Regrets (1)

Despite Shisui's wish for a good night's sleep, Fugaku summoned him to the meeting at Naka Shrine after all clansmen had returned to their homes. Fugaku heard from Itachi that both advisors were controlled by Shisui with Genjutsu in the Sarutobi Clan. This could obviously be used against them if it were discovered by other clans. For now, their coup was blamed on Hiruzen by the village's advisors, but if it became known to others, the Uchiha could literally find themselves against the entire Konoha. This caused the Clan Elders and units of the Police Force to frown.

Fugaku, however, did not frown; he believed they definitely had something that might be useful for the Uchiha in this matter. Shisui told them that tomorrow he would have those advisors reveal all their wrongdoing in front of all the Clans, so there was no need to worry. This reassured Fugaku and Itachi, but not everyone. Finding no better alternative, they could only hope that things would go as Shisui had said, and that the fact about the advisors being in Genjutsu would not affect them adversely.

Later, Shisui's clone dispersed, transferring all its memories to him, specifically about all the Jutsu in the Scroll of Seals. "Wow! There are really many useful Jutsu," Shisui said with surprise and excitement in his voice. "There's Multi Shadow Clone, Tobirama's Bringer of Darkness, Rasengan—though I know about that—and even Flying Raijin and Edo Tensei! I thought they might not be there as Orochimaru and Danzo had taken them, but it looks like they only copied from the original, and the Scroll of Seals has the originals."

He thought of pondering them later; for now, sleep was important. After going to his house, he directly went to his bedroom and slumped onto his bed. The next day, in the morning, as everyone had expected, at the Hokage's office meeting room, all the Clan Heads were present—Hiashi Hyuga, Inoichi Yamanaka, Choza Akimichi, Shibi Aburame, Tsume Inuzuka, Uchiha Fugaku with Itachi and Shisui. Shikaku Nara stood behind Hiruzen, who sat on his Hokage chair. Then, the two advisors, Homura and Koharu, entered the room.

Hiruzen frowned upon seeing them; he immediately sensed something disrupting their chakra. Not only him, but Hiashi also used his Byakugan to sense it when he noticed their dull expressions, finding something amiss. "You, have you put them in Genjutsu from last night?" Hiruzen slammed his hand on the table and glared at the three Uchiha in the room. "How dare you do that? Not only did you betray Konoha, but you also disrespect the authority of Konoha."

With Hiruzen's outburst, the whole room filled with murmurs, and everyone stared at Fugaku Uchiha. "And do you think we didn't know it, Shisui? You attacked the Root base last night, isn't that correct?" Hiruzen asked, anger palpable on his face. "Did you kill Danzo as well?" If the first revelation made everyone narrowly stare at the Uchihas, this made everyone's eyes widen, and they looked at the Uchiha side with wary expressions.

"You are absolutely correct in all this, Hokage-sama," Shisui replied. "I have indeed destroyed the Root base, but this is all because of your mistakes and inability to take necessary actions. You are at fault for it all." Shisui then glanced at each member present in the meeting room and said, "The Sandaime always talks about the Will of Fire, about how Konoha is a big family. But why isn't that the case for the Uchiha? Why are only the Uchihas isolated for the last seven years due to baseless claims?"

Everyone scoffed at this, but Hiruzen, listening to Shisui's complaints, looked at him with a deep gaze. Before anyone could say anything foolish, Shisui added, "To answer these questions, we have Konoha's two prestigious advisors. Speak." Homura and Koharu, with dull expressions, narrated what they had told Itachi and him. They spoke about how they felt threatened for their position, and Danzo's idea of blaming the Kyuubi's appearance on the Uchiha Clan to completely isolate them.

This was suggested by Danzo but obviously approved by Hiruzen; after all, without the Hokage's approval, relocating any clan would not be possible. "This is a lie, a complete lie," Hiruzen retorted. "The Kyuubi was controlled by a Sharingan at that time, and in the whole world, the Sharingan is only possessed by the Uchiha Clan. Your relocation and surveillance over you were not done by me because I felt threatened for my position. Rather, I would be more than happy if a worthy shinobi took this position and became Godaime Hokage."

"Then are you implying that their words are under the impact of Genjutsu and not true?" Fugaku said. "In Genjutsu, they can only speak honestly and obediently to any questions asked. If you have doubts that they spoke because we did something, then you can always have Inoichi or any other Yamanaka read their minds; you will see the truth then." Inoichi flinched slightly, sitting on his seat upon hearing his name in the current topic. He looked at Hiruzen, expecting a response on whether he should do what Fugaku said or not.

But Fugaku didn't give them time to think; he knew the person he was up against was quite sharp in verbal competition. "Itachi, you said your team went and found something precious at the Root base," Fugaku asked, grabbing everyone's attention once again. "Show it to everyone now. They should know that for maybe around the last decade, Sharingan is also possessed by someone other than the Uchihas, and I am not talking about Kakashi Hatake." This indeed grabbed everyone's attention, especially Hiruzen.

