Chapter 1 – Betrayal
May 25th, 2017
Tonight, fifteen-year-old Shisui would stop the clan's scheming. Over a year's worth of undercover work as a double agent in the ANBU on top of regular missions was about to pay off.
He dragged his feet through the Uchiha district and down to his beaten up, forty-year-old one-room apartment. The keys jangled as he unlocked and opened the door before walking in.
"I'm home." He said, and he was promptly greeted by enthusiastic cawing from Piiko across the room on her perch.
He slipped off his shoes at the genkan and sat his tub of bathing supplies and training clothes in a chair at the table before plopping down in another chair. This apartment only had a toilet, no bathtub, so he had to use the one a few blocks away.
He couldn't help but smile as Piiko flew from the perch in the far-right corner of the room, swooping over and landing on the dish rack on top of the fridge.
"It's good to see you, too." He said.
Piiko was the only crow in the murder that stayed with him at his apartment. With a flap of her wings, she glided over to the counter beside the sink and looked pointedly between him and the toaster right behind her.
"Yeah, thanks. I'll get some ramen started." He replied, opening the bread loaf and handing her two slices and getting a plate out of the dish rack. She put them each in the toaster before pushing the lever down with her beak.
It was easy to just fill the electric kettle up, set it to boil, open up a cup of ramen, and wait. He had to stop a coup d'etat and a potential civil war tonight.
This was all he had been able to come up with - using his kotoamatsukami on Lord Fugaku. More and more of the clan was siding with the radical faction as time went on due to the years of shunning and harassment. The clan had been blamed for the Kyuubi attack from the beginning, and the leaking of the jinchuuriki's identity three years ago hadn't done much to help with that.
He had smiled and lied through his teeth to Itachi after the last clan meeting about trying to find more allies. In truth there were none, especially not now with the budget cuts to the Uchiha Police Force.
This has to work. If they go through with the coup, everyone will be slaughtered.
The toaster clicked, ejecting the bread, and Piiko carefully picked them up with her claws and dropped them on the plate, cawing at him.
"Thanks, Piiko." He said, smiling at her.
He poured the boiled water into a cup of ramen, set a timer for 3 minutes, and buttered the bread while he waited.
This is the most Academy orphan meal ever.
All the work was getting to him. B and A-rank tracking missions with his team for assassinations and bounties on rogue ninja, regular training with Itachi as well as his teammates, clan meetings, spying on his clan around the Uchiha district and the police station. All of it. He hardly had any time to himself to just eat or sleep and when he did, he was too restless to actually sleep or eat. His face had become pale, his cheeks hollow, and his normally thick, curly hair had become thin.
Even numbing it all out through dissociating wasn't enough anymore. It had been a coping strategy he picked up as a new genin who was immediately deployed behind the frontlines to do things like body retrieval on old battlefields or helping out at the medics' campground.
The timer on the ramen dinged, drawing him out of his reverie just staring at the plate of buttered toast lost in thought.
"Right, the ramen."
He peeled back the lid of the ramen, tore it off and added it to the growing pile of ramen lids on his usually neat table, and broke his disposable chopsticks.
"Itadakimasu." He said, and dug in.
Piiko watched him from her favorite spot perched on the dish rack on top of the fridge. She could see his whole apartment from there.
He ate quickly, because eating was more about fueling his body for the mission ahead than it was about actually satiating his nonexistent appetite or enjoying his food.
When he was done, he tossed his dishes in the sink with the other unwashed dishes. He would come back and wash the dishes, take out the trash, and clean his neglected apartment when this hell of an assignment was over.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps in the hallway outside.
Who's that?
His cousin Shion was on a mission, her little sister Haruka never came alone and nor did Sasuke, his aunt never dropped by, and Itachi was supposed to meet him in a few hours after the meeting. Lord Third would not be giving him a new assignment right now. No emergency other than a village attack could possibly compare to the enormity of the clan's plans for a coup d'etat.
