Chapter 23

"What exactly are the grown-ups doing so late at night? Even father comes home late, mother?"

The four-year-old Izuna tossed the question at his mother while taking a short break during training in shurikenjutsu with her.

The mother-son duo was training in the deserted woods, a grove just behind their house in the Uchiha compound. Bathing in the evening light of the sun, with a random thought lingering in his mind, Izuna had raised that question to his mother.

He was indeed aware of what the Uchiha brethren did in the Nakano Shrine. The regular clan meeting. Izuna himself didn't know why he suddenly raised such an obvious question. It just popped up in his mind.

Lately, that question had just been lingering in his mind, since he felt the strange stillness in his father's room. Izuna was well aware of the reason but still decided to ask her.

At his question, his mother, Akane, stared off at the distant sky. A loose smile curled on her face as she patted Izuna's head.

"I was a jonin before my retirement."

After a fleeting silence flowed the area, his mother said, turning towards the quietly listening Izuna and continued softly.

"So I used to attend the clan meeting at the Nakano Shrine with your father."

The Second Great Ninja War that ended years ago, had exhausted the ninjas from the five great nations. Akane Uchiha was one of the war veterans, who had fought and participated in the war.

However, after marrying Akio, she decided to retire as a female ninja and become a housewife to live a normal life.

"It's something you don't have to know about yet."

His mother looked down, smiling softly.

Uneasy, Izuna stared at her as he averted his eyes. He could feel a heavy air hanging over the clan - he recalled the tight air filling his father's room a few days ago.

'Let it be a guess...'

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In the back of Izuna's mind, the conversation he had with his mother at the age of four came back to life, as he stepped on his feet in the Nakano Shrine.

"Well, go in, son."

At his father's urging, Izuna placed a hand on the closed sliding door. On the other side of the door, the room was silent. And yet the intense aura there, in that room separated by the sliding door, came through with such intensity that it prickled the six years old Izuna's skin.

An aura of unrest.

Izuna's heart sank a little bit.

After today's training with his mother, and while returning home, his father had told him to meet him at the Military Police Force headquarters, as he had something important to talk to him about.

Given the fact that he had been a genin for two months, his father decided to let him attend the regular clan meeting.

"Izuna."

He suddenly felt warmth on his head; the palm of his father's hand.

With no choice but to follow as his father pressed him to, he opened the sliding door. The hall, thirty or so tatami mats, was filled to its capacity. Since there was a very dim light in the room, the figures of those sitting there were all silhouetted.

"Hmm. Sorry to make you all wait."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Akio. We didn't have to wait for long, you are just right on time."

Gesturing his son into the room, Akio too came in and then reached back to close the door.

Given the fact that Izuna had come to attend the regular clan meeting with his father for the first time, he had indeed expected to hear this voice.

The darkness in the room had grown even more concentrated as his father closed the door, but Izuna could still make it and see the owner of the voice.

With no one shadow leading, several of the human forms stood up and together lit the candles in the corner of the room. The faint light in the room grew a little bit as it illuminated the interior and the face of the man came into view.

The owner of the voice was none other than the leader of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha. He had short, brown hair that reached his shoulders and onyx-colored eyes, visible below them.

Just as always, he had his stern look on his face as he sat arms crossed before the Uchiha brethren. He wore a simple kimono with grey pants which had the clan's symbol on the back.

Nodding, Akio pointed to a seat in the very middle of the room, the only open space on the floor jammed with people.

"Go and sit there, Izuna."

"Yes, father..."

Izuna pushed through the people to make his way to the designated position and sat down quietly. His father watched him settle down, before stepping aside through the assembled Uchihas and standing at the front, facing everyone.

"Before we begin our regular meeting, Lord Akio's son Izuna will also be attending the meeting from now on."

Said the man sitting at the very front, Yashiro Uchiha. A very close aide of Fugaku and the subordinate of Izuna's father. Akio was the vice-chief of the Military Police Force of Konoha, a status just behind the clan leader, thus the clan members respected him deeply.

"My son, Izuna, is six."

Akio said, glancing past the crowd of people, and continued before taking a look at his young son, who briefly nodded his head.

"Although, he's young and very much still a novice, he has the genin status required to take part in the regular clan meeting. I appreciate your understanding."

In response, Fugaku just nodded his head, adopting his usual stern look, while the clan members sitting before him bowed their heads.

"Now then, to pick where we left off last time. I'd like to discuss the issue of the submission of a written option to the Hokage, regarding the reduction of the budget."

Yashiro had barely finished speaking before the people at the meeting started talking at once.

Some insisted on showing force to Konoha, while others said they should keep a calm eye on the situation and proceed in accordance, and still others looked at the faces of those around them with the thought of consideration.

Even though their thoughts and purposes were all different, it seemed like everyone wanted to actively take part in the conversation.

The heavy air in the hall of the Nakano Shrine was Izuna's second time feeling it. The first time was when Yashiro had come to his house. He could still recall the stillness in his father's room.

Discrimination.

Persecution.

Izuna had heard only these two reactionary words from his father's room. And he was well aware of the reason the adults of the clan thought this way.

Military Police Force. The formation and management of the Uchiha clan had two main reasons, which Izuna was well aware of.

To distance them in the framework of the Police Force, away from the central government of the village of Konohagakure, and to keep them in check in a certain district under the pretext of sheltering them.

'Must be him...'

With the thought of the man pulling the strings behind the scenes as his face popped up in Izuna's mind, and he exhaled an exasperated sigh.

Izuna felt like it basically made sense. If you followed all the things that had happened with the Uchiha in the original, you would reach a conclusion that the village councilor Danzo had his hands in most of them, if not all.

"All right, enough! Calm down, everyone."

A silence enveloped the entire shrine as Fugaku roared, sitting at the very front facing the people of the room, his eyes gleamed crimson, and an invisible bloodlust filled the room.

Both Yashiro and his close friend Inabi were forced to shut in silence at Fugaku's rare display of anger. Those two were the ones in favor of the display of force against the village.

"What's your thoughts on this matter, Akio?"

After a fleeting silence flowed through the room, Fugaku turned his eyes toward Akio, who hadn't spoken a single word since the start.

"I have talked with Lord Hokage about this matter. Due to the abrupt rise in conflicts between smaller nations, the council had decided to reduce the budget and use it to enforce the safety of borders and village development."

No one uttered a single word as everyone held their breath, and waited for Akio to continue.

"I don't think it would have a significant effect on our department as long as it's temporary, so naturally we should be considerate of it. We are also a part of the village, after all."

"But still, don't you think it's-!!"

No sooner than his father finished speaking than Izuna heard Yashiro stand up and roar, but was cut off by the even voice of Fugaku.

"All right, Yashiro. That's enough. We'll end today's meeting here, and continue the next time."

Abruptly, Izuna felt someone's eye on him and immediately turned his own in that direction.

His father. He seemed to understand his son wasn't accustomed to the boisterous atmosphere of the place, and just smiled at him.

Izuna returned a sad smile. The clan's evil feeling still hung heavy there.

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[ A/N: Hey guys! First of all, thank you for your kind wishes that helped me recover quickly. Now I'm back again with its continuation.

Oh, and I've added extra new chapters in the starting phase, chap. 4 to ch 9. Do check them out.

Thanks for your time.]