Hiruzen Sarutobi's hypocrisy!

"So, Shisui, you two can pass my words along. Just tell Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others...

If they want peace between the Uchiha and the village, they need to return everything the Uchiha lost first. Otherwise, there's no chance of that happening!"

Bai Ye decided not to waste any more words.

Wasn't that the whole point of everything he had said?

In truth, he knew perfectly well that Hiruzen Sarutobi and his crowd would never spit out what they had already swallowed.

But Bai Ye had never expected a few words to make them return what rightfully belonged to the Uchiha.

Those words had only been meant for Shisui to hear.

Besides, now that he had said them, Shisui and Itachi would eventually pass them along to Hiruzen Sarutobi anyway.

So Bai Ye didn't particularly care.

With that, he gestured toward the door.

The clan meeting was tomorrow, and he would be announcing his measures then. Before that, he still needed to refine his plan.

He needed to see whether he had overlooked anything.

After leaving Bai Ye's place, Shisui looked at Itachi with a bitter smile. "It feels like things have gotten complicated. The situation between the Uchiha and Konoha might really become harder to handle than before."

Shisui knew perfectly well that Bai Ye was clearly more radical than Uchiha Fugaku.

And he saw further, with a much clearer understanding.

That was the most frightening part.

Now, things were clearly on the verge of spiraling out of control.

Glancing at Itachi, who was deep in thought beside him, Shisui asked a question that surprised even himself. "Do you think Lord Hokage and the others will return those things to the Uchiha?"

Would they?

Shisui suddenly felt that he might have been a little naive.

If they really intended to return them, they wouldn't have seized them when the Uchiha first voiced their demands.

Nor would they have kept them despite the Uchiha's fierce protests, even when the clan was on the brink of rebellion.

And did they really have nothing to do with public opinion in the village?

Was the Uchiha Clan's reputation in the village really just that bad?

For some reason, the more Shisui thought about it, the more a chill crept down his back.

He couldn't understand why he had seemed so muddleheaded before.

He hadn't even been able to see something like this.

"Shisui, I think we should put that aside for now. Let's report what happened first."

"All right."

Shisui collected himself and said nothing more.

The two of them went to the Hokage's office together.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a little surprised to see Shisui and Itachi return so soon.

They have news already?

Then Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at them with a warm smile and asked, "Shisui, Itachi, how did it go? Does that boy Bai Ye want to improve relations between the village and the Uchiha, just like you two?"

Yet as soon as he finished speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi sensed that something was off.

In the past, Shisui and Itachi wouldn't have reacted like this.

But now, they gave him a completely different impression.

"Bai Ye said he's willing to coexist peacefully with the village..."

Shisui hesitated at that point, unsure how to continue.

After all, there were conditions attached!

Could Hiruzen Sarutobi agree to those conditions?

If he couldn't, what would happen between the village and the Uchiha next?

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression brightened as he heard Shisui's words.

He even completely overlooked the strange expression on Shisui's face.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was overjoyed!

Although the chances had been slim, the day had finally come: the Uchiha had put someone willing to compromise in charge.

Did that mean the Uchiha could no longer hold out?

At that thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile deepened. He looked at Shisui with a satisfied curl of his lips. "Shisui, what exactly does he have in mind?

If he's genuinely willing, we can discuss it. Both I personally and the village hope to change the current situation with the Uchiha!"

Since Bai Ye had that intention, this was the perfect opportunity to invite him over for a chat.

Afterward, they could draw up the appropriate policies.

Shisui hesitated for a while, then finally took a deep breath and repeated Bai Ye's words to Hiruzen Sarutobi exactly as he had said them.

Bai Ye's condition was actually quite simple: return the Uchiha Clan's former compound, then they could discuss everything else.

Yet that one condition instantly froze Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression, just when he had thought this matter could finally be resolved.

He truly hadn't expected Bai Ye to demand the return of the compound that had originally belonged to the Uchiha Clan.

But how could they return it?

The Uchiha Clan's former compound had already been divided up entirely, and the Sarutobi Clan had taken a share as well.

