At this moment, Uchiha Shisui was darting through the trees, but his speed was unlike before—no longer the glorious flash of his youth.
His left hand pressed firmly against his eye socket, yet it couldn't stem the flow of blood that streamed down uncontrollably.
The intense pain, the blurring of his vision, and the deep-seated panic and confusion made his physical strength and judgment rapidly diminish.
Why?
This question didn't even require contemplation. From Danzo's merciless grab for his eye, it was clear that this wasn't a sudden impulse; it had been premeditated!
What troubled him was that in that moment, he had managed to use genjutsu to control Danzo, but the next second, Danzo had already taken his eye!
What had happened during that time? When did it occur? How had he done it? He… no, the crucial point was that from the very beginning, Danzo had never trusted him, an Uchiha… It didn't matter whether he had taken Shisui's eye to weaken the Uchiha clan's combat capabilities or for some other purpose—they had both gone mad.
What should he do?
He would die!
This was the first thought that sprang to Shisui's mind, driven by a primal instinct to survive that urged him to flee from Konoha, to escape to the ends of the earth. Losing one eye was indeed a severe injury, but it was not fatal. However, if he stayed in Konoha, continuing to be embroiled with them, he would truly be in danger of losing his life.
Yet, another thought swiftly suppressed his survival instinct—
If he didn't stop them now, a civil war between the Uchiha clan and the village would be inevitable, and Konoha would never know peace again!
"Whoosh!"
As if to deliberately validate Shisui's thoughts, two shurikens laced with explosive tags shot towards him from behind, their angles deviously precise. However, Shisui executed a mid-air spin, dodging one shuriken while grabbing the other and throwing it back.
"Boom!"
The shuriken hit its mark, exploding and drowning out a scream, while Uchiha Shisui didn't look back as he continued to sprint forward.
Having grown somewhat accustomed to the pain, Shisui no longer pressed against his bleeding eye socket. With a twitch of his expression, he quickly formed hand seals, chakra surging within him.
Yet in the next second, a shadow burst from the smoke of the explosion, tackling Uchiha Shisui to the ground!
"Cut off his tendons to prevent him from resisting," shouted one of the companions behind him. But before the order could be executed, with a thud, smoke billowed from Shisui's body, revealing it to be a wooden log instead.
"Substitution jutsu? When did he…?" The Root ninja gasped in shock. As he lifted his head to search for Shisui, several explosions erupted around them—explosive tags detonating!
Several of the Root members, who had been complacent during the pursuit, were caught off guard by the sudden explosions.
"Did he make this quick judgment to block the pursuit while erasing his traces? What a terrifying man."
The jutsu of substitution, shadow clones, and transformation are collectively known as the three body techniques. Generally, these basic jutsu are considered low-tier tricks before powerful ninjas, requiring more advanced techniques to replace them.
But Uchiha Shisui had mastered these basic three body techniques to a supernatural level; even the simplest substitution jutsu had gone unnoticed by the pursuing members of the Root.
The members of the Root exchanged glances, their expressions complicated. Anyone witnessing Shisui's quick reactions and judgments would be shocked, but the mission must continue: "Split up and search. Inform everyone upon encountering him, especially block all paths leading to the Hokage's office and the Uchiha clan. It doesn't matter if we lose track; there are only a few places he can go!"
"Hah… hah… hah…" Meanwhile, Uchiha Shisui, hiding somewhere, was panting. As an exceptional ninja, he had somewhat adapted to the pain of losing his eye, but this injury's toll on his stamina and energy was what truly constrained his movements.
And more critically—
He didn't intend to leave.
"Here… I can't stay and wait…" Gazing at the hazy sky, flashes of several people's faces crossed Shisui's mind—some he could trust, some who should have been there. However, in the end, the image settled on the face of a youthful yet mature-looking boy.
It was Uchiha Itachi, the one with whom he had made a pact.
His hand gently brushed over his remaining eye. In this moment of relative calm, he understood Danzo's intentions.
"Don't be naive… Heh, I didn't expect to forget such a simple truth about having a jewel in my possession…," Shisui laughed at himself, but in the next instant, his expression changed, and he vanished from his spot.
"I found him, over here!"
A summoning beast that could scent blood appeared at Shisui's hiding place, and the pursuing ninjas realized from the blood on the ground that their target had just fled. They signaled their companions and immediately gave chase.
The hunt would continue, unnoticed by anyone in Konoha at this moment.
"Whoosh!"
As the shuriken flew, three more shuriken followed, striking the first one and altering its trajectory three times before turning back toward Uchiha Itachi.
Itachi casually caught the returning shuriken but didn't continue training. Instead, he stared blankly at the shuriken in his hand.
Today was the day he had agreed upon with Shisui—to choose between the village and the clan. He too had to make his own decision.
But even now, he still hadn't arrived at an answer, so he came to the training ground, only to find...
"Huh?" Uchiha Itachi looked up to see a pitch-black crow circling above him, but something was off about it. Its body and one wing appeared tattered, and as soon as Itachi spotted it, the crow vanished.
Itachi's expression shifted from confusion to panic—was that Shisui's…?
He immediately left the training ground.
"This ends here, Uchiha Shisui."
At this moment, Shisui was surrounded by the pursuing Root members, his body too battered to shake off enemies whose strength rivaled that of jōnin.
Moreover, he couldn't let them follow him to the meeting place with Itachi. If they discovered Itachi...
Shisui's expression turned grim at the thought.
The other side clearly had no intention of allowing Shisui to stall any longer; almost simultaneously, over ten people attacked!
Shisui's remaining Sharingan was pushed to its limits, allowing him to see three people charging toward him in a formation, while five more began to form hand seals behind them, and two others prepared shuriken for ranged support. They would never allow him to escape...
There was no way to hide or evade.
Then, he would confront them head-on!
"Boom!"
The charging Root members were sent flying, and those behind them stared in shock at the figure that rose from the ground, momentarily halting their jutsu hand seals.
A colossal green skeleton loomed over Uchiha Shisui, its terrifying emerald light seeming to mock the pitiful power of these jōnin-level Root members.
"Susanoo!" Uchiha Shisui cried out madly, finally unleashing the true power of his Mangekyō Sharingan before the world for the first time!