Three in the morning.
The recuperation area of the Uchiha Clan compound.
Fugaku, Mikoto, Shisui, and Haruma sat together around a table in the courtyard.
Two kerosene lamps on the table drove back the darkness around them.
Too busy during the day to spare the time, Fugaku had brought his wife to check on Shisui's recovery at night.
What he had not expected was to find the brat Haruma trading with Danzo using the Sharingan he had only given him yesterday.
Fugaku knew all too well how underhanded Danzo was.
He simply could not understand Haruma's act of aiding the enemy.
Haruma could not be bothered to explain, but when he saw the same confusion in Mikoto's eyes, he finally softened and gave the old man some face.
He had Shisui explain their earlier conversation to Fugaku.
Haruma also filled him in on what his clone and Danzo had said before and after the trade.
After a moment's thought, Fugaku looked up at Haruma. "You mean you want to strengthen Danzo's power and ambition, then make him and Sarutobi turn on each other?"
"See? See!"
Haruma pointed at Shisui irritably. "This old man figured something out just from hearing you repeat it once. Yet you were stupid enough to want to complain to the Third, still dreaming about peaceful coexistence."
Shisui scratched his head awkwardly. "Haruma, from now on, I'll do whatever you say!"
Fugaku's mouth twitched. He doesn't mean me by 'old man,' does he...?
Wasn't I still his dear clan leader just a little while ago...?
Quickly coming back to his senses, Fugaku still sounded puzzled. "Although Danzo and the Third don't get along very well, making them fight won't be that easy, will it?"
"And what was that you said earlier about Obito Uchiha? And the Akatsuki? The Rinnegan? What plans are those?"
Haruma waved a hand, initially not intending to explain, but then remembered how, in the original story, Obito had repeatedly sneaked into the clan shrine to talk to Itachi.
There was also that sneaky bastard Black Zetsu, who had even rewritten the clan's historical stone tablet.
The plot had already started to veer off course.
It would be good for Fugaku and Shisui to know more, so that Obito would not manage to fool them.
Haruma grew serious and looked at the three of them, speaking gravely. "All the information I told Danzo earlier was true."
"And the outfit my clone wore is the Akatsuki's standard attire. If you run into them, try not to get into a conflict. It's not time to face them yet."
Fugaku's brow furrowed. "The Akatsuki... are they very powerful?"
"There aren't many of them. Fewer than ten core members."
Hearing that, Fugaku relaxed considerably.
How powerful could an organization with fewer than ten people be?
Seeing that the old fellow was not taking it seriously, Haruma added, "Those ten people are all at least Elite Jonin, with several at Kage Level."
"The Akatsuki's public leader, Nagato Uzumaki, also possesses the Rinnegan. His strength already surpasses the current Kage of every village!"
The three beside him were shaken!
They hurriedly put aside their contempt.
Whether it was strength beyond Kage Level or the Rinnegan...
They were certainly not something the Uchiha Clan, still battered by turmoil, could afford to provoke.
"Little Haruma, you said the leader with the Rinnegan is only their public leader? Then..."
Uchiha Mikoto suddenly interjected with a question.
Haruma answered her gently. "Mikoto, you're so clever. That fellow is just a pawn out in the open."
Fugaku gave Haruma a resentful look, as though silently asking, Why are you so nice to my wife...?
My hair isn't going to turn green, is it...?
Haruma rolled his eyes, ignoring the old man's resentful gaze, and continued, "The Akatsuki has plenty of secrets hidden behind it."
"In a sense, you could say the person pulling the strings behind the Akatsuki is Madara Uchiha!"
At those words,
Fugaku's pupils abruptly contracted! Unable to contain his horror, he cried, "Impossible!!!"
"Absolutely impossible!!!"
"He... how could he still be alive!"
Fugaku was not the only one agitated. Even the usually straightforward Shisui and the gentle Mikoto had unconcealable astonishment in their eyes.
Before this, whether it had been secrets about a mysterious organization, the number of its members, or even the appearance of the Rinnegan,
The others, who knew Haruma's abilities, had not been surprised. They had simply committed it all to memory as special intelligence.
But,
to say that their clan's ancestor, Madara Uchiha, who was also one of Konoha's founders in the truest sense, was still alive...
It was truly hard to believe.
"Calm down, calm down."
Haruma looked at the flustered Fugaku and mocked him. "You're a clan leader, yet you can't even accept something this minor. No wonder the Uchiha Clan gets wiped out under your leadership."
Before Fugaku could recover his composure, those words struck him like a heavy hammer to the chest, making him stagger.
His face flushed crimson, and his bell-sized eyes stared at Haruma. He could neither speak nor stay silent...
He nearly suffered internal injuries from holding it in and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Seeing her husband like this, Uchiha Mikoto hurriedly spoke up. "Little Haruma, don't..."
Before she could finish, Haruma interrupted. "Mikoto, don't speak up for that old fellow either. If it weren't for me, you'd be lying in a pool of blood next year too."
"He deserves to suffer a little."
"Well..."
At a loss, Mikoto glanced at her husband, who was clutching his chest.
Hearing Haruma's words, Fugaku gave his wife Mikoto an apologetic look.
Then he composed himself and asked gravely, "Since Madara is still alive, why hasn't he shown himself?"
Seated in his rocking chair, Haruma said leisurely, "Madara was still alive during the Third Shinobi World War."
"Not long after the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, he died again."
"But before long, he might come back to life again."
Fugaku thought, Where did this riddler come from???
Mikoto thought, What is this boy Haruma talking about???
Shisui thought, Is my best friend having an episode???
Having just been mocked, Fugaku did not speak.
Seeing her husband remain silent, Mikoto did not ask either.
Only the rather clueless Shisui asked with concern, "Haruma, are you... having an episode?"
"Ep-ep-episode! Fuck you!"
At Shisui's words, Haruma sprang to his feet in fury, his mouth twitching uncontrollably. "How many times have I told you! There's nothing wrong with me! Nothing!!!"
"Spread that rumor again, and you just wait!!!"
"Pfft!"
Seeing Haruma like this, Mikoto accidentally laughed aloud.
Haruma, who had maintained a leisurely expression while discussing all those important figures.
Whether they were the village's higher-ups or Madara Uchiha, whose name resounded throughout the Shinobi World, he spoke of them all with casual indifference.
Yet... he could get flustered and furious too.
When the three turned to look at her, Mikoto hurriedly covered her mouth and glanced around innocently.
It was not just Mikoto. Seeing Haruma fly into a rage, Fugaku's lips also quietly began to curve upward.
"Laugh, laugh, laugh! What's so funny!"
Haruma pointed at Fugaku and berated him. "You've got the nerve to laugh! If I hadn't stepped up, an unlucky bastard like you would have had his whole clan wiped out within a year by those two sneaky bastards, Danzo and Sarutobi!"
The corners of his mouth began twitching halfway through their upward curve.
Fugaku clutched his chest and looked at Haruma aggrievedly. Was I the one who laughed out loud?!
Damn it!
This brat isn't actually interested in my wife, is he!
That aggro switch caught me a little too off guard...