The Farce Was Over

Shisui stopped wasting words. He grabbed his comrade by the clothes and flung him behind himself. Then he tightened his grip on the short sword and said calmly,

"Not bad. Were you looking for me?"

"I heard you're a genius of the Uchiha Clan. I've always enjoyed fighting geniuses. Let's see what you're really made of!"

As soon as Karatachi Yagura finished speaking, his Hook Staff came crashing toward Shisui's face with overwhelming force.

Shisui dodged to the side. The mud beneath his feet burst apart, splashing water everywhere.

Facing Karatachi Yagura's attack, he charged forward instead of retreating. Relying on the keen perception of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he swung his short sword along the Hook Staff's path and slipped inside, thrusting straight for his opponent's throat.

Yagura tilted his head slightly. The blade skimmed past his ear without so much as cutting a single strand of hair.

Karatachi Yagura sneered. "You're too slow. Is that all you've got?"

With that, he swung his Hook Staff in a horizontal sweep.

Shisui flipped through the air and used the momentum to leap backward. Before he could even land, three arrows of water shot toward him. With no other choice, he forced his body to twist midair.

Two arrows passed close by, but the third tore through the armor on Shisui's left arm. Blood mingled with the rain and spattered down.

That brief exchange was enough to show Shisui how terrifyingly strong his opponent was.

He glanced around. The torrential rain had blurred everything nearby into a gray-white world.

The rain put Shisui at a severe disadvantage. Not only would it greatly weaken his Fire Release, but it would also strengthen Karatachi Yagura's ninjutsu.

"The farce ends here."

As he spoke, Karatachi Yagura clapped his hands together.

"Yaaah!"

With a tremendous shout, chakra surged out of his body. A colossal wave, churning in the sea, came crashing toward the shore with overwhelming force.

The wave blotted out the sky. Shisui's pupils shrank as he watched it bear down.

Karatachi Yagura stood atop the crest, his pale purple eyes looking down at Shisui on the shore as if he were an ant about to drown.

"Uchiha Shisui, figure something out!"

Shisui told himself he had to do something, but faced with all this, he was powerless.

Fueled by Karatachi Yagura's immense chakra, the surging wave soon reached the shore. Shisui hastily dodged, but the other Konoha Ninja still fighting lacked his strength. The wave swallowed them in an instant, along with the Kirigakure Ninja still locked in battle.

When the water receded, Shisui was the only one left standing on the shore.

Drenched from head to toe, he knelt on one knee, panting heavily from exhaustion.

The rain kept falling. Cold drops ran down his hair, brows, and chin, but he seemed unable to feel the chill.

His gaze was fixed on the stretch of beach soaked by the seawater. Scattered across it were several broken Forehead Protectors, along with a hand. Its pale fingers were slightly open, as if trying to grasp something in its final moments.

It was his comrade's hand.

Shisui's pupils contracted sharply.

"Yoshida... Takano... Morishita..."

He murmured each name, his voice so hoarse it was nearly swallowed by the rain.

"Oh?"

Karatachi Yagura stood not far away, his pale purple eyes watching with keen interest.

Shisui lowered his head. Rainwater mingled with something warm and ran down his face.

The faces of his comrades kept replaying in his mind, along with the face of his closest friend and childhood companion...

Shisui had been called a genius since he was a child.

He awakened his Sharingan at six and had a Three-Tomoe Sharingan by ten.

Everyone said Uchiha Shisui had limitless potential.

But...

What good was being a genius?

A genius couldn't protect anyone!

Shisui's fingernails dug deep into his palm. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun wildly in his eyes, and even the air around him seemed to grow several degrees colder...

Seeing Shisui motionless, Karatachi Yagura didn't need to think twice to know that he had broken. He had no interest in playing cat and mouse any longer. With a wave of his hand, nearly a hundred arrows of water whistled toward Shisui.

The arrows reached him in an instant. Just then, a green glow suddenly appeared around Shisui, who was crouched on the ground.

The glow quickly solidified, forming a series of bone-like segments that shielded him.

"Susanoo."

The arrows slammed into Susanoo and fell to the ground as splashes of water.

Karatachi Yagura let out a surprised "Huh?" Shisui slowly rose, murmuring under his breath.

"So this is... the Mangekyō Sharingan."

"So the fighting with Kirigakure is going to escalate again?" Naoki asked in Uchiha Fugaku's office after listening to Uchiha Yashiro explain what had happened.

Uchiha Fugaku rubbed his chin. "I doubt it'll escalate that much. Karatachi Yagura crossed the sea and reunited the scattered Kirigakure forces, but he didn't bring many men. Still, we'll need to send support to the Southern Battlefield. The details will depend on how that Sarutobi fellow handles things."

"More than that, I'm curious about Shisui driving Karatachi Yagura back all by himself... Is the battlefield an even better training ground for him? His strength has improved so quickly!"

Naoki looked through the report sent back from the Southern Battlefield. It only briefly mentioned that Shisui and Karatachi Yagura had fought, both had been injured, and then they had each withdrawn. It said nothing about the details of the battle...

He could get a rough idea of Shisui's strength at this point from his predecessor's memories.

With his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, impressive Taijutsu, and speed that ranked among the best in all of Konoha, Shisui was undoubtedly one of Konoha's strongest Jonin—an Elite Jonin, even.

But Karatachi Yagura was no ordinary man. He had been famous throughout the Shinobi World even before the Third Shinobi World War, and was a Kirigakure master whose reputation could rival that of the Sannin. He was more than qualified to become Mizukage. Saying he could easily handle a ninja of Shisui's caliber might be an exaggeration, but that was the general idea.

Naoki quickly figured out how Shisui had managed to fight Karatachi Yagura to a draw...

The Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Sir..."

Naoki suddenly spoke.

"If the Third Hokage sends support to the Southern Battlefield, could I go with them?"

After speaking, Naoki waited for Uchiha Fugaku's answer. Fugaku regarded him with interest but didn't speak first.

Beside them, Uchiha Yashiro kept shaking his head.

"Naoki, even though the fighting on the Southern Battlefield isn't as intense as it was before, the casualty rate is still high. Do you understand how dangerous it is?"

"I do." Naoki nodded. "You don't need to worry about me, old man. I haven't slacked off in my training for a single day lately. Compared to a month ago, I'm practically a different person now."

Uchiha Yashiro still shook his head.