"Yes. My father is among those who place family over village. There have been tensions between our family and the rest of the village for several years - the first cracks started, to my knowledge, during the course of the Third Shinobi War, though I have heard grumbling about the Third Hokage's handling of the Second War, too. The primary split happened after the Nine Tailed Demon Fox attacked. The Uchiha were assigned to evacuation, but rumors spread afterwards that we were cowards for not having been on the front lines, and there was resentment because we lost fewer forces. Additionally, rumors started that an Uchiha had caused the attack. The source of those rumors is unknown, but given their timing alongside other rumors that undermined the village, and given who they advantaged, I suspect Danzo might have had a hand in at least enabling them."

"After the Nine Tails' attack, relations worsened dramatically with the village. Three years later, an attempt was made on the Hyuuga heir, and legislation was passed restricting those with major bloodlines to their historic compounds, citing a supposedly increased risk of bloodline thieves. This mostly impacted the Uchiha, since the majority of other major bloodline clans already lived mostly or entirely in such a compound by choice. Uchiha were increasingly frequently denied promotions in the following years, or removed from sensitive positions, or faced with bad mission intelligence at a suspicious frequency."

"These are problems, and they need to be addressed. The solution my father, and several clan elders, came up with, is rebellion. This is the wrong solution. It won't work, and even if it did would cause tremendous loss of life and weaken the village, risking a larger scale war. My father can't be convinced otherwise, and doesn't believe in waiting for me to solve this in a slower way."

"Wait, wait. Nine Tailed Demon Fox? That sounds incredible."

"It's one of the nine Tailed Beasts, which are chakra constructs. They can be killed, but will eventually reform. They're immensely powerful, at least compared to us. The Nine Tails was defeated by the Fourth Hokage, at the cost of his life. They are not currently active threats, but it's possible that could change."

"Okay, cool."

"...Anyway. Can you tell us more about your father?"

"He's proud, to an extent. He cares deeply about the good of the clan, and of his family, but not of those outside us, and does not see foreigners as worthy of consideration at all. He's stern, and does not often emote. He genuinely believes a rebellion is the best - or perhaps the only - path forwards. He works hard, and is beloved by his men and by the clan at large."

"How is his relationship with the Hokage? What will his reaction be to Danzo's death?"

"He dislikes the current Hokage, though he admired the Fourth. His list of complaints against the Third is long, and of variable legitimacy. He would be grimly happy at Danzo's death, I suppose, and might be more willing to negotiate afterwards - my mother was part of the Black Ops, so my family is at least somewhat aware of how Danzo pushes things."

"Why haven't they picked a Fifth Hokage yet?"

She shrugs a little. "I'm not sure. The usual claim is that there's no viable candidates, even though a few who were put forward last time are still alive and loyal, including my father. The Third willingly stepped down last time, so it seems unlikely he's clinging to power."

"Well, Danzo probably didn't want your dad in charge if they hated each other. Maybe now that Danzo's dead we can try making him Hokage."

"That might create more problems than it solves, if Danzo spread his prejudice to the rest of the village."

"I think as Hokage he would treat the village as a family - he admired that about the Fourth - but given how politics have been I doubt he would be popular. And the people would resent any appearance of foreign interference."

"Which is another factor, yes."

Anneia sighs.

"Politics are very complicated, unfortunately. I don't know who the Third would be willing to step down to. The Uchiha clan has put hope in Shisui and I. I am not so good at people, so I don't think I would make as good a choice, but Shisui is popular."

"That might be best. The younger generation takes over from the old, makes a cleaner split."

"Exactly. Shisui still has a ways to go, before he has that sort of pull, and that sort of personal power, but assuming nothing goes horribly wrong and we can delay, he might be a good option."

"Another option, if any sort of unification or peace-brokering can go through, might be allowing the Uchiha who want out to leave. It wouldn't be allowed, now - deserters are met with death - but it would be a kinder split."

"That would be better than a rebellion. But I would like a way to keep the village intact better."

"I would prefer that, too. But it is important to have fallback plans."

"True."

Itachi will continue explaining local geopolitics until Shisui returns, then.

He looks haggard and exhausted, and half-heartedly waves when he gets in.

"You look like death."

"Explaining myself wasn't fun. And I hate long debriefs. You guys been up to anything interesting?"