The Uchiha Clan's Sun

They knew perfectly well that the recent turmoil in the village had all stemmed from this incident!

Many of the clan leaders and commoner ninjas who had just returned from the front lines cast glances at Uchiha Fugaku with a mixture of sympathy and gratitude.

They are not ordinary civilians, so they naturally see things more clearly than the villagers of Konoha, and they don't just follow the crowd blindly!

If the Uchiha clan hadn't withstood the pressure and taken the blame, they really wouldn't have known what to do.

If the Uchiha clan takes the lead in giving up their pensions and rewards, then they might have to reluctantly give up those pensions and rewards as well.

They don't have the scale of the Uchiha clan; giving up these things could be a devastating blow.

Now that the Uchiha have taken on all the blame and are standing at the forefront of the storm, they have been spared a lot of trouble, and naturally they owe the Uchiha a debt of gratitude.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, seemingly oblivious to the unease in the room, continued, "The village's finances were strained before, which forced us to make some unreasonable... 'experiments,' but since they were unreasonable, there's no need to bring them up again."

"I've decided that when I submit my resignation to the daimyo, I'll risk my reputation to ask him for some funds!"

"So please be patient, everyone. We will discuss the matter of compensation, subsidies, and rewards after I return from Daming Prefecture!"

Many people in the meeting room breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and began to praise the Hokage's wisdom.

Anyway, as long as I get paid, that's all that matters!

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and said, "That's settled then, meeting adjourned!"

......

Chapter 118 Pride and Prejudice!

The news of Hiruzen Sarutobi's resignation as Hokage caused a huge uproar in Konoha.

For a time, almost all other topics were suppressed, but the rumors related to Hiruzen Sarutobi actually intensified as the news spread.

However, all of this seems to have nothing to do with the Uchiha clan, who are currently facing their own troubles!

Within the Uchiha clan.

"Damn it! Those guys from the Dark Guard aren't even putting on an act anymore, they're just openly blocking our clan's doorstep!"

"I heard that it wasn't all Anbu; there was also a ninja from Root. They seem to be all under Danzo Shimura's command!"

"Shimura Danzo? I know him! He's the one who's been targeting my Uchiha clan!"

"Hmph, they've started restricting our movements now. Except for the ninjas from the guard unit and those on missions, they won't let us leave the clan territory freely!"

Why did this happen? What did we do wrong?

"They said it was to prevent us from causing even bigger trouble, but when have we ever caused any trouble? Aren't they the ones who have been making unreasonable demands all along?!"

"This is outrageous! What do they take us for?! We must fight back!"

"Where is the clan leader? Let the clan leader give the order!"

"Don't worry, I heard that the clan will hold a meeting tomorrow after the memorial service for the fallen clansmen. All the ninjas in the clan who are not in trouble will attend. It should be to discuss this matter!"

"Yes, the elder has already made it clear that this clan meeting concerns the life and death of the Uchiha clan. I hope everyone will prioritize the honor and disgrace of the clan and absolutely not yield to the village!"

"Huh? But I heard from the Second Elder and the others that the village's actions this time were for a reason. Someone is secretly plotting against us, and the village is already working on resolving it. They hope we can be patient for a while, and the village will give us an explanation!"

"Patience? Haha, you're all crazy! The secret agents are practically at our doorstep, and you expect us to be patient?"

"That's right! The Second Elder and the others are really senile. They think ninjas are cowards? If you want to endure it, then endure it. I certainly can't!"

"Yes, this time I'll stand with the elders too. The village has really gone too far!"

......

Hiruzen Sarutobi's decision to have Danzo Shimura send Root ninjas in conjunction with Anbu ninjas to surround the Uchiha clan's territory and restrict the Uchiha clan members from leaving completely ignited the Uchiha clan's discontent.

Many of the conservatives who originally made up the majority of the Uchiha clan have sided with the elder Uchiha Setsuna and turned into radicals, clamoring for the village to give the Uchiha an explanation!

“People’s hearts can be used!”

After returning from the meeting at the Hokage Building, Uchiha Jin led Uchiha Itachi along the road leading out of the clan compound, nodding in satisfaction as he listened to the discussions of the surrounding Uchiha.

According to the original storyline, to incite most Uchiha clan members to take extreme actions and side with the radicals, it would have to wait until after the Nine-Tails' attack and several years of open suppression of the Uchiha by the village.

But now, just a few rumors have brought the Uchiha clan and the village to this point, and the effect has been somewhat unexpectedly good for Uchiha Jin!

