Naruto: I am Shisui

[DumDumDum]

Psychology professor Kanagawa Toru studied his new patient with careful attention. A young boy—barely sixteen in a couple of weeks, according to his file—sat with his hands clamped over his knees, his gaze fixed thoughtfully on an invisible point in space. Nakamori Hiroshi had come to him with a problem that was highly unusual, even given Professor Kanagawa's extensive clinical experience.

"Let us summarize what we've discussed so far, Hiroshi-kun. You are claiming that you live two separate lives, and you no longer know which one is real? When you fall asleep there, you experience this life as a strange dream, and vice versa. Is that correct?"

"Yes, Professor," the boy nodded. His dark, lively eyes watched Kanagawa with cautious intensity, harboring something the professor simply couldn't brush off. Nakamori Hiroshi genuinely believed what he was saying. Furthermore, that gaze belonged to an adult—someone seasoned by experience. A classic case of 'a child with old eyes.'

"This began two years ago, after the accident that claimed your parents' lives? You yourself were severely injured and experienced clinical death multiple times. Do you recall how your father and mother passed?"

"Yes, Professor." The patient focused on his own hands, specifically the wide bracelets concealing his wrists. "I saw it happen."

"Did you attempt to take your own life?" Kanagawa asked, scribbling a quick note next to the suicidal tendencies checkbox on his evaluation form.

"Yes. But…"

"But…?" His hesitation was more than eloquent.

"At first, I wanted to end things so that I could… well, so I could exclusively live that other life. It's quite interesting. When I woke up here, after living fourteen years there… it was extremely… painful. Because of that, I even awakened my—" The boy caught himself, shooting the professor a suspicious glance. Kanagawa pretended not to notice the slip of the tongue. "Anyway, it was severe stress. But I got used to it eventually. You could say I settled in. I became content with how things were. But recently, I learned something. That's actually why I decided to come to you."

"I see." Kanagawa mentally kicked himself; he had been so caught up in the psychological fascination of the case that he hadn't even asked what actually transpired in the boy's second life. "And what did you learn, Hiroshi-kun?"

"I think I'm going to die there soon. Something came to light… something very important." The boy thoughtfully coiled a lock of dark hair around his finger.

"What makes you so certain? Have you fallen ill?"

"No. I just figured out that… my second life is actually public knowledge," the patient exhaled, as if finally bracing himself to make the bizarre claim.

"Public knowledge?!" Kanagawa repeated, barely keeping his composure. He felt a flash of professional embarrassment; he was staring open-mouthed at the teenager in a distinctly unscientific manner. "How so?"

"Everyone in Japan knows about it," Hiroshi continued in that same pensive tone. "I was the only one entirely oblivious. I just didn't connect the facts or the overlapping names. Plus, people's faces look vastly different... But just a couple of weeks ago, I watched the scene of my own death. And I have to admit, it probably would have played out exactly like that, if I hadn't seen the aftermath and been entirely appalled by my own naïve stupidity."

"So," Kanagawa murmured, analyzing the data he'd just been handed, "your 'second self' exists in the past of the media that is available in our world?"

"I'm far from the main character. I simply didn't realize at first that it was actually a story about my life there," Hiroshi nodded. "I'm barely even in it. By the time the main story begins, I've already died."

"Tell me, Hiroshi-kun," Kanagawa leaned forward, suddenly anticipating something profoundly extraordinary, "what is your name in this second life?"

A thick silence settled over the room, broken only by the ticking of the wall clock—a sound that felt unnaturally loud in the suddenly electrified atmosphere of the office. The patient stayed quiet for a long time, boring into him with a piercing gaze that made Kanagawa instinctively flinch inward, his mind racing with a dozen fantastical theories.

"My name is Uchiha Shisui."

 

[DumDumDum]

"What an idiot!" were Uchiha Shisui's first words upon waking.

Then again, over the past two weeks, his other self had been getting on his nerves more and more. What kind of shinobi goes and spills everything to some random civilian shrink, over and over again?!

He was growing increasingly certain that this dream—which had been going on for over a year now—was real. And that somewhere out there, in some inexplicable place, existed a high-tech world where people were as weak as snails. No chakra, no jutsu, no need to sleep with one eye open and a kunai under the pillow, even inside a clan compound. And the odds of dying by getting crushed by a giant metal contraption called an "automobile" were higher than dying in a border skirmish between neighboring countries or on a mission.

At first glance, that world seemed like a pacifist utopia, akin to the First Hokage's dream made reality, but they had wars there too. And the conflicts between nations—especially a world war—were utterly terrifying. For instance, in the homeland of his other self, someone had dropped a weapon more powerful than a Bijuu, wiping out everything and poisoning the impact zone for decades.

This world that simply couldn't exist haunted his dreams constantly. And those horrific images of the "future"! Shisui couldn't wrap his head around how some mangaka from another layer of reality could see everything that was going to happen to the Uchiha clan and the future of his own world! But as he watched and listened to the whispers circling the clan and the village at large, deep down, he had already understood and accepted that it was all true, and that the kid, Hiroshi, was right. They might take his eye, and then...

"Shit..." Shisui buried his face in his hands.

