Pop.
Pop.
Under the sunlight, the stream shimmered into rainbow hues.
Step!
Uchiha Shisui crushed the damp cobblestones beneath the creek with his foot and flicked his wrist—twelve shuriken skimmed low across the water toward his opponent.
In his pupils, the Mangekyō spun beneath the daylight, a faint jade-green ripple hidden in its glow.
Splash!
The water trails that should've been straight suddenly twisted into serpentine curves a heartbeat later—collisions from interception.
Clang-clang-clang!
Kunai snapped the twelve shuriken out of the air with pinpoint precision.
Seeing that, Shisui smiled.
That—now that was the kind of reaction an Uchiha should have after awakening their eyes.
But the next second, when he lowered his gaze, the hairs at the back of his neck shot straight up.
Ren—who should've been thirty paces away—was now slowly rising halfway out of the water's reflection like a ghost.
Bzzzt—crackle!
Lightning coiled around his fingers, close enough to touch.
Only three inches from Shisui's ankle.
"Lightning Release? When did you get over here?!"
Shisui tapped lightly with his toe and split into four afterimages that scattered.
Riiip—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But three of them—half a beat too slow—were shredded by a lightning serpent on the spot.
"That move just now was…"
Shisui landed briefly on a rocky outcrop along the cliff.
A dull sting throbbed across his cheek.
He wiped away the thin line of blood where shattered stone had cut him, his eyes sweeping over the faintly glowing, translucent formulas in the creek. The confusion in his gaze deepened.
"What kind of formula is this? Even the rocks in the stream are engraved with it?"
Who in the world had nothing better to do than carve jutsu formulas into rocks?
…Ah. Right. Someone did.
Ren did.
Ever since the clan moved near the Naka River, whenever he sunbathed during the day and got bored, he'd pick up stones and idly play with them.
Those stones…
He'd carved with Flying Thunder God formulas, then tossed back into the Naka River.
They drifted with the current and spread throughout Konoha.
In Ren's Flying Thunder God "map," the entire village was a sea of thriving green.
Almost nowhere was unreachable.
He glanced at Shisui and suddenly bared his teeth in a grin.
"Haha, Brother Shisui—don't underestimate the bonds between us!"
Shisui: ...
That made absolutely no sense.
But knowing how weird Ren could be, he didn't press for more. He simply formed seals in silence.
His body began to shift—quietly, subtly.
Pop-pop-pop.
In the next instant, thirty-six identical figures appeared at the same time!
And each one held shuriken with paper bombs tied to the tails.
Whoosh!
One shuriken flew.
Then a second. A third.
A hundred shuriken and paper bombs followed in a storm, blanketing a full hundred-meter radius!
"Even if you're fast—if the entire area is covered, what will you do then?"
Shisui's mouth curled upward. Almost unconsciously, he mimicked Ren's strange tone.
"Don't underestimate big brother's pressure, ya know!"
Boom!
Boom-boom-boom!
The next second, explosions layered over explosions.
Front, back, above, below—every direction.
In an instant, the entire space was filled with fire and shockwaves.
The figure at the center had nowhere to run.
"Hahaha, little Ren—now you can only bury your head in the water, yeah?"
Shisui reminded him with a cheerful laugh.
That was the only place he'd deliberately left open.
As long as Ren dove in, he could avoid the blast wave.
"Give up?"
But Ren only shrugged.
Staring at the shuriken and paper bombs racing toward him at point-blank range, he didn't move at all.
Like he'd just decided to slack off.
"Ren—you!"
That sight made all thirty-six Shisui freeze, panic flashing across their faces.
He only wanted to show his little brother the gap—he had no intention of actually hurting him!
So after only a heartbeat's hesitation, he snapped seals, preparing to recall the shuriken.
But right then, a streak of gold slipped into the corner of his vision.
"Hm? What is that—?"
He blinked. All thirty-six pairs of eyes turned toward the boy standing in the creek.
