Shisui smiled to himself as he got closer to Konoha. He finished his solo B-rank mission early and was excited to go home and see his friends. He decided to run the rest of the way but came to a stop just before he was about to jump into the trees.
"Danzo Shimura," Shisui said. The man was in his usual attire of semi-formal robes and trademarked bandages with his right arm covered up in his robes, which was something he had only begun doing in the last year and a half. He knew Danzo never traveled alone, so he kept his guard up.
"Shisui Uchiha."
"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked innocently. "Does Hokage-sama want me to go out on another mission?" Danzo was a dangerous man and he didn't want to hurt a Konoha official if he could help it.
"You are loyal to the village, yes?" Danzo asked.
"I am," Shisui nodded.
"Then you must see how dangerous it is to incorporate the Uchiha's back into the village. All of us are aware that the incident during Naruto Uzumaki's birth was due to the sharingan," Danzo explained.
"The Uchiha had nothing to do with that, Shimura-san, as we've explained. It was due to childbirth."
Danzo grunted. "No one believes that. We know it was the Uchiha trying and failing."
"Who is the "we" you are speaking of?" Shisui asked. "Because what I am really hearing is that it is you who think so. And to answer what you're going to ask of me, the answer is no. It would be dangerous to leave the Uchiha out, and you are aware of that. You're just wanting to rid the world of the Uchiha bloodline. They're members of Konoha, which would make it a treasonous act to bring any harm to them."
"I am doing this for Konoha!" Danzo replied. "One day your family will overtake the village and put everyone under their control."
"You and I both know that you're really doing this for yourself, to gain power. Otherwise, you'd see that Minato-san is making all the right decisions. Since you cannot, however, I know that you're just after the Hokage Hat."
Danzo felt his blood boiling at the young boy's words. "You know nothing of what's really going on, boy."
"I don't? I know your Root members have been tailing me, that they're looking for information on me. Who do you think gave it to them? I knew you'd seek me out eventually," Shisui explained. "You want my sharingan, but you're not going to get it…not willingly."
"I was hoping I could make you see it my way, but I was mistaken. You seemed smarter," Danzo scoffed.
"So did you," Shisui smirked.
Danzo raised his hands and Shisui activated his sharingan as Root members shot out from the trees. Easily, he took out every single one that came his way and made his way to take out Danzo. He knew he wasn't going to get another chance if he didn't do it now.
Shisui thought about his family. How they'd made the right choice in calling off the coup. He thought about Itachi and Sasuke and how close they were. How much Sasuke truly adored his older brother and how Itachi wanted what was best for his little brother, the village, and, even though he never said so, Hinata as well. He thought about how much he loved his village, and how he'd never let anybody bring about their downfall when they'd finally made the right choice, even if he had to go on the run after this. Even if he could never see them again.
He took down every ninja coming his way, body flickering faster than they could keep up, truly living up to his moniker.
Danzo ordered his men to stay back as Shisui came closer before coming to a stop a few feet in front of him. "Turn yourself over to Lord Third and I will let you live," Shisui said, deciding to give him one last chance.
"Shisui Uchiha, I will make good use of your eyes." With nothing more to say, Danzo rushed him. Quicker than Danzo could react, Shisui placed him in a genjutsu, rendering the older man unconscious.
"By the time you're out of this, you'll be in the Hokage's hands," Shisui said. He turned around to deal with the last of the operatives and was shocked to come face-to-face with Danzo, the body behind him slowly disappearing. Danzo quickly reached out and ripped his right eye from its socket. Shisui staggered back, clutching where his eye should've been, and gasping softly in pain.
He looked up as Danzo unwrapped the bandages on his face and gritted his teeth. "A sharingan?!"
"One down, one more to go," Danzo said, smirking.
Shisui glared at him with his one eye and knew he had to get away. Swiftly, he pulled out a smoke bomb and slammed it onto the ground before making a run for it into the surrounding forest, hoping to make it back to the Uchiha compound.
Danzo's operatives were only a few steps behind him, and Shisui was already feeling exhausted from fighting off the Root members and his injury. He dodged weapon after weapon until he couldn't get his legs to move. He deflected more incoming weapons and body flickered away when he saw a gas bomb right in his face just before it went off.
Located on another tree branch, he gasped for air and realized he inhaled a bit of the gas. Instantly, he was surrounded.
I'm not going out like this. I have to at least warn Itachi!
