115. Instantaneous Stillness

Samehada remembered clearly.

After Itachi Uchiha awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and gained the power of Susanoo, two ethereal weapons that had long drifted through the ninja world actively sought him out and chose him as their host.

From that moment on, they resided within Itachi’s Susanoo.

These were the Ten-Tails Sword and the Yata Mirror.

The Ten-Tails Sword was none other than the third Kusanagi blade that Orochimaru had been desperately searching for, also known as the Sakari Tachi. It had the ability to plunge anyone it pierced into a drunken, dreamlike genjutsu.

In the original tale, Itachi wielded the Ten-Tails Sword twice: first to seal Orochimaru’s true form, the White Phosphorus Serpent, and second to seal the reanimated Nagato. This demonstrated the immense sealing power it possessed.

The Yata Mirror, on the other hand, was a divine shield created based on the five elemental ninjutsu, famed for its ability to withstand any physical or ninjutsu attack.

After Itachi’s death, these two spiritual weapons vanished along with him, as they had no physical form to begin with.

Samehada coveted the Ten-Tails Sword and Yata Mirror deeply.

To possess them, he could only hope that young Itachi, like a tender sprout, would grow strong and robust soon.

When that time came, Samehada would return to reap the harvest, using his forbidden techniques to devour the two spiritual weapons and claim them as his own.

Just as Samehada was scheming in his mind,

“Itachi! Brother Shisui!”

Itachi suddenly called out toward Samehada.

Without revealing any emotion, Samehada stepped aside and turned his gaze, noticing several Uchiha shinobi from the Konoha Police Force patrolling the street.

What was surprising was that the youngest among them appeared to be no more than seven or eight years old—a boy with short black hair and a round nose.

He was now recognized as the foremost genius of the Uchiha clan: Shisui Uchiha.

Upon hearing Itachi’s call, Shisui smiled gently. He exchanged a few words with his comrades, telling them to continue their patrol while he temporarily left the group to approach the mother and son pair, Mikoto and Itachi.

“Aunt Mikoto,”

Shisui first bowed respectfully to Mikoto Uchiha before stepping forward to ruffle Itachi’s hair.

“Brother Shisui, are you going to the battlefield too?” Itachi asked curiously.

“Yes. The frontlines are intense, and there aren’t enough hands. I’ve already been notified,” Shisui nodded in reply.

Though only eight years old, his demeanor was far from childish—calm and mature beyond his years.

Uchiha Shisui?

Samehada, not far away, scrutinized Shisui, recalling the intelligence he had gathered.

During the Third Great Ninja War, Shisui was known as “Swift Shisui” for his mastery of the Body Flicker Technique and genjutsu, darting across the battlefield with unparalleled speed. His ocular power was renowned throughout the ninja world.

Thanks to his outstanding performance on the frontlines, Shisui not only restored the Uchiha name’s prestige but also earned recognition from the Third Hokage and Konoha’s higher-ups.

In fact, aside from Minato Namikaze, Uchiha Shisui was the brightest prodigy of the Third Great Ninja War.

Moreover, compared to the twenty-year-old Minato, Shisui was only about ten years old by the war’s end.

To achieve such fame at ten was truly extraordinary, a testament to his formidable genius.

In Samehada’s memory, the Uchiha clan’s main battlefield during the Third Great Ninja War was the eastern region of the Land of Fire, where they clashed with Kirigakure.

Shisui had once cast a genjutsu from afar to instantly eliminate two Kirigakure shinobi, forcing the Kirigakure jonin “Ao” to retreat.

Judging by this, it seemed likely that Samehada and Shisui would soon meet on the battlefield.

With this thought, Samehada withdrew his gaze, turned a corner, and disappeared from the street.

No sooner had he left than Shisui turned his head, casting a puzzled glance at Samehada’s retreating figure.

He furrowed his brow, parted hurriedly from Mikoto and Itachi, and gave chase.

Samehada twisted and turned through narrow alleys, finally entering a seldom-traveled lane that ended with a blank wall—no way forward.

Footsteps sounded behind him.

Samehada turned to see Shisui standing at the alley’s entrance, his expression grave.

“Who are you?” Shisui asked, drawing the ninja sword strapped to his back.

During wartime, battles were not only fought on the open frontlines but also waged in the shadows of espionage.

Since the outbreak of the Third Great Ninja War, Shisui, as a patrol member of the Police Force, had apprehended several spies from other villages in recent days.

The moment he laid eyes on Samehada, he instinctively sensed something was amiss.

Samehada said nothing in reply.

He had lured Shisui to this secluded spot for a swift and decisive confrontation, and without hesitation, he struck.

Swish, swish, swish.

Suddenly, countless chakra threads erupted beneath Shisui’s feet, forming a vast net that descended upon him.

The technique: Earth Spider Stitch.

Alert, Shisui vanished from where he stood in a flash, reappearing mere meters from Samehada.

He swiftly formed hand seals, instantly creating over a dozen clones that launched a coordinated assault on Samehada.

This was the signature move of the future “Swift Shisui.”

Shisui’s Body Flicker Technique was actually a combination of body flicker and clone jutsu.

His clones lacked physical substance, but his speed was so extraordinary that he could teleport to any one of them in an instant to strike, making these clones effectively real.

In battle, enemy attacks could not harm Shisui’s clones, and opponents could not predict from which clone he would strike, making it exceedingly difficult to counter the onslaught of Swift Shisui.

The alley was narrow, and Shisui conjured so many clones at once to swiftly finish Samehada.

However, this time, he miscalculated.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Despite the fierce barrage, Samehada wielded a kunai, blocking every strike as if he had foreseen which clone Shisui would appear from and from which direction he would attack.

Shisui grew increasingly alarmed, unable to believe that his Body Flicker Technique had been deciphered.

At that moment,

Shisui’s true form suddenly appeared directly in front of Samehada, their eyes locking.

His crimson Sharingan eyes unleashed a powerful ocular assault.

Genjutsu was Shisui Uchiha’s true specialty.

It was precisely due to his extraordinary talent in genjutsu that, upon awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, he obtained the most potent genjutsu, Kotoamatsukami.

Samehada had long anticipated this.

From the moment Shisui appeared at the alley’s mouth, Samehada avoided direct eye contact.

Now, faced with Shisui’s genjutsu, he decisively closed his eyes, denying his opponent any opening.

Yet even blind, Samehada flawlessly resisted all of Shisui’s ensuing attacks.

This was thanks to Satori—the art of mind reading.

Without this ability, Samehada could never have handled the battle so effortlessly.

Now it was Samehada’s turn to counterattack.

Pfft.

He seized a momentary lapse in Shisui’s defense, plunged a senbon needle into his abdomen, causing Shisui to emit a muffled groan as all his clones vanished instantly.

The Uchiha clan’s greatest prodigy lay defeated beneath Samehada’s feet.

Samehada had no intention of killing Shisui—for now.

After all, he still hoped this young prodigy would aid Itachi in maturing swiftly and that, by his own sacrifice, trigger Itachi’s Mangekyō awakening.

So, Samehada rendered Shisui unconscious, bound him with chakra threads, and tossed him into a garbage bin roughly a man’s height in the alley.

The battle had been brief and swift, and because it took place in a remote location, it went unnoticed.

However, Samehada knew he must act quickly.

He activated the “Transform” shoulder seal once again, adopting the guise of an elderly man.

Stooped and pale, coughing incessantly as if gravely ill, he began making his way toward Konoha Hospital, just across the street.