After leaving the Forest of Death, Shisui returned to Konohagakure.
Standing on the cliff beneath Hokage Rock, he looked down at the peaceful village below.
Smoke curled from chimneys. Lights flickered on in the streets. Children ran around chasing each other like idiots with too much energy.
It looked calm.
Too calm.
Shisui couldn't help feeling emotional.
In the past, he believed the village was everything.
He thought that once you left Konoha, life would simply… stop.
But after being betrayed by the village—and technically dying once—he suddenly realized something.
Konoha wasn't big at all.
It was just a small cage.
The only reason it felt huge before was because he had never dared to step outside.
Even something as powerful as Kotoamatsukami was still limited by the user's own vision.
If your world was small, your power would be small too.
After letting out a soft sigh, Shisui changed into a loose robe that hid his figure and put on a crow mask.
Until he met Itachi, he didn't want anyone recognizing him.
After losing his Mangekyō, his strength had dropped sharply.
Still stronger than an average jōnin, sure—
—but nothing crazy anymore.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan could barely sustain high-level genjutsu.
Susanoo? Forget it. Pure daydreaming.
And Izanagi cost an eye.
Blinding himself just to survive one mistake?
Yeah, no thanks.
Those were ancestral eyes, not disposable contact lenses.
After entering the clan compound, Shisui used a Transformation Technique and disguised himself as an ordinary Uchiha chūnin.
Before meeting Itachi, he had something more important to deal with.
The traitor.
If there hadn't been an insider, Danzō could never have known the clan's secrets so clearly.
After all, the old Shisui had only reported the coup to the Hokage.
Yet Danzō acted like he already knew everything.
Which meant—
Someone had been snitching.
If he wanted to lead the clan away safely, that mole had to go first.
And Shisui already knew who it was.
Inside the Police Force building, Shisui greeted everyone with a smile.
As a "new" chūnin, he was surprisingly popular.
Ironically, this was a brand-new experience for him.
Elite jōnin Shisui had always been respected.
But regular-guy Shisui?
That was different.
Turns out chatting about food stalls and gossip was harder than fighting wars.
Soon, he got dragged out for patrol duty.
For most of the day, he worked as a normal security guard.
Breaking up street arguments.
Stopping drunk civilians.
Confiscating illegal gambling stalls.
Peak ninja life.
His teammate grumbled after scaring off some troublemakers.
"Keeping a straight face all day is exhausting. Can't these villagers just behave?"
Shisui blinked.
"Aren't we enforcing the law strictly to vent our frustrations?"
The other Uchiha stared at him like he'd grown a second head.
"…No? Who has the energy for that?"
"We're strict because it works. Crime drops fast that way. Otherwise who wants to argue with old ladies over vegetable prices all day?"
Shisui fell silent.
…So it wasn't oppression.
It was just efficiency.
He might have misunderstood his clan all along.
The guy continued,
"Honestly, compared to civilian ninjas risking their necks on missions outside, guard duty is pretty comfy. People just hate us, that's all."
Shisui asked quietly,
"If life isn't bad… then why push for a coup?"
The man's expression darkened.
"Because it's unfair."
"Why do families like the Sarutobi and Shimura get all the good departments, while we're stuck babysitting the streets?"
"In the last war we stopped Kirigakure's attack. After the Fourth Hokage died, we got blamed for the Nine-Tails."
"Yeah, Sharingan can control it—but who the hell here can actually do that?"
"So why are we punished for it?"
As he spoke, he got so worked up his Sharingan activated.
Shisui patted his shoulder to calm him down.
After a pause, Shisui said carefully,
"Then… have you thought about leaving the village?"
"If the village treats us like this, why stay?"
The man laughed bitterly.
"Leave? Go where? The village won't allow it. The higher-ups won't allow it. They want a coup. They want the Hokage seat."
Shisui's voice turned firm.
"That's exactly why we should leave."
"Why die for someone else's ambition?"
"There are plenty of people like you who don't want war, right?"
The chūnin looked at him suspiciously—
Then noticed Shisui's Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
His eyes widened.
"When did you awaken that?"
"Recently," Shisui said calmly.
"And I realized something. Past glory doesn't feed us. Survival does."
The man hesitated.
He wasn't the only one forced along by the clan's radical decisions.
Most of the lower ranks just wanted to live quietly.
After a long silence, he muttered,
"I don't want the coup either… but can we really escape both the clan and the village?"
"That's why we need more people," Shisui said softly.
Then—
His Sharingan spun.
A subtle genjutsu slipped in.
Not control.
Just… persuasion.
A gentle push.
After it ended, the chūnin looked at Shisui like he'd just seen hope for the first time.
Maybe things really could change.
Over the next few weeks, Shisui lived as an ordinary guard.
Patrol.
Chat.
Listen.
Learn.
The more he talked to people, the more he realized something shocking:
Most of the clan didn't want a coup at all.
They were just angry.
Complaining.
Blowing off steam.
The real extremists were only a small group at the top.
Meanwhile, he quietly captured the clan's traitor—a logistics chūnin secretly replaced by two rotating Root agents.
If he hadn't immediately used genjutsu, they might have escaped.
After removing them, Shisui didn't bother worrying about Danzō's reaction.
Root losing two pawns?
Danzō probably wouldn't even blink.
Gradually, Shisui gathered more like-minded Uchiha.
A hidden faction formed.
Silent.
Invisible.
Ready to leave.
As for Itachi…
Their meeting kept getting postponed.
Partly because Shisui didn't know how to explain "Hey, I died but not really."
But mostly…
It was a test.
If Itachi was truly sharp, he should notice the subtle changes within the clan.
But Itachi never paid attention to ordinary people.
He only watched the higher-ups.
Just like Shisui used to.
Arrogant.
Tunnel-visioned.
Making the same mistakes.
On top of that, Shisui noticed something else.
A masked man had also been moving around the clan recently.
Space-time abilities.
Strange behavior.
Definitely not Naruto.
Someone else entirely.
And that made things even more dangerous.
With all these variables stacking up, Shisui finally gave up contacting Itachi for now.
He no longer had the Mangekyō.
No longer had overwhelming strength.
So every step—
had to be careful.
One mistake…
and everything would collapse.
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