But things were different now.
Fugaku turned his head slightly to glance at his second son, thinking to himself that this son had given the clan a different choice.
He could not help recalling the Bloodline Altar hidden in the Adjacent Secret Chamber, damaged yet possessed of unfathomable power.
After briefly losing himself in his thoughts and imagining the possibilities, he withdrew his gaze and looked back at the clan's jonin gathered there.
In the past, whenever his clansmen vented their dissatisfaction with Konoha, he had to step in to quell their anger, repeatedly urging everyone to endure and consider the bigger picture to avoid intensifying their conflict with the village.
But today, the words he had long used to restrain himself and his clansmen reached his lips, yet he no longer wanted to say them.
Before, without enough strength to back him up, he had not dared support his clansmen's desire to overthrow the Konoha High Command.
But now things were different. With a sharp blade in hand, the urge to kill arose of its own accord.
The Bloodline Altar had given the clan the means to grow stronger. Now, as long as his clansmen stood united, the Uchiha would be terrifyingly powerful.
"I have seen the resentment in all your hearts, and I have taken it to heart."
"To tell you the truth, I, too, have long been dissatisfied with Konoha. I simply never dared show it because we lacked the strength."
At that moment, the Uchiha jonin in Naka Shrine looked as though they had seen a ghost, their faces filled with astonishment.
Was this still their cowardly clan leader, who constantly told them to endure for the clan's sake?
Uchiha Yashiro knitted his brows tightly and was the first to speak, his voice low and full of hesitation:
"Clan leader, you... what did you just say?"
The burly Uchiha Tekka also widened his eyes, his gruff voice filled with disbelief:
"All these years, whenever we complained about Konoha's injustice, you were the one urging us to curb our anger and consider the Uchiha's safety. Why would you say something like this today?"
Uchiha Inabi, another longtime member of the clan's leadership, could not help speaking up as well, his expression grave:
"Clan leader, have you taken the wrong medicine?"
At those words, several people beside him caught their breath.
The remark was far too blunt and impertinent. Inabi realized he had misspoken as soon as he said it, and his lips moved, but he did not take it back.
Fugaku's change was simply too stark a departure from the past. He could no longer suppress his doubts.
Fugaku did not get angry. He merely gave him an indifferent glance, the oil lamp's flickering light falling across his stern face.
"I am perfectly lucid, and I am not talking nonsense."
He straightened slightly, sweeping his gaze over the roomful of astonished faces.
"My past advice to endure did not mean I genuinely approved of the Konoha High Command's actions. It was a reluctant choice made after weighing the gains and losses."
"Back then, we had no evidence, nor enough strength to protect ourselves. If we broke with Konoha completely, the only fate awaiting our entire clan would have been annihilation."
"As clan leader, I cannot gamble hundreds of clansmen's lives on a moment of passion."
At that, Fugaku lifted his chin, gesturing toward Zongyan in the back row.
"Zongyan, bring him up."
Zongyan bent down, untied the sack beside him, and let Kawano Shinji out.
Kawano Shinji rolled out of the sack onto the cold stone floor and raised his head in confusion.
A stir immediately swept through the stone chamber. Many jonin instinctively pressed their palms against their kunai handles, their Sharingan slowly spinning as they locked onto the unfamiliar man.
Fugaku's voice cut through the commotion, falling heavily upon everyone's ears.
"This man is the target of my children's latest mission, the rogue ninja Kawano Shinji. He should have been a corpse we brought back to the Hokage Building to complete the assignment. Now, there are things in his memories that I want you to know."
"He came from the Anbu and witnessed members of our Uchiha Clan being secretly abducted by Root and reduced to living subjects for human experimentation."
Rumble-
The entire room erupted, angry voices rising one after another.
Uchiha Tekka thrust a hand against the floor, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan abruptly lighting up scarlet:
"Our clansmen really were used for human experimentation?!"
Fugaku raised a hand to quiet the uproar.
Fugaku looked at Kawano Shinji, who was kneeling on the floor. "Kawano Shinji, do not resist mentally. I hope you will cooperate and submit honestly to the genjutsu examination."
With that, he turned toward the three core members of the clan's leadership in front of him.
"Inabi, Tekka, Yashiro, step forward one at a time. Use your Sharingan to enter his mind and verify the authenticity of his memories yourselves."
