ANOTHER quick update!
This chapter basically wrote itself, next chapter is in the works as we speak/read!
I don't want to say anything and give spoilers but lots of important things in this chapter.
Don't forget to leave a review :D
She sat there, unblinking as she listened to Shikaku. She didn't know what to expect when he had first said he wanted to speak with her, but she was glad that he had decided to speak to her.
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Sakura asked quietly.
She watched him sigh and take another sip of his sake. "As you know, your father was killed in a training accident. The Uchiha police in conjunction with a handful of the jounin commander's carefully selected shinobi conducted an investigation. As it turns out two newly promoted jounin were sparring in the training ground with poison coated kunai. They claimed to be unaware of the poison's effect and didn't bother to contact the Intelligence department for a qualified shinobi to supervise the spar, as is dictated by law. They have since been demoted to genin, and will have to wait five years before being allowed to take part of the chunin exams. I know it doesn't change the fact that their idiocy made you lose someone, but I thought you may want to know that at least some justice has been served."
Sakura couldn't remember much of what happened after she had understood what Shikaku told her until she lay down in bed that night. The rest of her day seemed to have simply passed her by.
She had never known that shinobi could be demoted, it was the first time she had ever heard of such a case, but it made her feel better yet terrified at the same time. What if her leg would prevent her from progressing past chunin and she would get demoted to a genin.
Despite Shisui's confidence in her, it was now a very real possibility that she would be a genin for life and she didn't think she could deal with that humiliation. She now had an additional reason to be able to run by the time she made genin.
Walking around the village with Itachi was always strange; girls didn't know who to fawn over and would often times try to get both their attention. He was thinking that they should both apply a genjutsu on themselves to change their appearance when off duty and not training just to get some peace and quiet but Itachi refused.
The meeting with the council and the Uchiha clan went relatively peaceful, as there was no bloodshed. They did learn that Danzo was the one who initially suggested that the Uchiha police be given more funding with the stipulation that five non-Uchiha members join the force. The biggest caveat was that Danzo himself would be choosing the five members.
Fugaku had been present at the meeting and had brought up wanting to have several Uchiha members try out for ANBU. When he was told by the Hokage that an application was first required in order for each candidate to be reviewed, the head of the Uchiha clan actually scoffed.
After much arguing and childish name calling, the Hokage relented and agreed to have open tryouts for the Uchiha clan. Fugaku promptly regretted his decision when the Hokage chose Kakashi to be the opponent that each candidate had to spar for their evaluation.
Shisui knew Fugaku was hoping he or Itachi would be the ones to fight the candidates but secretly, Shisui was relieved they wouldn't be. They would have been put in a very delicate position; the Uchiha clan would want them to go easy on the candidates to ensure their promotion to ANBU.
"Shisui! Itachi!"
Both boys turned to see Genma walking towards them with a smile.
"Are you two busy tonight? There's a bunch of us going out to the bar later."
"I may be able to stop by if my father is in a good mood." Itachi responded, though Shisui knew that meant Itachi wouldn't be going. Shisui knew Itachi disliked hanging out in crowded places and cursed him that he always had an excuse in the form of Fugaku.
"I'll try to make it." Shisui forced out his answer. Truth be told, he didn't really want to go because that meant possibly forming a better bond with others which would potentially hurt him later.
He knew he was a hypocrite when he told Sakura he always tried to be positive in life, he just didn't want her to turn out like him.
"It's just a few of us; Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, Raido and Aoba have confirmed." Genma listed off.
"Kurenai, hn." Itachi spat out.
"Yeah, the only thing I ask is that everyone's civil." Genma said with a strained smile.
"No guarantees I can make it, all depends how my day goes." Shisui amended his answer.
"Fair enough, I do hope both of you can make it."
Genma took his leave, seemingly in a rush as he took to the rooftops and sped off.
Kurenai had left a sour taste in their mouths, but more so Itachi than him. His cousin wanted absolutely nothing to do with the chunin.
Shisui felt someone grab his hand from behind and he instinctively squeezed the hand, almost into a crushing hold and took out a kunai with his other hand. He spun around and his breath caught in his throat.
Sakura was looking at them with unbelievably wide eyes and he could see the fear in them. He glanced to the side and saw Itachi drop his kunai to the ground. They had both pulled a weapon on a six-year-old child who had managed to sneak up on them.
Shisui grabbed her and flickered far enough away from the busy market area where he collapsed on the ground and waited for his heart to slow the hell down. They were in their village, yet both he and Itachi had pulled out their weapons, ready to attack.