When it happened the first time, he thought it was a prank by someone in the clan. That sort of thing was par for the course: catch someone off guard, trap them in a genjutsu. It forced young shinobi to stay vigilant at all times, even among family. He had been born, lived, grown up, studied, shown promise, loved his parents, played, and eventually trained with Fugaku's eldest son and the heir to the main branch—Itachi. He went to war, fought, won. And then one day, after falling asleep in his own bed, he woke up in a completely foreign place.

Or rather, the place itself was obvious enough—a hospital—but it definitely wasn't the Konoha hospital. Something was beeping, and then medical-nin wearing strange clothes rushed into the room.

"How are you feeling, Nakamori-san?"

That name acted like a trigger word for an exceptionally powerful illusion, and a flood of information rushed into Shisui's mind:

Nakamori Hiroshi. That was him. He was fourteen years old. He went to middle school. He liked his neighbor, a girl named Misaki. His mother, Nakamori Kaede, was a housewife. His father, Nakamori Mamoru, was an officer in the Japanese National Police. So, a policeman too, just like Uchiha Kagami. The accident. The shock. They were dead for sure. His parents were definitely dead. He had seen it all!

"Yamamoto-san, the patient is having another seizure!"

And then, darkness.

Shisui woke up back home in Konoha, burdened with these horrific memories of a foreign life. His eyes ached. Activating his Sharingan, he stared into the mirror in shock. The legendary Mangekyo. In the shape of a four-point shuriken.

After that, the dream repeated every single night. Once his "other self" recovered, his grandparents took him home from the hospital. Hiroshi settled in a small village, went to school, and lived an ordinary civilian life. Shisui actually liked it—he dreamed of something similar for his own village and country. A great peace, where children weren't forced from a young age to learn the arts of infiltration, various methods of murder, and intelligence gathering...

But one day, exactly two weeks ago, a store Hiroshi was buying something in happened to be playing the Naruto anime on a screen. His "second self" hadn't watched it before. But he stopped in front of the screen because he heard a familiar name. His own name, and the name of his best friend and cousin—Itachi.

And that was when everything started. The kid bought all the manga and spent over a week reading it, hunting down everything about the Uchiha clan and the fate of Shisui himself. But the drawn story, in a way, began with his death. Itachi became a missing-nin, hiding his "village mission" received as an ANBU until the day he died. Sasuke's hatred. The underhanded schemes of Uchiha Obito, whom the clan believed dead. The resurrection of the clan's ultimate traitor—Uchiha Madara. It all defied comprehension. Shisui couldn't believe it; he couldn't accept these fantasies as reality.

But with each passing day, this future became more and more plausible. Itachi had already made ANBU Captain. His second self had looked for more clues that might shed light on the approximate time of his death and the beginning of this tragic history for the "cursed clan," but he hadn't found much. All that was known was that Shisui's suicide occurred on the day of a clan meeting, and two days later, Itachi would kill everyone. And, judging by various references and Hiroshi's calculations, Itachi would be thirteen years old—exactly the age he was now.

Shisui figured that his friend had made captain almost immediately after his birthday in early June, and three months had passed since then. It was almost funny that his and Hiroshi's birthdays aligned; they would both be turning sixteen soon. Clan meetings were held at the end of every month. If all of this was tied to the Nine-Tails, then it was entirely possible the Uchiha would decide to "change the regime" on the anniversary or slightly before, in early October. Meaning, in the absolute worst-case scenario, he had a little under four weeks until zero hour. Dissatisfaction within the clan had been openly voiced at the last meeting a week ago. So it was highly probable.

"Shit..." Shisui repeated, despair creeping in. The visions of the future promised nothing good whatsoever. Especially not for the Uchiha clan.

"Nii-san," came a rustling sound from the other side of the door. "Are you awake yet? Mom says it's time for breakfast."

Shisui got out of bed, got dressed, and opened the door. His six-year-old little sister, Yumiko, was waiting on the threshold, clearly intending to wring something out of him. For a moment, Shisui actually felt a pang of guilt; between his missions and these dreams, with all the information they brought, he had barely had any time for his sister lately.

"What is it, imouto?"

"Will you train with me? I got into the Shinobi Academy, remember? They told us to practice throwing shuriken with the older people in our family."

Shisui recalled that his little sister had indeed started attending classes at the Academy at the beginning of the week. Itachi's little brother went there too, only a grade ahead. Looking into those big dark eyes, his heart lurched. The thought crossed his mind: I might die, sure, but... does that mean Yumiko dies too?! If Sasuke was the only one in the entire Uchiha clan left alive, was Yumiko doomed?

"Alright..." Shisui sighed. "I have a little bit of time after breakfast."

"Can we invite Sasuke-kun too? And Kazuki?" Yumiko asked.

"Why, doesn't Kazuki have...?" Shisui cut himself off. The older sister of their second cousin, who lived next door to them, really had been killed on a mission a few days ago. "Yeah, let Kazuki-chan come with us too. It'll be more fun together."

"Mom already packed food for us to take!" The little girl spun around happily, then slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oops..."

"Wow, you're a real shinobi already," Shisui noted wryly. His lips twitched into an involuntary smile. "So, you were absolutely sure I wouldn't say no? To you and your friends?"

"W-e-e-e-ll... I'm gonna go get ready!" His sister literally shot down the hallway as if she'd used some sort of movement jutsu.

He made his way to the kitchen.

Itachi showed up along with Sasuke.

