"Sogen, you…"
Shisui pointed at Sogen, opening his mouth to speak several times but struggling to find the right words.
His mind was a tangled mess. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki showing up at Sogen's house? The shock of it was overwhelming. This was the *Nine-Tails Jinchuriki*, for crying out loud! Konoha's one-of-a-kind war weapon, the untouchable treasure of the Third Hokage and the village elders!
What kind of trouble would this bring to the clan? How would the village react?
His thoughts were a jumbled mess, and his brain felt like it was about to crash.
"Quit pointing at me like that. I told you, I'm not scheming anything here. If anyone's scheming, it's the Third. Shisui, you're in the Anbu—you know how many operatives are assigned to guard the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, don't you? If the Third hadn't given his okay, do you really think Fujika could've dragged the kid back here?"
"This was an accident. Probably no one expected Fujika to bring the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki home," Sogen said slowly. "The Third's likely just going with the flow, using this as a chance to keep pressuring our clan. After all, an opportunity this legitimate doesn't come around often."
"And you? What are *you* planning to do?"
Shisui took a deep breath, regaining his composure. "What's your goal in using the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?"
Sogen didn't answer.
The reason was simple—
Dinner was ready. Time to eat.
"Fujika, dinner's up!" Sogen shouted from the corridor along the veranda. Within seconds, Fujika and Naruto came barreling out of the bamboo grove, one after the other. But when Naruto spotted Sogen standing there, he noticeably slowed down, looking wary.
*What's this? Is he scared of me? Is my smile not friendly enough?*
Sogen rubbed his chin, reflecting.
Still, he didn't miss the chance to grab his little sister's head and spin her around like a top. "Fujika, look at how filthy you are! Did you go wrestling with toads or something?"
"Argh! *You're* the one wrestling with toads!"
Fujika, flustered, aimed a kick at Sogen's shin.
The siblings went back and forth on the veranda, bickering and roughhousing, their footsteps thumping loudly.
Then,
Justice was served.
Uchiha Saki, their mother, delivered a sharp smack to the back of her utterly un-brotherly son. As for her daughter, who had zero ladylike grace, she got her ear yanked and was dragged into the kitchen for a proper scolding. Fujika's exaggerated wails were so convincing they spooked Naruto, who stood trembling at the edge of the veranda.
The rowdy family finally settled down at 7:10 p.m.
After washing their hands, the siblings sat obediently at the dinner table—Fujika on the left, Sogen on the right, facing each other. Shisui stayed for the meal, sitting next to Sogen. Naruto hadn't left either, taking the seat beside Fujika, directly across from Shisui.
"Dad, tonight's dinner looks amazing!"
Fujika's eyes sparkled at the towering pile of fried chicken nuggets on the big plate. Next to her, Naruto quietly swallowed, his mouth watering. Kids loved fried food like this… well, adults did too, honestly.
"Eat as much as you want! I made plenty today, and there's more if you need it!"
Uchiha Masashi said with a warm smile.
His face was about 80% similar to Sogen's—or rather, Sogen took after his father, inheriting the Uchiha's sharp black hair and dark eyes. Fujika, being a girl, resembled their mother, Uchiha Saki, more closely, though she too had the clan's signature black hair and eyes, not her mother's brown pupils.
"Naruto, dig in! Dad's fried chicken nuggets are super tasty!"
Fujika proudly invited her first—and so far only—follower to join in.
Life at the Ninja Academy wasn't quite what she'd expected.
Her dream of recruiting a crew of minions to rule the school had hit a wall. Aside from Naruto, she hadn't managed to snag a single other follower. For some reason, everyone steered clear of her and Naruto. Only Sasuke, someone she already knew, wasn't afraid of her.
But she wasn't too keen on that clingy "Onii-san this, Onii-san that" kid. Brothers were annoying, and she couldn't stand how the girls in class always flocked around Sasuke, chattering like a bunch of hens in a coop.
Thankfully, Naruto, her loyal minion, didn't avoid her like the others.
So,
Miss Fujika had specially invited Naruto to their house to hang out.
She even shared her favorite fried chicken nuggets with him.
"…Thanks!"
Naruto shrank back a bit, cautiously picking up his chopsticks. He glanced at Sogen across the table, making Sogen feel a bit glum. Was he *that* scary? Why was this kid so nervous around him? Could it be some kind of idiot's intuition, sensing Sogen's intentions to use him?
"So good!"
Naruto's eyes lit up like bright blue gems as he tasted the fried chicken nuggets.
