Night fell, and the Uchiha Clan Compound was brightly lit.
Inside Fugaku's residence, in the study.
Uchiha Fugaku sat formally in the seat of honor. On the low table before him sat a cup of tea that had long gone cold.
His gaze passed through the window toward the tallest building in all of Konoha—the Hokage Building.
Fugaku's feelings were complicated.
As the former clan head, he had personally handed the position over to Uchiha Yao.
Looking back now, that might have been the best decision he had ever made in his life.
Uchiha Yao had not disappointed him, nor had he disappointed the entire Uchiha Clan.
With overwhelming force, he had taken down that lingering old dog Danzo, forced the Third Hokage to step down, and ascended to the seat of the Fifth Hokage.
Under his leadership, the Uchiha Clan had broken free from its plight of being watched and marginalized, ushering in unprecedented glory.
The Police Force's authority had expanded. Clan members no longer faced any obstacles in entering the ANBU and the village's core departments, while the clan's businesses flourished as well.
The Uchiha of today were unquestionably Konoha's foremost Great Clan.
Every clan member could walk through the village streets with their heads held high, enjoying the awed gazes of the other villagers.
Uchiha Yao had brought them all of this.
Fugaku was filled with gratitude and admiration for him.
But... the human heart was always complicated.
Beyond that gratitude and admiration, a trace of unwillingness and ambition quietly took root within him.
He, Uchiha Fugaku, had once been the Uchiha Clan's head, a powerful man who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
He had once dreamed of leading the Uchiha to the pinnacle of Konoha's power.
He simply lacked Uchiha Yao's boldness, and even more so,