Conflicting emotions warred within Shisui. He remembered that he and Itachi had always been rivals; at the very least, Itachi had always looked up to him and tried to surpass him in everything. Even this ANBU captaincy. Partially, of course, it was at Fugaku-san's insistence, but there was also the little brother's desire to prove something to him.

Perhaps, had Shisui not learned of the burden Itachi would take upon himself to "cleanse the clan's honor," and what it would all ultimately lead to, he really would have named his friend his successor and entrusted him with his dreams of the better world he'd seen in his sleep. He might have even died happily, with a smile on his face. But...

But now that he knew—and worse, understood—that what Itachi was going to do would be the only way out for the Uchiha clan and for Konoha to prevent a civil war... He just felt like shit. His dreams of a better world had been swept away by the cruel reality of a damn mangaka. And, worst of all, Shisui knew the man was right; that was most likely exactly how things would play out. It was depressing.

Shisui couldn't see a way out of the current situation, but he had absolutely no desire to die anymore, either. Nor did he want to share his Mangekyo or the Uchiha clan's Sharingan with the Root leader, Danzo. Let the Hokage's ANBU slaughter his clansmen? That would be an even greater disgrace.

"What are you thinking about, aniki?" Itachi smiled with a soft huff, poking him in the shoulder and jostling him out of his dark thoughts.

"I was just wondering what we could show the runts that they'll remember for a long time, something that will make them want to surpass us," Shisui replied thoughtfully, returning the smile.

Hearing his words, Sasuke, Kazuki, and Yumiko erupted into a chorus of excited chatter.

 

[Hobbes]

I'm all for this. Keep it up.

 

[Hobbes]

Yo, is it possible for there to be communication between shisui and hiroshi? Like shisui asks for more info, hiroshi googles it. Maybe even hiroshi reads other manga or watches movies and this sparks ideas for shisui to use in ninjutsu. Just some Ideas, Looking forward to more.

 

[DumDumDum]

"Hi there, are you Uzumaki Naruto? You're in the same class as my brother, Sasuke, right?" Itachi studied the "target" of his new mission with mild interest.

The blond boy was scrawny, small, and didn't look anywhere near his nearly eight years of age. Looking at such a runt, one would never guess he contained the village's ultimate weapon—the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

"Y-yeah..." The kid took a step back, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Skipping the Academy?" Itachi inquired.

Naruto flushed and averted his bright blue eyes.

"It's just... over there... I... Instructor Iruka... They all..."

"I see," Itachi nodded.

He didn't understand why so many shinobi hated this boy. The demon fox that had destroyed part of the village nearly eight years ago had been successfully sealed inside this child. Essentially, Naruto was the savior of Konoha; his parents had sacrificed their lives to seal the Nine-Tails.

Itachi had only been five and a half at the time, but he remembered the smiling, red-haired woman his mother used to be friends with. He remembered how the three of them, along with baby Sasuke, had visited the hospital after the Nine-Tails' attack. Mother Mikoto had gazed down at the sleeping infant with the shock of chick-yellow hair. Itachi had been sitting out in the hallway with Sasuke and hadn't heard much, but when his mother emerged from the hospital director's office, she had been deeply upset. He'd gotten the impression that Mother Mikoto had wanted to take Naruto in, but hadn't been allowed to.

Naruto was despised, avoided, or, at best, ignored. The First Hokage had founded Konoha so that its children could be happy. But this boy was clearly miserable. Itachi couldn't help but think that things would have turned out very differently for Naruto if his mother had been allowed to bring this little chick into their family back then.

"I saw you near the Academy. Are you an Uchiha?" the boy asked, lacking any real politeness.

"Yes, my name is Uchiha Itachi," he introduced himself. "You really should go to the Academy. To grow up strong, you need to study and train hard."

"They... They don't want to teach me anything," Naruto muttered. "They just laugh and make fun of me. Plus, I don't have... any good weapons. Just these broken shuriken with messed-up centers of gravity that I found on the training grounds," the boy whispered very quietly, dropping his head and hiding his eyes behind his long, unevenly cut bangs.

Itachi reached into his pouch, pulled out four shuriken, and slipped them onto the child's finger.

"Keep training." With those words, he leaped away, vanishing into the thick foliage of a nearby tree. He slipped his mask on, easily locating the operative he had come to relieve.

"Dog," Sparrow greeted him quietly. Itachi nodded, signing that he was taking over the shift.

Watching Naruto trudge through the village, kicking pebbles along the way, Itachi's thoughts drifted back to his conversation with Shisui yesterday. After sending their younger siblings home, Shisui had held him back at the training grounds, suggesting a spar. A few exchanges of blows, and Itachi had found himself caught in a genjutsu once again.

"You know that I received orders to monitor you a year ago, right? The clan suspects you of playing a double game… And lately, you've been acting particularly strange." Shisui, standing frozen opposite him in the illusion, sighed. "Even though I work in ANBU too, they don't trust me the way they trust you. But our convictions are very similar. I suppose I'm playing my role poorly, which is why Lord Danzo suspects me."

"It's nothing but suspicion everywhere. Instead of focusing on external enemies, we're busy digging through our own dirty laundry," Itachi had replied, trying to keep his voice even. He hadn't known Shisui was under suspicion.

