The next day, Uchiha Fugaku felt that something was off with the clan members in the Police Force.
He knew he had basically lost all authority within the Uchiha—plenty of clansmen didn't even want to call him clan head anymore. Still, shouldn't they at least call him "Captain"? His position in the Police Force was real, after all.
But when he arrived at the Police Force building, one ninja after another merely gave him a flat glance and then looked away, not even in the mood to make small talk.
…Had something happened recently that cut his authority down yet again?
Holding that doubt and a heavy heart, Fugaku kept his face impassive.
He walked past one clansman after another and went alone to the Captain's office. He also summoned the Police Force ninja he trusted most.
That man was an Uchiha jōnin as well, a veteran of the Police Force, older than Fugaku.
"What happened in the clan lately?" Fugaku got straight to the point.
His gut told him something had gone on in the last two days that he didn't know about.
The jōnin hesitated.
Thinking of how Fugaku usually looked out for him, he sighed inwardly and answered, "Clan Head Fugaku, last night some Police Force shinobi in the Uchiha privately convened a clan meeting. No Uchiha moderates were there, and no radicals either—only those who want to follow Uchiha Chizumi's 'Absolute Justice' faction."
Fugaku was silent for a few seconds.
"As expected, and within reason," he said at last, then looked up at the jōnin. "You were there too, weren't you? Otherwise you wouldn't know this so clearly; they'd surely keep it from others."
When the other man kept quiet, Fugaku shook his head. "I'm not going to blame you for leaning toward Chizumi. I think it's the wrong choice, but it's your right."
"I did attend," the jōnin admitted.
"What did you all talk about? Can you tell me? If there are parts that are confidential, share the parts that aren't."
"And…" He paused, then asked, "Was it Chizumi who initiated this 'Absolute Justice' clan meeting?"
The jōnin shook his head. "We didn't notify Uchiha Chizumi. We all know he's extremely busy; he probably doesn't have time for this kind of meeting."
Fugaku froze.
So even without Chizumi calling for it, the clansmen who believe in Absolute Justice were already moving on their own in that direction? When he called for them to calm down and not be overly hostile to the village, why didn't they show this kind of initiative?
He didn't understand.
"This meeting wasn't exactly secret— even some who don't believe in Absolute Justice caught wind of the rumors. The reason you knew nothing, Clan Head, is probably because no one informed you."
That truth was a sharp blade that left Fugaku speechless.
The jōnin continued, "We were discussing what, exactly, Uchiha Chizumi's Absolute Justice is. How should the Uchiha carry out justice for it to count as Absolute Justice? Everyone brainstormed and we recorded the useful ideas, planning to compile them into a booklet."
"The initial idea is for it to be an 'Absolute Justice Enforcement Manual,' similar to the Police Force's code of enforcement. Of course, before we finalize it, we want Uchiha Chizumi to review it, so we understand what true Absolute Justice is."
At this point, Fugaku no longer knew what to say.
Their initiative was a little too strong.
If they put this energy into 'how to make the Uchiha grow stronger and more glorious while staying at peace with Konoha,' would the clan have ended up like this?!
"Clan Head Fugaku, there's something… I'm not sure if I should tell you."
You've brought it up, so you clearly want to tell me.
"Say it," Fugaku said, voice low.
"We actually invited your wife, Mikoto-sama, but she turned us down—perhaps because her position is a bit awkward. The fact that you don't know means she didn't tell you. Maybe she has her own reasons."
Fugaku was stunned.
What was this supposed to mean? The hoe of "Absolute Justice" was hacking at the foundation of his household again?!
First they pried away his younger son, Uchiha Sasuke.
Now they had their eyes on his wife, Uchiha Mikoto?
He was starting to see red.
…
"'Absolute Justice Enforcement Manual'…" Uchiha Chizumi looked impassively at the stack of drafts someone handed him. After a casual skim, he looked up at the three Police Force jōnin before him.
"Who put this together?" That one short question made the three Uchiha jōnin break into a sweat.
One of them drew a deep breath and answered, "It's a compilation of the ideas of all the Uchiha willing to follow you, with many real cases drawn from your enforcement of justice."
"Frankly, rather than a manual, most of it reads like a reconstruction of your actual experiences."
Chizumi flipped through a couple more pages. The man was right—change a few words and anyone might think it was his personal enforcement diary.
Their summary of the Absolute Justice creed was decent, too.
They had clearly put real thought into it, and they hadn't injected any overly personalized, extreme ideas into 'Absolute Justice'.
In other words—no hidden agenda.
"If anything's off, we can revise immediately!" one jōnin said.
"Pretty good," Chizumi said slowly. "Since you're writing something like this, that means you're ready to devote your lives to justice. In that case, next time you hold a clan meeting, invite me."
The three jōnin: "!!!"
Hiss!
What did those words mean?
Was he going to start ideological training in Absolute Justice for those willing to follow?
Was he finally going to spread [Absolute Justice] far and wide?
One of them asked in a mix of shock and delight, "Does this mean Absolute Justice has accepted us?"
