Just at this moment, Fugaku arrived in a hurry along with his eldest son, Itachi.
Fugaku's face bore an expression of gravity, and he bowed to plead guilty without a shred of hesitation.
"Lord Hokage, I am deeply sorry! This was my dereliction of duty, failing to effectively restrain their actions."
"The Anbu has already reported the sequence of events to me," Minato responded swiftly, his voice gentle yet carrying unquestionable authority, while that sense of urgency simultaneously became even more pronounced.
"Clan Head Fugaku, the responsibility for this matter does not lie with you. For now, please first place the involved personnel under proper custody and immediately begin the work of treating and comforting the injured within the clan. Regarding the follow-up disposal plan, we will discuss it in detail after I return."
As he spoke, his gaze drifted uncontrollably toward the distant skyline in the direction of the Shinobi Academy, as though he could already see the clamor of the commencement ceremony.
Fugaku sharply caught that trace of urgency within the Hokage's tone; after freezing slightly, he immediately responded in a deep voice: "Yes! Lord Hokage, please rest assured. I will certainly handle the messy cleanup properly and await your return."
"Lord Hokage, please wait a moment." Just as Minato's fingertips twitched slightly and his chakra was about to condense to activate the Flying Raijin, Takuno spoke up once more.
Minato turned his head to look at Takuno with a hint of surprise.
Takuno did not say much, but merely reached out and gently pushed Itachi, who was standing behind Fugaku, a step forward.
"Take him along with you. Clan Head Fugaku needs to stay behind to handle crucial matters and cannot break away, but as an elder brother, his eldest son should be able to attend."
Minato understood in an instant.
He naturally recognized the youth beneath this Anbu mask; he was the elder brother of Naruto's close friend, Sasuke—Itachi.
He had also witnessed everything the other party had done and the infamy he bore for the sake of the relationship between the village and the Uchiha clan.
A smile of understanding and approval flashed across Minato's eyes.
Being pushed forward, Itachi was somewhat startled at first, but intelligent as he was, he quickly understood Takuno's intent.
Today was the day the Hokage's son, Naruto, and his own most cherished younger brother, Sasuke, were entering school together!
He had previously felt a secret regret in his heart that he could not personally send Sasuke through the school gates; he never expected things to take such a turn, unexpectedly gaining this opportunity at this moment.
A trace of anticipation and relief quietly crept onto the youth's clean-cut face, and he cast a grateful glance at Takuno through his mask.
Without any further delay, Minato placed a hand onto Itachi's shoulder.
The next instant, accompanied by the Flying Raijin Technique, the figures of both vanished from the spot in a flash.
Needless to say, the heavy responsibility of the scene would be fully handed over to Fugaku and Takuno, as the Anbu Captain, to handle first.
Just after the figures of Minato and Itachi departed, the masked Takuno turned toward Fugaku.
"Clan Head Fugaku," Takuno got straight to the point, his gaze scanning the subdued Uchiha clansmen around them, "Are there sufficient and suitable facilities within the Uchiha clan grounds to temporarily accommodate and guard so many people?"
Hearing the words, Fugaku froze at first, but subsequently understood the deep meaning behind Takuno's move.
This was not merely a question of a detention location, but rather a subtle balancing act.
Fugaku looked at Takuno, yet his eyes could hide a complex mix of emotions toward this masked Anbu leader before him.
Within a short span of time, the strength Takuno displayed had completely overturned his past cognitive understanding of the village's power.
The village's overt power was already enough to deter the Uchiha, while this latent power hidden in the shadows that he knew nothing about was absolutely not small either.
At the very least, it was definitely not something the current Uchiha clan could contend against.
Thinking up to this point, his inner heart felt a bit bitter.
"There are," Fugaku replied in a deep voice.
He rapidly reined in the shock and bitterness in his heart; as the clan head, he had to maintain the necessary composure at this moment.
"Very well," Takuno nodded slightly, "Then please guide the way immediately, Clan Head Fugaku. I will order the Anbu to cooperate fully with your arrangements throughout the process."
He had his own considerations in making this decision; if this vast number of Uchiha radicals were dumped into the Anbu's dungeons all at once, it would be no different from adding fuel to the fire. It would only provide the remaining radical faction with an excellent excuse for incitement, encouraging more clansmen to take risks out of desperation.
Placing them temporarily within the clan grounds that already belonged to the Uchiha would, at least on the surface, serve a certain cushioning role, leaving room for maneuver for both sides.
Fugaku nodded and immediately waved over a few trusted confidants within the clan, whispering a few instructions to have them rapidly guide the silent and efficient Anbu ninjas, leading those subdued radical elements toward the designated detention locations.
Takuno stood in place, watching all of this proceed in an orderly manner with cold eyes, but in the end, he shook his head gently, a cold arc seemingly hooking at the corner of his mouth beneath his mask.
That these radicals who dared to publicly defy the Hokage's orders and challenge the village's order could still preserve their lives might seem a matter of course to themselves, but in Takuno's heart, they truly ought to rejoice that the one sitting upon the Hokage's seat at this moment was that Minato.
