Inside the main command tent, only Uchiha Fugaku remained, sitting alone in deep thought.
The two elders who once stood by him were nowhere to be seen.
Across from him sat Uchiha Fugaku, his dark expression unreadable. Meanwhile, beneath his bandages, Danzo's Sharingan reacted inexplicably to the man before him.
"Danzo-sama, what exactly happened with the Third Elder that day? Is there a chance he's still alive?"
Fugaku cut straight to the point. The Uchiha Clan had suffered devastating losses, and if there was any chance that the Third Elder had survived—even as a captive—they had to find a way to bring him back.
"When the battle broke out, I was with him…"
Danzo recounted the events truthfully. There was no reason to hide anything.
"The Mizukage seems to have an obsession with Sharingan. The Fourth Elder's eyes… they were likely taken while he was still alive."
Fugaku's expression darkened, but Danzo simply stated his grim assessment, shattering any lingering hope Fugaku might have had.
A heavy silence fell between them.
Then, Fugaku's gaze sharpened as he fixed his eyes on Danzo.
"And what about your eye, Danzo-sama?"
Danzo had expected this question.
After all, as battles increased, it had become impossible to conceal his Sharingan. He never truly intended to hide it forever.
Slowly, he unwrapped the bandages, revealing the three-tomoe Sharingan in his right eye socket. He cast a glance at the young man standing behind him—Shisui—before turning back to Fugaku.
"You must have investigated it already. You should have an idea whose eye this is."
Fugaku remained silent, but from behind Danzo, Shisui spoke up.
"In the 35th year of Konoha, my grandfather accompanied you on an S-rank mission to the Land of Earth. You lost an eye during that mission… and my grandfather never returned."
Danzo's gaze flickered with memories as old fragments of the past resurfaced in his mind.
"Yes… Sarutobi had only recently become Hokage then. The village was struggling to rebuild after the war, and other villages were watching us like wolves waiting to pounce. Kagami and I were in charge of intelligence operations beyond our borders…"
He trailed off, lost in recollection.
"Kagami wanted his eyes to witness the future of both the Uchiha Clan and the village."
Hearing Danzo's words, Shisui fell into contemplation. He had been very young when his parents and grandfather had died in battle, leaving his grandmother to raise him alone.
Fugaku, too, struggled to understand.
"If our ancestors fought for the village, if Kagami was your comrade, if you and the Third were both students of Second Hokage… then why has it come to this? Why is the village suppressing the Uchiha Clan?"
A long silence followed before Danzo finally spoke.
"Because of the nature of the Sharingan."
Fugaku narrowed his eyes.
"The Sharingan only evolves through strong emotional stimuli—typically negative emotions. It grants immense power… but at the cost of mental stability."
Danzo's gaze flickered toward Fugaku, studying his reaction.
"Second Hokage understood this well. He sought to maintain stability between the village and the Uchiha, but at the same time… he also ensured that the Uchiha would never fully integrate into the village."
The weight of Danzo's words filled the tent with a suffocating silence.
For Shisui, it was the first time he had heard such a blunt explanation from someone of the older generation. The realization shook him.
As for Fugaku, he had always known the underlying tension between the Uchiha and the village. But hearing Danzo's insight now, it was like seeing the conflict through an entirely new lens.
"Danzo-sama, are you saying… that the Konoha Military Police Force is what isolates us from the rest of the village?"
Shisui found this hard to accept. He had been raised to believe that serving in the police force was an honor.
Danzo nodded.
"Yes. The police force is both a symbol of recognition and a cage that separates the Uchiha from the rest of the village. As the Captain of the Police Force, Fugaku, you must have noticed it yourself."
Fugaku exhaled slowly and nodded.
He had only truly understood this after stepping into his current position. The constant friction between the Uchiha and other clans, the civilians' fear of the police force—these things had built an invisible wall between them and the rest of Konoha.
"So… if we give up the police force, everything will change?" Shisui asked hesitantly.
Danzo crushed that naive hope immediately.
"The village's higher-ups would never allow it. And the Uchiha Clan itself may not be willing either."
If it were that simple, things wouldn't have escalated to this point.
If the Uchiha abandoned the police force, what then? Would they become like other shinobi, taking on standard missions outside the village? What if another figure like Uchiha Madara emerged? That would pose an even greater threat to Konoha.
And beyond that, most of the Uchiha were already deeply entrenched in their pride and authority. How many of them would truly be willing to forsake their prestigious positions and fight on the battlefield like any other ninja?
Danzo glanced at Fugaku, whose brow was furrowed in deep thought.
Even in the original timeline, the Uchiha Clan Head was just that—a leader, not an absolute ruler. He could not single-handedly dictate the clan's future.
And right now, Fugaku's authority was still new and fragile. Compared to the elders of the clan, his power was far from absolute.
Shisui, meanwhile, looked at Danzo with sincerity in his eyes.
"My grandfather gave you his eyes so that he could see a stronger Konoha. Now, the village is divided, and the Uchiha are caught in the middle of this rift. Danzo-sama, I ask you—will you help bridge the gap between the village and our clan?"
Fugaku fixed his gaze on Danzo as well, waiting for his answer.
Initially, he had only hoped to use Kagami's Sharingan as a bargaining chip in political negotiations. But now, he saw a possibility—an ally, rather than just leverage.
His recent interactions with Danzo had made one thing clear: despite the rumors, Danzo did not harbor blind hatred toward the Uchiha.
In fact, compared to the other village elders, and even the Hokage himself, Danzo was far more approachable.
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