The doves felt an inexplicable sense of panic.
Many swallowed hard, trying to ease the tension and unease in their hearts.
The hawks’ breathing grew slightly heavy, their eyes fixed unblinkingly on Uchiha Setsuna.
“Konoha has deceived us!!” The hearts of the doves pounded with anxiety.
Like drowning victims, the suffocating, deathly silence left them gasping for air.
Flames of anger burned within Uchiha Setsuna’s cloudy eyes.
“Uchiha Shisui did not commit suicide!
He was driven to his death by Konoha’s higher-ups!” “His eye was gouged out alive by Shimura Danzo!
The pride of our clan did not die on the battlefield; he died at the hands of ‘our own people’!” Setsuna heavily emphasized the words ‘our own people’.
The phrase was laced with thick irony.
No one questioned Uchiha Setsuna’s words.
Having managed clan affairs for many years, he had long accumulated profound prestige.
“When I first learned of this news, I couldn’t believe it was true.” “I demanded that Shimura Danzo unwrap his bandages to prove he hadn’t stolen Shisui’s eye.” “It was merely a trivial request,” Setsuna said, his face tinged with sorrow.
“But reality slapped me in the face.
He refused the request, and instead of upholding justice, Sarutobi Hiruzen covered for him!” Senya stepped up to the podium at the perfect moment and turned on a tape recorder.
The unedited conversation played through the speakers, ringing in everyone’s ears.
When they heard Shimura Danzo’s refusal, Sarutobi Hiruzen’s deliberate protection, the elder’s attempt to seek justice, and their own clan head speaking up for Konoha…
An emotion known as fury ignited within their chests.
Pairs of crimson eyes locked onto the podium, their pitch-black tomoe radiating cold, murderous intent.
In the silence, their anger accumulated like a volcano, waiting for an earth-shattering eruption!
Senya took over for Uchiha Setsuna, his calm voice ringing out.
“We need an explanation.” “Yes, we need an explanation!” In the next instant, the tranquil lake transformed into an erupting volcano!
Scorching magma churned, bursting forth with terrifying power.
“Our clan is the founder of Konoha.
We, more than anyone else, hope for Konoha to become the strongest ninja village in the world!
We, more than anyone else, hope that the flames of war will never spread here, because every inch of this land is our home!
We, more than anyone else, hope that the people living here can lead happy and joyful lives!” His urgent tone swelled into a tidal wave, each crest higher than the last.
“For this simple and beautiful vision, our clan marched onto the battlefield without hesitation.
The First Shinobi World War, the Second Shinobi World War, the Third Shinobi World War.
Injuries, death!
We never took a single step back!
We used the weapons in our hands to tell those invaders, ‘Get out of our home!'” “Three Shinobi World Wars, and every single time, our clan stood at the most dangerous front lines!” “We have never feared bleeding or sacrificing our lives, because it was all meaningful.
We were fighting for our beautiful home!” Senya leaned forward, resting both hands on the podium.
His crimson Sharingan opened, the pitch-black tomoe sweeping over everyone present.
“But what have our contributions, our sacrifices, brought us in return?!” “Betrayal!” another of Uchiha Setsuna’s guards shouted from within the crowd.
His words were like a spark that ignited a powder keg.
Anger, sorrow, confusion, and grief.
They didn’t understand.
Why?
Why did Konoha treat them this way, looking at them as if they were enemies?!
“Yes!” Senya’s gaze swept across their faces.
He raised his right arm high, his index finger piercing the sky like a sharp sword.
“Our sacrifices were met with the shameful betrayal of Konoha’s higher-ups!” “They exploited our love for the village to ruthlessly harm us, all under the guise of the ‘Will of Fire,’ claiming it was for our own good!” This sentence detonated like a mental bomb in everyone’s minds.
“Sarutobi Hiruzen always puts on a sickeningly hypocritical act.
He constantly preaches about the ‘Will of Fire,’ but in his heart, he views us as mere tools.
And once he’s done using us, he wants to skin us alive and suck the marrow from our bones!” “We bleed and die for Konoha, yet our clansmen are left worrying about their livelihoods,” Senya said, his voice laced with sorrow.
“Think about our lives right now.
As the founders of Konoha, we have been driven into a corner.
This place is like a cage, a prison built specifically to confine our clan.
Every one of us is a prisoner in the eyes of Konoha’s higher-ups.
We toil away every day, yet we can barely scrape by with enough food and clothing.” The ordinary civilians standing in the square fell into deep thought.
Before the Nine-Tails’ attack, their shops were located in bustling districts.
Whether they ran the businesses themselves or sublet them, they could guarantee their families a comfortable, worry-free life.
But now, after being banished to this remote corner, their standard of living had plummeted.
This place really was a cage—a prison designed exclusively to lock up their clan!
“The Sarutobi clan and the Shimura clan used shameless excuses to steal our wealth!” “And they still aren’t satisfied—they want to take our lives!” “Konoha has never treated us as family, but as livestock waiting to be slaughtered!” “Uchiha Shisui did not sacrifice himself on the battlefield; he died at the hands of people like Shimura Danzo!” At the edge of the crowd, Uchiha Itachi, clad in his Anbu armor, stared at Senya with dark, cold eyes, murderous intent surging in his heart.
‘How much truth can those narrow eyes of yours really see?
Shisui committed suicide.
He chose to take his own life for the sake of Konoha’s peace!’ ‘Shisui chose suicide for the sake of peace,’ Uchiha Itachi thought, consumed by absolute fury.
‘Yet you and that old fossil Uchiha Setsuna are going against Shisui’s wishes, trying to spark another war!’ ‘As expected, such an extreme and childish clan, a clan that makes me sick to my stomach, has no reason to exist.’ ‘I must report this intelligence to Lord Third Hokage immediately and request that he purge the Uchiha clan at once.’ Uchiha Itachi vanished from his spot.
He was going to tip off the always-correct Lord Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
He was going to…
exterminate his own family for the greater good!
Senya did not notice Uchiha Itachi’s departure.
Even if he had, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Just a self-righteous, twisted, and disgusting fool.
Uchiha Setsuna, however, did notice.
A deep sense of sorrow welled up in his heart.
He couldn’t understand why Uchiha Itachi would choose to betray the clan.
On the podium, Senya asked indignantly, “Shisui used his death to warn us.
Did our comrades who died in battle truly die in combat?
Or were they also murdered by ‘our own people’ like Shimura Danzo?” “Did their eyes also become the smug trophies of our enemies!?” These words were like a thorn, piercing deeply into everyone’s hearts.