Chapter 248: Shisui Vs Itachi
Uchiha Compound.
Shisui’s cold question, “You have disappointed me too much,” was like a poison-coated kunai that ruthlessly pierced through Itachi Uchiha’s frozen heart defenses.
Huge shock and self-doubt surged like towering waves in his heart. All the “reasonable” explanations he tried to construct could not stop the rebellion, prevent the village from falling into war, protect Sasuke…
However, all words instantly seemed pale and powerless in the face of Shisui’s eyes filled with disappointment and alienation, like fragile ice shells melting under the sunlight.
“I…” Itachi opened his mouth, his voice dry.
He wanted to argue, to pour out that heavy dilemma, but facing the utter resolve in Shisui’s eyes, all words were stuck in his throat.
Shisui had clearly already decided that he had chosen the most extreme, unforgivable path.
He did not wait for his explanation.
At this moment, that pair of three-tomoe Sharingan eyes burning with fierce rage stared deadly at Itachi, throwing out an even more fatal question.
“Who ‘killed’ me? Itachi, do you know?” Shisui’s voice was terrifyingly calm.
Itachi’s body trembled almost imperceptibly.
Regarding Shisui’s “death,” he had long had suspicions in his heart, but the truth was too dark, and he subconsciously did not want to delve into it.
Danzō’s shadow had always loomed over this matter.
Shisui’s voice was like cold ice, word by word hammering into Itachi’s heart: “It was Shimura Danzō. He led Root’s elites to ambush me. And… he transplanted a three-tomoe Sharingan and used Izanagi… to alter reality, successfully taking my right eye.”
“Danzō?! Izanagi?!” These words combined together outlined a truth that made Itachi feel a bone-chilling coldness.
Konoha’s high council advisor, the controller of Root, actually used such dark and despicable means to steal the Uchiha’s power to harm the Uchiha’s genius!
This created a violent conflict and tear with the “village” image he recognized and wanted to protect.
On the high wall, Menma wearing the white three-eyed fox mask coldly watched the tragedy of brothers fighting below.
He did not linger too long, his voice calmly issuing the command: “Miyashiro En, Kimimaro, White, act according to plan, search for surviving Uchiha clansmen. Gōta, Yukimi, collect Sharingan. Move fast.”
“Yes!” The named Star Ninja immediately acknowledged.
Miyashiro En’s Blood Dragon Eye swept over the bloody streets, Kimimaro Kaguya and Mizuki Haku followed closely behind, the three scattering like ghosts, quickly penetrating deep into the clan territory.
Gōta and Yukimi exchanged a glance, their bodies instantly turning into two streams of colorless, odorless smoke, drifting toward the Uchiha ninja lying in pools of blood.
On the other side, Uchiha Fugaku, this clan head, merely silently watched all this, his scarlet Mangekyo Sharingan deeply gazing at Uchiha Hikari and Shura on the high wall.
He did not stop the Star Ninja’s actions, his expression complex and inscrutable. To him, the clansmen’s eyes were better taken by Uchiha Hikari than falling into Danzō’s hands.
And all this… was just as the prophecy Shura had made back then…
At that moment, intense slaughter sounds and ninjutsu explosions came from the street entrance!
Uchiha Yashiro, Inabi Uchiha, and seven other survivors who had fought bloody battles out from the Konoha Military Police Force, carrying full-body wounds and towering hatred, finally fought their way back!
They broke through the blockades of Konoha Anbu and Root, burst into the main street, only to see a scene even more tragic than at the Konoha Military Police Force.
Corpses of clansmen littered the ground, and confronting each other were Itachi Uchiha and… that person who should have been dead!
“Shis… Shisui?!” Yashiro looked at that familiar figure, his voice filled with incredulous shock.
But this shock was instantly replaced by even more surging rage. He abruptly turned to Itachi Uchiha, who held a bloodstained ninja sword and stood in the center of the corpses, roaring with bloodshot eyes: “Itachi! You beast! Why did you slaughter your own clansmen?!”
Inabi Uchiha and the others also glared furiously at Itachi, their eyes burning with bone-deep hatred.
Itachi’s gaze swept over the blood-soaked figures of Yashiro and the others, understanding dawning in his heart.
That mysterious masked man claiming to be “Uchiha Madara” had failed in his operation at the Konoha Military Police Force.
His gaze turned again to Shura and Uchiha Hikari on the high wall, instantly grasping the reason.