They had always seemed to be on opposite sides of the barricades erected between them by the clan and the village. Sometimes, Itachi wasn't even sure if he could trust his brother, acknowledging Shisui's equal right not to trust him. Simply because both of them—as Uchiha—were part of a cursed clan. Spying on each other, constantly trying to surpass one another. Friendship and rivalry. What was real, and what was pretense? Or maybe, having been submerged in the filth of ANBU work since he was eleven, he was just imagining things? The shinobi of their clan weren't called masters of illusion for nothing, after all.

"I have this feeling that we don't have much time left. Like a taut string that's about to snap. And I still don't know what I should do. There are innocent people in our clan, too. Wouldn't you agree?"

Itachi closed his eyes tightly and clenched his jaw. His older brother was right. He had been thinking the exact same thing. If this abscess burst, no one would be spared. That old cripple hated their clan with all of his vile, black soul and genuinely believed Konoha would be better off without the Uchiha. As much as Itachi was devoted to the village, as much as he wanted to prevent massive bloodshed, he loved his little brother even more. He was willing to do a great deal for Sasuke, and Danzo masterfully manipulated that weakness. But he couldn't stand against the elders and the head of Root. Not right now. Unless, perhaps, he stood together with his brother...

"Checks and double-checks," Itachi scoffed, deciding to be frank. "The clan... The clan is rotten... All these political games and monthly meetings... They just want to start a war so they can be the ones in charge of the village. Konoha was founded so that clan and civilian shinobi could live together in peace. But war... When brother turns on brother..."

Shisui merely nodded. He smiled, as if he had seen something deeply important to him. Then again, perhaps he had—this was his genjutsu, and within it, evasion or deception was impossible.

Itachi smiled inwardly. He could always count on his older brother, after all; Shisui had been a role model his entire life and shared his ideals.

Halting his chakra flow, Itachi broke out of the technique. The entire conversation had taken a fraction of a second. They spent another ten minutes sparring silently in taijutsu before heading their separate ways.

As they parted, Shisui had mentioned being assigned a two-week mission to guard the Land of Fire's eastern border. The Land of Water and the Village Hidden in the Mist had been making moves.

Itachi had spent a long time afterward analyzing the conversation, every breath his brother took, the hidden and overt meanings, the threats, the hints, and the nuances.

Could he trust Shisui?

The simple answer presented itself immediately—yes. Because otherwise, they were all simply doomed.

Regardless of anything else, his brother was considered one of the strongest shinobi in their clan. Many enemies fled in terror just hearing they were up against "Shisui of the Body Flicker," desperate to preserve their own lives.

Itachi had always followed in Shisui's footsteps.

Should he trust him now? Yes. It would give them a chance to save someone, at least.

His brother had hinted at Sasuke, at his own little sister, and possibly Kazuki. That boy was quite talented, even if he hadn't awakened his Sharingan yet. Then again, Sasuke couldn't boast of possessing the clan's dojutsu yet, either.

Today, Itachi had been assigned to covertly monitor the jinchuriki, effectively removing him from the surveillance of the Uchiha clan—a task he had periodically handled between serious assassination missions over his last two years in ANBU.

Was it a sign? A "promotion," or rather a "demotion"? Itachi didn't believe in coincidences. There were no coincidences in this line of work.

Naruto reached a small clearing near the edge of Konoha, not far from their clan's compound. Evidently, the jinchuriki had set it up as a personal training ground. For the next several hours, the boy stubbornly threw the four shuriken he had been given at a target drawn crookedly on a tree trunk in chalk.

Itachi's thoughts spiraled again.

Shisui had said he didn't know what to do yet, but time was running out. The unrest within the clan during the last meeting seemed to have reached a boiling point. It was highly likely that everything would come to a head in the coming weeks. His cousin being sent on a mission felt like he, too, was being distanced from the clan. Did they not trust him? That was probably it. Something was clearly brewing. Both from the clan's side and the village leadership's side. Those words about a taut string... Was his brother fearing for his life? Could he be targeted for elimination? The strongest Uchiha, widely considered loyal to the clan... It was a very real possibility.

Furthermore, the specific nature of Shisui's Sharingan was unusual even by their clan's standards...

Itachi looked up. Heavy clouds were gathering over the village. It had grown sharply dark, despite sunset still being an hour and a half away. The air smelled of an impending thunderstorm. A bright, branching bolt of lightning streaked across the sky above the Hokage Monument.

His target sat down beneath a tree, clutching the dulled shuriken in hands callused to the point of bleeding. Naruto's stomach rumbled loudly, but the kid simply gritted his teeth, pulled a grimy roll of bandages from his shorts pocket, and began wrapping his palms.

After bandaging his hands, Naruto trained for another forty minutes under the pouring rain. Itachi couldn't help but admire such sheer stubbornness and determination. The chalk circle washed away, and in the dark, under the heavy rain, without activating his Sharingan, Itachi could barely see a thing. One by one, the shuriken were lost. Naruto scrounged around in the bushes for a while, but couldn't find his gifted weapons, eventually trudging off toward his home above the boiler station.

Looking through the window, Itachi was appalled by how filthy and unkempt the young jinchuriki's living space was. There were literal "paths" trodden between empty plastic bags, instant ramen cups, and milk cartons. An absolute dump. Naruto peeled off his wet clothes, pulled on a stained t-shirt and shorts that looked as if they'd been fished straight out of a dirty laundry basket, and brewed himself a cup of ramen.