Meanwhile, Itachi Uchiha, standing to the side, frowned upon seeing this, his eyes filled with worry.

Uchiha Jin noticed Uchiha Itachi's unusual behavior and asked, "Itachi, what are you worried about?"

Itachi Uchiha was taken aback, then hesitated, unsure whether he should speak.

He knew that all of this was the result of Uchiha Jin's deliberate manipulation, but he really couldn't understand what Uchiha Jin's purpose was in doing so.

What he sees now is that the conflict between the Uchiha and the village is escalating, and it may soon erupt completely with terrible consequences!

From Itachi's current perspective, Uchiha Jin's actions are undoubtedly wrong in his eyes.

But both his father, Fugaku Uchiha, and his mentor and friend, Shisui Uchiha, stood on the side of Jin Uchiha, which made Itachi Uchiha instinctively feel that he might be the one who was wrong!

But he just couldn't figure out where he went wrong!

Uchiha Jin raised his hand and pressed down on Uchiha Itachi's head, rubbing it vigorously, and said, "Didn't I tell you? Don't keep everything bottled up inside. Doing so will only do more harm than good!"

“I remember…” Itachi Uchiha nodded expressionlessly and said, “You said that keeping things bottled up inside will accumulate negative emotions and harm your physical and mental health…”

Itachi Uchiha's tone was very indifferent, clearly indicating that he didn't take Uchiha Jin's warning very seriously... or rather, he didn't care much about his health!

Just like when Itachi Uchiha learned that he had the Bloodstained Disease, he was actually more concerned about not being able to be a ninja anymore!

Uchiha Jin's eyes flickered slightly. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke again: "Actually, it's only harmful to your mind and body. More importantly, doing this will gradually make you arrogant and paranoid!"

"Arrogance and prejudice?" Itachi Uchiha was taken aback by these words and asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Uchiha Jin smiled and explained, "A person's thoughts are mostly composed of their perspective and experiences, and everything in this world has multiple facets!"

"You may have heard the saying 'seeing is believing,' but most of the time what you see is just the tip of the iceberg and not the whole truth!"

"Just like a star fruit, you can see three ridges when you look at it from the front, but you can see a five-pointed star when you look at it from the side."

"If you keep what you see to yourself and don't share it with others, you'll become obsessed with the idea that a starfruit has three edges, and then arrogantly deny what others see as a five-pointed star!"

Pride and prejudice are the two original sins of this world!

"The reason why people cannot achieve complete mutual understanding is because everyone only believes what they see, and everyone has their own arrogance and prejudice!"

"So don't keep your own thoughts to yourself, and don't easily dismiss other people's ideas. Try to understand other people's thoughts as much as possible, and understand more about things!"

"Only in this way can you ensure that you make the right choice at crucial moments!"

If Sasuke Uchiha's arrogance was superficial in the original story, then Itachi Uchiha's arrogance was deeply ingrained!

Sasuke Uchiha's arrogance was relatively mild; a beating would make him behave for a while.

However, Itachi Uchiha's arrogance led him to take the life and death of the Uchiha clan into his own hands, presumptuously making choices for the Uchiha clan.

This kind of invisible arrogance is the most deadly!

The reason why Uchiha Jin told Uchiha Itachi these things was because he didn't want the Uchiha to go astray!

He didn't want to nip a genius in the bud!

Chapter 119 Uchiha Itachi, who has lost all will to live!

Arrogance? Me?

Itachi Uchiha lowered his head and remained silent.

Seeing this, Uchiha Jin sighed. This kid's mind is really deep. It seems that he can't be changed for a while!

After a pause, Uchiha continued, "Actually, I can guess a little about what you're worried about, but the reason you're worried is entirely because you're seeing the problem from your perspective, not from mine!"

Upon hearing this, Itachi Uchiha raised his head, his gaze towards Jin Uchiha filled with curiosity and longing!

However, Uchiha Jin merely gave Uchiha Itachi a knowing smile, showing no intention of offering any explanation.

Itachi Uchiha was taken aback, somewhat surprised.

But Itachi Uchiha, being a genius, quickly understood Jin Uchiha's intentions.

Uchiha Itachi hesitated for a moment, but in the end, his doubts overcame his reason, and he asked, "Kin, Brother Jin, can you tell me the answer you saw?"

Uchiha Jin smiled knowingly upon hearing this and said, "That's right, taking the initiative to ask others for their thoughts is also a way to understand another side of things!"

Uchiha Itachi lowered his head, feeling somewhat ashamed for some reason.

