How could a clan head spew filth like that?
Shisui shrank back two steps, face burning. It was his first time seeing the clan head enraged, and he was not used to it at all.
Not only did he curse, he slapped him.
What was going on?
Had he done something wrong?
Shisui could not make sense of any of it.
Clearly he had infuriated the clan head.
Amane could only shake his head.
Anger was justified.
Only heaven knew how much effort his father had spent to hide the fact that he had already awakened the Mangekyo. Shisui, though, had blithely revealed the nature of his ocular art.
And with something as strong as Kotoamatsukami, even if Danzō and Sarutobi believed Shisui stood with them, they still could not truly trust him.
What if he turned one day and dropped Kotoamatsukami on them? What would happen then?
As Danzō liked to say, such power must be in his own hands to see full use.
In Danzō's eyes, using Kotoamatsukami on the Uchiha would be a waste.
He wanted Fugaku to lead a coup. Then he could crush Sarutobi and reap the spoils.
All of this rested on his certainty that the Uchiha could never succeed, which was why he felt so bold.
"If not for Amane, I would already be dead."
After a long pause, Shisui coughed and explained.
"After Danzō and Root hunted me, I dragged myself to Itachi and entrusted him with my other eye. Then I jumped into the Naka River."
So he had died once already.
Fugaku snorted. "Simplicity is not a sin. Taken too far, it breeds disaster."
"The Mangekyo is the Uchiha's greatest power, and at the same time what Konoha fears most."
"I know you did not mean to flaunt your power to the leadership, but your mistake was trusting the wrong people."
He slapped the desk, gaze hard. "You should know that after the Nine Tails incident, the clash between the village and the clan was dragged into the open."
"The clash did not begin with the Nine Tails, nor with the chain of events that followed."
"Targeting, suppressing, even erasing the clan. That has long been the leadership's aim. They have never trusted the Uchiha."
"Even now they force the blame for the Nine Tails rampage onto us. Does your Mangekyo not make you the obvious suspect?"
"That is one reason I hid that I had awakened."
The Nine Tails incident.
It was only an opportunity to sharpen the conflict.
Cautious as Fugaku was, he had kept the top from getting a handle on him.
He had not imagined Shisui would reveal the Mangekyo's ability on his own. Was that not handing them an excuse on a platter?
If experiments could not prove otherwise, who was to say the Uchiha had not used Shisui's power during the Nine Tails' night?
No one could guarantee it.
No one could tear open Shisui's chest and read his loyalty.
It gave the leadership reason enough to act.
"You are still too young."
"Set aside that your plan failed. Suppose it had worked, then what?"
"The Uchiha's revolt is not something a clan head can control. With clashes mounting by the day, did you think controlling me alone with Kotoamatsukami would stop the entire clan?"
"Naive."
Another barked rebuke.
Shisui seemed to understand. After hearing Fugaku out, he fell into silence.
Had he erred?
It seemed so.
After speaking with the clan head in depth, he realized that the rumors did not match reality.
At least now the clan head was willing to tell him what the Uchiha were facing.
He had thought far too simply.
"In short, the leadership already knows the clan is preparing a coup."
"Danzō has even gotten hold of Shisui's Mangekyo, the power to control minds without a sound."
"Of course, he is not of the Uchiha. Kotoamatsukami may not work at full effect for him."
After a moment's thought, Fugaku laid the situation bare.
"That is not the point."
Amane shook his head. This was not what he meant to drive at.
"The point is, Brother Mizuko has entrusted Itachi with both the duty to protect Konoha and the task of preserving the Uchiha's honor."
He lit a Hua-zi, his voice unhurried.
Whatever the stage of the clan's feud with Konoha, all he wanted was for Fugaku to see the truth.
"It is confirmed now. Itachi is a double agent for the clan and the village, and he is under unprecedented psychological pressure."
"So here is the question, Father."
"Knowing Itachi as you do, in what stance will he face the Uchiha and Konoha?"
"If the leadership uses a certain person as leverage, say his dear brothers Sasuke and me, which side will he choose?"
The calm recitation of facts drew cold sweat down both men's backs.
If it were Itachi...
The consequences were hard to imagine.
"I will speak with him."
After a beat, Fugaku rose, eager to find his eldest.
"Speak what? He is your son. You know him."
"A boy who can think like a Hokage at my age, why would he listen to your reason?"
Amane looked at him as if it were obvious.
If words worked, why bother with all this?
A man like Itachi would not see the right path until failure crushed him.
Even in the tale, only after one death did he admit no one could carry everything alone. Then he told Sasuke the truth and said that if he had shared the burden with his brother back then, the ending might have changed.
If it took dying and returning to grasp that, how could a few sentences do the trick?
Impossible.
Amane's aim was not only to save the Uchiha as a whole, but also Uchiha Itachi.
Only when Itachi truly grasped that truth and woke to it completely would Amane call him Big Brother with a whole heart.
"Er, I am curious. If Itachi can think like a Hokage at your age, then what about you?"
Was that not a roundabout way to praise himself?
Fugaku gave a pained smile.
These two sons, each with a deeper mind than the last.
Still, the point stood. If Itachi could think from a Hokage's perspective, then Amane?
From what angle did he stand?
Plainly, what he did was already beyond the Hokage's purview.
Your ambition.
Where was it aimed?