After spending over ten minutes, the Uchiha squad still couldn't find any traces. With no other choice, they returned to Fugaku to report the situation.
Hearing this, Fugaku's face became cloudy and uncertain.
To rescue Shisui, he had searched the Land of Fire for three whole days. He had finally heard news of Shisui, but upon arriving at this place, the attackers had already left.
Rescuing Shisui without engaging in a fight felt intentional, which left him with a sense of defeat and a hint of irritation.
At this moment, a few Uchiha members brought a farm owner to Fugaku, "Captain Fugaku, we have a witness here. Should we use genjutsu for interrogation?"
Fugaku glanced at the farm owner and, seeing he was just an ordinary person, shook his head, "No need. The Uchiha don't trouble ordinary people. Instead of wasting time here, the front lines still need us."
"Yes, Captain Fugaku!" The Uchiha ninja quickly nodded in agreement.
On the way to the front lines, Fugaku found Shisui. As they sped through the forest, they discussed Shisui's experience after being abducted.
"Shisui, did you identify the attackers?"
Shisui hesitated a bit but then started to recount the past few days, "Clan leader, that day I was with Tetsuka and the others confronting Kakuzu. In a mutually destructive situation, we encountered Hanzo of the Salamander and his disciple."
When Shisui mentioned Kakuzu, Fugaku's expression didn't change much.
He had already learned this information from others, which was why he brought elite Jonin from the clan. Dealing with a strong enemy like Kakuzu required more elite forces.
But when he heard Hanzo of the Salamander's name, Fugaku was visibly stunned.
That name wasn't unfamiliar to him. He had grown up hearing the title of the Demi-God, but why would Hanzo suddenly leave Amegakure and attack the Uchiha in the eastern part of the Land of Fire?
Could it be that Amegakure also intended to attack Konoha?
Seeing Fugaku's troubled expression, Shisui quickly explained, "Clan leader, Hanzo was traveling with his disciple Byakuya. Their target was Kakuzu, but they captured us in the process."
"Captured the Uchiha on a whim?"
Fugaku narrowed his eyes. This showed a blatant disregard for the Uchiha.
However, Hanzo indeed had the strength to do so. The Uchiha had declined too rapidly in recent years. During the village's founding period, no one would even raise their eyes against an Uchiha.
Now, not only were the Uchiha ostracized by other ninjas in the village, but even small villages like Amegakure looked down on them.
Thinking of this, Fugaku continued to ask, "Shisui, during the days you were taken, did they torture you, interrogate your ninjutsu, or try to take your Sharingan?"
Shisui gently shook his head, "No, Byakuya did not torture or interrogate me. He just took me along for a few missions nearby."
At this point, Shisui seemed to remember something and added, "However, Byakuya noticed the conflict between the village and the clan and outright said that the Uchiha could never become Hokage. He even suggested that it would be better to defect early..."
The dream of becoming Hokage was an obsession for the Uchiha clan but it was something that is impossible. Heck, even the higher-ups didn't dare to openly say that an Uchiha couldn't become Hokage.
Byakuya's evaluation of the Uchiha made Fugaku's face darken with anger,
"A mere Amegakure ninja really seems to have courage to mock the Uchiha. When an Uchiha becomes Hokage, Amegakure will pay for this insult."
Shisui remained silent, keeping Byakuya's attempt to recruit him hidden in his heart.
After venting his anger, Fugaku's expression eased a bit as he consoled himself, "But in the end, they didn't dare kill the Uchiha and even released you without harm."
"You're right, Clan Leader."
Shisui responded perfunctorily, and the group continued towards the front lines.
A few hours later, Fugaku, Shisui, and their team arrived at the forward camp on the eastern front. Unlike Konoha's camp in the Land of Grass, this camp was noticeably smaller.
The reason was simple. Although Kirigakure and Konoha were at war, they hadn't engaged in large-scale battles. Instead, they skirmished along the long eastern coastline with small squads. In terms of both numbers and quality, Konoha's ninjas surpassed those of Kirigakure.
With significant losses in their key forces, including the Three-Tails and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Kirigakure had fallen behind.
Now, they could only rely on their bloodline limit users to barely hold their ground against Konoha, leading to a high-level showdown primarily involving these elite ninjas.
Upon entering the camp, Fugaku, as the clan leader, was called to the command center.
Shisui followed the other clan members into the Uchiha tent, greeted them coolly, and sat in a corner to quietly reflect on the questions left by Byakuya. What exactly was his dream?
After pondering for a long time, Shisui still did not have a concrete answer.
The discussions of the clan members around Shisui reached his ears. Initially, they were talking about the battles on the front lines, but soon the conversation shifted to the topics of the Police Force and the Hokage.
The topic of the Police Force revolved around how to handle troublesome villagers and how to demonstrate the authority of the Uchiha.
The Hokage topic was even more heated. Although the election for the Fourth Hokage had not yet begun, the clan members were already discussing how to suppress the families that oppressed the Uchiha and how to consolidate Uchiha's power once one of their own became Hokage.
Hearing these discussions, Shisui felt a sense of confusion and alienation. He suddenly felt out of place among his clan members.
In the mouths of these clan members, the higher-ups constantly ostracized the Uchiha, but before they had even become part of the village leadership, they were already thinking about how to retaliate against the current higher-ups.
Furthermore, while serving in the Police Force, they often abused their power to bully ordinary people.
These clan members were no different from the so-called evil higher-ups they criticized; the only difference was that the Uchiha could only bully ordinary people.
However, as an Uchiha, Shisui still wanted to improve the relationship between the clan and the village leadership.
At the very least, he wanted to prevent his clan members from being so hostile toward the higher-ups and from bullying ordinary ninjas. But how to achieve this? Shisui himself had no idea.
Perhaps, as Byakuya had said, only time could provide an answer.
At this moment, Shisui realized that he was not the only one in the corner of the tent. Besides himself, there was also a very young child.
The child seemed not yet old enough to attend the Ninja Academy. Why was he on the front lines of the battlefield?
With this in mind, Shisui turned to Uchiha Tetsuka beside him and asked, "Tetsuka, who is he?"
Tetsuka glanced at the child in the corner and then said:
"Shisui, you don't recognize Itachi? He's Captain Fugaku's son. He was brought to the Iwagakure battlefield a few days ago and now, it seems, has been brought to the Kirigakure front. But Itachi is indeed remarkable. A few days ago, he even killed an Iwa ninja with his own hands."