Uchiha Fugaku was a prideful man.
Despite what others around him might claim, he was well aware of his vices.
From the moment Fugaku was born, he had been trained for his position as Clan Head. His whole life had been steeped in history, politics, and social structures.
He had been taught the rich history of his clan, been taught to love their name, their history, their power. He had been taught how to protect and guide the clan in honoring their deep roots in Konoha, in cultivating their power to be an aid to Konoha.
He had been taught how to lead, to see the bigger picture, to maneuver the people around him like he was playing a game of shogi.
He had been taught the Uchiha Clan’s functions, how the daily life of the compound flourished, what went into keeping his fellow clanmates happy, into keeping trade open, into ensuring the Uchiha name would live on to the next generation.
He had grown cold, calculating, stern. After a lifetime of viewing people as pieces on a gameboard, a lifetime of callousness that grew after each mission where he took a life, after the war, the only thing he had left to cling to were the ideals that had carried him through everything else.
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Growing up, he had also learned of the Uchiha curse, just one of many secrets the Uchiha Clan tried to hold close, tried to prevent from exploitation in a world that thrived on the very same.
The Uchiha were cursed to love more deeply than anyone else could ever imagine. The Curse of Hatred, which was really the Curse of Love, is where they derive their famed and sought-after power. The Sharingan, despite its usefulness and depth of power, was something that Fugaku had grown to detest.
The abilities a Shinobi possesses when they unlock the Sharingan are unmatched, but they also corrupt. And while they may be unmatched, these abilities come at a great personal cost to the user.
Each layer of the Sharingan must be unlocked after experiencing the loss of someone deeply loved.
Fugaku may feel anger over the treatment the Uchiha receive at the hands of the Village, but he does understand their origin. Understood it better than ever when he awakened his Mangekyou Sharingan after the death of his friend. Even Fugaku himself fears the Sharingan. Access to that much power directly after such great loss was a recipe for disaster.
Fugaku went so far as to hide his awakened Mangekyou Sharingan, knowing what the Elders would do if they found out.
When the Elders first came to him with their plans for a coup d'état, Fugaku denied them. Fugaku had been raised to protect the clan’s position in Konoha and to protect Konoha itself. What the Elders were proposing was unthinkable at the time. When Fugaku became Clan Head, he also took over as Head of the Konoha Military Police. He was entrusted with keeping peace in Konoha, and the Elders were asking him to betray that trust.
But Uchiha Fugaku was a proud man. He eventually gave in, as there was only so much mistreatment he could suffer through, could watch his clan and his people suffer through, before he could not take it anymore.
His goal was for a bloodless coup d'état. Maybe he was being unrealistic, but all Fugaku longed for was a true peace.
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His firstborn son, Uchiha Itachi, was the Uchiha curse made flesh.
He is full of too much love, too much care, and was born into a world that will not nurture it.
The Shinobi world methodically tore out and washed away any semblance of such magnanimous intentions and only left room for deceitful schemes and underhanded political maneuvering.
The pure love Itachi held would slowly turn to rot as the life of a Shinobi poisoned it into something unrecognizable, something hateful.
Maybe Fugaku was too cynical, but he had watched too many of his brethren fall prey to the same thing he feared Itachi would.
Fugaku tried to do what he could to prevent that from happening, tried to show Itachi the truth of this world while he was still young, not even a Shinobi himself yet.
Some might call him cruel, bringing his four-year-old son to a body-strewn battlefield, but Fugaku only wanted to protect Itachi. He wanted Itachi to understand what it meant to be a leader in the Shinobi world, wanted him to understand the incalculable loss that weighs heavy on the Village leaders as they strive for peace.
As he watches Itachi grow distant from him, watches him try to abandon and ignore his responsibilities as the heir, he knows that he has failed in that regard. Itachi was a pacifist, a boy who hated violence, hated his role as a Shinobi. In the end, Fugaku couldn't fault him that.
Looking at where his clan has ended up under his leadership–ostracized and hateful–he can’t help but feel that he had failed in most aspects of his life. His family and his clan are the two most important things in his life, and he is laying witness to the downfall of both. It left a bittersweet taste on his tongue.
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With his back to his son and his wife at his side, Fugaku finally cast aside his pride and accepted his fate.
Itachi was kind, good, full of love. Fugaku wished his son had been born into a world better suited to him. Fugaku wished he had been a better father, a better leader. Fugaku wished he could die without regrets.
As Fugaku bled out, resting over his wife’s body, he desperately prayed to the gods and the Sage himself that Itachi and Sasuke wouldn’t fall prey to the Curse of Hatred.
Even in his last moments, he knew that his prayer was unheard and would go unanswered.