Everyone was staring at Toyoma.
The ANBU, caught completely off guard, glared at him with barely restrained fury, his hand instinctively clutching his stomach where the kick had landed.
The pain was real—and humiliating.
Both elders looked at Toyoma in shock.
Even Grand Elder Setsuna, who rarely lost his composure, frowned deeply.
After a brief pause, Setsuna spoke, his voice carrying a trace of worry.
"Toyoma… why did you attack him?"
Before the boy could answer, a blur of movement cut through the hall.
Fugaku appeared in front of them in an instant, having used the Body Flicker Technique. His face was dark with anger.
"Yes," he demanded coldly. "Explain yourself. Why did you attack an ANBU? Give me a proper reason—otherwise, you will come with me to Hokage-sama and accept punishment."
Toyoma didn't even look at Fugaku.
He walked past him, stopping in front of the restrained ANBU, who was being held down by Uncle Uzuku. His gaze was calm, but there was a sharp edge beneath it.
"Tell me," Toyoma said slowly, "who allowed you to enter a bloodline clan's territory without informing us first?"
His eyes narrowed.
"And who gave you the courage to step directly into the Uchiha meeting hall?"
The words grew colder with every sentence.
"Do you swine really believe that no one in the Uchiha clan can touch you just because you guard Sarutobi Hiruzen?"
A murmur rippled through the hall.
Only then did everyone truly understand why Toyoma had attacked.
This was a secret clan meeting—and an outsider had walked straight into the heart of it without warning.
Even Setsuna felt uneasy. Something about the situation was deeply wrong. If this truly was a Hokage-issued order, then the procedure itself made no sense.
The ANBU snorted.
"I am an ANBU of Hokage-sama. I do not need anyone's approval. He is the Hokage."
Fugaku glanced at the ANBU and nodded.
"That's right. ANBU do not require permission."
Toyoma turned to Fugaku, his expression unreadable.
For the first time, Fugaku felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
Toyoma looked back at the ANBU.
Then he said something no one had expected.
"Uncle Uzuku—remove his mask."
The hall froze.
ANBU masks were sacred.
Their identities were never revealed—neither clan nor face.
Removing an ANBU's mask was an absolute taboo.
Fugaku's eyes widened in panic.
"What are you thinking?!" he shouted. "Don't you know that no one is allowed to remove an ANBU's mask or reveal their identity?!"
"Stop this at once!" Fugaku barked as he moved toward Uzuku.
Grand Elder Setsuna also spoke quickly.
"Toyoma, this is not right."
Toyoma didn't raise his voice.
"Grand Elder," he asked calmly, "how do we even know he is an ANBU?"
The hall went silent.
"No ANBU are permitted to approach a bloodline clan or secret family without prior notice. This is a known rule—established out of respect and fear for clan techniques and bloodline secrets."
His gaze swept across the elders.
"If the Hokage has business with a clan, the ANBU inform the clan head first. They never enter the meeting hall directly."
Toyoma continued evenly.
"Many clans guard techniques that could be stolen or exposed. Because of that, previous Hokage clearly ordered that ANBU are not to enter clan territory without permission."
The silence that followed was heavy.
"Yes—why would an ANBU come directly into a clan meeting?" one jōnin asked sharply.
"This doesn't make any sense," another added.
"He's not an ANBU."
Voices rose one after another as Hawk faction members spoke up. With every word, the pressure in the hall intensified—pressing down on both the masked figure and Fugaku.
Fugaku turned on them, anger blazing in his eyes.
"Even if he isn't," he snapped, "that decision belongs to the Hokage—not to you!"
Toyoma finally looked at him.
"Why does it feel," he asked calmly, "like he's your father in disguise, Clan Head?"
The hall froze.
Fugaku's expression twisted. Uncle Uzuku failed to suppress a short, incredulous laugh.
"You—!"
"Uncle," Toyoma said evenly, "remove his mask."
"No!" Fugaku shouted.
But Uzuku had already reached out.
The mask came off.
And the entire Uchiha hall went silent.
Standing there was not a hardened operative—but a boy.
A teenager.
Roughly Toyoma's age.
Gasps rippled through the clan as recognition dawned.
The neutral faction elder Kohaku stared in disbelief.
"Shisui…?" his voice trembled. "How—why are you in the ANBU?"
Uchiha Shisui.
A prodigy of the clan. The same as Toyoma.
Toyoma had been trained internally by the Hawk faction, while Shisui—grandson of Uchiha Kagami—had been sent to the Ninja Academy under village supervision.