If it were switched to him wielding the authority...
Such public defiance would be equivalent to seeking their own death. Since they had the guts to commit such acts, they ought to have the resolve to bear the harshest consequences!
He had always loathed dragging his feet in his actions, believing only in the law of cutting a tangled knot with a sharp blade.
Of course, he was also aware of the realistic constraints.
The number of radicals was vast; if they were truly executed down to the last man according to his method, even the immense Uchiha clan could not bear such a tragic loss.
Fugaku, as the clan head, although driven to a frazzle by these clansmen, had never thought of completely abandoning them either.
When that time came, superficial obedience might be temporarily maintained, but deep-seated hatred would cause the entire Uchiha clan to completely alienate themselves. Their relationship with Konoha would drop to a freezing point once more, making it difficult to ever heal.
However, Takuno did not care about this in the slightest.
Minato cared about the Uchiha's feelings, about the unity and bonds of the village, but he, Takuno, did not care.
He disliked trouble and only pursued the most direct and effective resolution.
Be obedient, and you can continue to exist within the framework of Konoha; be disobedient, and the end awaiting them would definitely not be much better than the fate of being slaughtered down to the last clan member in the "original work."
Therefore, what these Uchiha people—especially those radicals—ought to do most at this moment was to sincerely thank the tolerance and restraint of that blonde man sitting in the Hokage's office.
Because, rejoice; the Hokage at this moment was not he, Takuno.
Otherwise, tonight, the Uchiha clan grounds and even the entirety of Konoha would bound to see rivers of blood and fields of corpses!
However, it was also precisely because of this that it was impossible for Takuno to become an existence like the Hokage.
After all, this position itself represented trouble.
He would forever be best suited as a seeker of the truth who pursued strength!
On the other side.
At the Shinobi Academy, the atmosphere abruptly froze the moment Minato's golden figure appeared, subsequently bursting into an unsuppressable wave of excitement.
The eyes of the crowd instantly focused on this Fourth Hokage; unbelievable wonder and reverence intertwined on every single face—Lord Hokage was actually so close at hand!
Relying on his efforts over so many years, Minato enjoyed exceptionally high popularity within Konoha.
Naruto's blue eyes widened completely round; when that familiar, warm gold entered his vision—especially when he saw that familiar, apologetic smile on his father's face—he shouted out subconsciously.
"Dad!"
"Sorry, Naruto, I'm late," Minato's voice was gentle.
A small figure shot out like an arrow from a bowstring; Naruto slammed violently into Minato's embrace, his arms tightly wrapping around his father's waist.
"It's okay! It's fine as long as Dad came!"
The child's pure words were like a warm sun, instantly melting the residual fatigue on Minato and transforming it into an even deeper softness.
He gently hugged his son back, his heart overflowing with gratification; possessing such a sensible child was an immense happiness.
To one side, Kushina first glared at her husband while feigning anger, but the corners of her mouth ultimately could not suppress their upward tilt.
The sight before her allowed her taut heartstrings to relax completely. It appeared there was no need today for her, the "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero" of the past, to return to the world and wage a grand battle.
'Consider it a pass for you,' she muttered silently in her heart, that idea of quarreling with him for the sake of the child quietly fading away.
At the same time, Itachi soundlessly took off the mask symbolizing his Anbu identity, revealing his clean-cut face.
"Nii-san!" Sasuke's exclamation carried pure delight.
He had completely failed to anticipate seeing his elder brother on enrollment day; the other party had not said previously that he would come here to send him off either, and this pleasant surprise left his small face entirely written over with excitement.
"Itachi, you came too," Mikoto Uchiha's voice was as gentle as water, her gaze shifting between the two children.
She sharply noticed the subtle traces on her eldest son's body—the creases at the corners of his clothes—combined with the fact that he actually came over together with Lord Hokage; this silently spoke of the lack of peace not long ago.
"Yes, Mom," Itachi's voice was calm and concise, "Over at the clan, some things happened after you and Sasuke left, but they have already been resolved. It just so happened that Lord Hokage was also processing the follow-up, so he brought me along over here."
He deliberately omitted the details of the conflict, unwilling to cause his mother worry.
However, Mikoto Uchiha's gaze seemed able to pierce through appearances.
Looking at this eldest son who had taken up the heavy burdens of the clan all too early, a complex mix of heartache and helplessness welled up in her heart.
The price Itachi paid for the sake of the Uchiha clan was something she, as a mother, saw clearly; it would be a lie to say it didn't ache her heart, yet she could not speak too much on it either.
In the end, a thousand words only transformed into a gentle sigh.
She reached out her hand, carrying endless love and pity, and gently ruffled Itachi's head: "It's been hard on you, child."
Itachi froze slightly, the warmth from his mother's palm transmitting a wordless understanding and solace.
He nodded silently, quietly accepting this warmth.
