirm your place as a 'candidate.' Once you get that far, you should know what to do next, right?"

"What do I do?"

Uchiha Fugaku once again felt the gap between himself and his brother.

He even had to ask with his face flushed.

"Seize power!"

"Use your position as a Hokage candidate to seize as much power in the village as you can! You need to build the team that will support you as Hokage. You need to win more people's approval. You must overpower the previous generation's ruling clique! Gradually strip away their influence..."

"Most importantly, you must be ready to fight at all times!"