He gritted his teeth and summoned up the rest of his strength before activating his Mangekyo Sharingan and bringing forth his Susanoo.
His Susanoo released a barrage of chakra needles from the opening in its chest, impaling all but a couple of operatives. The Susanoo was incomplete, only the top portion of the body was summoned, and he suspected Danzo taking one of his eyes was the cause of it. With his chakra quickly draining, his summon disappeared and he stumbled. Though barely conscious, he could still sense Itachi nearby and fell to the side as he body flickered away from Itachi's incoming fireball.
Itachi caught his cousin's body and watched the two remaining operatives fall to the ground, injured by his fireball. He took Shisui to Nakano River, a place they often went to just to get away from everything.
"How…How did you know?" Shisui asked, his voice weak.
"Something felt wrong, so I went looking for you."
Shisui grinned. "My knight in shining armor."
Itachi rolled his eyes playfully but didn't say anything as Shisui grew serious.
"Two years ago, the coup was called off, but Danzo…He took my eye, Itachi. He plans to use it to start a civil war. The neighboring villages will see this and take the opportunity to attack, starting another war between nations." Shisui stood near the edge of the cliff, staring out into the sunset as he thought of what to do. "Danzo will not stop until he does what he believes is right, and gains control of the village." He turned back to Itachi. "Soon, they'll be coming for my remaining eye, so I want you to have it."
Itachi watched as his best friend removed his eye from his own head with a shuddering squelching noise and held it out to him.
"If any Uchiha gets word of this, fighting will break out. You're really the only one I can trust. Protect the village, and the Uchiha name." Slowly, Itachi took the eye from his hand and stared down at his closed fist which was now seeping blood. "There's one more thing I have to give you…the Mangekyo Sharingan."
Itachi's eyes widened at the realization. "Shisui, no!"
"I don't have much time left anyway," Shisui said with a little smile and a shrug. "This will be my dying wish, and that means you're not allowed to refuse." Itachi's eyes softened before narrowing in anguish and concern.
"But I…" can't do it on my own, not without you… he finished in his head.
"You're going to be fine, even without me," Shisui replied. "Even without my eyes, you're still an open book." He put his hand on Itachi's shoulder and squeezed.
"I will…carry on your will for the Uchiha, for the village," Itachi declared, his voice defeated as he shut his eyes and lowered his head.
He felt as though he failed his cousin. Had he come sooner, they could've faced Danzo and his organization together. They could've brought him down and protected this village and their family side by side. Instead, his best friend was going to die here as the sun set at Nakano River.
Itachi thought about how his clan was going to react to Shisui's death. He thought about his brother and his friends and how they were going to take the news. He wondered how the Uchiha Clan Head and the Hokage were going to handle it.
Itachi looked toward the setting sun and knew they were running out of time.
"Itachi, you may be forced to walk down a long, lonely, and dark path, one that's filled with pain and suffering, one that I wish could be there to stand by your side for. And for that, I apologize." Shisui's grip on his shoulder tightened. "But I hope you don't falter or stray from your path, and that you keep moving forward as a Konoha ninja. I believe in you."
Itachi clenched his jaw and swallowed the lump in his throat.
"It's why I'm able to ask you to carry my will and the Mangekyo." Shisui turned away and Itachi finally looked up at him again, hurt visible on his face. Shisui sighed. "Thank you, for everything."
Itachi clenched his fists, careful with the eye in his left hand, and said nothing. Nothing was coming out. If he opened his mouth, he knew the only thing that was going to come out was pleas. He knew he would plead for his cousin to reconsider. He couldn't do that to a man essentially on his deathbed. Itachi understood why Shisui was doing this, and he would do the same if their roles were reversed. He wouldn't want to be talked out of it either, so he stayed silent.
"I guess this is it for me," Shisui said as the sun slowly lowered behind the mountains in the distance. "Before I forget…Hinata promised me tea when I returned. Take care of them, Itachi."
Itachi stared at the Uchiha symbol on the back of Shisui's shirt and couldn't help but remember all those days they spent training together, all the times he treated Sasuke like his own brother, those times he pulled pranks with Naruto, those times he was overly-affectionate with Hinata to annoy Sasuke and Naruto, those times he helped train the young trio before Minato and Kushina took over…but most of all, he remembered how he felt when he realized Shisui understood him.
Shisui was his best friend.
His brother.
Itachi watched as Shisui pulled something out of his pocket and lifted the object to his nose before inhaling deeply. It was the calming bag Hinata gave him just before he left for his mission. It was then that he realized that Shisui was scared.
