Inside the ramen shop.
For some time, Shisui sat quietly, eating his ramen in silence.
Jiraiya, Minato, Kushina, and Tsunade all noticed it.
From time to time, they glanced at him.
His expression kept changing little by little.
Sometimes he frowned.
Sometimes he sighed.
The conflict on his face was impossible to hide.
Even the ramen in front of him had barely been touched.
Jiraiya quietly slurped his noodles before speaking.
"Rather than letting your worries eat you alive..."
He looked at Shisui.
"It's better to let them out."
Shisui slowly looked up.
His eyes met Jiraiya's.
"Jiraiya-sama..."
His voice was filled with exhaustion.
"Why can't we understand each other?"
"I don't even know who's right anymore... or who's wrong."
He lowered his eyes toward the bowl in front of him.
"But..."
His fingers tightened around the chopsticks.
"After witnessing everything that happened inside the clan..."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"I feel like... It's all my fault."
He slowly placed the chopsticks on the table.
"The clan is breaking into pieces because of me."
Silence fell over the table.
Tsunade finally looked at him.
She didn't show even the slightest change in expression.
"Brat."
Her voice was calm.
"This is the world of adults."
"And you're still just a kid who couldn't understand it."
"It's nothing more than that."
Her words were direct.
Without any comfort.
"Tsunade..."
Jiraiya frowned.
There was a trace of dissatisfaction in his voice.
Tsunade didn't even bother looking at him.
"What?"
She calmly took another bite of ramen.
"You want me to sugarcoat everything for him?"
She swallowed before continuing.
"Rather than letting him spend the rest of his life blaming himself..."
She looked straight at Shisui.
"It's better if he understands the truth now."
"You were nothing more than collateral damage."
"And that's all."
The words were cold.
Painfully cold.
Kushina stopped eating.
Minato rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
Even Jiraiya looked at Tsunade with a complicated expression.
The three of them were thinking the same thing.
Did she really have to say it like that?
Shisui remained silent.
Instead of getting angry...
He lowered his head.
After a long moment, he gave a small nod.
"...You're right, Tsunade-sama."
A self-mocking smile appeared on his face.
"I just didn't understand the world of adults."
"I really thought I could make everything better."
His hands slowly clenched beneath the table.
"Maybe..."
He let out a quiet laugh filled with bitterness.
"It was my own ignorance that led us to where we are today."
"The clan might never have been divided..."
Shisui spoke in a low voice.
"If I hadn't tried to steal the Healing Pill formula."
His eyes remained fixed on the table.
From the moment the thought of handing over the clan's property to the village entered his mind...
Everything had started going out of control.
One misunderstanding after another.
Until now...
Both the village and the clan had begun looking at each other as thieves.
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"I was an idiot."
He laughed softly at himself.
"They were right."
He slowly clenched his fists.
"Who am I to decide what should be done with the clan's property?"
Silence filled the table.
Shisui then looked at Tsunade.
A smile appeared on his face.
It wasn't a happy smile.
It was filled with regret.
"Tsunade-sama..."
"I don't know how much courage the Senju Clan must have had to hand over their jutsu and knowledge for the village."
He lowered his head slightly.
"They were truly great."
The moment those words left his mouth...
Tsunade froze.
Even the chopsticks in her hand stopped moving.
But Shisui didn't notice.
He continued speaking.
"I thought..."
"If the Uchiha had the same courage as the Senju..."
"Maybe..."
"The village would finally start respecting us the way it respected the Senju."
A few seconds passed.
Then—
Bang.
Tsunade placed her chopsticks on the table.
She slowly looked at Shisui.
Her eyes had turned cold.
"Brat."
Her voice carried obvious anger.
"Are you making fun of my clan?"
Shisui looked at her in confusion.
"What?"
"I... I didn't mean—"
"Tsunade."
Jiraiya quickly interrupted.
"He didn't mean it like that."
Their eyes met for a brief second.
Jiraiya's expression clearly said...
Don't make this any harder than it already is.
Tsunade remained silent.
After a few moments, she stood up.
"Let's go, Kushina."
Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Kushina's wrist and started walking away.
As she reached the entrance, she spoke without turning back.
"Jiraiya."
"You're paying."
She pointed at Shisui.
"Take the money from him."