Itachi joined them and slowly approached Sakura, not wanting to scare her any more than they already had. They both sat there in complete shock and watched as Sakura started to cry.
"I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan." Itachi managed to breathe out first.
Shisui blamed the adrenaline, but he couldn't help but laugh. After a minute or so, he noticed that Sakura stopped crying and was now looking at him like he was crazy.
"On the bright side, you managed to sneak up on both of us. I swear I didn't sense your chakra at all." Shisui spoke between bouts of forced laughter, trying to cheer her.
"Neither did I." Itachi said quietly with a startling realization.
"It was instinct, Princess, only really good shinobi have managed to sneak up on us." Shisui complimented.
She recoiled when Shisui extended his arm towards her, so he quickly gave her some space. He stayed on the ground and watched as she stood up and walked away from them. Neither Shisui or Itachi made a move to stop her.
He spent the next two days trying to see Sakura, but she simply stayed home and when he asked to see her, either Takeshi or Mebuki would answer the door and tell him she wanted to spend time with family.
After the fourth time he visited, Takeshi stepped outside and shut the door behind him.
"She'll come see you when she's ready. She also feels guilty." Takeshi informed him.
"G-guilty, why? She did nothing wrong." Shisuy stuttered.
"She thinks it's her fault for almost getting ki… hurt. She shouldn't have grabbed your hands."
"Please tell her it is not her fault. We couldn't sense her chakra at all, and I guess it was instinct to attack." Shisui said quietly.
Takeshi smiled and Shisui couldn't bring himself to reciprocate. He slowly walked away from Sakura's house aimlessly; he wasn't sure how to spend his afternoon. He usually spent his free time with Sakura and thoroughly enjoyed it, so he did the next best thing, he quickly went home to get a book then sat down on the bench near Sakura's house.
He was so engrossed in his novel that he never heard the front door open and close, he only felt the slight chakra flare near him.
He turned to see Sakura standing just outside his reach and he winced regretfully. Her eyes were red and puffy but they kept looking at the ground.
"Princess, I'm so sorry." Shisui began.
"What book are you reading?" She said quickly, changing the subject.
He wouldn't push her if she didn't want to talk about it. "It's a story about a ninja who gets hired by a secret organization to assassinate the country's leader. It turns out the ninja is the country leader's brother and they plan a way to get the money and fake the leader's death but things go wrong quickly. It's my favourite book, my parents gave it to me as a birthday present."
She walked over and sat down beside Shisui on the bench with her hands clasped together. He could spot her nervousness by her constant fidgeting and he just wanted to get her to be relaxed, so he slowly lifted his hand and rested it on top of her head.
"When do you leave for your mission?"
"First thing tomorrow morning for me, and Itachi leaves tomorrow afternoon. It's a bit strange how we both have concurrent solo missions." Shisui admitted.
"Can you stay over tonight?" She asked meekly.
Hope bloomed in his heart and he was so happy that things would be alright between them.
"Of course. I'm going close to Suna for my mission, I was thinking of bringing you back a surprise if I can find the perfect thing." He had wanted to surprise her when he arrived from his mission but he didn't like keeping surprises from her.
Suna was known for its poisonous plants, and Sakura could always use another book.
"I'm finally safe!" Takeshi exclaimed happily as soon as he ran into the house and shut the door behind him.
"Safe?" Sakura asked.
"From your friend! She spotted me walking in the market and basically clung to me the rest of the way. She's a persistent one, that's for sure." He complained.
Sakura, Shisui and Mebuki - who had rushed over to see what the commotion was about - laughed until Takeshi finally joined in. Mebuki tried her best to stifle her laughter but couldn't manage.
"She means well but… she's a bit too intense. I'm sure she'll grow out of it one day, but I hope she doesn't have a crush on too many boys until then, it feels like shell chase them away." Takeshi admitted.
"She's the most confident person I know. I hope one day I'll be just as great as she is." Sakura stated.
"Kura-chan, you are an amazing person, don't feel the need to compare yourself to others. Ino may be more confident, but you don't drive people away by being overbearing. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses."
Though Sakura valued her cousin's words, she also knew kids usually stayed away from her for some reason.
"I'll tell you what, Princess, when you beat Ino in a spar when you're a genin, I'll teach you a jutsu of your choosing." Shisui offered.
She was looking forward to becoming a genin. With Shisui helping her, she would become just as amazing as him. She also wondered what the other kids in her class would be like as genin.
