Fugaku Uchiha

Fugaku Uchiha ( うちはフガク , Uchiha Fugaku ) was a shinobi of Konohagakure . He was the head of the Uchiha clan as well as the leader of the Konoha Military Police Force .

## Background [ ]

During the Third Shinobi World War , shinobi from other nations trembled at the mention of Fugaku's nickname of Wicked Eye Fugaku ( 兇眼フガク , Kyōgan Fugaku ). In the final weeks of the war, Fugaku took his four year old son Itachi to the battlefield to see mountain of corpses, with the purpose to show Itachi the reality of the world he lived in as a shinobi. In the anime, during the war, a dear friend of Fugaku died in battle, allowing him to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan , a fact he decided to keep hidden from everyone.

In the aftermath of the war, while villagers mourned its dead at the Konoha Cemetery , a clansmen informed Fugaku that there were voices to install him as the Fourth Hokage, as the Third Hokage intended to retire. Fugaku was then questioned by the man on what they should do with Kakashi Hatake possessing their clan's dōjutsu . Understanding that Obito Uchiha fought bravely, he decided to respect the boy's wishes and let Kakashi keep his gift. When Fugaku's wife Mikoto gave birth to their second son, with Hiruzen's blessing, Fugaku proudly named the baby Sasuke after the Third Hokage's father .

With the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack , the village accused the Uchiha clan of orchestrating the attack as they did not take action against the tailed beast (in the anime, this was because of orders from Danzō Shimura to focus all the Uchiha's efforts solely on protecting the villagers). This, combined with the Uchiha being relocated further away from the village, caused a rift between the village and the Uchiha clan. Despite this, the villagers still admired Fugaku and the Uchiha Clan's efforts of maintaining peace. This did not stop Fugaku from conspiring a coup d'état that would allow the Uchiha clan to take control of the village out of spite. Eventually, Fugaku placed Itachi as a spy in the Anbu to pass information back to the clan. However, Itachi secretly betrayed the Uchiha and became a double agent, leaking information right back to the village. Yashiro Uchiha received information from the masked man , and relayed it to Fugaku to encourage him to towards the coup, as Yashiro himself was unwilling to take responsibility.

Recognising Itachi's prodigious mind and talent, Fugaku began training him regularly, amazed when he mastered the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique on his first try after witnessing it only once. Seeing such potential in Itachi and being his eldest son, hence the successor of the clan, Fugaku focused most of his attention on him, even defending Itachi when he was suspected of killing Shisui Uchiha . However, the two had a falling out when Itachi lost hope in the clan, leading Fugaku to shift his attention to Sasuke, even teaching him how to use the traditional Fire Release techniques of their clan, and was impressed at how Sasuke was able to master the technique after just one week. Sasuke was finally able to enjoy his father's company, but Fugaku advised him not to follow in Itachi's footsteps.

After another clan meeting about the coup d'état, Fugaku called Itachi to speak with him privately. He revealed that the stone tablet within the Naka Shrine held secrets to a better world for all, but required an evolved Sharingan to read it at all, revealing the truth about his acquisition of Mangekyō Sharingan. Knowing of his son's hesitance for bloodshed and reluctance to attack the village, he expressed his desire for this revolution to end without any deaths, insisting that with Itachi's help they could achieve that. Further proving his point, he revealed that he never told anyone in the clan of his Mangekyō Sharingan in fear they would ask him to use its power to take control of the Nine-Tails to use to attack Konoha. Later, Fugaku was asked about the levels of Sharingan, to which he explained that there was indeed a higher level known as Mangekyō Sharingan that only a select few members of their clan have obtained. When Sasuke brought up Itachi's recent behavior, Fugaku explained Itachi is by nature a closed off person and not even he can understand him anymore. During the Uchiha Clan Downfall , Fugaku quickly realised Itachi was behind this attack and confronted him via a clone, expressing their respective views. Itachi then confronted his parents, but Fugaku and Mikoto did not resist and told Itachi that they were still proud of him and to promise to take care of Sasuke before they let Itachi kill them. Fugaku was later found laying dead on top of his wife's corpse.

## Personality [ ]

As leader of the Uchiha, Fugaku was focused on the clan's interest and welfare and had a strong sense of responsibility. Fugaku stood out as one of the shrewdest security captains throughout the generations. He was also shown to be highly observant, able to quickly determine when he was being spied on from afar. His son, Sasuke, saw him as a stern and uncaring man while he was seen as a father-figure to the rest of the clan. As Itachi was his successor as head of the clan, Fugaku spent much of his time focusing on the development of his eldest and little time with his youngest. Sasuke trained constantly in order to get his father's attention and approval. Near the end of his life, Fugaku had switched his attention to Sasuke, having lost hope in the wayward Itachi. He was only impressed by great feats and rarely praised anyone, having high expectations. Fugaku was very serious, hardly smiling most of the time. To which, he showed noticeable distaste to Itachi when he would shirk his duties like attending meetings and missions.

