NYP Ch. 116

"I don't care! You have to help me with special training!"

Izumi grabbed Homura's arm and shook it vigorously. The two tomoe spun in her eyes, responding to her emotional intensity.

"Relax," Homura said, finally deciding to put her out of her misery. "You won't have to wait long. A new class just enrolled at the Academy. In a few months, fresh genin will graduate and start taking over all these D-rank missions. You'll be free of the grunt work before you know it."

"Really?!" Izumi's entire demeanor changed instantly. She released his arm. "That's amazing!"

Her Sharingan deactivated. She spun around and rushed toward the kitchen where Hazuki was preparing dinner.

"Mom! I'll help you!"

Homura watched the two of them chatting and laughing together. The scene was so normal that it made his chest tighten.

His expression gradually darkened.

Right now, at this very moment, dozens of families throughout the Uchiha compound were experiencing similar scenes. Fathers coming home from patrol duty. Mothers preparing meals. Children complaining about Academy homework or genin missions.

If the massacre happened the way it had in the original timeline, every single one of them would die. Men, women, elderly grandparents, children who'd barely learned to throw shuriken. All of them cut down by Itachi and Obito in a single night of slaughter.

Yes, there were hardliners within the Uchiha who wanted to launch a coup against the village leadership. Ambitious men who saw Konoha's political structure as an insult to their clan's power and heritage. But there were also pacifists. Uchiha who wanted peaceful coexistence with the rest of the village. And beyond both those groups were the civilians. Ordinary people who happened to be born with the Uchiha name but had no ninja training, political affiliations, or knowledge of the conspiracies brewing in the shadows. They ran shops, raised families, worried about paying rent and whether their kids were eating enough vegetables.

Those people didn't deserve to die for crimes they didn't commit.

Yet the atmosphere in the compound had been growing increasingly tense. Homura had noticed it over the past few months. The clan meetings at the shrine were happening more frequently, sometimes weekly instead of monthly. Fugaku knew about Homura's true nature as a puppet and had kept him away from those gatherings, but that didn't mean he was blind to what was happening.

Combining his knowledge of the original timeline with the undercurrents he could sense throughout the compound, it wasn't hard to guess. The hardliners were planning something. Probably a coup, just like in the canon story.

What puzzled him was the why. Minato hadn't implemented any of the oppressive policies against the Uchiha that Tobirama and Hiruzen had used. He'd been fairly even-handed in his treatment of the clan. So why were the radicals becoming active again?

The answer had only become clear recently when Obito started his frequent intrusions. Someone was manipulating events from the shadows. Obito and Black Zetsu, almost certainly, stoking old resentments and pushing vulnerable clan members toward extremism.

Homura's gaze drifted toward the direction of Fugaku's residence on the far side of the compound.

Don't walk the same path as the original timeline, he thought grimly. If you want to die for your ideals, fine. But don't drag the entire clan down with you.

---

At that same moment, across the village in the Hokage Building, Kenji had just arrived for what he'd assumed would be a routine check-in. Instead, Minato had immediately ushered him into one of the conference rooms with an expression that suggested the conversation would be anything but routine.

"We've got a problem," he said once the door was closed. He moved to the window, looking out over the village with his hands clasped behind his back. "The Police Force has been acting strangely. And we've been getting complaints from civilians about overly harsh enforcement. Some reports even mention violence."

He turned back to face Kenji.

"I need you to investigate this. Find out what's happening inside the Police Force."

"No investigation necessary," Kenji said flatly. "I already know what's going on."

Minato's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You do?"

Kenji nodded and gestured toward one of the chairs. "You might want to sit down for this."

They both took seats at the conference table. He leaned back slightly, organizing his thoughts.

"You remember I told you about the puppet I have stationed in the Uchiha compound? The one protecting Enma's sister and her daughter?"

"Hazuki and Izumi," Minato said, recalling the conversation they'd had years ago. "What about them?"

"My puppet's been there long enough to get a read on the situation within the clan. And it's not good. Before you took office, both the Second and Third Hokage maintained policies of surveillance and suppression toward the Uchiha. That created resentment. Lots of it. Which in turn created a large faction of hardliners who wanted to fight back against what they saw as persecution. When you became Hokage and abolished those policies, most of the clan swung their support to you. The hardliners lost influence and went quiet. But recently, they've become active again. And I have reason to believe Fugaku himself might be siding with them."

Minato's expression grew grave. "Fugaku? Are you certain?"