"A jutsu of my choosing? I have six years to plan for the perfect jutsu to learn, and it'll be the most awesome jutsu ever! Is there a jutsu that makes me instantly win against any enemy?" She asked.
"If there was such a jutsu, I would love to learn it, or just a jutsu that prevents all fighting in the world. My eyes actually do something similar, it's how I got the doctor to release you from the hospital the first time." Shisui explained.
"Why are your eyes red sometimes?" Sakura asked.
"My clan is able to unlock the sharingan, which is pretty awesome. It gives us the ability to see what people are going to do in taijutsu, we can see people forming chakra which lets us copy jutsu pretty easily, and helps out with genjutsu. It enhances the genjutsu we cast and is easier for us to break out of them. There's also an upgraded version we can unlock under certain circumstances, and everyone gets a new ability. Mine is that I can basically mind control someone."
Sakura stared with wide eyes as she absorbed all that information. It seemed very unfair that only the Uchiha clan had such an amazing gift.
"There's a girl in my class that has white eyes. I thought she was blind but, does she have special eyes too?"
"Yes, she has the byakugan. There are several different dojutsu in the world, and they're all pretty powerful. You'll learn about them at some point, I'm guessing in your second or third year at the Academy."
"What about Ino? She doesn't have any pupils on her eyes."
"No, there is no dojutsu in the Yamanaka clan, that's just how their eyes are."
Sakura stayed silent for a while, digesting all the information. She was fascinated with the sharingan and was curious to understand it better. She also wondered if the sharingan was what made Shisui and Itachi so much stronger than most.
"Can we spar?" Sakura asked suddenly.
Shisui startled at the question but quickly recovered with a smile.
"Sure, did you want to join us Takeshi, I can teach you a bit of self defense."
Takeshi hesitated, and Sakura knew he never wanted to hurt anyone. She would pressure him to join them if he refused, she could send Ino after him as a threat.
"I'm not sure, I don't want to have to hurt anyone." Takeshi said.
"Don't think of it as hurting someone, think of it as protecting yourself or someone you love. What would you do if someone attacked you or threatened to hurt Sakura? Would you just sit and wait for him to do it?" Shisui reasoned.
"I suppose when you put it that way, it justifies hurting others." Takeshi conceded.
The three went outside in the yard and Sakura's heartbeat sped up. She knew Shisui wouldn't hurt her but this would be the first time she ever threw a punch. She didn't know the most effective way to fight so she just charged at Shisui and started flailing her arms at him.
After a dozen or so punches, Shisui stopped her. "Don't swing your arms in such a wide circle, it takes a while for it to reach your opponent and they can anticipate it. Do direct punches, use the fastest way to your target in a straight line."
She took his corrections to heart and adjusted her punching method. She wasn't hitting hard because her stance was rigid due to her leg, but she was getting some pointers down at least.
"Also, make sure you open your eyes when you attack. Once you can stand on your leg more easily, you'll be able to add weight to your punches. You can always practice punching a tree or a log to get better. Your turn Takeshi."
Sakura was out of breath after throwing so many punches, and she enjoyed the slight break Shisui had granted her. Truth be told, she was looking forward to training with Shisui when she was able to, there were so many things he could teach her.
She looked on as Takeshi lunged and jumped at Shisui and tried his best to land a hit. Takeshi looked almost as graceful as Itachi and it made Sakura jealous. She doubted she would ever be graceful when fighting.
"Mama, come sit with me!" Sakura half shouted when her mother stepped outside.
The two watched Shisui and Takeshi spar - rather, they watched Takeshi try his best to land a hit on Shisui - and basked in the afternoon sun.
Shisui switched things up and forced Takeshi to practice self-defence in case someone attacked him from behind. He managed to throw Shisui off him pretty easily and Sakura thought that with some training, Takeshi could be a good shinobi.
"Mebuki, come and attack me."
Her mother startled beside her and denied Shisui's offer, until Sakura and Takeshi both insisted that she learn from the best.
After a few hours of sparring, the four collapsed onto the grass and stared up at the sky. It was a cloudless sky and birds were chirping happily. It was at that moment that Sakura decided to tell her family and best friend what Shikaku had told her.
"I didn't know shinobi could get demoted." Takeshi stated afterwards.
"In very rare cases, yes. If someone does something incredibly reckless and harms someone else, or even ignores a commanding officer's order, resulting in someone getting hurt. It's always handled on a case by case basis but this is the second time I've heard of shinobi being demoted. So, it's not common, but it does happen." Shisui explained.
