Seeing his father's and older brother's Mangekyō Sharingan made Sasuke burn with envy.
"Big brother, activate your Sharingan too. Let me compare it with Father's. Why do they look a little different?"
Itachi dotingly activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, and Sasuke really did spot the difference this time. Both of their Mangekyō Sharingan looked somewhat like pinwheels, but his father's was more intricate.
Meanwhile, Fugaku and Itachi were also studying each other's Mangekyō Sharingan.
"All right, Itachi, put it away."
Fugaku could more or less guess when Itachi had awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan. It must have been when something happened to Shisui. At that thought, Fugaku felt rather helpless. That child, Shisui...
"Itachi, what abilities does your Mangekyō Sharingan have?"
"Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu."
"Those two?"
Fugaku was a little surprised by Itachi's answer. He hadn't expected Itachi to have awakened such good abilities.
"Quite good. Related to Genjutsu, are they? They're somewhat similar to mine, though I also have another, different ability. Itachi, do you know how things would end if the Uchiha launched a coup?"
Fugaku's words left Sasuke rather confused. Hadn't they just been discussing the Mangekyō Sharingan's abilities? How had they gotten onto a coup?
Itachi shook his head. He didn't know exactly how things would turn out either.
"Heh, Itachi, this is why I've kept refusing to agree to the clan's radicals launching a coup. My Mangekyō Sharingan gave me the ability to see the future. In their plan, they captured the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto, intending to unleash the Nine-Tails again to carry out their coup. Guess how that ended?"
Hearing this, Itachi hadn't expected some people in the clan to harbor such dangerous ideas.
"They succeeded?"
Fugaku wasn't surprised in the slightest by Itachi's answer.
"No, they failed, and they failed miserably. All those people who wanted to launch the coup were killed by Naruto."
"What?"
Sasuke stared at Naruto in disbelief, while Itachi pondered seriously. Recalling Naruto's terrifying combat strength, he understood. No wonder they would fail. How had they dared? Even Obito, with his seemingly uncounterable ability, had taken a beating from Naruto, let alone those small fry.
With the whole family staring at him, Naruto could only spread his hands helplessly.
"Damn it, Naruto, how are you so good at showing off? Teach me."
Feeling playful, Naruto curled a finger at Sasuke.
"Want to learn?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"I'm not taking disciples."
Sasuke: ...I'm so mad.
"Glimpsing the future?"
Itachi thought to himself that if he really had agreed to Obito's proposal back then, his father's Mangekyō Sharingan would definitely have caught him off guard. Fortunately, Naruto had rewritten his and Sasuke's fates, as well as the fate of the entire Uchiha Clan.
Just as Itachi watched the fuming Sasuke and the composed Naruto on the other side, quietly marveling at Naruto, Fugaku spoke.
"Um, Naruto, about what you said regarding Itachi's health..."
Naruto could only offer this explanation.
"There might not be anything we can do right now. He can only use his Mangekyō Sharingan less often, or wait for Lady Tsunade to return. She should have a way."
"Lady Tsunade is coming back? That can't be possible. Didn't she leave Konoha?"
Fugaku was rather skeptical. Hadn't Tsunade, one of the Sannin, left Konoha long ago? Would she come back?
"Yes, probably within the next few days. Have you forgotten what Hiruzen Sarutobi said?"
Hearing Naruto address him so bluntly made Fugaku's mouth twitch. It seemed Hiruzen Sarutobi really had made people hate him, but Fugaku still refused to give up and spoke.
"He promised us today that the next Hokage would be chosen from our Uchiha Clan..."
Fugaku thought Naruto was quite a sharp child, and he had his own ulterior motive too. After all, as far as he knew, Naruto could speak with Minato. So if he told Naruto, wouldn't that be indirectly telling Minato? Fugaku felt pleased with his own ingenious logic.
"Forget it. That's impossible. He only agreed in words."
Naruto's answer surprised Fugaku a little.
"He was just scared at the time. There's a saying that puts it well: he didn't realize he was wrong, he just realized he was done for. With so many Uchiha surrounding him, one blast of fire from each of you could have burned him to nothing. He's afraid of dying too."
Seeming to notice Fugaku's shock, Naruto patiently explained.
"B-but he... Hiss, you're right. What about Danzo, then? He has to die, doesn't he?"
Naruto felt he had already spelled it out quite plainly, yet Fugaku was still clinging to his fantasies.
"That's probably a long shot too. Those two are snakes and rats in the same nest. Asking Hiruzen Sarutobi to kill Danzo would be like asking him to cut off his own arm, wouldn't it?"
Looking at Fugaku like this, Naruto inwardly sneered without end. He even recalled the outrageous remarks of certain netizens in his previous life: But what if the bunny girl still was? Seriously, dude, wake up. Stop dreaming.
Fugaku looked just as damn ridiculous now as those netizens had back then.
People really shouldn't pin their hopes on getting lucky, no matter the circumstances.
Naruto could already foresee that Danzo would definitely be fine. Even if Danzo were killed that day, he would definitely only be faking his death to escape. That old dog Danzo was extremely sneaky, and very good at staying alive.
Fugaku was questioning his whole life now. Didn't that mean he had been played?
"Then haven't we been deceived?"
"Yes, you could put it that way."
Hearing Naruto's reply made Fugaku even more depressed. Even his straight back slumped.
"Sigh, to think I can't see things as clearly as a child. A fresh brain really does work better." Fugaku looked at Naruto's head, very curious about how it had grown and why he was so clever.
"Then Tsunade will be the next Hokage?"
Naruto nodded, then shook his head.
Fugaku was puzzled. What did that mean?
"Yes and no. If that old bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi is still alive, the next Hokage will most likely end up just like that dad of mine."
Naruto stopped there. Anyone smart would understand what he meant.
Fugaku fell even more silent. Itachi, beside him, couldn't get a word in either. He had finally seen Hiruzen Sarutobi's true colors. Whether it was what had happened tonight or Shisui's murder, Itachi was now utterly disappointed in Hiruzen Sarutobi as Hokage.
Naruto glanced at the sky outside and got up to head home.
"All right, it's getting late. I should go home, Uncle Fugaku, Aunt Mikoto."
"Huh? You're not staying the night?"
"No."
Naruto shook his head in refusal.
"All right, then. Come over whenever you want. Don't stand on ceremony with us."
"Okay."
The worry in Mikoto's eyes touched Naruto a little. Oh, fine. I'll tell them one more thing.
"Oh, right, Uncle Fugaku. That stone tablet beneath the Naka Shrine is fake. Someone deliberately wrote those words on it. Oh, my dad didn't tell me this. Kurama, the Nine-Tails inside my belly, told me. It wasn't left behind by the Sage of Six Paths."
That was all Naruto said by way of warning. Whether they believed it wasn't up to him.
Fugaku and Itachi both saw shock in each other's eyes. Only Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan could read the contents of that stone tablet. Not to mention that only the Uchiha even knew about it, yet Naruto, an outsider, knew all this...
Hiss. They were even more convinced that they were speaking with Minato, as well as that Nine-Tails or whatever.
Meanwhile, the Nine-Tails inexplicably found himself taking the blame Naruto had passed his way.
Minato: Nobody came for nothing. Not a single one. Everyone gets a share. No need to fight over it.