"Dog," a new recruit from his squad interrupted Itachi's surveillance. "I'm here to relieve you."

"Right," Itachi nodded, forcing himself to tear his gaze away from Naruto's joyful face as the boy eagerly devoured his tiny portion of cup ramen.

"Itachi, you're hardly eating anything," his mother smiled at him, a little concerned, during their family breakfast.

For some reason, he thought about what Uzumaki Naruto might be having for breakfast, and the food turned to ash in his mouth. That, combined with his conversation with his brother and his analysis of the overall situation, killed his appetite. Itachi looked into the eyes of the woman who had given him life, and realized with striking clarity that he was going to have to take hers. Either he did it, or ANBU would. And ANBU wasn't even the worst-case scenario. There was always the Torture and Interrogation Force. And then... public execution as village traitors, their names forever stained with indelible disgrace.

"I'm just not that hungry," Itachi offered a strained smile.

"Brother," Sasuke chimed in. "Will you train with me today? Yesterday was so awesome. I spent all evening practicing that throw you showed me!"

"Sorry, little brother, maybe next time..."

There was a knock at the door—a prearranged signal. Opening it, Itachi found his cousin on the doorstep. Shisui stepped inside and bowed to his father.

"I'm being sent on a mission, Lord Fugaku..."

"Of course, Shisui." His father, as the clan head, approved all missions assigned by the village, so his brother's appearance was nothing out of the ordinary.

Except that Shisui had known about the mission yesterday. Which meant Shisui had come here to let Itachi know they needed to meet in private, as soon as possible. He had probably come up with something over the course of the evening and night.

"I'm heading to the eastern border with my team. For about two weeks. Hokage's orders."

"I expect you'll be back in time for the clan meeting?" Fugaku pressed.

"Yes, I believe that will be unavoidable..." his brother offered a thoughtful, somber smile. Shooting Itachi a brief glance, he took his leave.

"I need to report to headquarters," Itachi announced after waiting ten minutes. He donned his ANBU gear and slipped out of the house.

Shisui would be waiting for him at their usual spot, near the bend of the Naka River.

 

[DumDumDum]

Gazing down into the raging river rapids from the cliff he was destined to fall from—at least, according to the version of his world's future his "second self" had discovered—Shisui calculated their current situation.

The future had become far more concrete when his other self spent the night reading a storyline where he returned from a mission. It was highly likely it was this exact mission, the one he had received just before his training session with the kids.

A border skirmish with shinobi from the Hidden Mist was entirely plausible; according to intelligence reports, they were planning some sort of incursion to test Konoha's strength. He would return right in time for the clan meeting. Normally, he might have considered asking the Hokage to try and divert this looming disaster from the clan. But now, having discovered not only his own future and the clan's fate but also the behind-closed-doors conversations of the elders, there was no point in placing his faith in the Hokage.

As the images had shown, Sarutobi loved to have others pull his chestnuts out of the fire. He had Danzo. In public, the Third Hokage and Danzo played out a bitter rivalry, but in private, they whispered together about the "greater good of Konoha." Of course, Shisui wasn't going to put one hundred percent of his trust in some drawn comic panels, but armed with this knowledge, he began looking in the right directions. He started noticing things he had previously missed, or simply hadn't wanted to see. Despite his "all-seeing" Sharingan, it was pathetic just how terribly blind he had been at times.

Shisui had always considered himself an honest man. When he had been assigned to monitor his brother, he had done everything in his power to make it obvious, gently nudging Itachi toward the realization that he was being watched. A shinobi's work was always dirty, but... Perhaps he had been too seduced by that world from his dreams... A world too perfect to be true... Or, at the very least, too perfect to ever be replicated in their own reality.

According to his latest data, two hundred and five people lived in the clan compound. Of those, sixty-eight were elite shinobi serving in the Konoha Military Police Force. One hundred and twenty-six were genin-level shinobi and civilians over the age of twelve. The remaining eleven were him, Itachi, Yumiko, Sasuke, Kazuki, and six other children ranging from one to ten years old.

"Shii," Itachi called out, using his childhood nickname as he approached their meeting spot.

"Ichi," Shisui teased his brother with a smile.

Itachi had always strived to be the first in everything he did, so the shortening of his name suited him perfectly.

"So... When do you get back from your mission?" Itachi asked. "Or will I only see you at the clan meeting?"

"I think we'll see each other a little sooner than that." To be safe, Shisui activated his Sharingan, double-checking that no one was spying on them. He really didn't like the fact that the "pictures of the future" featured a ubiquitous "walking aloe" that was completely undetectable to most sensors.

Furthermore, considering that the masked man—Uchiha Obito—had apparently participated, or rather would participate, in the extermination of the Uchiha clan, Shisui had absolutely no intention of letting him in on their plans.

"Shisui-san, there's some movement in the Hidden Mist camp," the squad's sensor reported.

They had arrived at the border four days ago, and until now, everything had been quiet.

"Move out," Shisui ordered, activating his Sharingan.

If the enemy had forced an actual battle, he might have concluded that this wasn't the exact scenario depicted in the "pictures of the future," that his presumed time of death had been delayed, or that the dream-images were simply wrong. But he immediately recognized the one-eyed man hiding a Byakugan beneath his eyepatch, despite never having met him in real life.

The Mist shinobi recognized their opponent as well and hastily retreated, dragging their panicked comrades along with them.

