"By seniority, you should call me your great-great-great-grandmother." Hikari's tone was calm, but her words struck Fugaku and Mikoto like thunder.
"Great… great-great-great-grandmother?! How is that possible?!" Fugaku's pupils contracted sharply, unable to believe what he was hearing.
When Uchiha Madara left the village, he took most of the clan's historical records and secret technique scrolls with him.
Fugaku had been born just a year after Madara's departure, but he had never heard any elder mention a female Uchiha with such terrifying Ocular Power in the clan's history!
He frantically searched through the information he knew, trying to find any trace of this girl, but there was nothing… no record of her existence whatsoever!
Meanwhile, Mikoto was utterly stunned. She stared at the imposing yet dignified girl wearing clothes bearing the Uchiha Clan's crest, her Mangekyo Sharingan's patterns breathtakingly beautiful.
As Fugaku's wife and a former Uchiha Clan's Jonin herself, Mikoto understood all too well the immense pain required to awaken such eyes.
Meanwhile, Sasuke, who had been playing nearby, looked up curiously at the big sister's eyes, finding them simply mesmerizing.
Menma glanced down at Sasuke. At just four years old, Sasuke already had the makings of a little heartthrob, but his eyes still held a childlike innocence, a far cry from the cold, aloof demeanor he would later adopt in the original work.
Hikaru's Mangekyo Sharingan turned back to Fugaku, her gaze carrying the authority of an elder as she spoke down to him: "Fugaku, right? The head of this generation of the Uchiha Clan."
Menma's voice was filled with arrogance as he delivered his assessment: "Your Mangekyo's power is decent, but your will is weak, lacking resolve. You cling to this decaying clan's compound, willingly submitting to the whims of Konoha's high-ranking people, foolishly believing that compromise will bring peace. But you fail to realize… this will only hasten the Uchiha Clan's destruction."
Shura's words were soft, yet each syllable cut like a blade, piercing straight into Fugaku's heart.
"The Uchiha Clan was once the strongest clan in the Ninja World. Now, we've been reduced to a state where the village distrusts us and internal strife tears them apart. And it's all because of incompetent clan's head like you… leaders with no true vision, no real courage." Shura's tone dripped with disappointment and disdain, as if stating an undeniable truth.
Fugaku's face darkened.
The Genjutsu from earlier had already shown him Hikari's overwhelming strength.
And now, Shura's words laid bare his deepest fears and powerlessness, exposing them mercilessly.
Menma, wearing the white three-eyed fox mask, had been sipping tea all this time like a mere guest. But every word he spoke was an undeniable truth.
After all, ever since the Nine-Tails Rampage, the Uchiha Clan had become a stagnant pool of water, rotting from within.
Menma had accompanied Uchiha Hikari on this visit to Fugaku, the last Uchiha Clan's head, because he sensed that Hikari still held some lingering attachment to the Uchiha Clan.
Menma's voice echoed softly in the silent room: "Our visit today is to tell you this… the current Konoha Village is no longer worthy of the Uchiha Clan."
"The rift between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha Village's leadership is widening by the day. If you stay, it will only lead to the clan's annihilation."
Hikari spoke up as well: "When the time comes, we will take the remaining Uchiha Clan's members and leave this decaying village… to seek a true future for our clan!"
Her eyes burned with unwavering determination, a declaration that brooked no argument… a verdict not just for Fugaku, but for all of Konoha's leadership.
Fugaku struggled to maintain his Mangekyō Sharingan, his eyes still aching from the earlier Genjutsu. But as the Uchiha Clan's head, his pride would not allow him to yield.
With great effort, Fugaku raised his head to meet their gaze. Though his face was pale and sweat still dripped from his forehead, his Mangekyo blazed with defiance.
"Absurd! No one can take the Uchiha Clan from Konoha! Not even Uchiha Madara could do it back then!"
"You—one who claims to be an ancestor yet stood by idly during the Uchiha Clan's darkest hour, only to appear now out of nowhere! And the other, hiding behind a mask, sowing discord between the Uchiha Clan and the village! What is your true goal?!"
He gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently, each word seeming to be wrenched from the depths of his soul, filled with resentment and fury:
"Generations of the Uchiha Clan's members have made tremendous contributions to Konoha. My people has been the village's sharpest blade! During the three Great Ninja Wars, my clan spilled more blood than any other clan!"
"As the head of the Uchiha Clan, I've exhausted every resource, endured every humiliation, all for the sake of our clan's peace and survival… and you dare call me 'incompetent'?! Do you even understand the predicament we're in? The village's distrust of us isn't my fault alone! After the Nine-Tails Rampage, the stain on our name became impossible to wash away?!"
Fugaku's tone grew sharp, laced with accusation as he glared at the girl before him, as if unleashing years of pent-up rage and doubt: "You call me incompetent? You say I'm leading the Uchiha Clan to ruin? Then what about you?!"
