Shisui's Decision

Water dripped through the pipes, mingling with the dull rumble from distant drains.

Lin Feng's shoes pressed against the slick pipe wall. He steadied himself with one hand against the wall while tucking the torn page beneath his other arm. His chakra still circulated sluggishly, as if something were blocking a bend in his chakra pathways, leaving him unable to exert any strength.

Shisui leaned against the pipe wall, half-crouched in the corner where abandoned pipes intersected. The moment he saw Lin Feng emerge, he lowered his voice.

"Why did you take so long?"

Lin Feng did not answer. He first spread the torn page over a relatively dry section of the pipe wall. Shisui leaned closer and swept his gaze over it. His finger tapped the Root code mark at the edge of the page, and his expression darkened.

"You were followed?"

"No. But this mark was also in a corner of the archives. Root personnel were monitoring the same batch of files—the 'Uchiha Clan Surveillance Plan.'" Lin Feng lowered his voice. "They got there before us. The important parts were torn away, and only this remained."

He pointed at the few remaining lines on the torn page.

Shisui's gaze followed the writing downward and stopped at a scorched edge. Faint burn marks from a chakra seal remained there. The residual seal patterns briefly resonated with the faint glow in Lin Feng's left eye before quickly falling silent again.

Lin Feng noticed it, but said nothing.

Shisui withdrew his gaze and pulled a neatly folded slip of paper from his clothes, spreading it before Lin Feng.

"Someone stuffed this into a gap in the drainage grate. Half an hour before you arrived."

Lin Feng looked down.

The paper was densely covered with patrol routes around Root's perimeter. The handover times for every squad were precise to the second, and the gaps were marked with red circles. There were three in total—11:47 p.m., 12:12 a.m., and 12:35 a.m.

"Who gave it to you?"

Lin Feng looked up at Shisui.

"Timed intelligence of this level? A leak inside Root?"

"I don't know." Shisui shook his head. "The anonymous source was very careful. There are no chakra traces on the paper. I checked three times."

The first thing that came to Lin Feng's mind was a pair of scarlet eyes.

Itachi.

He had been thinking about it ever since leaving the archives. Aside from an Uchiha clansman, who could have left Sharingan sealing marks on the edge of that torn page? And among the Uchiha Anbu capable of accessing Root mission files, only Itachi was known to fit that description.

But this was not the time to say it aloud.

Lin Feng pushed Itachi's face out of his mind and examined the timetable again. One by one, he compared the hidden sentry positions around Root marked on the torn page with the patrol gaps on the schedule. The records of overlapping Anbu missions were incomplete on the page, but the few discernible time points happened to fall within two of the gaps around midnight.

"The intelligence is credible." Lin Feng made his judgment. "The gaps during patrol rotations perfectly overlap with the periods when the Anbu missions intersected.

Unless the leak was trying to lure us into a trap, this timetable is real."

"What was the motive?"

Shisui's voice was soft, as though he were speaking to himself, yet also questioning him.

Lin Feng fell silent for a second.

"I don't know."

He lied.

Shisui's gaze paused on Lin Feng's face for a moment before shifting away.

The sound of water in the pipes suddenly grew louder. A surge of water rushed down from an upper drain, smashing against the pipe wall and spraying a fine mist. Shisui was about to say something when his left eye suddenly twitched.

He clutched his eye socket, bent forward, and dropped to one knee against the cold, wet pipe wall. His chakra instantly fell into disorder. Air burst outward from around Shisui, blasting every droplet from the pipe wall away.

Lin Feng immediately crouched and gripped his shoulder.

"Shisui!"

Shisui raised his other hand, signaling for him not to speak. The red light leaking through his fingers flickered like an unstable bulb. More than ten seconds passed before the light finally stabilized with difficulty.

Shisui lowered his hand. His breathing had yet to settle, and bloodshot veins seeped from the corner of his left eye, mixing with the moisture in the pipe and quickly fading.

"Lin Feng... don't say anything yet."

His voice was hoarse from suppression.

