Ryou continued, "No, Shisui is already someone whose sense of the Village is greater than his sense of the clan. After following Jiraiya, his belief that the Village comes before the clan will only grow firmer."
"When the time comes, either you will massacre the clan, or he will!"
Itachi spoke up in rebuttal, "Uncle, why do you think individual interests are greater than the collective?"
Why?
Because Ryou was just that kind of person.
Ryou realized it; because he was a selfish person, he believed his own interests must naturally take priority over the collective.
Meanwhile, many people in the Uchiha, such as Shisui and Itachi—those in the dove faction—believed that individual interests should give way to the collective.
Could one say this concept was wrong?
No!
One could not even voice their own set of ideals to mislead others.
Respect the fate of others, and let go of the urge to help.
When it comes to matters of ideology, there is no way to clearly distinguish right from wrong.
Like thoughts, it is a subjective concept; it does not exist objectively.
In an essay, any way you write can earn points, but mathematics doesn't work like that. In math, right is right, and wrong is wrong.
"Uncle—"
Itachi still wanted to persuade him.
Ryou was out of tricks and brushed Itachi off, "Itachi, yes, yes, yes, everything you say is right. I was wrong."
Itachi was somewhat happy. "Uncle, will you come back in the future?"
"I'll come back, I'll definitely come back. My dear nephew, just wait for your uncle to return to Konoha!"
Ryou pinched Itachi's face, and in the next moment, Itachi's figure began to blur.
By this time, Itachi's abnormality in the outside world had already been discovered.
In the final moments, Itachi shouted loudly to Ryou, "Uncle, you must come back—!"
After Itachi disappeared, Ryou stepped out of the Genjutsu space and immediately transmitted the process of his communication with Itachi to the main body.
It was already impossible to change Itachi's ideals through thought; he could only rely on electricity.
The Uchiha now had only one path, and that was to leave Konoha and head to a Village not influenced by the Senju Clan.
If there is no love, then leave. Otherwise, it's just mutual harm and internal friction, leading eventually to a life-or-death struggle.
But could the people of the Uchiha abandon everything in Konoha to start over in a strange land?
They still wanted that divorce settlement.
The Uchiha were beyond saving. Now, the only person Ryou cared about was Mikoto; he had to find an opportunity to rescue Mikoto from the abyss of the Uchiha.
Shisui pressed down on Itachi's bald head. "Itachi, did you just look into Ryou-senpai's Sharingan and fall under his Genjutsu?"
Fugaku, Kagami, and the high-ranking members of the Police Force all looked at Itachi.
Itachi nodded and said, "I've already convinced my uncle. He said he will come back."
Yashiro sneered. "He's coming back? Coming back to serve in the Police Force? That brat is now the Uchiha General of the Land of Rain."
"Even the Daimyo of the Land of Rain has become his puppet. What do you think Konoha still has that could attract him?"
Itachi looked as if he were about to cry. "Uncle lied to me?"
Kagami patted Itachi's head. "Child, your uncle won't be coming back. He already has his own life! Why force him to return?"
"Connected by blood, there is no near or far. Even if separated by mountains and seas, you are still blood relatives!"
"Lord Kagami..."
Itachi looked at the elder whom even his father had to respect, and then said, "Uncle also told me that one day in the future, the clan will be massacred by me."
"He said the clan would stage a coup, and I would follow the orders of the Village high-ranking officials to eliminate the Uchiha Clan!"
Fugaku shook his head. "Your uncle was lying to you. Why would you kill us for no reason?"
The others laughed. "Haha... Ryou really knows how to joke. With just Itachi alone, could he really wipe out our entire clan?"
"That guy just loves to trick kids!"
The Shinobi of the Police Force didn't believe it. Itachi hadn't told the whole story, and Ryou hadn't told him too much either.
The elites of the Police Force would be handled by Obito, while the civilians of the Uchiha Clan would be massacred by Itachi.
However, even without Obito, Itachi could achieve the massacre by relying on the Mangekyo.
Everyone treated it as a joke. A coup on their part was possible, but to say Itachi could exterminate their clan was simply a fantasy.
Were the many Shinobi of the Police Force all pigs, stretching out their necks to wait for Itachi to slaughter them?
Kagami stroked his chin while looking at Itachi. If it were just a conventional Sharingan, this would be impossible.
But what if it were the ultimate Dojutsu of the Uchiha Clan—the Mangekyo Sharingan?
As long as one possessed those eyes, the same as Lord Madara and Lord Izuna, they could suppress all the elites of the Police Force.
Did Itachi have that potential?
Shisui had previously told Kagami in secret that he had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Kagami was shocked that Shisui possessed the Mangekyo at such a young age, and at the same time, he realized that the awakening of the Mangekyo focused on emotions!
Potential only accounted for a small part of it.
Itachi had already attained the two-tomoe Sharingan at this age; it wasn't potential that allowed him to awaken the bloodline, but excessively intense emotions.
Itachi had the chance to awaken the Mangekyo.
But Itachi's father, Fugaku, was a member of the hawk faction. How could Itachi have the dove faction's ideology of prioritizing the Village's interests?
Even if he were a dove, he wouldn't be so cruel as to massacre the entire clan, would he?
What exactly was going on?
Kagami asked clearly, "Itachi, what else did your uncle say?"
Itachi recalled for a moment, looked toward where the heads of the Alliance were located, and pointed at Danzo's back, saying, "Uncle said that under Elder Danzo's bandages, our clan's Sharingan are hidden."
"What?!"
The people of the Uchiha Clan were struck as if by a thunderclap upon hearing this, and immediately their hearts were filled with rage.
"Danzo dares to steal our clan's Kekkei Genkai?"
"Dammit, this old guy always makes things difficult for us Uchiha. The moment he sees our Uchiha doing even slightly better, he gets all worked up."
"The public opinion within the Shinobi Allied Forces about the Uchiha being trouble was probably spread by him."
Tekka was so enraged he activated his Sharingan. "I'm going to go question him right now. Is what's under those eye bandages our clan's Kekkei Genkai?"
"Wait—!"
Fugaku called out to Tekka.
Tekka looked at Fugaku with wide eyes. "Captain, don't you want to know what is hidden under Danzo's bandages?"
Fugaku said calmly, "Tekka, rest assured. If he truly stole our Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai, I will not let him off."
"But we cannot have a falling out with Danzo right now. We are currently part of the Shinobi Allied Forces, and Danzo is a high-ranking official of the Alliance."
"If you go to expose him, what do you expect the Third Hokage to do? Is he supposed to expose the Village's ugly scandals in front of outsiders?"
"Captain..."
The members of the Uchiha Clan were extremely indignant, but they had to admit that Fugaku had a point.
This kind of thing could not be exposed in public.
Besides, this was just Itachi's side of the story, and it was intelligence obtained from Ryou.
Ryou was a deadbeat who wouldn't even pay back money; could his words be trusted?"