"No, I'm not. I didn't…"
Shisui Uchiha immediately panicked.
On instinct, he wanted to explain himself to the Konoha Anbu standing opposite him, but before he could even figure out what he should say, the Konoha Anbu had already taken two steps back with extreme vigilance and shouted sharply,
"You and another Kirigakure shinobi were the ones who kidnapped the current priestess and the next priestess from the samurai guards of the Land of Demons, weren't you?"
"No! We came because we received the distress letter sent by the Priestess of the Land of Demons. We came to help them complete the mission to subjugate the monster Mōryō… Priestess-sama went with us to the Land of Swamps willingly!"
Perhaps because his heart was in chaos, Shisui Uchiha had barely even thought through his words before blurting them out.
But to the Konoha Anbu, a statement full of holes like that only further strengthened his impression that Shisui Uchiha had already defected to Kirigakure.
Therefore, the Konoha Anbu did not waste any more words on Shisui.
He turned around and fled toward the rear.
That movement stunned Shisui for a moment.
But very quickly, he realized why the other party had chosen to run.
Even as an Anbu directly under the Fourth Hokage, he did not have absolute confidence in defeating Shisui, who had earned the name "Shisui of the Body Flicker" at such a young age.
And Konoha Anbu rarely went to other countries to carry out missions alone.
"Wa-wait! You can't leave!"
Shisui Uchiha could no longer spare any attention to contact Kisame and the two priestesses.
In a panic, he used the Body Flicker Technique and chased after the fleeing Konoha Anbu.
Shisui's heart was a complete mess.
So messy that he did not even know why he was chasing that Konoha Anbu.
Was he planning to tell him, after catching up, that he had his own hardships and had been forced to wear Kirigakure's forehead protector?
Was he planning to beg him not to tell anyone else about this?
Or was he…
Planning to silence him here and seal away any possibility of the information leaking?
Fortunately, at this moment, he still had someone by his side who could make plans for him.
The summoning white snake whose body Rei Kaguya had temporarily borrowed decisively coiled itself around Shisui's arm. Then, against the roaring wind rushing past them, it shouted at Shisui,
"Calm down, Shisui. Things haven't reached the point of being completely irreversible yet…"
"Then what should I do!?"
Shisui was like a drowning man grabbing a lifeline. His voice was panicked and disordered, without the slightest trace of his usual calm.
"If it were you, Fourth Mizukage, you would definitely know what to do, right?"
"If you've already prepared yourself to walk one path all the way into darkness, then activate the Cursed Seal of Heaven and kill that Konoha Anbu directly. Destroy his brain as well, ensuring he can never tell anyone that you have chosen Kirigakure."
Rei's voice paused for a moment.
Then he shook his head as if rejecting his own suggestion.
"No. That's not right. You just said you still aren't prepared to deal with Konoha shinobi. You definitely can't do something like killing someone to silence them."
"Then there is only one choice in front of you…"
"Catch up to him. Then use your genjutsu talent, which ranks among the very best even within the Uchiha clan, and make him forget what he just saw."
Gen… jutsu?
Right.
Aside from killing that Konoha Anbu, he still had the option of using genjutsu to alter his perception and prevent him from revealing everything he had seen today.
That was right.
Aside from ninjutsu and taijutsu, there was still genjutsu that could answer his expectations.
Once he understood that, Shisui Uchiha activated the second stage of the Cursed Seal of Heaven without hesitation.
The black wings that suddenly stretched open behind him granted him speed even faster than his Body Flicker.
With no regard for chakra consumption, he only needed a few breaths to fly in front of the Konoha Anbu like a bolt of lightning.
Then he used his most proficient Phantom Body Flicker Technique and created dozens of solid phantoms in one breath, forcibly blocking the Konoha Anbu's path.
"Guh… You traitor…"
Looking at Shisui Uchiha's sinister cursed seal state, and feeling that terrifying chakra that had risen to a level completely unlike a child who had not even reached his tenth birthday, the blocked Konoha Anbu took a deep breath.
He pulled two kunai from the ninja tool pouch at his waist, gripped them tightly, and said through clenched teeth,
"Shisui Uchiha, don't think that just because you kill me, no one will know the truth that you've defected!"
