Аннотация: A conversation with the older children about the Uchiha clan, the nine-tailed face and the Village.
Shisui looked around at his new army, his team, the remnants of the Uchiha clan with the lost Uzumaki. It is also a kind of fragment of the once powerful Whirlpool Village clan. After his apparent death, Shisui returned to the Uchiha quarter disguised as Sawada's grandfather in order to take a closer look at his future charges without raising questions and suspicions. Their habits, character, schedule, when it is convenient to pick them up, so that the children are not missed ahead of time and so that at least some of them do not see the massacre of their relatives and loved ones. It wasn't because he was worried about their psyche. It was just more rational and convenient. Using shadow clones and summoning, he barely made it. The man from the dreams, to whom the "second he" frequented, insisted that a child's vulnerable soul could not stand such a thing and the kids could lock themselves in. A man from a foreign pampered world did not know what a hidden village and its upbringing were, he could be forgiven. Shinobi children should gain independence as early as possible.
Constant wars and deaths accompany them from birth to death. Shisui himself lost his father when his mother was just carrying Yumiko, and not so long ago, when the Third Hokage gave the highest permission to use Koto Amatsukami on Uchiha Fugaku, the village head himself recalled that he "was friendly" with his parent.
Once again, Shisui felt a veil fall from his eyes. While working at the ANBU, he became interested in the circumstances of Uchiha Kagami's death and found out that his father had been sent on a deliberately impossible mission. It was there that he died along with the entire team. Shisui had heard more than once that his father had objectively brushed aside the direct accusations that began to be hurled at the Uchiha clan after the Fox attack, practically preventing the conflict from flaring up. The courage and peacefulness of Kagami-otoo-san united the Uchiha clan with other clans and the clanless Shinobi of Konoha. And then Uchiha Kagami "so successfully" died on a mission, and Konoha's main "spiders" gradually fanned the embers of discontent again. A man here, a man there, words dropped supposedly in the heat of the moment, and now indignation is ready, and other people's minds are captured by the situation "with these Uchiha who consider themselves better than others."
Shisui himself was caught continuing his father's work and having to reconcile the clan with the village. I naive fool!
"I would like to discuss our situation with all of you and tell you about the reasons for the destruction of our clan. I understand that I am still a child in many matters and judgments, but I will try to convey this to you as much as possible..." Shisui hesitated, choosing his words, "honestly and objectively."
He remembered the stupid advice of that man from his dreams and, cursing inwardly, he still sat on the floor, and the children occupied the sofa on which Itachi was sleeping. His cousin landed next to him, lightly touching his shoulder, as if giving him support.
Seven pairs of watchful eyes stared intently at Shisui. He sighed softly, thinking that in the near future, as the eldest, he would have to be the leader of the new Uchiha clan before he could push everything onto Itachi, as the son of the last head.
But once you've taken responsibility, you can't give it up.
"Konohagakure no sato, the village hidden in the foliage, was our home. More than seventy years ago, the Uchiha clan, teamed up with the Senju clan, built this village so that the children would not have to die too early. Following the same principle, following the example of Konoha, some other clans joined forces and other hidden villages were formed. You know this from the legends of the clan and the lessons that were taught at the Academy. It's true. But this is not the only truth. Eight years ago, our village was attacked by a Nine-tailed Fox demon, Kyubi no Yoko. With the help of the sharingan, it was easy to take control of him and take the trouble away from the village, but our clan was not allowed to do this, fearing that controlling the Fox would make the clan even more powerful than before. The order was given by the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen and the council of elders under the leadership of Shimura Danzo. During the Fox attack, two thirds of the village was destroyed, a small Uzumaki clan perished, the remnants of the Umino and Juhi clans, a quarter of the Hyuga clan, other clans suffered losses, almost four hundred clanless Shinobi and several hundred civilians died. There were almost no losses in the Uchiha clan," Shisui paused and looked at Naruto. The small blond man fidgeted and glanced sideways at Sasuke, who was sitting next to him.
