The rooftop was wide and open, with no places to hide nearby. As long as you watched your footing, there was no worry about eavesdroppers. In Rēn's opinion, it was a much better place to talk than those dark, cramped secret chambers.
"Oolong tea flavor or natto flavor—pick one."
Rēn held up two popsicles.
Although it was only April, Konoha was already getting hot. The uncle in the clan who made popsicles couldn't wait to start experimenting with his own creations, like oolong tea and natto flavors. The first was fine. The second… natto-flavored popsicles were honestly kind of disturbing.
"Isn't there anything else?"
Shisui frowned.
"These are the only two today. I remember you like natto. Here, you get the natto one."
Rēn didn't give him a choice and stuffed the natto-flavored popsicle into Shisui's hand.
"I don't hate natto, but that doesn't mean popsicles need to be natto-flavored…" Shisui stared at the popsicle in his hand, his expression unreadable. If he'd known this would happen, he should've gone with Rēn to pick the popsicles. This guy clearly did it on purpose.
Natto-flavored popsicle.....
With mixed feelings, he took a bite… huh? The taste was unexpectedly okay. At least it went down smoothly enough.
"Where were we again?"
Rēn licked his popsicle and finally got back to the main topic.
"The Police Force's reputation… it's terrible."
"Right, the Police Force has a terrible reputation," Rēn nodded. "But tell me, Shisui—what kind of unforgivable crimes has the clan committed in the Police Force to deserve such infamy? So bad that even kids are spitting behind their backs like the adults?"
Shisui went quiet.
Had the Uchiha in the Police Force done anything truly evil?
Not really. Arrogant, aloof, full of themselves—sure, those traits were definitely there. But at the same time because of that deeply ingrained pride, they wouldn't stoop to committing crimes. It would be seen as beneath them.
Everything was done by the book. At worst, they could be accused of enforcing the law a bit too harshly.
Even if they weren't well-liked, it still didn't justify the level of hatred they received.
"Shisui, you're no fool, and I'm not naïve enough to think I can talk you into something with sweet words. I'll be blunt—the Police Force's bad reputation has been deliberately manipulated. Someone is stirring up hostility among the villagers against the Police Force and the Uchiha."
"Our current situation—part of it is our fault, sure. But if you ask me, the bigger problem lies with the Third Hokage and his constant pressure on us."
"Let's be honest—no one really wants a coup. Killing your own people in a bloody mess—what's the point? But the way I see it, the village is the one forcing us onto this path."
"Rēn, the Third Lord isn't… the one targeting us is Danzō…"
Shisui tried to argue, though not very convincingly.
He wasn't blind. Even though he firmly believed in the Will of Fire, he wasn't so naïve that he couldn't see the pressure and suppression being placed on the Uchiha.
But the teachings from his elders had trained him to view everything from the village's perspective. He had learned to think from the village's point of view. Still, he held deep affection for his clan. He hadn't abandoned them, but instead dreamed of peaceful coexistence between clan and village.
He saw the clan as part of the village. They shouldn't stand opposed to it, but integrate into it…
But how to reach that ideal future—he didn't know.
Ideals alone couldn't solve real problems.
And before he had the chance to experience more of the world and find a solution, things escalated. The clan, pushed beyond its limits, began secretly plotting a coup—a path that led to despair.
That was when Shisui's hopelessness began to take root.
Even Kotoamatsukami couldn't rewrite the minds of that many people!
"This isn't about just one person. The Third Hokage, the two advisors, and that old bastard Danzō… they inherited Tobirama's suspicion and wariness of the Uchiha but not his generosity—he was at the very least willing to take a Uchiha as his student."
"We were given control of the Police Force, true—but that was by Tobirama's design. He created the Military Police Force and placed it under Uchiha command not to elevate us, but to contain and marginalize us within the higher echelons of power. Tobirama saw our clan both as a threat and as an asset. By empowering us to enforce law and order, he linked our pride to village security—but he also kept us structurally sidelined. We had authority—but only to monitor, never to shape policy"
"Since then, the current Hokage and advisors abandoned even that pretense of inclusion. Hiruzen maintains a distance, while Danzō operates from the shadows. The advisors cling to those same institutional constraints—but without the balancing act Tobirama managed. Now, containment has become oppression, and oversight has become erasure."
Rēn didn't criticize the Second Hokage too harshly. Kagami Uchiha had served under Tobirama, and Shisui carried that legacy. There was no gain in pressing the point and risking making him uncomfortable. Especially against a man long dead.
