Months later.
Inside a secret location in the mountains behind Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded in satisfaction after giving his instructions and departed.
“Please rest assured, Third Hokage…”
Uchiha Shisui, who had been kneeling on one knee, slowly rose and watched the direction in which the Hokage had disappeared.
Just as Uchiha Shisui was about to turn back toward the Village, a deep voice rang out:
“Kotoamatsukami… such a magnificent power, and you actually intend to use it on the inherently evil Uchiha? It is simply laughable!”
“Who?!”
Uchiha Shisui’s eyes turned sharp, and he instantly assumed a combat stance.
Upon seeing the figure slowly step out, he lowered his hand from his sword and bowed slightly:
“So it is Danzō…”
Danzō’s eyes were cold:
“Hand over Kotoamatsukami to me. Only I am worthy of possessing it. In my hands, it can change the world!”
The wind on the cliff was strong.
The cold, damp night wind, like countless transparent whips, lashed against Uchiha Shisui’s scarred body.
He stood on the edge of the cliff.
In place of his right eye was a shocking, bloodied hole; the blood had long since dried and scabbed over, matted with his disheveled hair.
His left Sharingan was also dim and lusterless, leaving only a bone-deep agony and a sense of weakness that threatened to tear him apart.
Danzō Shimura…
That hand that had suddenly reached out from the shadows, carrying with it undisguised greed and murderous intent.
It was not for the peace of the Uchiha, nor for the stability of the Village; it was solely to seize this forbidden power.
At that moment, Uchiha Shisui understood that those near-cursed whispers of Tianti in the dungeon were perhaps not entirely empty words.
He covered his hollow eye socket, his body trembling slightly from blood loss and the severe exhaustion of his Chakra.
He could not return to the Uchiha Clan Grounds!
Once this news became known to his clansmen, especially those radicals who were already dissatisfied with the upper echelons… the fact that his eye had been stolen would be like the final spark igniting a powder keg.
The clansmen’s anger would erupt like a volcano, leaving no room for mediation!
The conflict would escalate immediately, and the bloodshed… would begin tonight.
But if not to the Uchiha, where else could he go?
The Konoha Hospital?
The Anbu headquarters?
The Third Hokage’s office?
Since Danzō dared to act, he must have had a backup plan and a justification.
If he were to appear rashly, it would only make the situation more complex and difficult to resolve, potentially even putting the Third Hokage in a passive position and bringing danger to the clan and the Village.
Nowhere to go!
This “Body Flicker” Uchiha Shisui, the most dazzling genius of the Uchiha in recent years, regarded as the hope for bridging the gap between the Village and his clan, was now like a stray dog driven to a dead end, strangled by his own kindness, unable to find even a corner to lick his wounds.
The cold wind blew into the hollow of his right eye, bringing a bone-chilling clarity.
He raised his hand, trembling—not to weave hand signs, but to firmly gouge out his remaining left eye.
His nails dug into his flesh, tearing nerves; it was far more painful than Danzō’s brutal extraction, yet even more resolute.
Fresh blood gushed out once more, streaming down his cheeks and dripping onto the cold rock.
“Summoning Jutsu!”
With a faint fluctuation of Chakra, a pitch-black crow appeared, flapping its wings and tilting its head as it looked at its master’s miserable state.
Uchiha Shisui tied a strip of cloth imbued with his own Chakra signature to the crow’s leg and commanded in a hoarse voice:
“Go find… Itachi.”
Caw—
The crow let out a short cry and melted into the night.
The wait was not long, but for Uchiha Shisui, every second was an ordeal.
The pain in his body, the cold in his heart, and that one and only “way out.”
Swish!
A familiar fluctuation of Chakra appeared behind him, light and swift, carrying a trace of deeply suppressed panic.
“Uchiha Shisui!”
Uchiha Itachi’s figure instantly appeared on the cliff’s edge.
When he saw Uchiha Shisui turn around to reveal his blood-stained face, even with his composure, his pupils contracted sharply, and his breath hitched.
He instantly understood what had happened, and… what it meant.
“Was it Danzō?”
Itachi’s voice was taut as a bowstring.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Itachi…”
Uchiha Shisui did not answer the question; he simply extended his blood-covered hand, his palm cradling the scarlet eyeball that still held his body heat.
“Take it, Itachi.”
His voice was terrifyingly hoarse, yet it held an eerie calm.
“Protect the clan and Konoha…”
The words were left unfinished, but Itachi understood everything.
He looked at the eye, then at the empty sockets on Uchiha Shisui’s face, and felt a bone-chilling cold surge from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, mixed with immense grief and rage, almost freezing him in place. This story is hosted at novelping dot com.
He understood Uchiha Shisui’s choice…
The loss of the Sharingan could not be hidden.
Uchiha Shisui’s very existence had now become a source of conflict that could explode at any moment!
Whether returning to the Uchiha or seeking the protection of the Third Hokage, it would lead to the inevitable leakage of the secret, the inevitable rampage of the Uchiha, and would not prevent Danzō from using this to incite further trouble.
Uchiha Shisui, this genius who had always tried to find a balance between the Village and his clan, whose heart was kind to the point of naivety, had been driven to a true dead end by the “big picture” he cherished so much!
The only thing he could do was disappear completely.
To die!
And to die without a trace, so that his body could not be found, and the cause of death could not be verified.
Only in this way could that fragile and false peace be temporarily maintained, and only then could he avoid giving anyone an excuse to act immediately.
What an ironic, and what a desperate “solution” this was!
“Uchiha Shisui… there must be another way…”
Itachi heard his own voice trembling; he knew this was futile comfort.
From the moment Uchiha Shisui lost the Sharingan, all paths of retreat had been sealed off!
He himself could not think of any solution that would satisfy everyone.
Itachi was in more pain than anyone; he could not stop Uchiha Shisui, nor did he have any other way to help him.
He even understood that not only did he have to watch Uchiha Shisui die, but he also had to help him cover it up…
This was the dead end their own sense of duty had painted for them!
Only the path of Uchiha Shisui’s disappearance could maintain the status quo…
“There is none, Itachi.”
Uchiha Shisui’s hollow gaze seemed to still be able to “look” accurately in Itachi’s direction, and he even forced an extremely ugly smile onto his face.
“This is my choice… and also… the only way out.”
He took a step forward, closer to the edge of the cliff.
The howling wind whipped up his tattered clothes and blood-stained hair.
“The Uchiha Clan… I leave them to you. And… my eye…”
As his words fell, he hesitated no longer, nor did he offer any grand farewell.
He tipped backward, like a bird with broken wings, falling toward the dark, turbulent river below the cliff…
“Uchiha Shisui—!!!”
Itachi lunged forward, reaching out, but he only grasped a handful of cold air and a few scattered droplets of blood.
He stood rigid on the edge of the cliff, watching that figure be swallowed by the darkness.
He did not move to save Uchiha Shisui, because in his heart, he knew… this was already a dead end that could not be reversed.