The leader, burdened with the resentment of the clan … This was the dark face of Itachi’s father, Fugaku.
“It has been officially decided that my son Itachi will join the Anbu. He has already begun to carry out missions as a member.”
A quiet cheer echoed through the shrine.
“Now we have a pipeline connecting our clan with the center of the village. No longer will we simply receive from the village; we will also actively investigate, ourselves.”
It wouldn’t be his father doing that.
“Itachi,” Fugaku called his son’s name.
Without a sound, Itachi got to his feet, and waited for his father to speak again.
“You have joined the Anbu. Have you noticed anything?”
The question was much too vague, confusing Itachi. The villagers were prejudiced against the clan, and did not think well of them. That was likely the answer his father was hoping for. And in fact, his comrades in the Anbu had not celebrated Itachi joining them; there were even some who made a show of their displeasure. But he couldn’t say without reservations that this was simply because he was a member of the Uchiha clan. At eleven years of age, Itachi’s youth was another source of irritation.
“It is a fact that the people of the village are wary of the Uchiha clan, and do not think well of us,” Itachi began.
“It is!” Once Itachi offered the answer his father was seeking, a sympathetic voice called out from the seats.
“But,” Itachi continued, giving his voice extra weight as if to push back the hasty hooting, “that said, I don’t feel any active hatred, no persecution of the clan. At best, I believe their feelings are the sort of worries and jealousies that anyone has.”
As his father listened with arms crossed, only his right eyebrow twitched upward. “This worry and jealousy you mention can come together, and be twisted into a bigger emotion.”
As if to agree with his father, the brethren began to chatter, and make a commotion.
To push through the voices of the crowd, Itachi concentrated his strength in the bottom of his belly, and spat out, “If you add on backward predictions like that, anything can be reduced to a negative phenomenon!”
As if to stand in the way of his father, silently glaring at him, a single man stood up. His father’s trusted retainer, Yashiro.
“Hey, Itachi!” he called, his narrow eyes gleaming murderously. Silently, Itachi turned to his father’s confidant. “You’re really siding with the village here, aren’t you? Whose ally are you anyway, the village’s, or the clan’s? Maybe your judgment’s a bit dull after joining the Anbu—getting a little full of yourself?”
“It’s better not to force things into a framework with words,” Itachi murmured.
“What?” Yashiro called back.
“Enemy. Ally.” Itachi’s eyes shone a faint crimson. “If you differentiate between things with the tool of words, you lose sight of the true situation. You’re forced to step into places you shouldn’t.”
“I don’t have time for this incomprehensible back and forth. Whose ally are you, Uchiha Itachi?!” Yashiro’s angry roar returned the main shrine to silence.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Itachi glared at his father’s retainer. “I am a member of the Uchiha clan.”
“You got a sec?” Shisui called out.
The meeting over, Itachi was walking home a little ways behind his father. Fugaku looked back, curious at Itachi’s suddenly stopping, and saw his son’s good friend there. “What’s wrong, Shisui?”
“I wanted to talk with your son for a minute.”
Fugaku looked at Shisui and Itachi in turn, before saying simply, “Don’t be too late,” and walking off into the night by himself.
“Shisui.” Itachi said his friend’s name once they were alone together.
“I understand how you feel so well, it hurts.” His friend’s brow furrowed, and he looked vexed from the bottom of his heart. “Yashiro’s the leader of the group pushing for a coup. To that man, all the people of the village are enemies.”
The abuse Itachi had been showered with earlier still echoed in his ears. He lowered his face, as if to look away from the image of Yashiro that rose up in the back of his mind.
“Since it looked like you were going into the Anbu, I did some maneuvering of my own.”
“What do you mean?”
“I talked directly with the Hokage, and obtained the authority to independently investigate the true state of affairs in the clan.”
What did investigating the true state of affairs in the clan mean? Itachi was confused, not immediately understanding what his friend was saying; Shisui opened his mouth again, as if understanding that.
“I’ve been taken off my regular duties, to make sure the clan doesn’t get any more riled up. Their dissatisfaction is going to explode. The Hokage promised that I could act at my own discretion to prevent that, and gave me a position in the Anbu. But that’s just in name only. In the end, I report directly to the Hokage, so your dad and the others don’t know about my joining the Anbu. Even inside, only a few people know.”
“You actually went to the Lord Hokage?”
“Relax. I didn’t say anything about the coup.”
If the village found out about the clan’s scheming, Itachi could see that they would no longer be able to continue as they had up to that point, with each keeping the other in check.
“Itachi, we’re gonna keep fighting to stop the clan from exploding. You from inside the Anbu, and me as a ninja, reporting directly to the Lord Hokage.”
“No matter what happens, I’ll never forget my promise with you.”
Shisui thrust a fist out. Itachi stuck his own out to touch it. “Above all else, we have to make them stop with the coup, at least,” Shisui said firmly.
Itachi nodded in agreement.