"The number of times I can use Kotoamatsukami is almost up. This infiltration into Root may... be the last time I use this eye."

Lin Feng's hand froze on Shisui's shoulder.

"What do you mean? Has your left eye reached its limit already? Let me see."

Shisui did not refuse.

Lin Feng held his palm before Shisui's left eye and extended his senses inside.

The abnormal chakra flow made Lin Feng's fingertips tremble.

The pathways around Shisui's left eye seemed scorched. Chakra shook violently as it passed through the pupil, and every contraction came with an overload response from the optic nerve. This pattern—

It was exactly the same as the abnormality in Itachi's left eye that night, when his pupil had briefly constricted before recovering as he left through the drain.

Lin Feng withdrew his hand, his tone so heavy it barely sounded like himself.

"Your chakra flow... this abnormality is exactly the same as the reaction in Itachi's left eye that night. The Mangekyo's burden isn't an isolated case. It's a common affliction of your Uchiha Clan Bloodline Limit."

Instead, Shisui smiled. It was faint and light.

"I knew this day would come. But if I can use it one last time in the right place, I'm willing."

He said it calmly.

But Lin Feng felt those words pierce his chest like a needle.

"Willing to do what?"

He flipped the torn page over and pointed at the small scorched line—'Outer Path Secret Art Suppression Mechanism.'

"This is written on the torn archive page. The suppressive drugs Root used on you may be related to it. Give me three days. I'll find a way to remove the drug's suppression. You can't just go blind like this."

Shisui looked up at Lin Feng.

"Who are you planning to see? Lady Mikoto? She may not readily open the forbidden technique scrolls."

"If she won't open them, I'll find a way to make her."

There was no room for negotiation in Lin Feng's tone.

Shisui was silent for a moment. He folded the patrol timetable in his hand again and tucked it into Lin Feng's ninja tool pouch.

"If you can't find it in three days, don't force it. At worst, I'll find another way in."

"Don't say 'at worst.'"

Lin Feng's words came almost immediately.

"Your eye isn't something you can weigh with 'at worst.'"

Shisui looked at Lin Feng.

Drops of water fell one by one from the pipe wall, landing on the torn page between them and spreading a small wet stain.

Lin Feng lowered his voice and spoke faster, as though finalizing his last plan for himself.

"The 'Outer Path Secret Art Suppression Mechanism' mentioned on the torn page closely matches the way Root's drugs work. If the Uchiha forbidden technique scrolls truly contain related records, Lady Mikoto is our only breakthrough right now."

Shisui stood. The bloodshot veins at the corner of his left eye had not yet faded, but his movements had already regained their steadiness.

"She is one of the few people in the Uchiha Clan who can access the forbidden technique scrolls. But you need to understand that no matter how gentle Lady Mikoto is, she is still the matriarch of the Uchiha Clan. She won't hand over forbidden knowledge because of a few words."

"Then we'll speak with facts."

Lin Feng tucked the torn page back into his clothes.

"She can't remain indifferent to matters involving her son."

Shisui's hand paused.

Lin Feng said nothing more. Not a word about his suspicions regarding Itachi, nor about the possible source of the anonymous intelligence.

Shisui looked at Lin Feng and ultimately did not press him. He pointed toward the depths of the pipe.

"Go up through three drainage passages, then turn right at the second-level fork. You can bypass the perimeter and reach the boundary of the Uchiha Clan Grounds directly. Watch out for Anbu patrols on the way—the third gap on the timetable is at 12:35 a.m. That's the safest time."

Lin Feng nodded and checked the time.

"The contact code remains the same. Three days from now, here, at midnight."

Shisui lowered his hand. The red glow in his left eye flashed one last time in the dark pipe before falling silent.

Lin Feng turned around, reached up to grasp the joint of the upper pipe, and pulled himself into the ventilation shaft.

Shisui's voice came from behind him, incredibly soft.

"Lin Feng. Don't push yourself too hard."

Lin Feng did not look back.

He gripped the cold, wet iron grate tightly, his knuckles turning white.

The three-day countdown began now.