Pain. It was unbearable...
Shisui ran desperately through the forest, every step wracked by searing pain from his wounded body and stolen eye, but what hurt the most was his heart.
He could never have imagined that someone he had trusted completely would utter words that drove him to the brink of despair.
So everything he had done, everything he had sacrificed, was nothing but a clown's performance in their eyes?
He had revealed everything about the Mangekyō, had even decided to overwrite his clan's will, and still… they didn't trust him.
"A fool… Turns out he was right. I really am a fool."
Shisui suddenly laughed, the expression on his face twisted in self-mockery. Memories of Kei's past warnings resurfaced, words he had once dismissed, but now echoed painfully in his mind.
"As a shinobi, you should understand this: relying on others will never be as reliable as relying on yourself."
"You're nearly perfect, except when it comes to understanding the human heart."
"Where there is light, there is shadow. Evil has always existed around us."
"When a person stops thinking for themselves, they lose the ability to see the truth."
"I sincerely hope you never regret your choices, because you can't afford to."
Each line pounded against Shisui's chest like a heavy hammer. And with it came crushing regret.
Had he listened, just listened to even one of those warnings, maybe none of this would have happened.
But now it was too late. His right eye was gone, his body corroded by poison. He no longer had the power to change the clan's course. The chaos between the Uchiha and the village… was inevitable.
And once civil war broke out, the other great ninja nations would strike. What awaited both Konoha and the Uchiha was not peace, but annihilation.
"What you hoped for was nothing but an unattainable dream. Your choice cannot prevent destruction."
Those were Kei's words the very first time they met, his so-called prophecy.
To have fought so hard, only to arrive at this end... the fury and grief overwhelmed him. Shisui coughed violently, spitting up blood. His strength faded, and so did his will to stand.
His vision blurred. Though one eye remained, the path forward was utterly lost to him...
"Shisui! Are you alright?!"
Just as he felt all hope slipping away, a familiar voice rang out, Uchiha Itachi.
Seeing Itachi's figure in the distance, Shisui forced himself to stay conscious. His remaining left eye glimmered faintly, he had thought of a way. A small chance to delay the coup.
He still had supporters within the clan. If he died here and now, they would undoubtedly investigate his death thoroughly. The radicals would be pressured to back down, at least temporarily. Losing the famed "Shunshin Shisui" would be a major blow to the clan's strength, making a coup far less likely to succeed.
He knew what had to be done.
"Itachi... you're just in time. Listen carefully. What I'm about to say is very important…"
He explained everything that had just happened, fighting through the pain. Then, suppressing a groan, Shisui dug out his own remaining eye.
"Danzo won't stop until he has both of my eyes. I can only trust you now. Take it, this Sharingan, and protect the village… and our Uchiha name."
"Shisui, there must still be another way," Itachi pleaded, voice trembling.
But Shisui smiled and shook his head. "This is the only gift I can leave you now. The only time I can buy."
"I don't want this kind of gift…" Itachi said through gritted teeth.
"If you still think of me as your friend, don't stop me."
Shisui patted Itachi's shoulder gently. "You know, I wrote my will a long time ago…"
He tossed the bloodied eye to Itachi, then staggered toward the cliff's edge, the place where the Naka River, Konoha's lifeblood, ran deep and silent.
With one final breath, he let his body fall backwards into the chasm.
"No! Shisui!!"
Itachi watched helplessly as his friend disappeared over the edge. He clutched the eye, still warm with Shisui's fading life, in his shaking hands.
A moment passed.
Then Itachi opened his eyes. A single streak of blood-tears ran down his cheek as his crimson Sharingan glowed fiercely.
A terrifying wave of chakra surged from him, saturating the forest in killing intent. Even Kei, far below at the riverbank, could feel the violent ripple of Itachi's Mangekyō awakening.
Shisui felt like he had fallen into a dream, a long, endless one. In it, someone kept calling his name, urging him not to fade.
But he was too tired.
He wanted to sleep. Yet just as his consciousness began to slip away, electric shocks jolted his body, forcing him to stay awake.
Jolted from the nightmare, Shisui gasped awake. His thoughts slowly pieced themselves back together.
He was lying on something cold and metallic.
"…I'm not dead?" His voice was hoarse, his throat wrecked by the poison.
He remembered everything clearly: handing over his left eye, jumping off the cliff. Given his condition, already critically poisoned, there was no way he should've survived.
But here he was.
He tried to push himself up but was immediately seized by pain, so sharp and brutal that it drained the last of his strength.
"Don't move," said a familiar voice. "Unless you want those fresh stitches to tear open and go through it all again."
It was Kei. A voice Shisui would never forget.
"…You saved me?"
"Who else could it be?" Kei replied. "Do you have any idea how hard it was dragging you back from the gates of the Pure Land?"
After catching Shisui's body from the cliff, Kei realized how dire his condition was. The surface wounds were nothing compared to the real threat, the poison gas that had flooded his lungs and bloodstream.
It was only because Kei had thoroughly studied Orochimaru's human experimentation theories that he managed to pull off a rescue at all.
Granted, he was a psychologist, not a surgeon. And this was his first time performing invasive procedures.
So yes, it had been rough. A little crude. But the patient had survived, hadn't he?
Kei was quite pleased with how his first hands-on operation went.
What Shisui thought of the experience… well, that was another matter entirely.
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200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapters