Skeletal Susanoo

As everyone around him dodged the Fire Release, Shisui Uchiha prepared to leap out of the encirclement. But just as he pushed off, an agonizing pain shot through his feet. He barely managed a few steps before he had to stop.

That brief delay allowed the Root operatives who had leaped away to avoid the Fire Release to surround him again.

Seeing that he had lost his best chance to escape, Shisui Uchiha instead grew calm. Enduring the excruciating pain in his feet, he drew the tachi from his back and held it upright before him, his resolute gaze fixed on Shimura Danzō, who had been sitting in a stone chair from the start.

Beads of sweat covered his forehead from the pain, running down into his eyes and making them sting. Yet Shisui Uchiha still dared not blink, keeping all his attention focused as he gripped his tachi.

Seeing Shisui Uchiha trapped inside with no way to escape, Danzo smiled in satisfaction and waved a hand, ordering his men to pause their attack:

"Shisui Uchiha, you should know that you no longer have a choice. Obey me and accept Root's Cursed Seal, and my promise will still stand. I will mediate the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and the village. So, for your clan's sake, Shisui Uchiha, choose to accept it. If you refuse, even if you somehow escape, you will still die from the poison my subordinate just administered. Not to boast, but even Tsunade, one of the Sannin, could not cure Torune's poison."

Shisui Uchiha felt the poison slowly spreading upward from his feet, but he was not swayed by Danzo's words. His eyes remained fixed on Danzo. "Don't underestimate the Uchiha Clan, and don't underestimate me, Shisui Uchiha. I am Body Flicker Shisui. If you want to kill me, be prepared for me to strike back. As a member of the Uchiha Clan, I have the pride of an Uchiha. An Uchiha may die fighting, but Shisui Uchiha will never kneel."

Hearing Shisui's words, Shimura Danzō knew there was no way to persuade him. If he had not feared that Shisui Uchiha would destroy his Mangekyō Sharingan in a final, desperate counterattack, Danzo would never have wasted so much breath.

Seeing that Shisui Uchiha was already prepared to die, Shimura Danzō wasted no more words. "Kill him."

The Root operatives surrounding Shisui Uchiha heard Danzo's command and lunged straight at him without further hesitation.

Shisui Uchiha knew he would not survive this time, but once he had promised someone something, he had to do his best to fulfill it.

Since he had already promised Qiu Shan Uchiha, even if he died, he had to leave him an intact corpse and do everything he could to keep his word.

Besides, Shimura Danzō, you had better not underestimate me, Body Flicker Shisui.

As the dozen or so Root members around him charged with weapons in hand, Shisui Uchiha began driving his Mangekyō Sharingan to its limit. His Mangekyō Sharingan spun faster and faster. Just as the Root members were about to reach him, a surge of agony tore through his eyes, far worse than the pain in his feet. Even Shisui Uchiha could not hold back a loud howl.

At the very moment that agony struck his eyes, a strange power surged uncontrollably from his Mangekyō Sharingan. In an instant, it enveloped Shisui Uchiha, effortlessly sweeping away the enemies closing in around him.

When Shisui Uchiha sent his attackers flying so easily, Shimura Danzō could no longer remain seated. He rose straight from his stone chair, his eyes fixed on Shisui Uchiha-or, more precisely, on the enormous skeleton glowing green around him.

Shisui Uchiha finally began to falter. He dropped to one knee, gasping for breath, with his tachi in one hand and the other pressed over his eyes. He tried to ease the pain, but it did not help in the slightest. A thin trickle of blood seeped between the fingers covering his eyes.

The enormous green skeleton formed by Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan seemed to have emerged from thin air. Though it had no support, it kept Shisui Uchiha firmly protected within it.

At that moment, Shimura Danzō had eyes only for the green skeleton. He stared at it in fascination, murmuring, "Susanoo, the divine power of the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyō Sharingan. Madara Uchiha's ultimate weapon. It vanished without a trace after Madara Uchiha's death all those years ago. To think it would finally appear again after so long. Even in its most basic form, it still displays a power that inspires awe."

If anyone truly understood the Uchiha Clan, Second Hokage Tobirama Senju was certainly among them. As the saying went, the person who knew you best was not your friend, but your enemy.

After the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan descended from Indra and Apollo, they had been enemies for generation after generation, fighting endlessly for a thousand years. As the Senju Clan's leader and its strategic mind, how could Tobirama Senju not understand the Uchiha Clan?

As a disciple of Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, Shimura Danzō had never been taught the Uchiha Clan's secrets by his master. After Tobirama Senju died in battle, however, Shimura Danzō learned some of the Uchiha Clan's secrets concerning the Sharingan from the records Tobirama Senju had left behind.

Understanding bred longing, and longing bred obsession. That was why Shimura Danzō had never stopped coveting the Sharingan.

Shisui Uchiha, meanwhile, was in dire straits. There was no cure for the poison afflicting him, because it was actually the nano-sized venomous insects belonging to Torune Aburame, one of Shimura Danzō's trusted subordinates.

Torune Aburame's nano-sized venomous insects were unique even within the Aburame Clan, the greatest insect-controlling clan in the shinobi world. Their minuscule size was why Shisui Uchiha had been poisoned without noticing. If Danzo had not instructed Torune to prioritize control and restrict Shisui's movement, Shisui Uchiha would already have been dead. Moreover, only Torune Aburame could control these venomous insects, which was why Shimura Danzō had boldly claimed that even Tsunade could do nothing.

By then, the venomous insects had already spread from his feet to his knees. Shisui Uchiha knew that if he did not find a way out soon, he really would die here.

Shisui Uchiha looked at the breastbone surrounding him. With a thought, two skeletal arms and hands suddenly appeared around him.

Shimura Danzō, who had been observing the skeletal Susanoo from the side, immediately lost his calm expression when he saw the skeletal arms appear. His face changed dramatically, and he shouted, "Stop him, now!"