Whoever Believes It Is Doomed

Kurama nodded his massive head.

"Isn't it just putting a mark on someone? What's the big deal?"

Naruto cursed under his breath.

"Oh, cut the crap. We both got caught! Damn it, he could tell someone was watching him over that whole stretch from the Hokage Building to Hokage Rock? Body Flicker Shisui is seriously a freak."

Kurama stamped about anxiously.

"Bullshit! We got caught because your heart started racing and made them suspicious. Otherwise, neither of those two would've noticed us! Look for yourself—did that decrepit old Third react at all?"

Naruto waved a hand, cutting him off.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, quit yammering about useless crap. Can you do it or not? He's got a Mangekyo Sharingan! For all we know, he might have one pair or even three."

The fox inside him snorted through his nostrils.

"Hmph. There have only ever been two living people capable of suppressing my chakra—Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Back then, that brat only managed to suppress my chakra because of the Hashirama Cells in his body."

"A few ordinary Mangekyo Sharingan think they can control me? Dream on."

Naruto poked at him from the side.

"But now... you're only half of yourself."

Kurama: "Fuck your ancestors!"

When Naruto returned to his rental apartment and had just shut the door, the Nine-Tails finally told him that the malicious intent clinging to his back had withdrawn.

An ANBU knelt on one knee in the office of the Hokage Building.

"Lord Hokage, Naruto didn't notice anything unusual. He was probably just a child messing around."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded.

A little brat not even seven yet had lost the top rank in school to someone else. It was perfectly normal for him to want to make some noise and get attention.

"Uchiha Sasuke... is he really that much of a genius?"

He muttered to himself, his brows knitting together again.

"What trump card is Shisui Uchiha hiding? He actually claimed he could settle the Uchiha Clan's conflict?"

"What's the situation with Itachi?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned and asked the ANBU.

"He has consistently performed excellently on his missions. Nothing seems out of place."

The old man's lips curled into a faint smile.

His teacher had been right all those years ago. Once these cold-blooded Uchiha became bound by emotion, their hatred ran deeper than anyone else's.

Paying to help Itachi Uchiha awaken his eyes back then had been a steady, precise, ruthless move.

As for Shisui Uchiha—he had grown up on his teacher's version of the Will of Fire. Compared to the version in his own gut, he was still lacking.

He waved the ANBU away.

"Fine. Keep watching."

"Should we send more people after Shisui Uchiha...?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head.

"You're no match for him. Send however many you like, and he'll spot them all."

Elsewhere, Shisui went to find his old friend, Itachi.

Itachi was just about to take Second Pillar to the training ground.

Catching a glimpse of a figure flashing past the doorway from the corner of his eye, he paused, then turned to Second Pillar with a smile.

"Sorry, Sasuke. Someone needs me at the last minute."

Second Pillar's cheeks puffed up at once, his face full of displeasure.

"Again?! You promised that if I beat Naruto in this test, you'd train with me!"

Itachi smiled and crouched down, crooking a finger at Sasuke.

Second Pillar's eyes lit up. Thinking he still had a chance, he rushed over at full speed.

Before he could stop, he got flicked on the forehead.

"Forgive me this once, Sasuke."

The words were still hanging in the air when he was gone.

"Damn it!" Uchiha Sasuke's face darkened. "He tricked me again!"

At the cliff beside the clan grounds, the waterfall thundered down with earth-shaking force.

"We used to come here all the time."

Sensing Itachi approach, Shisui smiled.

"When did you get back?"

"After I drove off those people from the Hidden Mist Village."

Itachi walked up to him.

"What did you want to see me about?"

Shisui fell silent for a moment, his voice lowering.

"I want to hear the truth from you. How serious is Fugaku Uchiha about this?"

Itachi froze.

"Serious about what?"

"A coup."

Itachi's expression tightened as he answered in a low voice.

"The clan's resentment toward the village grows deeper by the day. If the village stays like this, the Uchiha will eventually cross that line."

"Three years ago, Father protected the Hyuga Clan, and the other ninja clans softened their attitudes toward the Uchiha. But that only fueled the Uchiha's arrogance."

"Since the night of the Nine-Tails, the higher-ups have never trusted us. The ANBU watch the clan grounds around the clock."

"Even after I became an ANBU squad captain, the higher-ups still didn't trust me. They placed two subordinates under me to stick close and watch me every day."

"Father mentioned that he wanted me to coordinate from outside, find an opportunity to assassinate the higher-ups one by one, carry out a bloodless revolution, and keep the losses to a minimum."

Shisui nodded, then asked another question.

"As long as the village changes, the Uchiha will change with it?"

Itachi shook his head.

"But if the Uchiha don't change first, the village won't move either. Both sides are on guard against each other. They'll only sink deeper and deeper."

Shisui nodded.

"So one side has to take the first step."

His tone made it sound as though he had settled something in his mind.

"I want to erase these suspicions."

Itachi was stunned.

"Can you do it?"

Shisui smiled.

"I don't know. But I have to try. Once the Uchiha launch the coup, there won't be a good ending waiting for either side."

Itachi's face was full of worry.

"I oppose the coup too. But if we want to suppress it, none of the methods available will be clean."

At that moment, Shisui still did not know that Itachi had long since been thoroughly brainwashed, while Danzo had constantly whispered in his ear—if this conflict was to end completely, only one side could be erased.

In Shisui's calculations, whichever direction Kotoamatsukami was used in would be the side that changed first.

He had come to ask Itachi today because he wanted to use Itachi's position as a messenger between both sides to decide whether to control Konoha's higher-ups or the Uchiha.

But there was one thing he did not know.

When Itachi's earliest teammate had breathed his last, his father had cared only about whether Itachi had awakened his eyes. His teammate's death had barely made a ripple in his father's eyes—from that day onward, Itachi had begun to hate the Uchiha's cold-bloodedness.

Hearing Itachi's answer now, the scales in Shisui's heart finally tipped.

"I understand. But don't make any moves for now. Someone in the Military Police Force has their eye on you. They sent me to watch you."

Those words were what completely pushed Itachi Uchiha into that pitch-black abyss.