"What if the commanding officer is wrong?" Sakura asked.
"That's why it's handled on a case by case basis. Typically, a senior Yamanaka is required to revisit someone's memory in order to understand what actually happened. It's a complex process, but disobeying orders or getting someone killed due to incompetence is not something that's taken lightly in this Village."
"What if I don't agree with my sensei when I'm a genin?" Sakura worried.
"The only person that can get demoted in that case is the jounin sensei, unless the genin simply refuses to do anything and gets in the way and gets his or her teammate killed. The sensei is there to train, protect and teach the genin. Plus, the missions for genin rarely involve any combat." Shisui reassured her.
With her worries slightly appeased, she rolled over next to Shisui and used his arm as a pillow. She drifted off to sleep with the sun shining on her face, surrounded by the people she loved the most.
She walked hand in hand with Takeshi, using only one crutch to help her walk, making up stories about the people they passed by: where they're going, what their profession is, their favourite foods and the places they've travelled. Shisui's real stories about the shinobi he knew inspired her to think outside the box because it seemed that anything and everything was possible.
She remembered Shisui telling her about a solo mission where a shinobi had to befriend his target in order to gain valuable information. His target had been a farmer so the shinobi showed up to work on the farm. It turned out that the shinobi managed to attract all the cows and goats on the farm. The animals would always nuzzle up to him and lick him. He had also managed to fall several times in the pile of manure that he cleaned up, which also made the pigs attracted to him. Needless to say, the shinobi had managed to develop a fear of farm animals since, supposedly, even to this day all farm animals were naturally drawn to him.
Sakura loved hearing about different missions and she made a mental reminder to ask Shisui for more stories when he came back from his mission. He was only supposed to be gone for a week, but it was possible that it would take longer, just like his previous mission.
She rounded a corner and saw Akamaru standing there looking up at her. She searched around for Kiba but couldn't spot him.
"Where's Kiba?" She asked the dog.
For some reason she expected him to speak, but when a bark and tail wag was the only answer provided, she reached down to pet him. She briefly remembered hearing dogs speak but couldn't remember where, perhaps she had dreamt it a while back.
"Akamaru!"
She heard Kiba shouting and made her way towards him with Akamaru. He was a sweet kid, though his rambunctious nature made him a bit careless at times. He was also loud. When he and Naruto got into an argument, she tried to distance herself as best as possible since she valued her hearing.
"Sakura-chan! Are you excited to see more spars today?" Kiba asked cheerfully.
Going to see the older kids spar became a regular occurrence. The majority of her class loved watching them, but it just made Sakura anxious; she wasn't sure if she'd be able to spar in less than a year.
"I'll leave you here Kura-chan, I have to head back home." Takeshi hurried and gave her a kiss on the forehead before turning around and quickly walking away.
It was very odd for him to act that way but when she turned her head and saw Ino waiting at the Academy entrance, she understood. Her cousin was scared of a child.
Kiba regaled her with tales of his family picnic and how insane it was. Everything that could go wrong went wrong which resulted in a lot of yelling and play fighting. All in all, it sounded like a typical Inuzuka outing to Sakura.
As they neared the Academy, she didn't miss Ino's reaction when she spotted her. The widened eyes and quick scurrying told Sakura that Ino wasn't ready to speak to her yet.
She ignored her feelings of guilt and sadness and walked into the classroom with Kiba at her side. She pet Akamaru on the head and saw Kiba stand there expectantly so she decided to pet him too, after all, she couldn't let Kiba be jealous of Akamaru.
She quickly went to sit with Shikamaru and Choji while Kiba stood there blinking. Sakura didn't miss the small smile that Shikamaru gave her, or Choji's offer of chips.
She loved the small gestures that her friends made and just wanted to hug them, show them she cared and appreciated them, but she couldn't get up in class and start hugging people, that would be embarrassing and would ruin her day.
She waited until everyone stood up to go watch the spars and quickly hugged and thanked both Shikamaru and Choji. She would have to get to Kiba at some point; the head pat probably didn't mean much to him so she reasoned that a hug would convey her happiness much better.
The spars were lackluster compared to Shisui and Itachi but it was to be expected. She made a mental note to ask them if she could watch their next spar and maybe see if they can give her tips on fighting.
