"From the moment a regular Uchiha graduates, his path splits from yours. He is penned into the Police Force."
Mo Ke looked at Itachi. "If you had been forced into an all-Uchiha Police Force the day you graduated, would you still feel the same love for the village?"
If that had happened… he would never have met Captain Mizunotsuki or Tenma… his only contact with townsfolk would be during arrests… Would he still revere Konoha the same way?
Itachi fell silent. That silence was already an answer.
"Then ask yourself this," Mo Ke said. "Where did the villagers' dislike of the Uchiha come from?"
The clan lived apart, rarely mixing with others. Why, then, such resentment? Itachi's earlier glimmer resurfaced. If the police are their only point of contact, and every contact is enforcement…
His head snapped up. He had it.
Putting the Uchiha alone in charge of policing cut them off from everyone else.
Mo Ke saw the spark and nodded. Shisui, too, had reached that conclusion, yet he bit his tongue. In the depths of his heart he was still unwilling to see Konoha's darkness. Itachi had an edge Shisui lacked. He trusted no one easily.
"As for a peaceful solution to the rift," Mo Ke went on, glancing at the sky, "there is none while you keep the same tinted glasses as the leadership."
He faced Shisui. "Tell me. The Third and his circle love to say they will resolve the Uchiha problem. Have you ever seen them act."
Shisui tried, "The Hokage let Itachi join the ANBU to be a bridge between the clan and the village…"
"That is called effort."
Mo Ke's tone cut. If they would not strip the mask themselves, he would.
"Since the Second Hokage, the top has quietly preached that the Uchiha are born evil. Step by step they dug the pit. They handed the clan a 'power' called the Police, which only isolated you. Other families built bonds through work and life. The only bond villagers had with Uchiha was resentment."
"What clan has not produced rogues. Because your rogues were strong, the whole clan is guilty."
"The Third's own student defected. Why does he not declare Orochimaru born evil. If Orochimaru was evil from birth, that proves a Hokage who cannot judge character. If he turned evil later, that proves a Hokage who cannot raise people well."
"Orochimaru used the village's own citizens for human experiments, and the Third brushed it off. Against a Sannin-class traitor he sent a listless jōnin like Kakashi to 'pursue.' You cannot see the protection at work."
Years of "Will of Fire" screamed in Shisui's head that this was wrong, yet his mouth found no rebuttal. Stripped of slogans, the logic was ice. A Sannin who should have been unforgivable was effectively pardoned. And the Uchiha. What had they actually done.
Nothing, except voicing again and again their dread of being pushed that far. ANBU surveillance tightened. Public hostility rose. They scoured their memories for any sign of the leadership's sincere effort and found only a deepening shadow. It was not just Konoha's indictment. It was theirs, the self-styled saviors, laid bare.
Mo Ke pressed.
"Isolate first. Drip a little favor and hope. That is the whole playbook. They did it to the Jinchūriki. To the White Fang. To you."
"The White Fang's resolve blindsided them. They lost an arm with their own blade. The Uchiha shout loudly but are easy to mollify. If the Hokage's circle had simply embraced Kagami, Obito, Itachi, and you, Shisui, into the inner household, the fury would have ebbed. You would have sat quietly for a few more years."
Shisui's gaze dimmed. He recalled the clan's rising anger. Its roots were always the same: each time the village dangled the hope of an Uchiha Hokage, and each time snapped it away. Itachi finally understood why his father had been pleased when he entered ANBU. It might be a hollow gesture, but it could calm a storm.
"One more thing," Mo Ke added lightly. "Use your Sharingan to watch Danzō from the dark."
"His arm is… interesting. You probably cannot see through it. Try his right eye instead. My mind's sight tells me he carries not less than ten separate Sharingan powers."
He let the words hang, amused. Danzō had sealed the arm. The right eye hid behind mere bandage, yet that seemed enough to blind sensing and even the Byakugan. Such was the so-called darkness of the village. People flinched from looking him in the eye.
"When you see it for yourself, you will grasp who the real rot is. Danzō is only a hand. Ask whose sleeve he hides in."
Shisui and Itachi trembled with fury. To toy with the dead is beyond forgiveness anywhere. Their eyes reddened. Tomoe quivered and spun.
Mo Ke leaned forward, voice decisive.
"The village leadership is not the village. The Uchiha hardliners are not the Uchiha. Learn that first. When your thought and your sight are not yet wide enough, precocious minds become tools in other hands."
Itachi flushed. He had been arrogant. He had seen only one corner of Konoha and thought himself an arbiter of its whole.
"Thank you, Lord Mo Ke," Shisui said at last. "You are right. I should not decide from a low vantage. I will look again with my own eyes at both clan and village. If Danzō is as you say, I will not spare him."
"Good. Learn, then use it." Mo Ke inclined his head. "I have plans regarding the village. I do not want you blundering through them. When you have truly thought it through, come find me."
A super-shadow's words are hard to ignore. If they charged ahead anyway, Mo Ke would count them unfit to stand beside him.
"Oh, and Itachi. If you come to me in trust, bring Sasuke. As I passed your compound I felt a discordant presence. Its source is in Uchiha Sasuke."
At the mention of his brother, the ever-calm mask cracked. Itachi's mouth opened with questions, but Mo Ke had already turned. One step, and he thinned into air, the red mane fading like a brushstroke erased. The two Uchiha stood staring, the figure in crimson now more unfathomable than ever.
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