Chapter 57: Chapter 55: Father-son dilemma

The Uchiha clan.

One of Konoha's largest and most renowned clans.

Tales and myths of this shinobi clan have spawned far and wide throughout the entire shinobi world.

How could it not?

The Uchiha clan had produced many talented and powerful shinobis, that left their mark in the annals of history.

However, the true might of the clan came from their unique genetic trait, called the Sharingan.

The copy-eye wheel.

Powerful eyes that would awaken through intense trauma and pain, turn the owner's pupils crimson red, giving them a myriad of abilities and more power with each stage it would evolve.

A unique Kekkei Genkai that would manifest only among a select few within the Uchiha clan, however, it was enough to make those who were able to awaken them a powerful force.

A force that had made the clan famous but ultimately feared.

Nonetheless, it was undoubtedly considered the most powerful clan within the village.

To many, it only received this moniker with the disappearance of the Senju clan.

An antagonistic clan that had rivaled them in the past, but through peace and cooperation, the two clans decided to form a village to avoid further bloodshed.

However, with so many decades passing since that event, and the clan's current de facto leader seemingly no longer taking part in the matters of the shinobi world, the clan has now been considered no longer active.

On the other hand, their former rivals, the Uchihas, still exert a certain amount of control over the village.

However, that said control has dwindled throughout the years.

Hitting an all-time low in current years.

A fact that many have become aware of.

And made many within the Uchiha clan despise the current leadership of the village and the policies taken against them.

It is in that same clan, that one boy would be forced to make an impossible choice.

A choice, that would soon have to be made.

Sadly, such a choice could not be avoided, and as time moved on; the matter at hand was undoubtedly worsening.

No one could feasibly change the outcome at this stage of the conflict.

To those in the know, there were only two available choices.

The youth had to take a side.

It was sadly one of the choices that would forever alter the course of the future, not only for the village but entire the world.

And the boy who was destined to make that choice was none other than the Uchiha patriarch's firstborn son, Uchiha Itachi.

- I am home. (Itachi)

-Ara? Itachi welcome back.(???)

As soon as Itachi opened the door of his house, his mother, Mikoto Uchiha, greeted him by exiting the living room and welcomed him.

- I'm back, mother. Is Sa-!- (Itachi) said Itachi while taking off his footwear.

- Nii-san! (Sasuke)

- Sasuke? (Itachi)

Before he had time to ask Mikoto about Sasuke's whereabouts, his younger brother came running down the stairs and hugged Itachi.

It wasn't really a hug.

Sasuke seemed to be trying to restrain his older brother in order to make him unable to escape from his grasp.

- Nii-san, you're finally back!- Said Sasuke lifting his head and looking at Itachi's face.

- Yes, Sasuke. How have you been? (Itachi)

- No time for that Nii-san!(Sasuke)

- hm? (Itachi)

- In 2 days, is the entrance exam at the academy both father and mother are busy, so I need you to accompany me!(Sasuke)

- ... 2 days, huh? Alright, you can count me in Sasuke.(Itachi)

- Really!?(Sasuke)

- hn.- Itachi nodded, as to reaffirm his answers to his older brother.

- Alright!(Sasuke)

- ...However, I may be called for another assignment in the upcoming days.(Itachi)

- Tch! You're already trying to make up excuses. I knew it! Nii-san really doesn't really care about me. Hmph!- said Sasuke, turning his face away from Itachi.

However, seeing Sasuke quite sad by his answer, Itachi poked Sasuke's forehead with 2 fingers from his left hand.

- Ah...You always do that when you want me to go away, hmph!(Sasuke)

- Don't say that Sasuke.(Itachi)

-...Then, will you at least help me with my shurikenjutsu practice, today?(Sasuke)

-hm...Tell you what, I have to greet father, and then I will come to see you in the usual training ground right after.(Itachi)

- promise? (Sasuke)

- Of course.(Itachi)

- Hehehe! I will go ahead then!- Sasuke let go of Itachi and ran upstairs, to ultimately enter his room.(Sasuke)

Knowing that Itachi would spend time with him training, he wanted to not waste any more time.

