"It's time." Just as the two were about to part, at the very moment when the outcome hung in the balance, Chiya—who had been hiding in the darkness, waiting for this moment—made his move. His Heavenly Steel Art had reached the fourth level, and he combined its innate Flash skill with the Body Flicker Technique. His speed was almost unmatched.
No one saw what happened—not even Shisui, who was reeling from the pain of having his right eye taken. They only saw a flash of a blade cut between the two men. When they separated, Shisui had lost his right eye, while Danzo had lost his entire left arm.
"What—what happened?" Danzo, who had thought victory was within his grasp, stared blankly at his left arm lying on the ground, its palm turned upward. The Sharingan was nowhere to be seen. The next second, a pain that seemed to come from the depths of his soul swept over him. Unable to hold it in, Danzo let out a heart-wrenching scream. "Aagh!"
Chiya gave a cold smile and left without pausing. Danzo's left arm was now completely ruined. The Zanpakuto had struck it, severing not only flesh but also his soul.
From now on, unless he had a puppet arm installed,
even if he received a transplanted arm, it would still become necrotic, and he would be unable to gather chakra.
He could worry about such a troublesome matter himself.
"Lord Danzo!" The Root Division shinobi hiding nearby were also taken aback. They immediately appeared and rushed to protect Danzo.
They had no idea what had happened.
They had only seen a blur flash before their eyes, and then Danzo's left arm was gone.
Shisui quickly recovered as well. Clutching his empty right eye socket, he looked at Danzo's arm, severed at the shoulder. Realizing that a third party had intervened, he swiftly formed Hand Seals.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive fireball surged toward Danzo and the Root Division shinobi.
These Root Division shinobi had been stationed there by Danzo to deal with Uchiha Shisui. Seeing the attack, they formed Hand Seals in unison. "Water Style: Water Turbulence!"
Water and fire collided, sending a huge cloud of steam billowing into the air.
Seizing the opportunity, Shisui swiftly escaped.
The Root Division shinobi all turned to Danzo. "Lord Danzo, Uchiha Shisui has escaped."
"Damn it! Who was it?" Danzo's face twisted in pain and rage as he clutched his left shoulder. The veins on his forehead bulged, and his eyes were filled with frustration and fury.
He had always been a careful schemer, yet today someone had snatched victory from right under his nose.
It was outrageous.
"Lord Danzo, should we go after him?" one of the Root Division shinobi suggested.
"Go after him? What's the point? Pick up my arm and take me back to the Root Division!" Danzo roared. Although he hadn't seen who had severed his arm, it couldn't possibly have been Uchiha Shisui.
In that situation, Shisui wouldn't have been capable of it, nor would he have dared.
Danzo had already used up the Sharingan's power, and his body had suffered a grievous injury. His right arm, implanted with First Hokage Cells, was still sealed, and it wasn't suitable to use that technique in Konoha.
If that person attacked again, he would be as good as dead!
Elsewhere, after obtaining Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, Chiya chose not to show himself just yet.
Instead, he went to the Naka River, where Uchiha Shisui had met his end.
"So this is Kotoamatsukami?"
Looking at Shisui's right eye, which he had taken from Danzo, Chiya felt a wave of disgust. He casually put it into the System Inventory.
Time and space inside the System Inventory were completely still. He had once tried putting a rabbit and a fish inside, and even after some time had passed, they were still perfectly fine. It was an ideal place to preserve a Sharingan.
As for transplanting it,
Chiya had no intention of doing that.
He couldn't bring himself to do something as deranged as gouging out his own eye.
He also didn't want to end up like Kakashi, whose lack of Uchiha blood meant the Sharingan wore him down until he went blind. That would be ridiculous.
Besides, having just one Sharingan looked downright ugly.
He'd rather follow Uchiha Itachi's example and transplant it into a summoning beast's eye. Wouldn't that be much better?
However, the moment he tossed the Sharingan into the System Inventory, the long-dormant system notification rang out.
[ Ding! A Sharingan from the Naruto world has been detected in the System Inventory. Would you like to fuse with it? ]
"What happens after fusion?" Chiya asked in his mind, taken aback.
[ Ding! After fusion, it will replace the host's right eye. ]
"Hell no! Why would I fuse with it? I don't want to become another Kakashi." Chiya's mouth twitched as he looked up at the cliff, his eyes shifting. "System, what would happen if I threw Uchiha Shisui into the System Inventory?"
[ Ding! If the host isn't afraid of developing a split personality, go ahead and fuse. ]
"Hell no. Only an idiot would fuse with it," Chiya cursed inwardly.
He decided not to overthink it. Shisui was going to kill himself anyway, so whether he was alive or dead, Chiya would just toss him into the System Inventory later and see what happened.
Meanwhile,
Uchiha Shisui and Itachi had reached the top of the cliff.
It was a place where they had often played together as children.
"Shisui. Your eye?" Uchiha Itachi was terrible at expressing his feelings. His face remained calm, but murderous intent had begun to simmer in his heart.
"As you can see, it was taken." Shisui turned around, revealing his missing right eye and a self-mocking smile.
Then he continued, "The Uchiha coup can no longer be stopped. If we let a civil war break out in Konoha, the other nations will surely invade while they have the chance, setting off the Fourth Shinobi World War. I wanted to use Kotoamatsukami to stop the coup, but Danzo took my right eye."
"I was too naive. Danzo has never trusted anyone. He would sacrifice anything to protect the village in his own way."
"Sadly, in the end, it was all for nothing. I did all that work for someone else's benefit."
"Just as Danzo took my right eye, a mysterious person suddenly appeared and severed his left arm. He was so fast that even my Body Flicker Technique couldn't match him. Now my left eye may be his next target. Danzo won't let this go, either."
At this, Shisui fell silent for a moment, then removed his remaining left eye. "So before my left eye is taken, I want to entrust it to you."
"Shisui." Hearing this, Itachi—who had always kept his emotions hidden—could no longer hold himself together. His eyes grew misty, and he struggled to speak.
"You're the only friend I can entrust it to. Protect the village, and protect the Uchiha." Uchiha Shisui smiled with a look of relief. He opened his left hand, revealing the blood-covered eyeball. By then, he had already made up his mind to die.
Uchiha Itachi closed his eyes in anguish and summoned a crow to take Shisui's eye. "I've taken care of your eye. What are you going to do now?"
"If I die, the situation is sure to change. The Uchiha coup will come to nothing. I've already left a suicide note." Uchiha Shisui slowly backed toward the edge of the cliff.
"Wait. Shisui!" Seeing this, Uchiha Itachi could no longer remain calm. He tried to stop him, but Uchiha Shisui said, "Don't stop me, if you're still my friend."
With that, Uchiha Shisui leaned back and fell toward the bottom of the cliff, his figure slowly vanishing into the darkness.
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