A New Epic-Tier Bitter Fruit

"Bastard!"

Shisui burst out of the smoke. Seeing that Orochimaru had already disappeared, he was beside himself with rage.

"Right! Hayato!"

The next moment, Shisui thought of Hayato. He was about to head back to where they had been and search for him.

A figure had already landed beside him.

"Shisui."

Shisui turned around. When he saw Hayato, his expression brightened, and he threw his arms around him.

"You're okay!"

Hayato looked at Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan, his expression unchanged.

He hadn't expected that thinking Hayato was dead would cause Shisui to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.

It was several years earlier than in the original story.

"Yeah. At the last moment, I used Shadow Clones to surround myself. The damage to the clones still got added to my own, but at least I made it."

Hayato's face was pale. It had all happened too quickly for him to use the Substitution Technique.

This was the only solution he could think of.

Hearing this, Shisui hurried to support Hayato.

He took out a Military Ration Pill and fed it to Hayato. The Uchiha Clan's ration pills weren't as special as the Akimichi Clan's, but they could still restore chakra quickly.

"Thank goodness you're okay. I was careless this time. I should have listened to you."

Only after seeing Hayato swallow the pill did Shisui relax. Then he spoke, looking guilty.

"We're clanmates. There's no need for that."

Hayato waved a hand, then looked at Shisui's eyes. "Looks like you took this step before I did."

Shisui froze, then reached up to touch his eyes and nodded.

"Yeah. These eyes are terrifying."

His chakra reserves, reaction speed, Taijutsu, and resistance to genjutsu had all increased. Shisui felt stronger than ever.

Perhaps this power could help him bring peace between the clan and the village.

That was his first thought.

"Shisui," Hayato said, his voice calm.

"Hm? What is it?" Shisui looked up at Hayato, puzzled.

"I want you to keep your eyes hidden for now." Hayato looked calmly at Shisui. Awakening the Mangekyo would inevitably give him certain ideas.

Right now, Hayato didn't want Shisui to do anything rash.

Unlike Uchiha Itachi, Shisui at least wanted the Uchiha Clan and Konoha to reconcile, rather than simply slaughtering his entire clan.

That alone was enough for Hayato to consider him an ally. As for how to make Shisui see the village's dark side, he still needed to come up with a plan.

But it couldn't be too easy. Orochimaru, who had just escaped, could be a way in.

The most urgent thing now was to curb Shisui's unrealistic ideas.

"Why?" Shisui asked, confused.

Their brief conversation in the Police Force, along with his recent sparring sessions with Hayato in the clan, had shown Shisui that Hayato wasn't like most of their clansmen.

"Because your eyes are the most powerful Mangekyo in our Uchiha Clan. If you reveal them—"

Hayato looked at Shisui. "Do you think the clan will be able to sit still?"

There was no other reason that might convince Shisui.

Shisui froze. That was true. If the clan learned he had the Mangekyo, would they still hold back those thoughts?

No. They would only think their chances of success had improved.

That was a future he didn't want to see.

"Fine. I promise," Shisui said, nodding solemnly.

"Good. And I hope you'll keep it from the village too, even from the Third Hokage."

Seeing that Shisui agreed, Hayato relaxed and continued.

"Why?"

For the first time, Shisui truly couldn't understand Hayato. His grandfather's ideals had deeply influenced him, and he wanted to change the Uchiha Clan's situation himself.

"Shisui, awakening the Mangekyo is a test of your heart. The eye techniques it gives you are the answers you've found within yourself. What are your eye techniques?"

Hayato looked into Shisui's eyes, a flicker of emotion crossing his face.

He suspected that Shisui's eye techniques weren't limited to Kotoamatsukami.

Shisui looked at Hayato and was silent for a long time before answering, "Kotoamatsukami in my right eye, and Tianneili in my left."

Just as he'd thought!

Hearing about the two different techniques, Hayato felt a surge of excitement. It was just as he'd expected.

In the original story, Shisui awakened the Mangekyo years later, but both eyes had the same ability. That was different from most Uchiha who awakened the Mangekyo.

Even Obito's Kamui, despite having the same name in both eyes, worked differently. They were more like two sides of a coin: his right eye's intangibility represented escape, while his left eye's attraction represented destruction.

That matched Obito's state of mind when he awakened the Mangekyo.

Only Shisui had Kotoamatsukami in both eyes. Perhaps that was because it reflected his deepest obsession.

His obsession was so pure, with no second thought to muddy it, that his awakened Mangekyo had only one direction: Kotoamatsukami.

The two eyes had the same cooldown, but one could be used externally to alter the will of enemies or schemers, and the other internally to alter the clan's will and prevent civil war.

Now, because of Hayato, Shisui's eyes had different abilities.

Hayato listened carefully as Shisui explained. As he heard the details, he had to admit it.

He couldn't help but marvel at how Shisui was the quintessential self-sacrificing type.

Kotoamatsukami was just as it had been in the original story: it altered a person's will.

Tianneili, meanwhile, corrected causality. It could forcibly return a target—person or object—to the state it had been in one minute earlier. Whether the target had died or anything else had happened, it would all be reset.

The price of rewinding was that Shisui would take on all the damage the target had suffered.

Simply put, using it once was like dying in the target's place.

"Shisui, you really are a kind person."

After hearing Shisui's explanation, Hayato couldn't help but marvel. He was merciless toward others and selfless toward his own people. It was a perfect reflection of Shisui's character.

At his words, Shisui's face turned faintly red. He was only a teenager, after all, and being praised like that made him a little embarrassed.

"Oh, right! That Anbu!"

Shisui came back to his senses and remembered the Anbu from earlier. After getting Hayato settled, he hurried toward where the Anbu had been.

Hayato watched without expression. He had already taken care of that Anbu while making his way over to Shisui. He had turned the man's brain into mush.

The people of Konoha absolutely couldn't find out that Shisui had awakened the Mangekyo.

Closing his eyes, Hayato checked the panel in his mind. Two Bitter Fruit entries were now shining brightly.

The one that stood out most was Shisui's Bitter Fruit entry.

A new epic-tier Bitter Fruit entry.

[Strong emotional fluctuation detected]

Target: Uchiha Shisui

Bitter Fruit type triggered: Regret

Content: Failed to heed his clanmate's warning, resulting in the clanmate's death

Harvesting...

[Harvest successful!]