Heavenly Rock Cave and Kotoamatsukami

"Yo! Teuchi! Long time no see!"

"Shinji, it really has been a long time. It's so great to see you two back safely... The rumors about you and Shisui reached Konoha a long time ago!"

"Tsk tsk, Body Flicker Shisui, Fire Release God Shinji..."

Teuchi spoke as he worked.

A beautiful young girl with large eyes was curiously sizing up the two murderous-looking youths in the shop.

Shisui blushed furiously, red down to his neck in embarrassment, and could only lower his head in silence.

Body Flicker Shisui...

He had a premonition that this inexplicably forced-upon-him moniker would become the stain of his lifetime, something for this guy Shinji to mock him over forever!

Shinji glanced at Shisui and chuckled inwardly. "Teuchi, is this Ayame? She's grown up this much?"

Teuchi sprinkled chopped scallions and served two large bowls of Ramen.

With a hearty laugh, he said, "Shinji, why do you sound like an old uncle? Ayame is only five years younger than you and Shisui, she's twelve already!"

Over there, Shisui silently pressed his palms together to say "itadakimasu," then, like a ruthless noodle-vacuuming machine, slurped down the noodles with loud slurping sounds.

Shinji looked at Ayame and offered a compliment, "Little Ayame has blossomed into such a graceful young lady. I remember a few years ago she was just a little tyke."

Teuchi beamed, his face breaking into a wide smile.

A faint blush appeared on Ayame's delicate face, and she said softly, "Thanks for the compliment! Big Brother Shinji!"

"Huh? You still remember me?"

Ayame nodded with a blushing face. "When I was little, Big Brother Shinji used to come eat ramen all the time!"

Shinji smiled. "That's quite something. You must have been only two or three back then. Judging by this, are you planning to run the Ramen Shop with your dad? It'll be awfully hard to find a boyfriend that way, you know!"

Ayame blushed even harder.

Yet young as she was, she was hardly a shy person. "Big Brother Shinji doesn't need to worry about that! Big Brother Shinji is already seventeen, doesn't he not have a girlfriend either?"

Pfft--!

Shisui spat out a mouthful of Ramen, the muscles on his face twitching wildly.

Shinji brushed some dirt off his clothes and stared at him. "Shisui, do you think this joke is very funny? Want to spar? It's been a while since we crossed blows."

"Hmph! Forget it!"

Shisui lowered his head, not daring to make another sound.

"Tee-hee!"

Seeing this, Ayame covered her mouth and giggled. "Shinji still likes to bully Big Brother Shisui just like before!"

"Do I?"

Emerging from Teuchi's Ramen Shop, Shinji, full of food and drink, narrowed his eyes and contentedly rubbed his round little belly, letting out a burp.

Shisui opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped.

"I figured you had something on your mind. When I left the front lines, I heard you were still over at Kirigakure; there's no way you could've returned this fast. Spit it out, what happened?"

Shinji glanced at Shisui.

This guy couldn't hide what was on his mind for even a second.

"I..."

Shisui's opening words came to a sudden halt.

He stared into Shinji's eyes with a solemn expression, saying nothing.

The tacit understanding built from growing up together made Shinji wipe the smile from his face.

He stared into Shisui's dark pupils.

He seemed to understand something.

"Let's go, to the training ground!"

--

What is art?

Perhaps soon, a blond-haired demolition expert would shout out those very words: "Art is an Explosion."

But right now...

Shinji knew that the pair of eyes before him were the most perfect, exquisite, ingenious, and greatest art in the entire Shinobi World.

Inside the Uchiha Clan's training ground.

The vast open space held only Shinji and Shisui.

At that moment, Shinji was intently studying Shisui's four-point pinwheel-shaped eyes. "How pretty. I didn't expect you to beat me to it."

"...Beat you?"

Unlike Shinji.

There was no joy on Shisui's face; he wore the expression of someone carrying a bitter and deep grievance. "Shinji, you really do know what this is. Can you tell me what you know about it?"

"The Chakra flowing through these eyes... makes me feel extremely uneasy."

Sweeping the accumulated snow off a chair with his short blade, Shinji Uchiha sat down. "I'll tell you slowly. Do you know about Madara Uchiha?"

"Of course."