"Another truth is that the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon didn't just appear out of nowhere in the middle of the village. He has been in the village practically since its foundation. The Kyubi no Yoko was Konoha's main weapon, the bijuu, sealed into a human. Such a person is called jinchuuriki, and there are such people in many hidden villages of Great Countries. In this way, the fragile peace on the continent is maintained, because there is nothing more terrible than letting bijuu go free. In Konoha jinchuuriki of the nine-tails, there were three people, all three from the same clan, who have a special chakra, which can be attributed to their unique genetic feature - kekkei genkai. The reason why the Fox broke out of jinchuuriki and why he attacked the village, I do not know for sure, I can only guess, and therefore I will not voice it to you. Returning to the Uchiha clan, I will say what is known for certain. The other clans and Shinobi were unhappy that our clan stayed away, following orders not to approach the liberated biju. A scandal broke out, which was resolved by my father Uchiha Kagami. But very soon Kagami died on a mission, and the hidden discontent continued. There were rumors that the Uchiha clan was controlling the Fox during the attack. There were disagreements between the village and the clan, which grew every year. I won't justify the clan and say that ours were good too. In response to discontent and hints about the Fox, they responded with aggression, even beating up residents, but the duty of the police is to protect. Eventually, it got to the point where the incited clan decided to retaliate. And drastic measures. A change of power. Or simply, for a coup, which in any case would have turned first into a civil war, and then, when other countries learned about the weakening of Konoha, into another military conflict, possibly a world war. It's actually very scary. You're still young and don't know what it is, but Itachi and I... We were against this and acted as "connecting links" between the village and the clan, working in the ANBU. At the same time, they talked about what was going on in the clan and what moods were going on there, and reported to the clan about what the top authorities were leaning towards.
"Double spies?" Sasuke whispered, glancing at his brother. He nodded.
"We tried our best to influence both sides. Somehow to reconcile the village and the clan, but, unfortunately, it did not work out. At the clan meeting, on the night I supposedly died, it was decided to attack and change the government in Konoha. And the Third Hokage and three elders gave Itachi the order to destroy the Uchiha clan, as an ANBU operative."
It seems that the children stopped breathing, and their eyes became equally round.
"In return, as a reward for completing the mission, Itachi was allowed to keep his younger brother Sasuke alive. Only him," Shisui added weightily.
"But... then how..." Yumiko murmured softly. "Why are we alive?"
"The night I died... I've learned something important." Choosing his words so as not to lie to the children, Shisui said. Shimura Danzo, the Hokage's right-hand man, revealed to me, thinking that I would be finished, some circumstances. I suspected, but it's one thing to suspect, and another.... The elders and the leadership did not want peace with the Uchiha. On the contrary, they fueled the conflict with all their might in order to seize the clan library and wealth. And also clan dojutsu... Not for the village. For himself. Danzo wanted to deprive me of my sharingan, but he got caught in my illusion, and I managed to escape, and then fake my death in order to save at least you. Innocent children."
Shisui looked at each of them. Someone looked away, someone looked straight ahead, Mina could barely hold back tears. Naruto bit his lip and glanced at his friend. Sasuke studied the floor.
"Itachi had found out something else before that very night", Shisui continued. "A masked man was constantly infiltrating the clan's territory, thus arousing even more suspicion. He turned out to be one of the Uchiha who possessed a Mangekyo sharingan with the special property of subduing space. Uchiha Obito. This man was believed to have died in the Third Shinobi World War - about ten years ago. There is reason to believe that it was Uchiha Obito who provoked Bijuu, forcing him to break out of jinchuuriki and attack the village eight years ago. For some reason unknown to me, this man hates Konoha and the Uchiha clan. Itachi had to come to an agreement with him. And "exchange" the lives of our clan for the lives of Konoha residents. By this time, the clan had already been sentenced to liquidation by the elders. And if Itachi and Uchiha Obito hadn't worked, our clan would have been slaughtered by Konoha's ANBU anyway. Perhaps by doing this with maximum brutality, because there are many orphans in ANBU who lost their parents in that very incident with the Fox. I want you to understand. When greed, ambition and someone's hatred collide, innocent people always suffer. We tried to prevent it, but it turned out the way it turned out," Shisui looked into Itachi's guilt-clouded eyes.
"I ask you all to think about my words and try to understand this difficult situation. After that, I'll talk to each of you again, or if you want to discuss something, you can come to me or Itachi. And now I would like to sort out more pressing issues with you. At the moment, we are visiting, so to speak, the allies of the Uchiha clan. You've probably all heard of draft animals? Our masters are the nyako ninjas, and we are in their dimension in Nekomata Castle. We were allowed to live here until spring, and during that time you have a lot to learn, and Itachi and I, and maybe the older guys, earn as much money as possible in order to... to have something to live on. In order to live in this castle and stay outside of these rooms, you need to follow certain rules and learn the local language. And then I want to introduce you to your new teacher..."
The guys relaxed a little, and some of them smiled modestly. Shisui exhaled, admitting that some of the advice from the guy in the dream had been helpful after all.