While outwardly Fugaku seemed strict and neglectful towards his eldest and youngest sons respectively, coupled with his devotion and focus of his clan's welfare led him to seem hateful and non-negotiable, he was still a very caring individual to his sons. According to Mikoto, when she and Fugaku were alone, Fugaku would mostly, if not only, talk about Sasuke. While always trying to motivate Sasuke to improve, he failed to see Sasuke's desire to be acknowledged as his son rather than compared to Itachi. He loved both his sons so dearly that when he saw Itachi slaughter their clan, he gave Itachi a chance for an explanation. After realising he was doing this to safeguard Sasuke's life, rather than resisting death as he did not want to hurt his eldest son, he and his wife willingly allowed Itachi to execute them in exchange for securing Sasuke's future and merely asking Itachi to take care of his youngest child. Fugaku also demonstrated great remorse for the turn Itachi's life had taken, blaming himself for the pain Itachi had to endure after reflecting that Itachi could have been the first Uchiha Hokage, sadly admitting his burdening Itachi with the Uchiha Clan's mission had stolen his son's future from him.

In the anime, Fugaku inherited much of the Will of Fire , genuinely wanting to preserve peace in Konoha and ensure good relations between the village and the Uchiha. After the Third Shinobi World War, he ordered his clan to leave Kakashi alone, who had been recently implanted with a Sharingan from Obito despite not being of Uchiha descent, wishing to honour Obito's "dying" decision. He also asked Hiruzen to name his second son after Hiruzen's father. He was also much wiser and more patient than his clan, going along with the relocation despite the Uchiha Clan's protests to help quell Konoha's suspicion of them over time and hoping to eventually restore good relations between the village and the Uchiha. He even chose to keep his Mangekyō Sharingan a secret from his clan in fear that it would drive them to seek greater power through immoral means. However, as his clan continued to grow angrier and more restless from their persecution, Fugaku reluctantly conceded to his clan's desire for revolution. To which, in his dismay of causing bloodshed of civilians, he hoped to end it quickly and with as little harm as possible.

## Appearance [ ]

Fugaku had short, brown hair that reached to his shoulders and onyx-coloured eyes, with visible creases below them made more pronounced whenever he adopted a stern look (the latter of which Itachi inherited from him). He wore a simple kimono with grey pants which had the clan's symbol on the back when not on duty.

While on duty, he wore the standard flak jacket , along with a black shirt with the Konoha Military Police Force symbol on the shoulders, shin-guards and a black, open-front apron with white diamonds on the bottom.

## Abilities [ ]

As an Uchiha, Fugaku had very strong chakra. Even more, he was considered to be a rare genius, whose nickname of "Wicked Eye Fugaku" made shinobi of other nations tremble. His talents were considered comparable to Minato Namikaze and the Sannin , even viewed as a prime candidate to become Fourth Hokage. His abilities were so advanced that even his elder son Itachi, a prominent member of their clan at the time, hoped to avoid fighting such an opponent.

### Ninjutsu [ ]

Fugaku was supposedly quite skilled with shuriken , as Sasuke noted that Itachi was very skilled with shuriken, even more so than their own father. As an Uchiha, he had a natural affinity for Fire Release , showing great mastery of the clan's signature Great Fireball Technique , being one of only two Uchiha to be able to create it to a massive size. In the anime, he could also use the Shadow Clone Technique .

### Dōjutsu [ ]

#### Sharingan [ ]

Like most members of his clan, Fugaku possessed the Sharingan . The dōjutsu granted him the ability to see chakra, predict movements, and place victims under genjutsu with a single glance. With it, he can invoke powerful and elaborate genjutsu .

#### Mangekyō Sharingan [ ]

Fugaku also had some knowledge about the Mangekyō Sharingan , after telling Sasuke that it needs a great sacrifice to awaken. In the anime, Fugaku awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan during the Third Great Shinobi War after his friend sacrificed himself to save him. Taking the form of three dots followed by three curves spiralling counter-clockwise around the pupil, Fugaku was confident it was capable of controlling the Nine-Tails.

## Trivia [ ]

- "Fugaku" ( 富岳 ) is another name for Mount Fuji .
- In the character introduction of volume 25 , he is credited as "Sasuke's Father" rather than "Fugaku Uchiha".
- In an omake of episode 252 of Naruto: Shippūden , Fugaku can be seen standing next to his wife and Itachi, watching Sasuke and other kids play a game of baseball.

## Quotes [ ]

- (To Itachi ) " That's my boy. You've got this far in just half a year since you've become a chūnin. "
- (To Sasuke ) " I will say one thing… From now on walk your own path not in the footsteps of your brother. "
- (To Itachi) " The way we think is different, but I'm still proud of you… You truly are a gentle child. "
- (To Itachi about Sasuke) " Itachi, promise me that you will take care of Sasuke. "

## References [ ]