On the steps outside the Hokage Building, Shisui turned back to look at Uchiha Gen.
"What's wrong?"
Uchiha Gen did not answer immediately.
Sunlight fell on Shisui's shoulders.
He still looked calm.
As always, whenever the clan needed him, he would step forward.
If someone needed tracking, he would track them.
If testimony was needed, he would testify.
If the clan's radicals needed reining in, he would do that too.
Shisui was far too used to putting himself in the most dangerous position.
In the past, that habit had been called reliability.
But Uchiha Gen knew it could also become a trap.
[New priority observation target: Shisui Uchiha.]
The system notification still lingered in his mind.
Priority observation.
Not ordinary surveillance.
Root had finally shifted its attention from "the Uchiha as a whole" to Shisui.
Or rather, to those eyes.
Uchiha Gen spoke slowly.
"Starting today, cut back on acting alone."
Shisui froze for a moment.
"Because of Root?"
"Because every line of risk is converging on you."
Shisui smiled.
"I can handle surveillance."
That was not arrogance.
Body Flicker Shisui had every right to say so.
He could detect a tail.
He could shake covert watchers.
He could disappear before most people got close.
But that was precisely why Uchiha Gen was even more uneasy.
Overt surveillance could not hurt Shisui.
What could truly hurt him was making him feel he had to resolve everything alone.
Uchiha Gen looked at him.
"The danger isn't that they're following you."
Shisui frowned slightly.
"Then what is it?"
"That one day, someone will invoke the village and the Uchiha to make you face a choice alone."
The smile slowly faded from Shisui's face.
Uchiha Gen continued, "You'll think you can handle it. You'll also think that if you shoulder a