(October, year 52 AK)
"I'm sorry for that..." Shisui lowered his head apologetically, "But I had to make sure."
"Huh..." Yuta was startled for a second, as he had already come to terms that he has to return to the past and re-do these events differently, hence he didn't expect that Shisui would change his mind like that and drop his hostile act at the last moment, "Make sure of what?" He blurted out surprised.
"That you don't have any ill intentions." Shisui said casually, as he looked at Yuta and smiled apologetically.
"And you've confirmed that I don't have ill intentions how exactly?" Yuta was very confused about how Shisui's mind works and how he reached such a conclusion.
"I have my reasons and I trust my own judgement." Shisui said calmly and become more serious, "More importantly, there won't be any more tests from me, I won't betray you, you don't have to worry about that, ever."
And while Yuta was standing dumbfounded for a few seconds, trying to process Shisui's sudden vow that came out of nowhere, Shisui casually said, "Now then, I want to ask you, what exactly do you intend to do with all the intel you gather with the special ability of yours?"
"Well..." Yuta said absentmindedly, he still didn't mentally catch up with how the situation was changing rapidly, at that moment he no longer cared about keeping secrets that much, only his biggest secrets should always be hidden he thought, like the fact that he is an outsider and his ability of time-travel, other than that he didn't felt like hiding anything from Shisui, if he decided to trust Yuta so much, Yuta felt that he should repay it the same way.
Yuta was still afraid a little, that being honest like that with Shisui will cause trouble for him, but it was nothing he couldn't fix with time-travel, he believed that as long as he wasn't killed in an instant unable to initiate time-travel, or as long as he didn't get hit by something especially nasty, like Kotoamatsukami or Death Reaper Seal jutsu that the Third and the Fourth Hokage used, he should be fine.
"Try to prevent some disasters and save lives, I suppose..." Yuta said as he thought about it.
'Now that I think about it, why exactly did I decide to prevent the Uchiha clan massacre? Did I just do it on a whim, or is there something more to it? The aspect of saving lives felt right, and it's a good thing to do in general, but do I have a strong sense of morals and obligation to do so? I don't think so. If I see a coming disaster in front of me and I could prevent it, I'll do it, but if it's too difficult or too dangerous, then I have no qualms telling myself that it's not my problem and just move on...'
...
'How the hell did Shisui decide that he could trust me completely?! I'm not such a good person as he thinks of me... Whatever, how his mind works is a mystery, better to not think about it. Anyway, as long as I don't have ill intentions towards the village – everything should be fine, and I don't really have any reasons to harm the village, it's my new home after all. A home that needs some cleaning though.'
'And about cleaning the house, I suppose the big part of me deciding to save the Uchiha clan was that creep Danzo, he is the biggest Uchiha hater and he does everything he could to suppress the Uchiha clan for many years now. Saving the Uchiha clan is the same as ruining all his work. And if it would be possible to get rid of him for good during the Uchiha crisis – it would be even better!'
'And another big bonus is that the Uchiha clan should have a lot of jutsu, since they could copy them with just one look with a Sharingan. And I should be able to get access to all of that after I help Shisui and Itachi to save the clan and prevent the massacre.'
'Sigh, Shisui, you trusted the wrong person after all...'
...
"You don't have to lie to yourself or to feel bad about it." Shisui suddenly said.
"Huh, what do you mean?"
"I could see that you have other plans besides what you said, and you are feeling guilty about it, and you think that I shouldn't trust you so easily, but that is not true. I believe in my judgement of your character." Shisui said confidently.
"... You are talking too much." Yuta said a little embarrassed being read like a book by Shisui, he turned around and walked to the shore of the lake, since his chakra was on the verge of depletion and he had to stop the exercise, and he was feeling mentally exhausted from all the pressure from before.
'Maybe it was a bad idea after all, I should've let the Uchiha die, I can't stand it, how easily he sees through me like that...' Yuta thought jokingly while he hurried back to the shore.
"Ha ha, hey, you are blushing!" Shisui laughed as he followed Yuta.
"That must be because of hatred!" Yuta replied being annoyed.
'Damn it! If this event wasn't so crucial for my future plans, I would've time-traveled already to prevent it from happening, ever! That's it...'
Yuta had an idea how he could calm down and spare himself from the further teasing and embarrassment - he quickly entered his mindscape. The cold soothing feeling of the River of Time washed over him, immediately washing away all his emotions, Yuta spent a few minutes in there, resting and analyzing the transpired events.
'Now that I can think about it calmly, I believe it couldn't go any better than that. Shisui chose to completely trust in me, and when he said that he won't betray me – I can believe him. But I still must be careful of what I tell him about the future events, even he could be overwhelmed and do something stupid if I tell him too much. I know a lot about this world as it was the work of fiction for me back then, one of many, but for Shisui this world is the only thing he knows.'
