Causality Retrospection

Shin-getsu had been reading for less than half an hour when a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

Knock, knock.

The rhythm was light.

Shin-getsu looked up.

"Who is it?"

A gentle voice came from outside.

"It's me, Shisui."

Shin-getsu's eyes shifted slightly.

Shisui had come.

He got up and opened the door.

Outside, Uchiha Shisui wore his usual gentle smile and held a packet of medicine.

"I heard you awakened the Two-Tomoe Sharingan at the Training Ground today."

"Congratulations."

Shin-getsu took the medicine.

"Thank you, Senior Shisui."

Shisui entered the room, his gaze sweeping over the scrolls on the table.

"Started studying these?"

"Yeah."

Shin-getsu made no attempt to hide it.

Shisui nodded.

"Fundamentals are important."

"The stronger your Sharingan becomes, the less you can afford to neglect the basics."

After saying this, he suddenly smiled. "Still, your progress is a little frightening."

Shin-getsu looked at him.

"Did you come to test me, Senior Shisui?"

Shisui paused, then smiled wryly.

"You're still just as direct."

Shin-getsu replied calmly, "Being direct saves time."

Shisui sat down and said seriously, "I didn't come to test you."

"I just wanted to warn you."

"Now that word of your Two-Tomoe Sharingan has spread, more people will be watching you."

"The clan will take you seriously."

"The village will, too."

"That won't necessarily be a good thing."

Shin-getsu nodded.

"I know."

Shisui looked at him.

"You do?"

Shin-getsu said, "If I stay weak, others will treat me like a test subject."

"If I grow stronger, they'll treat me like a threat."

"The only difference is how I die."

Shisui fell silent.

Those words were too heavy.

And too true.

For a moment, he didn't know how to comfort him.

Because Shin-getsu was right.

That was the Uchiha clan's situation now.

Weak clan members might be seen as easy targets.

Powerful clan members, meanwhile, were feared by the higher-ups.

Shisui said softly, "That's why you need to be even more careful."

"Especially around Root."

Shin-getsu looked up.

Shisui continued, "There's no proof, but about what happened last night... you probably understand it yourself."

Shin-getsu asked, "Do you think it was Root too, Senior Shisui?"

Shisui didn't answer directly.

"I can only say that Lord Danzo has never trusted the Uchiha."

Shin-getsu smiled.

"See? Even you say that."

Shisui sighed.

"But the more that's the case, the less you can afford to act rashly."

"If you go after Root yourself, you'll only give them an excuse."

Shin-getsu didn't argue.

He knew Shisui was sincerely trying to warn him.

Shisui might be naive about many things, but he wasn't stupid.

He knew Root was dangerous and Danzo couldn't be trusted.

He still hoped, though, to resolve the problem peacefully.

Shin-getsu suddenly asked, "Senior Shisui, what if Root comes to test me again?"

Shisui's gaze sharpened.

"Have you noticed something?"

Shin-getsu shook his head.

"No."

"Just a guess."

Shisui said gravely, "If you're ever in danger, notify the clan immediately."

"Don't try to handle it alone."

Shin-getsu looked at him and replied calmly, "What if there's no time?"

Shisui answered seriously, "Then survive."

"As long as you survive, leave the rest to the clan."

Shin-getsu felt a slight stir in his heart.

That sounded a lot better than "trust the village."

It seemed yesterday's conversation had affected Shisui after all.

At least his first instinct now wasn't to tell Shin-getsu to trust the Hokage, but to trust the clan.

The System Prompt sounded.

[Host continues to influence a key figure: Uchiha Shisui.]

[Uchiha Shisui's understanding of the Uchiha clan's position has deepened.]

[Obtained Causality Points: 300.]

[Current Causality Points: 300.]

A hint of satisfaction flashed deep in Shin-getsu's eyes.

It wasn't much, but it proved he was headed in the right direction.

He couldn't force Shisui to change.

Someone like him needed to see reality little by little.

As long as he stopped being so naive as to think he could solve everything with Kotoamatsukami, there was a chance Shisui's death could be changed.

Shisui didn't notice the change in Shin-getsu's mood.

He stood up and said, "I'll be patrolling near the clan compound over the next few days."

"If you notice anything unusual, come find me."

Shin-getsu nodded.

"Okay."

After Shisui left, silence returned to the room.

Shin-getsu sat back down and was just about to continue reading the scroll when his brow furrowed.

Something was wrong.

It was too quiet.

The sound of patrols outside had disappeared for a short while.

It had only been gone for less than ten seconds.

But Shin-getsu's senses were much sharper now than before.

He couldn't miss an anomaly like that.

He slowly raised his head and looked out the window.

Dusk had already settled.

A black cat leaped lightly across the eaves in the distance.

It seemed ordinary.

But his Causality Perception stirred faintly at that moment.

The danger wasn't strong.

But it was definitely there.

It wasn't murderous intent.

It felt more like a probe.

A chill surfaced in Shin-getsu's eyes.

"So, you're here?"

Root's test had come sooner than he'd expected.

He didn't act right away.

Instead, he lowered his head and continued flipping through the scroll, as if he hadn't noticed anything.

After a while, he got up, picked up the medicine packet, and headed to the backyard.

There was a well in the backyard.

He looked as if he was going to draw water to brew the medicine.

The instant he pushed open the door, a figure in the shadows on the rooftop moved slowly, almost blending into the night.

Its movements were slow.

Its presence was suppressed to a minimum.

An ordinary Two-Tomoe Sharingan user might not have noticed.

But Shin-getsu was different.

Causality Perception let him sense the danger in advance.

Combat Intuition let him instinctively pinpoint the other person's position.

And his Two-Tomoe Sharingan let him catch the slightest unnatural shift in the shadow from the corner of his eye.

Shin-getsu didn't look up.

He walked to the well and set down the medicine packet.

Then he slowly bent over.

As if he were about to draw water.

The person in the shadows didn't move.

Very cautious.

Shin-getsu sneered inwardly.

The person hadn't come to kill him.

Otherwise, that moment would have been the perfect opportunity to strike.

They were watching his reaction.

They might even be trying to get a sample of his blood or chakra.

That made things easy.

Shin-getsu reached out and gripped the well rope.

The next instant, his fingertips silently caught a thin steel wire hidden in a crack in the stones beside the well.

He had set it up when he first moved in.

Last night's events had taught him one thing.

He could never leave his home without a backup plan.

Especially in Konoha.

The most dangerous place in Konoha was never outside the village.

It was the shadows within it.

Shin-getsu yanked hard.

Whoosh!

A row of tiny bells in the corner of the backyard trembled all at once.

Strangely, though, they made no sound.

Cloth had been stuffed inside them.

Their real purpose wasn't to sound an alarm.

They were there to pull a wire at the other end.

Beneath the eaves, an inconspicuous Kunai suddenly sprang out, shooting straight toward the shadow on the roof.

The figure in the shadow reacted swiftly, immediately retreating.

The Kunai flew past, grazing his clothes.

It missed.

But Shin-getsu hadn't been aiming to hit him in the first place.

Another fine wire was attached to the end of the Kunai.

As the figure retreated, his ankle stepped right into a second wire loop.

Click.

The wire tightened with a faint sound.

The figure noticed at once. Chakra surged beneath his feet as he prepared to snap the wire.

But just then, Shin-getsu looked up.

His eyes were crimson.

His Two-Tomoe Sharingan activated.

[Causality Retrospection] activated.

In an instant, the world before Shin-getsu seemed to rewind a short way.

He saw the figure's movements over the past ten minutes.

The figure had approached from the rooftop on the west side.

He had entered the patrol's blind spot the moment they turned around.

He had briefly stopped by the third tile along the roof ridge.

There, he had left a small sealing tag for eavesdropping.

Then he had circled above the backyard.

A very fine Senbon was concealed in his right sleeve.

The tip of the Senbon was coated with a drug.

Not a deadly poison.

A paralytic.

The target was probably meant to be bled.

"Found you."

Shin-getsu's gaze turned cold.

He didn't charge toward the figure on the roof. Instead, he abruptly turned and threw a Shuriken.

His target wasn't the enemy.

It was the third tile along the roof ridge.