Let's Change the Leaf Together

As a transmigrator, Gray had spent a long time thinking about killing people.

When he actually killed those two Cloud Hidden shinobi, he felt far less shaken than he had expected.

This was a world where human life was treated as worthless.

When you met an enemy, if you showed mercy, they would cut off your head without hesitation and teach you what cruelty meant. If you wanted to survive in this world, killing was the most basic skill.

A figure flashed by, swift as the wind. The Two-Tomoe Sharingan could track the opponent's movements, but the other's speed was so astonishing that it made Gray's heart pound. They were every bit as fast as he was with Shisui's Body Flicker Technique.

Gray's heart sank.

A shinobi with that kind of speed could not possibly be weak.

And the enormous amount of chakra inside the other gave him an even more unsettling feeling!

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"

A bolt of lightning shot from the opponent's hand toward Gray. As Gray used the Body Flicker Technique, the lightning instantly turned into a net, striking every one of his afterimages!

The one weakness of Shisui's Body Flicker Technique was that it couldn't withstand attacks from multiple directions at once.

Otherwise, the technique would be dispelled!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!"

Gray's gaze turned grave. He hadn't suffered any serious injuries, but his heart sank. Who was this, with such keen observation that they had spotted the weakness of his Body Flicker Technique at a glance?

But no matter how closely he watched, the figure was completely concealed beneath dark clothes, making it impossible to see their face. Were they from Cloud Hidden?

There was no doubt that Lightning Style: False Darkness was a Cloud Hidden technique.

But Gray couldn't remember any such powerful shinobi from the original story.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

At this moment of mortal danger, he held nothing back. A massive fireball, ten meters across and blazing with waves of heat, roared toward the opponent. With the Blue Buff's boost, he needed only three hand seals!

The technique was so fast that even an ordinary jonin couldn't dodge it.

Gray's eyes flickered. The opponent's taijutsu and movements seemed familiar!

But the next moment, the whole world spun around him, and dizziness washed over Gray. A genjutsu! He controlled the chakra inside his body and suddenly unleashed a powerful burst of chakra.

Yet Gray's expression slowly turned to bewilderment.

It wasn't because he had broken through the genjutsu and made the opponent's technique fail. Rather, he realized that just as his mind began to spin, the opponent had ended the genjutsu on their own.

"How is that possible?!"

In other words, Gray had never detected the genjutsu being cast. He only came to his senses when the opponent chose to end it.

And if the person in front of him had wanted to kill him just now, Gray would have died countless times over.

A chill ran down Gray's back. He glared at the short-haired figure before him, who wore a gentle smile and had a dumpling-shaped nose, a short sword strapped behind him. Gritting his teeth, Gray snapped, "Shisui, you bastard, how dare you mess with me? I knew it! In the entire Shinobi World, no one but you could have such powerful genjutsu!"

"And you saw through the weakness of my Body Flicker Technique at a glance!"

Gray understood now.

It wasn't that the weakness of the Body Flicker Technique had been spotted at a glance.

Shisui, its creator, naturally knew its weakness!

The Shinobi World's foremost genjutsu shinobi, Uchiha Shisui, rubbed his nose sheepishly. "Hehe, sorry for the trouble, sorry for the trouble. Gray, you're the one who deceived me. Someone like you, who's understood ninjutsu so well since childhood, couldn't possibly be a dead last."

"So you really were hiding your strength all along. You're already this powerful—you can even use my Body Flicker Technique."

"And you already have a Two-Tomoe Sharingan. If I hadn't used genjutsu, I might not have been able to beat you."

"Genjutsu is part of your strength, too. Don't go easy on me. I know you're exceptionally talented at genjutsu. Right now, no one in the Leaf is better at it." Gray rolled his eyes, deeply annoyed with Shisui.

When Gray was little, system sign-ins had led him to do many things that defied explanation.

Shisui had first taken notice of him when Gray completed a sign-in task inside Shisui's house.

That time, Gray had casually shared a couple of thoughts about ninjutsu, and Shisui had become extremely interested in him. But Gray hadn't expected Shisui to be so persistent that he would keep believing Gray was hiding something.

"You haven't been secretly following me for just a day or two, have you?" Gray didn't answer Shisui's question. In reality, his strength had only improved over the last couple of days. It was better not to explain and let Shisui fill in the blanks himself.

Anyway, I'm just a genius!

Geniuses don't need to explain themselves!

"Just once or twice," Shisui said with a sunny smile, his eyes crinkling. He seemed incredibly easy to like.

"Impossible. Shisui, knowing you, if you say once or twice, that means you've secretly followed me ten or twenty times. You actually stalked me!"

Gray was furious, but soon all he could do was sigh. This was the difference in their strength.

Shisui was thirteen now. Half a year earlier, his best friend had died during a mission while Shisui was out on another assignment. That meant Shisui had most likely already awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan.

That was how Shisui could put him under genjutsu so easily.

Otherwise, even if a Three-Tomoe Sharingan could hypnotize him, Gray would still have sensed it.

"Hehe, sorry for the trouble. But why would a genius like you hide your strength?" Uchiha Shisui's Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun, gleaming with an eerie light, but there was a hint of loneliness and confusion in his eyes.

"If you showed your talent, Gray, you'd earn the recognition of more of your clanmates and friends. You could also do more meaningful things."

Gray narrowed his eyes. He understood Shisui's situation very well.

His best friend had only just died, and tensions between the Uchiha Clan and the Leaf were growing more severe by the day.

Both the Leaf and the Uchiha trusted Shisui completely, so as a double agent, he was filled with uncertainty. He wasn't as extreme as Uchiha Itachi. He wanted to save both the Uchiha Clan and the Leaf.

Without hurting either side.

But Gray didn't want to get involved. He had no way to protect himself, and until he could, he didn't believe he could help Shisui at all. So he replied coldly without hesitation, "Sorry, I have no interest in becoming some so-called genius."

"I don't care about earning anyone else's recognition, either. I have no interest in anything in this world, and I don't want to get involved!"

Gray pushed Uchiha Shisui away as firmly as he could. He wanted nothing to do with the Uchiha Clan's rebellion.

Shisui stared at Gray, stunned by his icy expression, but a trace of sympathy appeared in his eyes.

"So that's how you feel?"

I see. So that's it. Gray's parents had died on the battlefield when he was young, so he had long since lost faith in both the Uchiha Clan and the Leaf. That was why he no longer had any expectations.

But deep down, Gray still wanted someone to care for him, didn't he?

Seeing the understanding and concern in Shisui's expression, Gray suddenly had a bad feeling.

Kindhearted Shisui wouldn't... damn it, had he gotten the wrong idea?

Thinking of his own background, Gray made a face like he was badly constipated. No, he had to make himself clearer. He absolutely couldn't get mixed up with Shisui. Danzo, that old pervert, might notice him!

"Don't worry, Gray. I'll protect you. I won't let you get hurt, not even a little. And in return, join me. Let's change the Uchiha and the Leaf together!"