Glaring at Uchiha Itachi, who had suddenly walked in, Uchiha Ryota could barely contain the fury on his face. He whipped his head toward Uchiha Fugaku, so enraged that the three tomoe in his eyes spun faster and faster.
This father and son had actually dared to make a fool of him!
As one of the leading figures among the Hawks, Ryota had always been deeply hostile toward Konoha High Command. His older brother had died on the battlefield years ago, but the circumstances of his death had been suspicious. Of that squad, only an accompanying ANBU operative had survived. After a painstaking search, however, Ryota had uncovered a clue: his younger brother's eyeless corpse had actually been found inside Konoha's defensive lines!
And, conveniently enough, he later failed to find that ANBU operative's name anywhere in ANBU's records. Didn't all of this prove that Konoha's leaders had coveted the Uchiha's Sharingan and persecuted them for it?
That incident had also caused Ryota, who had possessed only one tomoe and belonged to the Doves, to awaken the three-tomoe Sharingan overnight and become an unwavering advocate of war.
"Fine, fine, fine! Clan Head, just sit comfortably on your throne. I was wrong about you. Anyone willing to rebel with me, step forward!"
Glaring at Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Ryota had no intention of saying anything more. With a bleak smile, he tore off his forehead protector and hurled it to the floor, then drew the ninja blade at his waist and headed outside.
"Wait. Who said I opposed the coup?" Just as Uchiha Ryota was about to leave, Uchiha Fugaku spoke again.
His words sent an even louder uproar through the already noisy hall. Every gaze converged on Ryota, Fugaku, and Itachi.
They were having trouble figuring out just what was going on.
"I told you, since you call me your clan head, I will do everything in my power to lead our clansmen toward a better future.
"That is my responsibility and my duty. I cannot let you simply run off to assassinate the village leaders. Not only would you fail, you would plunge the clan into eternal ruin."
Fugaku paused there, then spoke again before Ryota could open his mouth.
"That is why we must devise a foolproof plan and unite our resolve before we can achieve our goal. Of course, if every clansman has reached the same decision, I will naturally have nothing more to say."
"So you're finally going to answer the clan's petition and launch a coup? Then what is Itachi doing here?" Looking over Fugaku with lingering suspicion, Uchiha Ryota sheathed his ninja blade and pointed at Uchiha Itachi, who was dressed in an ANBU uniform.
"I do not agree with the Clan Head's approach. If you know a road leads nowhere, you should not keep walking it. Otherwise, it will only cause more people to sacri- ahem. Rather than accept an inevitable tragedy, we should let someone capable choose the path he believes is right."
Halfway through his words, Uchiha Itachi recalled the future Sasuke had described to him and faltered despite himself. He gave a dry cough and smoothly continued.
At those words, Ryota immediately laughed, though the fury in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest.
He had heard the Uchiha Clan's characteristic arrogance in Uchiha Itachi's tone, and it infuriated him all the more.
What, Uchiha Itachi? Are you saying we're all mediocre fools? That you're the only capable one?
"Someone capable? The right path? Then it seems my choice wasn't wrong after all, was it?" So furious that he laughed, Uchiha Ryota's three tomoe spun faster and faster. What little reason he had left kept him from teaching that brat, who knew neither the height of heaven nor the depths of the earth, a lesson.
"No, your choice is certainly wrong. You can neither see the current situation clearly nor muster the strength to turn it around. You don't even understand the truth of what happened. How could you possibly find the right path?"
"Hahahaha! Such boldness! But how can you prove that you are this capable person you speak of? Our clansmen are trapped in a predicament. Can those eyes of yours see through it? Can they see which direction we should lead our clansmen in the future?"
Laughing loudly, Uchiha Fugaku stared straight at Uchiha Itachi, whose head was slightly lowered. Yet his words carried a trace of coldness that everyone present could hear.
"Of course, Clan Head. Your approach is not correct. As clan head, at this crucial moment that will decide every clansman's fate, you absolutely must not waver, much less entrust the lives of the entire clan to someone unreliable. As clan head, you should shoulder the responsibility of deciding the clan's destiny.
"I believe your handling of this matter falls short.
"As a leader, you should use your own methods to lead our clansmen out of their present predicament, so they can live beneath the sun, openly and honorably, free from all discrimination."
Still without raising his head, Uchiha Itachi spoke in an even tone, yet his voice carried throughout the hall.
Sharp gasps rang out.
Gasps of disbelief rose one after another. No one had expected Uchiha Itachi, normally so mild and unobtrusive, to be so forceful now, his edge laid so bare.
"Oh? Itachi, it seems you want to use your own methods to lead our clansmen onto the right path?
"Very good. But in the world of adults, talk alone is useless. Let me see what gives you such confidence.
"Just what kind of power do you possess that gives you the confidence to entertain such an idea?"
Exhaling softly, Uchiha Fugaku's gaze turned resolute. He waved back Uchiha Yashiro and the others who wanted to step forward and persuade him. His gaze swept past Uchiha Yota, whose face alternated between livid and pale, before settling on the forehead protector on Uchiha Itachi's brow.
So it had finally come to this.
Uchiha Itachi finally raised his head and nodded slowly but firmly.
"You arrogant brat! You-!" At last unable to bear it any longer, Uchiha Ryota roared in fury. But he had barely opened his mouth when the anger on his face gave way to shock.
The instant Itachi met Uchiha Fugaku's gaze, the three tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly and transformed into the shape of three-pointed shuriken. He calmly turned to look at the stunned Uchiha Ryota.
Though he had not activated any dojutsu, the mere pressure emanating from Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyo sent a sudden chill down Ryota's back when those eyes fell on him.
"Those! Those are!" As one of the leading figures among the Hawks, he knew of the Mangekyo's existence. Though he had never seen it with his own eyes, his experience allowed him to recognize exactly what Uchiha Itachi's eyes had become.
How was that possible?!
"Father, these eyes are what give me confidence." His tone remained level, while a faint, intangible orange aura seemed to begin burning around Uchiha Itachi.
Yet Uchiha Fugaku did not calm down and smooth things over as Ryota had imagined. Instead, he erupted, as though he had endured for countless years and finally stopped pretending, rebounding from the very bottom.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan. As expected of my son. At your age, with power like this to rely on, how many throughout history could match you?
"But if this is all you have, my answer is: it is not enough."
Enunciating every word, Uchiha Fugaku fused the three tomoe in his own eyes together beneath the shocked gazes of the clansmen in the hall.
"Come! If you want to save the Uchiha Clan, defeat me and prove that your path is right!"
His voice carried a touch of willful abandon, along with unprecedented pride and soaring spirit. An immensely powerful aura radiated from his entire body,
leaving the clansmen in the clan meeting hall, so accustomed to his usual demeanor, staring in a daze.
It seemed that only now did the Uchiha Clan Head, once so steady that he hardly seemed like an Uchiha at all, begin to fit their image of one.
"Come, Itachi! Let me see the true measure of you!" Laughing loudly, Uchiha Fugaku no longer concealed his presence in the slightest!
With a casual sweep of his hand, a forceful yet remarkably gentle surge of chakra pushed all the surrounding clansmen away. Immediately afterward, the armored upper body of a pitch-black giant rose around him!
Susanoo!
Endure in silence? Hide my strength? From this day onward, there would be no need!
Before you continue