Shisui turned and faced him. "I leave the rest to you." And then he was going over the edge and Itachi couldn't pull his eyes away as he ran for the edge and reached a hand out to grab onto him, but he only caught air. He watched as his best friend fell to his death with a smile on his face. Almost instantly, his sharingan activated and the tomoes spun until they transformed into a pinwheel shape as his mouth hung open in a silent scream, and his eyes bled from the transformation. He stood there for what felt like an eternity before reeling his emotions back in.
"I will do my best, Shisui," his voice slightly trembled as he spoke barely above a whisper. "Even if I have to walk a dark path of suffering. For our village, our family, and for Sasuke, I will gladly do so. Thank you… Rest now, my brother."
Madara, in his orange mask, stayed hidden among the trees and witnessed Shisui's death at the hands of Itachi Uchiha. It wasn't an ideal situation, but he knew how strong Itachi was and knew he was going to come in handy as well.
"Come out," Itachi said as he wiped the blood from his face. Madara made his way out and stood before Itachi. "Who are you and what is it you want?" The man before him wore a black cloak with red clouds scattered over it that went down to his calves.
"I am Tobi!" Madara said, his voice much more cheerful, happy, and high-pitched than it was when he was speaking with Nagato. "Tobi wants you to join the Akatsuki with him!"
Itachi narrowed his eyes. "The Akatsuki. The infamous group of rogue nin from different villages." Tobi nodded.
"Tobi was going to recruit Shisui Uchiha, but seeing as you've killed him, you are now the go-to! We're going to need a strong sharingan user for our future goals."
Itachi clenched his jaw and wanted nothing more than to run this masked man through with his sword, but he refrained from doing so. The Hokage was going to want to hear about this. He knew he was going to be saying yes to this man with the support of Lord Third, as it was essential to have a man on the inside of a notorious organization such as the Akatsuki. "I see. Come back tomorrow and I will give you my answer then. I need to…cover up my tracks," he said, referring to Shisui's death.
"Tobi will find you in two days at midnight!" And then he disappeared, leaving Itachi to gather his thoughts on what to do next about his cousin. The only choice he had was to write Shisui's suicide letter, explaining that he felt he failed and chose to take his own life. The family wasn't going to believe it, but it was only supposed to buy him time to figure out what to do with Danzo.
He summoned his crow and inserted Shisui's eye into its head to protect it before dispelling his summon. Itachi shut off his sharingan and covered his face with his hands now that he knew he was alone. Slowly, he allowed a few tears to spill over; he knew Shisui wouldn't want him mourning. He laughed through his tears when he thought about what absurd, flirty thing he'd say if he saw him crying.
I knew you actually loved me. Let's run away together!
He could almost hear him saying it to him right next to him, and that made it hurt all the more. He knew he wasn't going to ever see him again or ever hear him playfully flirt with him again. He wasn't going to hear his laugh or see him smile. He wasn't going to be able to train with him again. His heart ached as he longed to go back in time and save Shisui.
Itachi allowed himself a few more moments before wiping his face and locking his emotions down. He was a shinobi. He didn't have time to mourn or for emotions. He had to continue trudging through, no matter how much it hurt.
After searching briefly for Shisui's body and being unable to find it, Itachi took off toward the man's home. After finding a sheet of paper and a pencil, he used his sharingan to recall Shisui's handwriting and began to write his best friend's suicide note. He put the letter on his kitchen table and left, leaving the front door open, and made it back to his house in time to see Sasuke coming back from Hinata's.
"Brother! Are you just getting home?" Sasuke asked as he ran toward him.
Itachi's heart clenched but he kept his emotions in check. "Yes, I was going for a short walk, enjoying my time off."
"You should've come with me to Hinata's," Sasuke huffed.
Itachi poked Sasuke on the forehead. "Next time," he said. Sasuke rubbed the spot on his forehead with a pout on his face.
"Fine. Let's go in for dinner, I'm starving!" Sasuke grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.
We hope you enjoyed this short update! I wanted to post a day earlier since I will be moving this weekend and will be too tired to upload. I didn't realize Friday was going to be our move day until a couple of days ago, so I've been kinda like that Mr. Krabs meme for a few days. Please let me know what y'all think! I've also started answering comments from here on Tumblr since I can't reply directly, so check out our Tumblr to keep an eye out for your comment :) Thanks for reading!
-hina
NEXT UPDATE: 05/06/23
