"Uchiha Shisui is a member of your Uchiha clan."
Koharu looked at Toyoma with a smug expression.
"Whatever he has done is your clan's matter."
She folded her arms.
"And yet you're blaming the village for it?"
"What kind of logic is that?"
Hearing Koharu repeatedly push the responsibility onto the Uchiha, many Uchiha in the crowd looked displeased.
Some frowned.
Others exchanged dark glances.
Fugaku and Shisui, however, were looking at the village elders and Hiruzen with complicated expressions.
Confusion.
Disbelief.
And a trace of shock.
Neither of them had expected the village leadership to distance themselves from Shisui so quickly.
Shisui was affected the most.
For years, Hiruzen had treated him kindly.
Guided him.
Supported him.
At least, that was what Shisui had believed.
Yet now—
The moment things became inconvenient—
The responsibility was his alone.
Shisui's fingers tightened slightly.
Nobody noticed.
Not even he realized it at first.
But there was still a faint sting in his chest.
A feeling he didn't want to acknowledge.
Betrayal.
Toyoma looked at Koharu.
Then at Hiruzen.
A mocking smile appeared on his face.
"Who here doesn't know how you people brainwash shinobi from the major clans in the name of the Will of Fire?"
The crowd immediately became restless.
Several clan heads narrowed their eyes.
Toyoma continued before anyone could interrupt.
"How many times have you told them to hand over family secrets for the future of the village?"
"How many times have you pressured clans to sacrifice their inheritances?"
His voice grew colder.
"And all so your four clans can continue flourishing while everyone else pays the price."
The accusation landed heavily.
At that moment—
Jiraiya stepped forward.
His tall frame stopped directly in front of Toyoma.
He looked down at him.
"Aren't you going further and further out of line?"
His voice was firm.
"First you accuse the Hokage."
"Now you're questioning the Will of Fire itself."
The atmosphere immediately became heavier.
Jiraiya's gaze remained fixed on Toyoma.
"Do you really think the village won't react to your provocations?"
Then his eyes shifted.
Toward Setsuna.
Toward Uzuku.
The two elder Uchiha stood calmly behind Toyoma.
"Are both of you siding with this kid?"
Jiraiya asked directly.
"You both understand exactly what he's doing."
"Yet neither of you has tried to stop him."
Silence spread.
Many people immediately turned toward Setsuna and Uzuku.
Until now—
The focus had been entirely on Toyoma.
But Jiraiya's question changed things.
Whether the village could dismiss Toyoma as a reckless young man was one thing.
Whether respected Uchiha elders stood behind him—
Was something else entirely.
Setsuna looked at Jiraiya.
Then he let out a faint laugh.
A tired one.
"If even a single thing Toyoma said was based on assumptions or rumors, I wouldn't be standing here."
His gaze shifted toward Hiruzen.
"But everything he has said already happened in front of me."
The words were calm.
Yet they carried weight.
"Do I really need confirmation for events every Uchiha already knows about?"
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed.
"Alright."
His voice remained firm.
"So I should take that as you supporting this kid's reckless behaviour."
Setsuna did not answer immediately.
Instead—
He took a step forward.
"There is one thing Toyoma didn't mention."
The crowd quieted.
Even several clan heads looked toward him.
Setsuna's expression remained unreadable.
"Every name he mentioned."
"And each Uchiha who died under suspicious circumstances."
"Every Uchiha whose death was ruled as an accident."
His voice grew colder.
"They all had one thing in common."
A strange feeling spread through the crowd.
Several people unconsciously straightened.
Setsuna looked directly at Jiraiya.
"When our people received their bodies."
Silence spread.
Then—
"Those bodies were missing their Sharingan's."
The words landed like a hammer.
For a moment—
Nobody spoke.
Not a single sound.
"Not one."
"Not two."
"All of them."
The atmosphere instantly changed.
Several civilians paled.
A few clan heads visibly stiffened.
Even some jonin exchanged uneasy glances.
Setsuna continued.
"Their eyes had been gouged out."
His gaze never left Jiraiya.
"Do you understand what that means?"
Step.
He moved closer.
"Do you understand what kind of message that sends to the Uchiha clan?"
The pressure in the area grew heavier.
Jiraiya unconsciously took half a step back.
Not because he was afraid of Setsuna.
But because he understood exactly what Setsuna was implying.
This wasn't about a few unfortunate deaths anymore.
This suggested a pattern.
A target.
A motive.
And if that implication was true—
Then someone had been hunting Uchiha for their eyes for a long time.
Yet Jiraiya remained silent.
Because the moment he acknowledged that possibility—
The discussion would become far more dangerous.
Homura's expression darkened.
The situation was getting further and further out of hand.
He glanced toward Hiruzen.
The Hokage was silent.
Deep in thought.
Homura clenched his fist.
If the Uchiha had simply attacked—
If they had raised their weapons and started a conflict—
The matter would have been much easier to resolve.
But they hadn't.
They were fighting with facts and words.
And words are far more dangerous.
Especially in front of the entire village.
Hiruzen's expression wasn't much better.
He understood exactly what was happening.
Some matters should never have reached the public.
Yet now—
Every villager was listening.
Every clan head was watching.
And every accusation was planting seeds of doubt.
Homura stepped forward.
"Elder Setsuna."
His voice remained calm.
"The village investigated those incidents."
"We found no specific evidence and no trail that could identify the people responsible."
A few villagers nodded.
The answer sounded reasonable.
Homura continued.
"However, I can assure—"
"You didn't find any evidence."
Toyoma's voice interrupted him.
The crowd immediately turned toward him.
Toyoma's expression remained calm.
Almost indifferent.
"Or maybe you didn't want to find any."
The atmosphere instantly became heavier.
Several clan heads narrowed their eyes.
