Chapter 77: The Captain's Law
Uchiha Yorito's face was a canvas of desperation. "Kagenori! It was a moment of panic! I spoke without thinking! Give me another chance, I swear I will follow every order!"
Kagenori looked down at him, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "I gave you chances. Again and again. I have been remarkably patient by letting these four stay." He gestured dismissively at the others. "But the truth is, I am a very petty man. And I'm terrified of the Uchiha clan's vengeance." His tone was so blatantly insincere that several onlookers had to stifle disbelieving snorts. "So, how could I possibly keep you? Someone has to bear the consequences for this little display of insubordination. Unfortunately for you, you drew the short straw."
Yorito continued to plead, his words becoming a frantic, undignified stream, but Kagenori had already turned his back. The message was clear: the verdict was final.
Seeing his last hope vanish, Yorito turned his desperate gaze to Orochimaru. "Lord Orochimaru, please!"
Orochimaru didn't even grant him a glance. "Gather your things. You are returning to Konoha." With that, he too walked away, his disinterest absolute.
Utterly defeated, Yorito looked to his clansman, Uchiha Kazuo, but found no salvation there. Kazuo could only offer a hollow, weary consolation. "Yorito... have your leg treated, then return to Konoha. Explain everything to the Clan Head. He will... understand." The words were empty, and both men knew it.
Uchiha Yorito slumped, the searing pain in his leg nothing compared to the cold dread freezing his heart. It wasn't the clan's punishment he feared most; it was the shame. To be crippled by a thirteen-year-old outcast and sent home like a disobedient child—he would never live it down. He was ruined.
Kagenori led his four new, battered subordinates to a secluded spot in the woods. He turned to face them, his expression devoid of the earlier mockery, replaced by a flat, chilling seriousness.
"I know you despise me," he began, his voice cutting through the quiet. "And the feeling is mutual. But I am your captain, and you are my subordinates. You will obey my orders. The consequences for disobedience will be far worse than what you experienced today. If you defy me in combat, I will kill you. Do not doubt it. You are all aware of my feelings for the Uchiha. Do not make the mistake of thinking sentiment will stay my hand."
He paused, letting the threat hang in the air like a drawn blade.
"However, you still have a choice. You may leave now. Return to Konoha and you will never have to take an order from me again. What is your decision?"
Uchiha Kyosuke, Keiichi, Ryuhei, and the injured Jinno remained where they stood. Not one of them moved. To leave now was to confirm themselves as cowards and deserters. Staying, for all its terror, was the only path that preserved a shred of their honor.
"Good," Kagenori said, a flicker of cold approval in his eyes. "The decision is made. There is no turning back. State your names for the record."
They did so, their voices subdued.
"You know who I am," Kagenori stated, his hands behind his back. "I will not waste time with introductions. Be prepared. The missions I accept will be the most dangerous ones available. The mortality rate will be high. But the military merits earned will be commensurate. Do not hold me back, and I will not withhold the recognition you earn."
His gaze swept over them, final and imposing. "Those of you who are injured, go and heal. I will summon you when there is a mission. Dismissed."
In a shunshin that was little more than a blur, he was gone.
The four Uchiha let out a collective, shaky breath they hadn't realized they'd been holding. The pressure he exerted was suffocating. He was unreasonable, brutal, and held absolute power over them. The war had not yet begun in earnest, and they were already trapped in a private hell under a commander who openly despised them.
They helped the limping, broken-wristed Jinno to the medical tent, their spirits lower than the forest floor.
There, they found Uchiha Yorito, his leg splinted, sitting on a cot with dead, hollow eyes.
"Yorito..." Kyosuke began, but the words died in his throat. What comfort could they offer?
Yorito looked up, his smile a ghastly parody. "I'm going back to Konoha soon..."
The others remained silent, the unspoken truth hanging between them: if he hadn't been so foolish as to utter that threat, he would still be here with them.
"That Kagenori will make your lives a living hell," Yorito spat, his bitterness a tangible force. "Will you just take it? Will you follow him like dogs?"
Uchiha Ryuhei sighed, the sound heavy with resignation. "What choice do we have, Yorito? You saw him. You saw Orochimaru. There is no winning here."
"Then let's all leave!" Yorito urged, his eyes wild. "If the Uchiha are not welcome here, we should go back together!"
The four men looked at him with a mixture of pity and alarm. What he was suggesting was not a protest; it was desertion. The consequences would be far graver than any clan punishment. They would be branded as traitors to Konoha itself.
Finding a sudden, urgent need to be elsewhere, the four made excuses and hurried away, leaving their former comrade alone with his despair and his disastrous proposal.
Watching them abandon him, a fresh, incandescent rage boiled within Uchiha Yorito. The betrayal by his clansmen felt sharper than the break in his bone. His emotions surged, a chaotic storm of humiliation, fury, and powerlessness. Unconsciously, his chakra flared. The single tomoe in his pupils spun wildly, accelerating until, with a faint, almost imperceptible shift, they duplicated.
He stared blankly ahead, unseeing. In his moment of greatest defeat, fueled by the very emotions his clan thrived on, Uchiha Yorito's Sharingan had evolved into the two-tomoe stage. It was a bitter, hollow advancement, a power gained not through battle, but through the utter shattering of his pride.