The rooftop offered a broad view. Looking up revealed a sky full of stars, and there was nowhere around to hide. There was no need to worry about anyone eavesdropping on their conversation either. It was the perfect place to speak freely.
Hane and the others soon arrived. "Let's sit and talk. If I stand, I'll have to look up at you, and my neck will start hurting."
Hane said it half-jokingly. Afterward, he casually sat down, leaned against the railing, and found a comfortable position.
It was now the final month of summer. The night breeze stirred Hane's bangs, making him look especially languid.
Shisui could only smile wryly at the sight. He casually found a spot and sat cross-legged, while Itachi obediently sat beside his older brother, his body unconsciously edging a little closer to Hane.
Uchiha Retsuyō stared unblinkingly at Shisui, afraid that the leader of the Moderate Faction would lead the young clan heir he admired astray.
Hane looked up at the sky. "Brother Shisui, you said earlier that I had completely denied the village. Can you tell me exactly what part of the village I denied?" Hane asked leisurely.
"Hane, I admit that the village has done some excessive things, but were the clansmen truly without fault? Think about the Nine-Tails Rebellion. That is the greatest source of suspicion toward our Uchiha Clan. And then there is the Military Police Force's reputation. I don't need to tell you how terrible it is. I believe that only by changing our own attitude first can we slowly make the village accept us."
Shisui gave Hane a long explanation, but Hane merely sighed helplessly.
"Brother Shisui, I have to tell you one fact: no matter how humble our attitude becomes, the village will still reject us."
"You say the Military Police Force has a terrible reputation, but can you tell me what the clansmen did wrong? What did we do to end up with such a rotten reputation that even children spit behind our backs when they see us?"
Shisui had been about to speak, but the words instantly caught in his throat.
"Have we ever done anything wicked? Have we ever used our authority to bully ordinary villagers?"
"I think even the most arrogant, self-important clansman would disdain doing such things. You can say that the clansmen are haughty and look down on others, that they have all these bad habits. But it is precisely that pride ingrained in their bones that makes them disdainful of doing the things petty villains do.
"Even so, we should not be hated and hostilely treated to this extent!"
"Brother Shisui, you are a reasonable man. I do not believe I could fool you by fabricating things. You say that I have completely denied the village, but are some things really mine to deny? The facts are right there.
If you said the Uchiha Clan had fallen to this state without anyone stirring trouble behind the scenes, do you think anyone would believe it? What is the root cause? Is it not the deep prejudice against the Uchiha Clan held by Konoha's upper ranks, led by the Third Hokage? So the issue now is not how the Uchiha Clan should change itself, but how to eliminate that prejudice itself."
"If possible, no Uchiha would want to come this far. Who likes bloody slaughter, especially when the people being killed live in the same village as them?"
"Living in the village's great melting pot, how many Uchiha are truly alone? We have friends among ordinary villagers. We also have bonds with the entire village. But what is it now? The tree may wish for peace, but the wind never stops. The village is forcing the Uchiha Clan down the path we least want to take."
"Hane, the one with prejudice is not the Third Hokage. It is Danzo!"
Shisui hurriedly defended him, though his voice was no longer as firm as before. He believed in the Will of Fire, but he was not a fool who understood nothing. It did not mean he could not see certain things. He had personally experienced the suppression of the Uchiha Clan by the upper ranks.
He had earned so many merits during the Third Shinobi World War, yet the rewards he received were pitifully few. It was not that he had failed to notice. It was simply that the teachings of his elders had made him accustomed to viewing everything from the village's greater perspective.
But his feelings for the clan were just as deep. There were the younger clansmen who admired him, as well as the elder clansmen who had cared for him. That was why he had always refused to give up on the clan.
He believed that the clan had always been an inseparable part of the village. Rather than oppose the village and deepen the rift between the clan and the village, it would be better to actively integrate into it.
Yet he had no idea what method he could use to bring about the future he hoped for.
He could only work desperately, hoping to make the village's upper ranks see the Uchiha Clan's efforts and contributions, while using his ideals to inspire more clansmen.
But in the end, things went against his wishes. Prejudice in people's hearts was a mountain that could not be so easily moved. After so much effort, the conflict between the village and the clan only grew more intense. By the end, he discovered that it had been a hopeless dead end.
One could imagine how much pain he was in. Even after awakening an overpowered dōjutsu like Kotoamatsukami, he could not alter everyone's will all at once.
That was where Shisui's despair came from.
Hane lowered his gaze from the starry sky and looked at Shisui, whose anxious face was searching for an answer.
"Brother Shisui, this is not the problem of one or two people. The Third Hokage, the Konoha Elder Council, and that old bastard Danzo—they believe they have inherited the Second Hokage's will. They guard against and remain wary of us Uchiha, yet they never learned the Second Hokage's broad-mindedness in accepting the Uchiha Clan as disciples."
Hane looked directly at Shisui.
"This incident alone makes it clear that they never intended to leave us any room to retreat. Brother Shisui, surely you know what kind of place the banks of the Naka River are?"
"With mountains on the left and the Barrier Team nearby, once they move against the Uchiha Clan, we will have no room to resist. How do you expect us to tolerate people like that? If we continue to hold illusions about them, then one day the banks of the Naka River will become the graveyard of the Uchiha Clan!"
Shisui stared blankly at Hane, momentarily dazed.
"Hane, why are you telling me all this? Do you want me to support the Radical Faction?"
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Hane's lips as he slowly stood. "Brother Shisui, don't you think the Moderate Faction and Radical Faction within the clan are rather ridiculous? The enemy is practically stepping on their faces, yet they are still arguing over whether to be radical or moderate."
"Brother Shisui, join us. Hane will show you a brighter future, a path where neither the village nor the clan will be a problem anymore!"
Hane gently extended his small hand toward Shisui, who sat cross-legged before him.
Shisui gave Hane a puzzled look. "Hane, what exactly do you want to do?"
"I merely want to set the world right and give everyone a bright future. This world's sky has been obscured by haze for too long, leaving too many people unable to leisurely look up at such a beautiful starry sky as I can now. Brother Shisui, don't you think that is a kind of tragedy too?"
"Brother Shisui, come help me! You always believe the village is the greater perspective, but once you step beyond the village and look at Konoha from a broader view, you will discover that your so-called village is merely an insignificant patch of land in this world. The conflict between the clan and the village becomes even more insignificant!"
Shisui stared at Hane's calm smile for a long time, unable to recover. At that moment, it felt as though a massive hammer had struck his heart and thoughts with ruthless force.
Following Hane's clear words, his thinking leaped from the clan to the village, from the village to the Land of Fire, and then from the Land of Fire to the entire Ninja World.
Then, when his thoughts suddenly returned, he realized that the peace between the clan and the village he had always spoken of was childish to the point of absurdity.
He suddenly remembered passing through a small village in the Land of Rain during the Third Shinobi World War. Corpses and cries of misery had filled the place. Orphans with no one to care for them, dressed in thin clothes, had shivered inside ruined thatched huts. Every one of them had looked at the Konoha shinobi as if they were some primordial beast.
His heart sank.
"Hane, is this your vision?" Shisui murmured blankly.
Before you continue