Subsequently, his gaze turned toward his younger brother, Sasuke.
Sasuke thought his brother was also going to ruffle his hair like their mother did, and instinctively shrunk his neck slightly.
However, the right hand Itachi raised traced a subtle arc in the air; his index and middle fingers snapped together, swiftly and precisely tapping onto his younger brother's clean forehead.
"Ouch!" Sasuke covered his forehead, looking at his elder brother with a bit of grievance and a spoiled demeanor.
"Sasuke," Itachi's voice was gentle yet carrying expectations, "From today onward, you are a student of the Shinobi Academy. You must work even harder and learn to become strong; in the future... you must properly help Mom and Dad share some burdens, understand?"
"Hmph!" Little Sasuke lowered his hand, straightened his small torso, and strived to make a cool expression, though his eyes were incomparably serious, "Not just Mom and Dad, but also you, Nii-san! I will help you too!"
The corners of Itachi's lips finally could not suppress their upward tilt: "Mm, I'll be waiting for you."
The arrival of Minato and Itachi caused a brief commotion, but under the Hokage's invisible prestige and the maintenance of the teachers on the scene, it quickly quieted down.
At the end of the enrollment ceremony, Minato stepped up to the specially constructed speech podium.
Originally, because of the sudden conflict in the Uchiha clan, he had notified the school through the Anbu to cancel the speech.
Now that he was personally present on the scene, he naturally had to fulfill the responsibilities of the Hokage and complete this message prepared for the freshmen.
The sunlight spilled onto Minato's golden hair and his pure white Haori, outlining his tall and straight figure to appear exceptionally dazzling.
Standing at a high place, his voice spread throughout the campus clearly and forcefully.
Below the stage, Naruto looked up at his father, his eyes shining with an incomparably pure admiration and yearning;
Sasuke stared intently at the Hokage, his small fists clenched tightly, his heart filled with a desire to become a powerful ninja;
Even Itachi had his deep black eyes mirroring that golden figure, flashing with a scorching light.
Upon the body of the Fourth Hokage, Minato, he saw not only a strength that caused people to look up, but even more so a hope that illuminated the path ahead—a hope that could truly heal the rift between the village and the clan, bringing about a peaceful future!
As his years grew and his experience deepened, he gained an increasingly profound understanding of the long and complex entanglements of gratitude and resentment between Konoha and the Uchiha clan.
This period of history was absolutely not a simple matter of black and white.
Traced back to its source, the First Hokage, Lord Hashirama, displayed an extraordinary tolerance and trust toward the Uchiha clan, near-entirely without a grudge.
However, at that time, his younger brother who served as his assistant—the later Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama—held a completely different attitude.
Senju Tobirama had already grasped real power and exerted influence during the First's reign; his deep-rooted wariness toward the Uchiha clan was like an invisible barrier, casting a heavy shadow over the reconciliation of both sides from the very beginning.
But at that time, the relationship between the village and the Uchiha merely turned for the worse, without dropping to a freezing point.
By the time the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, took power, this wariness further evolved into an exclusion that seemed gentle but was actually severe.
On the surface, the Third did not adopt fierce suppression methods, but the Uchiha clan was, without a sound or breath, pushed step by step to the fringes of Konoha's power system.
Their voices within the core decision-making layer became increasingly faint, their influence slipping away like sand;
What caused hearts to turn even colder was that even the clan grounds they had inhabited for generations faced the threat of being forced to relocate away from the central area of the village.
The relationship between the Uchiha and the village dropped to a freezing point at this time, the tense atmosphere a touch away from exploding.
However, a turning point in history frequently appears at the darkest hour.
The sudden emergence of the Fourth Hokage, Minato, was like a powerful beam of light piercing through the haze.
Minato himself might not be the only Hokage to harbor goodwill toward the Uchiha, but his attitude of not excluding them and even being willing to accept them was already extremely rare among successive Hokage.
Even more crucial was that the assistant he personally selected and relied heavily upon, Kakashi, possessed an extraordinary origin with the Uchiha clan.
Kakashi and the deceased Uchiha genius, Obito, were bosom friends who shared life and death together, and this deep friendship caused him to harbor an understanding and goodwill toward the Uchiha clan that far exceeded ordinary people.
Minato's personal attitude coupled with Kakashi's special bond—these two factors superimposed to jointly forge an era among the Hokage's core generation of power that was the most friendly and possessed the greatest possibilities for the Uchiha clan.
It was precisely because he saw through this fleeting, precious opportunity that an unprecedented determination ignited within Itachi's heart.
If they wished to break the cyclical destiny of being isolated and suspected that the Uchiha had faced for so many years, this moment was a unique and golden opportunity.
For this purpose, even if the path ahead was densely covered in thorns, even if he would bear the misunderstanding, loathing, and even curses of his clansmen, and had to endure the infamy of "betraying the clan," he would go forward without a second thought, exhausting all his strength to assist Minato!
For the sake of Konoha and... the future of the Uchiha clan!