Fugaku's eyes darkened, a subtle tremor running through his rigid frame.
His training as Clan Head allowed him to maintain a stoic facade, but internally, a tempest of pure rage consumed him. 'Jin Uchiha,' he seethed. 'Not only did he usurp the Radical faction in days, but he has now corrupted the Moderates and Neutrals. I am the Clan Head, yet I have been reduced to a general without an army.'
It was the ultimate humiliation.
Beside him, Shisui lacked the Clan Head's seasoned composure. The young prodigy stepped forward, unable to mask his disbelief. "Elder Yashiro... Elder Amano... how could you side with him?"
"Save your breath, Shisui," Elder Amano cut him off, his voice devoid of its usual warmth. "This is our choice. We gave Fugaku years to prove his methods. Under his leadership, what has the Uchiha become? A joke. We surrendered our pride, submitted to the village, and what was our reward?"
Amano pointed a trembling finger at Fugaku. "Increased surveillance! The Root division practically built an outpost on our borders! We only found breathing room because Jin took action. Your philosophy of endless endurance might sound noble, but it yields nothing but suffering. Jin gets results."
Shisui fell silent, his jaw clenching. He wanted to argue for patience, to preach trust in the Hokage, but the reality of Jin's recent victories—reclaiming the ancestral land and breaking the Anbu siege—made his idealistic words feel hollow.
Realizing diplomacy was dead, Fugaku stepped in front of Shisui. "It is pointless, Shisui." He turned his piercing gaze to Jin. "Your aggressive actions will push the Uchiha into an unwinnable corner. I strongly advise you to abandon this crusade to reclaim the ancestral land. Your radicalism will make the clan a target for the entire village."
The room plunged into a suffocating silence.
Jin leaned back in his chair and shook his head. "Absolutely impossible."
He offered no further explanation. He didn't care to debate ideology with men he considered hopelessly compromised by Hiruzen's brainwashing.
"You will drag the Uchiha to their deaths!" Fugaku barked, his stoicism finally cracking.
Jin scoffed, a look of absolute disdain crossing his face. "Whether I do or not is irrelevant to you now. What you fail to understand, Fugaku, is that even if I ordered these men to march straight into hell, they would follow me."
Fugaku stared at the Elders surrounding the table. None of them flinched. None of them offered a word of protest against Jin's bold claim.
'He is right,' Fugaku realized with a cold pit in his stomach. 'He has completely brainwashed them. If I try to arrest him legally, the clan will riot.'
Desperation bled into Fugaku's voice as he played his hidden card. "Do you truly think I am out of options, Jin?" he growled, the subtle implication of lethal force hanging in the air.
"You mean your Mangekyo Sharingan?" Jin replied casually, not bothering to hide his boredom. "I am sorry, Fugaku, but I simply do not care."
Fugaku recoiled as if struck.
Jin leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, his demeanor shifting from casual to utterly terrifying. "You and Shisui could team up and slaughter the entire clan. You have the ocular power to do it. But let me make something perfectly clear: If you decide to exterminate the Uchiha on behalf of Konoha, I will not stay and defend them."
Jin's Sharingan flared to life, a bloody red glow illuminating the room. "I will run. And then, I will hunt."
Jin outlined his strategy of mutual assured destruction. "I will not fight you or the village's elites head-on. I will utilize my Mangekyo to bypass your defenses. My first targets will be your wife, Mikoto, and your son, Itachi. I will ensure they die painfully. Then, I will wage a guerrilla war of extermination against the civilian populations of the Sarutobi, Shimura, Utatane, and Mitokado clans."
Jin smiled, a predator showing its fangs. "I will abandon all shinobi honor. If a strong ninja pursues me, I will flee. When they sleep, I will slaughter their weak. I will cripple Konoha's infrastructure from the shadows until the village is so weak that the other Great Nations invade and wipe Konoha off the map."
Jin slammed his hand on the table, the sound echoing like a gunshot. "This is my bottom line! If you want to play politics within the rules, I will play. But if you flip the board and use lethal force against this clan... I will ensure that the Hidden Leaf Village ceases to exist."
The sheer, unapologetic malice of his threat paralyzed the room.
Fugaku and Shisui knew the terrifying reality of a Mangekyo Sharingan user specializing in guerrilla warfare. If Jin abandoned the clan and focused solely on assassination, no one in Konoha would ever sleep safely again.
"Fugaku... you possess the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Elder Amano stammered, rising slowly from his chair.
The other Elders stood up as well, staring at their former Clan Head in shock and betrayal. Fugaku had kept the ultimate power of their clan a secret from his own council while the village oppressed them.
Fugaku ignored them, staring at Jin in horror. "How... how could you possibly know about my eyes?"
"There are no secrets in this world that I cannot uncover," Jin lied smoothly, refusing to reveal his knowledge of the future. "If it weren't for you two traitors holding the ultimate power, do you think I would be acting this cautiously?"
Jin turned his burning gaze to the young prodigy. "And you, Shisui. I know the truth about your Mangekyo. 'Kotoamatsukami'. The ultimate genjutsu. The ability to rewrite a person's mind and memories without them even realizing they are being controlled."
Shisui gasped, stumbling backward. This was his deepest, most guarded secret.
Jin addressed the Elders, issuing a chilling final command. "Listen to me very carefully. I possess a Mangekyo, but I do not know if I am immune to Shisui's mind control. Therefore, if you ever see me suddenly change my ideology—if I start preaching submission to the village, or if I act out of character—you must assume my mind has been overwritten by Shisui."
Jin's voice dropped to a final, absolute decree. "If that happens, do not try to save me. Consider the Uchiha clan already dead. Your final order is to launch a suicide assault against the civilian compounds of the Hokage's faction. If the Uchiha are meant to perish because of these traitors... ensure Konoha burns with us."