For half a second, my brain short-circuited.
Shisui of the Body Flicker. Fast enough to leave afterimages. Wielder of Kotoamatsukami. Dead within a year, if things followed the path I remembered. And I had not sensed him at all.
That part made sense. I was not even close to his level. Still, looking straight at someone and realizing your senses had completely failed you did something unpleasant to the spine.
I forced my expression into something more appropriate for a five-year-old. Curious. Slightly confused.
"Cause trouble?" I tilted my head. "I'm five."
Shisui did not smile, but his eyes softened. The Sharingan faded back to black.
"That hasn't stopped certain prodigies before."
His tone was light. His attention was not. I could feel him studying everything. My stance. My breathing. The way my chakra sat under my skin.
"I like high places," I said, gesturing lazily toward the compound below. "You can see everything from up here."
"That you can."
He stepped beside me. No sound. No wasted motion. Even knowing he was there, my senses struggled to track him. It was not just speed. It was control. Precise, disciplined chakra flow.
We stood there for a moment, watching children chase each other through the street below.
I had come here to figure out how to stop a massacre. Maybe to find a way to train with Sasuke.
Instead, I had just run into the single most important ally I could possibly secure.
I let out a small sigh, layering it with just enough childish frustration.
"People talk loudly when they think kids don't understand. I hear things."
"Oh?" His voice sharpened just slightly. "And what kinds of things do you hear?"
Careful now.
"That the Uchiha are angry."
His posture did not change. The air did.
"That's a dangerous thing to repeat."
"It's also true," I said quietly.
Below us, an elderly woman laughed. A toddler stumbled. His father scooped him up without missing a step.
"For what it's worth," I continued, eyes forward, "I don't think you're wrong to be upset. This village makes questionable decisions. I'm not exactly impressed with the leadership either."
Silence.
Shisui turned to face me fully.
"You are an unusual child."
"I hear that a lot."
He studied me in a different way now. Not just measuring threat. Measuring intent.
"If," he began carefully, "the Uchiha were angry, what would you suggest they do?"
He was not humoring me. He was evaluating possibilities.
"You make it impossible to ignore you."
One eyebrow lifted slightly.
"That sounds like escalation."
"It doesn't have to mean violence," I said quickly. "If everyone knows what's happening, secrets lose their power."
Danzo and Root thrived in shadow. The massacre only worked because it stayed hidden until it was too late.
Shisui's gaze drifted back to the compound.
"You think sunlight solves everything?"
"No. But it makes it harder to stab someone."
A faint huff of amusement escaped him.
"You're aware the Hokage watches you closely."
I did not react. Crystal ball. Surveillance. I remembered enough.
"That seems excessive. I mostly eat ramen and take naps."
"And discuss political unrest from rooftops."
I scratched the back of my head sheepishly.
"Hypothetically," I said, "if someone wanted to prevent something really stupid from happening but didn't have proof yet… what would they do?"
Now I had his full attention.
"They would gather allies," he said carefully.
"Even outside their clan?"
"Yes."
"Even the Hokage?"
A long pause.
"The Hokage wants peace," Shisui said slowly. "Peace and trust are not the same."
That was the closest thing to criticism I had ever heard from him.
"What if that peace is about to shatter?"
His eyes sharpened.
"That sounds less hypothetical."
I turned to face him fully.
"It isn't. Tensions are too high. Things won't stay like this. And I plan to make the Hokage remove Danzo from power."
The air shifted.
Subtle. Heavy.
His Sharingan flared back to life.
"You speak that name too easily."
The world tilted. The rooftop dissolved.
I stood in the Hokage's office. Hiruzen lay dead at my feet. Danzo stood behind me, one hand resting on my shoulder.
"Well done," he said calmly. "You understand necessity."
Uchiha bodies lined the walls. Not just shinobi. Civilians. Children.
The illusion was vivid. My stomach did not churn. That bothered me.
Shisui's voice echoed from nowhere.
"If you remove him… what replaces him?"
The scene shifted.
Now I stood before a gathering of Uchiha. I was speaking. Rallying them. Feeding their anger. The compound roared back at me.
Fire consumed Konoha. War.
Shisui stepped into view inside the illusion, watching me.
"Ambition often disguises itself as righteousness."
So that was the test.
Not what I would do.
What I wanted.
The illusion sharpened further.
Then it cracked.
Green bled through the edges. Crimson leaves drifted down. The Hokage's office flickered. Danzo's image stuttered.
For a split second, the illusion stopped being his. It became mine.
A vast plain. A mountain. A massive gate.
Golden eyes opened behind iron bars.
Kurama's voice rolled through the fractured
genjutsu.
"This one is not your enemy, Uchiha."
The world snapped back.
Rooftop. Wind. Children laughing below.
Shisui's breathing remained controlled.
Slightly heavier than before.
"You did not resist," he said quietly.
"If I fought it, you would assume I was hiding something."
"You allowed me to see your mind."
"Only enough."
A pause.
"You harbor no desire to rule."
"No."
"No desire for revenge."
"No."
"But you expect blood."
That one stayed between us.
"Yes."
His Sharingan dimmed slightly, though it did not vanish.
"You've seen it."
"I've seen what happens if no one intervenes."
"And if you fail?"
I held his gaze.
"Then it becomes a slaughter instead of a conflict."
Silence.
"You cannot stop all of it," Shisui said.
"I know."
That did not mean I would not try.
"You can only redirect it."
"Yes."
His eyes sharpened again.
"And if redirecting it requires sacrifice?"
There it was.
"Then we minimize it," I said. "Danzo versus the faction pushing revolt. Not the village versus an entire clan. Civilians survive. Children survive. The name survives."
"And Itachi?"
That hit harder than Danzo.
"I don't want him carrying all of it alone."
Something flickered across Shisui's face.
Pain.
"You speak as though you know him."
"I know enough."
A long pause.
"You are either the greatest unknown variable this village has produced," he said quietly, "or the only chance my clan has at not disappearing."
"I'm just trying to reduce the damage."
"That may be the most dangerous goal of all."
His Sharingan finally faded.
"If you are lying," he said calmly, "I will know."
"I figured."
He stepped closer.
"I will train you. But understand this. If your interference accelerates what you claim to prevent, I will stop you myself."
Fair.
"Deal."
He studied me one last time.
"You intend to confront Danzo."
"Eventually."
"Then grow strong first."
He turned toward the training field.
"And learn to hide your thoughts better. You are fortunate I am not him. He would not have stopped at testing you."
A chill crawled down my spine.
He was right.
If that had been Danzo inside my head instead of Shisui, this conversation would have ended very differently.
We moved to an open training field.
I felt it then. For the first time, something resembling momentum.
He told me to attack so he could gauge my ability.
I drew on a thin thread of Kurama's chakra. Just enough. My pupils narrowed into slits. My irises bled red. My canines sharpened slightly.
I lunged. And passed straight through him. Afterimage.
Before my brain caught up, a foot slammed into my back. The world flipped. I crashed into a tree hard enough to dent the bark.
I hit the ground on all fours and pushed off immediately, driving a knee toward his face.
He leaned back just enough. Effortless. I flew past him.
Midair, I wove hand signs. Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.
A fireball the size of a small boulder roared toward him.
I caught the faintest flicker of surprise in his eyes.
Then he vanished.
And everything went black.