Chapter 167: Suspect Target, Uchiha Itachi
The news of Shisui Uchiha’s disappearance quickly spread throughout the village.
The Uchiha Clan and Anbu simultaneously stirred up a storm.
Clan Head Fugaku mobilized the clan’s most capable trackers, investigating Shisui’s recent activity traces and repeatedly searching the areas where Shisui might have been active.
Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi also dispatched Anbu ninja, shuttling through the forests outside the village, abandoned training grounds, and even the ruins of Belladonna Castle.
Shisui was one of the few rationalists in the Uchiha Clan at present, and also a descendant of Uchiha Kagami; for public and private reasons, Hiruzen Sarutobi had to take it seriously.
However, after several days of searching, Shisui Uchiha along with his Mangekyo Sharingan seemed to have been completely erased by an invisible hand, leaving no clues whatsoever.
Shisui as a person, along with those legendary eyes of his, seemed as if they had never existed in the world.
In the Hokage’s Office, the atmosphere was so heavy it could drip water.
The pipe between Hiruzen Sarutobi’s fingers had long gone out, with the lingering smoke dispersed, leaving only cold ash.
His wrinkled face appeared exceptionally weary in the dim light, his gaze heavily fixed on the shadowy corner.
There, Shimura Danzō leaned on his cane like a coiled venomous snake, his single eye devoid of ripples, only a bottomless gloom.
“Danzō…” Hiruzen Sarutobi’s voice was hoarse, carrying a heavy interrogation.
“Shisui’s disappearance has truly nothing to do with you, with Root?” His sharp gaze seemed to pierce through layers of bandages, straight into Danzō’s heart.
Danzō’s mouth corner imperceptibly twitched downward, his dry voice like sandpaper friction: “Hiruzen, are you questioning the old man’s loyalty to Konoha? Or would you rather believe the baseless accusations of those Uchiha madmen?”
“The old man admits to having some dread of Shisui Uchiha’s abilities, but dread does not equal action. Every action of Root is for Konoha’s stability. The old man has a clear conscience.”
He slightly raised his chin, the single eye under the bandages meeting Hiruzen Sarutobi’s gaze, frank to the point of provocation.
That flawless calm instead made one’s heart chill even more.
The Root members under Danzō had already completely cleaned up the combat traces at the temple hall, as well as the traces left on Shisui’s escape route after his injury; naturally, the Anbu and Uchiha search teams found not a single clue.
Although Danzō was also puzzled about where Shisui had fled, he absolutely could not admit it!
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath, no more smoke, only cold air piercing into his lungs, ultimately turning into a heavy sigh that dissipated in the stagnant air.
In the Uchiha Compound, in the courtyard of the Clan Head Mansion, maple leaves rustled and fell, covering the ground in gold.
Itachi Uchiha quietly stood under the corridor, watching the fallen leaves swirl and drift.
His figure was upright, already in boyish form, wearing deep blue clan robes, his face calm to the point of coldness.
However, only he himself knew that deep in his heart, that string was stretched to the breaking point.
The news of his close friend’s disappearance was like a thunderbolt from the blue.
Several days had passed since the search began, yet not a single trace had been found.
A master like Shisui had vanished into thin air as if by human evaporation.
Shock, bewilderment, a sense of exhaustion from suddenly having one’s foundations hollowed out swept over Itachi Uchiha.
That person who always wore a gentle smile, with bright eyes, guiding him like an elder brother, sharing thoughts on peace and the village’s future, the only one in the clan who could understand him—Shisui… was missing?
How could that be?
Last night they had agreed to meet at the secret training ground; he had so many confusions about the family and the future to pour out to Shisui… how could it be…
And what kind of strong practitioner could strike at Shisui silently in Konoha without making a sound?
“Itachi!”
A low voice carrying suppressed rage broke the courtyard’s dead silence.
Uchiha Yashiro, Uchiha Tekka, and Uchiha Inabi—the three of them like three blocks of ice emanating chill—strode into the courtyard.
They wore dark clan robes, faces grim, scarlet Sharingan openly activated, their cold gazes like tangible blades, all fixed squarely on Itachi.
The air was filled with undisguised hostility and suspicion.
“Shisui is missing!” Uchiha Yashiro spoke first, his voice like suppressed thunder; he was tall and sturdy, with a stern face, brows tightly furrowed at this moment.
This Uchiha elite jonin who usually had squinted eyes now had his scarlet Sharingan open, flames of anger seeming to burn in his pupils.
“Just a few days ago! Right around the village! The clan’s search teams conducted a wide-ranging search inside and outside Konoha, with no results! Anbu is even more tight-lipped! You—” He pointed at Itachi, his fingertip carrying an aggressive momentum.
“As an Anbu member, Shisui’s most trusted friend! Don’t tell us you know nothing about this?!”
The clan members’ cold questioning stabbed like poison-quenched needles into Itachi Uchiha’s heart.
He abruptly looked up, his black pupils instantly contracting!
Shisui’s disappearance pained him more than anyone!
But the naked suspicion behind this questioning was like a searing brand iron, brutally scorching the fresh wound of losing his close friend!
“Yashiro-senior…” Itachi’s voice strove to remain calm, but the ending tone carried a faint tremor.
“Shisui’s disappearance has shocked and grieved me as well. I want to know the truth more than anyone. But I… truly know nothing.” He met Yashiro’s scarlet eyes filled with distrust, frank and firm.
“Know nothing?” Uchiha Tekka beside him let out a piercing sneer; his face was gaunt, eyes sharp as a hawk’s.
“Joined Anbu, hanging around with those people all day, who knows what you’re up to! Now Shisui is gone, and you think a casual ‘know nothing’ clears you?”
“Itachi, did you know something all along?”
“Was it Anbu… or even higher-ups who were going after Shisui?! And you chose silence? Or even… got involved?!” Uchiha Tekka’s words stabbed at the heart!
A scorching anger suddenly surged from the bottom of his heart!
Itachi’s body instantly tensed, his hands at his sides clenching into fists, fingernails digging deep into his palms!
Involved?
Their bond with Shisui, his own steadfastness as Itachi Uchiha—could it be so easily twisted into betrayal?!
“Itachi!” Uchiha Inabi’s voice was even colder, his gaze the most vicious.
“Drop that stay out of it attitude! Don’t forget the Uchiha Clan bloodline flowing in your veins! With Shisui’s matter, you’d better truly know nothing. Otherwise…” He stepped forward, the three-tomoe in his Sharingan spinning madly, not concealing the threat.
“The Uchiha Clan will never let any traitor go! No matter whose son he is!”
Traitor!
These three words echoed and amplified like a curse in Itachi’s mind!
Igniting his days of pain, confusion, and heartache over his close friend’s disappearance into rage that burned away reason!
How dare they defile his bond with Shisui with such vicious suspicion?
How dare they so contemptuously question his complex emotions toward the family?
And who was it, truly pushing the Uchiha Clan into the abyss?!
“I said—I! Don’t! Know!”
A roar suppressed to the extreme, like an injured beast, burst from deep in Itachi’s throat!
The anger, pain, and utterly provoked fury contained in that voice made the three—Yashiro and the others—involuntarily step back half a pace!
In that instant when emotions burst the dam!
Itachi Uchiha’s figure suddenly vanished from the spot!
“So fast!” Yashiro’s pupils contracted sharply, his Sharingan capturing a blurred afterimage!
Fast beyond the limit of his vision!
Not the flashy movement of Body Flicker Technique, but a pure physical burst-driven, ghost-like advance!
Carrying the terrifying killing intent of utter rage!