He was still a genin.
ANBU required at least chūnin rank.
This should have been impossible.
Even more disturbing—the neutral faction elder knew nothing about it.
Unable to restrain himself any longer, the elder turned on Fugaku.
"Clan Head," he demanded, "you will explain this. Right now. Why is a child—Uchiha child—in the ANBU? And why was I, as his faction elder, never informed?"
His voice shook with restrained fury.
"What exactly are you doing with Uchiha children?"
The dove faction elder and Grand Elder Setsuna both felt the weight of the situation sink in.
Sending a clan genius to the Hokage at such an age wasn't loyalty.
It was sabotage.
"Yes, Fugaku," Setsuna said coldly, deliberately using his name instead of his title."You owe us an explanation. Being Clan Head does not grant you the right to act alone."
The dove faction elder said nothing—but he already knew.
This wasn't a mistake.
It was a catastrophic misjudgment.
A blunder.
Toyoma looked at Shisui quietly.
From the beginning, he had known something was wrong. No sane ANBU would barge into a secret clan meeting. Fugaku's lack of reaction had confirmed it—he knew the intruder.
What Toyoma hadn't expected…
…was a ten-year-old Shisui in ANBU uniform.
He had known Shisui would join ANBU in the future.
But now, everything made sense.
Why Shisui would later speak only of the Will of Fire.
Why he would trust the village even when it betrayed him.
He had been molded from childhood.
Brainwashed.
Toyoma turned to Grand Elder Setsuna.
"Why would the Clan Head send Shisui to the ANBU?" he asked calmly."The answer is simple."
"So the village could shape him early."
His gaze shifted back to Fugaku, voice sharp with disdain.
"Is there a better way to prove Uchiha 'sincerity' than handing over a genius—one trained to wag his tail for Sarutobi Hiruzen and his group like a loyal dog?"
The words cut like blades.
Fugaku's eyes burned crimson, veins bulging as rage threatened to consume him.
Shisui had heard every word.
His face flushed with anger, unable to restrain himself any longer as he glared at Toyoma.
"What do you mean by 'wagging my tail'?" he snapped.
"What I'm doing is serving the village!"
His fists clenched.
"I'm a bridge between the village and the Uchiha—so both sides can understand each other!"
He took a step forward, voice rising.
"People like you are the real barrier between the village and the Uchiha. Because of people like you, Hokage-sama and the elders believe the Uchiha are dangerous."
His eyes burned with conviction.
"We are the Uchiha of Konoha. Do you understand that?"
The hall was silent.
Shisui was furious—not just angry at Toyoma's words, but at the way he openly disrespected the Hokage and the village leadership in front of the entire clan.
Fugaku listened quietly… then allowed himself a small, satisfied smile.
He looked at Toyoma, then at the elders.
"Yes," Fugaku said firmly. "Shisui is a bridge between the Uchiha and Konoha."
He placed a hand on Shisui's shoulder.
"As the grandson of Uchiha Kagami—Hokage-sama's former teammate and a respected clan elder—Shisui is being personally trained by the Hokage himself."
Murmurs spread through the hall.
"The Hokage has already said that he intends to make Shisui an ANBU captain in the future," Fugaku continued."That is why I allowed him to join the ANBU early."
Toyoma said nothing at first.
He didn't look at Fugaku.
He looked only at Shisui.
Then he spoke.
"You said the Uchiha are the Uchiha of Konoha," Toyoma said calmly."Tell me something, then."
"Is Konoha… the Konoha of the Uchiha?"
The question landed like a blade.
Shisui stiffened.
"You say the village elders are afraid of us," Toyoma continued."Tell me—what have we done wrong for them to fear us?"
His gaze never wavered.
"Or are they afraid simply because we are strong?"
"Because we refuse to be controlled?"
Toyoma's voice remained steady, almost gentle.
"Give me a proper reason."
He stared straight into Shisui's eyes.
Everyone was looking at Shisui now.
From Fugaku… to the elders… to even Grand Elder Setsuna.
When Fugaku had spoken earlier, many of them had felt a quiet sense of shame.
Shisui's words had sounded right. Noble. Correct.
Serving the village. Becoming a bridge.
Those were ideas they had all believed in once.
But when Toyoma began asking his questions, their thoughts shifted—away from the village, and back to the clan.
Each question struck cleanly at the core.
They were questions every Uchiha had felt…but never known how to voice.
The hall grew unbearably silent.
No one interrupted.
No one defended Shisui.
Toyoma stood there, waiting.
"Go on," he said softly.
"Explain that to me."