### *Wind Country, Desert Outskirts*
The desert stretched endlessly under a fading sun, painted red and gold like a battlefield left to rot. The wind howled sharp, carrying sand like knives. Shisui moved across it slowly, each step deliberate, each breath measured. His body ached, still poisoned, still far from whole.
But he kept moving.
The gold came first—sand rising unnaturally, curling around him like a serpent. Each grain shimmered with killing intent. Shisui stilled, his hand brushing against the kunai under his cloak.
Then the Kazekage stepped into view. Rasa. His cloak was heavy, his eyes colder than the desert night, and the golden sand swirled at his command.
"You killed Iwamaru," Rasa said. His voice was even, but the sand hissed and scraped, impatient. "Efficient. Silent. Exactly the kind of skill I can use."
Shisui tilted his head slightly, the spiral mask glinting. He didn't answer.
Rasa went on. "There's another target. One far more dangerous to this village. A Jinchūriki. The vessel of the One-Tail. Unstable. Uncontrollable. If left alive, he will destroy us from within. Your task is simple. Eliminate him."
The sand tightened around Shisui's feet, as if daring him to say no.
Shisui stood silent for a long moment. His chest burned. He couldn't fight a Kage in this condition. Not now. He needed time.
"…Tomorrow," Shisui said at last, voice quiet but firm. "I'm tired. I'll do it tomorrow."
The sand rose, sharpened into blades. Rasa's eyes narrowed. "Do not mock me, hunter. When I give an order, it is not a suggestion."
Shisui's Sharingan flared faintly beneath the mask. His reply was flat, steady. "Push me now, and you'll regret it. I said tomorrow. That's when it will be done."
For a tense moment, the storm of gold hovered, ready to strike. Then, slowly, Rasa raised his hand and the sand dropped back to the earth.
"…Tomorrow, then," he said. "But fail me, and you will not leave this desert alive."
Shisui said nothing more. The wind howled between them as he walked away.
---
### *The Vessel*
Morning bled into the village like heat through stone. Shisui followed the trail of wild chakra. It was everywhere—seeping into the sand, staining the air, like cracks leaking poison.
The path led to a small, broken home at the edge of the village. Windows shattered. Walls half-collapsed. Silent.
He entered without a sound.
Inside sat a boy.
Red hair. Pale skin. Shadows under his eyes so deep they looked carved into his face. He hugged a stuffed bear so tightly its seams had split, fur hanging loose. His small body rocked faintly, back and forth, back and forth.
Shisui froze.
The chakra hit him like a wave. Wild. Twisting. The seal on the boy was crude, jagged, leaking power constantly. Every surge made the child twitch, as if pain was stitched into his veins.
*This seal… it's garbage. No wonder he's unstable.*
Shisui's breath caught. He had expected a monster. A weapon. A killer who had lost control.
Instead, he found a boy who looked Sasuke's age, hugging a toy like it was the only thing keeping him alive.
The boy whispered to the bear, voice so faint Shisui barely heard it. "Mother says they all hate me… but you don't. You never leave me."
He clutched it tighter, burying his face in the toy's ragged fur.
Shisui's hand tightened at his side. His chest burned. His mind screamed at him—*this is the mission. End it here, clean and quick.*
But his heart recoiled. He saw Sasuke in the boy's frame, in the way his fingers clung to something for comfort, in the loneliness in his posture.
He Uchiha shisui to Kill a child? No.
Shisui turned. He slipped out the window as silently as he came.
Gaara never even noticed he had been watched by a deathly yet kind soul!
---
### *The Kazekage's Wrath*
The desert storm raged that night. Rasa was waiting again, standing tall with golden sand swirling like a living storm.
"You're late," Rasa said coldly. His eyes flicked to Shisui's empty hands. "And you're didn't even attempt to kill that monster"
Shisui's cloak whipped in the wind. His voice was calm, almost too calm. "Don't give me missions like that again. I don't kill children. To me i only saw the innocent child but you are the one looking like a monster in my vision"
The sand roared upward, blades forming by the thousands. The desert screamed with it.
"You dare defy me?!" Rasa's voice thundered. "That vessel is a danger to my people. If you will not do it, I'll grind you into dust myself!"
Shisui's Sharingan spun to life, glowing crimson behind the spiral mask. His words cut low, sharper than steel.
"Try it. Test me. See how far you get before your sand is painted red with your blood."
Rasa seeing the glowing red eye is he posses a rare kekkai genkai shinobis are full of mystery.
The blades hovered inches away, humming with power.
Rasa sneered. "Do you think I fear you? My gold has buried armies. I am the Kazekage. No nameless masked freak can threaten me."
Shisui didn't move. His tone was steady, lethal. "I don't need an army. One corpse is enough. Yours."
The storm pressed closer, grains slicing tiny cuts in Shisui's cloak.
But he didn't flinch. Didn't move. His crimson eye glowed steady, unshaken.
For a long moment, neither man moved. Then, slowly, the Kazekage lowered his hand. The gold fell back into the sand, crumbling away.
"…You saw it, didn't you?" Rasa's voice dropped, low and bitter. "The monster"
Shisui gave a short nod. " The child is not the problem it's a seal, It's flawed. That's why he loses control."
Rasa's jaw clenched. "Can you strengthen it?"
"No," Shisui said bluntly. "I can see the cracks, but I'm not a sealing master. Find someone who is. Or your son will break before the beast inside him ever does."
For the first time, Rasa's mask of control cracked. His hands tightened at his sides. The sand shivered restlessly.
Shisui turned to leave, but Rasa's voice lashed out behind him.
"You will not speak of this. Not of our meeting. Not of my son. Not of the seal. If a whisper spreads, if even one soul learns the Kazekage asked a killer for help…" His voice hardened into steel. "I will hunt you across every desert, every country, until there's nothing left of you but bones."
Shisui paused. His head turned slightly, crimson eye gleaming in the storm. His voice came back, quiet but colder than the night wind.
"You don't have the luxury to threaten me. If you ever think to cross me again… you won't live long enough to regret it."
He walked into the storm. The sand parted before him like it feared him.
Rasa stood alone, fists trembling. His voice came out as a whisper to himself.
"…That man. Dangerous. Too dangerous. If he becomes an enemy… even the desert won't save me."
The gold sand fell silent at his feet, as if agreeing.
---
### *Waterfall Village Training Grounds*
Far from the desert, water trickled softly in the forest.
Sasuke stood at the river's edge, sweat pouring down his face. Five leaves stuck to him—forehead, chest, shoulders, foot. For a moment they held. Then one slipped, drifting into the water.
"Damn it!" He clenched his fists, teeth gritted.
He tried again. Chakra pulsed through him, uneven. The leaves trembled, wavered, almost fell. He forced his breath steady. Focus. Focus.
Minutes passed. Finally, all five leaves held firm. Steady. Controlled.
He exhaled sharply. A small smirk tugged at his lips. "Finally…"
But his eyes shifted toward the trees. Hard. Determined.
"Next is tree walking. If I can't master that, I'm nothing. I won't be weak. Not ever again."
The water rippled beneath him, calm now, reflecting the fire in his eyes.
---
**End of Chapter 8**