Shisui swayed in midair, then Smaug's claws closed firmly around him and carried him into the sky.
Smaug beat his wings again. Air exploded beneath his claws as his massive dark-gold body climbed, arced across the sky, then swept back over the battlefield.
As he passed over the square, dragonfire poured from his jaws once more. It erupted into a river of lava dozens of yards long before the pursuing ninja, cutting their formation cleanly in two.
Suspended in Smaug's claws, Shisui looked down at the figure still clutching his severed wrist.
Uchiha Itachi stared up at him.
Blood still seeped from the stump of Itachi's right wrist. The dark-red liquid ran down his forearm and pooled on the stone slab by his feet.
But he seemed to feel no pain. He simply stood there, staring at the figure held in the dragon's claws.
His roar rose from the ground, hoarse with confusion and anguish held back for far too long.
"Shisui, why?"
Shisui met Uchiha Itachi's gaze from beneath the dragon's claws. He was silent for a moment.
Then he spoke, his steady voice reaching every ear on the battlefield:
"I'm sorry."
"But only Lord Yongye can truly make Konoha better!"
"He is Konoha's best hope. I have to be loyal to him!"
Uchiha Itachi shuddered.
He whipped his head around toward Uchiha Yongye in the sky!
At the same time, his eyes began to change.
Three Tomoe appeared in his pupils and began to spin wildly. Faster and faster they turned, blurring together until their edges could no longer be distinguished. A new pattern slowly emerged at the center.
A stone.
Huge and gray-black, it radiated a bleak, oppressive weight, like a stone of fate unearthed from the depths of the earth.
The Mangekyō Sharingan!
He turned back