Fugaku looked first at the unconscious form of Inabi lying on the ground and then at the kunai that still protruded from Yashiros shoulder.
Blood continued to drip slowly onto the dirt while the two conscious jonin waited in tense silence.
The clan head’s face was hard and his eyes moved from one injured subordinate to the next before settling on his son.
He asked with a frown,”What is going on here?” Itachi spoke,”Father, these three were accusing me of Shisuis murder.
They claimed that my absence from the clan meeting and the place where the body was found proved I had a hand in his death.” Fugaku turned toward the three men who had served under him for years and his expression filled with open anger.
“What?
You dared to place such a charge on my son without a single piece of real proof?” Yashiro pulled the kunai free from his own shoulder with a controlled wince and tried to defend their actions.
“We were only asking him questions in our role as inspectors of the police force, Clan Head.
We have a duty to examine every possible lead.
If anything his sudden decision to attack us only makes his position look weaker in the eyes of the law.” Itachi answered before his father could speak again.
His words were calm yet they sent a visible chill down the spines of the two standing Uchiha.
“No.
My decision to use force was a demonstration.
I wanted to prove that if I ever needed to end someones life I would never leave behind such a sloppy trail.
A body left in a river would be the work of an amateur.
I am not an amateur.
And I think you already have found that I am not an amateur?” Fugaku raised his voice in a sharp command that cut through the night.
“Enough!” Every person in the clearing fell silent at once.
Fugaku drew a deep breath and forced the anger back under control before he continued in a lower but still firm tone.
“You three will tend to your wounds and return to your regular duties immediately.
I will deal with my son myself.
This matter is closed for the night.” The two conscious Uchiha nodded in respect even while their eyes still held mixed feelings.
They lifted the unconscious Inabi between them and began to walk away.
As they left they directed one last look at Itachi.
Hate still burned in their gazes yet a reluctant respect had also taken root.
The Uchiha had always valued raw power and proven skill above almost every other quality and the boy had displayed both in front of them.
Fugaku then turned fully to his son and spoke in a quieter voice.
“As for you Itachi I believe the time has come for me to show you something important.
Come with me.” Itachi felt a moment of confusion but he followed without argument.
Father and son walked side by side through the quiet streets of the compound until they reached the old Naka Shrine.
Fugaku led the way to a set of stone stairs that descended into darkness.
They climbed down carefully until they stood before a blank stone wall that looked no different from the rest of the foundation.
Fugaku formed a short series of hand signs and then allowed a few drops of his own blood to fall onto the floor at the base of the wall.
The moment the blood touched the stone a low rumble sounded and the wall itself slid aside to reveal a hidden pathway.
Itachi recognised the method at once from the knowledge he carried.
It was a bloodline seal a special form of fuinjutsu that could be opened only by someone who shared the same blood.
The seal tested the blood itself and refused to answer to any outsider.
They walked through the newly opened passage and entered a small underground room that Itachi had never known existed beneath the shrine.
The chamber was bare except for a single large stone tablet that stood in the centre.
Strange writing covered its surface yet the marks refused to form clear meaning in his eyes.
Itachi looked around the quiet room and then spoke in a soft questioning voice.
“Father?
Why have you brought me to this place?” Fugaku stood with his hands clasped behind his back and stared at the ancient tablet for a long time.
The silence stretched until it felt heavy.
At last he began to speak in a low and steady tone.
“I know how it feels to lose someone who is precious to you.
The pain sits deep and does not leave quickly.” Itachi raised his eyes and waited.
Fugaku continued without turning.
“You just defeated three trained Uchiha jonin in open combat.
I know my son well.
When he is calm and in full control of himself he would never choose such a violent answer to simple questions.
The fact that you did so tells me how deeply this loss has shaken you.” He paused and then added the next truth with quiet certainty.
“But I also know that you blame yourself for what happened.” Itachis fingers tightened at his sides ever so slightly.
Julian himself did not carry personal guilt for Shisui’s death yet the memories of the original Itachi had become his own.
Those memories held a heavy weight of self blame.
The original boy had believed he should have been present or strong enough to prevent the tragedy.
That feeling now lived inside the shared mind.
Itachi opened his mouth and managed only a single word.
“I…” Fugaku finished the thought for him in the same even voice.
“You think that if you had been stronger or faster or simply there at the right moment Shisui would still be alive today.” Itachi lowered his head and answered in a whisper that barely reached across the small room.
“Yes.” That same feeling of weakness was one of the reasons Julian had chosen to train so fiercely inside the Tsukuyomi world.
He never wanted to stand powerless again while someone he cared for was taken away.
The shrine returned to silence.
Fugaku offered no soft words of comfort that would ring empty.
After another long pause Fugaku spoke of his own past.
“When I was younger than you are now I also lost comrades who stood at my side.
The pain was the same.” Itachi looked up in surprise.
His father almost never spoke about the years before he became clan head.
Fugaku kept his eyes on the tablet.
“I believed the same things you believe tonight.
I told myself that greater strength would have saved them.” Itachi asked the question that mattered most.
“Did that feeling ever go away completely?” The answer came without hesitation.
“No.
It never disappeared.
It simply became easier to carry as the years passed.” Fugaku turned so that he faced his son directly.
“You are grieving,” he said.
Itachi answered truthfully.
“Yes.” Fugaku nodded once.
“You should grieve.
A shinobi who feels nothing when a comrade falls is no longer a person.
He has become only a weapon.” His gaze softened by the smallest degree.
“I did not raise a weapon.
I raised a son.” For a brief moment Itachi could find no words to reply.
After another stretch of silence Fugaku turned back toward the ancient stone tablet.
“There is a second reason I brought you into this chamber tonight.” Itachi followed his fathers gaze to the tablet.
Fugaku rested one hand upon the cool stone.
“This tablet has watched over the Uchiha clan since the years before any of the hidden villages were founded.
It has seen war and betrayal and rare moments of peace.
It has also seen loss beyond counting.” He looked at his son again.
“The pain you carry tonight is not unique to you.
It is part of the life of every Uchiha who lives long enough to love someone.” His voice stayed stern yet an unmistakable weight filled each word.
“Our eyes are born from love.
That is the true source of the Sharingan.
And because we are able to love so deeply we are also condemned to suffer just as deeply when that love is taken from us.” Itachi listened without speaking.
Fugaku finished the thought with quiet finality.
“You cannot escape that truth no matter how strong you become.
You can only decide what kind of person you will grow into because of the pain you have felt.” Only then did Fugaku close his eyes for a short moment.
When he opened them again the familiar three tomoe of his Sharingan dissolved and reformed into the intricate and shifting pattern of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Itachis eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the sight.