Toyoma looked directly at Homura.
Then at Hiruzen.
"What if someone inside the village was involved?"
His words were slow.
Careful.
"What if the people responsible were never outsiders to begin with?"
A ripple spread through the crowd.
The implication was obvious.
Several people visibly stiffened.
Toyoma continued.
"After all."
"The Sharingan isn't exactly valuable to ordinary bandits, and no village has shinobi using Sharingan."
Silence spread.
"Then that mean is simple someone in the village wanted it."
"But the main question is why?"
He looked at Hiruzen as he said, "Maybe for the bloodline experiment"
The crowd erupted into whispers.
That accusation was far more dangerous than the previous ones.
For the first time—
Hiruzen spoke immediately.
"Words are not proof, boy."
His voice was firm.
Gone was the gentle tone he usually used.
His gaze locked onto Toyoma.
"Do you take the village leadership for fools?"
"Do you truly believe we would let something like this happen, that could damage the relationship between the village and its clans?"
The atmosphere quieted slightly.
Several clan heads listened carefully.
Hiruzen looked toward them.
"The village and the clans depend upon one another."
His voice was steady.
"The clans strengthen the village."
"The village protects the clans."
"Both have responsibilities toward each other."
"And both have a duty to protect the other's existence."
Many clan heads slowly nodded.
It was a reasonable thing.
Konoha was built on decades of cooperation.
Hiruzen looked back at Toyoma.
"For generations, that principle has allowed Konoha to prosper."
Shisui stood silently.
Watching.
Listening.
The discussion unfolding before him felt increasingly unreal.
Even now—
He hadn't fully recovered from the shock of being abandoned so easily.
Yet one sentence remained in his mind.
Repeating itself over and over.
The village and the clans depend upon one another.
Hiruzen's words.
Slowly—
Shisui took a step forward.
Many people turned toward him.
For the first time since the argument began—
He spoke.
"That's right."
His voice wasn't loud.
Yet the crowd gradually quieted.
"Because there is a village..."
He paused.
"...there are clans."
The words immediately drew attention.
Toyoma looked at him.
Setsuna looked at him.
Even Hiruzen's eyes shifted toward the young Uchiha.
Shisui clenched his fists.
"So accusing the village of something this serious..."
His voice became firmer.
"...also damages the trust people have in it."
A number of civilians nodded unconsciously.
Jiraiya quietly exhaled.
For the first time in a while—
Someone had spoken about the ordinary people caught in the middle.
He didn't know who was right.
And he didn't know who was wrong.
As long as people existed—
Conflict would always exist.
But he didn't want to see those conflicts destroy the trust holding the village together.
Because when that trust disappeared—
It was usually the ordinary villagers who suffered the most.
Shisui looked toward Setsuna.
Then toward Toyoma.
"As for what I did..."
His fingers tightened.
"That was my decision."
His voice carried no hesitation.
"No one ordered me."
"No clan elder."
"No clan head."
"No village leader."
The crowd became noticeably quieter.
Shisui raised his head.
Determination filled his eyes.
"If someone deserves the blame..."
"Then it should be me."
A few Uchiha frowned.
Others looked conflicted.
But Shisui continued.
"I believed that if the village gained access to the Healing Pill formula..."
"Then more lives could be saved."
His gaze shifted toward the shinobi who had recently returned from the border.
Many of them carried visible injuries.
Some were missing limbs.
Others bore scars that would never disappear.
"I thought fewer shinobi would die."
The crowd fell silent.
For a moment—
Nobody interrupted him.
Then Shisui spoke again.
More quietly this time.
"Is wanting to save people wrong?"
His eyes moved across the crowd.
"I only wanted the Uchiha and Konoha to stand together."
"I didn't want people to keep saying the Uchiha were selfish."
Silence spread.
Because for the first time—
No accusation followed.
Only sincerity.
************************************************************************************************
If anyone wants to join P@treon, they're welcome to.
Right now, P@treon chapters are available up to (Chapter 137: The Weight of Two Legacies).
P@treon - Hear_tteeth [18 +]
Thank you for the support and patience.
.
.
.
.
..
..
.
.
.
.
**********************************************************************************************
Author Note
I've seen quite a few comments saying that there has been too much talking and politics, and not enough action. So I wanted to explain the direction of this story.
When I first started writing this fanfic, my goal was never to make it a pure action story. I wanted to explore the Naruto world from a political perspective and answer many of the questions and conspiracy theories that fans have discussed for years.
In the real world, most conflicts aren't solved by fighting. They are solved through laws, politics, negotiations, influence, and sometimes by finding loopholes in the system. Only when those methods fail do people resort to violence. I wanted to write a Naruto story that followed that kind of logic instead of solving every problem with a bigger jutsu.
That doesn't mean there won't be action. There will be. But I want the action to have weight because of everything that happened before it.
This is also my first novel, so you can think of it as my first big learning experience. I know many of you are enjoying the direction of the story and the world-building, but I also understand that my presentation isn't perfect. Looking back, I can already see many chapters that have more explanation than they needed.
Because of that, I've decided that this fanfic will end at around 180 chapters, around the point where Minato becomes Hokage.
After that, I'll continue the story in a new fanfic with a different title, which will cover the main timeline. This story will serve as the foundation for everything that comes later. Questions like how the Uchiha became merchants, how they work with the Daimyo and noble houses, and why the political situation developed the way it did are all being established here.
I'm also rewriting this fanfic on a new account. I'll reread every chapter, improve the pacing, reduce unnecessary explanations, and upload a more polished version while keeping the same overall story.
Every mistake is part of learning, and I'm still learning as a writer.
Thank you to everyone who has stayed with this story, whether you've praised it or criticized it. Both have helped me improve, and I hope you'll continue this journey with me.