She watched on until the boy with white eyes walked into the circle. His opponent seemed to hesitate and he glanced back to his friends frequently. The pretty boy - the boy with white eyes had the most luscious hair she had ever seen - frowned and waited for his opponent to extend his fingers into the seal of confrontation.
After a minute or so of waiting, their sensei forced the opponent to make the seal with pretty boy. The spar lasted just a few seconds after that; pretty boy was ruthless. He didn't hold back and decimated the other kid. His hand to hand combat was precise and unforgiving and he made sure his opponent went down quickly. They formed the seal of reconciliation very quickly and pretty boy went to sit down by himself.
The other kids almost seemed scared of him, and if he was anything like what he was during the spar, it made sense; he was scary. The rest of the spars looked like kids throwing random kicks and punches until one of them connected and Sakura hoped she wouldn't look so silly when she sparred the following year.
She wasn't that interested in watching the spars, but she did like being outside in the sun and being with her friends. She had been the first to sit down and the four boys didn't hesitate to join her, which made her happy. Typically, she would join Shikamaru and Choji, then Kiba would join and eventually Naruto would meander over and ask to sit with them. She never thought they would follow her and sit with her, she always thought she would have to join them.
Lunch break was right after the spars so they had all brought their food with them outside. As soon as the bell rang, Kiba and Naruto ran to the best picnic table and claimed it for the group. Shikamaru and Choji chose to walk at Sakura's pace since she had a crutch with her.
"What's going on between you and Ino?" Choji asked after they noticed Ino look in their direction then march off in a completely different direction.
"I don't know, she asked me if I liked Sasuke and when I said no, she looked angry." Sakura informed her friends who had started paying attention as soon as Choji spoke.
"Girls are hard to understand, most of the time they don't make sense." Shikamaru drawled out.
"I'm a girl." Sakura said matter-of-factly.
"You still make sense for now, I'm sure we won't understand you eventually." He explained.
"Can you let me know if I stop making sense?" She asked. I don't want to lose any of you.
All four said yes and she hoped they would never lose their friendship, she felt like she lost Ino and it hurt, she didn't want to know what it would feel like to lose the rest of her friends.
Nothing about his mission sounded good. He sped through the trees and felt the genjutsu set in place to hide one of Orochimaru's hideouts. He dispelled the genjutsu when he couldn't feel any chakra signature nearby and took a deep breath. He only had to confirm the location of the hideout and verify that it was not abandoned, in theory there was no need to fight.
He spent a day trying to sense any sign of life inside the base but he couldn't tell if no one was in there or if there was something that was blocking chakra sensing. Somewhat defeated, he began searching for an entrance, but it proved to be very difficult.
He spent the next two days just trying to find some kind of hint that there was a way to access the base from the outside. He pulsed his chakra through the earth to try to find any irregularities until there was a small tingle that rippled through his chakra. It numbed his hands and he had to wait several minutes to regain sensation, but at least it was a sign that he had found something - he wasn't sure what, but it had to involve Orochimaru.
He stood on top of the location he first felt the tingling sensation and looked around. There were no special landmarks that he could easily describe the location of the entrance, the trees all looked the same - spaced evenly, all the same height and width - for kilometres on end. He knew this forest was planted to look identical for a wide area, just to throw off finding this place.
Shisui was tempted to use the Hiding like a Mole technique to walk through the earth but he was afraid what would happen when he reached the origin of the tingling sensation. He assumed that his whole body could become numb while underground which wasn't a good idea, it would be safer to find another way inside, even though it could extend the mission.
After a few more days of racking his brain to figure out a way to enter, he wasn't any closer to an answer, he just knew he wouldn't return to the Village empty handed so he resolved to be there for a long time.
He started noticing that there was a large population of insects in this area which could mean something, he just wasn't sure what. There could be a jutsu or some material that attracted them more than usual and he wished he had someone from the Aburame clan with him; he was sure this mission would be done faster.
He continued his investigation for another day until he saw someone walking in the woods. There was no one else around so Shisui tried to hide his chakra even more than it already was to make sure the person wouldn't spot him; this could be his one and only chance to see where the entrance was.
He was looking so intently at the lone man that he didn't notice the insects crawling over him until one crawled on his face. He quickly got rid of the insects - he didn't know if any of them could hurt him, but he wasn't going to take the chance - but in doing so, the person disappeared.
The person didn't simply walk out of Shisui's sight, he simply disappeared. Typically, when a person uses a jutsu, the sharingan can see residual chakra but Shisui couldn't see any which would mean that no jutsu was cast. How a person simply disappear was beyond Shisui and he vowed to figure it out.
