Chapter 257 - 257 (1/2)
Throughout the evening, Fugaku thought of Ryo's suggestion, and could think of no other solution.
But on the other hand, the Uchiha have been living in the center of the village for so many years, and they would certainly not agree easily to leave. This included Fugaku himself.
He had no sleep on that night; but he could not find a way out. In the end, easing the conflict between the villagers and the Uchiha was what mattered most, and Fugaku decided to relocate his clan.
The next day, Fugaku shared the idea of moving with the rest of the Uchiha. Obviously, they were all against the idea, and expressed their opposition.
However, what surprised Fugaku the most was that Katachi stood up, asked everyone to stop talking, and then was the first to announce his support to the relocation!
None of the Uchiha spoke for a while. With the clan's elder and head both agreeing, their opposition lost much of its weight.
Nevertheless, their silence also spoke for their sorrow, as they could not just accept leaving their homes in which they've lived for so long without any good reason.
”Fugaku dono, why are we moving? At least tell us why?!”
”Yes, grand elder! Why?”
Under the questioning of the clan, Fugaku sighed and decided to tell the truth. However, Katachi did not leave him time to speak: ”Obviously, it's for the pride and dignity of the Uchiha clan!”
Upon hearing that, everyone looked at each other in surprise, not understanding what he meant.
”Don't you understand? It's very simple! Our clan is the greatest in Konoha. Recently, the civilians and Ninjas of the village have been provoking us. These fools are being used by someone who wants to target our clan!”
”Then why would we want to relocate? Shouldn't we just keep on catching them?”
”Don't be a fool! What's the benefit in that? That would only bring us further down our hidden enemy's trap! We are the Uchiha; how can we ever steep so low?”
Katachi's words moved the pride within the Uchihas' hearts. Just this change of perspective made a portion of them agree to the relocation.
Hammering the iron while it's hot, Fugaku added: ”Moving away will also allow us to determine the ones conspiring against our clan from behind the scene. If we move, their plans will fail, and they would move on to another. If we're vigilant enough when that happens, we might be able to catch them red handed! Then, Konoha's center will be wide open for us!”
After hearing Fugaku's words, the opposition in the clan essentially disappeared, and most of the Uchiha agreed with moving.
The few who still did not agree could only bury their complaints.
After the meeting, Fugaku stopped Katachi, saying sincerely: ”Thank you, grand elder!”
”This is about the survival of the Uchiha. I'm not going against you when you go for the right thing. I've been anxiously thinking of what should be done to avoid the conflict between our clan and the rest of the village, and I did not expect you to come up with this solution.”
Fugaku nodded, and then said: ”You've hit the nail on the head back when you mentioned that an enemy of the clan is acting behind the scenes. Do you have any guesses on who that might be?”
”I have only speculation. Whoever this is, he's being very secretive. I've sent people to investigate, and they found nothing. However, I think it should be one of two: The Sandaime, or Danzo!”
Fugaku nodded, as the elder's guess wasn't far off his.
”Do you agree?” Katachi asked.
”Well, yes. But I think it should be Danzo, not the 3rd. This is more in line with his methods.”
”Those two are both the 2nd Hokage's disciples. He was a Senju, and was always hostile to our clan. You should expect the same from his disciples, and you should never trust them!”