Persuading Shisui

"Capacity, huh?" Hane shook his head. "I've merely seen the light! Brother Shisui, Uchiha and Konoha's higher-ups are bound to fight someday. That cannot be stopped."

"Yet who wins can determine the future of the village and the clan. If the village's higher-ups win, the clan will be utterly destroyed and reduced to experimental tools for our enemies.

If Uchiha wins, then Konoha will truly inherit the Will of Fire and sprout new shoots! Shoots unlike anything in this world!

Once these shoots absorb enough of the old nutrients, they will inevitably grow into a towering tree that holds up the sky. That is the true Will of Fire!

And we are those new shoots, shoots that carry the whole world in our hearts!"

Hane looked at the somewhat flustered Shisui with incomparably resolute eyes.

"Brother Shisui, what are you still hesitating for?! Don't you want to see such a towering tree grow?! Are you going to turn into fertilizer alongside this old, withered tree?! Is that all your Will of Fire amounts to?!"

Hane's three consecutive questions backed Shisui into a corner. He had never imagined that the Will of Fire could be interpreted this way.

"Hane, is this truly the only way?" Shisui suddenly asked in pain.

"Yes! It is the only way!" Hane answered without hesitation.

Yet after hearing Hane's answer, Shisui suddenly seemed to deflate, as though all strength had been drained from his body.

"Hane, can I really see the new tree grow?"

Seeing Shisui lower his head, Hane could not help relaxing inwardly. It seemed he was almost there.

"Of course. As long as you can break free from those narrow-minded thoughts, you'll discover that the new shoots have always been growing. They were simply destroyed time and time again. The White Fang was one. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was another!"

"Yet laughably, the Third Hokage and the Konoha Elder Council, who speak constantly of the Will of Fire, are the true culprits behind the destruction of these shoots.

"On this already withered tree, all I see are generation after generation of shoots being destroyed. The ones that burn have never been the older generation, but children with dreams in their hearts!"

"What hope can such a Will of Fire possibly bring?!"

At that moment, Uchiha Retsuyō, Itachi, and Shisui all stared blankly at Hane as he sighed toward the heavens.

"Hane! Can you break through this darkness?" Shisui asked blankly.

"I'm willing to try. What about you, Brother Shisui?" Hane asked calmly.

"I want to try too. But right now, I want even more to test Hane-kun's strength!" As if he had made up his mind, Shisui looked at Hane with firm eyes.

"Of course. I also want to see how strong you are now, Brother Shisui. Let's go and settle this quickly, or my father will come looking for me soon. Six-year-olds have no rights. I can't get home late!" Hane said helplessly.

Shisui smiled. "Let's go to the training ground where Itachi secretly practices! It's far enough from the village that we can fight without holding back."

"Alright!" Hane answered firmly.

In an instant, both Uchiha Retsuyō and Itachi became excited.

"Finally, we can see the young clan head take action again. He has to teach that smug bastard a proper lesson."

"Big Brother is going to duel Brother Shisui?" A gleam flashed through Itachi's eyes.

The three of them were about to set off when Hane suddenly stopped them.

"Wait. Running there is too slow. Let's fly instead!"

The trio's excitement abruptly stalled, and they all turned to look at Hane.

Hane smiled faintly and mysteriously extended his right hand. "Sword, come!"

In an instant, a longsword glowing with azure light flew rapidly over from afar. The azure sword slowly descended into Hane's outstretched palm.

Hane grabbed the Wind Sword. Under their puzzled gazes, he spun it through a beautiful flourish, then casually formed a hand seal. The Wind Sword instantly flew from his hand, transforming into a massive blade that floated before the three of them.

Hane lightly leaped onto the sword and beckoned to the dumbfounded trio. "Get on! What are you standing around for?"

Shisui uncertainly jumped onto the enormous sword, which could easily carry four people. He could not make sense of it no matter how hard he thought.

It was clearly an ordinary longsword, so why had it suddenly become so enormous? Not even a Chakra Metal weapon could do this!

He reached out and touched the blade. Everything felt so real—cold and smooth. The moment he touched it, it felt as though a cool breeze swirled between his fingers.

Shisui suddenly imagined Hane using this sword to attack an enemy. The enemy might think they only had to block an ordinary longsword, only for it to abruptly grow massive. What kind of sight would that be?

Shisui's heart trembled. He looked meaningfully at the smiling Hane and realized that he was finding it harder and harder to understand this clansman six years younger than himself.

Under the trio's shocked, astonished, and bewildered gazes, Hane raised two fingers slightly and poured spiritual power into the Wind Sword. A breeze instantly swept past them.

"We're taking off. Make sure you all stand steady," Hane kindly reminded them.

The three of them instantly felt their bodies sway slightly, followed by an intense force pressing them back. The enormous sword shot into the sky at breathtaking speed.

It was so fast that, in the blink of an eye, Konoha's buildings below shrank rapidly, and the village's entire layout appeared within their sight.

This was their first time standing so high above Kong and looking down upon all of Konoha. Even the full moon in Kong seemed several times larger.

"Hane, what kind of ninjutsu is this?" Shisui murmured in disbelief.

"Haha, Brother Shisui, this? It's a secret!" Hane replied with a soft laugh.

Shisui also knew he had been presumptuous. How could a ninja reveal his techniques so casually? As he quietly looked down at the entire village, he no longer asked about Hane's secret.

Yet his confidence in this upcoming match was no longer as strong as it had been before.

Itachi stared blankly at his brother. Suddenly, he realized that he knew far too little about him.

As for Uchiha Retsuyō, there was no need to mention him. His eyes were now filled with nothing but worship. Only now did he understand just how seriously the young clan head had held back during their previous duel.

If the young clan head had used this technique back then, flown into Kong, and then used his ability to control swords, Uchiha Retsuyō would have had no way to deal with him at all. He knew that the young clan head possessed over a hundred such longswords!

Against such a method, any ninja without a flying technique would be helpless. And at the speed this sword flew, even escaping would be difficult.

In just a little over a few minutes, they felt as though they had only blinked before Hane arrived at the forest where Itachi usually trained in secret. Normally, even a Jonin traveling at top speed would be dreaming if he thought he could reach this uninhabited forest from central Konoha in less than twenty minutes.

For a long while, none of them spoke.

"Alright, Brother Shisui, let's begin! The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go home."

Shisui gave a wry smile. Hane was clearly supremely confident in his own strength, but Shisui was no ordinary ninja. He would not think himself weak merely because Hane possessed a flying ninjutsu.

Shisui gave Hane a serious look. "Hane, let me see just how strong you are! Only then can I have faith in the future you spoke of!"

"Brother Shisui, I won't disappoint you. I'll be going all out as well!" Hane said with a smile.

When it came to Uchiha, strength would ultimately have to do the talking. Hane thought calmly.