After hearing everything, his grandfather's face hardened with anger. "Cloud Village is truly audacious. Under the guise of peace talks they tried to abduct the Hyuga Main House daughter. They clearly want the Hyuga's Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan. They never came to make peace. You did well, Ryōsuke. To placate abusers by sacrificing our own villagers would be disgraceful. I'll explain this to the clan head on your behalf."
"Good," Ryōsuke said. He agreed it needed explaining—and he was also considering showing some strength before the clan. Otherwise his words would not carry weight. Others might not know, but he did: Uchiha Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. With Four Gates open and his powerful physique, Ryōsuke could not say with certainty he could suppress him. And with Fugaku's caution, he would not reveal his Mangekyō easily. He feared inflating the clan's confidence and being pressed to stage a coup, and he feared the Leaf's suspicion. Without sufficient force as deterrence, the enemy would strike for real.
'Open the Fifth Gate first,' Ryōsuke thought. That would make him unbeatable in the early game.
After his grandfather left, he dove into training the Eight Gates. He refined chakra and hammered the spine's Gate of Limit. As he increased the chakra pressure, pain arrived at once, and the Gate of Limit opened bit by bit. His aura surged. The explosive pain along his spine forced him to reduce the chakra flow; the surging aura faded. He rested briefly, then resumed. After more than two hours he was drenched in sweat and physically spent, aching from skull to torso. Most could not endure this pain. He had reached today's limit, but the gains were real. He had opened half of the Gate of Limit. The rest was a matter of breaking through.
After lying still a while, he recovered somewhat, bathed, and rested. Two days passed before he knew it. Tonight the Uchiha would convene a clan assembly. Nearly every Sharingan-bearer gathered before the shrine. On the main dais sat clan head Uchiha Fugaku, Great Elder Uchiha Jin, Elder Uchiha Hachidai, and others. Only the first three truly held sway. They were all waiting for one person: Uchiha Ryōsuke.
He had unilaterally promised the Third Hokage, in the Uchiha's name, to go to war with Cloud. Hardliners, moderates, even neutrals were displeased. The Great Elder had already explained Ryōsuke's reasons, but the moderates disliked war. If a Hyuga life could buy peace, why oppose it? They were ready to demand the clan head punish him severely. Even the hardliners were unconvinced.
Especially now, under constant pressure from the Leaf leadership, Ryōsuke's move to spend Uchiha strength for another clan seemed unwise. So what if a Hyuga died? It would not hinder the Uchiha. Even Hachidai, who favored Ryōsuke, felt displeased.
Uchiha Itachi attended the assembly, and even Uchiha Izumi had come. Everyone waited for the culprit. The Great Elder fretted; his explanation had not swayed the crowd. He sighed. Perhaps he could only use his personal prestige later to lessen Ryōsuke's punishment.
Ryōsuke, the supposed culprit, still had not arrived. Tempers flared. Such disrespect for a clan assembly—did he think being the Great Elder's grandson let him do as he pleased?
Feeling the crowd's gaze, Uchiha Izumi grew worried for her "Brother Ryōsuke." She asked Uchiha Itachi beside her, "Itachi, do you think he was wrong?"
"Of course he was," Itachi answered without hesitation. "Every Konoha shinobi must be ready to die to protect the village. That is our mission. Uchiha Ryōsuke incited war. That is the greatest crime."
Izumi tried to see it his way. It made sense, yet Cloud's conduct disgusted her. "Itachi, even if Brother Ryōsuke was impulsive, isn't Cloud's behavior vile? They used peace talks as cover to abduct the Hyuga heiress."
"It's detestable," Itachi said wearily, "but this is not the time to start a war. We must sacrifice the individual to preserve the whole."
Izumi could only nod, though the bitterness stuck in her throat. Part of her was glad for Ryōsuke's stance. There was no reason to indulge Cloud after such filth. She kept that thought to herself. Itachi disliked such thinking. His ideals were too lofty for her to follow.
An hour later, Ryōsuke finally reached the shrine, looking freshly awakened. He had overtrained the Eight Gates, hammering the Fifth Gate without regard for his body. Once he opened it, the Uchiha would endure, and no one would pry out his eyes. He had pushed too hard. Still, the result was good. Before passing out he had been a hair from opening the Gate of Limit. Early-game invincibility was close. After waking he had even bathed. His hair was still damp.
He stepped into the hall. Aside from a few, most faces were openly hostile. The only ones without complaint were Uchiha Izumi and his grandfather—and Uchiha Fugaku, who knew just how strong Ryōsuke was, perhaps no weaker than himself.