Seeing Shisui's reaction, Hiruzen's smile became even more radiant.
Even Koharu, who had been displeased and unwilling to speak at first, offered a smile and said, "This is what we ought to do."
Homura laughed. "The Uchiha clan is now a main combat force for Konoha, you cannot continue to stay at the edge of the village."
Hiruzen sighed, "Where the leaves of Konoha dance, fire shall ignite. The Uchiha clan has been wronged these past years."
If it were the old Shisui, he would surely have been moved to tears, thinking how wonderful it was to have a Hokage like Hiruzen, and would have been willing to die for him. But now, he only felt calm.
"Then I thank Hokage-sama."
Shisui's reaction made the faces of Koharu and Homura darken.
In their expectations, Shisui should have been moved to tears and eager to rush into the village's open arms. Why was he so calm?
Hiruzen's expression, however, remained very calm. He even had an air of mystery, as if he had everything under control.
—
Although Shisui had acted very calm in the conference room, he still couldn't wait to spread the news throughout the entire Uchiha Clan Compound. When the Clan members heard it, they were in utter disbelief.
"The Uchiha can go back?"
"Really?"
"The news brought by Shisui must be true."
"That's great!"
"But why are they giving it back to us all of a sudden?"
"Could it be because Hiromi shoved the compensation from the Hyuga Clan to the Third Hokage?"
"It's possible."
"Hahahaha! They are afraid!"
"We must get drunk tonight!"
"That's for sure!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Just as the news that "the Uchiha are moving back to the central Clan Compound" spread throughout the entire Uchiha clan and began to leak outside, Hiromi, who had been training his physical body, learned of the matter.
Looking at the clan members with smiling faces, his deadpan eyes were filled with irritation. In his mind, the system popped up.
[Mission Name: Why waste resources living when you're this brainless!]
[Mission Content: Kill the Uchiha clan!]
[Mission Reward: Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan]
At this moment, Shisui came looking for him, a smile on his face, wanting to share the good news with Hiromi about the Uchiha clan moving back to their former Clan Compound.
But seeing Hiromi's gloomy expression, the smile on his face froze. He felt a sense of nervousness, like he had done something wrong and had voluntarily appeared before his teacher, feeling inexplicably uneasy. But he quickly cast that feeling aside.
Shisui walked to his side and asked, "Hiromi, what's wrong?"
Hiromi looked at the clan members before him, arms around each other's shoulders and drinking in celebration, and asked with an uncertain gaze, "Do you think there are too many fools in the Uchiha clan?"
"...What do you mean?"
"I don't fear a god-like opponent, but I fear a pig-like teammate."
Shisui understood even less.
Hiromi turned his head, his eyes revealing an irregular Eternal Mangekyo that looked like mottled finger cracks, bloodthirsty and profound. This made Shisui's heart jump, he didn't understand why Hiromi's emotional fluctuations were so intense.
Immediately after, he heard Hiromi ask, "Nii-san, will you always stand behind me?"
"Of course." Shisui's answer was very firm.
"Then let those idiots who want to move back go, and let those who stay form their own line." Hiromi's words were very calm.
Shisui was shocked.
"Hiromi, why... why suddenly..."
His mind was a mess. Why were they idiots for moving back to the Clan Compound? Why did Hiromi want to split the Uchiha? Why did he say there might be too many fools in the Uchiha clan?
Many questions flooded his mind. But they all ultimately led back to one source—the news he had brought back—moving back to the Clan Compound.
The word "idiots" was instantly plastered onto his head, which he didn't understand at all.
He looked at Hiromi and asked sincerely and with great confusion, "Hiromi, is moving back to the Central Clan Compound not a good thing?"
Hiromi asked in return, "How did we Uchiha move here in the first place? Voluntarily?"
Shisui replied, "Of course not."
If Fugaku hadn't suppressed it back then, the clan members would never have relocated.
"Then is it worth being so happy about moving back now with Hiruzen's permission?"
Hiromi's words made Shisui, who had been happy about moving back to the Clan Compound, instantly become somewhat dull and stifled. He seemed to see himself staying at home perfectly fine, only to be kicked out suddenly. After a few years, the other party told him he could return, and so he happily went back.
Isn't that pathetic?
Letting the Uchiha move back to the Clan Compound looked like the Hokage was backing down, but in reality, it was the Uchiha who were backing down.
Once he understood this, his eyes widened.
That old schemer actually plotted against me!
Hiruzen's image further collapsed in his heart.
Shisui thought that was all, but Hiromi said, "This is only one reason."
"There are other reasons?!"
Shisui felt his whole body go cold, he was a bit unwilling to believe it.
Hiromi laughed. "Haven't the clans in Konoha recently stopped being as firmly supportive of Hiruzen as they used to be?"
The interrogative sentence was spoken by Hiromi as a declarative statement, sounding extremely harsh and mocking. But Shisui caught the subtext in the words, and his heart instantly went cold.
Hiromi coldly said, "This is the second point: to demonstrate the Hokage's methods, and to win back the hearts of the clans that have turned away from him."
"The third point."
Hiromi looked at the Uchiha Clan Members drinking with their arms around each other and said, "To extend an olive branch, to appease the Uchiha clan, and to reduce the Uchiha clan's hostility."
Shisui's mouth was dry, and he struggled to open his mouth, wanting to say something, but Hiromi continued mercilessly, "The fourth point: to restrict me, so I cannot go to the center of the village to cause trouble again. Otherwise, the Uchiha Clan Compound would be implicated, the interests of the clan members would be damaged, and sooner or later, it would make the clan members and me incompatible."
"The fifth point." Hiromi looked at Shisui.
"Me?" Shisui couldn't believe he was involved.
"You once trusted Hiruzen deeply, and now you are the head of the Uchiha clan, so it is possible that you could be won over by Hiruzen. Therefore, he needs to test your attitude to decide how to treat the Uchiha clan in the future."
***
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