After the Battle

Not long after Hyuuga Nen left.

The smoke over the battlefield finally cleared, revealing a scene that looked like the end of the world. Most of the ninjas lay sprawled across the battlefield, their bodies mangled and bloodied.

A yellow-brown earthen prison slowly dissipated, finally revealing Kitsuchi. Several people stood beside him.

Looking at the battlefield strewn with corpses, Kitsuchi's pale face grew even grimmer. He glanced around, eyes widening as his lips began to tremble.

"Cough, cough... There are only a few of us left. Everyone else is dead!" As he said this, Kitsuchi wore an expression of disbelief.

The few ninjas beside him looked shaken, too. "Everyone else is dead! They're all dead!"

"Look, what's that?" one of the Iwa ninjas said, pointing toward the distance where the smoke had just cleared. His voice trembled slightly.

"That's Susanoo. It's Shisui Uchiha!" Kitsuchi looked in the direction his companion was pointing and spoke gravely.

Kitsuchi saw a green, skeletal giant from the waist up, surrounding Shisui Uchiha and several Konoha ninjas. Through its translucent bones, he could see that Shisui's face was somewhat pale, too.

"Shisui Uchiha, I never expected you to have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. But even so, you've still failed your mission. It seems the Mangekyō Sharingan can't help you after all."

Kitsuchi spoke to Shisui Uchiha, who had dispelled Susanoo.

At that moment, Kakashi slowly emerged from the ground. As soon as he appeared, he braced himself with both hands and gasped for breath.

As Kakashi came up, he heard what Kitsuchi had said and saw the skeletal giant Shisui had summoned.

"Shisui, is what Kitsuchi just said true?" Kakashi looked at Shisui Uchiha with concern.

Shisui Uchiha wore a complicated expression. He looked frustrated and worried, with a hint of fear.

Hearing Kakashi, Shisui Uchiha turned to look at him and nodded.

The Mangekyō Sharingan has been exposed after all. That was what Shisui Uchiha was thinking.

Shisui Uchiha had actually awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan long ago, but he had kept it secret and told no one.

He had done so because relations between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha had grown increasingly tense over the years. The Uchiha Clan had even plotted a coup, intending to seize power in Konoha by force.

The Uchiha Clan had always believed that Shisui Uchiha was on their side. If they found out he had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, they might move up their plans for the coup—something Shisui Uchiha did not want to see.

Shisui Uchiha had considered telling the Konoha High Command that he had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. But it was a power that frightened people, after all, so he had continued to hesitate.

Shisui Uchiha looked toward Itachi Uchiha and saw that Itachi Uchiha and Nara Suzaku were being shielded tightly by Akimichi Shidou, who had his back to them.

Akimichi Shidou's back was mangled and bloodied, and his breathing had grown almost imperceptible.

Itachi Uchiha and Nara Suzaku had each lost an arm to the blast, and their arms had been flung somewhere out of sight. With severed limbs and debris scattered everywhere across the battlefield, there was no way to tell whose arm was whose.

Itachi Uchiha lowered his head and looked at Akimichi Shidou. His body shook violently, and his eyes widened as he stared at Akimichi Shidou, who was on the verge of death. The Tomoe in his eyes spun faster and faster.

When the explosion happened, Itachi Uchiha had seen Akimichi Shidou take out a pill and swallow it. His body then changed dramatically: his once massive frame grew thin, and butterfly-like wings sprouted from his back.

At the last moment, Akimichi Shidou flew to Itachi Uchiha and Nara Suzaku at incredible speed, shielding them with his back and carrying them out of the blast radius.

"Itachi, are you all right?" Nara Suzaku's weak voice sounded in Itachi Uchiha's ear.

Hearing Nara Suzaku call out to him, Itachi Uchiha lifted his head and turned to look at him.

In that instant, Nara Suzaku saw Itachi Uchiha's blank expression and blood-red eyes.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking," Itachi Uchiha replied with little interest.

Itachi Uchiha then looked toward Shisui Uchiha again and saw him watching with deep concern.

Itachi Uchiha gave Shisui Uchiha a nod, then looked in the other direction, toward the place where the Sunagakure ninjas had been.

The Sunagakure ninjas had caused the explosion. But when the second blast went off, they hadn't managed to escape, nor had they had any way to defend themselves against it. They had all died in the explosion.

Just then, Root ninjas arrived at the battlefield. They had been some distance from the fighting, and had taken cover in time when the explosion occurred, so none of them had been injured.

When Kitsuchi saw the Root ninjas arrive, he said nothing. He simply made a few gestures to the handful of survivors, then led them away from the scene at once.

I didn't expect Shisui Uchiha to have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. But he didn't tell the Konoha High Command. Lord Danzo was right; the Uchiha Clan really can't be trusted.

That was what one of the Root ninjas thought. But he said nothing about it and instead told Kakashi and the others, "In your current condition, you can't continue the pursuit. Return and report your status now. Root will take over the mission."

Hearing the Root ninja, Kakashi said nothing. He only looked at the surviving Konoha ninjas. Each of them was injured; only Shisui Uchiha was in somewhat better shape.

Though he was unwilling to give up, Kakashi saw Akimichi Shidou's condition and the fact that Itachi Uchiha and Nara Suzaku had each lost an arm. He knew they couldn't afford to delay any longer, so he nodded.

Kakashi couldn't bring himself to wonder why Root was doing this. More than anything, he wanted to take his comrades back to Konoha for treatment.

With that in mind, Kakashi called to Shisui Uchiha, "Shisui, we need to get the wounded out of here and back to Konoha for treatment. I hope we're not too late."

Without waiting for Shisui Uchiha to answer, Kakashi ran over to Akimichi Shidou and the others.

Kakashi and Shisui Uchiha left the battlefield with the wounded, while the Root ninjas took the Hyuga Clan members and continued pursuing Hyuuga Nen.

Soon, not a soul remained on the battlefield.

After a while, the battlefield, which had grown quiet, seemed to split open as a spinning black hole appeared. It slowly widened, and then a person stepped out of it. He wore a yellow mask marked with irregular horizontal stripes.

The masked man first looked in the direction Kakashi and the others had gone, then toward the direction Hyuuga Nen had left.

"I didn't expect Shisui Uchiha to have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. This complicates things."

"He's heading toward the Land of Wind. What could he be going there for?" The masked man looked in the direction Hyuuga Nen had gone and spoke in a puzzled tone.