The shop owner quietly looked toward Jiraiya.
Jiraiya could only sigh.
After Tsunade left, the ramen shop became quiet again.
Shisui looked at Jiraiya.
Confusion was still written across his face.
"...Did I say something wrong, Jiraiya-sama?"
Jiraiya looked at him for a long moment.
Then he gently placed a hand on Shisui's shoulder.
"No."
He smiled faintly.
"But Tsunade has never liked talking about the Senju Clan."
"I hope you can understand that."
Shisui quietly nodded.
Jiraiya continued.
"Shisui..."
"You have a big heart."
"That's why everything you say comes from your heart."
He smiled.
"That's a good thing."
"But sometimes..."
"It can also become dangerous."
Shisui listened quietly.
"What you need to learn now..."
Jiraiya looked outside the shop for a moment.
"...is to understand the perspective of both sides."
"Only then can you decide what the best future really is."
Shisui remained silent.
After a while, he placed the payment on the table.
He stood up.
"Thank you, Jiraiya-sama."
He bowed slightly.
Then quietly walked out of the ramen shop.
Minato watched his departing figure.
After Shisui disappeared, he spoke in a low voice.
"Sensei..."
"Is there really nothing we can do for him?"
His expression was complicated.
"I still feel bad for the Uchiha."
As he remembered Obito...
The thought of Obito's clan slowly breaking apart made it difficult for him to sit back and watch simply.
Jiraiya watched the entrance of the ramen shop for a moment before speaking.
"What's happening to the Uchiha right now..."
He looked at Minato.
"...isn't something new."
Minato looked at him with a confused expression.
"What do you mean, Sensei?"
Jiraiya picked up his tea and took a small sip.
"Do you really think every Senju willingly gave up their surname and became commoners without any resistance?"
Minato blinked.
"Weren't they willing?"
"That's what everyone in the village says."
"They say the Senju gave up their clan name so the villagers would understand that there was no difference between a clan member and a common citizen."
Jiraiya slowly shook his head.
"No."
"There were many voices against it."
"They didn't want to abandon the Senju name."
"They didn't want to become ordinary villagers."
He paused for a moment.
"But Mito-sama was stronger than all of them."
"They had no choice but to accept her decision and learn to live alongside everyone else."
Minato quietly listened.
Jiraiya looked outside through the window.
"The Uchiha situation is different."
"The people opposing coexistence are much stronger."
"And there are far more of them."
He sighed.
"That's why everyone is noticing the Uchiha's resistance."
"The Senju's resistance was crushed before most people even knew about it."
"But the Uchiha..."
He looked toward the village.
"They're strong enough to let the whole village hear their voices."
Realisation slowly appeared on Minato's face.
"So..."
"That's why Sister Tsunade became angry."
Jiraiya smiled bitterly.
"Yeah."
"When people couldn't oppose Mito-sama..."
"They turned their anger toward Tsunade instead."
His expression gradually darkened.
"They called her a jinx."
"They blamed her for everything."
Minato's eyes widened slightly.
Jiraiya continued.
"When she was younger..."
"She sometimes visited those Senju families."
"She wanted to know how they were living."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"But whenever they saw her..."
"They cursed her behind her back."
"They believed she had taken everything from them."
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Jiraiya looked down at his tea.
"Tsunade spent her entire life trying to earn their approval."
He slowly shook his head.
"But she never did."
Minato remained silent.
He was genuinely shocked.
All his life...
He had only known Tsunade as the granddaughter of the First Hokage.
The legendary princess of the Senju.
He had never imagined that members of her own clan hated her.
Just as he was thinking about it—
A loud commotion suddenly erupted outside.
People began running through the street.
Jiraiya and Minato both turned toward the entrance.
"Make way!"
"The Daimyo's envoy has arrived!"
"What?"
"The envoy?"
Voices quickly spread throughout the street.
The quiet ramen shop instantly became noisy.
Jiraiya slowly stood up.
Minato looked at him.
The two exchanged a glance.
Neither of them smiled.
Both understood the same thing.
Things were about to become much more difficult for Konoha.
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If anyone wants to join P@treon, they're welcome to.
Right now, P@treon chapters are available up to (Chapter 148: Fractured Trust).
P@treon - Hear_tteeth [18 +]
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