The fact that Night Maple and Kushina attended Mikoto Uchiha's birthday banquet reached every major clan in Konoha at once.
What is the Uchiha clan up to?
And what do the Senju and Uzumaki clans make of it?
Every clan was watching, guessing, parsing today's event and the signals in it.
"I'll drink this cup first in salute; thank you both for coming to my daughter's birthday banquet."
The man raising his cup was Mikoto Uchiha's father, one of the Uchiha high council.
The dignified, elegant woman beside him was Mikoto Uchiha's mother.
Everyone raised their cups together, echoed him, and drained their drinks in one go.
Aside from Mikoto and her parents, plus Night Maple and Kushina, the only one left was the young Uchiha prodigy, Fugaku Uchiha.
Looks like the Uchiha also intend to pair Fugaku with Mikoto.
So young and already captain of the Military Police Force; before long, Fugaku Uchiha would inherit the position of clan head.
Mikoto Uchiha's parents soon excused themselves.
Night Maple also successfully "sold" them on Liar's Dice, bringing an end to the boring high-or-low drinking rounds you see in the shinobi world.
Before long, everyone was hooked.
Liar's Dice takes the skill and nerve to lie, the eye to read people, and a toolbox of tactics.
Even a veteran shinobi like Fugaku, who's been out in society for years, found Liar's Dice a blast!
Thrilling!
"Six sixes—fly!"
"Twelve sixes!"
"Call your bluff!"
The mood heated up bit by bit; they were arguing till their faces flushed and ears burned.
Fugaku Uchiha also struck up an on-and-off conversation with Night Maple.
"Night Maple-kun, that day you said one of the Root's Ten was from the Uchiha clan?"
Night Maple nodded. "Yeah. I saw a Sharingan—why?"
Fugaku lowered his voice. "Good thing Night Maple-kun told us the truth. Otherwise we'd still be in the dark."
"Hm?"
"To be frank, no one from the Uchiha has joined Root. Even in the ANBU, there are only one or two of us, all on record with the clan."
Hearing that, Night Maple's curiosity was piqued.
"You mean…"
Fugaku looked at Night Maple. "I mean—that person isn't one of our Uchiha at all."
"Now this is getting interesting."
Fugaku nodded; his turn to call: "Twelve threes!"
Mikoto Uchiha chuckled. "Call!"
"Counter-call!"
They opened—five threes in total; all five were Fugaku's. Everyone else had been bluffing.
Fugaku just smiled, unconcerned. He downed his drink, shook his dice, and said, "Yeah, this just got fun. Our clan head has already gone to negotiate with the Third Hokage. Word is it's a monster created using the Uchiha clan's blood."
"Supposedly the only surviving test subject, hidden in Root all this time."
"If Night Maple-kun hadn't uncovered it this time, we'd never have known! It's an outright desecration of the Uchiha clan!"
"Thank you, Night Maple-kun, for wiping out that evil test subject for our Uchiha."
Night Maple's eyes widened—so there were things even he didn't know.
An Uchiha clone?
Night Maple immediately thought of Yamato—an experimental subject made from the First Hokage's cells.
Then the Sharingan user he killed… could that have been a test subject made from Uchiha Madara?
Figures—there are plenty of deeper layers in Naruto that never make it to the surface.
He might know the broad strokes of history, but there were still countless secrets he knew nothing about.
Take this Uchiha test subject—if Night Maple hadn't killed him, it might have been buried by history, never to surface.
Fugaku thanking him now was also the Uchiha clan showing goodwill.
However glorious the Uchiha look at the moment, the clan head surely knows that after the peak comes the inevitable slide.
If they could win over an ally like Night Maple, so much the better.
After a few rounds of drinks, Fugaku got even more talkative.
Who knew whether he was pretending to be drunk or actually drunk—he even let slip secrets about Root and Danzō's final disposition.
"That Uchiha test subject was secretly created by Orochimaru, funded by Danzō. All of Orochimaru's experiments have now been shut down."
"Also, for committing something so outrageous, Danzō is being sent undercover to Kumogakure to atone. He won't be allowed back unless he makes great contributions!"
Grinning from ear to ear, Fugaku kept talking—then promptly toppled over.
Night Maple took one look. This was real drunkenness; no wonder he spilled everything. These had to be classified, right?
"Come on, drink!"
Kushina's cheeks were flushed a rosy red—she looked especially dazzling.
Mikoto Uchiha hugged Night Maple's leg. "Drink!"
"Drink, my foot."