- Sasuke, come back before lunch...and he's gone. (Mikoto)

- It's fine, mother. I will soon be with him and bring him back with me before lunch.(Itachi)

- Thanks for always. However, I'm sorry to always trouble you, Itachi. You must be very tired after coming back from your mission. (Mikoto)

- Not really. Besides, he is my precious little brother after all.(Itachi)

-fufufu, you're truly a kind child. (Mikoto)

-...(Itachi)

-...I'm sorry Itachi. (Mikoto)

-hm?(Itachi)

-...It seems that we've always put so much on your shoulders. (Mikoto)

- I've never felt burdened by any of it... I've always been grateful for all the things that I have been blessed with.(Itachi)

-...I see. (Mikoto)

Mikoto seemed to want to talk to her son more openly about his worries, but either being that she was the wife of the current patriarch or because she was Itachi's mother, she ultimately decided to avoid sharing her true thoughts with him as to not burden her son any further.

- Mother, I have to meet with father now.(Itachi)

- Yes, good luck. (Mikoto)

Itachi left Mikoto's side and headed towards his father's personal room where his father used to meet or attend to guests within the clan and outside.

Since the room that his father resided in only had sliding doors or commonly known as a shoji, instead of wooden doors that he could knock on; in order to announce his arrival.

Itachi instead chose to kneel in front of his father's personal closed room and chose to announce his presence.

- Excuse me, father, It's Itachi.(Itachi)

- Itachi? (???)

The person, who responded to Itachi was none other than his father and patriarch of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Fugaku.

- Yes. I have just returned from my mandatory assignment. May I come in?(Itachi)

- I see, come in. (Fugaku)

Instead of being inside the room, his father was outdoors, feeding the birds that had found themselves inside his garden.

It was a quiet pastime that Fugaku has come to enjoy recently.

A well-deserved distraction from all the politics and busy schedules he had to abide by.

Seeing his father standing in the garden, Itachi soon got up and headed towards his father; who stopped feeding the birds and sat down.

Itachi, immediately gave his father some documents that he had taken out before heading towards his father's room.

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- Here are the reports you asked for, father.- Itachi handed the documents his father had asked him for, and soon after also sat down, facing his father.

- Hn. Thank you. (Fugaku)

Itachi's father, Fugaku, started reading the documents that his son had provided him with.

What he read neither shocked nor fazed him.

He was more or less aware of what kind of information would be written with the documents Itachi had provided him with.

However, he was far from pleased with the contents written inside, to say the least.

It just reaffirmed the harsh truth of his clan's position within the village and how far the village was willing to go to try to subdue and control them.

Since the Kyuubi incident several years ago, his clan was forced to relocate under false pretenses, when in fact they all knew that it was done in order to keep them segregated from the other villagers and more easily monitor them.

At the time he had hoped that an act of good faith would prove their willingness to cooperate with the higher-ups of the village, especially the elders; but it ultimately changed nothing.

Fugaku, as the patriarch of the Uchiha clan, was the one who agreed to that decision... a decision that was met with a certain amount of backlash but in the end, the clan decided to cooperate with the village due to many reasons.

Mostly due to the death of the yondaime Hokage, and due to the vulnerable position that the village had found itself in.

If the village were to show further signs of weakness, others rival villages may have taken the opportunity to further weaken the position of the village or worse.

- They have decided to increase the number of cameras in the southern district, and more anbus will be joining the surveillance in the east, near the ancestral shrine.(Itachi)

-...Itachi, you do understand what has to be done?(Fugaku)

-....(Itachi)

- As things stand... The Uchiha clan has no future within the village. It's no longer a matter of reconciliation. The elders of the village... now fully blame us for the death of the 4th Hokage, and the Nine tails incident. The rumors of that time have started circulating again...(Fugaku)

-...Father... I understand. However, if we truly try to appeal to Sandaime-sama, I believe-!(Itachi)

- Itachi!(Fugaku)

-!... My apologies father.(Itachi)

-... *sigh* You fully understand that it is no longer a matter that will end even if we falsely admit our involvement in that incident.(Fugaku)

-...Yes.(Itachi)

-The village elders know that we gained nothing from that event, even with the death of the yondaime-sama, the retired sandaime simply resumed the position of Hokage. Our clan members have become more restless as time went on, which has made them even more alienated from the general public.(Fugaku)

- I am aware of that.(Itachi)

- I doubt that things can be further appeased at this stage. As things stand there's nothing more that we can do at the moment... this report I hold in my hands just proves that the current heads of the village have no intention to negotiate with us or hear our demands.(Fugaku)

-... Yes, father.(Itachi)

Itachi simply remained seated and answered his father without looking him in the eyes.

