Whispers traveled faster than the wind through Konoha's streets. Shinobi spoke in hushed voices behind shuttered doors, rumors spilling like cracks in a dam. The Uchiha are gathering.Shisui hasn't returned.Something is coming.
Renji caught fragments as he passed through the village on errands. He pretended not to listen, but the words clung to him. At home, Miyako moved with deliberate silence, her expression tight whenever such whispers reached her ears. Renji tried to press her, but she brushed him aside with the same answer every time: "Some things are better not spoken aloud."
The news of Shisui's death hit like a hammer. Some claimed suicide; others whispered darker tales. Renji caught one fragment from passing shinobi:
"Could it be true? The great Shisui, gone… like that?"
The absence was undeniable. The Uchiha whispered vengeance, the village whispered suspicion.
That same night, the council convened in the Hokage's chamber.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the head, his features drawn with the weight of decades. He tapped his pipe against the arm of the chair, smoke curling in slow, deliberate streams. To his right stood Danzo Shimura, eye gleaming with impatience, while Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane occupied their seats in silence.
"They gather every night now, near the Nakano Shrine," Danzo said, voice sharp. "The Uchiha are no longer simply murmuring—they are planning. Shisui's death has unshackled them. If we wait, they will strike first. The solution is clear—we eliminate the threat now."
Hiruzen let the smoke fill the silence. His thoughts churned, careful and precise. To strike the Uchiha would save the village from rebellion… but would burn it from within. To hesitate risks open revolt. Either path costs blood. He weighed each consequence like shogi pieces on an invisible board.
Koharu's brow furrowed. "If conflict begins, Konoha will fracture. The Uchiha still hold power enough to drag the village into ruin."
Danzo's gaze did not waver. "Hiruzen, hesitation will make it worse still. You must act."
Hiruzen exhaled slowly, pipe trembling faintly between his fingers. "We will not rush into slaughter," he said, each word heavy, deliberate. "But neither can we blind ourselves to what is coming. Shisui's death has shifted everything—the clan teeters on the edge."
Homura added quietly, "We have not seen the worst yet. The young prodigies… the village may fracture before their eyes."
The council ended unresolved, leaving only the tension pressing against Konoha's walls like an unseen storm.
Later that night, Renji sat in the small yard outside his home, staring at the moon. He didn't know the details, but he felt the shift in the air, as if the village itself held its breath. Shinobi he passed moved more cautiously, their words sharper, their eyes more suspicious. Even Miyako, who hid everything behind her composed mask, lingered longer in silence these days.
Renji could not name it, but he sensed it—something massive was moving beneath the surface, and when it broke, the world he knew would never be the same.