If they were asked to return it now, they wouldn't agree.

There was absolutely no way he could accept that condition.

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a headache coming on. Looking at Shisui, he asked, "Shisui, it's not that I don't want to do this, but that land has already been given to other Ninja Clans.

That land did belong to the Uchiha once, but after the Nine-Tails' Rampage, didn't we agree that this was compensation for the village?"

He felt that this was genuinely difficult to handle.

The Sarutobi Clan, the Shimura Clan, the Mitokado family, the Utatane family, the Hyuga Clan, and the Ino-Shika-Cho clans.

All of those families had benefited from the division.

Just how large had the Uchiha Clan Compound been?

When it had been divided up, every Ninja Clan had received a share.

The Hyuga and Ino-Shika-Cho clans had taken the least.

Those four clans had already been close to the Uchiha's compound before, so they had chosen to establish their compounds in their original locations.

Still, they had seized that opportunity to expand a little.

Most of the land had actually been swallowed up by the Sarutobi Clan, the Shimura Clan, the Mitokado family, and the Utatane family.

The Sarutobi Clan wasn't so bad.

They had joined when the village was founded, and their compound wasn't all that far away.

But the Shimura Clan, the Mitokado family, and the Utatane family were different. They had only been small families to begin with.

They had once lived in the village's remote outskirts.

Those three would almost certainly refuse to give up what they had swallowed.

Hadn't we already settled this before? Hiruzen Sarutobi thought.

Why bring up old matters again?

They had stated from the beginning that this was meant to soothe the villagers' resentment.

Everyone had seen the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes back then.

It wasn't as though he had put it there.

So the Uchiha would surrender some land as compensation, and everyone would let the matter rest. After all, during the Nine-Tails' Rampage...

Both ordinary people and Ninja Clans had suffered considerable losses.

The Nine-Tails had acted that way because of the Sharingan, but since they couldn't determine whether the Uchiha were responsible, they couldn't pursue the matter further.

But surely the Uchiha still had to compensate them for those losses?

When he had discussed it with Fugaku back then, Fugaku had ultimately tacitly accepted that arrangement.

Yet now, the moment Bai Ye took over, he immediately refused to honor it?

Is this how your Uchiha Clan does things?

At that thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help cursing inwardly. These people were going back on their word, and now they actually wanted to reclaim their own compound.

He let out a long breath, looked at Shisui, and continued, "Shisui, if this is the Uchiha's condition, I don't think anyone can meet it right now.

The clans have already settled there. If they were suddenly told to move, their own members would object, and the village would only descend into greater chaos. As Hokage, I can't do that..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's words were so convincing that he believed them himself.

He really couldn't agree to that condition.

What a joke!

Who spits something out after they've already swallowed it?

A trace of disappointment passed through Shisui's heart at Hiruzen Sarutobi's words, even though he had known it probably wasn't possible.

Still, this seemed to be exactly what Bai Ye had said.

"Shisui, Itachi, you're both children who have inherited the Will of Fire. I don't want the Uchiha and the village to remain at odds like this either. How about this? Go see Bai Ye and ask whether we can talk the day after tomorrow. Oh, and there's a mission here that I may need you two to carry out..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe, then looked at Shisui Uchiha and Itachi.

He knew very well that he needed to find time to meet Bai Ye now.

Otherwise, he couldn't even work out what Bai Ye was really thinking.

He would sound Bai Ye out the day after tomorrow.

"All right."

Shisui nodded in agreement.

The two left together. Only after they were gone did Hiruzen Sarutobi turn toward the shadows nearby and say, "It seems a radical has taken charge!"

Although he had just said they could talk, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew perfectly well.

Bai Ye was clearly a radical.

Otherwise, a member of the Dove Faction would never have suggested asking for their former compound back.

Danzo stepped out of the shadows. He glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi with a sneer. "I told you long ago that the Uchiha Clan was a destabilizing force, but you wouldn't believe me. Now look. They're stirring up trouble again!"

He had been listening there the entire time. He hadn't left in the first place, waiting for Shisui and Itachi to return and report.