He has kept his head down ever since his father called out his name, to stop him from trying to argue with him further.

They had the same conversation several times, but there was still no major point of agreement between the two.

Itachi was afraid that his father and himself could no longer see eye to eye in this matter, and that his father would ultimately go along with the radical faction within the Uchiha's machinations.

However, he could only see a doomed path ahead if they took such routes, but there's little he could do to dissuade several of the more vocal clan members.

Although the village was tightening up security around the Uchiha clan, it was mostly due in cause of the fast armament that the clan was currently amassing.

However, the Uchiha themselves were not simply paranoid, several things have been happening as of late and for quite a long time.

Dubious deaths were simply one of them but it was one that resonated with lots of clan members.

-... (Fugaku)

Seeing that he was not at odds with his son, but also that he could not make his son see his side of things or understand that his role as patriarch involves not only leading his people but also acting on their desires.

Of course, Itachi knew that his father was limited in his choices, but he simply wished that his father would seemingly be less impartial.

Not that Fugaku wished to go along and wish to cause any harm to the village, but simply could not simply make decisions on his sole judgment when he represents all Uchiha as their patriarch.

-....(Itachi)

-....(Fugaku)

Both father and son remained silent.

It was clear, that neither knew all too well how to react in this situation any longer.

However, with their current views, the conversation was likely going nowhere once again.

Thus Fugaku closed his eyes and seemed to be in deeply absorbed in thought.

However, Fugaku, made a terrible assumption.

Where he and Itachi diverge was in the definition of what they considered "their people" or in other words who they wished to protect.

Fugaku was an Uchiha through and through, he considered the Uchiha as mainly the group he wanted to protect above all else; the other villagers and their clans were second.

While Itachi saw the Uchiha as part of Konoha, and not just a group apart from its greater whole.

This dissonance in ideals is what separated both father and son.

Growing the wedge between them even deeper.

Fugaku felt that he had failed his son.

He and his son seemingly shared different values.

Perhaps it was not that he shared different values, but that he could prioritize certain values above others, the same way many of the clan could so easily do.

As the one who has the final say in all clan matters, Fugaku was perplexed.

He had remained mostly impartial so as to not side with either faction that was brewing inside his clan.

If the clan remained kept infighting there was no future ahead of them.

But he needs to plan accordingly for both hypothetical scenarios.

To Fugaku, securing Itachi's position within their plans was a matter of utmost importance not just as a father but as a patriarch as well.

Without Itachi joining their side, whatever plan the Uchiha would ultimately try to formulate; would end up in failure.

Itachi was powerful.

How could he not be?

When he has always been exceptional in everything he did.

He harbored a mind and talent that would make any father that was part of the shinobi world proud.

Powerful, smart, responsible, kind, caring, and more importantly, he was extremely gifted.

The Uchiha clan was in safe hands if such a gifted individual was to lead the next generation...

However, blessings can often become no different from curses.

What used to be Fugaku's hope for the future, has turned into one of his biggest fear and unknown factor in his midst.

Not even a blind man could not perceive that his son was torn between choosing a side.

Many have already voiced their displeasure towards Itachi's behavior.

Loyalty towards their family or the village.

A choice that many shinobis tend to struggle with and hope to never be put into such a situation... Where they would be forced to make a decision. A decision that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

... It was an impossible choice.

A choice that would cement the idea that they were either tools or people.

Forever, breaking or solidifying their oath and way of life.

Shinobi are taught that the mission they are given, is to be put above everything else.

However, not even the most hardened and loyal of shinobis would not struggle to detach themselves completely from all bonds.

Some people say that shinobi are not tools, perhaps that notion is true for most.

However, it is undeniable that shinobi play the role of tools for their clients or their village.

In fact, the choice that the boy would have to make in the near future was one that would dictate whose master he would choose to serve.

Which party he would become the tool of and point his blade towards at this point only time will tell.

Chapter end

*Sup, guys! wanted to publish this chap yesterday... but Itachi's weird semi-formal but also a bit casual dialogue is the worst for me to try to emulate. Ps I will edit later*

 

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