From Fugaku's words, everyone understood that at the Root base, they might have found Sharingans, but was Danzo really involved in such a thing? Not just in the possession of Sharingan, but in the Kyuubi's appearance seven years ago. Fugaku's words makes both cases linked. Itachi nodded, and within a blink of an eye, he vanished and returned, this time with his team, Team Ro. Hiruzen's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing Kakashi's Anbu squad.

All six members of Team Ro were present in the room—Kakashi Hatake, Itachi Uchiha, Yugao Uzuki, Yamato (or Tenzo currently), Youji Aburame, and Rō. Kakashi nodded and signaled his team to show what they had found at the Root base. Last night, Shisui had told Itachi to request his team to search the Root base for Sharingans and the bodies of Konoha civilians used as experiments there. Since no one would directly believe if those things were shown by the Uchiha's investigation, they might instead be blamed back.

But if it was an investigation by Anbu Black Ops, then even Hiruzen had to take it seriously. The team presented a small gourd, full of Sharingan dōjutsu. While Fugaku had known about it, personally seeing it enraged him further. Kakashi received his Sharingan from Obito, who was his teammate, and Kakashi was Minato's student, so Fugaku did not let that bother him, mostly because Obito willingly gave it to Kakashi, and Fugaku wanted his dead clansman's last wish to be respected. Even the low whispers in the room grew louder.

After all, this matter could not be taken lightly; despite the fact that many clans disliked the Uchiha Clan, what happened to the Uchiha Clan could also happen to them in the future. This was especially true for Hiashi, as the Hyuga also possessed a dōjutsu. Even though the branch family's eyes were safe with cage bird seal from getting stolen, that was not the case for the main family. 'Phew, looks like not all Sharingan were destroyed,' Shisui thought, sighing in relief. But this alone wasn't much of a shock. Kakashi then elaborated on their investigation.

He told them how they had found many dead bodies in the ruins of the Root base, aside from the Sharingan. They even found that many were actually civilians from Konoha. Yamato or rather Tenzo, who himself was experimented on by Orochimaru, and gained Wood Release Kekkai Genkai, easily identified that the experiments performed on them were for Wood Release, by using First Hokage Hashirama's cells. This caused an uproar in the room. First Hokage's cells used for experimentation on his own villagers? They couldn't comprehend how much Danzo had fallen.

The faces of each person hearing this turned ugly with disgust, as this proved his involvement with Orochimaru back who was defected for the same charges. Even Hiruzen's face turned ugly. He asked if this was all true, and Kakashi nodded in response. Fugaku controlled his boiling anger and spoke, "Sandaime and all Clan heads, I hope this proves that my Clan, Uchiha, is innocent from back then too, and we did this because of the Hokage's injustice against us!" Hiruzen slumped back in his chair and sighed wearily.

But before he could reply to this, Shisui spoke, "But this isn't all. Last night, when we asked these two elders, they also mentioned that the Senju Clan was easier to take care of than the Uchiha Clan. I think we should ask them about this as well."

"What are you talking about? Senju Clan is also...?" Shikaku Nara asked, unable to believe that even other founding clan was involved in such matters. He inwardly thought, 'Wasn't Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, the sensei of the Sandaime and three advisors? Did they really even target their sensei's clan?'

"WHAT?" Hiruzen immediately stood up from his seat and, with wide eyes, looked at Shisui. "Are you accusing me that I have targeted my sensei's clan? I didn't even particularly target the Uchiha Clan, let alone the Senju Clan!" Shisui put on an innocent face and said, "But I am only saying what they have mentioned last time. We can ask them why they mentioned that it was easier to take care of the Senju Clan than the Uchiha Clan. If you are not involved in this, then you don't have to worry about it, right?"

Shisui then asked Homura and Koharu about this, who were still under the effect of Genjutsu. Other Clan heads also looked at Hiruzen with wary gazes. If they thought that the Uchiha Clan's situation was mostly because Danzo specifically targeted them and Hiruzen didn't have full knowledge about it and agreed with their suggestions, this didn't make Hiruzen a culprit and wrong here.

But if the targeting against the Senju Clan was also done by them, and Hiruzen said he wasn't involved or didn't know about that, who would believe him? But Shisui was surprised to find Hiruzen's expressions showing more regret than worry or fear of getting caught.

'Did he really not know about this, or is he just a very very good actor?' Shisui mused. 'Well, whatever the case, I will know about it soon, though in the anime it was never implied that the disappearance of the Senju Clan was because of Hiruzen and his friends and teammates, but Hiruzen's regretful look seems to be more of his past mistakes.' Homura and Koharu, with their same dull expressions, recounted the situation with the Senju Clan and their involvement in it. The more the people in the room heard, the more shocked they became, while Hiruzen sighed heavily.

-- To Be Continued --