A complex look surfaced on Shisui's face. "The ancestor of the Uchiha Clan, one of the founders of Konoha, and at the same time, the first Missing-nin in history..."

"A Missing-nin? Maybe. But what I want to tell you about isn't history, it's the reason for his strength."

"The reason for his strength..."

Shisui frowned, then immediately looked startled. "Could it be?"

"That's right."

Shinji nodded. "You surely didn't think an Uchiha with only Three Tomoe could stand shoulder to shoulder with the First Hokage Hashirama Senju, who pacified the world, did you?"

"The root of the Uchiha Clan's strength is the Sharingan, but what has always made the village wary and fearful of the clan is the Mangekyō Sharingan!"

Shisui froze. "Mangekyo Sharingan..."

"The pinnacle of Yin Release, strange and ominous chakra, mysterious dōjutsu, the Uchiha's ultimate power, Susanoo—all of it originates from the Mangekyō."

Shinji stared into Shisui's eyes. "It is precisely the eyes you possess now!"

Shisui swallowed hard. "...Is that how it is."

"Shisui, would you mind telling me the Dōjutsu contained within your eyes?"

"Of course, the left eye is called Heavenly Rock Cave..."

"Idiot!"

For the first time, Shinji's squinted eyes opened slightly, and he slapped Shisui across the head. "You should be able to sense it yourself—your Dōjutsu is a brand-new power, unique and independent of all other Ninjutsu in this world. How could you just..."

Suddenly, Shinji paused. "Wait! What did you just say?"

Shisui was stunned by the blow.

The next moment, his expression turned instantly stern as he swept his gaze around the surroundings and breathed a sigh of relief.

He had almost forgotten Shinji's warnings.

"Speak, what did you just say your Dōjutsu was called?"

Pressed by Shinji's imposing aura, Shisui averted his gaze. "...It's Heavenly Rock Cave."

"And the right eye?"

"Kotoamatsukami."

"...Whew!"

Shinji tilted his head back.

He let out a long breath of relief.

Good, good!

Shisui was clueless. "Shinji, what is it?"

"Nothing..."

Shinji sat down. "Let me think."

Among all the changes he had experienced since transmigrating, this was the one that delivered the greatest shock to him, and the first time since coming to the Shinobi World that he had almost lost control of his emotions.

Shisui's Mangekyō dōjutsu had actually changed?

Was that reasonable?

The Sharingan... the mirror of the heart, seventeen years of tireless psychological conditioning, a warped personality... reasonable, it seemed reasonable.

Shisui's internal aspirations today were completely different from the original Shisui; his ideals, beliefs, and goals had all undergone earth-shattering changes.

Therefore, a change in his Dōjutsu was foreseeable.

"Whew..."

Having convinced himself, Shinji shook his head. As he participated in more and more events of varying scales across the Shinobi World, things like this would only happen more often.

He couldn't make a fuss every single time.

His state of mind was still not peaceful enough... Wait, no!

Shinji felt stunned in his heart.

An Uchiha like him, constantly keeping his mind peaceful... Was something wrong with that picture?

"Shinji-bro... how is the situation in the clan?" Shisui asked tentatively from the side.

Shinji snapped back to reality and waved a hand. "How would I know? I just got back too. Tomorrow I'll go find the Clan Head and just ask him directly."

Shisui opened his eyes slightly. "...Dir, directly ask?"

Shinji stretched lazily and yawned. "What else? I went to look for our dear Clan Head the moment I entered the village, but unfortunately he wasn't home."

Shisui shook his head in distress. "I can never guess what you're thinking."

Shinji glanced at Shisui with a smiling squint. "If even you could guess my thoughts, I would have died on the battlefield long ago."

"Hey! You guy! Are you saying I'm stupid?"

"Guess?"

The two laughed for a moment.

Shinji stared at the bright Gekko and said, "Shisui, you go back and rest first. I want to think about something."

"Mhm, alright, you head back too. Tomorrow I'll accompany you to see Lord Fugaku." Shisui stood up and met Shinji's gaze, calm and confident.

Shinji smiled. "Great!"

Swish!

Shisui's body transformed into an afterimage and vanished from the spot, quickly appearing on a rooftop and bounding off into the distance.

Rustle--

The night wind was chilly. Shinji stood up. "Everyone, something the matter?"