"With power like yours, why have you never shown yourself before? I've never heard of any Uchiha Clan's member lost to the outside world! Or… was the Nine-Tails Rampage your doing?!"
Mikoto stood to the side, holding the startled Sasuke, her eyes slightly reddened, lips pressed tightly together.
She watched Fugaku with worry, then turned to look toward Hikari and Shura warily.
While Fugaku's accusations were bold, they struck at the heart of the Uchiha Clan's suffering… the oppression they had endured for years.
She knew these words might provoke the two unfathomably powerful figures before them, yet she understood Fugaku's anger and helplessness.
Seeing the enraged Uchiha Fugaku daring to meet her gaze, a faint ripple of emotion flickered in Hikari's cold eyes as she stared back at him.
Behind his white three-eyed fox mask, Menma's lips curled into a meaningful smirk.
'Heh. You've got the guts to glare at us like this… so why don't you dare look at the Third Hokage the same way?'
That smile carried mockery, disdain, and a trace of knowing understanding.
Fugaku's face flushed red, but he still wanted to defend the village.
"Heh, the Nine-Tails Rampage?" Shura's voice emerged from behind the mask, calm yet chilling.
"Your pitiful suspicion only proves how narrow your vision is… how little you truly understand this world."
Menma smiled secretly in his heart, the corners of his mouth under the mask slightly raised, his eyes swept over Fugaku inconspicuously before settling on Hikaru.
He was more than happy to stir the pot further.
The more chaos within the Uchiha Clan, the more their resentment would grow… and the closer they'd come to the night of their annihilation.
His tone dripped with contempt as he continued: "I've never had any interest in the schemes of cowards who lurk in the shadows. As for the 'mastermind' behind the Nine-Tails Rampage, of course we know. But even if I told you, what could you do? With your incompetence, what could you possibly change? All you'd accomplish is speeding up the Uchiha Clan's inevitable destruction."
His words neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the Nine-Tails Rampage, yet they clearly implied they knew the truth. This enigmatic attitude was far more oppressive, and unsettling, than any direct answer.
Menma's voice was almost leisurely: "I've told you before… the 'peace' you cling to is nothing but poison, a slow death. You stubbornly defend this village, yet you've never received the respect or trust you deserve. When the village's suspicion of the Uchiha Clan reaches its peak, when the internal conflict finally explodes… what will you do then? How will you resist?"
Fugaku stared into the eyeholes of the white fox mask, as if they could see straight through to the fear and despair in his heart.
Menma pressed on: "Think carefully. How much has the Uchiha Clan sacrificed for this village? How many died in the three Great Ninja Wars? And yet, because of the Nine-Tails Rampage, Konoha's leadership treat you with nothing but suspicion."
Hikari added at the right moment: "The Uchiha Clan have never needed to explain themselves to anyone… because we are above such things!"
As someone born in the Warring States Period, Hikari looked upon the current Uchiha Clan of Konoha as nothing more than a tamed dog.
Fugaku's body trembled with rage and shock. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Hikari's words were like an invisible blade, slicing open the deepest scars in his heart… the overwhelming helplessness he felt toward his clan's fate, drowning him once more like a tidal wave.
It was as if he could see the tragedy of his own powerlessness as clan head, unable to turn the tide.
'Do they really know? Who was truly behind the Nine-Tails Rampage? Are there other Uchiha out there besides her? Could someone have controlled the Nine-Tails?'
Fugaku's thoughts were a tangled mess, his mind echoing with the image of those blood-red eyes during the Nine-Tails Rampage.
'Could it be… Could it be that my clan was used as someone's pawn?!' The thought sent a chill down his spine.
Seeing that Fugaku had no strength left to argue, a faint trace of disappointment flickered in Hikari's eyes.
Menma nodded slightly at her and said, "It's getting late, and we've said what needed to be said. Let's go."
Menma suppressed the playful smirk on his lips. He glanced at Fugaku with a condescending look in his eyes, as if he was looking at a cornered beast still struggling in vain.
Watching the two men stand up and prepare to leave, Fugaku's heart clenched violently.
Earlier, when he had clashed with Hikari's Mangekyo, he had felt the overwhelming gap in their Ocular Power.
And that wasn't even considering Shura… the man who had just days ago gouged out the eyes of four Hyuga Clan's elders right under the noses of the entire Hyuga Clan and a squad of Konoha's elite Ninjas, led by the Third Hokage himself!
So, even as fury and resentment filled his chest, Fugaku's body remained frozen, unable to move to stop them.
He knew that forcing a confrontation now would only humiliate him further… or worse, invite an even more terrifying outcome.
'If these two truly intended to kill, the entire Uchiha Clan's compound would be reduced to rubble, and even Mikoto and Sasuke would-'
Just as the two reached the engawa, about to leap over the courtyard walls, Fugaku suddenly shouted hoarsely, "Wait! You… what is your name?!"
Hikaru's figure paused slightly in mid-air. She didn't turn back, only letting her icy voice drift through the night: "Uchiha Hikari."