"That should keep them away from our borders for a while," Shisui muttered in response to his squad's celebratory congratulations.

The accuracy of the "predictions" was fully confirmed, causing his heart to clench and skip a beat. Deep down, he had still clung to a sliver of hope that things would work out and the terrifying future foretold by that mangaka wouldn't come to pass.

"You're going alone, Shisui-san?" the sensor asked in surprise. "Take Kano with you, at least, for combat support."

"No, it's fine. I just want to pay a visit to Ryu. My mother's relatives live there, and when she found out my mission was in the east, she asked me to check up on them if the opportunity arose. Intelligence reports that the Mist shinobi have halted all operations and incursions in the Land of Fire and the border waters. They've pulled out of the Land of Hot Water as well, so I think I can afford to fulfill my mother's request. I'll leave a crow with you in case the situation changes and our enemies make a move. It'll be able to find me, and I'll return immediately."

Thirty hours had passed since the one-eyed man with the Byakugan had attacked.

"Our relief squad will arrive in three and a half days; I'll be back in three. Saiko, take command!" Shisui ordered.

"Yes, Captain!" Saiko stood at attention.

"We won't let you down, Shisui-san!" the rest of the squad whispered in unison.

He nodded and headed southwest, toward the city of Ryu, a hundred and sixty kilometers from their mission zone. He planned to make the trip in three to four hours.

Upon arriving in the city, Shisui's first stop was the bank. He withdrew all the mission pay he had accumulated in his clan accounts. He did the same with Itachi's savings book.

Liquidating everything in Konoha would have been far too risky. But the ancient city of Ryu—aside from being located near an Uchiha clan hideout run by the ninneko and Granny Cat—boasted an excellent banking system where funds could be received or transferred to and from any of the Five Great Shinobi Countries. Furthermore, the Konoha bank was unlikely to catch wind of the transaction without launching a formal investigation. And if everything went according to plan, there wouldn't be anyone left to inherit his money after his "death" anyway.

He sealed the money into scrolls and packed them into the bottom of his pouch. Phase one of his plan was successfully completed. It was incredibly fortunate that he had been sent on a mission at exactly the right time, so close to Ryu. Shisui swung by the market, bought some fresh fish, a few bottles of valerian root tincture, and a pouch of catnip, before heading for the hideout.

Technically, the hideout belonged to the main branch. Itachi and Sasuke had visited Ryu on several occasions; a few of their clan relatives genuinely lived there, and the Uchiha clan had actually resided in the area before migrating to Konoha.

Back then, much to his little sister's jealous awe, Sasuke used to breathlessly recount his "cat hunts," which he fully intended to resume later, vividly describing his album of paw prints. The kid had no idea that Shisui and Itachi had actually started that exact competition years ago. Consequently, Shisui was also well-received at the hideout, intimately familiar with Granny Cat and her eccentricities, and maintained close ties with the main branch of the clan.

"Shii! Long time no see!" two ninneko greeted him at the entrance. "Did you bring us treats?"

"Is Granny Cat home?" he asked, producing the rolled-up ball of catnip. The ninneko erupted into joyful chatter, sniffing greedily.

"Yes! We'll purr-rovide an escort if you've forgotten where her rooms are."

"No, I remember. So she's in there?" Shisui smiled. He had always liked cats—they were beautiful, agile, cute, and dangerous.

"Yes!" The hideout guards accepted their offering, clamped it in their teeth, and bolted off, their purring echoing down the corridor.

Granny Cat's quarters smelled heavily of tobacco. As always, she was thoughtfully puffing away, holding onto a long kiseru pipe.

"Shii," Granny Cat greeted him in a raspy voice, slightly tilting her gray head, adorned with a cat-ear headband. "What business brings you to the Hideout?"

"Granny Cat." Bowing respectfully, Shisui lowered himself to his knees. "I've come to ask for your help..."

"Shisui-san, you're back early!" Saiko, the acting commander, greeted him.

"No incidents during your absence," the sensor reported. "You made it back just in time. The relief squad's messenger bird arrived a little while ago; they'll be here in twelve hours. How are your relatives?"

"Everything is fine," Shisui nodded. "Fall in. I want a status report from everyone."

"Yes, sir!" Saiko gave a hand signal, and within a couple of minutes, all six shinobi were gathered around him.

Shisui activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and wiped his squad's memories of his absence.

Twelve hours until the mission ended. Twenty hours after that, they would be back in Konoha.

And after that, the countdown would be measured in minutes...

Shisui squeezed his eyes shut and regulated his breathing, calming himself down.

"Kano, you're on watch. The rest of you, get some rest. Our relief will be here soon."

 

[Hobbes]

If I might suggest, when you change scene, for example from granny cat to meeting up with saiko just put a divider line or something of the sort, o better indicate the scene change. Keep it up

 

[Seyf]

Super cool dude. Personally, if i was Shisiu, i'd personally rip Itachi skull for killing my 6 year old sister.

View: https://jp.pinterest.com/pin/2111131058092613/

 

[DumDumDum]

Sasuke sighed and cast another look at the food basket. He knew his mother had packed it with onigiri, sweet rice dumplings, his favorite tomatoes, and a few other treats.

It had all started a couple of days ago when the three of them were eating lunch without his father. Itachi had suddenly asked their mother about her old friend, Kushina.

