The rift in the Hidden Leaf was no longer a secret. It was present in the eyes of passersby. The Uchiha clan had isolated itself. The Military Police officers no longer laughed and joked with other shinobi. They moved in groups, their gazes sharp and wary, as if they were in enemy territory. Anyone who entered the Uchiha district without a good reason was met with hostile stares.
Kenji felt it more keenly than anyone. At the Academy, the Uchiha boy he had been watching had stopped attending classes. The other children whispered about how the Uchiha clan was being "weird." Suspicion and fear, like a type of poison, were slowly spreading throughout the village.
One night, as Kenji was meditating in his apartment, trying to banish the images of war, a single leaf gently fell onto his windowsill. On the leaf was a minuscule chakra imprint. A signal that only he and one other person would recognize.
It was a signal from Minato.
Kenji moved instantly. He didn't use the front door. He used a Substitution Jutsu with a log, then escaped through a ventilation duct, melting into the Konoha night.
He met Minato on the roof of a watchtower at the edge of the village, a place few people ever went. The Yellow Flash's expression was incredibly grave.
"Fugaku is making his move," Minato said immediately, wasting no words. "My intelligence indicates that the entire leadership of the Uchiha clan is holding a secret meeting tonight. At the Naka Shrine."
Kenji shivered. The Naka Shrine was the main temple of the Uchiha clan, a sacred and inviolable place. A secret meeting there could only mean one thing: they were about to make a momentous decision.
"We have to know what they're planning," Minato continued, his voice hardening. "A call for secession? A political demand? Or... something worse. The future of the village depends on whether we know their next move."
Then he looked directly at Kenji. "I need you to do something, Kenji. Something that perhaps no one else in the village can do. I need you to infiltrate that meeting and listen."
It was an insane mission. A suicide mission. To break into the nerve center of the Uchiha clan, when their guard was at its highest, when all their most elite members were present. If discovered, Kenji wouldn't just die. His actions would be seen as a provocation from the Hokage, and a civil war would erupt immediately.
"I understand the danger," Kenji said, his tone surprisingly firm. "But I also understand the necessity. How do I do it?"
"Here's my plan," Minato explained. "You'll create a major disturbance on the west side of the village, near the food storage warehouses. Use a clone to execute a high-level Fire Style jutsu. Make it look like an attack from the outside. The incident will draw the majority of the Military Police's and patrol teams' attention. In that chaos, you'll slip in."
Kenji shook his head. "No, Minato-senpai. That plan has a flaw. If I'm caught, they'll have the culprit and the proof. I have a better plan."
Minato looked at him, waiting.
"I'll stay here, in a safe location," Kenji explained. "I will create two clones. One clone will execute the diversion as you planned. The other clone, a single one, will carry out the infiltration. It will use nearly all the chakra I can spare. If it's discovered and destroyed, it will vanish into smoke. They'll know they were spied on, but they'll have no proof of who it was. And I, the real body, will remain safe to receive the information."
Minato looked at Kenji for a long moment, then he nodded, a look of admiration in his eyes. It was a perfect plan, a calculated sacrifice. Placing the entire burden and risk on a copy to protect the original and the information. It was the pinnacle of the Shadow Clone Technique's application.
"We'll go with your plan," Minato said. "Be careful, Kenji."
Midnight.
BOOM!
A massive pillar of fire erupted on the west side of the Hidden Leaf, illuminating a corner of the sky. Alarm bells rang out frantically. People shouted. "INTRUDER! THE FOOD WAREHOUSE IS UNDER ATTACK!"
Immediately, the Uchiha Military Police teams patrolling their district were drawn away. Several of them were ordered to move to the attack site. The chaos was a perfect smokescreen.
At the same time, a single shadow, Kenji's Shadow Clone, slipped past the Uchiha district's defensive perimeter. It moved like a spirit, evading the few remaining pairs of eyes, heading straight for the Naka Shrine.
The temple stood imposing in the darkness, silent and majestic. There was light inside, and the faint sound of voices drifted out. Kenji's clone pressed itself against a wall, finding a crack in a shoji paper screen.
It looked inside.
The entire leadership of the Uchiha clan was there. Fugaku stood at the center, his face cold and resolute.
His voice rang out, overpowering the sound of the wind.
"...Our patience has run out. They killed Naoki to silence him. They have deceived us. They look down on us!"
A heavy silence fell over the room.
"We built this village," Fugaku continued, his voice hardening, filled with years of suppressed resentment. "Our strength is its foundation. It is time we take back what is rightfully ours. It is time the Will of Fire is led by a stronger will, by eyes that can see the future!"
He held his head high, looking into the eyes of every clan member.
"The time has come. We will no longer negotiate, no longer make demands. We will act."
Kenji's clone held its breath, trying to hear the final words, the words that would decide the fate of Konoha.
"We will stage a coup d'état."
Those words, like a sledgehammer, struck the clone's mind. And through the mental link, they struck the real Kenji, hiding miles away.
The storm had truly arrived.