"Where is this…?"
Uchiha Shisui suddenly opened his eyes. It took him a long while before he slowly came back to his senses.
"Wasn't I with Lord Yuzuru inside the shrine at the Uchiha clan grounds?"
Shisui couldn't clearly remember what had happened. He only recalled following Uchiha Yuzuru into the shrine—and then losing consciousness.
"Shisui, the clan meeting is about to start. What are you doing here?"
Looking at the Uchiha clansman in front of him, Shisui frowned. "Tekka?"
Uchiha Tekka nodded. Seeing Shisui drenched in sweat, he asked in confusion, "Did you have a nightmare?"
Shisui shook his head. "Tekka… where is this place?"
"This is Konoha. The Uchiha clan grounds—Naka Shrine!"
"Did you sleep yourself into a daze?"
Hearing Tekka's answer, Shisui's brows knit tightly together.
Konoha?
Naka Shrine?
He lowered his head and looked at his now youthful body. His hands immediately began forming seals.
"Genjutsu: Release!"
Shisui disrupted the flow of chakra within his body, but nothing in front of him changed.
Seeing his actions, Tekka stepped back in fear.
"Shisui… are you just too exhausted and still half-asleep?"
At those words, a cold smile appeared on Shisui's face. "I've never been more awake. Don't think you can fool me."
He snorted. Under Tekka's horrified gaze, Shisui pulled a kunai from his ninja pouch and stabbed it straight toward his own heart.
"Shisui!!!"
Amid panicked shouts, Shisui's consciousness fell into darkness.
When he awoke again, he found himself lying in a spotless white hospital room.
"Shisui, you're awake?"
Seeing him open his eyes, Uchiha Tekka cried out in delight.
Then he complained, "What on earth happened to you? Why would you suddenly try to kill yourself over nothing?"
"Where is Lord Yuzuru?"
"Who?"
Seeing the confusion on Tekka's face, Shisui closed his mouth.
He had originally thought he was under genjutsu, but now it didn't seem that simple.
Whether it was the flow of chakra in his body or the fear and palpitations at the brink of death, all five senses felt terrifyingly real.
Until he understood what was going on, it was better to proceed carefully.
Seeing Shisui close his eyes in thought, Tekka scratched his head. "Well, as long as you're awake. I'll go inform the clan head."
After Tekka left, the ward once again fell into silence.
————
————
Several months later.
Uchiha Shisui sat alone before a cliff at the back of the Uchiha clan grounds, unable to suppress a sigh.
It seemed… he couldn't go back.
During this time, he had tried countless methods, all without success.
For some reason, his consciousness had arrived in a parallel world almost identical to the shinobi world he knew.
This world shared nearly the same history as his own. The only divergence occurred in Konoha Year Thirty-Six.
Lord Uchiha Yuzuru…
Was never born!
From that year onward, everything gradually diverged from his memories.
The Uchiha clan did not relocate from Konoha Year Forty-One. Uchiha Fugaku became the clan head.
The Third Shinobi World War still broke out on schedule, but this time, as part of Konoha, the Uchiha were dispatched to the battlefield between Konoha and the Hidden Mist Village.
Because the Mist's ninjutsu was particularly effective against the Uchiha, the clan suffered heavy casualties.
Although they eventually repelled the enemy, the price paid was immense.
Uchiha Obito, as a disciple of Namikaze Minato, died during the Kannabi Bridge mission and transferred one Sharingan to Hatake Kakashi.
To ease tensions between the Uchiha clan and the village, Clan Head Uchiha Fugaku suppressed opposition within the clan, allowing Kakashi to keep the Sharingan.
After the Third Shinobi World War ended, Namikaze Minato became the Fourth Hokage.
In Konoha Year Fifty-One, the Fourth Hokage died during the Nine-Tails incident.
That same year, Sarutobi Hiruzen resumed power as the Third Hokage. As prime suspects, the Uchiha clan was forced to relocate to the edge of the village and placed under continuous twenty-four-hour Anbu surveillance…
As these gathered details replayed in his mind, Shisui's expression grew colder and colder.
As expected, Konoha's upper echelon was completely unworthy of trust. Those people never regarded the Uchiha clan as comrades.
"Shisui, I thought I'd find you here."
A low voice came from behind. Shisui stood up. "Itachi. What is it?"
Looking at the face before him—so different from the one in his memories—Shisui felt little interest.
In this world, many people's appearances and personalities differed greatly from what he remembered.
Mikoto, Kushina, Sasuke, Naruto…
The Itachi before him was the same—constantly talking about things like "transcending the clan," "the Will of Fire," and "protecting the village," to the point of irritation.
If this were the world he came from, that man would have long since been hung from a tree and whipped by Lord Yuzuru.
Uchiha Itachi paid no attention to Shisui's attitude and spoke solemnly. "The voices of the radical faction within the clan are growing louder. If this continues, war between the village and the Uchiha clan is inevitable."
"If that happens, Konoha may be attacked by other villages, and the Fourth Shinobi World War could even break out."
"Shisui, have you thought of a way to stop this?"
Shisui glanced at Itachi and replied calmly, "I already have a solution."
Itachi's eyes lit up. "Really? What is it?"
"Turn every clansman into a radical. Unite everyone into a single force."
"What?"
"As long as the Uchiha clan possesses enough power, the current situation can be overturned."
Itachi had not expected such words from Shisui and looked stunned.
"Shisui… you've chosen the radicals?"
"No. I've chosen the Uchiha clan."
Shisui turned and began walking back toward the clan grounds.
From behind, Itachi called out, "You understand what those radicals are like. The village won't tolerate their ideas. Once conflict erupts—"
"Then we fight."
Shisui cut him off, speaking slowly. "A certain lord once told me that without power, you can accomplish nothing."
"If you want others to calmly reason with you, then show them strength they cannot afford to ignore."
"Without the resolve to stake everything, we have no future."
With that, Shisui vanished in a flicker of movement.
Before coming here, he had already seen through the true nature of Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo through Clan Head Yuzuru, Senior Sakumo, Lady Tsunade, and Lord Orochimaru.
Bullies who fear strength and bluster to hide their weakness.
The more you compromise, the more they push their luck.
Only by uniting can the Uchiha clan fight for a single thread of survival.