AN: The Uchiha massacre never happened, and Shisui is alive and well.
The village of tree-huggers, outsiders call Konoha with a trace of venom in their voices. Softhearted fools, the lot of them (if anyone trained to take lives with impunity could be called so, that is). Konoha encourages the name-calling, because, well, it's not entirely false, and if their opponents can't see beneath the underneath, then the joke's on them, isn't it? Most people fail to see that Konoha, like any other ninja village, is pragmatic. The kindness that Konoha instills in its men and women, the mantra of love that it drums into their heads as schoolchildren as the Will of Fire, can be sharpened into the cruelest of weapons (those that have faced Uzumaki Naruto should know.) If it can improve teamwork, all the better; loyalty to one's unit is far more visceral and easier to understand than a merely abstract obligation to one's village.
There's a reason why you don't want Konoha on the other side of the battlefield. If Konoha were truly that powerless, it would have never existed at all: just another grassy slope, littered with broken weapons and rusting pieces of armor, flowers blooming above the bones of the dead. May they rest in peace.
But for all that Konoha wallows in its hero complex, its underdog mentality (which it should have outgrown decades before), there are far more gaping holes in its outside image than it cares to show. So it buries its dirty secrets deep within its seedy underbelly: in the lantern-festooned streets of the Akasen, within the smoky, dimly lit rooms of geisha and behind cobblestoned alleys where the street urchins huddle together for warmth. People tend to ignore the dark underground. The things that last in their minds are the Hokage Monument, glittering in the sun, the gleaming hospital building, and the practice grounds full of rambunctious children. It is in man's nature to seek the light. No one, after all, wants to stay in the dark for long.
Konoha boasts of its children, of its charismatic leaders, beautiful kunoichi, lethal assassins and competent healers. The Yellow Flash, now long dead and gone in a blaze of light worthy of his moniker. The Slug Princess, the last of Konohan royalty, purple diamond flashing in the center of her forehead. The Copy Ninja, possessor of over a thousand jutsu and counting, most of them stolen with a borrowed eye.
There is no mention of the Other Ones. If the ninja above are considered as the children of the light, of the god Izanagi, then the Other Ones are the progeny of his wife Izanami: the ones consigned to the shadows of their shining brethren. Uchiha Madara is one such individual: the shadowy co-founder of Konoha, name and history forgotten in the annals of time, rightful position usurped by a dear brother and friend. There are others in the otherworld, both dead and still-living: Shimura Danzo, Orochimaru…the list goes on and on. There is no doubt that some of them may even surpass the capabilities of Izanagi's brood, but Konoha takes no chances.
What Konoha fears, it quietly sweeps under the rug. The appropriate channels are covertly blocked, targets are eliminated and whole passages in history books are inked out. Records are burned. Chains are placed, and doors are sealed shut.
But chains tend to break over time, and like all beasts, things in the dark seek to free themselves of their confines.
Sooner or later, the Other Ones will rise.
AN: I'm trying to branch out into different genres, so I would love to hear your thoughts!