Late at night, Yasuka heard a knock at the door.
Upon opening it, he found a massive stack of Ryo left on the doorstep, alongside a large chunk of chakra metal.
He picked up the note left on top:
“I’m sorry, this is the absolute entirety of my savings.
I will gather the remaining amount as quickly as I can.”
Yasuka shook his head, feeling completely helpless when it came to Shisui.
“Fool…”
Moments later, the ground beneath Konoha began to shudder.
Looking into the distance, the silhouette of Shisui’s Susanoo was starkly visible.
Yugao materialized out of thin air, explaining to Yasuka that Konoha appeared to be under an external enemy invasion, meaning she had to go provide reinforcement.
“Invasion?
This is explicitly a civil war.”
Yasuka sneered and shook his head.
However, he didn’t believe Shisui would die so easily—after all, she had the protective blessing of the Horse Talisman’s power.
Exactly as Yasuka predicted, Shisui’s Susanoo utterly crushed every single Jonin who attempted to intercept her.
It was only because of Shisui’s inherent kindness and her reluctance to slaughter her former comrades that they survived.
Otherwise, every single Jonin present would have been nothing more than speed bumps.
“Danzo, are you alright?”
The Third Hokage felt a mixture of intense fury and profound worry toward Danzo.
But seeing that Danzo was currently left with only half his life, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything harsher.
“Saru…
Sarutobi!
Why are you worrying about me?!
Go stop Uchiha Shisui immediately!
That brat is going to destroy Konoha!”
Danzo roared, forcibly enduring the excruciating agony in his shoulder, while secretly swearing to himself that he would exterminate the Uchiha clan no matter what it took!
“Enough!
Don’t you know exactly why Shisui has been pushed to this point yourself?!”
The Third Hokage was thoroughly enraged by Danzo’s continued clamoring to eliminate Shisui.
Originally, there had still been room to negotiate, but it was entirely due to Danzo’s willful obstinacy that Shisui had abandoned all diplomacy.
Furthermore, Shisui hadn’t even unleashed Kotoamatsukami yet; if she were to use it on him, the entirety of Konoha would likely fall into the hands of the Uchiha.
For the sake of the village, he absolutely could not strike her down under these circumstances.
“Whew…
I’m sorry…”
Blood mixed with tears flowed from Shisui’s eyes.
Following Yasuka’s guidance and having finally opened her eyes to reality, she understood that if nobody died tonight, this matter would absolutely never reach a resolution.
The Susanoo raised its spiral greatsword and swung it violently toward the densest cluster of forces.
A fifty-meter-tall tornado tore past the very edge of Konoha, cleanly slicing through more than ten Jonin simultaneously.
“Hah…
hah…”
The high-intensity utilization of the Susanoo had pushed Shisui’s body to its absolute limit.
Noting that not a single member of the Uchiha had joined the fray, Shisui knew they must have been effectively contained by Konoha’s forces.
But…
it no longer mattered.
This next strike would be her final legacy to her clan.
“Susanoo: Tsukumo…”
As her vision rapidly plummeted toward total blindness, Shisui realized her life was drawing close to its end.
But it wasn’t time yet; there was one thing she absolutely had to execute.
The exact moment the barrage of chakra arrows saturated the battlefield, Shisui used the final reserves of her chakra to Body Flicker directly in front of the Third Hokage and Danzo.
“Shisui…”
Faced with a heavily bloodstained Shisui, the Third Hokage experienced a deep pang of heartache and regret.
If only such formidable power could have been harnessed for the sake of Konoha…
“Lord Third, step aside.
I am taking back my grandfather’s eye.
Don’t force me to use Kotoamatsukami.”
Shisui spoke with absolute coldness.
Even though she was currently so weakened that she barely had the energy to speak, the phrase “Kotoamatsukami” still struck immense fear deep into the Third Hokage’s heart.
At the same time, he was furious at Danzo for actually grafting Kagami’s eye onto his own flesh.
Desecrating his own comrade in such a manner was truly worse than being a beast!
Whether driven by dread or sheer guilt, the Third Hokage tacitly permitted Shisui to gouge out Danzo’s eye.
“Shisui, there is still time for everything.
Stay your hand.” The Third Hokage tightened his grip on his Adamantine Staff, earnestly trying to persuade her.
“Stay my hand?”
