Shisui vs. Root

Inside Konoha, in a remote area on the outskirts of the village.

"You came."

"Yes, I did."

"Heh, I thought you wouldn't come, old man."

"But I came anyway."

"Now that you're here, you have only one choice: accept the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal and join Root."

"No. I choose the second option."

"Then all that's left is the path to death." Danzo glared grimly at the two Uchiha before him, ready to signal his subordinates to attack.

In Danzo's eyes, four-year-old Itachi posed no threat.

As for Shisui, he was only a little troublesome.

"Move in! Capture them."

At Danzo's command, the Root members surrounding Shisui and Itachi charged.

"Itachi, are you scared?" Ignoring the enemies around them, Shisui turned and patted Itachi's head.

"No, big brother Shisui. If you get the chance to escape, don't worry about me. I don't want to hold you back."

Although Itachi thought Shisui was amazing, they were facing dozens of elite ninja.

All Itachi wanted was for Shisui to get away safely.

"That's my boy, Itachi. But I'm not running. They're the ones who should run. Get ready—I'll show you the might of the Uchiha Clan."

Before Itachi could react, Shisui closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the Mangekyō Sharingan's pattern was slowly turning in his eye.

"Susanoo, rise!"

An endless torrent of violent chakra surged from Shisui's body, quickly enveloping him and Itachi and blocking the Root members' shuriken, kunai, and other projectiles.

Then the green chakra rapidly took shape: first ribs, arms, and a head. A giant green skeleton appeared in the center of the clearing.

"W-what the hell is that?"

Although Danzo had trained the Root members to fear no death, even they were frightened by the unknown terror of Susanoo's first form.

"That damn brat. He really did awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan."

Hidden behind the crowd, Shimura Danzō watched in disbelief as the power of Shisui's Mangekyō unfolded before him. Envy, jealousy, disgust, and greed mingled in his eyes.

"If I could get my hands on that power... No, it has to belong to me."

The green skeleton flung away a Root member who got too close. In the opening this created, Susanoo continued to transform.

In an instant, flesh grew over the skeleton, and its body kept growing as chakra filled it out.

"So this is big brother Shisui's power... It's incredible."

Uchiha Itachi looked up at Shisui's stern face. In Itachi's eyes, Shisui had become an all-powerful big brother, an even more imposing figure than his father, Fugaku Uchiha.

"Let's clear out the riffraff first."

"Susanoo: Ninety-Nine Style."

The Root members were still reeling from the shock of Susanoo when countless green chakra arrows came hurtling toward them from all directions.

"Quick! Form a defense!"

Danzo snapped out of it and hurried to organize the Root members, who had fallen into disarray. He was determined to take Shisui's eyes today.

"Earth Style: Earth Style Rampart."

This technique was an enhanced version of Earth Style Wall. It required a larger number of ninja to cast at once, creating a wall as tall and thick as a city rampart. Its defensive power far surpassed that of an Earth Style Wall.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang..."

The green chakra arrows pelted the Earth Style Rampart without pause, riddling its thick walls with holes until they looked ready to collapse at any moment.

"Boom..."

In the end, the Earth Style Rampart cast by more than a dozen Root members failed to withstand the full force of Susanoo's second form. It collapsed into countless chunks of stone that flew in every direction.

"Is this still the power of a human?"

There were no Kage Level fighters among the Root members, but with their seamless teamwork, even ordinary Kage Level fighters would have struggled against them.

Yet facing Uchiha Shisui, they were completely helpless. Dozens of Root members had been held back by that dark green giant—and the person behind that power was an eight-year-old boy.

"Stay focused! A technique of this magnitude must consume a tremendous amount of chakra. He can't keep it up for long. Attack!"

"Fire Style: Great Flame Bomb."

"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere."

"Lightning Style: Thunder Ball."

Each individual technique was too weak to breach Susanoo's defenses, but under the assault of dozens of B- and C-rank techniques, even Susanoo's second form might not be able to block every attack.

"Third form, rise!"

Before the attacks could hit, majestic armor covered the green giant's body, and an Utena helmet enclosed its head. Its defensive power increased dramatically.

"Rumble..."

The impact of dozens of techniques colliding was no less than that of an S-rank technique. The explosion sent sand and stones flying, even obscuring the sky above the area. Its roar was loud enough to startle nearly half of Konoha.

"Did we get him?"

To everyone's astonishment, the first thing to emerge from the smoke was Susanoo's iconic Utena helmet, with crimson eyes glowing beneath the armor.

"You've got to be kidding. How are we supposed to fight that?"

"A-a monster! There's no way we can take that thing on."

The Root members had lost all hope of continuing the fight.

Susanoo's defenses were indeed the perfect counter to this kind of area attack.

But Shisui was in bad shape, too. Blocking those attacks had consumed far too much of his chakra. Even with his current Kage Level reserves, he could barely handle it.

And the commotion had undoubtedly alerted the village. Once the others arrived, he would no longer be able to do anything to Shimura Danzō.

I need to end this quickly, Shisui thought.

"Now it's my turn to attack."

At Shisui's command, Susanoo clenched the Spiral Sword in its right hand. The blade began spinning rapidly.

"Here I come."

Elsewhere, inside the Hokage Building, Minato Namikaze was listening to a report.

"Lord Hokage, the detection team noticed a massive energy explosion to the east of the village. The cause is unknown. Your Anbu are ready and can head over to investigate at any time."

In the Hokage's office, a man wearing a matching cat mask knelt before Minato Namikaze.

"What about the barrier around the village? Did it detect an intrusion?" Unsure whether the other party was friend or foe, Minato Namikaze, as Hokage, chose not to act rashly.

"Strangely, the barrier around the village hasn't shown any signs of trouble, and we haven't found any evidence of an intrusion."

Hearing this, Minato let out a quiet breath of relief.

As long as it wasn't an outside enemy.

"Notify the Anbu to leave at once. I'll lead the team and go inspect the explosion site."

"Yes, Lord Hokage."