“Don’t bother, Brother.” Shin didn’t stop his pace, interrupting him expressionlessly with a voice devoid of warmth.
“I have things to attend to, so I won’t disturb you.”
As his words fell, he walked straight across the courtyard and left without looking back.
In the living room, Fugaku’s gaze toward Itachi became increasingly complex and difficult to read.
How could he not know the relationship between these two children?
Years ago, Shin had more than once exposed Konoha’s hypocritical rhetoric of peace in front of Itachi, trying to pull back this nephew who was almost blindly loyal to the Hokage, but every time they ended up parting on bad terms.
In Itachi’s eyes, Shin was a complete radical, the root of the discord driving the wedge between the Uchiha and Konoha.
Forget sitting down for a meal; they didn’t even exchange a single extra word when they met on normal days.
Now, having just returned from the Hokage Building, Itachi had run into him with Shin and suddenly wanted Shin to stay for dinner?
If he hadn’t possessed even this much insight after being the Uchiha Clan Head for so many years, he would have been swallowed whole by the Village long ago, with nothing left but bones.
“Father, lately the clan…
seems to be selling off quite a lot of properties externally?” Itachi spoke first, breaking the silence in the living room.
“The clan’s population has been dwindling over the years; the registered Ninjas aren’t even thirty percent of what they were at their peak.” Fugaku withdrew his gaze, took a sip of his tea, and spoke in a calm tone that betrayed no emotion.
“Selling off some useless idle properties to exchange for resources and fill the gaps in the cultivation of the clan’s children is nothing improper.”
Itachi nodded and didn’t press further, but simply changed the subject: “Father, I suddenly remembered I have some business with Shin.
I’ll be going out for a bit.”
“Itachi.”
Fugaku suddenly raised his voice, slammed the scrolls in his hand onto the table, and looked up at him.
His face instantly turned cold, his eyes churning with disappointment and warning.
But Itachi just stood there quietly, looking back at him without a ripple on his face or even a flicker in his eyes.
Fugaku’s heart sank bit by bit, as if it had been thrown into a frozen lake in the dead of winter.
Ultimately, it turned into a powerless sigh as he waved his hand and said no more.
Itachi nodded slightly, turned, and walked out of the living room, quickly following the direction in which Shin had left.
On the street paved with bluestone, Shin was walking toward his own residence when a familiar strand of Chakra suddenly drifted in the wind, carrying the unique cold aura of the Anbu.
He paused and turned around.
Uchiha Itachi stood not far behind him, his eyes as cold as quenched ice, pinned directly onto him.
“The earth-shattering movements in the clan lately—you’re the one who stirred them up, aren’t you?” Itachi spoke first, his tone carrying an unconcealed interrogation.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” Shin curled his lip, his tone as flat as if he were discussing today’s weather.
These words seemed to light a fuse.
A crimson hue instantly surged in Itachi’s eyes as three tomoe flickered in and out of sight, and even the Chakra around him took on a trace of undisguised killing intent.
“Uchiha Xia Yin, I’m warning you.” His voice was very low, every word carrying a chill.
“If I find out you dare to incite conflict between the clan and the Village, I will kill you with my own hands.”
“I’ll say it again, I don’t understand what nonsense you’re talking about.” Shin met his murderous gaze without a hint of fear on his face; instead, his tone grew a few degrees colder.
“I am but a mere Chunin.
The major affairs of the clan are for the Clan Head and the Elders to decide; it is not my place to interfere.”
(As a side note, Uchiha Xia Yin’s strength is that of a Jonin, but his actual Konoha Ninja rank is only Chunin.
Position does not equal strength.)
In the past two years, he had never stopped investigating the cause of his parents’ deaths.
His parents had been on an S-rank top-secret mission.
The route and details were known only to the Hokage high-ranking officials, besides Fugaku.
In the end, the mission failed, and his parents’ bodies weren’t even returned to the clan compound in one piece.
Besides that rat in the gutter, Danzo Shimura, who else could have done it?
And this Uchiha Itachi before him, constantly talking about protecting the Village and the clan, had turned around and joined the Konoha high-ranking officials, becoming their sharpest blade to antagonize his own clansmen.
In Shin’s eyes, he was an ungrateful white-eyed wolf, no different from the Konoha high-ranking officials.
He had already recorded this blood debt of his parents.
With interest, he would settle it sooner or later with the Konoha high-ranking officials and this so-called brother.
One day, he would make all of Konoha taste the feeling of falling into a boundless hell.
Seeing the cold, violent aura surging in the depths of Shin’s eyes, Itachi’s eyes narrowed slightly, and the killing intent around him intensified.
But just then, the Uchiha Police Force members patrolling both sides of the street, as well as passing clansmen, noticed the tension here and cast inquisitive glances.
Itachi abruptly restrained his Chakra, and the crimson in his eyes instantly faded.
He gave Shin a cold look and, without another word, turned and left the street.
Shin watched his disappearing back with an expressionless face, merely let out a sneer, and turned to continue toward his home.
There was still a mountain of things to monitor—the progress of the formation, the inventory of supplies, the preparation of the Naka Shrine Teleportation Gate.
Every single one was urgent; he had no time to play cat-and-mouse games here with this fool brainwashed by Konoha.
Year 54 of Konoha, late autumn.
Exactly one month had passed since the day Shin and Fugaku had laid their cards on the table.
The maple leaves in the Uchiha Clan Compound turned half the sky red.
The wind swirled fallen leaves onto the bluestone road, looking no different from usual.
The pharmacies and Ninja tool shops along the street opened as usual, and the patrolling clansmen still followed their fixed routes.
But only those within it knew that this seemingly peaceful clan compound was already like a giant bow drawn to its limit, merely waiting for the moment the string was released.
In this month, the Uchiha’s family assets, managed in the Land of Fire for over fifty years, were completely liquidated.
From vast mines and fertile fields on the borders of the Land of Fire, to restaurants and shops within the capital, to street-side storefronts, medicinal herb businesses, and even specialized Ninja tool forging workshops within Konoha Village.
Every asset that could be liquidated was secretly connected to the Land of Fire Daimyo’s royal merchants by Fugaku through the Ninja Cat Clan’s secret channels.
They were all signed over in transfer contracts at a price thirty percent below market value.
The only strict rule added to the contracts was that all properties would officially complete the transfer of ownership and personnel replacement one month later.
Until then, the Uchiha would retain daily management rights.
It was precisely this clause that completely kept the eyes and ears of the Konoha high-ranking officials outside the door.
On the surface, all the shops were open for business as usual, with cash flow no different from before.
No one would have imagined that these Uchiha properties, passed down for generations, had already changed hands.