Suspicious, he put one hand in his kunai pouch while the other opened the door, only to be greeted by the masked face and beige cloak of a Root ANBU agent.
"Yes? What does Danzo-sama need? I have a mission." he asked.
"Danzo-sama requests your immediate presence at the Shimura estate." The ANBU replied.
"Understood." He replied, leaving the door ajar so he could quickly slip on his shoes and grab his sword and hip pouches from the genkan closet before joining the ANBU in the exterior hall and locking the door behind him.
"Lead the way."
He arrived to find Danzo waiting for him, standing at a small family shrine. Most clans had their own gods, just like the Uchiha did, and surely the Shimura were no exception. It was the cover story the Uchiha told their children and spouses who still served the village to provide as an excuse for missing everything including new missions if they conflicted with a meeting.
"Yes, Danzo-sama? I don't have a lot of time, so please keep it brief. I have a mission." He replied, keeping the frustration out of his voice and sound as polite as possible. He had a clan and a village to save.
The two Root ANBU that escorted him from the gates remained, staying a respectful distance away.
"Yes, I am aware. I hear there is a meeting at the Nakano shrine tonight?" Danzo replied, staring at him, appearing dissatisfied about something.
"Given that you protect this village from the shadows, it should come as no surprise to me that you would know that. But I must admit, apart of me is dumbfounded." Shisui replied, carefully, politely. Right now he was a Tokubetsu jonin of Konohagakure.
I've been reporting directly to the Sandaime and Itachi in secret. How did he know to intercept me here?
"It is the reality of this village, Shisui. Hiruzen has failed this village. The Leaf must deal with the Uchiha." Danzo replied.
His thoughts raced, quickly putting all the facts together.
He's here to get in my way.
"So you're saying you were just letting us go for the time being?" he replied.
"Yes, Shisui. That is correct. But right now the Uchiha are about to set a time and date to attack this village, kill Hiruzen, kill all the advisors including myself, and take control. Many civilians and shinobi will be killed." Danzo replied.
"I know!" he replied angrily, losing his composure. "Didn't you listen? I have a plan. I'll use my kotoamatsukami on Lord Fugaku to stop the coup. Then no one has to die. Please, Lord Danzo, we can't waste time here. I have to get going, they're about to start."
"Shisui, I have lived through two world wars, and I am telling you that your plan will almost certainly fail. You are just spitting in the wind, flipping the leader at this point when almost the entire clan is in support of a coup. The Uchiha have been stockpiling weapons all year. The radical faction will continue on even without Fugaku's support. Even if your plan worked, as long as the Uchiha clan exists a coup cannot be avoided. It's gone too far. There is no other way to guarantee that this will not happen again. By exterminating the Uchiha now, the future of the village will be secure, don't you think?"
Danzo's words made his blood boil.
You bastard!
"So this was your plan all along?!" he growled.
"As tragic and heinous as it may be to you, Shisui, this is all for the sake of attaining true peace for the Hidden Leaf Village." Danzo replied.
"Peace maintained by the power of the blade is not true peace!" he exclaimed. "We don't know unless we try. I have to fix this. Let me go, Lord Hokage will be waiting on my report."
He knew better than to draw a kunai or try to run right in the middle of Foundation territory.
"Kotoamatsukami. It is a visual jutsu that creates false experiences so powerful that the enemy cannot detect it or break out of it. Such incredible power, but what a waste to use it merely to stop a coup. Don't worry, Shisui, I will make good use of your eyes." Danzo replied, staring at him intensely.
Surprised at Danzo's last words, he activated his sharingan and tried to step back and form a half-ram sign and run, but in that moment he was shocked to realize he couldn't move. His eyes widened in horror.
He couldn't move his legs, hands, his whole body. He could scarcely breathe. He was frozen in place, paralyzed.
No no no no. This can't be happening. I have to move. Move!
Danzo was right in front of him now, just standing there.
Come on, move! He's going to take my eyes and kill everyone!
