"Big Brother Shisui…"
Itachi quickly helped Shisui back to his feet.
Shisui's head was spinning, ears ringing non-stop. If Naruto hadn't held back at the last moment, his skull might've cracked wide open.
"You—"
"What about me?" Naruto cut him off sharply. "I heard everything you just said. Uchiha Shisui, are you really okay in the head?"
He stepped closer, not giving Shisui a chance to speak.
"Who the Third Hokage is, who the Konoha elders are—that's not about what they say. It's about what they do."
"Actions are the only real test of truth."
"If Konoha prospers or declines, that's the only thing that proves whether the so-called leaders are qualified or not."
"I hear the Uchiha are about to rise up? Tch, tch. Even the most powerful clan in Konoha is being pushed to the point of rebellion. Instead of calming them down or easing tensions, the Third just keeps making things worse. And you're telling me he's fit to lead? You might believe it. I don't."
Naruto spoke fast, words like a barrage of firecrackers.
"It's your rumors that stirred up radicals in the clan, spreading unrest, making things worse," Shisui shot back angrily.
"Rumors?" Naruto scoffed. "Last time, I only pointed out what everyone else already saw and said. That's not a rumor—that's the truth."
He shook his head, almost disappointed. This was supposed to be Uchiha's number one genius, and yet his brain was so wrapped up in Sarutobi Hiruzen's propaganda that he couldn't see straight.
Naruto, on the other hand, had seen more, learned more, and his thoughts had grown sharper with time.
His view of the Third Hokage had shifted. No more emotions—just facts. And the fact was, under Sarutobi Hiruzen, Konoha had been declining step by step.
That Hokage wasn't qualified.
"You say radicals are growing in the Uchiha clan? Fine. But have you stopped to think why? Force always creates a reaction. Nobody becomes a radical without being pushed. So who's pushing them? What's the cause?"
"You keep pointing fingers at the Uchiha radicals—but what about Konoha's leadership? What did they do to create this mess? Did they ever try stepping back? Did they ever try to ease tensions?"
"A single hand can't clap. Shisui, your vision is way too narrow."
Truthfully, Naruto didn't know the exact details of what had happened between the Uchiha and Konoha's top brass. But just from hearing this conversation, the picture was already clear enough.
Shisui fell silent. His face twisted with inner conflict.
He'd asked himself those same questions many times.
Why had things reached this point?
The answer was simple: the leadership of Konoha didn't trust the Uchiha. Not even a little.
The Nine-Tails attack had sealed their fate—since the fox had been controlled by Sharingan, suspicion fell directly on their clan.
Then came forced relocation, Anbu surveillance, endless restrictions. The Uchiha were treated like caged animals. Oppressed tighter and tighter, their resentment grew heavier with each passing day.
"I know. I know all of that," Shisui muttered, his voice thick with pain. "But knowing isn't the same as solving. The question is—how do we fix it?"
Itachi's face was just as troubled. He turned to Naruto with expectant eyes, as if waiting for an answer.
"Don't look at me," Naruto shrugged. "I don't know your clan's inner politics."
But then he added, calmly:
"Still… I can guess where this is going."
Both Shisui and Itachi immediately froze, their eyes locked on him.
"The Uchiha clan's resentment is already at the point of wanting to overthrow the Hokage. That means this has reached life-and-death territory. Saving it now? As hard as reaching the heavens."
"In other words, the Uchiha and Konoha's leadership are like fire and water. No reconciliation. No middle ground."
"When things are like that, the only way it ends is with one side completely destroyed."
As Naruto spoke, flashes of strange familiarity hit him, like he was remembering something from another life.
Shisui and Itachi both went pale. Their faces looked carved from stone, wet with cold sweat.
"From what I see—Shisui, you still trust the Hokage. Itachi, you're against a full rebellion. Two of the clan's greatest geniuses, one of them the patriarch's own son—both standing against revolution."
"Konoha's leadership holds all the cards. Power, authority, resources. And you expect them to bend? No chance."
"That only leaves one outcome: the Uchiha clan falls."
"And knowing Shimura Danzō's ruthlessness… it won't just be a defeat. It'll be a massacre. The clan won't be spared. They'll be wiped out."
The words dropped like thunder.
Shisui and Itachi's eyes widened in horror, their voices trembling with disbelief.
"Impossible! That's insane!"
"Genocide? That's too cruel… too extreme."
Even Naruto felt shaken by the weight of his own deduction.
The Uchiha clan—Konoha's strongest family—wiped out completely?
That was insane. That was tragic.
And it was dangerous.
Konoha was supposed to be his future. If the Uchiha were destroyed, and someday he became Hokage, wouldn't that mean he'd already lost one of the strongest arms of the village?
No.
That couldn't happen.
He clenched his fists tight.
He wouldn't let it happen.
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