Training Ground Three, deep within the forest.
A whooshing sound cut through the air as a kunai pierced through layer after layer of branches and leaves and lodged itself precisely into the center of a distant tree trunk.
Shisui's figure wove through the forest at high speed, leaving behind a string of blurred afterimages, moving so fast that ordinary eyes could not hope to capture him.
The Body Flicker Technique.
Shisui finally came to a stop, his chest rising and falling gently with each breath.
The meeting with the Third Hokage had kindled a flame of hope in Shisui's heart.
Using Kotoamatsukami to stop the Uchiha's coup was the only way Shisui could think of to prevent bloodshed among his comrades and clansmen.
"I must trust in Lord Hokage."
"The Uchiha and the village are about to find their way to peace!"
Shisui said softly to himself.
This was not only for the Uchiha, but for the entire village.
"Trust?"
"Is it Sarutobi Hiruzen you trust, or the cold seat known as 'Hokage'?"
A voice drifted out from the shade of the trees behind Shisui without the slightest warning.
Every muscle in Shisui's body snapped taut in an instant, and he spun around, the tomoe in his eyes spinning rapidly as his Mangekyō Sharingan activated in a single breath.
Shinsuke stood there quietly.
"Elder Shinsuke?"
The crimson pattern in Shisui's eyes slowly faded.
"Your Body Flicker is indeed getting faster and faster, Shisui."
Shinsuke stepped unhurriedly out from the shadow.
"But your vigilance is disappointingly lacking."
Shisui's brow furrowed slightly.
"Elder Shinsuke, I don't understand what you mean."
"The smell in the air is wrong."
"Smell?"
"Rotting roots, and a concealed, nauseating malice."
Shinsuke's gaze swept across the dense forest around them, which appeared to be completely empty.
"There are eyes that have been stuck to you."
Shisui's heart lurched, and he immediately pushed his sensory ability to its absolute limit.
After a moment, he shook his head in confusion.
"I haven't detected any unfamiliar chakra, perhaps it's ANBU sent by Lord Hokage to protect me."
"ANBU?"
Shinsuke let out an extremely faint laugh.
"Do you think it's the ANBU under Sarutobi Hiruzen, or the Root that Danzō keeps as his pets?"
"Lord Danzō..."
Shisui's expression clearly became complicated.
He was of course fully aware of the bone-deep bias and hostility Danzō held toward the Uchiha Clan.
"Elder Shinsuke, you're overthinking it, I've already reached an understanding with Lord Hokage, and Lord Danzō, he..."
"Danzō will gouge out your eyes without a moment's hesitation."
Shinsuke cut Shisui off directly.
Shinsuke had not originally intended to come find Shisui, but when it came to this genius of the Uchiha, not even offering a warning in the end felt too callous, and Shinsuke could not bring himself to do that.
If he warned Shisui and Shisui still walked toward his original fate in the end, then Shinsuke would have nothing left to say, for all of it would be his own choice.
"Shisui, placing your hopes in the mercy of others is the most foolish thing a person can do in this world."
"It's not mercy, it's trust!"
Shisui's composure broke for the first time with a visible tremor, and his voice rose with it.
"The reason the Uchiha and the village have come to where they are today is precisely because of a long-standing absence of the most basic trust between them, and I must do something to change this pitiful situation!"
"So you're prepared to offer up your eyes, and even your life?"
"Kotoamatsukami is an incomparably powerful ability, and you told Sarutobi Hiruzen about it in full detail, so how is that any different from willingly pushing a piece of fresh meat into the mouth of a starving wolf?"
Shisui's body shook violently.
"That won't happen, Lord Hokage is not that kind of person!"
"Shisui, wake up, do you truly understand the Third Hokage completely? Take a guess whether Danzō already knows about your Kotoamatsukami right now, and do you really believe Sarutobi Hiruzen can keep him fully in check? Stop being naive, those two are nothing but opposite sides of the same coin."
"That won't happen!"
Shisui fired back almost instinctively.
"Lord Hokage gave his word in person..."
"A promise, in the face of absolute power, is worth nothing."
Shinsuke's voice carried a deep exhaustion.
There was no getting through to Shisui at all.
"Step back from this, Shisui, leave Konoha right now and there is still time."
Leave Konoha?
Shisui was completely at a loss.
That option had never once appeared in his life.
"If you don't leave, you will only become the first meaningless sacrifice, and your death and your eyes will do nothing but accelerate the destruction of the Uchiha Clan."
Shisui fell silent.
His reason told him that Elder Shinsuke's words were the cruel truth.
Yet the conviction burning deep in Shisui's heart would not allow him to accept what Shinsuke was saying.
He could not run, and he would never run.
Seeing the struggle in Shisui's eyes and the near-stubborn resolve behind it, Shinsuke said no more.
Some roads only reveal they were always a dead end once a person walks to the very edge of the cliff themselves.
"Since you have already made your choice..."
Shinsuke turned slowly.
"...then remember one thing."
"If the road ahead is a cliff, do not hesitate, turn back."
"If there is already no road left to turn back to..."
"Then drag your enemy down with you."
Shinsuke's figure flickered and vanished from where he stood.
Shisui stood alone in place and did not move for a long time.
Shisui shook his head forcefully, trying to fling that sense of foreboding out of his mind.
In the end, Shisui chose to believe in the Will of Fire, and chose to believe in the Third Hokage who was hailed as the "God of Shinobi."
It would surely... be fine.
Shisui settled the emotions churning inside him and walked off in the direction entirely opposite from the Uchiha district.
He wanted to go sit quietly by the banks of Nanka River, and let the cold river wind blow away the stray thoughts in his mind.
Besides that, Shisui had also arranged to meet Itachi there.
...
In the dark, damp underground.
A Root shinobi dropped to one knee.
"Reporting to Lord Danzō, the target has left Training Ground Three."
"During that time, he had a brief encounter with Uchiha Shinsuke, and their conversation lasted approximately ten minutes."
The single eye beneath Danzō's bandages snapped open and shot out a terrifying gleam.
Uchiha Shinsuke!
He had actually shown up!
"What did they talk about?"
"The distance was too great to hear clearly, but it could be observed that the target's emotions appeared to be considerably unsettled."
"Uchiha Shinsuke afterward left on his own."
Shinsuke's appearance was a massive variable that fell entirely outside Danzō's plans.
Had Shinsuke sensed something?
Would he have issued a warning to Shisui?
If Shisui had heeded that warning, would he change his original plan and turn against the village?
"Where is the target now?"
"Heading alone in the direction of Nanka River."
Nanka River.
That place was remote, and after nightfall, it was completely deserted.
It was an ideal location to make a move and take the eyes.
The opportunity was right before him, and it would vanish in an instant if he let it pass.
If Shisui had truly listened to Shinsuke's warning, then after tonight, a moment this perfect might never come again.
Gamble on it!
Gamble that Shisui's naive idealism would win out over Shinsuke's warning!
"Uchiha Shisui has not returned to the Uchiha district and has not gone to the Hokage Building to seek protection, and that proves he has not yet grown fully suspicious!"
"Hear my command!"
"All squads, move immediately to the designated positions!"
"Barrier team, seal off every escape route along the banks of Nanka River at the earliest possible moment!"
"Remember, I only want his eyes!"
"Yes!"
The Root shinobi's figure flickered and vanished from where they stood.
Danzō rose slowly and walked to a large wall.
On it hung a detailed map of Konoha.
His finger pressed heavily onto the location marked "Nanka River."
"Shisui, for the future of Konoha, please go and die."