Uchiha Masaki and Uchiha Fugaku returned to their mansion.
The father and son didn't go to sleep. Instead, they sat silently across from each other in their room, the quiet stretching between them.
After a long pause, Uchiha Masaki finally broke the silence. "What do you think of Shiranui Riku, Fugaku?"
Uchiha Fugaku looked up at his father. "Are you asking about his strength or something else?"
"Tell me everything," Uchiha Masaki said.
Uchiha Fugaku replied seriously, "Honestly, I don't know him well. By the time he joined the Ninja Academy, I had already been there two years. But he was considered somewhat of a 'celebrity' at the school. Because our Uchiha clan refused to recognize him, he became a target for those who held grudges against us. In his first year, he was often bullied.
"But by his second year, that stopped. A prodigy named Namikaze Minato rose in his class—he eventually became Lord Jiraiya's disciple. Riku was second only to Minato in terms of talent. Since Minato couldn't beat him in a fight, he resorted to verbal abuse instead.
"Still, no matter what was said to him, Riku never retaliated. He endured it all without ever getting into fights."
Uchiha Masaki frowned. "He had the ability but chose to endure abuse? That takes a lot of patience."
Fugaku nodded. "There was one exception. A significant incident, actually. Three years after he enrolled, a transfer student joined his class. Word spread quickly that she was being bullied because of her long red hair. But she was strong and fought back, defeating everyone who targeted her.
"One of Riku's classmates, wanting revenge, brought in his older brother, a Genin. Riku nearly crippled him. I heard that Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade happened to return to the village that day and stopped Riku."
Masaki's frown deepened.
After confirming the timeline of the incident with Fugaku, he realized something: only a few days after that event, Riku submitted his Thunder Breathing Ninjutsu to Konoha.
"Did he offer it to Sarutobi Hiruzen to smooth things over?" Masaki wondered aloud.
"Is there more?" he asked.
Fugaku nodded. "Yes. Minato was apparently present during the incident, and he lost to Riku. Not long after, he became Jiraiya's student. Back when they were still at the Academy, Minato often challenged Riku, but he never won.
"Their final match happened that same year. Minato graduated early and left for training with Lord Jiraiya. Even in that last fight, he couldn't beat Riku."
Masaki was visibly stunned.
So even before Orochimaru took Riku as a disciple, he had already bested Namikaze Minato—a future legend, and Jiraiya's chosen student.
"That means Riku did all this on his own," Masaki muttered. "No Sharingan. Just raw talent."
"By the way," he added, "who was that transfer student?"
"Uzumaki Kushina," Fugaku replied after a moment's thought.
Masaki stiffened. Fugaku noticed and asked, "Father, is she someone important?"
Masaki hesitated before answering. "Fugaku, you'll inherit my position one day. You need to know this.
"Yes, Uzumaki Kushina is very special. She's vital to Konoha. You know that Lady Mito is the current Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, right?"
Fugaku nodded. "Yes. You told me the Jinchūriki are considered a nation's strategic weapons."
Masaki continued, "Correct. Lady Mito's full name is Uzumaki Mito, and like Kushina, she has red hair. You see where I'm going?"
Fugaku's eyes widened. "Kushina is going to be the next Jinchūriki?!"
"Exactly," Masaki said. "This is a closely guarded secret. Only high-level Konoha officials know. Lady Mito is very old; her time is running out. Kushina, from the same clan, is the chosen successor.
"Now let me ask: what's the nature of Riku and Kushina's relationship?"
"Very close," Fugaku answered immediately. "They're good friends."
Masaki sighed deeply. "Then it's over."
Fugaku tilted his head. "What is, Father?"
"The chance to bring Riku back to the Uchiha clan. The Jinchūriki is Konoha's secret weapon. The Hokage would never allow any other clan to interfere with her. The fact that Riku and Kushina are so close, and no one in power is stopping them—not even Orochimaru, now his mentor—tells me everything.
"Riku is fully part of the Hokage's faction. Even if we tried to welcome him back, even if Riku himself wanted to return, it would be impossible."
Masaki looked bitter. He had allowed a powerful Sharingan wielder with tremendous talent to slip away.
But Fugaku saw the situation with more clarity than his father.
"Even if we invited him back, Riku would never return," Fugaku thought. "Otherwise, he wouldn't have broken Uchiha Yuto and Kazuma's arms."
The fact that Riku retaliated so violently and openly revealed his Sharingan meant only one thing:
He was done worrying about the Uchiha clan.
In Fugaku's mind, a reconciliation between Shiranui Riku and the Uchiha clan would never happen.