Ao: Shisui, Witness the Power of My Talk-no-Jutsu

Several days passed, and Uchiha Ao did not trigger any more main quests from the system.

At noon that day, Uchiha Ao went to the riverbank outside the clan grounds to train as usual.

Sister Izumi had originally intended to come with him, but she had left due to some business that came up.

I wonder how that guy Shisui is doing, Uchiha Ao thought silently while using a Shadow Clone to train with his cheat enabled.

It was one thing for Shisui not to come find him, but there hadn't been any news of movement within the clan lately either.

The sound of cicadas in the sweltering air came to an abrupt halt as the kunai in Uchiha Ao's hand nailed precisely into the tree trunk, sending wood shavings and dust raining down.

His Shadow Clone repeated the shuriken trajectory tirelessly, while he stared blankly at the dead leaves floating on the river surface.

With his intervention, combined with Shisui's strength, he should have already won over a portion of the people by now.

Once Shisui becomes the clan head, he must imprison that brat Itachi.

Uchiha Ao, who had been lost in thought, suddenly sensed a familiar fluctuation of chakra nearby.

Shisui?

Uncertain, Uchiha Ao sensed it again carefully and confirmed it was indeed him, though based on the fluctuations, Shisui's condition did not seem good.

To be safe, Uchiha Ao decided to send his Shadow Clone to scout the path ahead first.

The Shadow Clone sprinted across the surface of the water, the ripples behind him carving out broken silver lines.

The moment he rounded the river bend, a faint scent of blood mixed with a charred smell hit him.

In the clearing ahead, Uchiha Shisui's left arm was missing, and his entire person radiated an air of desolation.

The Shadow Clone's pupils constricted sharply, and he rushed to Shisui's side.

Shisui sensed someone approaching and his chakra flared up, but upon seeing it was Ao, his tense body suddenly relaxed.

"Ao-kun, you've come." A smile tugged at Shisui's paper-white face, but it was uglier than crying; his blood-stained lips curled slightly upward, yet his eyes were filled with despair.

"Shisui, with your strength, how could you be wounded like this?" Looking at Shisui's empty left sleeve, Uchiha Ao asked in confusion.

Shisui moved his Adam's apple with difficulty, fresh blood trickling down the corner of his mouth and staining his collar a dark color. "I did as you said, but I found that my own strength wasn't enough, so I thought I would discuss ways to preserve the clan with Itachi..."

"In the end, I trusted Itachi too much. I thought he was like me—that although he loved the village, the clan was still the most important thing deep down in his heart."

At this point, Shisui's eyes dimmed.

Hearing Shisui's explanation, Uchiha Ao couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

He had overestimated Shisui. He had originally thought that with Shisui's strength, he would be able to quickly consolidate a faction of his own.

He hadn't expected him to go find Itachi in the end.

Sigh.

Uchiha Ao couldn't help but rub his forehead.

Shisui, oh Shisui, you really are too incompetent.

Shisui did not know what Uchiha Ao was thinking. He looked at Uchiha Ao and tremblingly felt for his own eyes, those Mangekyo Sharingan glowing with a scarlet light.

"Ao-kun, am I just a piece of trash?"

Uchiha Ao chuckled at this.

However, he didn't discourage Shisui, but instead comforted him.

"It's fine. It was Itachi who betrayed your trust. We still have a chance."

Listening to the comfort, Shisui only shook his head, his fingertips gently brushing his eye sockets. "Ao-kun, I have already failed. I have let down their expectations."

Uchiha Ao had a bad premonition.

Sure enough, Shisui's next sentence left him stunned.

Shisui's Adam's apple rolled with difficulty, and his blood-flecked lips moved. "Ao-kun, my eyes... they can only be entrusted to you." As he spoke, his right hand had already gathered a Chakra Scalpel, preparing to gouge out his own eyes.

What the hell.

Uchiha Ao hurriedly blocked him. Are you kidding me? Now is not the time for you to die.

It's easy for you to die, but the pressure I'll face will be immense.

This move of yours will only alert the enemy; the night of the clan's annihilation might even be moved forward.

"Don't be ridiculous, Shisui!" Uchiha Ao pressed his knee against Shisui's shoulder and used his other hand to pin the wrist holding the Chakra Scalpel.

"Ao, why are you stopping me?" Uchiha Shisui coughed up a mouthful of black blood, the light of his Mangekyo Sharingan flickering. "I am of no use anymore. If my eyes stay here, they will only become prey for them to fight over."

He struggled to push Ao away, but he was weak from blood loss. "Itachi will definitely tell the Konoha higher-ups about this, and Danzo will never let me go."

In the past, he had always used the harmony between the clan and the village to deceive himself, forcing himself not to think in these directions.

But having worked under Danzo for many years, Shisui knew his personality very well.

"Shisui, I need to tell you two things."

"First: I don't need your Mangekyo. I can awaken my own."

Uchiha Ao gripped Shisui's trembling wrist tightly, his face full of confidence.

Shisui was momentarily dazed, his memories suddenly flashing back to the scene of their first meeting.

"Shisui, let me tell you, the tides turn every three years. You spanked me today, but three years from now, I'll definitely make you look at me with new eyes!" Four-year-old Uchiha Ao, pinned against a wooden post with his rear end stuck out, still stiffened his neck and kept spouting threats.

Back then, twelve-year-old Shisui had put away his Shuriken, crouched down, and flicked his bottom: "Then I shall wait for Ao-kun to grow up."

The image from his memory overlapped with the scene before him, and a smile actually tugged at the corners of Shisui's blood-stained mouth.

"What are you laughing at? Listen to me finish." Uchiha Ao felt irritable the moment he saw Shisui's smile.

"Two: You dying won't solve the problem; it will only make the situation even more difficult."

Shisui's smile did not fade, but he began to cough violently. Fresh blood seeped through his fingers and dripped onto the Uchiha clan crest, staining that flame even more scarlet.

He gazed at Ao's tense profile, his voice as light as a withered leaf floating on the river: "But I am already a cripple, without an arm..."

"Enough!" Uchiha Ao suddenly interrupted Shisui, his temper flaring.

"The you I know is the one other hidden villages call Body Flicker Shisui. It's just one arm gone. What does our Uchiha clan rely on? We rely on our Sharingan!"

Uchiha Ao's roar made the reeds on the riverbank tremble. He yanked at Shisui's collar, bringing their faces so close their noses almost touched.

Shisui listened in silence, and in the end, he dissipated the Chakra Scalpel in his hand.

Seeing that Shisui had abandoned the idea of gouging out his eyes, Uchiha Ao let out a long sigh of relief.

Damn, it seems I have potential for Talk-no-Jutsu after all.

Shisui looked into the youth's determined eyes and finally lowered his hand slowly: "I understand, Ao-kun. I will drag this broken body and walk on with you." He tried to prop himself up, but stumbled due to excessive blood loss.