Today felt oddly off for the Uchiha.
They kept catching strange looks from villagers. Every so often, people would start whispering.
The villagers thought they were being discreet. But how could whispers hide from the Sharingan?
"Weird… what's with those looks?" One patrolman after another felt the same itch of confusion.
To be fair, the Police Force's reputation wasn't great.
Day-to-day street patrols, mediating neighborhood squabbles and petty nonsense; every now and then collaring a pickpocket or enemy spy—of course you make enemies. Being talked about behind your back comes with the territory.
There hadn't yet been the great misunderstanding of the Nine-Tails' Night, but the Uchiha's standing in Konoha hearts wasn't exactly rosy.
People saw the Uchiha strutting and couldn't help thinking:
"If you're that tough, why aren't you out fighting Cloud, Stone, Mist, and Sand? What's so impressive about throwing your weight around at home?"
It's not that the Uchiha don't want to be deployed—it's that the Konoha top brass won't let them.
Only in a do-or-die ninja war does the leadership paste on smiles and beg the Uchiha, for the sake of the Will of Fire, to lend the Brotherhood a hand—so the Uchiha sally forth and reforge the Sharingan's fame.
When the war's over, other ninja keep racking up missions—cutting down Cloud here, Mist there, then Sand. The Uchiha? Politely escorted back to the Police Force.
Even Shisui—"Shisui of the Body Flicker," who made his name on the battlefield—ended up Konoha's city warden, walking the streets every day to sort out "this house lost a chicken, that house's cat is raising hell."
Good thing Shisui has a good temper—and maybe a screw loose. Any other Uchiha would've snapped.
So the Uchiha felt: "We're the great Uchiha—doing this petty stuff is beneath us." Bad moods were inevitable. And if some commoner dared say they had an attitude—well, the nerve.
And so the bad blood between "the rabble" and the Uchiha got worse… and worse… and worse…
But what were those looks about?
…
On patrol, the Uchiha glanced at each other.
"Do you feel it?"
"You feel it too?"
"Yeah—the way they're looking at us is so…"
"So what?"
"So… I can't put it into words, it's just very…"
Getting an Uchiha to say words like "pity," "sympathy," or "tenderness" is harder than killing one. As for "doubt," "disbelief," "suspicion"—they didn't know what was going on, so those wouldn't come out either.
The uncertainty gnawed at them until, finally, they saw a newspaper: the New Konoha Times.
The front-page headline was plain as day: "Uchiha: The Clan of Love!"
Every Uchiha who saw it blurted the same thing:
"What the hell?! How are we a clan of love? We're a clan that reveres power! Outrageous! Who—who is slandering us?!"
One by one, the Uchiha fumed, Sharingan snapping open to see exactly which mutt was spouting nonsense and defaming the clan:
[Inside the Uchiha: An Exposé!]
[The Deep, Devoted, Tragic Clan!]
[A People Burdened by a Cruel Fate!]
[The Sharingan—A Full Deep-Dive!]
…
At the same time, staring at those explosive headlines, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, fell into thought.
"Is that really so…? Obito, Shisui—and Yanglin…"
[Some claim the Uchiha are "born evil," and yes, the Uchiha have done cruel things. That's why certain people who don't know the truth insist they're born evil.]
[But is that the truth?]
[Absolutely not. In fact, the opposite.]
[No one loves more deeply than the Uchiha. No clan's fate is more tragic.]
[The proof is the Sharingan.]
[Under a powerful shock, in overwhelming grief, the Sharingan awakens—most often at the death of someone the Uchiha loves.]
[The Sharingan is not a "cursed eye." It is an eye of love—an eye of mourning for comrades, friends, clansmen, and those they love. Many have twisted this into "you must kill your beloved to awaken"—a monstrous misunderstanding!]
[There is no clan that cares more about their companions than the Uchiha! Those pairs of Sharingan are proof—the best proof of how fiercely they love Konoha and their comrades!]
[So when you see those fearsome crimson eyes, remember: they opened for Konoha—for grief, anger, and resolve on behalf of Konoha's comrades!]
…
"Kagami… did your eyes open for us too? Did they grieve, burn, and hold fast for us?"
At the same time, Sarutobi Hiruzen's face softened with reminiscence as he read the New Konoha Times.
He once had an Uchiha as a comrade; he knew the paper wasn't just spinning tall tales.
Perhaps it leaned toward exoneration, toward "whitewashing" the Uchiha—but by and large it was right. And it gave him food for thought.
Everyone focuses too much on the Sharingan's power. Few bother to understand the cruelty and sorrow beneath that power.
At that, the Third's guilt deepened—and so did a flicker of doubt:
[The Uchiha won't say it themselves.]
[Because they are proud. They don't want to be seen as sniveling for comfort or attention.]
[They keep their blood, tears, and sorrow to themselves, armoring up with cold aloofness.]
[That's the Uchiha: living in darkness and pain, with no one understanding their grief. People back away in fear and suspicion.]
[So the misunderstood Uchiha pour those feelings into their clan—erupting as intense "family love."]
[Which makes outsiders think they only care about themselves and not Konoha—but that's not true! The Uchiha love all comrades, fight to protect them with everything they have! It's just that others won't be with them, and the Uchiha are clumsy with words—so the gap and misunderstanding only deepen.]
[Originally, the Uchiha's love could have embraced everyone in Konoha. As long as the village treated them as comrades, the Sharingan would risk life itself to protect them.]
[The Uchiha could become the most, most, most devoted clan to Konoha.]
[Give the Uchiha a little love, and they'll return it tenfold, a hundredfold.]
…
"Utter nonsense! 'Born-evil Uchiha brats'—what a load of garbage!!!"
At Root HQ, Shimura Danzō roared:
"Bewitching the masses with drivel—outrageous impact!
Who put these papers out?! Move—shut it down at once! We can't let people be misled into sympathizing with the Uchiha… What are you waiting for?! Why aren't you following my orders?!"
"Uh…"
Root operatives glanced at each other. At last, someone mustered the courage to speak:
"This paper…"
"It was authorized by the Fourth Hokage…"
"With the Fourth's backing, we… probably…"
"Can't do anything."
Shimura Danzō: "…"
Shimura Danzō: "…dammit."