Under the sunlight, the boy seemed to shine with an unnatural brilliance.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Nearly a hundred shuriken and paper bombs passed straight through him.
No wounds. No impact. Nothing.
"Huh? What is—what kind of jutsu is that?" Shisui was completely stunned.
His sunny brain honestly couldn't process what kind of technique could let someone become fully intangible.
Of course, he only paused for three seconds before the heat in his blood surged up and overrode everything.
"Hahahaha! Not bad, not bad! I admit it—I underestimated you earlier, Ren!"
"Now, let me show you what my real strength looks like!"
Whoosh!
In the next instant, all thirty-six figures charged at once!
The katanas in their hands swept through the air like reapers' scythes.
"The secret of Body Flicker is—tricking the measure of time itself!"
Shisui's voice rang out—
And his katana was already at Ren's throat.
Plop.
But the next second, Ren turned into a chunk of wood and dropped into the water with a splash.
"Substitution? A substitution that can fool even the Sharingan?"
"Hahaha! Nice! Again! Let me show you just how fast Brother Shisui really is!"
The excitement in Shisui's eyes deepened. He tightened his grip on the blade and surged even faster!
Shisui of the Body Flicker—
It wasn't just flicker.
It was instant.
Speed was his greatest weapon.
Boom!
In the moment they crossed, the Naka River's surface exploded into crater after crater!
Clear spray glittered in the air like shards of light.
"Do you know something, Brother Shisui?"
At that moment, Ren's voice drifted out from within the water droplets.
"Water… conducts electricity!!"
Riiip—!
"Lightning Release: Chidori!"
Crackle-crackle-CRASH!
A violent surge of lightning slammed down!
Across the river's surface, dense blue arcs of electricity spread like countless winding serpents, racing outward in all directions.
Shisui's heart jolted. He immediately forced his clones to retreat—backing off in frantic leaps.
But the lightning below was like it had eyes.
It chased them down effortlessly.
Pffft! Pffft! Pffft!
One after another, the "Body Flicker Shisui" figures were shocked into bubbles and vanished.
Until, at last, only one remained.
The one still standing on the cliff outcrop.
Crash.
The streamwater thundered back into its channel.
On the cliff, Shisui's arms were already throbbing with pain.
That kind of lethal lightning—against him, it was a genuine threat.
And in that short exchange, Shisui's bright eyes had grown narrower and narrower.
Not because he'd been physically beaten—
But because his mindset had started wobbling.
Thirty-six simultaneous Body Flickers… and Ren had broken it that easily.
It was hard to believe.
"Ren… how did you see through all of my clones?"
"Did your Sharingan awaken some special dōjutsu already?"
"No… that shouldn't be possible. Then what does that make my Kotoamatsukami I only perfected with the Mangekyō?"
Once again, the sunny, cheerful boy fell into confusion.
Ren answered casually, "Because you don't know how to Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V."
But inside, he was thrilled.
Flying Thunder God was amazing.
Really amazing.
He strongly recommended it to every transmigrator—everyone should keep one in their pocket.
As long as your "mana bar" was big enough, you could triple-flash in a single second.
You could drink in the red-light district of the Land of Fire in the morning—
Then still make it back to the Land of Wind by night to strike gold.
No delay. Not even a little.
"…Yeah, yeah. I lost. I'm not your opponent anymore."
Seeing his Body Flicker get cracked so cleanly, Shisui shook his head and surrendered outright.
After all, there was no way he was going to use Kotoamatsukami on his little brother.
Then, without the slightest awkwardness, he slung an arm around Ren—who had already grown to his shoulder—and leaned in with a conspiratorial grin.
"Of course, give me two more days, and Brother Shisui will show you and One-Strike-Seven a real treasure."
Yes—under Ren's influence, Shisui now proudly called himself "Brother Shisui."
And he called Itachi "One-Strike-Seven."
He didn't know why, but it felt weirdly satisfying to say.
A treasure?
If Shisui called it a treasure…
Then it could only be—
Susanoo?
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