His mother had grown visibly upset, explaining that Kushina had died right after giving birth. She mentioned that she had wanted to adopt the baby into their family since the boy's father had died as well, but certain circumstances hadn't even allowed Mother Mikoto to look after her friend's son.

His brother almost never talked about his missions, citing the strict secrecy of ANBU work. But that day, Itachi had looked thoughtfully at Sasuke and revealed that the child—his mother's friend's son—was in Sasuke's class at the Academy, and that Itachi's current ANBU assignment was to keep an eye on the orphan from the afternoon until late at night.

Sasuke had mentally run through his classmates; only a few fit the definition of "orphan." Naturally, by some stroke of terrible luck, "that very orphan" turned out to be the class idiot, Uzumaki Naruto.

The slacker who constantly talked about being his rival and tried to pick fights with him, though always unsuccessfully, only managing to make himself look like an even bigger fool. Sasuke never retaliated, reminding himself of his clan's dignity and choosing to ignore the boy, though it wasn't always easy.

For some inexplicable reason, Uzumaki was intensely irritating. Perhaps it was because he was so completely different from the rest of their classmates, who mostly treated Sasuke with immense respect and an admiration bordering on worship. The girls, especially. They liked him because he was the top student in the class, and because he was an Uchiha. Uzumaki, however, completely disregarded that fact and constantly claimed he was better than Sasuke, though it was never clear why. And despite taking beatings from the girls and being the laughingstock of the rest of the class, he never backed down from his one-sided "rivalry."

Itachi had casually mentioned that Uzumaki was practically starving. Their mother had immediately packed some food, and Sasuke was tasked with delivering it so as not to arouse suspicion. He simply couldn't fathom what had drawn the attention of ANBU and his genius brother to this idiot.

Today was a day off from the Academy, and his brother had mentioned that his classmate could be found in a small clearing near the clan compound, where he usually trained. Itachi had advised him to wait until his shift ended before approaching Uzumaki with the basket.

Sasuke sighed again. His mission was just to hand over some food. Yet, for some reason, it felt incredibly difficult.

Suddenly, someone with the distinctive pale eyes and long hair of the Hyuga clan stepped out of the bushes and onto the path. The young man, about the same age as older brother Shisui, was dragging a little girl behind him. Sasuke recognized her as his classmate, Hyuga Hinata. She was squeaking out a protest, insisting that Naruto had saved her from some bullies and that they had left him beaten up in the woods. Her guard merely scoffed in disdain.

"Don't dirty yourself over that scum, Lady Hinata. You shouldn't waste your thoughts on him; he is unworthy of your attention."

They walked past. For some reason, Sasuke strongly disliked what the older Hyuga had said. The guard had essentially voiced Sasuke's own previous thoughts, and hearing them spoken out loud by someone else made him feel a twinge of shame.

Turning off the path into the woods where the members of Konoha's other dojutsu-wielding clan had emerged, Sasuke walked about two hundred meters through the brush until he found Uzumaki sprawled on the ground. The boy was lying with his eyes closed, breathing heavily. His lip was split open, and a nasty black eye was forming.

Sasuke looked around for his brother but couldn't spot him. Most likely, "surveillance" meant he was forbidden from interfering. Sasuke examined the tracks on the ground and deduced that there had been three attackers.

Honestly, that idiot often came to the Academy covered in bruises and scrapes, but Sasuke had never considered that the blond was being ganged up on and beaten; he had just assumed Uzumaki picked fights or actively sought out trouble. Suddenly, the strange whispers of their classmates and their blatant ostracization came to mind. There was an unspoken rule hanging in the air at the Academy: you don't associate with Uzumaki. And the looks the adults gave him... Sasuke hadn't paid it any mind before, but his inquisitive brain was starting to piece together the "Mystery of Uzumaki Naruto." The boy his family hadn't been allowed to adopt. The boy hated by adults and shunned by his peers. Not to mention the ANBU surveillance.

The sudden thought struck him: if his mother had been granted permission, Uzumaki would have been his adoptive brother.

Sasuke studied the blond's face as he lay there. His eyelashes fluttered slightly. The blood on his split lip had already clotted and stopped bleeding. There were thin lines on his cheeks, like cat whiskers. Sasuke found himself wondering about their nature.

Their classmate Kiba, from the Inuzuka clan, walked around with red triangular fangs painted on his cheeks, but he had bragged that once he became a genin, he would get the actual clan tattoos. The same went for the spirals on Akimichi Choji's cheeks.

But Uzumaki was an orphan; it was highly unlikely anyone had given him clan tattoos. Besides, there was no such clan in Konoha—if there were, they would have certainly taken him in. Sasuke set the basket down, crouched, and ran a finger over the other boy's cheek, trying to rub the marks off. They didn't feel like tattoos; they were more like unusually symmetrical birthmarks.

"Hey, wake up," Sasuke lightly patted his classmate's cheek. The long, thick eyelashes fluttered, and bright blue eyes snapped open in surprise.

"S-Sasuke?" came a strained mumble. Then Uzumaki tried to sit up, wincing and hissing like a snake, clearly in pain.

Sasuke helped him sit up.

"They really did a number on you. Your lip is all busted..." Sasuke muttered, unsure of what else to say.

Uzumaki gave him a strange look, as if seeing him for the very first time.

"Did you see it?" his voice was hoarse and raspy.