"Not completely," Kenji admitted. "But the evidence is compelling. Almost the entire Police Force has been restructured. The moderates and pacifists within the Uchiha have been removed from positions of authority and replaced with hardliners. That's why enforcement has become rougher. The people now running the Police Force are the same ones who already resented non-Uchiha civilians. Give them power and a badge, and of course they're going to abuse it."

"That would explain the complaints," Minato said slowly. "But this kind of shift doesn't happen spontaneously. There has to be a catalyst."

"Someone's pulling strings behind the scenes," Kenji said with absolute certainty. "My puppet detected an unknown intruder breaking into the compound multiple times over the past few weeks for brief periods. Always at night. The chakra signature matches the masked man who attacked during Kushina's labor. He's involved somehow."

That got an immediate reaction. Minato's hands clenched into fists on the table

"I've been trying to track him for years..."

Kenji added, "And I suspect he's not working alone. Root has probably gotten involved as well."

"Danzō?" Minato's tone shifted. "Do you have proof?"

"Nothing concrete," Kenji admitted. "But he has coveted Sharingan for decades. Root's been conducting secret research into the bloodline for years, you know that. And I'm fairly confident he himself has implanted a Sharingan in his right eye. The one he always keeps wrapped in bandages. The chakra fluctuations are wrong for a normal eye."

Minato was silent for a long moment, staring at the table. His fingers drummed an unconscious rhythm against the wood.

Finally, he sighed. "Without hard evidence, I can't move against him directly. And we still haven't managed to capture the masked man despite multiple attempts. For now, all we can do is stay vigilant and try to prevent whatever they're planning."

"My puppet will keep monitoring the situation," Kenji assured him. "If anything major happens, you'll know immediately."

They were about to continue the discussion when an ANBU operative appeared in the doorway, having bypassed the normal security protocols.

"Hokage-sama, Shisui's squad has returned from their mission. They're waiting in the outer office."

"Have them wait in my main office," Minato instructed. "I'll be there shortly."

The ANBU vanished as quickly as he'd appeared.

Minato stood and looked at Kenji. "I should take this debrief. Long-term reconnaissance missions sometimes turn up useful intelligence."

"Mind if I sit in?" Kenji asked, also standing. "Shisui's someone worth paying attention to."

Minato considered briefly, then nodded. "Alright. But let me do the talking."

They left the conference room and headed for Minato's main office. When they entered, four ninjas were already waiting. Three of them stood at parade rest near the door. The fourth stood slightly ahead of the others.

Kenji recognized him immediately, though this was the first time he'd seen the young man in person rather than through Homura's eyes. Shisui looked to be in his mid-teens, with the distinctive Uchiha features and wild dark hair. His eyes were his most striking feature, brilliant crimson with three fully developed tomoe in each.

The young prodigy who'd awakened his Sharingan at age seven and earned his jonin promotion before most people made chunin. In the original timeline, he'd been the catalyst for the massacre, his death and stolen eyes setting off the chain of events that ended with the clan's destruction.

"Team Shisui reporting," Shisui said formally, stepping forward and offering a mission scroll. "We've completed our assignment and request permission to debrief."

Minato accepted the scroll and skimmed through it quickly. After a moment, he looked up with an approving smile.

"Excellent work. This mission took you away from the village for quite a while. You're all approved for extended leave. Rest up, spend time with your families."

The three teammates looked relieved at the prospect of downtime. But Shisui's expression remained serious.

"Hokage-sama, if I may... there's something I need to discuss with you privately."

Minato gestured to Shisui's squad.

"You three are dismissed. Get some rest."

The teammates filed out, though Kenji noticed one of them glance back at Shisui.

Once they were gone, Minato indicated the door to his private meeting room. "This way."

Kenji remained where he was, understanding that his presence wasn't requested for this conversation. But as Shisui passed, their eyes met briefly. The young Uchiha's gaze was intense.

The door closed behind them, leaving him alone in the office.

He already knew what Shisui was going to propose. The same solution he'd suggested in the original timeline, using his Mangekyō Sharingan ability, Kotoamatsukami, to rewrite the thoughts and motivations of key figures in the coup faction. And force them to abandon their plans through irresistible mind control.

It wouldn't work. Not in the long term.

The Uchiha massacre wasn't just a response to a coup attempt. It was part of Black Zetsu's grand plan to resurrect Kaguya. He wouldn't let something as simple as mind control derail his plans. If Shisui used Kotoamatsukami to pacify the Uchiha hardliners, he would just find another way to create the conditions he needed.