Why are you wasting words on him?

Itachi's two tomoe spun rapidly.

"Shisui!"

He shouted.

But it was no use. They were too far from Shisui, and the enemy's kunai had already reached the back of his neck.

"?"

At the critical moment, Shisui realized something was wrong.

He heard a faint rush of air behind him.

At that very last instant, Shisui instinctively dodged.

The kunai nearly pierced his throat from behind, grazing his neck and leaving a bloody streak.

Red blood splattered.

Shisui and the "Anbu" stood turned sideways, almost face-to-face.

Shisui made his judgment in an instant. His Sharingan spun rapidly!

Three tomoe!

Genjutsu activated!

Just as the "Anbu's" kunai was about to pierce Shisui's neck, a flash of red appeared in Gua's eyes.

A single red tomoe spun rapidly.

He had awakened his Sharingan!

One tomoe!

At the same moment Shisui activated his genjutsu, the kunai in Gua's hand was already flying!

Straight toward that "Anbu."

Gua could feel how clear everything around him had become. Everything was slowing dramatically, far beyond what he could perceive before awakening his Sharingan!

He could even see the kunai's trajectory through the air at every instant.

Focus, then focus again.

His gaze locked onto the "Anbu's" head.

The kunai pierced straight through!

Squelch!

Blood splattered. The sign of genjutsu rapidly faded from the "Anbu's" eyes, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

He was dead.

He had died inside the genjutsu, without ever getting a chance to wake up.

Shisui touched the blood on his neck.

He looked back.

Gua stood calmly there, his single tomoe still fixed on the dead "Anbu."

Shisui then looked at Itachi.

The two tomoe in Itachi's eyes trembled. He seemed badly frightened. That moment had been far too dangerous-even Gua had thought Shisui would die with his throat pierced!

Shisui had simply been too fast!

Anyone else would already have been dead!

Itachi, perhaps Gua is the true genius.

After seeing their reactions, Shisui thought this silently.

Still, differences in talent were not always that important.

Meanwhile.

Hidden in the shadows, Kakashi stared at Gua in disbelief. That calm?

Only Kakashi, a complete outsider, had seen everything clearly.

The instant that man had moved, Gua had readied the kunai in his hand to throw.

He had simply overestimated his own speed. Or perhaps underestimated the enemy's.

The enemy had reached Shisui's back in an instant, which was why he was already caught in Shisui's genjutsu by the time Gua threw his kunai.

But that did nothing to diminish how exceptional Gua was!

Kakashi's gaze grew more serious as he looked at Gua. An Uchiha of this caliber... he might surpass Shisui...

Kakashi finally understood why the Third Generation had called Gua the Uchiha's true genius.

Only a genius like this was worthy of having Kakashi guide him down the right path!

Below.

Shisui turned, his gaze dark as he looked at the man in black opposite him.

"If I'm not mistaken, you two were working together, weren't you?"

"Heh, don't bother trying to get anything out of me. I won't tell you a thing. You're all going to die today."

The man in black's expression turned vicious, and his hands rapidly formed seals.

"Fire Release! Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

An ordinary B-rank Ninjutsu.

The flames he spat out were equally unremarkable. Shisui dodged them with a simple sidestep.

But when he turned to look again, the man was already running away.

Without hesitation, Shisui drew two kunai and hurled them at the man in black.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

The kunai's accuracy was on par with the Fire Release, so naturally, they missed.

Shisui immediately gave chase.

Gua and Itachi hurried after him.

Only after the three had disappeared did Kakashi emerge. He approached the dead "Anbu" and checked his vital signs.

Once he was certain the man was completely dead, he removed his mask.

An utterly ordinary man's face.

But Kakashi recognized him.

A member of Root!

One of Danzo's men!

"Was he posing as Anbu just to assassinate them? Was the target Shisui or Itachi? Could it have been Gua?"

Kakashi shook his head and put the mask back on the man's face.

He set off in the direction Shisui and the others had gone.

By the time Kakashi caught up, the three had already joined forces to subdue the man in black.

At that moment.

The three seemed to be saying something to the man in black.

Kakashi continued approaching without a sound.

"That man just now wasn't Anbu, was he? Anbu wouldn't attack people from our own village."

Shisui stared at the man in black on the ground.

"Heh, you're not entirely stupid."

The man in black chuckled.

Gua took the kunai from Itachi's hand and walked toward the man in black.

Why are you wasting words on him?!

Shisui: ?

Sensing something was wrong, Shisui stopped Gua.

"Let's hear what he has to say first."

The man in black was dumbfounded too.

Wasn't he supposed to be a well-behaved kid?

Was that intel even accurate?

He'd just popped my partner's skull like a champagne cork with a kunai, and now, before we've exchanged more than a few words, he's coming at me with another?

"You can't kill me! I work for Lord Danzo! You have no right to kill me! Even if you want me dead, you have to hand me over to the village! Let the village decide! Let Lord Danzo decide!"

The man in black stopped hiding anything. If he did not play his trump card now, he was going to die.

Shisui visibly froze at his words.

"Danzo? You're from Root?"

The man in black smiled smugly. "Well? Do you dare kill me? Under the village's rules, even though I tried to assassinate you first, you have no right to judge me! Much less to kill me!"

Gua: ...

Amazing!

No, seriously, man, are you fucking stupid?

But Shisui genuinely found himself in a dilemma.

The village's rules!

To him, those truly mattered more than anything!

If the man had been from another village, Shisui would have killed him without a word. But he had said he was from their own village...

If Shisui killed him anyway, what would that make him?

A murderer who slaughtered his own comrades?

Up in a tree, Kakashi watched silently, never showing himself.

Even if Shisui did not kill him today, Kakashi would kill that man on the way back.

Someone who harmed his comrades no longer counted as a member of the village!

Besides, they were Anbu. They could execute first and report afterward!

Shisui hesitated.

Influenced by Shisui, Itachi also became caught in the same dilemma.

To kill or not to kill? That was the question!

Gua: ?

He looked at Shisui, then at Itachi.

Then he looked at the man in black.

The man in black cackled. "Kill me? Since you can't kill me, let me go. I'll report to Lord Danzo myself to receive my punishment. Or you can take me back!"

Shisui's brows knitted tightly.

Itachi also wore a deeply troubled expression, his nasolabial folds growing even more pronounced.

"Squelch!"

The sound of a kunai piercing a throat rang out.

Everyone froze.

"Gua?!"