Fugaku's mouth curved into a faint smirk.
He just looked at Takehito as though the answer should have been obvious.
"Of course he'll refuse."
Takehito's brows drew together.
"You sound very certain for someone who spent the last three days unconscious."
"That doesn't make me wrong."
"It makes the confidence interesting."
Fugaku almost laughed.
Then he looked at him more directly.
"I don't just know that he'll refuse."
Takehito's expression shifted slightly.
"I know how he'll refuse."
A pause.
"And why."
That got his father's attention.
Fugaku noticed immediately.
"Want to hear it?"
Takehito crossed his arms.
"You seem eager to tell me."
"I am."
"Then perhaps I should be worried."
Fugaku's smirk widened.
"Maybe. You might not like the answer."
Takehito gave him a dry look.
"Three days unconscious and now you're a political sage?"
"Something like that."
"Bragging already."
"Only when I can back it up."
Takehito did not dismiss him.
That was the important part.
If anything, he looked more curious now.
Fugaku had already surprised him several times during this conversation, though naturally the old man would rather swallow a kunai than admit it directly.
So Takehito only leaned back and said,
"Fine."
His tone remained skeptical.
"Let's hear this great revelation of yours."
Fugaku's smirk faded slightly.
"Think about what we're asking him to do."
Takehito waited.
"If Hiruzen agrees, he makes it harder for Root to interfere with the Military Police in the future."
"Obviously."
"Then why would he agree?"
Takehito frowned.
Fugaku continued.
"Root's encroachment on our authority isn't some accident Hiruzen keeps forgetting to correct. It has been happening for years, under his protection."
That gave Takehito pause.
After a moment, he said, "Root already has what it wanted most. Counterintelligence is effectively theirs now. That was taken from the Police years ago."
Fugaku looked at him almost strangely.
"So?"
Takehito's brows tightened.
"So there isn't much left for them to take."
"What we're asking for now would mostly force them to respect clearer boundaries when dealing with our remaining work.
"This would reduce the disputes and friction, streamline the important matters, and it would be good for the village and Hokage too."
Fugaku stared at his father for a second.
Then he gave a small, humorless smile.
"Father."
"What?"
"We still have three entire branches."
Takehito went still.
Patrol and Response.
Investigation.
Security and Detention.
His eyes widened as he understood what Fugaku was suggesting.
Not that Root wanted another minor concession.
That counterintelligence had never necessarily been the endpoint.
"You think they'll keep taking pieces."
"Why wouldn't they?"
Takehito's face darkened.
He finally understood the full implication.
And if the Police was gradually hollowed out, then this was not merely an attack on an institution.
The Police was the Uchiha clan's principal institutional foothold inside Konoha.
Strip that away piece by piece, and eventually there was very little separating the Uchiha from being merely another clan living under the Hokage's authority.
Takehito stared at his son.
"You're saying they ultimately want to remove the Uchiha as a political force."
Fugaku met his gaze.
"I'm saying it would be foolish to assume they don't."
"Isn't it already clear? It's effectively happening under the umbrella of 'counterintelligence.'"
Fugaku counted the examples off calmly.
"Investigation whenever a case is declared sensitive enough, just like this one. Detention whenever Root decides someone cannot be allowed through ordinary Police custody. Patrol authority whenever 'village security' suddenly becomes the excuse."
His expression cooled.
"Keep stretching those exceptions and eventually every matter involving shinobi becomes too sensitive, too secret, or too important for the Military Police to touch."
He paused.
"Then what are we left with?"
Takehito said nothing.
"Missing pets. Drunken civilians. Domestic disputes. Petty theft."
Fugaku's mouth twisted.
"A glorified municipal office hiding behind the name and history of the Military Police, while every function that actually carries power has been stripped away."
Fugaku had already seen that it ended exactly like that in the original story after the Nine-Tails attack.
Takehito fell silent for a while.
His expression shifted several times before settling into disagreement.
"No."
Fugaku looked at him.
"Konoha would lose too much by pushing things that far."
Takehito's voice had gone more serious.
"At some point, the hardliners inside the clan would become impossible to contain."
The implication was obvious.
Confrontation.
Maybe not immediately.
But eventually.
"And even if the village won that confrontation," Takehito continued, "what exactly would they gain?"
His eyes hardened.
"The Uchiha are not the Senju."
They would not quietly dissolve themselves into the village.
They would not surrender their political weight, bloodline, institutions, and identity generation by generation until almost nothing distinct remained.
"If Konoha forces the issue far enough, the clan will resist."
Takehito paused.
"And even if that resistance ends with the Uchiha destroyed, then Konoha still loses its strongest clan."
He looked at Fugaku directly.
"Why would any rational Hokage want that?"
Fugaku answered carefully.
"Father, I think you're overestimating us a little."
Takehito's eyes narrowed.
"The clan is strong," Fugaku continued. "But not strong enough to make open confrontation mutually destructive, or even damaging enough to Konoha's long-term power that the Hokage would necessarily value preserving us over gaining the centralization he wants."
He started with the simplest point.
"We don't have a single true Kage-level fighter right now."
Takehito said nothing.
"Konoha has several."
"Our elite jōnin probably aren't even a quarter of what the village can field."
And below them, the numbers were not much better either.
That was before counting the broader institutional advantage and its growth.
Konoha kept growing.
The Uchiha did not.
The Senju might be disappearing as a name, but their blood had not vanished.
