"If it fails, it is called rebellion; if it succeeds, it is called revolution."
"How are we to conduct politics amidst such a rabble of insects?"
"Guards, stand at attention! Salute the Hokage—Kaka, Tadashi, Makoto!"
"Providing funds and jutsu to a jōnin captain is bribery, but granting them directly to a low-ranking shinobi is considered an allowance."
"Which clan leader should we invite to the Nanhehe Hotel today?"
"The ninja clans have incited the villagers to protest? These are no longer ordinary citizens; decisive measures must be taken."
In the fifty-seventh year of the Hidden Leaf Village, Uchiha Dōhuan ascended to power through a coup d'état, becoming the Fifth Hokage. From that moment onward, the sun rose to dispel the half-century-long night that had overshadowed Konoha.
In the fifty-sixth year of the Hidden Leaf Village, the calamity of the Nine-Tails Rebellion—six years prior—had not only claimed the life of the youthful and vigorous Fourth Hokage, but had also exacerbated the plight of the Uchiha clan, one of the village's founding lineages.
The disaster had left a damning image in the collective memory: the Sharingan's tomoe gleaming in the Nine-Tails' pupils—an accusation impossible to refute.
Within the clan, tempers grew radical. Uchiha Shisui, whose heart was steadfastly devoted to the Will of Fire, watched with mounting anxiety. At this point, the Uchiha were akin to a powder keg awaiting the smallest spark.
Although the clan lacked the cohesion to formalize a course of action, Shisui had privately resolved to employ his most drastic measure.
"It seems there is no other way," he murmured after departing a tense clan meeting. Tilting his gaze toward the moon, his hand instinctively rose to his left eye.
Time, he knew, was a luxury. Shisui set off for the Hokage Building under cover of night, intending to present his plan directly to the Third Hokage. To avoid detection, he chose a circuitous route through the Forest of Death.
Yet, scarcely had he entered when a lone figure emerged from the shadows.
Initially, Shisui braced for combat. But as moonlight illuminated the newcomer's face, he exhaled in relief, his stance softening.
"Dōhuan? What are you doing here?"
The man before him was Uchiha Dōhuan, a prodigy of equal renown to Shisui in their generation. Unlike most Uchiha, whose mastery lay in Fire Release and genjutsu, Dōhuan was an anomaly, investing his skill entirely into Lightning Release. During the Third Great Ninja War, he had summoned a catastrophic Lightning Kirin that annihilated fifteen Mist squads in a single strike, earning him the moniker Azure Thunder Dōhuan.
To Shisui, he was also one of the rare clan members to embody the Will of Fire. In his duties within the Police Force, Dōhuan treated villagers with unfailing courtesy. Notably, he almost never attended clan assemblies—an omission that rankled the radicals.
"I've just completed my daily training," Dōhuan replied with a gentle smile. "But what brings you to the Forest of Death at such an hour, Brother Shisui?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I went out for a walk," Shisui answered, omitting his true destination.
"Is it about the clan and the village?"
"Yes." Shisui sighed heavily. "You know as well as I do—if the clan rebels, they cannot possibly overcome the village. And yet the village, in turn, would be grievously wounded. All that hard-won peace would be shattered."
Shisui's trust in Dōhuan was genuine; his amicable manner and service to the village marked him as an ally worth cultivating.
"People living in peace seldom grasp its worth," Dōhuan observed. "A clan's vision is confined to its own walls, and so they are fated to face such predicaments."
The insight pleased Shisui; he had thought only Itachi—praised by the Third Hokage for his Hokage-like wisdom—possessed such perspective.
"I do have a possible solution to our impasse," Dōhuan continued, the moonlight dappled upon his white haori. "But it requires your assistance, Brother Shisui."
"What do you need from me?" Shisui asked, suddenly solemn.
"Lend me your eyes."
The words struck Shisui like a blade. A crackle of blue lightning flared in his vision as steel clashed in the air. In a heartbeat, his sword was drawn, intercepting a fatal strike.
"Dōhuan? Why?"
"You intend to side with the village," Dōhuan said coldly. "You even chose this long detour to avoid suspicion while carrying news to the Hokage."
Steel rang again as the two withdrew, Sharingan spinning in mutual vigilance.
"So your loyalty is bound to the clan alone?" Shisui's tone chilled. "I thought you shared the Will of Fire."
"Hah!" Dōhuan's laughter was sharp. "You and Itachi imagine yourselves visionaries, yet cannot even perceive your family's or village's future. Frogs in a well, staring at a distant moon."
Lightning coursed around his form. "My sight extends beyond this stagnant world. This sick society requires nothing less than total transformation."
"You intend to start a war? Madman!" Shisui snarled. "I mistook your absence from clan meetings for pacifism. In truth, you are more extreme than the elders themselves."
"I avoid them because I have no wish to consort with insects," Dōhuan retorted. "They clamor for rebellion without ever crafting a viable plan. How can one conduct politics amidst such vermin?"
"Your vision is dangerous, Dōhuan. For the sake of the village, I must stop you!"
Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan unfurled. Dōhuan's voice was almost amused. "Kotoamatsukami—a genjutsu that rewrites the mind itself. You seem surprised I know it. I told you: my eyes see farther than yours."
His own Mangekyō bloomed—three jagged lightning motifs circling the pupil. Shisui's disbelief was evident.