'Also, being read like a book is not a good thing in the world of shinobi, I should do something about it soon.'
...
'This state of forced calmness is nice, maybe I could channel it somehow without entering the mindscape? That would be great to be able to get rid of all emotions and think calmly and clearly during the difficult situations, although if I would've done that before, when Shisui tested me with the pressure of his Mangekyo Sharingan, then he wouldn't be able to see through me and see whatever that was that made him to trust me in the first place.'
'I should try to do this, maybe I could hold on to the connection with the River of Time during my exit from the mindscape...'
Yuta concentrated on his connection with the River of Time and on the feeling of soothing coldness that it gives him, he tried to focus on it and hold onto it as he exited the mindscape.
Yuta opened his eyes on the shore of the lake. He still felt calm and at peace.
'It works. I don't think I would be able to maintain the connection for long though, I feel how it slowly drains my spiritual energy. But still, this is something new that I discovered, maybe this state could be used for something more than just to calm down, I wonder...'
"So, you do know how to hide your emotions after all." Shisui said in surprise, as he observed Yuta who suddenly calmed down, he wasn't able to read his emotions anymore.
"I should thank you, Shisui-senpai, you provided me with a great motivation to learn the skill." Yuta calmly replied a bit sarcastically.
"I guess I did, didn't I?" Shisui laughed casually.
"What did you wanted to tell me back then, when you demonstrated your signature jutsu to me?" Yuta asked what he was curious about.
"Yes, about that, but could you please switch back to the Yuta I know? This emotionlessly calm state of yours feels unnatural." Shisui said casually.
"Sure." Yuta let go of the connection with the River of Time that he was forcefully keeping active all this time, he felt how the soothing-cold feeling subsided and emotions returned to him. He immediately felt a little embarrassed again, though.
"Well then, the important part of my jutsu, as I said before, is genjutsu."
"But isn't genjutsu is supposed to be a technique, that influences the person's chakra and tampers with the person's senses? Did you do something like that back on the lake? I didn't notice anything..." Yuta said curiously.
"Not necessarily." Shisui said, "Genjutsu is a wide term, it includes the type of techniques that you mentioned, it also includes the techniques that create illusions, that could be cast on a specific area or on an object. For example, the academy's basic Clone jutsu could be categorized as a genjutsu, as well as ninjutsu. Basically, my jutsu is the composite of Shunshin jutsu, my Sharingan, modified Clone jutsu, as well as other genjutsu techniques that I cast on enemies when necessary."
"Is that it? Sadly, without the Sharingan I won't be able to recreate anything like that..." Yuta said dejectedly.
"You don't have to." Shisui said, "You should find your own path, don't try to copy someone else, or you would waste a lot of time mastering jutsu that wasn't meant for you. I showed you my jutsu so that you will have a better understanding and better perspective about things."
"I see." Yuta said as he thought, 'Waste of time is the last thing I'm worrying about, though, I won't be able to explain that to Shisui, no matter how much our friendship grows, some secrets should always stay hidden...'
"So, you said you want to prevent some disasters, you have something specific in mind?" Shisui casually asked, "Maybe something related to my clan perhaps?"
"Itachi told you about it, huh."
"Itachi? No, he didn't tell me anything, it was just my guess." Shisui said while becoming more serious.
"Sigh, yes. The first big disaster we should try to prevent is about the Uchiha clan..." Yuta said as he sighed tiredly.
"So, what's your plan?" Shisui asked, becoming serious, there was hope in his look, as he was being aware of the growing dissatisfaction within his clan and about the constant surveillance over his clan, set by the village, if things progress as they do, something bad will happen soon.
For the past few years Shisui had been searching for a solution for this brewing crisis, but there has been none, until now...
--- AN ---
These past two chapters weren't a part of my plans for the story's progression, it just kind of happened on it's own, sometimes the story just writes itself. Maybe that's because I recently rewatched Naruto arc about young Itachi and Shisui and got myself too much into character.
I wasn't planning for Yuta to have a friend with how his time-travels work, but it is happening somehow anyway...
If you like the fic, please consider supporting me on patreon - currently there are 6 advanced chapters on Patreon (patreon dot com /SycoreNovels).
Thanks to Loalola, Denuncia, waltersaaron16, Jayroy_63, LLI, creationking, SomeLordsBastard, Dylan_Cardenas_843 and Daoistbm0BeO for the power stones! Holy sh... It's 70 stones this week, last week it was around 50, thanks a lot! With this growth we should get into seasonal power ranking next week, current top-200 work there has 81 stones right now. Although getting into the main top-200 power ranking is still far away, current top-200 there has 277.