"Insects are such interesting creatures. When a human is bitten by a mosquito, the pain is nothing. You don't even notice it. But wouldn't it be interesting to have an insect with the bite of a mosquito, but the poison of a scorpion or a spider?" Danzo said, his eyes mocking him.
Wh-what did you do?!
"You. What are you calling yourself now?" Danzo asked one of the two Root agents behind him. That was the one who had met him at the gates of the Shimura estate.
"I go by Sugaru." The one in the white tiger mask replied.
"Sugaru. Shisui, this is Sugaru, and he is from the Aburame clan. Given how wise you are, I suppose you need no further explanation? Don't worry, you will live just long enough for me to pluck out both of your eyes." Danzo replied.
He was frozen, helpless, terrified and angry, as Danzo lifted his gnarled hand with its well-trimmed fingernails up to his face, up to his right eye, and touched his eyelids. He trembled, scarcely able to breathe as Danzo kneaded chakra and pushed his eyelids back, back, back. Without hesitation, Danzo thrust his fingers into his eyesocket, sending blinding pain through his eye and face as he screamed. Danzo paused for only the briefest of moments to check his grip before he cut the optic nerve with his chakra and pulled his eye out.
He couldn't suppress the screams as his right eye socket started burning from the pain of the hastily severed nerve, and his hand instinctually trying to move to hold and cover the injury.
My hand-!
"And now, one more…" Danzo replied, smiling as he handed the stolen eye to the Root ANBU who had came to get him at his apartment. The Root agent used a sterile gloved hand to carefully place his stolen eye in a glass jar half-full with some sort of liquid. Once Danzo saw that it was done, he turned his attention back to Shisui.
But in that moment, Shisui had regained control of his chakra and applied a genjutsu with his remaining eye to distort their perception of his body so he could slowly pull a half-ram sign and body flicker away.
I can't let this happen.
He catapulted himself out of the Shimura clan grounds and into the forest surrounding it, stopping on the first tree and pulling out a kunai. He quickly slashed at the bite, hoping to bleed out some of the poison. He could worry about blood loss and infection later. As soon as he made the laceration he hurried onward, making a beeline for Uchiha territory. Root wouldn't dare risk the ire of the Uchiha clan by following him there.
Maybe Sugaru didn't use enough poison cause Danzo needed time to take my eyes. His insects probably aren't used to not killing. Still, it's an assassin's poison. I might just barely have time to hand everything over to Itachi.
He would never betray Itachi, and Itachi would never betray him. He could trust him to protect his remaining left sharingan and use it for the sake of protecting the village and the clan.
I can't let Danzo get ahold of it.
It was hard to run, jump, and keep track of his pursuers and their weapons when he was missing half his field of vision, had limited depth perception, had a swollen and bleeding empty right eye socket that was disturbingly slowly losing all feeling, and he was running with a numb, twitching, wounded leg. He couldn't tell if it was the poison or the panic that was making it hard for him to catch his breath as he ran.
At one point, he even made the near-fatal mistake of blocking a kunai with a gas canister attached to it. It exploded in his face. He body flickered away immediately to a branch out of the gas's range, but he had to stop and take a knee cause his vision was swimming, his one remaining eye was irritated and watering and blurred, his throat and lungs burned, and he was even more short of breath than he already was.
Whatever they used, it effects the lungs more than my eye. They can't risk damaging my eye.
The ROOT ANBU caught up to him while he fought to catch his breath.
"This is it, Uchiha Shisui." Said their squad leader. "Aim for the legs, not the face."
He looked around in the corner of his vision for a place to run as they call got out kunai with explosive tags. His vision was distorted and his eye was irritated, but it wasn't enough to incapacitate him.
"Now!"
As exploding kunai were hurled at him from all directions, he used the substitution jutsu to switch himself out with a log and applied a genjutsu to it. While he was body flickering away, they would still be seeing his middle and lower half get blown to bits before it faded.
