Inside the study of Uchiha Fugaku's estate, the tea on the desk had long gone cold, not a trace of warmth remaining, much like the state of Uchiha Fugaku's heart at this moment.
As the clan head of the Uchiha clan and captain of the Konoha Military Police Force, he should have been the most absolute authority within this clan district.
And yet, Uchiha Fugaku now felt a powerlessness he had never experienced before.
His grip on power was slipping away.
Shisui's death had shattered the last illusions of the Dove faction, and also broken the tacit understanding between Uchiha Fugaku and the village's higher-ups.
What made Uchiha Fugaku feel even more helpless was what Uchiha Shinsuke had done in the aftermath.
Swift as thunder and unstoppable as a gale.
Uchiha Shinsuke's dominance had exceeded Uchiha Fugaku's expectations entirely.
Using methods Uchiha Fugaku had never even considered, let alone dared to consider, Shinsuke had in just a matter of days forcibly molded the long-feuding Hawk and Dove factions into a single unified whole.
The Uchiha of today still nominally recognized him as clan head on the surface, but Fugaku understood in his heart that the true voice now belonged to that elder called Uchiha Shinsuke.
He himself, as clan head, was being sidelined.
No, it would be more accurate to say that, apart from a small number of loyal subordinates, he, the clan head of the Uchiha, had already been cut out of the clan's center of power.
What was laughable was that even now, deep within Uchiha Fugaku's heart, he still harbored illusions about the village, about the Third Hokage.
Perhaps that was absurd, but that was truly how Uchiha Fugaku felt.
Uchiha Fugaku kept feeling that things had not yet reached the point where a complete falling-out was unavoidable, that there was still room for everything to turn around.
Perhaps the Third Hokage would offer the Uchiha a way to save face, and the two sides could ease the tension between them.
But the power Uchiha Shinsuke had displayed, along with his growing and nearly fanatical influence within the clan, shattered Uchiha Fugaku's illusions.
Because under these circumstances, the relationship between the Uchiha and the village would only grow more tense and hostile with every passing day.
Uchiha Fugaku gathered the elders and trusted subordinates of the clan head's own faction to discuss countermeasures.
"Fugaku-sama... we..."
An elder seemed to want to say something, but in the end it dissolved into a long sigh, his clouded eyes filled with despondency.
The other elders and trusted subordinates kept their heads lowered, not daring to meet Fugaku's gaze.
"Most of the clan's younger generation now look up to Elder Shinsuke as their model!"
"Even Elder En and Elder Hachidai have... have chosen Elder Shinsuke."
In the end, the remaining elders could only sigh with helpless resignation.
Whatever morale there had been was now entirely gone.
Fugaku understood that these old companions of his were not disloyal, they simply did not dare.
The majority of the clan's strength was already under Uchiha Shinsuke's control, leaving no foothold from which to resist.
And beyond that, Uchiha Shinsuke's power was immense, and in the face of such absolute strength, any act of defiance appeared pale and laughable.
His position as clan head was already hanging by a thread.
No, he could not go on waiting passively for ruin like this.
Fugaku drew a deep breath and forced himself to rally his spirit.
As clan head, Uchiha Fugaku had no wish to see the Uchiha completely sever ties with Konoha and plunge into the abyss of war.
Placing the fate of the clan in the hands of a young man so aggressive and domineering felt, to him, like personally handing an impossibly sharp blade to a child whose actions could not be predicted.
Just then, a trusted member of the guard unit delivered a dossier.
It was a recent mission report from the guard unit and a brief financial summary of the clan.
On the dossier, in clear and unambiguous writing, it stated that since Uchiha Shinsuke's "Efficiency Optimization Trial Plan" had been implemented, the completion rate of D-rank and C-rank missions taken on within the clan had risen by twenty percent.
The efficiency of conflict resolution in the guard unit's patrol zones had increased by thirty-five percent.
The monthly profits of the shops operating under the clan's name had seen a significant increase compared to the previous month.
Most critically of all, the casualty rate of clan members on external missions had fallen to its lowest point in the past five years.
These concrete and undeniable numbers proved that Uchiha Shinsuke's leadership was sound, and that the clan had genuinely benefited from it.
Uchiha Fugaku wanted to find fault, but could not find a single reason to do so.
Uchiha Fugaku realized that what he could do seemed to amount to nothing more than waiting.
Waiting for the moment when the final reckoning would arrive.
Night fell.
Uchiha Fugaku looked toward the fan clan crest on the wall, the symbol of Uchiha honor.
Deep within his eyes, three black tomoe rotated slowly.
Resist, or yield.
Uchiha Fugaku was caught between the two with no way forward and no way back.
Resistance would mean calling upon the trump card he had most deeply concealed, using his authority as clan head to forcibly suppress the tide that Uchiha Shinsuke had set in motion.
But the price of doing so would be severe.
The clan would inevitably fracture, kin would slaughter kin, and blood would run in rivers.
An Uchiha ravaged by internal strife would only appear even more vulnerable and easily manipulated in the eyes of Konoha's higher-ups.
In the end, he might reclaim his authority, but what he would be left with was a clan shattered and drained of its vitality.
He, Uchiha Fugaku, would become a sinner against the Uchiha.
And what of abdicating and yielding to the worthy?
Placing the Uchiha's future entirely in the hands of that young man he could not see through.
That would prevent civil war and preserve the clan's strength.
But Uchiha Shinsuke's aggression and domineering nature seemed to almost guarantee that he would lead the clan into the most devastating collision with all of Konoha.
That was equally war, equally an abyss.
The tragedy that he, Uchiha Fugaku, had spent half a lifetime trying to prevent seemed inescapable no matter what he did.
Fugaku's thoughts drifted involuntarily back to years long past.
The Third Shinobi World War.
Freezing rain mingled with warm blood, and beneath his feet lay countless bodies and severed limbs.
"Fugaku! Run!"
A closest friend, also a teammate in Uchiha Fugaku's squad, threw his own body in front of him and took a fatal blow meant for Uchiha Fugaku.
"Why... why would you do this for me..."
"Because... you are the captain... you are the Uchiha's future..."
Great quantities of blood poured from the corners of his closest friend's mouth as the life within him drained away at terrifying speed.
"Live on... carry with you... our... the Uchiha's... hope..."
Those eyes that had once shone with light were extinguished completely.
In that moment, boundless grief and hatred surged together into the most extreme flood of emotion and swept through Uchiha Fugaku's eyes.
Searing pain struck.
The three tomoe within his vision spun wildly, elongating and fusing.
The awakening of the Mangekyō Sharingan had come at a heavy price.
It was born from the death of his closest friend, and was proof of Uchiha Fugaku's powerlessness.
From that day on, Fugaku had despised war, and feared it.
Uchiha Fugaku had kept those eyes deeply hidden, never speaking of them to anyone.
The candle flame in the study swayed.
Uchiha Fugaku slowly closed his eyes.
Using those eyes to stand against Shinsuke would be tantamount to pushing the clan into the mire of civil war with his own hands, replaying the very tragedy he despised most.
Uchiha Fugaku could not bring himself to do it.
But to do nothing, and watch helplessly as Shinsuke led the clan toward all-out war with Konoha, how was that any different from pushing them off the edge himself?
That thought refused to leave Uchiha Fugaku's mind, no matter how he tried to shake it.