"That depends on whether you pass the assessment," Chizumi replied. "Whether it's Uchiha Izumi or Mitarashi Anko, they both went through strict tests under Absolute Justice. Justice has no room for freeloaders. It needs shinobi with pure, sincere hearts."
He paused, face blank. "As it happens, there's a trial that suits the three of you."
The three jōnin immediately straightened.
They adopted a posture of serious attention and even put away that signature Uchiha air of looking down on everyone.
To anyone who didn't know better, it would have seemed that Uchiha Chizumi— not Fugaku—was the Police Force Captain, and the Uchiha clan head.
"You know the big merchant Gato, right?" Chizumi asked.
"I've heard of him," one of them nodded. "A guy who'll do anything for money, terrible reputation. But because he's so good at making money, plenty of people in the shinobi world still work with him—even some in Konoha. But…"
Most of those people had, to varying degrees, committed crimes; either you've already killed them or thrown them in Konoha's prison—this flashed through the jōnin's mind, but he didn't say it aloud.
"I have the whereabouts of one of Gato's confidants," Chizumi said evenly. "Find him, use him to find Gato, then take Gato's head. Complete this assignment, and you'll be halfway to earning Absolute Justice's recognition."
He added, "If you think it's too difficult or too much trouble, you can go straight home."
"…We accept," one jōnin said.
…
When Fugaku returned home at noon, he went straight to Mikoto and asked, face-to-face, what he most wanted to know: "Why did you keep that clan meeting from me?"
Mikoto could hear the emotion in her husband's voice.
Clearly, Fugaku felt confused and angry about her concealment.
But as husband and wife, he could only swallow the fire in his chest and question her coldly: "Last night, they invited you to that Absolute Justice gathering, didn't they? But you didn't tell me. Am I the last person in the entire Uchiha clan to find out?"
"Sasuke doesn't know either. I didn't tell him," Mikoto sighed softly. "Since you know I was invited, you should also know I didn't go, right?"
"That's not the point. The point is that you hid it from me," Fugaku said, voice low. "I'm your husband, I'm the Uchiha clan head, and I'm the Police Force Captain. No matter which of those three capacities I approach you in, you should have told me beforehand."
Mikoto said, "I had my reasons."
"Speak," Fugaku drew a deep breath. This time he was truly angry.
Being good at compromise, at backing down, at swallowing pride—doesn't mean he has no anger.
Especially when it concerns his wife.
"Fugaku, haven't you noticed you really haven't been yourself? When Itachi was alive, you weren't like this," Mikoto said with a sigh. "If I had told you and you'd barged into that meeting, I can't guarantee—given how unstable you are right now—that you wouldn't have done something extreme. That's what I was worried about."
"So it was better not to tell you in advance. You'd find out once it happened anyway."
Fugaku looked hard at Mikoto.
"So you're saying you were afraid I'd act irrationally?"
Mikoto's fine brows knit. "I'm honestly thinking of your good, Fugaku. With your resolve wavering, you might do something extreme that Absolute Justice would never tolerate."
Absolute Justice…
Absolute Justice again!
It was Sasuke; now it was Mikoto; and most of the clan besides. Had they considered that it's Chizumi's Absolute Justice that's making the village stranger and stranger?
It was also Chizumi's Absolute Justice that was quietly putting the Uchiha on the opposite side of the village.
After all—
Absolute Justice is bound to clash with the Hokage and the elders. Few among Konoha's leadership are clean. Once Justice grows strong, the conflict will become irreconcilable and drag the entire Uchiha clan down with it.
In other words, the impact of Chizumi's Absolute Justice isn't fundamentally different from Uchiha Setsuna's coup ideology.
Fugaku slowly closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, disappointment filled them.
"I'm going back to the Police Force. Don't make dinner for me tonight—or breakfast tomorrow," he said quietly.
He could feel a rift opening in their values—a rift that would be hard to mend.
He couldn't be bothered to say anything more.
"Fugaku…"
Before the complicated-faced Mikoto could continue, Fugaku turned and cut her off.
"I know what you want to say. But let me be clear: I don't buy into that Absolute Justice stuff. My vantage point is completely different from yours."
"I'm speaking as the clan head. What I see is the Uchiha's relationship with Konoha's top brass getting worse by the day. No matter what I do, Chizumi will cancel it out."
"If you have time to lecture me, go to Konoha's cemetery and see Itachi. Ever since his cenotaph was set up, you've never gone to visit, have you?"
"Because you're deeply disappointed in Itachi's actions and beliefs—and you've come to appreciate Sasuke's choices instead."
"…Hah…"
Fugaku's mood grew heavier still.
He realized that even this change in his wife's mindset had everything to do with Uchiha Chizumi.
"At the end of the day, you're simply not on my side. Your perspective is too much like a sentimental bystander's."
His tone had gone cold and stiff.
Mikoto's brows knit tighter. Whether it was Itachi's logic or Fugaku's, she felt that as mother and wife she could no longer see through either of them.
Father and son…
Their views differed in places, but their temperaments seemed stamped from the same mold.
Both stubborn to the bone.
~~~
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