Satoshi sometimes thought the phrase "very good hand, terrible play" fit the Uchiha perfectly.
Tobirama had handed them a weapon that could split the heavens, and the clan treated it like a rusty knife. They never learned to wield it properly.
They failed at removing the Hokage, and every morning after that failure they were treated like stray dogs. Pride became humiliation, potential turned to impotence.
When Satoshi thought of the two-faced men among his own clansmen—those who smiled in the hall and whispered treachery behind closed doors—he felt the whole sorry outcome was almost reasonable. Cowards and braggarts made a dangerous mixture.
Satoshi was practical. He didn't indulge in speeches, he wrote regulations. He rewrote, tightened, annotated—detailed clauses that would make the Konoha Military Police Force an instrument, not a punchline. He finished them quickly, certain that reason and order would carry the day.
There was one problem: he was a low-ranking member. Paper could be made immaculate, but it needed the clan head's approval. Fugaku.
He brought the revised regulations to Fugaku's home expecting a battle of wills.
He knew Fugaku's temperament: cautious, sometimes too cautious. He knew how Fugaku loved the clan without ever wanting to burn the village for it.
He slid the pages across the polished table and waited.
Fugaku skimmed them once, twice. He sighed, set his glasses down, and looked at Satoshi with an expression that mixed worry and habit.
He said, slow and careful, "Satoshi, I know your devotion. But don't be too hasty."
"Too hasty?" Satoshi kept his voice steady.
"The Military Police Force's charter hasn't been updated since its creation. We need rules that reflect now, not a hundred-year-old compromise."
Fugaku gestured for him to sit and said, "Ever since it was founded, its contents have remained unchanged. I admit there are issues. But you know how sensitive this is. You know what these men will do if they feel cornered."
Satoshi opened his mouth to reply, but Fugaku's servant at the door bowed and interrupted.
"Clan head Fugaku, it's time for my patrol. Forgive me."
Satoshi didn't wait for more. He rose, bowed, and left.
Fugaku's caution had hardened into refusal. Satoshi decided to wait until the village's pressure forced Fugaku's hand. Cowardice, if pushed, became stubborn survival. Better to act when the moment came.
The truth, quiet and ugly, was that silence from the Konoha Military Police Force and Naruto's forced forbearance had achieved nothing.
The villagers spat harder each day. The Uchiha were treated as a ticking bomb. Danzo grinned in the shadows.
Danzo had been patient, the way predators are patient. He wanted panic. He wanted the Uchiha to lash out so he could call them traitors and have the village's sword ready.
To that end, he used Torune—the same Torune who had only just survived a close call—to confront Fugaku.
"Clan head Fugaku." Torune said with the practiced politeness of a man who carried knives in his sleeves.
"Given the rumors, Danzo-sama would like to invite you to give an explanation."
Fugaku's face, broad and usually placid, tightened with a mask of pain. Everyone in the Uchiha hated Danzo.
After the Nine-Tails incident, it was Danzo who had nudged them into this cold corner, forced them to do menial, humiliating tasks, and watched them squirm.
Fugaku even suspected that Danzo dreamed of wiping them out.
He forced his anger down and spoke, "If they are rumors, why is an explanation needed?"
Torune's smile was all ice. "Please, clan head. Danzo-sama prefers clarity in person."
Fugaku hesitated.
Torune lowered his voice, the menace now soft. "Please don't make this difficult. You wouldn't want to be accused of armed resistance, would you?"
That phrase was a hammer.
Fugaku bowed his head and agreed.
Danzo let Fugaku walk into Root and then stepped out from the darkness.
"Danzo-sama." Fugaku managed.
Danzo's eyes were contemptuous. "Do you have anything to explain regarding the news circulating in the village?"
Fugaku knew exactly what Danzo meant. He said, "Danzo-sama, the Uchiha absolutely have no other intentions, including Satoshi and Naruto's contact, which was also approved by Hokage-sama."
"As for things like murder, that's even more nonsensical."
Danzo calmly glanced at Fugaku. He produced forged accusation letters and slid them across the table like playing cards.
He said, "Confess. If I didn't have evidence, I wouldn't have invited you."
Fugaku gripped his fists until his knuckles whitened.
Damn you, Danzo.
What evidence do you have? I know what my clansmen do every day much better than you.
Let alone murder, even if you had severely beaten them in the past, they wouldn't dare to fight back now.
"I guarantee you—absolutely not." Fugaku's voice finally came, strained but firm. "Not a single one."
Danzo's smile split his face in a way that made Fugaku's skin crawl. "Then please have every clansman come to me for routine interrogation. You have no objections, clan head?"
The red in Fugaku's eyes flared, and then his face smoothed. "I will inform them."
Danzo sat back, satisfied. The clan head had folded. To Danzo, it looked like cowardice. To Fugaku, it was survival. Danzo's parting suggestion was worse—clinical in its cruelty.
"Start with the clan head's two sons and wife."
Fugaku felt as though the air left his lungs. "What does that have to do with anything? They are children. My wife cannot even fight."
Danzo tapped his fingers and said, "People can kill with a knife even if they are not soldiers."
"You—" Fugaku's voice snapped. "My family are not murderers."
"Who knows?" Danzo shrugged. "Bring them to Root by tomorrow morning."
He waved the meeting closed and vanished into the shadows to attend his other conspiracies.
Fugaku walked away in a daze, nightmares already stalking his footsteps.
He called it an interrogation, but Danzo was just trying to drive the Uchiha to their deaths.
All along, the Uchiha had endured and endured Konoha's unreasonable demands.
Only to achieve peace.
But...
All this forbearance seemed like weakness in Danzo's eyes. Of course, it was indeed weakness.
Fugaku thought of Setsuna. If he were here, he would have taken a knife and walked straight into Danzo's throat, just like how he tried to assassinate Tobirama.
—
Back in the clan territory, anxious faces flocked to Fugaku. Their questions spiraled at once, his hesitation only stoked the fires.
"Clan head, what happened? They didn't make things difficult for you, did they?"
"That masked guy is Danzo's subordinate, right? Did Danzo make another excessive demand?"
Fugaku hesitated for a moment then said, "It's nothing, I have something to deal with, I'm leaving first."
He excused himself and retreated home, the weight of the village pressing on his shoulders.
Satoshi was nearby, leaning against a gnarled tree, his sword asleep against his chest.
From their conversation, Satoshi could roughly understand what was going on.
It was Danzo's fault again.
Whether it was or not, if they didn't know who did it, they'd just blame Danzo.
Since things had come to this, he should first go and teach Naruto Ninjutsu.
That afternoon, Naruto and Satoshi met.
He said, hugging Satoshi's leg, "Satoshi-sensei, I don't want to practice today. Let me treat you to a bowl of ramen."
Satoshi ruffled the boy's hair. "All right."
Naruto led him along a narrow path that wandered away from the main road. Satoshi felt a prickle of unease. Something about Naruto's purposeful detour seemed off.
So, he formed a shadow clone and sent it to Naruto's home to check.
The clone's message arrived before they reached the ramen stall.
Satoshi's face tightened. Danzo's shadow had stretched long.
Naturally evil Danzo, it seems I must personally...
At this moment, several fierce-looking villagers appeared from nowhere, pointing and gesticulating at Naruto and Satoshi.
"Two murderers, get out of Konoha!"
"Konoha doesn't welcome you, go to hell!"
"A life for a life, you must die!"