It must have been the Star Ninja they sent who timely intercepted “Madara.”
But how did they know… the date of the clan extermination operation?
He had only been forced to accept Danzō’s order yesterday, and only today finally resolved to carry out this hellish task…
A chill swept through his heart. The intelligence capabilities of the Land of Stars were terrifyingly formidable?
As for Yashiro and the others’ questioning, Itachi’s face showed no expression, only a dead, icy coldness.
When he chose to bear the sin of clan slaughter, he had already exiled himself beyond humanity.
He did not need to explain to anyone, nor did he deign to.
However, this chaotic situation far exceeding his expectations made his desperate “sacrifice” plan completely spiral out of control, heading into an unknown abyss.
Street entrance.
Almost at the same moment Yashiro and the others rushed in, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō led over sixty Konoha Anbu and Root elites surging in like a tide, merging with Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s squad that had previously been responsible for surveillance and blockade.
“Report to Hokage-sama! Intense rebellion occurred at the Uchiha Konoha Military Police Force. The rebels have broken through and fled back to the clan territory!” Shinnosuke quickly reported in a low voice. Naturally, he would not publicly mention his squad’s blockade situation at the Konoha Military Police Force outskirts, only emphasizing the Uchiha “rebellion” and “collusion with Star Ninja” as “fact.”
“Shura?!” Hiruzen Sarutobi’s face turned ashen, his gaze sweeping over the ravaged battlefield. When he saw the figure on the high wall wearing a white three-eyed fox mask and emanating an unfathomably deep aura, his pupils abruptly contracted.
Even more shocking to him was the Uchiha kunoichi beside Shura, who had activated her Mangekyo Sharingan with a cold expression!
The one mentioned in Shisui’s previous report—Uchiha Hikari!
Danzō stared deadly at the “resurrected” Shisui Uchiha, his single eye flashing with shock, doubt, and ferocity.
He instantly understood the truth of Shisui’s disappearance!
Shisui’s disappearance back then must have been after he himself struck, only for Shura to rescue him afterward!
“Hiruzen!” He immediately shouted sharply: “You saw it! Uchiha Fugaku indeed colluded with Star Ninja! Inviting wolves into the house!”
Danzō immediately labeled the scene before them: “Shisui Uchiha was sent by him to contact the Land of Stars. This is all their meticulously planned rebellion! Shura’s appearance is proof! Shisui is the liaison!”
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Fugaku confronting his son on the street, then at the corpses littering the ground and Shura and Uchiha Hikari on the wall, his face filled with pain and exhaustion.
He had also guessed that Shisui’s disappearance was likely related to Danzō. As for what Shura had done behind the scenes… it no longer mattered.
But things had come to this, Konoha and he had no retreat.
They must nail the Uchiha to the pillar of shame as traitors to maintain the village’s “stability” and “justice.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, only the dignity and icy resolve required of the Hokage remained.
He took a deep breath, raised the Adamantine Staff in his hand, his voice heavy with sorrow yet carrying unquestionable authority, resounding throughout the entire clan territory: “All Konoha ninja, hear my command! The Uchiha Clan has colluded with the leader of Hoshigakure ‘Shura’ and brazenly launched a rebellion! Evidence is irrefutable! Konoha Anbu! Root! Suppress the rebellion with full force! Kill without mercy!”
“Yes!” Thunderous acknowledgments rose, and over sixty of Konoha’s most elite assassination force members instantly erupted with intense killing intent.
“Nonsense!” Uchiha Yashiro, upon hearing this, trembled with rage, his hair standing on end: “It was you! Konoha high council ordered the slaughter of us! You want to exterminate the entire Uchiha Clan!!”
“Fight them to the death! Avenge the dead clansmen!” Inabi Uchiha and the surviving Konoha Military Police Force ninja let out grief-stricken roars.
The battle instantly escalated!
Yashiro, Inabi Uchiha, and seven other wounded yet fury-filled Uchiha jonin charged like moths to a flame with suicidal resolve toward the vastly outnumbered Konoha Anbu and Root forces!
At the same time, in the depths of the clan territory, some Uchiha clansmen who had previously escaped the slaughter or been saved by Star Ninja were stirred to bloodlust by the thunderous battle cries, roaring as they rushed out one after another, joining the fray!
“Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!”
Several Root ninja quickly formed hand seals first, sharp wind blades slicing through the air like razors, sweeping toward the oncoming Yashiro and others.
“Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!”
