(late-May, year 54 AK)
In just four days Yuta's team returned back to the village without any accidents. They run at a fast speed, using the shortest routes instead of public roads, and since they weren't burdened by civilians in the group, they hopped from tree to tree and moved at a speed that the best athletes from Yuta's previous life's world wouldn't be able to even imagine being possible.
Reaching the village, they passed the checks on the gate quickly and entered Konoha late evening. They went straight to the Hokage Tower and soon enough Shisui had reported the mission's completion to Hiruzen, who was sitting at his desk being deep in thoughts.
"So, it went well without any accident's, good." Hiruzen said after hearing Shisui's simple and short report, he was clearly being preoccupied by some other matters and his mind was elsewhere, and he didn't paid much attention to the Shisui's team, who was standing in front of his desk, "Good. You can rest now. Shisui, you can accept higher rank missions for your team by yourself at the reception floor, I'll summon you if there is something."
"Yes, Lord Hokage." Shisui replied respectfully.
"I see your teammates are tired." Hiruzen said as he looked at Shisui in the eyes.
"Yes. Itachi, Hikari and Yuta, you can go rest now, let's meet in three days at the usual spot." Itachi said as he picked up on Hiruzen's hint.
As the three Genins left the office, Hiruzen's expression turned into a more serious one.
"I had received reports about unusual movements inside the Uchiha clan." Hiruzen said, "What is your status on your other mission?"
"As you may know, Lord Hokage, a month ago there was an Uchiha gathering that took place." Shisui said after a few moments of thinking, "During the gathering a few clansmen had openly voiced the possibility of a coup, when that happened, I directly opposed it in front of the clan. And after that, back then, the clan head had dismissed the idea of the coup. I believed that my open and direct opposition should've suppressed them to some extent, since they value my strength and count on me if something happens, but it seems that it wasn't as efficient as I thought."
"I see." Hiruzen said slowly, his expression was grim, "I'm afraid it won't be enough to resolve this problem. Do you have a plan of how to proceed?"
"I do have a few ideas but I'm still looking for the best approach, I need more time." Shisui said, while he thought, 'It seems that those radical-inclined clansmen didn't drop the idea of the coup and are spending time persuading the other clansmen. I will be forced to make my move rather sooner than later...'
"Good, I will entrust this to you, Shisui." Hiruzen said as his expression relaxed a little, "If you need anything from me, just let me know."
"I will, Lord Hokage, I'll take my leave." Shisui replied and left the office.
As Shisui left, Hiruzen pulled out his pipe and started smoking, his expression was heavy, filled with worry and hesitation.
As Shisui was leaving the Hokage Tower, he thought, 'It's not just the Uchiha who is the problem here. Sure, they are in the wrong by discussing the possibility of a coup, but they are doing that for a reason. Village was treating the Uchiha clan badly for the past few years, the forced relocation to the outskirts, the distrust, the constant surveillance, the negative talks and rumors on the streets, it all builds up. Even if I successfully suppress the radical-inclined clansmen, the village must change as well, or the relations between the village and the Uchiha clan won't improve, and it will only be a temporary measure and eventually the whole clan will snap no matter what...'
'Lord Hokage must understand all of that as well, but is he willing to make the village to change and improve its treatment of the Uchiha clan? Maybe I'm approaching this problem from a wrong angle? The dissatisfaction inside the Uchiha clan is just the result of how the village is treating the clan. But it already came to the point where if the village improves its treatment of the clan, it won't stop the radicals of the clan to continue to push for the coup, it's just too late for that. But if the village's treatment of the clan won't improve even if the coup movement is suppressed, the main problem will remain.'
Being plagued by such difficult thoughts and possible choices, Shisui thought that he should share his ideas with Hiruzen and properly cooperate with him on the matter, he thought that Hiruzen might have an insights about how to better use his Mangekyo Sharingan power to deal with the situation, but then he remembered the warnings Yuta gave him multiple times, emphasized on how important it was - "Do not trust Danzo, he will do everything to destroy Uchiha" and "Hiruzen completely trusts Danzo".