Kawano Shinji's entire body tensed. To stay alive, he could only nod and comply.
The three stepped forward in turn, each activating his Sharingan and using genjutsu to invade Kawano Shinji's consciousness, examining the cruel past buried deep within his mind.
A short while later, the three stepped back one after another.
Tekka's chest heaved violently, and the chakra around him stirred faintly;
Yashiro's face was livid, his fists clenched until his knuckles turned white;
Even Inabi, normally steady in his dealings, had a dark cloud over his brow.
"It's true," Uchiha Yashiro said heavily, his voice slightly hoarse. "There are no signs of tampering in any of his memories. Every word is true."
With personal confirmation from three members of the clan's leadership, the underground stone chamber of Naka Shrine erupted completely.
The resentment suppressed for years had finally found a target. Angry curses mingled with the dull thuds of fists striking stone walls and the piercing scrape of chairs being shoved back across the floor.
But amid the uproar, Shisui Uchiha, seated in a corner, did not rise with the others.
His brows were tightly furrowed, conflict surging in his eyes. His lips moved as though words had reached them, only to be swallowed again.
No one noticed him. Everyone's attention was occupied by Kawano Shinji kneeling in the center of the room and his memories.
Shisui's fingers clenched the fabric over his knees. The Will of Fire etched into his bones, his longstanding trust in Konoha, and the tragic fate of his clansmen were tearing fiercely at one another within him.
...No.
He heard himself say inwardly, I have to ask Lord Hokage and get to the bottom of this.
While their clansmen seethed, Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Zongyan were studying those who seemed out of place in the crowd.
Only after their clansmen had mostly finished venting did Fugaku continue.
"In the past, even if I had known about these things, I would not have let you see them, much less let you make a scene like this tonight. Because your anger would have led to the Uchiha Clan's destruction."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the faces before him that had just vented their anger. "But now-"
"But now what?" Uchiha Inabi lost his composure, his voice rising above its usual volume as he leaned forward slightly. "Clan leader, you keep leaving things half-said today. What exactly do you mean?"
Fugaku glanced at him, neither evading the question nor speaking any faster. "Things are different now. Before, we lacked sufficient strength, so all we could do was endure. Now, we can have that strength."
At those words, the sound of breathing below him distinctly changed.
Tekka was the first to lose his restraint. "Clan leader, what exactly do you mean by 'can have'?"
Yashiro also leaned forward, his gaze fixed on Fugaku. "Are you holding something we don't know about?"
Fugaku did not answer that question. He sat there, the oil lamp's flame dancing across his face, making him look particularly solemn.
"Before I let you know, we must first clean up a few matters."
He paused, and his voice suddenly turned cold. "Such as dealing with traitors!"
Before his words had finished ringing out, Fugaku had already sprung from his seat.
He moved as fast as a shadow, heading straight for Shisui Uchiha in the corner.
At the same time, Zongyan did not remain idle either. He moved, leading Uchiha Rei, Uchiha Kiyoshi, Uchiha Makoto, and Uchiha Xuan, who had long been poised behind him, toward those tense-faced people in the crowd who had remained silent throughout.
They showed no mercy, and with the advantage of surprise, they pinned those people to the floor in the blink of an eye, immobilizing them.
Fugaku's side proved somewhat more troublesome.
He had already activated his Mangekyō when he struck, and his movements were certainly swift, but Shisui was still Shisui.
He was not called "Body Flicker Shisui" for nothing.
As Fugaku struck with his palm, Shisui instinctively retreated half a step. His figure wavered like a reflection in water, and he almost slipped out of the encirclement.
But the surrounding clansmen were still burning with anger. Seeing their clan leader act in person and hearing the word "traitors" snapped the taut strings in their minds.
Someone shouted, "Stop him!" Then five or six figures lunged at once, coordinating with Fugaku's frontal assault to cut off every route of retreat.
Fast as Shisui was, he could not withstand so many people attacking at once. In addition, he had not managed to react when Fugaku spoke, and ultimately, his chakra was sealed with Sealing Jutsu.
Tekka looked down at the restrained Shisui on the floor, then looked up at Fugaku. "Clan leader, what exactly is going on? Shisui and those people are..."
"And when did you awaken your Mangekyō? You've certainly kept a lot from us!"
Before you continue