He waited several minutes and went to stand where the disappearing man stood just to find out that there was nothing special about that specific spot. He crouched down and sent some chakra through the earth again and pulled back abruptly when he felt a wall of chakra two meters below him. I didn't feel this last time, and I swear I've stood here before. What the hell is going on here?
He sent some chakra back through the earth but froze when the wall of chakra was now only one meter below the surface. He forced his nerves to calm down and kept sending chakra when he felt the wall move closer to the surface. As soon as there was a rumble beneath his feet, he flickered away into the trees and watched on as nothing happened.
He scratched his head and sighed in relief. He quickly ate then returned to the same spot as before and sent his chakra through the earth, but when he felt the wall of chakra reach the surface, he stood still and waited.
In the blink of an eye, he was underground. He had successfully infiltrated one of Orochimaru's hideouts yet, it didn't quite feel like a victory. If a wall of chakra allowed entry, he assumed some data was sent somewhere for someone to look at.
He silently walked through the earth corridor and pushed open a slightly ajar door and his heart stopped. In the barely lit room, there was a child grabbing their head and thrashing about, the weird thing was that the child didn't make a sound. There were no screams of agony - the contorted face indicated extreme pain - and even when the child beat his feet against the wall, there was absolutely no sound.
It was very eerie, and Shisui had to purposefully make noise to make sure he hadn't just lost all his hearing. He regretted his decision immediately when the child turned towards him and lunged. Shisui backed away quickly and saw some strange markings all over the child's skin.
Shisui saw some chakra accumulating in the child's body and gathering in his vocal chords. He had half a second's insight to get far away from the child, and he flickered as far down the hall as possible. The resulting shriek had a literal explosive quality and Shisui watched as the child's room - along with the two other closest rooms - crumbled upon impact.
"Shisui-kun, how nice of you to stop by."
The young Uchiha froze. He knew that voice and dreaded it, it was a voice that meant bad news for any Uchiha in the vicinity.
"Orochimaru." Shisui seethed.
"I didn't think they would send you. In fact, I was certain they wouldn't, given the nature of this mission; it's not like I haven't tried before." The snake said.
The intel given to Shisui almost guaranteed that Orochimaru wouldn't be at the hideout, there were witnesses that placed him as far away from this place as possible. There was no way anyone could travel that quickly, so Shisui knew the intel was erroneous on purpose.
"Are you now willing to give me your sharingan in order to stop the coup?"
"You will never get my sharingan." Shisui spat out.
"That's what you think."
Suddenly, one of Orochimaru's lackey was standing in front of Shisui, red sharingan blazing to life. He knew it wasn't an Uchiha member, but that would mean that he transplanted a stolen sharingan into a random human.
It was a tricky fight since Shisui had to always keep an eye on Orochimaru - no one could ever trust that snake to stay back when there was something he could gain - but the test subject was clearly inexperienced with the sharingan, in fact, Shisui could still see the incision around the eye. It appeared that Orochimaru didn't have a good medic on hand when the surgery took place.
Shisui dodged and parried and blocked the test subject's attacks with ease until black markings spread across his body. Those black markings gave him a boost in speed, strength and bloodlust. His hands were striking faster and Shisui knew he had to end this fight soon so he could get back home.
The moment Shisui decided to land a killing blow with his sword was the moment Orochimaru decided to play, and blocked Shisui's attack. Fighting Orochimaru was like trying to grab hold of a snake slathered in oil, it was near impossible to succeed.
Shisui knew he had to leave as soon as possible, so he started using his body flicker technique like there was no tomorrow, but even the sharingan test subject was able to dodge all his strikes. He understood that Orochimaru would be able to dodge or tank every hit without getting hurt, but he should at least be able to take care of a no name test subject. However, when Shisui saw the test subject aim a strike for his chest and he was too slow to avoid it, he knew something was terribly wrong.
Shisui was fast and he always prided himself for it, but the more he fought the two, the more hits he took. Even though he saw the hits coming, it seemed he couldn't move his body out of the way fast enough.
He focused all his chakra into a last-ditch effort to body flicker out of the base and managed to do so but in the process, received a sword strike to chest, no doubt from Orochimaru.
He knew there was something terribly wrong; it was hard for him to focus on his run back to the Village even though the devil was on his heels. Eventually, he couldn't sense Orochimaru or his abomination following him, but he didn't feel relieved at all when he saw glimpses of shinobi with ANBU masks running through the trees with him.