Danzo's words echoed in his mind the entire time he ran through the trees, half blind, leg numb, occasionally slipping and catching himself. Straight for the old Naka shrine up on the cliffs where his crows lived and he and Itachi always met up. It was Itachi's favorite training spot. He had often trained with Itachi there over the years, just talking and tossing kunai. Sometimes Sasuke came with Itachi, as well.
It predated the founding of the village and had fallen into disrepair decades ago. No one went there anymore ever since the new one was finished five years ago, but most of the Uchiha crows lived in this area.
He went around through the clan training grounds, now empty, and through Itachi's careful path through the blind spots in the Leaf ANBU's cameras.
The meeting's only just started. Itachi might not even be there yet. Even short meetings last at least two hours.
He half jumped, half collapsed to the ground when he got there as his leg gave out underneath him while his vision faded in and out. He couldn't catch his breath, between the poison and the gas.
Danzo's words echoed in his mind while he waited.
Shisui, I have lived through two world wars, and I am telling you that your plan will almost certainly fail.
The Uchiha have been stockpiling weapons all year. The radical faction will continue on even without Fugaku's support.
It hurt how much Danzo's words made sense.
But then maybe he's right and it really wouldn't have worked. It may have only bought us another delay. And we can only delay so long. But they don't deserve to die. I just didn't want anyone to die.
Tears of grief, frustration, and anger stung at his eyes, burning his now empty one still bruising and swelling.
Maybe I should have just done it without seeking Lord Hokage's approval, or met in secret and not in front of the advisors. Then Danzo wouldn't have found out.
He spent gods knows how long sitting back against the big, moss-covered boulder in the center of the shurikenjutsu clearing. The Naka shrine was just up ahead on the cliffside through the trees. Just trying to breathe, stay conscious, and not panic about the fact he could hardly feel his legs or right eye much less breathe anymore.
Is this how Kaito felt in his final days? And then I was a selfish brat and refused to help him stand up when rescue came.
It was a terrifying feeling, the sensation of your lungs not being capable of filling up with enough air. Each breath was painful and strained and labored as the air he was trying to take in grazed past his already burned and irritated airways and into his equally damaged lungs.
How long's he gonna take?
He had to stay alive until Itachi came. The clan was probably doomed now that Danzo had one of his mangekyo and knew its ability and wanted to kill them all. But if anyone could find another solution, it was Itachi. Itachi was the last hope for the Uchiha clan.
Itachi, I'm so fucking sorry. I ruined everything. I was supposed to save them. The clan and the village. I'm sorry, Aunt Misaki, Shion, Haruka. Yuzuko. I just wanted to protect you all, to keep you all together with your families.
Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes and threatened to spill over. Now, some 250-odd men, women, and children would die, guaranteed, and countless more shinobi and civilians. And he knew and loved them all. His last remaining family, his aunt and cousins, were all going to die because he failed them.
I don't think we can save the clan now, they're in there choosing a date for the coup. Danzo's given up on them and wants to kill them all before the coup. But I can at least die giving Itachi the best chance possible.
Itachi had to know what happened, had to take his eye with the mangekyo activated, and put it in one of his own crows. If he just plucked his eye out, put it in Piiko, and died here collapsed against the boulder, then his death would be useless to Itachi.
At least this way, his death could still have meaning. He could leave Itachi with a powerful mangekyo ability that was all his own. There's no way a genius like Itachi wouldn't awaken the mangekyo, with genetics like his. Lord Fugaku's own mangekyo had earned him the moniker Wicked Eye Fugaku during the war, and Lady Mikoto had been a jonin and medic-nin with a three-tomoe sharingan of her own before she retired when she became pregnant with Itachi.
He was exhausted, numb, and his breathing was too shallow. He could hardly focus on the barely visible form of the Naka shrine roof through the trees and count the crows perched on top. His eyelids kept drooping closed for just a few seconds before he realized what he was doing and his eyes snapped back open.
No, come on, stay awake. I have to help Itachi.
