"Shisui."
Uchiha Minamoto walked over to him and sat down cross-legged.
"Minamoto, you're here."
Shisui Uchiha withdrew his gaze and looked at the young man beside him.
This younger clansman, who had still been unknown two months ago, had now become someone all of Konoha was talking about.
Especially because of today's newspaper!
"I read this newspaper, and this article, too."
Shisui Uchiha took the Great Love Newspaper Office's First Edition Newspaper out of his robe.
"Thank you, Minamoto."
Shisui Uchiha's thanks came from the article's description of Kagami Uchiha.
Although Uchiha Minamoto had not written much about Kagami Uchiha in the news,
he had still established a positive image for this elder of the clan.
As Kagami Uchiha's descendant, it was only natural for Shisui Uchiha to thank him for that.
"It was nothing, Shisui."
Uchiha Minamoto smiled.
"Protecting the reputation of our clan's predecessors is what I should be doing anyway."
Shisui Uchiha nodded. After a moment of silence, he chose to get straight to the point.
"Minamoto, how much do you know? About..."
Shisui Uchiha paused before continuing.
"The darkness of the Uchiha Clan!"
Chapter 39: Shisui, be my partner! (Please keep reading! Please vote with your monthly tickets!)
"The darkness of the Uchiha Clan..."
Uchiha Minamoto smiled. He stepped forward, passed Shisui Uchiha, and walked toward the rushing Naka River.
"Shisui, I don't even know where the universe ends. How would I know that?"
"...Stop making wisecracks, Minamoto!"
Shisui Uchiha looked at the figure ahead of him, his tone growing serious.
"I'm trying to discuss this with you seriously!"
"What exactly is troubling you, Shisui?"
Uchiha Minamoto stood steadily on the undulating surface of the Naka River, his voice as calm and composed as ever.
"Look, your thoughts are like the waters of this Naka River.
"The slightest disturbance from outside makes it hard for them to remain calm and clear.
"If you let them settle, the answers to every question will instantly become clear."
As he spoke, Uchiha Minamoto released his chakra, forcibly stilling the waves of the Naka River until not a single ripple remained.
The golden sunset shone down, and the smooth surface seemed to become a mirror.
Shisui Uchiha looked closely.
All he saw was the reflection of Uchiha Minamoto standing on the water.
So... you're the answer to the problem?
Shisui Uchiha's gaze moved upward, finally settling on the back of his younger cousin.
It was not as though he did not know what Uchiha Minamoto had been doing lately.
Holding a Ninjutsu Exchange Meeting, forming the Great Love Group, and then establishing the Love Newspaper Office...
It could almost be said that everything Uchiha Minamoto did was having a positive influence on the Uchiha Clan.
But.
"It's been too little time, Minamoto. It's still been too little time."
After a long silence, Shisui Uchiha let out a deep sigh, his expression full of conflicting feelings and disappointment.
"You..."
Haven't even awakened the [Mangekyō Sharingan].
How can you talk about solving every problem?
"Shisui."
Uchiha Minamoto spoke calmly.
"Why don't you spell it out a little more clearly?"
Shisui Uchiha took a deep breath, as if he had made some sort of decision.
"The clan... is preparing to stage a coup."
Uchiha Minamoto gave a derisive chuckle.
"That's it?"
Isn't that enough?!
Shisui Uchiha's eyes widened.
The last ninja clan to rebel and attempt to challenge an entire village with the strength of a single clan had been the Kaguya Clan.
And what happened?
Kirigakure had only needed to exert a little effort to reach the limit of what the Kaguya Clan could withstand.
The clan was destroyed, its bloodline extinguished!
Compare them side by side.
The Uchiha Clan had a long history, and so did the Kaguya Clan.
The Uchiha Clan descended from the Six Paths, and the Kaguya Clan were likewise heirs to the Six Paths.
The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan was powerful, and the Kaguya Clan's Shikotsumyaku was no weaker.
More coincidentally still, the Uchiha Clan and the Kaguya Clan were not that different in their mental states, either.
The Kaguya Clan had challenged Kirigakure and been wiped out.
Now it was the Uchiha's turn to challenge Konoha, which was stronger than Kirigakure...
How could Shisui Uchiha not be frantic with worry?
One was the village he loved deeply.
The other was the clan he had been born into.
Caught between them, Shisui Uchiha felt as though he were trapped in hell.
"Shisui, you're too caught up in what you might gain or lose."
Uchiha Minamoto released his control over the waters of the Naka River.
"You care too much about the past and worry too much about the future.
"I once heard a master say-yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift from heaven.
"In the end, people have to live in the present!"
Shisui Uchiha opened his mouth, still wanting to say something.
But at that very moment,
Uchiha Minamoto finally turned around.
He stood against the light, the golden sunset draping him in a thin veil, as though a hazy aura of divinity enveloped him.
"I, Uchiha Minamoto, have a dream.
"Shisui, I want to become the Fifth Hokage!"
An Uchiha?
Hokage?
Shisui Uchiha stared blankly at the young man before him, his voice strained.
"Minamoto, are you planning to side with the clan too?"
"The clan? Clan Head Fugaku and the others? Hahahaha!"
Uchiha Minamoto burst into wild laughter, as though he had heard some enormous joke.
"How can you run the clan properly with a bunch of vermin like that?"
Shisui Uchiha was dumbfounded. "Then you..."
"Shisui."
Uchiha Minamoto spoke with absolute conviction.
"I'm not on the 'clan's' side. I'm on 'Uchiha Minamoto's' side! I'm on the 'Great Love Group's' side!
"I've never agreed with the clan's idea of staging a coup.
"As far as I'm concerned, if you want to become Hokage, you absolutely cannot seize the position through a coup."
The clearest example
was none other than Mr. Shimura Danzō, the "Five-and-a-halfth Hokage."
Taking advantage of the interval after Pain attacked Konoha, while Tsunade lay unconscious, Shimura Danzō had forced his way into office and even attended the Five Kage Summit in the name of the "Hokage."
And the result?
Before Shimura Danzō could return to the village, he died right on "Danzo Bridge"!
Even after Shimura Danzō's death, Konoha had never acknowledged this "Five-and-a-halfth Hokage."
Konoha's officially designated Sixth Hokage was Kakashi Hatake!
"Exactly, Minamoto! The clan's idea of staging a coup is completely unacceptable!"
Shisui Uchiha's mood finally grew more positive.
"But what you just said... about wanting to become Hokage..."
"Shisui."
Uchiha Minamoto slowly delivered a piece of "future talk-no-jutsu" from more than a decade later.
"It isn't that only those who become Hokage can gain people's recognition.
"It's those who gain everyone's recognition who can become Hokage!"
Shisui Uchiha shuddered.
Those words exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.
At that moment,
Shisui Uchiha felt he had met a kindred friend.
A kindred friend whose soul resonated with his far more than Itachi's did!
"Shisui, you must have that same 'resolve,' don't you?"
Uchiha Minamoto slowly approached across the waters of the Naka River, activating his scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
"Resolve doesn't mean being determined to sacrifice yourself. It means carving a path forward through the dark wilderness!"
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