A week later, the Kumogakure Envoy Corps headed back toward Kumogakure under ANBU escort.
Unlike the warm welcome that had lined the streets on their arrival, the villagers showed no enthusiasm after the envoys' attack on a villager came to light.
They already despised the Cloud Ninja for starting the war, and they found their arrogant attitude on Konoha's own soil even harder to stomach.
With Konoha refusing to hand over the "murderer" or compromise for a peace offered as charity, the talks naturally ended in failure.
Quite a few people accused Oto Uchiha, the so-called "murderer," of refusing to sacrifice herself for the village's peace, but their voices were soon drowned out by the majority.
Once those accusers were asked to volunteer themselves as sacrifices, they fell completely silent, not daring to utter another word.
Oto Uchiha paid little attention to these rumors. She was busy preparing for the clan meeting.
Although Uchiha clan meetings were more like gatherings to air grievances, they undeniably played an important role in uniting the Uchiha. It was through these meetings and battle after battle that she had gained the support of the jonin Within the Family.
She was also gradually redirecting the Radicals' resentment toward the village onto its leadership and outside enemies, working to win the villagers' goodwill toward the Uchiha.
Only with the support of the ninja clans and the villagers could the Uchiha truly produce a Hokage.
At the clan meeting, Oto Uchiha relayed selected portions of the earlier meeting, informing them that the Uchiha might once again go to war for the village, thereby dispelling the villagers' suspicious looks.
Throughout the meeting, Fugaku, the clan head, made no decisive statements. He simply watched in silence.
Shisui and Itachi were watching as well. As time passed, they had stopped