Uchiha Inabi slammed his hands to the ground, a massive earth wall rising abruptly, hard-blocking the wind blades.
“Fire Style: Majestic Dragon Fire Technique!”
Uchiha Yashiro roared in fury, a massive fire dragon roaring out, charging toward the Anbu crowd with an aura of incinerating everything.
“Water Style: Water Array Wall!”
The Anbu captain reacted swiftly, a water barrier rising to violently clash with the fire dragon, emitting sizzling giant sounds and billowing thick white mist.
“Shadow Imitation…!” A Nara clan Anbu member tried to control them, but was interrupted by a precise kunai throw from a nearby Uchiha ninja.
“Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!” Several Uchiha chunin coordinated, fireballs enveloping shuriken, forming a curtain of fiery rain.
The entire Uchiha Compound thoroughly transformed into a bloody battlefield!
Majestic fire dragons of Fire Style clashed and exploded with Anbu’s Wind Release vacuum waves, explosive tags booming endlessly, kunai and shuriken flying like locusts, Sharingan and various secret technique glows flashing wildly in the night.
Screams, roars, and ninjutsu collision sounds wove into a symphony of destruction.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō stood on a relatively high rooftop, vigilantly watching Shura and Uchiha Hikari on the opposite high wall.
Danzō’s single eye flickered with greed and dread; the opponent’s unfathomably deep aura posed a tremendous threat, making him dare not act rashly.
Especially Uchiha Hikari’s presence, completely different from any Uchiha ninja he had seen before, reminding him of the once… Uchiha Madara!
Hiruzen Sarutobi gripped the Adamantine Staff tightly, his heart heavy beyond measure.
Though Konoha’s side had numerical superiority with elites like Kakashi and Shinnosuke, the deterrence of Shura and Uchiha Hikari, plus the battlefield’s own chaos, made the situation unclear.
In the chaotic battlefield center, the confrontation area between Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha seemed to form an invisible vortex.
“You and I… are now strangers.” Shisui’s voice was icily devoid of any warmth as he slowly drew the ninja sword from his back, its blade edge glinting coldly under the blood moon.
Looking at this once most trusted best friend before him, now turned executioner slaughtering clansmen, the last thread of affection in Shisui’s heart was utterly severed.
Itachi Uchiha looked at the battlefield before him, which had spiraled utterly out of control due to his choice and become even more tragic, on the verge of engulfing the entire Konoha; looking at his former best friend’s blade of total rupture, his mentality finally completely collapsed.
He realized he had become a thorough clown: in Konoha’s eyes, a butcher stained with fellow clansmen’s blood; in his clansmen’s eyes, an unforgivable traitor; even before the “peace” he wanted to protect, he had become the fuse igniting an even greater catastrophe.
Star Ninja’s intervention, Uchiha’s desperate resistance, Konoha’s cruel suppression…
All of this stemmed from him, yet headed in the worst direction.
‘No! That’s not right! Shura and Uchiha Hikari must have designs on the Uchiha Clan!’
Shura and the Star Ninja’s appearance, Uchiha Hikari’s “recruitment” of Konoha’s Uchiha Clan—in his eyes, all became a massive plot against Konoha.
‘I absolutely cannot let Konoha be destroyed before my eyes!’
Even bearing the infamy of traitor, even having to personally sever the last bond with his best friend!
“This is… my persistence!” Itachi’s voice was low and hoarse, carrying a near-despairing madness.
His Mangekyo Sharingan spun wildly, powerful dojutsu power surging forth.
His figure vanished instantly, Body Flicker Technique activated!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Crisp metallic clashes exploded!
Itachi’s ninja sword ruthlessly collided with Shisui’s, sparks flying!
Their figures intertwined, fast to the point of leaving only afterimages.
Itachi relied on the Mangekyo’s dynamic vision and superior strength, one blade faster than the last, his assault like a storm.
Shisui relied on his transplanted three-tomoe Sharingan and experience to barely hold off, but slightly inferior in strength, forced to retreat step by step.
Itachi feinted, tricking Shisui’s guard, and kicked fiercely at Shisui’s chest, sending him flying several meters.
Shisui stabilized his form, spitting a mouthful of blood foam, his eyes even colder.
He no longer clashed head-on, using Body Flicker Technique and exquisite sword technique to tangle with Itachi.
“Fire Style: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique!” Shisui quickly formed hand seals while dodging, several fireballs scattering toward Itachi.
Itachi snorted coldly: “Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!”
