"A brain is a wonderful thing," said Uchiha Itachi coldly. "Shame none of you have one."
"You—!"
"If we strike without warning, we'll catch Konoha completely off guard! If we just kill the Third and Danzo, the Uchiha can take the Hokage seat!" Uchiha Inaho argued stubbornly.
"The Hokage seat?" Itachi scoffed. "Who gave you that delusion? Are you going to be Hokage? Me? My father?"
"O-of course the clan head should be Hokage," Inaho replied stiffly.
"And who agrees with you?"
"I—we all do…" some Uchiha responded meekly, looking around for support. But seeing others hang their heads in silence, their own confidence quickly crumbled.
"And what about the other clans?" Itachi sneered. "With how proud and arrogant we've always been, do you think they would ever agree?"
"They… They…" The room fell silent.
Everyone knew. The Uchiha had been alienated for years. Outside the clan, they had no real allies.
"Let me be absolutely clear," Itachi continued. "Even if the Third dies, there's still the Legendary Sannin. And when they're gone, there's still Kakashi. The position of Hokage will never belong to the Uchiha. Not now, not ever."
"And you forced my father to consider a coup? You think you're worthy?" Itachi's voice turned cutting. "My father is not the leader of a doomed clan. You are the traitors who doomed it."
Fugaku nearly teared up. Yes. That's it. Finally, someone gets it. These idiots keep pressuring me to rebel without considering the consequences. These years have been hell. But thankfully, I have a good son. Itachi… You've made me proud.
"…Then what are we supposed to do?" asked Uchiha Tekka. "Just sit by and watch our clan fall apart? We've already been pushed to the village's outskirts. If we don't fight back soon, they'll take even the Police Force from us!"
"If I brought it up," said Itachi, "of course I have a solution."
"What is it?" The clan now looked to him with anticipation. Unknowingly, they had already accepted his leadership.
"One word: Wait."
"Wait for Danzo to make a move — then we strike back."
"After that, we eliminate his faction, purge the shadows, and reclaim our rightful place in Konoha!"
"And what if Danzo doesn't act?" Inaho asked skeptically.
"Then we slowly integrate. We lift the ban on women marrying outside the clan. Encourage inter-clan relationships. Invite underprivileged and non-Uchiha ninja to join the Konoha Police Force. Drain their influence from the roots. Let's see who breaks first." Itachi gave a cold, sharp smile.
"What?! Allow our women to marry outsiders? That's a disgrace! How are other clans worthy of Uchiha women?"
"And share our Police Force power? With them?!"
"You're insane!"
Outrage swept through the clan. Those proposals struck at the heart of their pride.
To them, the Police Force had always been the Uchiha's stronghold. Giving up even a part of that was unthinkable.
"I said free choice," Itachi clarified. "Let me give you an example: Uchiha Izumi. You all know her, right?"
"Yes. A junior officer in the Police Force… And she, uh, kind of has a thing for you," Inaho said. He'd followed Itachi around enough to notice Izumi's behavior.
"But do you know she's awakened her three-tomoe Sharingan?" Itachi asked.
"What?! Three tomoe? She's only thirteen! That's Jōnin-level already!" The Uchiha were shaken.
Among the Uchiha, Sharingan mastery was often ranked by tomoe:
One tomoe — Genin level
Two tomoe — Chūnin level
Three tomoe — Jōnin level
Of course, prodigies could outperform their level, and there were always weaker ones who could lose with three tomoe — but the metric still stood.
"I recall she used to do menial tasks — helping the daimyo's wife care for pets, assisting Fire Country officials with moving homes. Who would've thought she reached three tomoe," muttered Hachidai.
"With talent like that, she deserves to be at the clan's core."
"Exactly! Our Police Force needs people like her. Letting her waste away on chores is a huge loss."
The clan suddenly started praising Izumi.
The Uchiha were prideful, yes — but that pride was turned outward. Within the clan, they stood united.
"So she might even be a candidate for the Mangekyō Sharingan in the future?" someone exclaimed in admiration.
"Could she be as brilliant as our late ancestor, Uchiha Shitori?"
Hidden in the shadows, Uchiha Shitori— now revived — blinked under his mask.
Wait, I was that respected? I didn't know the clan remembered me so fondly…
Uchiha Tajima and Uchiha Izuna glanced over at Shitori. They hadn't expected such a high opinion of their junior even after death.
Fugaku explained, "Ancestors, it was Shitori who developed Izanami, a technique that counters Izanagi."
"Izanami?" Tajima and Izuna frowned. "How's that different from Izanagi?"
Izanagi, derived from the Sage of Six Paths' "Creation of All Things" technique, is the Uchiha's most forbidden ocular jutsu — a genjutsu that allows the user to rewrite reality, turning fatal injuries and death into mere illusions. In essence, a user of Izanagi has two lives. The cost: permanent blindness in the eye that casts it.
In the Warring States Period, the Uchiha used Izanagi to trade lives and devastate their enemies.
So to think Izanami could counter Izanagi piqued Tajima and Izuna's deep interest.
Fugaku continued: "Izanami was designed as a technique to determine fate — created specifically to restrain users of Izanagi. It works by trapping the target in an infinite loop of a single moment, using sensation instead of eye contact. But because it's fragile in real combat, and also costs the caster an eye, it's highly risky and thus forbidden within the clan."
"I see," Tajima and Izuna nodded. Clearly, the clan still produced remarkable talent — though many were already gone.
"I recall that Izumi's father wasn't from the Uchiha. Her mother, Uchiha Hazuki, was allowed to marry out because she hadn't awakened her Sharingan. After the Nine-Tails incident, her father died in the chaos. That's when she and her mother returned and took the Uchiha name again."
"Could it be that Izumi awakened her Sharingan by witnessing her father's death?" Hachidai asked.
"Exactly," Inaho confirmed. "The Sharingan is usually triggered by intense emotional trauma. Witnessing a loved one's death? That's a surefire trigger."
"Hmph." Itachi's expression darkened. "Who told you the Sharingan only awakens through witnessing death?"
"Isn't it?" Tekka asked. "All of us here awakened our eyes after losing someone close."
"Yeah, I awakened mine after watching my father die in battle."
"I got mine when I saw my brother die."
"Mine… was when I watched my sister get married."
"…Mine was when I found out my little sister got a boyfriend."
"Pervert! Siscon!"
"Uh… mine's a bit embarrassing. I awakened mine through training, but my three-tomoe activated after my girlfriend dumped me."
"Same here…"
The room buzzed with laughter and chatter. But slowly, they began to realize something important:
The Sharingan awakened through intense emotion — not necessarily death. Love, loss, grief, jealousy — all could act as triggers.
"Alright," said Itachi. "Now that we all understand that the Sharingan is awakened and evolves through emotional extremes…"
"But," he asked, scanning the room, "have any of you noticed a shared pattern?"
"Itachi," said Hachidai, "just tell us. Don't keep us in suspense."
"Yeah," added Inaho, surprisingly calm this time. "We're listening. We want to understand. Why did you and Shisui awaken the Mangekyō so young… and we didn't?"