"No, I just overheard the Hyuga talking and found you here. The ones who did this already ran off," Sasuke replied, offering only a half-lie. "Hinata apparently wanted to help you, but that Hyuga guy refused..."

Uzumaki looked away.

"They were bullying her..." he mumbled, frowning. He shot Sasuke a dark glare from under his bangs, as if Sasuke were the one who had been bullying their classmate. For some reason, it was incredibly uncomfortable to meet those piercing blue eyes.

"It was good of you to step in. Let's eat, then track those bullies down and teach them a lesson," Sasuke offered. "There were three of them, right?"

"Yeah," Uzumaki tilted his head. "How did you know?"

"The tracks. My older brother taught me how to read tracks," Sasuke boasted slightly.

At the mention of Itachi, Uzumaki broke into a wide smile.

"You have a really good brother, Sasuke. He's kind."

"Y-yeah..." Sasuke was taken aback. How did his older brother know his classmate?

"Did you say 'eat'?" Uzumaki suddenly caught on, his eyes locking onto the basket sitting nearby. "Do you have food in there?"

"Yeah... Help yourself." Sasuke pulled back the cloth covering the basket and laid out the food his mother had prepared.

"I can eat this?!" Uzumaki whispered in disbelief. He swallowed loudly, staring at the food with lingering suspicion.

"Of course," Sasuke nodded. He reached for the makeshift table first, picking up an onigiri and taking a bite. "Eat."

"Thank you for the food!" Uzumaki exclaimed joyfully. In a flash, his suspicion was entirely replaced by boundless happiness, and he practically pounced on the meal.

Seeing how fast the food was disappearing made Sasuke's own appetite flare up. He had thought the supplies in the basket would be enough to feed four people—at least, he had thought so before getting a close-up look at the other boy's ravenous gluttony.

"Sorry... It's all gone," Uzumaki looked down at the empty cloth with a mix of surprise and belated guilt fifteen minutes later. "You were probably taking that to someone, huh? Oops."

"It's fine," Sasuke waved it off, intuitively deciding not to mention exactly who the basket was meant for. "So, are we going after those three or what?"

His classmate sprang to his feet, practically vibrating with a sudden, wild enthusiasm. Sasuke noted with surprise that after eating, the boy actually looked much better: his eye wasn't swollen shut, just slightly bruised, and the cut on his lip had already scabbed over.

"Yeah! With you here, we'll definitely teach them a lesson!" Uzumaki grinned widely, a somewhat bloodthirsty look in his slyly narrowed eyes. "I have a plan!"

Sasuke was genuinely curious what kind of plan this could possibly be. Judging by Naruto's behavior at the Academy, he expected something along the lines of "jump out of the bushes, challenge them to a fight, and punch them." But when Uzumaki actually outlined his idea, Sasuke's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

And he had thought this guy was stupid?!

That evening, Itachi praised Sasuke for perfectly synergizing with Naruto. Despite only knowing how to create basic illusory clones, Sasuke had worked seamlessly in a team, striking a deep, mystical terror into the three bullies that had them nearly soiling their pants and swearing never to pick on smaller kids or gang up on anyone ever again.

Sasuke smiled as he recalled how they had tracked the boys down in the woods. Naruto had stepped out into the clearing, delivering a dramatic speech about how he was an angry forest spirit that had possessed the beaten boy's body to exact punishment. He put on a flawless performance, howling eerily, rolling his eyes back, and moving with disjointed, unnatural jerks.

At first, the kids hadn't believed him and moved in to beat him up again. But at the exact moment Naruto touched each of them, Sasuke, hiding up in a tree, had cast basic illusory clones of the bullies—rendering them slightly translucent.

It looked exactly as if Naruto had forcefully yanked their souls right out of their bodies. He then threatened to take the souls away forever if the boys didn't repent and apologize to everyone they had ever wronged.

It wasn't long before three nearly grown boys were on their knees, sobbing, begging the "forest spirit" for forgiveness and pleading for their souls back. At Naruto's signal, Sasuke "superimposed" the illusory clones back over their targets and dispelled them. Then, as a finishing touch, Sasuke cast an illusion of his grandfather, Sawada—a terrifying old man with scars and a thick beard—making it look like the spirit was finally "exiting" Uzumaki. The ghostly old man wagged a threatening finger at the bullies before dissolving into one of the trees.

The show had been an absolute triumph.

Naruto played his part perfectly, pretending to "wake up" confused from the possession. The bullies had practically kissed his hands in gratitude before sprinting off to "apologize to the others."

Uzumaki Naruto had thoroughly impressed him, and as Sasuke thought about him now, he couldn't help but smile.

 

[Trek]

Mc has koto why is he so stressed about not being able to save his clan? He can also use the archived 3 tomo eyes for isanami and isanami if needed.

I for one would never forgive Itachi or the elders, Danzo and the Kage for turning Itachi traitor and killing everyone from mcs clan from the women to the elderly to the children and then harvest their eyes at scale.

Running away with a couple people is not the option the only way to solve this is to either take away the entire clan, given the knowledge of naruto filler he can make a respectfully strong new village, hide his clan away in the sky fotress and plan on how to get to six paths level. Or let rivers of blood flow, or use koto to take over Konoha.

There is no respectable human who would take the threat of their entire bloodline being genocided for their eyes and not draw his sword and try to prevent that future no matter the cost.