It was spreading into the wider village, strengthening civilian-born shinobi and smaller clans that were far more politically aligned with Hiruzen than with the Uchiha.
The Senju identity would probably fade faster than the Uchiha's.
Their contribution to Konoha would not.
Then there were the Hyūga.
Powerful.
Numerous.
And, politically, willing to bend far more readily to the Hokage than the Uchiha ever would.
Fugaku looked at his father.
"If enough suspicion is placed on us, do you really think any clan stands beside us?"
Takehito's expression darkened.
"At best, they stay out of it."
"Exactly."
If the present trend continued for another ten or twenty years, with Police authority shrinking while the Hokage faction kept strengthening, then even that comparison would become worse.
The Uchiha would be weaker institutionally.
More isolated politically.
More distrusted socially.
And easier to remove.
Fugaku already knew that because he had seen it happen.
By the time the clan finally tried to resist in the original future, the balance had already become even more hopeless.
Takehito's expression shifted again.
Not agreement.
Not yet.
But hesitation.
That was enough for Fugaku.
He smiled faintly.
"Isn't this a good chance to see which of us is right?"
Takehito looked at him.
Fugaku continued.
"This time, the demands are reasonable. Clarify Root's authority. Clarify what happens when their work overlaps with ours. Make it harder for them to interfere without explanation."
He paused.
"If Hiruzen refuses even that, then there has to be a reason."
Takehito's face tightened.
"Because he prefers Root's authority vague."
"Exactly."
Fugaku nodded.
"If he genuinely wanted clean boundaries between village institutions, clarification and procedure would help him."
"But if he wants Root to keep expanding..."
"Then it becomes inconvenient."
Takehito went quiet.
Fugaku's smirk returned.
"And I can probably tell you how he'll refuse too."
"Oh?"
"He'll say counterintelligence is too fluid to define neatly. Too many emergencies. Too many sensitive situations. Too much need for discretion."
Takehito's eyes narrowed slightly.
"That does sound like Hiruzen."
"He'll soften it afterward."
Fugaku continued almost casually.
"Some promise that Root operatives will be reminded not to interfere with the Police unnecessarily, especially without identification. Maybe he'll say the man who struck me will be reprimanded and disciplined."
Fugaku almost laughed.
"Which I'm sure will be devastating for him."
Takehito gave him a look.
Fugaku ignored it.
"As for the spiritual attack, they'll deny it completely."
"Why?"
"Because admitting it means admitting someone else was there."
He looked at his father.
"And whoever did that was probably valuable."
Takehito's expression darkened.
"Very valuable."
"Exactly. Too valuable to expose over this."
Fugaku continued.
"They'll say I was confused. Injured. Disoriented from the confrontation. Maybe they'll blame the blow itself."
Takehito crossed his arms.
"You seem very certain."
"I am."
Fugaku's tone became more serious.
"So do this."
A pause.
"Go to Hiruzen. Ask for the clarifications. Push properly."
Takehito watched him.
"And if it happens exactly the way I just described..."
Fugaku's eyes sharpened.
"Then believe me."
That made Takehito pause.
"Believe you about what?"
Fugaku leaned back against the pillow.
"About the fact that this is bigger than Root."
His father said nothing.
Fugaku continued.
"If I'm right, come back later today."
"Why?"
"Because then I have something else important to tell you."
Takehito's expression changed again.
Fugaku could see the suspicion return.
Good.
Suspicion was better than dismissal.
"What?"
"Not now."
"Fugaku."
"I mean it."
His voice stayed calm.
"First confirm whether I'm right."
Takehito stared at him.
Fugaku continued.
"Then I'll also explain why I think the Hokage's behavior toward the Uchiha is what it is at that time."
That got his full attention.
"And more importantly..."
Fugaku paused.
"What has already happened to the clan without us properly realizing it."
Takehito's eyes narrowed.
"And what I think happens if we continue like this."
The room went quiet.
Takehito clearly did not like how serious that sounded.
But neither did he dismiss it.
Not after this conversation.
Not after how different Fugaku had seemed since waking.
Eventually, he stood.
"You've become very fond of dramatic promises."
Fugaku almost smiled.
"Maybe."
"Don't make me regret listening."
"I won't."
Takehito moved toward the door.
"One more thing."
He stopped and glanced back.
Fugaku settled deeper into the pillow.
"I want today off."
Takehito stared at him.
"You just woke up from a three-day coma."
"Exactly."
"That isn't a request."
"Good. Then we're agreed."
Takehito's mouth twitched despite himself.
"You are also staying here until the medics completely clear you."
Fugaku nodded.
That suited him perfectly.
He needed the day.
Not because he felt weak.
He didn't.
But he had only truly awakened a few hours ago.
There were too many plans still half formed.
Too many things he needed to sort out before speaking to Takehito again.
How much to reveal.
What arguments to use.
What changes to ask for.
Which parts of the future mattered immediately.
Which ones would only make his father think he had gone insane.
And, most importantly, what concrete steps he wanted the patriarch to authorize once Fugaku finally laid everything out.
He had no intention of wasting that conversation by improvising.
Takehito gave him one last look.
"Rest."
"I will."
"I mean actually rest."
Fugaku smiled faintly.
"I'll consider it."
Takehito shook his head.
Then he left.
The door closed behind him.
Fugaku's expression changed almost immediately.
The amusement disappeared.
He looked toward the window.