Age Sixteen (continued)
The investigation into the Uchiha traitor consumed the next two weeks.
The Hokage assigned me to work with the Konoha Intelligence Division, a group of shinobi who specialized in espionage and counter-intelligence. Their leader was a man named Yamanaka Inoichi—the father of Ino, though she was just a child at the time.
"The Uchiha are a closed clan," Inoichi said, spreading documents across a table. "They don't trust outsiders. They keep to themselves. It's going to be difficult to get information from them."
"Then we need someone inside," I said.
"One of us?"
"One of them. Someone the Uchiha trust."
"And who would that be?"
I hesitated. The only Uchiha I knew were my father—who was dying—and the Uchiha in Konoha, who had disowned him decades ago. They wouldn't trust me. I was a half-breed, an outsider, the son of a missing-nin.
But there was another Uchiha. One who might be willing to help.
"Fugaku Uchiha," I said. "He's the heir to the clan. If anyone knows what's happening inside the Uchiha compound, it's him."
"Fugaku is loyal to Konoha," Inoichi said. "But he's also loyal to his clan. Getting him to betray their secrets won't be easy."
"Then we don't ask him to betray. We ask him to help. The sealing bomb threatens everyone. Uchiha, Senju, civilians. If we can prove that someone in the clan is involved, Fugaku will want to stop them."
"Maybe. Or maybe he'll close ranks and protect his own."
"There's only one way to find out."
---
I met Fugaku Uchiha in a small tea house near the Uchiha compound.
He was a few years older than me—maybe eighteen or nineteen—with dark hair and dark eyes and the stoic expression that all Uchiha seemed to share. His Sharingan was hidden, but I could feel its presence.
"Ren Uzumaki-Uchiha," he said, sitting across from me. "I've heard about you."
"All bad things, I hope."
"Mostly." He poured himself a cup of tea. "Your father was a disgrace to the clan. He abandoned his duty for a woman."
"My father loved my mother. That's not a disgrace."
"The Uchiha code demands loyalty above all. He was loyal to her, not to us."
"Maybe the code is wrong."