Chapter 3: Hiruzen Sarutobi's Reaction

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After Uchiha Shisui left, he didn’t even bother to put on the pair of eyes that Uchiha Tōkan had given him. Instead, he swiftly dashed toward the Hokage’s office. Although Tōkan had assured him he wouldn’t use those eyes to control the Hokage, Shisui dared not take that risk.

“At the very least, the Hokage must be on guard.”

Clinging to this conviction, Shisui clenched his eyes against the searing pain and staggered in front of the Hokage’s building.

“Uchiha Shisui?” Two Chunin guards at the entrance were stunned when they saw the battered state of the famed Shunshin Shisui. How had he come to look like this?

“I must see the Hokage immediately! Hurry!” Shisui urged.

“What happened?” Hearing the commotion, Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped out of his office. Upon seeing Shisui’s empty eye sockets, he was equally shocked. Today’s mission had been to investigate the Uchiha clan meeting, yet Shisui returned gravely wounded. Could it be that the Uchiha were truly planning a rebellion?

“Shisui! Quickly! Call the medical ninjas!” The Third Hokage ordered anxiously.

“Hokage-sama, I have urgent information to report. The medical ninjas can wait.” Shisui hurriedly replied upon hearing Sarutobi’s voice.

“Very well.” Seeing Shisui’s distressed state, the Third Hokage allowed him inside his office and dismissed the others.

“Speak, Shisui. What exactly happened?” Sarutobi spoke cautiously, bracing himself for the worst.

Shisui took a deep breath and recounted everything that had transpired that night, including how Uchiha Tōkan had taken his eyes. He concealed nothing.

The more Sarutobi listened, the graver his expression became. To be honest, he had prepared himself for an outright Uchiha rebellion, but the intelligence Shisui brought was far more severe.

“Tōkan, you say?” At some point, Sarutobi had lit his pipe and exhaled a long plume of smoke, his mind conjuring the image of Uchiha Tōkan.

In Sarutobi’s memory, Tōkan, a peer of Shisui’s and a distinguished Uchiha war hero from the Third Great Ninja War, was unlike the usual arrogant Uchiha. Though somewhat aloof and taciturn compared to Shisui, he was well-regarded for implementing a ‘smile-enforced law’ policy in the Security Division, which greatly improved the clan’s relations with the villagers. Sarutobi had thought Tōkan, like his former comrade Uchiha Kagami, truly embodied the Will of Fire. Yet, to discover he harbored such a sinister plot in secret—and now possessed the power of two Mangekyō Sharingan pairs—was deeply unsettling.

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“Hokage-sama, you must be cautious! Do not give Tōkan any chances!” Shisui warned.

“I understand, Shisui. Calm your heart. It’s not yet at its worst.” Sarutobi inhaled his pipe and soothed him. “Go ahead and have the eyes reattached.”

“Hokage-sama!” Shisui protested anxiously.

“Even if he uses your eyes to control me, his plan will not succeed. Shisui, you must understand—what makes the Hokage the Hokage is the recognition of the Will of Fire by everyone in the village. If he thinks that controlling me means controlling all of Konoha, he is gravely mistaken.” Sarutobi patted Shisui’s shoulder. “So go with confidence. We still need your strength to stop his scheme.”

“Hokage-sama…” Sarutobi’s words choked Shisui with emotion. “I understand! I will stop him!”

…

After Shisui was taken for the eye transplant surgery, a shadowy figure leaning on a cane slowly emerged from the depths of the Hokage’s office.

“Sarutobi, what are you hesitating for?” The newcomer, impatient, said as he saw Sarutobi sitting silently in the Hokage’s chair. “Do you intend to become a puppet of that naturally malevolent Uchiha brat?”

“Danzo, calm yourself.” Sarutobi glanced at his old comrade. “It’s not yet to that point.”

“Uchiha Tōkan clearly has rebellious intentions. If we wait passively, it will be too late!” Danzo’s anger flared. “Moreover, the Uchiha have long held resentment. Once they learn that Tōkan awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, they’ll rise up today! We must strike first and capture Tōkan immediately!”

“Enough, Danzo! I am the Hokage!” Sarutobi snapped.

“Sarutobi! You will regret this!”

“Bang!”

After Danzo slammed the door and left, Sarutobi took a deep drag of his pipe and gazed into the night beyond the window.

Knowing Danzo well, Sarutobi was certain he would secretly send men to ambush Tōkan. He welcomed this outcome. If Danzo succeeded, then all would be well; if he failed, it would be a personal matter and not reflect on Sarutobi as Hokage. This unspoken understanding had lasted between the two for many years.

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“It truly is a season of calamities.” Sarutobi sighed deeply in the smoke-filled Hokage’s office.

…

The next morning, the sun rose as usual.

Uchiha Tōkan woke from bed, performed his morning routine, and set off to the Security Division.

Just as Tōkan entered his office and settled in, Uchiha Fugaku, captain of the Security Division and head of the Uchiha clan, walked in.

“Tōkan, prepare yourself. There’s an urgent mission in the village. You will lead it, accompanied by Inohito and Zaito.” Fugaku’s face was stern.

“I understand.” Tōkan nodded calmly, unsurprised, though he felt the mission had come too soon.

“Is the Hokage’s side so restless?” After Fugaku left, Tōkan drew his long sword, the cold blade reflecting his face.

Sheathing the sword and gathering his gear, Tōkan took the mission scroll and waited before the Security Division’s gates for his comrades.

Uchiha Inohito and Uchiha Zaito, both outstanding young members of the Uchiha clan, arrived. Though their strength paled in comparison to Shisui and Tōkan, both had become Chunin before turning twenty and awakened the second tomoe in their Sharingan.

Yet, like most Uchiha, their minds were consumed by the pride of their noble clan. They often criticized Tōkan’s advocacy of smile-enforced law, but faced with the current mission, they respectfully saluted him upon meeting.

Tōkan nodded and said, “Let’s go.”