'Yuta was sure that whatever the Lord Third knows, Danzo will know as well... And he is sure that Danzo views the Uchiha as the threat to the village... I can't share my plans with the Lord Third, not if I believe in Yuta's words that is, and everything Yuta had said so far - turned to be true. And although I could sense that Yuta doesn't tell me everything, I could tell that his desire to save both the Uchiha and the village is genuine, and I believe I could trust in his predictions about these matters as well.'
With that thought, Shisui decided to not inform Hiruzen about his further plans, and to stay on guard around Danzo as well. Shisui believed that Danzo is loyal to the village, but since he chosen to be an enemy of the Uchiha, Shisui did not even entertained the thought of sacrificing the Uchiha clan for the benefit of the village and of Danzo Shimura, he didn't thought about such a possibility even for a second.
If Danzo Shimura wants to destroy the Uchiha clan, at this point it doesn't matter to Shisui how loyal to the village Danzo truly is, and how important and valuable for the village he is. At this point he is an enemy, since the family and the clan always come first, and the village is second.
Shisui is loyal to the village, and he is willing to fight and die for the village, and to carry through any orders the village might give him, no matter how difficult they are, all for the sake of the village. But all of that only remains true until the clan is also a part of the village itself. The clan is the family, the bloodline and the legacy of many generations, the reputation and the name as well, at the end of the day, the clan is the most important thing for Shisui, it's a home, a place where he belongs, and the people that are his blood relatives.
And although the village is almost as important as the clan in Shisui's heart, and he will die for the village if he must, when someone like Danzo becomes an enemy of the clan, Shisui will find a way to eliminate the threat to his clan, no matter how loyal and valuable Danzo is to the village.
Shisui also understood that in the current era, Uchiha clan's survival is tied to the village and can't be separated from it. The fate of a lone clan, no matter how powerful, is only destruction in the era of the great shinobi villages. And if this strife between the Uchiha and the village will spill out into the coup attempt, then no matter who wins the battle, the village will be weakened, and the new great war will likely follow.
Knowing all that, and also after he bonded with many people outside of the Uchiha clan during his life, the academy, war and after the war period, Shisui can't even think of fighting against the village in the coup attempt, he loves the village and it's people too much for that.
And although the idea of eliminating the loyal elder of the village normally would be something unthinkable for Shisui, now, since he understood that in the end it will be either Uchiha or Danzo, Shisui doesn't mind making a move against Danzo anymore, not after going through so much pressure with the Uchiha clan's situation and the Hokage's expectations of him.
And all of that is while Shisui is considering that Danzo Shimura is truly loyal to the village. But although Yuta didn't directly say that Danzo is not loyal, but he also said that Danzo once attempted to assassinate the Hokage to become the Hokage himself, and although Yuta had claimed that Hiruzen had forgiven Danzo for the attempt, Shisui felt conflicted while thinking about that. In Shisui's understanding, the assassination attempt on the Hokage himself is the treason of the highest order.
Now, taking into consideration all of the complexity of the situation, and also the revelations and insights that Yuta had told him about the multiple sides involved, Shisui was sure that in the core of this issue lies Danzo's hostility towards the Uchiha clan, and the involvement of the rogue Uchiha that possesses the Mangekyo Sharingan with the Nine-Tails incident.
'If only I could capture the rogue Uchiha who was behind the Nine-Tails incident and hand him over to the village, dead or alive, it would immediately solve the main problem, it will shift the suspicion and the blame from the Uchiha clan to the rogue ninja and the relations between the clan and the village could be repaired with just a single move...' Shisui thought wishfully, 'Maybe Yuta will have another insight into this matter later on, I should buy as much time as possible before resorting to any drastic actions...'
With those heavy thoughts, Shisui once again reaffirmed his decision to wait and look for a better way to resolve the problem and to buy as much time as possible by delaying and suppressing Uchiha's radical-inclined clansmen.
--- AN ---
If you like the story, please consider writing a comment, a review, voting with power stones, or check out my Patreon, there is 3 advanced chapters available (patreon.com/SycoreNovels)
Thanks to Loalola, Eyes_Of_The_Void, Krishna_Razz, Rohan_ps and Denuncia for the power stones.