A fierce gale scattered the fireballs as his figure closed in again.
The two engaged in close-quarters combat once more, ninja swords turning into streaks of silver light, each clash bringing ear-piercing friction sounds.
In one intense blade cross, Itachi’s knife edge dangerously grazed Shisui’s Konoha headband, leaving a deep gash!
Immediately after, Shisui’s blade also scraped past Itachi’s headband, likewise leaving a mark!
The Konoha headbands on their foreheads, symbols of their once-shared faith, were now personally slashed by each other!
Itachi’s onslaught grew fiercer, his Mangekyo dojutsu charging.
In one block, Shisui was shaken numb in the arms by the immense force, his ninja sword nearly flying from his grasp; he staggered back, chest heaving violently, breathing ragged.
Without the Mangekyo Sharingan, Shisui gradually faltered against Itachi’s full effort, the strength gap beginning to show!
Shisui looked at Itachi’s icy and mad Mangekyo Sharingan eyes, his heart filled with sorrow.
He knew the person before him was no longer that boy who chatted ideals with him by the Naka River, wanting to change the village and family relationship, nor the best friend he could entrust his back to back then.
At that moment, a figure silently floated before Shisui.
It was Shura!
He hovered in the air, black robe slightly swaying in the night wind, the white three-eyed fox mask looking down like a descending deity.
Under everyone’s stunned gazes, Shura slowly raised his right hand.
In his palm, at some point, appeared a sealed glass tube.
The tube contained pale green liquid, and within the liquid floated an eyeball with three black tomoe in the pupil!
It was Shisui Uchiha’s left eye!
After being extracted by Uchiha Hikari back then, it had always been kept by Menma.
“Now,” Shura’s calm and indifferent voice transmitted through the mask: “It’s time for it to return to its original owner.”
Shisui’s body trembled violently, his gaze fixed on that eye belonging to him in the glass tube.
He naturally understood what this meant.
Accepting this eye meant completely severing his past with Konoha, fully entrusting his soul and power to the one before him and the Land of Stars he represented.
Shisui looked up, his gaze sweeping the chaotic battlefield: Konoha Anbu and Root ninja were madly slaughtering his clansmen.
Uchiha clansmen who were once Konoha ninja were now fighting alongside Shura’s Star Ninja against the Konoha Anbu and Root ninja.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō’s icy gazes, and Itachi Uchiha before him, once seen as a brother but now thoroughly fallen into darkness…
Fantasies of the village, trust in the high council, bonds with his best friend…
Everything, everything, was utterly shattered on this bloody night.
He hesitated no longer!
Whoosh!
Shisui reached out like lightning, grabbing the glass tube!
Fingers clenched!
Crack!
The glass tube shattered, green liquid splashing over his hand.
That warm, seemingly still pulsating Sharingan fell into his palm.
Without the slightest pause, under everyone’s shocked stares, Shisui unhesitatingly gouged out his transplanted left eye, viciously pressing this originally his own left eye into the bloody socket!
Intense pain made him grunt, but his actions were exceptionally resolute!
Omnipotent chakra connected to this Sharingan dormant for over a year!
After a brief silence—
Hum!
A massive, heart-palpitating chakra abruptly erupted from Shisui!
An invisible shockwave centered on him blasted outward, flipping up ground dust and gravel!
His eyes opened again, the left eye’s three-tomoe pattern slowly emerging, then the three tomoe began rapidly spinning, distorting, fusing!
On the scarlet background, the three tomoe ultimately formed a complex, mysterious windmill shuriken shape!
A vast, blazing dojutsu power erupted from his left eye like a volcano!
“Susanoo!!!”
With Shisui’s roar suppressing endless anger, vast emerald green chakra surged from his body like a volcanic eruption, instantly coalescing and shaping above the Uchiha Compound!
A colossal figure clad in ancient samurai armor, like a green giant from mythology!
Susanoo!
Rising from the ground!
Its massive skeletal frame glowing with eerie green light and majesty instantly enveloped a large street block, its terrifying pressure making all slaughter sounds on the battlefield halt instantly, shocking the entire field!
Shisui Uchiha stood within Susanoo’s crystal, his left Mangekyo Sharingan emitting cold, resolute light, overlooking this land that birthed him yet ruthlessly betrayed and destroyed him.
At this moment, Konoha’s “Shisui the Teleporter” was dead.
Standing here was the Land of Stars’ Shisui Uchiha!