When he heard that the Uchiha actually wanted their compound back...

He almost wanted to laugh.

These people were indulging in pure fantasy.

Even now, they still wanted their compound back?

Hiruzen Sarutobi said nothing, only taking a quiet puff of his pipe. His feelings were rather complicated.

In truth, he did think that the Uchiha had become a destabilizing force within Konoha.

But he didn't want to bear the infamy of wiping out a clan from his own village.

"I said no action! Let's talk first. In two days, we'll all sit down and discuss it!"

After thinking for a moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi ultimately decided to wait those two days before making a decision.

Danzo said nothing more about it.

He was still angry over Hiruzen Sarutobi's declaration a few days earlier: "I am the Hokage."

So he knew perfectly well that even if he had other ideas, Hiruzen Sarutobi would never agree to them.

Still, he couldn't shake a faint sense of foreboding.

At the Uchiha Clan.

Shisui and Itachi returned once again. When he saw Bai Ye, Shisui no longer acted as he had before. Instead, he seemed a little sheepish.

"Bai Ye, Lord Hokage said he'd like to meet with you the day after tomorrow to discuss matters between the village and the Uchiha!"

"All right. I agree."

"Huh?"

He just... agreed?

A trace of surprise crossed Shisui Uchiha's face. He hadn't expected Bai Ye to agree so quickly.

"Just go ahead. If there's nothing else, you two can leave."

With that, Bai Ye dismissed them.

Of course he had to meet them. Otherwise, how could he strip away their masks of hypocrisy?

He had already said enough to Shisui today.

After all, there was only so much a person could take in at once.

Besides, once his own plans were underway, he could gradually win Shisui over. He also needed to let Shisui experience despair once.

If Shisui never experienced despair...

He would probably keep placing his hopes in Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, wouldn't he?

Shisui himself actually wanted to resolve the problems between the Uchiha and the village.

But later, he had discovered that he simply couldn't change anything.

Originally, he had even planned to use his Mangekyo Sharingan's Kotoamatsukami to change Fugaku's mind.

Then he would turn relations between the Uchiha and the village around.

But Shisui had overlooked a very cruel fact.

Keeping an ability like that secret would have been fine. But once he told people he could control someone's thoughts at any time...

What did he think Hiruzen Sarutobi would make of that?

Hiruzen would wonder what would happen if Shisui turned against him and took control of him.

As for Danzo, that went without saying. He coveted that ability, and he already had his eye on the Uchiha's Sharingan.

He wanted Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan even more.

After all, in his eyes, possessing Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan would allow him to become Hokage.

So when Shisui told Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others about his ability...

He had effectively paved the way to his own death.

What a naive fool!!

To Bai Ye, Shisui was a bleeding heart.

But he genuinely wanted to change the Uchiha Clan's situation. Later, when he realized he couldn't, he fell into utter despair and chose to take his own life.

So Bai Ye wasn't trying to make Shisui change his mind right away.

At least, only a short time had passed since their earlier conversation, and Shisui did seem to have been swayed a little by his words.

If I can bring Shisui back over to the Uchiha's side, that'll probably earn me quite a bit of clan fortune!

A flicker of anticipation suddenly stirred in Bai Ye's heart.

After all, ousting Uchiha Fugaku had unlocked his Mangekyo Sharingan.

If he won over Shisui Uchiha, wouldn't the rewards go through the roof?!

Meanwhile.

Shisui gazed up at the sky, feeling somewhat lost.

What was any of this supposed to mean?

"Shisui, don't overthink it. Let's go carry out our mission first."

Itachi patted Shisui on the shoulder. For some reason, he kept feeling as though Shisui was drifting further and further away from him.

Hadn't they both always thought the Uchiha Clan was narrow-minded?!

Had Bai Ye really persuaded him now?!

Shisui came back to his senses and nodded, then asked, "Aren't you going to say goodbye to your little brother?!"

"No... I'll do it another time..."

At the thought of Sasuke, a trace of tenderness crossed Itachi's face.

But he wasn't planning to go now. He would see Sasuke later, when he had the time.

Right now, he really didn't have any time.