Looking back, it was clear his earlier "friendly warning" hadn't helped at all, if anything, it only made Shisui more suspicious of him. Faced with that, Hyuga Kei saw no point in arguing.
Psychology had a term for this kind of response, the Backfire Effect.
Put simply: You can never wake someone who's pretending to be asleep, just as you can rarely change someone's deeply entrenched beliefs.
On the surface, Shisui seemed mature, but in truth, he was still too naive. His entire worldview had been captured by the so-called "Will of Fire." At this stage, there was no rescuing him.
And with tensions rising between the clan and the village, Shisui's anxiety was only deepening. The calmer he appeared, the more desperately he clung to anything that resembled hope.
That, Kei knew, was why Shisui kept returning after receiving his so-called "doomsday answer." It wasn't skepticism, it was desperation.
"I'll be back," Shisui said, glancing at Haru as she approached, then turning to walk out of the clinic.
Another fruitless visit. Shisui's mood was worse than before.
It wasn't until he replayed their conversations in his head that he realized, he'd been on the defensive every single time.
He'd gained nothing about the strange disappearances in the slums. Nor had he uncovered a way to resolve the growing rift between the Uchiha and the village.
Standing atop a nearby rooftop, Shisui looked down at the clinic… then toward the slums just beyond it.
That's when it hit him.
Kei's clinic sat close to the slum district, far from the main street, not exactly the ideal spot for a business.
And Kei was blind. A blind ninja suddenly becoming a therapist? Could his own mental state be trusted?
Shisui found himself picturing Kei's face again, overlaying it, bit by bit, on the blurred image of the suspect in his mind.
No evidence and just a hunch.
"Could it be you…?"
He stared at the quiet clinic, heart pounding with a strange certainty. Kei had bested him again and again, and something about that made Shisui certain the man was hiding something. It was time to dig deeper.
That night, once business was done, Kei closed the clinic and prepared to head home.
Ever since Haru had become his assistant, the evenings were the only time he had to himself.
She never accompanied him after dark, her duties to the clan required her return to the Hyuga compound at night. After all, even as a servant, she wasn't just any branch member. She had to remain on call.
Standing at the clinic's entrance, Kei deliberately chose to walk the narrow alley route.
He knew Shisui was there.
After all, Shisui had been assigned to investigate the string of missing persons in the village.
And those disappearances… well, those were Orochimaru's doing, fodder for his human experiments.
The only problem was: Shisui didn't know that.
In fact, Shisui likely suspected Kei himself.
Kei had anticipated this. But he still chose not to change his route.
If he was going to claim control of the situation, then retreating from a mere alley would be admitting guilt. And admitting guilt was not something he could afford.
Besides, changing his routine would only make things worse.
Once someone saw you through a suspicious lens, everything you did would only confirm their bias.
In truth, the slums didn't cover a large portion of Konoha's land.
After all, Konoha was the strongest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, blessed with the fertile lands of the Land of Fire.
But the alleys here were maze-like, easy to get lost in if you weren't familiar.
Not that it mattered to Kei. With his keen sensory skills, navigating these winding alleys was nothing.
Unhurried, he passed through one narrow corridor, then another, until he finally stopped.
Tonight was rare: no rain.
Which meant smells and traces lingered longer than usual in these poorly ventilated passageways.
Behind him, footsteps landed softly on the wet stone. He didn't need to sense who it was, he already knew.
Uchiha Shisui.
Shisui wiped the sweat from his brow and calmed his breathing.
He'd been staking out the area all day and had finally picked up a trail.
Unfortunately, he'd lost it again midway through, only to catch sight of Kei and follow him into this alley.
His gaze drifted toward the ground just ahead of Kei's feet.
A thin streak of blood.
Shisui stepped past him and crouched by the stain. A faint, sour stench clung to it.
He knew it well, the lingering rot of Konoha's homeless.
But now there were no bodies. Just the blood and silence.
"If I said I just got here… would you believe me?" Kei asked calmly.
Shisui didn't answer.
Instead, with a few quick steps, he leapt into the adjacent alleys, checking each one carefully.
One. Two. Three…
Nothing.
Eventually, Shisui returned to the alley where Kei stood, and blocked his path.
"No one else was here. Last time, you were at the scene too," he said.
Kei tilted his head, his blind eyes seeming to look through Shisui.
"So what are you saying?"
"Do you have anything you want to explain?" Shisui asked. "If not, I'll need to search your belongings."
"I have no reason to explain something I didn't do," Kei replied coolly. "And as for a search… I refuse."
"You don't have the right to refuse!"
"Oh?" Kei raised an eyebrow. "And you have the right to search me without cause? Are you telling me you've already judged me guilty?"
Shisui didn't respond.
He didn't have proof. Just suspicion.
But the bulge in Kei's robes caught his attention, maybe it was a storage scroll?
If it was… that could explain the missing people.
As Kei stepped past him, Shisui acted on impulse, reaching straight for the bulge inside Kei's robes.
But Kei wasn't going to just let him.
Both men grabbed hold at once, and the paper bag tore open with a loud rip.
In an instant, a cascade of money exploded into the alley, bills fluttering like snow, scattering across the ground.
Shisui froze.
The shock of it, the shame, the utter humiliation, it crashed into his chest like a hammer. His heart raced, his breathing hitched and his face turned completely red.
"Now are you satisfied?"
Kei's voice pierced through the silence like a needle.
Shisui stared at him, he was speechless.
Still as calm as ever, Kei pointed his cane at the mess of money littering the alley.
"Don't forget, you owe me one."
<150 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter>