A blur could be seen jumping from tree to tree in a dark forest. Upon closer look, the figure of two young boys would be revealed: an older wounded-looking boy with a missing eye and a bleeding eye socket, and a younger-looking boy with an innocent yet slightly emotionless looking face who was carrying the older boy on his shoulder like a fireman rescuing a child.
Both boys were dressed like ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village, with their headbands having the symbol of the leaf etched on them. The younger boy looked behind him to ensure that they were not followed before leaping to the ground and gently placing the older boy against a tree trunk to relax.
"I thought you were on a mission..." the older boy said weakly, focusing his remaining eye on the younger one.
"Something didn't feel right." The younger boy said, looking at the older boy with concern. "That's why."
"I see." The older one said with a slight smile. A slight breeze started blowing at that moment, with old wrinkled leaves falling from the trees and floating to the older boy, as if saying farewell in the final moments of his life.
"Sorry for the trouble." The older boy said. Slowly gathering his strength, the older boy got up and started walking with weak steps. The younger boy silently followed behind him, a grim expression on his face as if he knew what was about to come.
Finally, when they reached a cliff-like area with a waterfall and a raging river flowing underneath, the older boy stopped and gathered his thoughts before starting to speak.
"The Foundation is involved. Unfortunately, it seems like there is no way to stop the Uchiha Coup. If internal warfare breaks out in Konoha, then neighboring countries will invade, and a war will begin."
The older boy then turned to look at the younger boy, his remaining eye having transformed from its usual black color to a red pupil with a four-bladed shuriken pattern.
"I was planning to use Kotoamatsukami to stop the coup…. But Danzo took my right eye." The older boy said, "He didn't trust what I was trying to do."
"He will resort to anything to protect the Hidden Leaf Village. They will come after my left eye, too."
With a resolute expression on his face, the older boy raised his left hand to his eye socket, "Before that happens, I want you to have it."
"Shisui..." the younger boy managed to only mutter this, with a sad and helpless expression on his face, as he watched the older boy swiftly dig out his remaining eye without flinching or hesitating.
Shisui then turned to the younger boy, his left eye held in his closed left hand, having gone fully blind but yet having a smile of contentment on his face, "You really are the only friend I can trust. Protect the Village and the Uchiha name as well."
He held up the eye towards the younger boy, who carefully took it from him, knowing what a precious object it was as he looked at it with grim determination and sadness. "I… "
Shisui however didn't let the younger boy have a chance to refuse "And… That is not the only thing I need to give you. I am going to give you a new power, too. The Mangekyo Sharingan."
The younger boy was shocked. The Mangekyo Sharingan was something he was deeply familiar with, as it was the reason Shisui's eyes could transform into that special pattern. Each Mangekyo Sharingan had a special power concealed within it. Similar to a jutsu, yet exponentially greater and more powerful.
However, with great power comes even greater sacrifice. For an Uchiha to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, they would have to go through the pain of losing someone very dear to them. It was the curse of an Uchiha, the Curse of Love.
"Shisui… You…" the younger boy muttered, having realized what Shisui was about to do.
"I am not going to last long. Take it as my gift… My dying wish."
"What is with that look?", As the younger boy's face became twisted with pain and sadness, Shisui smiled and spoke as if he could see the young boy even without eyes, "Even like this, I can still see your face easily."
He raised his right hand and placed it on the younger boy's shoulder, "A worried expression doesn't look good on you."
"You must always remain calm, my friend. That's what Uchiha Itachi is."
"What? You can do this. Don't worry, it will be fine." As Shisui said this, Itachi's mind overlapped the image of the past Shisui, with his confident and powerful look with a smile, with the present one.
He bowed his head to Shisui and expressed his affirmation of Shisui's dying wish, "I will carry on your will for the Uchiha…"
"From now on you may be forced to walk down a long, dark path. One that is filled with pain and suffering. I have to apologize. That I …. That I can't be with you through it all."
"Don't falter from your path. And keep moving forward as a Leaf Shinobi. I believe in you." Shisui said comfortingly.
Itachi gritted his teeth feeling helpless to say or do anything.
"That is why I am able to ask you to carry my will… and the Mangekyo..." Shisui said as he turned toward the edge of the cliff and the raging river beneath.
As Itachi looked at Shisui's back, Shisui took a deep breath and gave a relaxed sigh of contentment, feeling the weight of responsibilities fall of his shoulders. In a poetic manner, the setting sun finally went down the horizon at this point, as if paying respects to the last moments of this hidden hero's life.
"Thank you for everything." Shisui said, "This is the end of the road for me. But this will pave a new path for you. And give you a new power."
"The time has come. Make a new way for yourself, with your own hands."
"You can do it… I know you can." Shisui said. As Itachi's mind looked back on all the precious memories he had while growing up with Shisui, Itachi's face morphed from a look of grief to a grim determination.
"See you, friend. I …. Leave the rest to you." Shisui said as he leaped down from the cliff. The moment he did so, Itachi felt a raging current of power rush through his body, especially his eyes. In a single moment, the three tomoe Sharingan of his manifested, before turning into a three-pronged curved shuriken form.
"Rest peacefully Shisui," Itachi said before disappearing from the cliffside.
Unknown to Itachi however, Shisui didn't die as easily as he planned. Just as he leaped from the tall cliff, aiming to crash into the raging river below and be washed away to parts unknown, a silent cloud of sand-like tiny particles enveloped him violently, completely sealing him without even letting him draw air to breathe or speak.
As Shisui was thinking about how to escape from this situation, he experienced a strange sensation all over his body that made him finally realize what was going on. The strange sand was disintegrating him on a molecular level somehow, with barely any sensation more than a tiny ant's bite.
As he focused on this phenomenon, he finally understood what this "sand" was. It was not sand at all, but rather a collection of extremely tiny organisms.
For a moment he planned to fight back, thinking this might be a special summon of the special Aburame clan member working under Danzo. However, after a few moments, he understood that these were not insects but some kind of unique beings that he had never heard of before.
After that Shisui finally gave up and stopped resisting. If these tiny creatures could destroy his body like this then it was just as well. Like this, it eliminated that final chance that his body might be found by anyone in Konoha and eventually find its way to Danzo.
Within moments, before his body could touch the raging currents of the river, the cloud of sand particle-like creatures finished disintegrating and devouring Shisui completely. The cloud then flew toward the banks of the river, landing on the shore in a collective mass before rapidly gathering into a humanoid form.
The humanoid form started condensing more and more as details started to appear on this form. Slim figure with short, unkempt, dark-colored hair, black eyes, a relatively broad nose, and well-defined eyelashes, that were turned upwards at each end.
The sand-like particles further transformed into the standard attire of the Uchiha clan to cover the human figure, which included a high-collared, dark-colored outfit along with a tanto strapped to the right side of the back of the shoulder and an Uchiha symbol on the back of the shirt.
There also appeared to be a harness for the tanto, which ran across the chest and fastened over both shoulders. The figure also wore fingerless black gloves with a small yet tough steel plate protector at the back of the hand and open-toed tough black rubber sandals made for Shinobi.
The figure condensed and solidified more, perfectly transforming into Shisui Uchiha who was just enveloped by the very same sand cloud moments prior to this. The figure opened his eyes, which had been regenerated, unlike Shisui's original eyes which were gone.
"I guess I am Shisui Uchiha now." The figure said with a slight smile, his eyes flashing for a moment before turning into red disc-like pupils, that spun slowly with a single black tomoe in them.