For a ninja, this was a cruel blow. He had wanted to tell Ronglin directly, but his words had been interrupted, so he could only keep hiding it and pass Ronglin's message along.
"Let's go."
At the entrance to the Hokage Building, Tsunade turned back to look at Shisui, who had kept his head lowered ever since entering Konoha. With a sigh, she took the lead into the Hokage's Office Building.
Behind Uchiha Fugaku and Shizune, only Shisui and Itachi lagged behind. Itachi looked at Shisui worriedly and tugged at his clothes.
Shisui raised his head and gave Itachi an incredibly strained smile before following them. Yet he walked painfully slowly, as though both legs had been filled with lead.
A walk that should have taken less than a minute took Shisui over ten minutes before he finally inched his way to the door of the Hokage's Office on the second floor.
Tsunade and the others stood waiting for him outside the office. No one had gone in ahead of time.
"Shisui, you..."
Outside the Hokage's Office, Kisame Hoshigaki and Mei Terumi stared at Shisui in shock. They could not believe that after going out on a single mission, Shisui had ended up like this. Nothing else had changed—except that one of his arms was gone...
"..."
Under his companions' gazes, Shisui lowered his head and chose silence. Seeing this, Tsunade waved at Kisame Hoshigaki and Mei Terumi, signaling them not to ask.
"Come with me. It's something you'll have to face sooner or later. You can't hide forever, can you...?"
With that, Tsunade opened the door.
Inside the office, Ronglin set down the documents and let out a breath, finally feeling his whole body relax. Seeing Tsunade and the others standing at the door, he said irritably, "What are