Shisui sneered at the Hokage, tightening her fist as she delivered a chilling threat to every shinobi present on the field.
“I will not die!
If any ‘accident’ should happen to the Uchiha clan, I will manifest once more, and then…
I will hunt every single one of you down…”
Shisui’s nearly sightless eyes swept across every single ninja present, leaving behind a threat that sounded exactly like a curse.
“Until all of you are slaughtered!”
The moment Shisui’s words fell, a massive explosion erupted on the spot.
By the time the smoke dissipated, Shisui had completely vanished.
Dragging her utterly exhausted body along, Shisui rematerialized in a forest over a kilometer away.
She could barely see anything now, forced to fumble her way forward by gripping the tree trunks.
This massive rampage outside Konoha was enough to make anyone who wished to destroy the Uchiha hesitate out of fear of retaliation, but she was certainly not going to survive this.
Her eyes were practically ruined, and her body was on the verge of collapse.
But at the very least…
she must not leave any traces of her death behind.
As long as the news of her demise never leaked out, the Uchiha clan would remain safe indefinitely.
Hearing the sound of rushing water, Shisui thought to herself that if her corpse were to drift away down the river, it probably wouldn’t be discovered, right?
Shisui lay flat on the ground, gasping heavily for air as a kaleidoscopic flashback of her days with Yasuka rolled through her mind.
It had clearly only been a month, but within this single month, she had learned principles from Yasuka that she might have gone her entire life without ever comprehending.
“I won’t be able to…
pay off the rest of my debt…
I’m sorry, I really…
am a fool…”
Shisui smiled bitterly.
If only she had realized these things a bit sooner, perhaps everything would have turned out differently?
*So sleepy…
I really want to sleep…
I really should go see Yasuka one last time, even if it’s just to look from afar, but…
my body completely refuses to move.*
At that moment, a mysterious individual wearing a tiger-striped mask materialized.
The lone Mangekyō visible beneath the mask carried a heavy trace of wariness.
Fortunately, Shisui had thoroughly drained every ounce of her visual prowess at the very end.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to appear before her; after all, Kotoamatsukami was simply too terrifying.
Crouching down, the masked man prepared to claim Shisui’s eyes.
Whether as a spare set or to manipulate an exceptionally troublesome target, Kotoamatsukami possessed unparalleled value.
“Step away from her!”
Itachi suddenly materialized, her Three-Tomoe Sharingan spinning furiously.
Blood mixed with tears rapidly welled up and spilled from her eyes, ultimately shifting into a Mangekyō configuration.
“…”
The masked man had no choice but to retreat.
At this stage, he had no idea what Itachi’s specific Mangekyō capability was; getting taken down by an unknown ability on a first encounter would be a massive loss.
“Shisui?”
Itachi’s voice trembled slightly.
She knew it…
Shisui had been hiding something from her all along.
She had deliberately claimed she was going out on a mission, entirely to get her out of the way!
“Is that you, Itachi?”
Shisui secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She had fully intended to unleash Kotoamatsukami the exact moment the opponent tried to gouge her eyes, but it seemed…
it was no longer necessary.
“Hold on, I’m taking you to see Yasuka!
He can definitely save you!”
Itachi completely lost her usual stoic composure, her hands shaking as she pulled Shisui up.
“No…
I don’t want him to see me in this state, and besides…”
Shisui actively gouged out her own remaining eyes and pressed them into Itachi’s hands, hoping she could protect the clan in her stead.
If circumstances allowed, she hoped Itachi could help her clear the rest of her debt too.
Konoha’s malicious intent had been thoroughly shattered by her actions; the only variable left to fear was Danzo.
She sincerely hoped her clan could truly integrate into Konoha, and this dream could now only be entrusted to Itachi.
“By the way, Itachi…
can you help me find the amulet on my body?
I…
can’t seem to find it anymore.”
Forcibly enduring the crushing sorrow, Itachi reached into Shisui’s pocket and pulled out the amulet.
The exact moment Shisui gripped the amulet firmly, a tidal wave of immense vitality surged forward, rapidly regenerating her body and breathing fresh life back into her form.
This left Shisui completely dumbfounded, her expression steadily morphing into one of profound awkwardness.
“Itachi…”
“What is it…
Shisui?”
“It seems…
I don’t have to die after all.”