"Dad's nuggets are the best in Konoha!"
Fujika tilted her chin up proudly.
Masashi beamed, clearly pleased. He wasn't a ninja and was unaware of the family's deeper issues. As a novelist, he didn't know the blond, blue-eyed kid was the village's "demon fox." To him, Naruto was just a friend his daughter had made at the academy.
Dinner was a lively affair.
Mostly because Sogen and Fujika couldn't stop messing around. Even after their mother's scolding, they kept at it—clashing chopsticks above the table and trading kicks below it.
After dinner,
Sogen and Shisui sat on the veranda's corridor to digest, looking up at the starry night sky.
"See it?"
"See what?"
Shisui stared at the dense blanket of stars, confused.
"I'm not talking about the stars," Sogen said, rolling his eyes. "I mean the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. That kid… didn't you notice anything off about him?"
"…No."
Shisui thought hard but came up blank.
"That kid… he's had a rough life! He's the same age as Fujika, but he's a head shorter. It's just fried chicken nuggets, but he acted like he'd never tasted anything like it. Don't you think our Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's got it a bit too hard?"
"What are you getting at?"
Shisui's brow furrowed.
"You know who that kid is, don't pretend otherwise," Sogen said with a cold laugh. "The Fourth Hokage's orphan. You could even call him the Third's great-grandstudent. As the heir of a hero, he should've been taken care of, but instead, he's treated like a monster the villagers fear. He's grown up without ever eating anything decent. He's got Uzumaki blood, yet he's shorter than other kids his age. Don't you think the Third's heart is a little too dark?"
Sogen didn't mince words, openly criticizing the Third in front of Shisui.
Shisui stayed silent.
On this matter—
He… had no words.
It wasn't that he didn't know. He'd just instinctively chosen to look away, to ignore it. Like the other "smart" people in the village who knew the truth, he pretended not to. Naruto Uzumaki's identity wasn't exactly a secret to those who'd known the Fourth. Were they all blind?
Of course not.
They just chose to act like it.
Some might privately grumble about the Third's methods, but it never went beyond that. No one dared voice their objections openly.
"If even a hero's kid ends up like this, do you really think the Third would ever accept us Uchihas?" Sogen pressed, not letting up.
"Sogen, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's situation… it's different. It's not the same thing. You can't just lump them together…" Shisui's rebuttal was weak, lacking conviction. He didn't know how to defend the Third anymore.
"What's different? The only difference is that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is too valuable. The Third's probably playing a long game—letting the kid suffer so he can swoop in as the one person who shows him kindness, tying the Jinchuriki to him through that."
Sogen was on a roll, gleefully splashing mud on the Third's name.
And it might not even be mud—
The discrimination and cold treatment Naruto had faced so far was proof enough, wasn't it?
"Shisui, think about it. You might respect that old ninja hero, but honestly, I can't stand the guy. If only it had been the Third who died back then instead of the Fourth…" Sogen's wistful sigh was like a stone dropped into a still lake, rippling through Shisui's heart.
"Sogen, you… you've got a way with words!"
Shisui's smile was bitter.
He knew some of what Sogen said was exaggerated, but even if you stripped away the slander, the remaining facts were… chilling.
That's right.
If even the Fourth's orphan was living so miserably, how could the Third ever truly accept the Uchiha?
"It's not that I'm good with words—it's that the Third and his people are bold enough to *do* these things. If they hadn't, no matter how much I talked, it wouldn't matter. Shisui, are you the kind of guy who'd waver just because of someone's words? Deep down, you know all this. You've just been playing dumb because you can't see any other hope."
Looking at Shisui's pale face, Sogen almost admired himself. Had he unknowingly mastered the ninja world's ultimate *Mouth Jutsu*?
But,
These were his honest thoughts.
"I'm not forcing you to decide right now. You've got two days off—go see for yourself. Check in on how the clan's feeling. Then… give me an answer. For now, I've got to take the kid home."
Sogen stood up.
Naruto couldn't stay overnight in the Uchiha compound. If he did… the Third and the village higher-ups might come storming in by midnight.
"I'll go with you…"
"No need. My idiot sister caused this mess, so I'll clean it up. Besides, it's just walking a kid home. What, you think someone's gonna take me out over *this*?"
"No way!"
Shisui let out a wry laugh. No matter how bad the tensions between the clan and the village were, it wouldn't come to open conflict over something like this.
Or so he thought.
(End of Chapter)