He looked Shisui in the eye. "Shisui, no matter what you think, I believe they're the ones who pushed our clan to this point."
"Rēn!!!"
Shisui's popsicle had begun melting. He frowned deeply.
"Why are you saying all this…? Are you trying to convince me to support a coup? That's a path to certain death—whether it succeeds or fails, the clan won't survive it."
"So what, are we supposed to suffer in silence just to keep living? What have we done wrong to deserve this humiliation? Is it because of Uchiha Madara? Or the unknown Uchiha behind the Nine-Tails attack? Why should we be the ones to suffer for their crimes?"
Rēn's voice rose sharply.
The two friends stared at each other for a long moment before Rēn calmed himself with a cough and continued, "Like I said before—if I were Hokage, I'd probably be wary of the Uchiha too. But I'm not Hokage. I'm an Uchiha. Before thinking about the village's future, I have to consider my parents and my little sister."
The village saw the Uchiha as a ticking time bomb—something that might explode and destroy everything. So they were doing everything they could to dismantle it.
The Uchiha, meanwhile, believed the village was pushing them too hard. If they were going to be strangled anyway, they figured they might as well strike first.
That was the reality between Konoha and the Uchiha clan.
"…Rēn, what is it you actually want to do?"
Shisui let the popsicle drip away in his hand, forcing himself to stay calm. "Tell me, Rēn. Since you've thought it through and know the bigger picture, what exactly do you plan to do? This isn't something that can be solved with just a few words. Just tell me what you want to do!"
As expected of the Uchiha clan's prodigy—he hadn't let Rēn's words throw him off. Instead, he'd picked up on the real message behind them.
Biting off the last chunk of his popsicle, crunching it into pieces, Rēn tossed the stick aside and said bluntly, "Shisui, I want you to help me change the Uchiha."
"What?"
Shisui frowned.
Change the Uchiha? How? It's not like he didn't want that, but the real problem was that he had no idea how to do it. He felt like a traveler lost in the night, groping in the dark for a ray of hope.
"What do you think of Clan Head Fugaku?"
"The clan head?"
Shisui was puzzled. That was a sudden shift—weren't they just talking about changing the Uchiha? Why bring Fugaku into it?
"I want your help to become the next clan head of the Uchiha."
That was a bombshell. Shisui's eyes widened, and the popsicle stick slipped from his hand.
"Rēn, you…"
Now he was truly confused.
Wasn't their conversation about changing the clan? Why had it circled back to a coup—was this supposed to be a rehearsal, starting by replacing Fugaku?
"To change the Uchiha, we need power. No one's going to listen to empty words."
"But… but we can talk to the clan head…"
"I don't trust him."
Rēn scoffed. "I don't trust Fugaku. What kind of leader is he? During the Nine-Tails incident, he obeyed the Third Hokage's order and kept the clan confined—when the Fourth was the real Hokage at the time!
Supporting the Fourth was clearly the right call, but he was too cowardly to not listen to the 3rd."
"And when the village relocated our clan, he didn't challenge it. He framed his silence as strategy—'protecting the bigger picture,' he said. But the truth is, the village never cared about the picture that included us. He preserved their harmony at the cost of ours."
"With the village's pressure escalating, and the radical voices in the clan gaining ground. Now Fugaku appears willing to support a coup—the same path he once refused. He flip-flops like a weathervane—who knows what he's even thinking anymore…"
*And when Itachi finally slaughters the clan, that man just rolled over and dies—leaving only his youngest son alive!* Rēn didn't say that aloud, but the thought burned in his mind.
The ones he hated most now were Obito and Itachi—those two bastards. But right after them came Fugaku. Even Danzō had a clearer stance than them. At least Danzō never pretended—he was always the Second Hokage's disciple, the Hokage's advisor, the leader of Root, and… the enemy of the Uchiha.
That was Danzō's position.
So no matter how cruel his methods were—hate him, curse him, dig up his ancestors if you wanted—but you couldn't exactly call it betrayal.
Dealing with dangerous enemies required ruthless methods.
That was just common sense.
The Uchiha clan head never understood his role. He vacillated between loyalty to the village and duty to the clan but committed to neither. When it mattered, he chose inaction and in the end, he threw up his hands and died in disgrace. The rest of the clan followed him into the grave, without clarity, and without dignity.
That a man like him was clan head—that was the Uchiha's greatest misfortune.