Piiko, Sora, Nana, and the others all flew over and perched themselves on the big boulder behind him, or in the grass beside him, looking at him in confusion. Piiko kept trying to get on his shoulder and nuzzle him and would periodically nip his fingers in anger, briefly startling him awake and provoking a weak chuckle from him.
She's mad I'm ignoring her. But she's too worried to leave.
An undeterminable amount of time later, he heard Itachi's footsteps approaching the clearing and circle around the boulder from his blind side, no doubt drawn to his exact location by the unusual presence of Shisui's crows.
"Shisui?" came Itachi's stunned voice from his blind side, when he saw he had one eye missing.
"I'm sorry, Itachi…" he said, struggling to stand on unsteady feet and using the boulder and Itachi's offered arm to right himself. "I failed."
"What happened to your eye?" Itachi asked, alarmed.
"I couldn't even…make contact with Lord Fugaku." He began, walking to the edge of the cliff, rambling and explaining all at once.
Itachi hovered close, arms half outstretched to catch him if he stumbled.
"The meeting's already started…they'll decide on the date today…we lost our only chance…our plan failed…" he said, coughing and stopping to regain his breath.
His nose, mouth, throat, and lungs were too damaged from the gas to be talking this much, and he really wanted a nap right about now, but he had to tell Itachi everything.
Maybe we were both just naïve fools after all. A fifteen-year-old and a twelve-year-old, stopping a civil war?
"That doesn't mean it's over. Who got you?" Itachi said.
He could feel Itachi's disappointed eyes boring into his back as he used the last of his strength to stand at the cliffside, stubbornly refusing any wordless offers of assistance from Itachi.
Disappointed at him giving up, not at being attacked.
"Danzo-sama and Sugaru Aburame…he must have a rare insect…he's in Root…his poison insect bit me…stole my eye…he wants the other one…I'm not gonna make it, Itachi..." He said, his voice low and weak, chest heaving with the effort. "It doesn't look like…there's any way now to stop the coup…If Konoha starts fighting itself…and its military strength is weakened…other countries will take advantage…like Kumo did when they tried to…kidnap Kushina-sama …and the Hyuga heiress…Sandaime's getting old…doesn't make the best decisions…it's why he stepped down…after the Third War…he can't control Danzo-sama…so he's gonna protect the village…in his own way."
He paused to catch his breath, and Itachi made no move to interrupt him. His heart was hammering in his chest as the nausea he had been ignoring overcame him, and he vomited his dinner up all over the ground.
He steadied himself, hands on his knees, and listened as Itachi approached, arm outstretched and wordlessly offering to help.
"Shisui…"
He waved him away and wiped his mouth on his hand, and then his hand on his shorts when he remembered what he was about to do.
"I won't let him take it…I won't let the clan find out about this…before he does…I'm giving it to you…I'll be dead soon anyways…you're my best friend…you're the only one I can ask this…please, whatever happens…the village…the Uchiha name…protect them for me." He said, activating his sharingan and lifting up his hand.
Using everything he had learned from the head doctor at the Uchiha Vision and Retina Specialist's office about ocular medical ninjutsu, he carefully removed his remaining eye and handed it to Itachi. He waited several long moments. He heard one of Itachi's crows get summoned with a poof of smoke and caws.
"I accept. I've implanted it into one of my crows." Itachi said stiffly, trying not to sound as emotional as he was.
He set his outstretched hand on Itachi's shoulder and squeezed it in a gesture of support, relaxing.
It's all done. My left eye is safe.
His breathing was getting worse. His heart was racing painfully. No longer was it similar to pneumonia, now it was morelike his body forgot how to work them sometimes. His breathe would seize up and leave him for a terrifying moment.
I didn't want it to end up like this.
"I'm sorry, Itachi…I'm so fucking sorry…you're about to walk a long and dark path…filled with pain and suffering…and I can't be there for you." He said, his hand tightening on Itachi's shoulder. "There's one more thing…I want to give you…but before I do that…there's something I want you to know…I've never told anyone…"
"What?" Itachi asked, deeply concerned.
