"My capacity has driven me to despair over this tedious clan, because you are too fixated on something as insignificant as the clan."
In his room, Fugaku recalled Itachi's earlier words, his heart filled with boundless sorrow. He had a vague sense that Itachi had already headed in an unknown direction, yet he could not stop him and did not even know how to counsel him.
Only now did he realize how little he understood Itachi.
Seeing Fugaku's troubled expression, Mikoto approached and tried to console him. "Shisui and Itachi were always very close. His sudden suicide must have hit Itachi hard. It wouldn't be strange for him to do things that are difficult to understand."
Fugaku responded coldly to Mikoto's consolation. That coldness had begun with the Nine-Tails Rampage.
"He still hasn't shown himself, has he?"
Mikoto froze for a moment. Understanding whom Fugaku meant, she silently shook her head.
"He'll show himself eventually," Fugaku said firmly. "He released the Nine-Tails, dumped the blame on the clan, then hid in the shadows without showing his face. What does he stand to gain from that? It's been three years, and I've never exposed him. Does he really think I'm a fool?"
"No, it couldn't have been Anyo." Mikoto understood what was troubling Fugaku and spoke up in objection.
Fugaku sneered. "Who else could it have been? You could count the ninja in the clan with the eye power to control the Nine-Tails on one hand, and they were all in the clan compound that night. Only he, out there, could have done it. The fact that he hasn't shown himself since the Nine-Tails Incident is the best proof."
"But releasing the Nine-Tails did him no good at all. Even his best friend, Minato, died because of it."
"I don't know