"I don't intend to kill you. I just…"
Shisui looked at the Konoha Anbu before him with sorrow.
He slowly raised his hand and took an offensive stance together with more than a dozen solid phantoms he had created.
"I'm just not ready yet. I hope you can tell the others in the village about this a little later."
"Who would believe the words of a missing-nin like you!?"
The Anbu roared and swung the kunai in his hands, throwing himself at Shisui without fear.
But reflected in the three-tomoe Sharingan, his movements were so slow.
So full of openings.
There was even a hint of reckless resignation in them, as if he was actively seeking death.
As if he planned to use his own life to add a crime to Shisui Uchiha's name that could never be washed clean.
Fortunately, the gap in strength between him and Shisui, who had activated the second stage of the Cursed Seal of Heaven, was so vast that even if he wanted to seek death, he could not do it.
Shisui's figure blurred.
In the next instant, the Konoha Anbu suffered heavy blows from every direction at once.
In only a single moment, he was knocked to the ground on the spot, all power to resist stripped away from him.
"Guh… kill… me…"
Feeling his internal organs churning violently, nearly vomiting even bile, the Konoha Anbu knelt on the ground and spoke words that filled Shisui with grief.
The black-winged boy knelt on one knee in front of the Konoha Anbu.
With gentle movements, he removed the other party's animal mask.
Looking into those eyes filled with anger, he said softly,
"I know I shouldn't ask you for forgiveness. But I truly have no intention of becoming Konoha's enemy… Forget everything you saw for now. After I am ready to bear everything, I will personally come to apologize to you."
Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan slowly revolved.
He silently sent his chakra into the Konoha Anbu's mind, altering his perception without the slightest trace of smoke or fire.
He flawlessly replaced the image of himself that the other party had seen today with that of a wandering ninja they had encountered near Mōryō before.
He also carefully fabricated the details of the battle between that wandering ninja and him.
After all of this was done, the Konoha Anbu collapsed onto the ground with lifeless eyes, completely losing consciousness.
Shisui Uchiha put away his Sharingan with a complicated expression.
He prepared to leave this place and rendezvous with Kisame and the others.
"Your disguise is too rough, Shisui."
Rei's voice sounded beside Shisui's ear, abruptly stopping his intention to leave.
Shisui Uchiha remained silent for a long time.
Only then did he ask in an extremely pained voice,
"Do I have to disguise the traces of battle too, Fourth?"
"You gave him false memories, but you didn't leave wounds on his body sufficient to explain why he lost consciousness… If you're going to do this, you might as well have let him leave from the start, Shisui."
Feeling the constant tremble coming from Shisui's body, Rei shook his head and said,
"Since you've already made up your mind to do something, don't become timid halfway through."
"Someone who wavers gets no peace of mind, yet has to suffer twice the torment. Why bother?"
"…I understand."
Shisui turned around with a downcast expression.
He looked over the unconscious Konoha Anbu and began thinking about where he should create wounds according to the memories he had rewritten for him.
But just as he stood in front of that Anbu again, holding a kunai and struggling to bring his hand down, a sharp cry of thunder suddenly rang out beside his ear.
"Raikiri!"
Restless, piercing lightning attacked from behind with overwhelming speed.
Because his heart was shaken and he had not noticed the opponent immediately, Shisui Uchiha was forced to use the black wing that had grown after activating the second stage of the Cursed Seal of Heaven as a shield, meeting the attacker's thrust head-on.
Lightning flashed.
Shisui Uchiha let out a muffled cry of pain.
Even his black feathers, which were as hard as steel, could not fully block the attacker's thrust, sharp enough to cut through steel.
His left wing and third arm were pierced at the same time by a right hand that cut through iron like mud.
Along with it came a young voice filled with abnormal resolve.
"Get away from my comrade, monster!"
Kakashi Hatake swung his right hand sideways, completely cutting open Shisui Uchiha's left wing.
After forcing him away from the unconscious Anbu lying on the ground, Kakashi fearlessly placed himself in front of the fallen Anbu and shielded him with his own body.
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