Uchiha Jin didn't keep him in suspense any longer and explained, "The Uchiha clan is actually a rather reserved clan when it comes to emotions, and they are not very good at expressing their feelings."

"But in a sense, the Uchiha clan's emotions are more intense than anyone else's. They are very sensitive and care a lot about what others think of them."

"Without an outlet, the emotions in the Uchiha's hearts will only accumulate, leading to arrogance and paranoia!"

"And the other people in the village also have their own arrogance and prejudice, which leads to the 'misunderstandings' between the village and the family growing bigger and bigger!"

"This is also the essence of the conflict between the family and the village!"

Uchiha Itachi seemed to understand but not quite, and asked in confusion, "But does this have anything to do with you escalating the conflict between your clan and the village?"

"Of course!" Uchiha Jin said seriously, "As I said before, because the Uchiha are relatively reserved, they mostly remain silent when faced with the village's oppression, the villagers' lack of understanding, and the misunderstandings of their comrades, burying those negative emotions in their hearts!"

"Either erupt in silence or perish in silence!"

"When these negative emotions accumulate to a certain degree, the Uchiha will resort to extreme actions!"

"At the same time, because of the special nature of our Uchiha bloodline, the Uchiha's patience and extreme reactions are more intense than others!"

"Don't be fooled by the fact that the tribesmen don't show anything usually; beneath the calm surface, there are turbulent undercurrents!"

"If we wait for these negative emotions to erupt on their own, no one can predict what will happen then!"

"And all I did was create an outlet for these negative emotions, prematurely detonating this time bomb!"

"If you listen carefully to the villagers' discussions, you'll find that although they are very agitated, all they want is for the village to give them an explanation!"

"The village has done so much to the Uchiha without any reason. Shouldn't they give the Uchiha an explanation?"

Itachi Uchiha frowned and recalled for a while. Apart from a few more radical clansmen, most of the clansmen did not seem to have any excessive demands!

Uchiha Jin continued, "But getting an explanation from the village isn't a simple matter. There are many more things involved, which I'll explain to you later!"

As they were talking, Uchiha Jin and Uchiha Itachi arrived at the gate of the Uchiha clan compound, and the topic was dropped.

Uchiha Itachi followed Uchiha Jin's gaze and saw several masked ninjas guarding the entrance to the Uchiha clan compound, so he didn't ask any further questions.

"The Hokage has ordered that the Uchiha clan members are not allowed to leave the Uchiha clan territory unless absolutely necessary!"

The masked ninjas also saw Uchiha Jin and Uchiha Itachi, and one of them stepped forward and spoke sternly.

"Not the animal mask commonly used by the Anbu, is it from Root...?" A hint of crimson flashed in Uchiha Jin's eyes as he smiled and said, "I need to take this child to see a doctor!"

"Go quickly and return quickly, don't do anything unnecessary!"

The Root ninja stiffened slightly, gave a brief instruction, and then stepped aside.

"Thank you!"

Uchiha Jin smiled, then grabbed Uchiha Itachi and swaggered out of the Uchiha clan compound.

After the two had walked a distance, Itachi Uchiha suddenly spoke up, "Did you use genjutsu on them?"

"Oh," Uchiha Jin said, somewhat surprised, "You noticed?"

Because he didn't want to waste time, Uchiha Jin did indeed use genjutsu on those Root ninjas.

However, his movements were extremely secretive, and he did not use the eye techniques that the Uchiha clan was good at. Even the Anbu ninjas and Root ninjas who were lying in wait nearby did not notice him. Unexpectedly, Uchiha Itachi saw through him.

Uchiha Itachi hesitated for a moment before speaking, "I'm not sure either, but I feel like you used genjutsu."

"It seems you have a real talent for genjutsu!" Uchiha smiled and said, "Once your physical problems are resolved, you might be able to focus more on honing your genjutsu skills!"

Uchiha Itachi remained silent, only nodding.

Uchiha Jin didn't say anything more. He led Uchiha Itachi through the village and arrived at a secluded corner in the mountains behind the village.

After confirming that there was nothing unusual around him, Uchiha Jin raised his sword fingers and formed a hand seal as agreed, then waited quietly.

Shortly after, the ground suddenly trembled, and a passage appeared where the ground not far in front of Uchiha Jin and Uchiha Itachi collapsed.

"Lord Jin, your presence is truly an honor! I have not been able to greet you properly!"

Orochimaru, dressed in a white coat, walked out of the passage and forced a smile at Uchiha Jin in a hoarse voice.