A dozen or so days later, at Teacher Chen's residence.
"Burn, youth!"
"Itachi, not like that! Do it like this! Hah! Hah! Teacher Chen, am I doing it right? Oh, oh, oh! Teacher Chen praised me! I feel like my whole body is on fire!"
"Um, Teacher Chen, he's doing it again..."
Uchiha Itachi pointed at the brimming-with-energy Might Guy and gave Teacher Chen an embarrassed look.
Teacher Chen was equally helpless about it.
"Itachi, just focus on your own training."
Meanwhile, Shisui Uchiha, who was responsible for protecting Uchiha Itachi, had very little to do.
With a blade of grass between his lips, he lay quietly on a branch, enjoying this rare moment of peace.
On the external front, he probably wouldn't be needed for anything until the approaching Nine-Tails' Rampage.
Internally, Danzo was so eager to obtain the power of the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan that he was putting all his support behind Orochimaru's experiments, leaving him no time to make another move against Shisui.
As for Hiruzen Sarutobi's order to watch the mysterious person around Teacher Chen?
Heh. No matter what, the man would never imagine that the mysterious person was Shisui himself.
Naturally, that assignment had vanished without a trace. It would never yield any results.
In short, Shisui Uchiha had plenty of free time now.
Whoosh!
But just as Shisui Uchiha was resting with his eyes closed, his body suddenly vanished.
When he reappeared, he already had a shuriken pressed against the newcomer's neck, his icy voice ringing in the man's mind.
"What do you want?"
Although the newcomer wore an Anbu uniform, Shisui had rarely seen him before.
And on top of that, the man had launched a sneak attack against him.
This guy is probably one of Danzo's men!
"I... I serve the Fourth Hokage. The Hokage wants you to come to the Hokage Office."
"Lord Danzo and the Third Hokage are both waiting for you there."
One of Minato's men?
Heh. Who would believe that?
You call Danzo 'Lord,' but Hiruzen Sarutobi just 'the Third Hokage.' You're not very good at watching your tongue.
"Understood."
Whoosh!
Ignoring the man, Shisui Uchiha left a shadow clone behind to watch over Uchiha Itachi, while his real body used the Body Flicker Technique to head to the Hokage Office.
Before long, Shisui Uchiha arrived at the Hokage Office.
Just as the Anbu member had said, Minato Namikaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Shimura Danzō were all there.
"Lord Hokage! Third Hokage! Lord Danzo!"
"Shisui, you're as fast as ever."
"Shisui, you're here?"
"Hmph."
The three men each treated Shisui Uchiha differently.
Minato Namikaze wore a bright smile, while Hiruzen Sarutobi looked kindly at him.
Shimura Danzō, on the other hand, carried himself with an air of superiority.
"Shisui, according to reports from our comrades on missions at the border, unusual chakra fluctuations have been detected at the location marked on this scroll. But the information is limited, so we can't assign the mission a rank. The other Anbu members are either injured or out on missions."
"So we need you to go."
Why is the location recorded on that scroll so close to Amegakure?
Doesn't that mean I can go meet the so-called Six Paths of Pain?
He was quite eager to test how well the Wood Release he currently possessed would fare against them.
Could I crush them outright?
After all, his grasp of Wood Release was still incomplete. He hadn't learned the First Hokage Hashirama Senju's most powerful moves or his sage arts.
But he did have something Hashirama Senju lacked: the Mangekyō Sharingan and the strongest genjutsu!
At that thought, intense fighting spirit filled the depths of Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan.
Meanwhile, as soon as Minato Namikaze finished speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi added a few words.
"Shisui, although our information is limited, I believe you can complete this mission."
"It's my duty."
"In that case, we'll explain the current situation at the border..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi then told him about the situation at the border.
Shisui Uchiha, however, had little interest in any of it.
Because the system, which had been silent for over ten days, had finally refreshed its check-in location!
"Ding! A new check-in location has been generated!" "Check-in location: Akatsuki headquarters in Amegakure." "Time limit: one month!"
Akatsuki headquarters in Amegakure?
Is this system trying to make me come face-to-face with Akatsuki...?
Whatever. If they're willing to talk things over and let me straight into their headquarters, everyone will be happy.
If talking really doesn't work, I'll just fight my way in.
All I need to do is reach that place, complete the check-in, then take my reward and leave.
As for anything else, as long as my identity stays hidden, I can cause as much trouble as I like.
"All right, that's roughly the situation at the border. Shisui, do you have any questions?"
"No. My lords, I'll head back and prepare, then."
Shisui Uchiha reached out and took the scroll.
Just then, Shimura Danzō spoke.
"Mm, go. Just don't come back and turn in the mission without having learned anything."
"Danzo!"
"I'm only speaking the truth."
"...I'll take my leave."
After giving the three men a perfunctory response, Shisui Uchiha turned and left.
As for the way Shimura Danzō had watched him the entire time-no, the way he had watched his Sharingan!
Shisui chose to ignore it.
Judging by the timeline, Danzo probably wouldn't make a move against him anytime soon.
Still, judging by the man's snide remarks just now, this mission had probably been arranged by that old bastard.
His goal was to weaken the forces at Hiruzen Sarutobi's disposal so that he could better support Orochimaru's experiments.
But none of that had anything to do with Shisui.
The system's check-in mission had a time limit of only one month, which wasn't actually much time.
If he used the Body Flicker Technique and took advantage of Wood Release's terrifying recovery power, he should be able to get from Konoha to Amegakure fairly quickly.
But if he wanted to try gaining entry politely first, he would probably need to arrive a little early.
With that in mind, Shisui Uchiha created a shadow clone to say goodbye to Uchiha Itachi.
That same evening, he also created a Wood Clone to protect Uchiha Itachi in secret.
Only after completing all his preparations did Shisui Uchiha use the Body Flicker Technique to reach Konoha's gates.
He looked up at the moon overhead, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.
Amegakure, Six Paths of Pain, here I come!
Before you continue