The fire snapped quietly in the darkened room.The summoned serpent, belly grotesquely swollen segment by segment, had finished swallowing all eight children before dissolving into smoke. Its disappearance was a relief—it meant the delivery had gone without incident.
Yoru dusted off his hands and shifted the topic with casual ease.
"Itachi, you're six this year, right? You'll be entering the Academy soon?"
Itachi straightened instinctively, manners drilled into him since infancy. Despite the chaos of the night, he answered politely, "Last year I trained at home. This spring, I'm supposed to start at the Academy."
The words felt simple. His expression did not. His eyes were full of questions, and Shisui—ever gentle—kept treating him as if those questions didn't matter.
So Itachi turned toward the person even his father respected.
"Why did this mission target children?"His voice was soft, but there was steel underneath.
Yoru gave a dry laugh."If we don't take children from outside the Land of Fire, the pressure lands on our own people. Between strangers and our own… which would you choose to protect?"
Itachi stiffened. His hesitation lasted only a moment."…our own."
Yoru clapped once. "Exactly. If we don't make decisions out here, someone back home will. And they'll choose in a way you won't like."
Shisui breathed in sharply, ready to soften the blow.Yoru didn't let him.
"Shisui," he said, voice suddenly hard, "Itachi is the Clan Head's son. He carries the clan's prestige on his shoulders whether he wants to or not. He's been treated as special since birth. That means responsibility, not shelter."
Yoru's tone sharpened again, not unkindly but without mercy."Don't forget—Hatake Kakashi graduated as a genin at five. Became a chunin at six. Are you telling me the Uchiha should hold their heir to a lower standard than a Hatake?"
Shisui grimaced. "That's not what I meant."
"I know. But he's entering the Academy soon. And the Academy teaches ideals, not reality. If we don't prepare him now, someone else will fill the gaps for us."
Yoru motioned Itachi closer to the fire. The boy knelt obediently.Shisui sat as well, uneasy but listening.
Yoru studied the young heir's face.A child's softness mixed with a soldier's numbness. A dangerous combination.
"Itachi, you were born lucky," Yoru began. "You were given status, training, and resources most people never touch. But that blessing comes with weight. You must learn to carry it."
Itachi didn't move.
"In this world, light always casts a shadow. And sometimes," Yoru continued, voice dropping, "the brightest light hides the darkest parts of all."
The boy's eyes shifted—confusion, curiosity, fear—good. It meant he was listening.
Yoru pressed on.
"Human experimentation is banned. Officially. In reality? Every major nation conducts it. Some openly, most in secret. Small villages don't abstain because they're righteous—they simply lack the infrastructure."
Itachi inhaled sharply.Human experimentation.The missing children.The serpent's distended body.
His mind connected dots Yoru wanted him to connect.
"The village has continued its research in the shadows," Yoru said quietly. "And after the Nine-Tails attack, the clan has been isolated. We needed an ally outside the Council. Someone powerful. Someone the village fears."
Shisui tensed, knowing exactly where this was going.
Yoru let his expression shift—determined, earnest, almost reverent.
"Orochimaru-sensei is that hope. His reputation is rising fast. If nothing changes, he'll become the Fifth Hokage. When he does, the Uchiha will finally return to the center of Konoha's leadership."
He said it with conviction. He said it like someone who believed.
Itachi stared, captivated.To him, "Hokage" was synonymous with greatness—kindness, justice, protection.If everyone he trusted said Orochimaru was the future Hokage…
Then Orochimaru became the shape of hope.
Shisui bowed his head. "Yoru's right. When Orochimaru-sama takes office, the clan will finally be trusted again. We just have to endure a little longer."
Itachi absorbed every word.
Yoru watched the boy's eyes shift from uncertainty to determination.Good, he thought. Now the village's propaganda won't reach him first.
But another thought flickered behind his smile.Careful, Yoru. You're persuading the one person who could one-shot Orochimaru without breaking a sweat. Don't let him become the man's fanboy.
Still—this was necessary.Hope had to be placed somewhere. Better in Orochimaru, who would fall, than in the village, which would weaponize belief against the Uchiha.
When that hope eventually shattered, the glow around the Hokage title would go with it.
And then Konoha would have no easy way to manipulate the clan again.