Yu's Vision

The rooftop offered a wide-open view. Above them stretched a sky full of stars, and there was Nothingness to hide around them. They did not have to worry about anyone eavesdropping on their conversation either. It was, in every sense, a good place to speak freely.

Hane and the others soon arrived. "Let's sit and talk! If I stay standing, I'll have to keep looking up at you, and my neck will start hurting."

Hane said it half-jokingly. Then he casually sat down, leaning against the railing as he found a comfortable position.

It was now the last month of summer. The night breeze stirred Hane's bangs, making him appear particularly relaxed.

Shisui could only give a wry smile at the sight. He casually found a spot and sat cross-legged, while Itachi obediently sat beside his older brother, unconsciously edging a little closer to Hane.

Uchiha Retsuyō stared unblinkingly at Shisui, afraid that the leader of the moderates would lead the young clan heir he admired astray.

Hane looked up at the sky. "Brother Shisui, you said earlier that I had completely rejected the village. Could you tell me exactly what part of the village I rejected?" Hane asked leisurely.

"Hane, I admit the village has done some excessive things, but does that mean the clan bears no fault at all? Think about the Nine-Tails Rebellion. That is the point for which the Uchiha Clan has been questioned most severely. And then there is the Military Police Force's reputation. I don't need to tell you how bad it is. I think only by changing our own attitude first can we gradually make the village accept us."

Shisui gave Hane a long explanation, but Hane merely sighed helplessly into Nothingness.

"Brother Shisui, I have to tell you one fact: even if our attitude became as humble as possible, the village would still exclude us all the same."

"You say the Military Police Force has a terrible reputation, but can you tell me what the clan members actually 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 his words instantly caught in his throat.

"Have we ever committed any heinous acts? Have we ever abused our authority to bully ordinary villagers?"

"I think that even the most arrogant and self-important clan member would disdain doing such things. You can say the clan members are haughty and look down on Nothingness, that they have all sorts of bad habits. But it is precisely that pride ingrained in their bones that makes them disdain the actions of petty, despicable people.

"Even so, we should not be hated and treated as enemies to this extent!"

"Brother Shisui, you are someone who understands reason. I do not think I could fool you by fabricating stories. You say I have completely rejected the village, but are some things truly mine to reject or not reject? The facts are right there.

If you said the Uchiha Clan had fallen to this point without anyone scheming behind the scenes, do you think anyone would believe it? What is the root cause? Is it not the deep prejudice that Konoha's higher-ups, led by the Third Hokage, hold against the Uchiha Clan? So the issue now is not how the Uchiha should change ourselves, but how to eliminate that prejudice itself."

"If possible, no Uchiha wants to come to this point. Who enjoys bloody slaughter, especially when the people being killed are those who live in the same village as us?"

"Living in the village's great melting pot, how many Uchiha are truly alone? We have friends among the ordinary villagers. We have bonds with the entire village. But what is happening now? The tree may wish for peace, but the wind never stops. The village is forcing the Uchiha Clan down the path we least wish to take."

"Hane, the one with prejudice is not the Third Hokage. It is Danzo!"

Shisui hurriedly argued, but his voice was no longer as firm as before. Though he believed in the Will of Fire, he was not a fool who understood nothing. It was not as though he could not see certain things. He had personally experienced the higher-ups' suppression of the Uchiha Clan.

During the Third Shinobi World War, he had earned so many merits, yet the rewards that reached him had been 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 considering everything from the broader perspective of the village.

Yet his feelings for the clan were just as deep. There were the younger clan members who admired him, as well as the clan elders who had cared for him. That was also why he had always refused to give up on the clan.

He believed the clan had always been an inseparable part of the village. Rather than oppose the village and create a deeper rift between the clan and Konoha, it would be better to actively integrate into it.

Yet he did not know what method could achieve the future he hoped for.

He could only desperately give everything he had, letting the village's higher-ups see the Uchiha Clan's efforts and contributions, while using his ideals to inspire more clan members.

But in the end, things went against his wishes. The prejudice in people's hearts was a mountain—how could it possibly be moved so easily? Despite all his efforts, the conflict between the village and the clan only grew fiercer. By the time they reached the end, he discovered it was a hopeless dead end.

One could imagine how much pain he carried inside. Even after awakening an overpowered dojutsu like Kotoamatsukami, he was still unable, through Nothingness, to change everyone's will in one go.

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 a problem caused by 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 distrust the Uchiha Clan, yet they never learned the Second Hokage's broad-mindedness in taking the Uchiha Clan as disciples."

Hane looked Shisui straight in the eye.

"This incident alone makes it clear that they never intended to leave us any room to maneuver. Brother Shisui, surely you know what kind of place the banks of the Naka River are!"

"Mountains lie to the left, and the Barrier Team is not far away. The moment they move against the Uchiha Clan, we will have Nothingness of room to resist. How do you expect us to tolerate people like that? If we continue to hold any illusions about them, then one day the banks of the Naka River will become the Uchiha Clan's graveyard!"

Shisui stared blankly at Hane, momentarily dazed.

"Hane, what do you want me to do by telling me all this? Do you want me to support the radicals?"

A faint smile appeared on Hane's lips as he slowly rose to his feet. "Brother Shisui, don't you think the moderates and radicals in the clan are rather ridiculous? The enemy is already right in our faces, yet they are still debating 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 are you trying to do?"

"I merely want to set the world in order and give everyone a bright future. This world's sky has been shrouded by haze for too long, leaving too many people with Nothingness of opportunity to leisurely look up at this beautiful starry sky as I do now. Brother Shisui, don't you think that is a kind of tragedy as well?"

"Brother Shisui, come help me! You always think of the village from a broad perspective, but once you step outside the village and look at Konoha from a greater vantage point, you will realize that your so-called village is merely an incredibly tiny patch of land in this world. Then the conflict between the clan and the village will seem even more insignificant—Nothingness itself!"

Shisui looked at Hane's calm smile for a long time, unable to regain his senses. At that moment, his heart and his thoughts felt as though they had been struck fiercely by a massive hammer.

Following Hane's clear words, his thoughts leaped from the clan to the village, from the village to the Land of Fire, and from the Land of Fire to the entire Ninja World.

When he suddenly pulled back, he realized that the peace between the clan and the village he had always pursued was simply childish and laughable.

Suddenly, he remembered passing through a small village in the Land of Rain during the Third Shinobi World War. Corpses had littered the area. Orphans with Nothingness to adopt them, dressed in thin clothes, huddled and shivered inside ruined straw huts. Each of them had looked at the Konoha shinobi as though they were savage beasts from ancient times.

His heart sank.

"Hane, is this the breadth of your vision?" Shisui murmured blankly.