He had never let Itachi see him like this. He knew Itachi had noticed the worsening bags under his eyes, the hollowing of his cheeks, and the tapering of his jawline that was all from exhaustion, overwork, and not eating enough the past several weeks.
"Eight years ago…I killed my best friend Uzumaki Kaito… We were in the same graduating class and…got put on a genin team with a girl named Yuki…and Inuzuka Shiba-sensei…and his ninken, Tobimaru…we went to Academy together…we competed in class…but we really trusted each other…he was my first friend that…wasn't an Uchiha…" he began, his voice flat. "It was supposed to be a simple C-rank mission picking up after the war…Gathering up all the traps…But we were ambushed and my team got separated…Me and Kaito fled into enemy territory…He was badly wounded…We were stranded for ten days…He was dying of infection and we were both starving…living on the stuff my crows brought back…some fish if I was brave enough…I didn't know what to do…He said a lot of mean things…cause he was scared…and I got mad and refused…to help him when the search and rescue squad got there…Him and the chunin who had to help him in my place…both got killed by an exploding tag on a kunai."
I'm tired. I'm just so fucking tired.
"I love you, Itachi…You're my best friend…and I would never have made it this far…without you." He said, giving him a smile.
He really meant it. He'd been a recluse after losing Kaito, his mom, and maternal grandpa all in a year's time.
He didn't have to have eyes to know that Itachi's mouth was quirking upwards in an attempt at reciprocating a smile for him.
It's all done. Just one more thing. Then I get a long break.
He was exhausted and running on just fumes from the poison and the fading adrenaline. It was that feeling of relief when he got home from a long mission and could finally just relax and sit at the table and eat some cup ramen.
"That's how…I got my mangekyo sharingan…killing Kaito…I'm gonna die anyways…so I may as well…leave you with a mangekyo too…as a parting gift…make sure you leave…a suicide note in my handwriting…at my place so they don't blame you…please, use yours and mine…to preserve the honor…of the village and the clan…good luck, Itachi…I believe in you..."
I deserve this. If only I hadn't trusted Danzo…
"Let's get this over with…I'm gonna turn around…and you're gonna push me off...I'm glad I met you…I'm counting on you to handle the rest…"
He turned around to face the roaring waters below.
"One the count of three…1…2…3."
Itachi hesitated at first, but gathered himself together and pushed him off the cliff into the raging Naka river below. As he tumbled, he ran through the hand signs to activate the ANBU's fuinjutsu. Chakra crackled over the seal, spreading all over his body, as he hit the water below. All the air was knocked out his lungs only to be quickly filled with water. He was knocked unconscious when his head was bashed against a rock by the waves, just as the light of the seal enveloped his body.
Up at SAS Mateo Cruz's office in Quantico, the phone rang.
"Yes, Ms. Garcia?" he asked, immediately dropping everything he was doing.
She only rang his office for one thing.
"Sir, the cameras at Area Zero just picked up a ninja appearing. It's a teenage boy." She said, sounding heartbroken.
"I'll call an ambulance. Tell your team to take over." He said.
Author's Note 2:
Lots of edits made on 12/7/23 including some scenes being lengthened or added entirely new as well as dates being added. This is being heavily edited. Ch. 1 has become so long that I have now split into two separate chapters.
Please leave a review and let me know what you think!
Author's Note 1:
The date was chosen at random based on my headcanon that the original massacre takes place between Itachi and Sasuke's birthdays, and Shisui's assassination a year or just over a year prior to that. There's a manga panel somewhere where Itachi says Shisui's death bought them a year's time and he's thinking about how Hiruzen has done nothing with that time.
If it's not clear enough, this is just how the seal works, and they've had no way to confirm or study it beyond "well, they're obviously gone, so it obviously works".
I apologize for making yet another Shisui-centric crossover and not working on any of my other ones.