Uchiha clan grounds.
Caw—caw—
Flocks of crows gradually descended, flying into a simple little courtyard.
The courtyard lay deep within the clan grounds, plain and unadorned.
"Is that you, Itachi?"
Hearing the sound outside, Shisui—his eyes wrapped in bandages—slowly pushed the door open.
Creak.
The sound of the wheelchair scraping across the wooden floor was especially clear.
When Itachi saw this scene, his usually calm, unruffled eyes couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Extremely faint.
So faint that even if one tried to see it, they couldn't.
But Shisui wasn't just seeing.
"Your heart is unsettled," he said after a pause, gesturing toward a nearby seat. "Sit down. Have a glass of water."
Watching his movements, Itachi frowned faintly.
"Shisui… you seem a bit… different."
The Shisui before him was completely unlike the sunny, cheerful big brother he remembered.
Like a pool of stagnant water—without ripples, without change.
"Different?"
Shisui tugged at the corner of his mouth, as if trying to recreate a familiar smile, but failed.
"I'm already a dead man."
The darkness before his eyes seemed to slowly swallow the light in his heart.
The two faced each other in silence.
"Shisui… I'll go rest."
After sitting there for a while, Itachi took his leave.
Rustle.
When he pushed the door open, the moonlight outside had already vanished, leaving only thick darkness—
quietly devouring the entire Uchiha clan grounds.
Only the dim yellow lamplight remained inside the room.
Just as he lifted his foot to step into that dense darkness, Shisui suddenly spoke from behind him:
"Itachi… have you made your choice?"
Tap.
The raised foot froze on the threshold.
The figure with his back to Shisui stiffened in the doorway, completely motionless.
Only when the lamplight behind him went out—turning everything pitch-black—
did he let out a soft chuckle and say,
"Shisui, it's late. You should rest early."
With that, his foot came down, and he was swallowed by the night.
Gone.
Drip.
Drip.
Outside the window, the faint sound of night dew falling could be heard, indistinct and distant.
"That kid Itachi… he didn't even bother closing the door when he left."
After a long while, Shisui moved his wheelchair forward to shut it.
Rustle.
Bang!
But just as the wooden door was about to close, a small, youthful hand suddenly reached in.
"Hm? Itachi, you—huh?"
Shisui froze for a moment and spoke instinctively, but halfway through, he realized something was wrong.
"…You're Jin?"
"Yo, Bro Obito, you're pretty free tonight, huh?"
Shisui: "..."
That mouth of Jin's… really something.
The dead-still heart inside him suddenly stirred with the faintest ripple.
He gave a bitter smile.
"Showing up in the middle of the night without sleeping… you—"
"What do you mean you? If Itachi can come in, why can't I?"
Jin completely ignored Shisui's body, pulled the door open wider, and squeezed right in.
His small figure swayed casually in the dim room,
like a landlord inspecting his property—unhurried, unconcerned.
In the end, Shisui was the first to give in and ask the question that had been weighing on his heart:
"Why did you save me?"
"I didn't save you," Jin replied unexpectedly.
"I saved the Uchiha clan."
That answer made Shisui think of many things—
the Uchiha clan, Konoha, and Itachi's wavering stance.
It left him completely stunned. Even the hand he'd raised didn't know where to go anymore.
In the end, he could only place it beside the wheelchair, gripping the armrest tightly.
Jin looked at Shisui—who barely reached his chest in height—and smiled as he reached out and tapped his head.
"Shisui, your heart is unsettled."
Shisui: "..."
Those words felt eerily familiar.
Only this time, the positions were completely reversed.
He raised his head and faced forward.
Though he couldn't see, a youthful face quietly formed in his mind.
Clearly just a child!
And yet—
his way of acting and handling things didn't even seem particularly clever.
So why was it that every time he talked with Jin, he felt as though he were being completely seen through?
As if he were stripped bare, head to toe.
Exposed, naked, standing before Jin.
Like a giant standing above fate itself, looking down at him.
More than once, Shisui had wondered whether Jin's eyes could truly see through destiny.
He had just never confirmed it.
After hesitating, he still asked,
"Why save me? Both my eyes are gone, my dōjutsu is gone, my legs were shattered in the fall. My body is crippled."
"I… I'm already useless."
Jin brushed it off casually.
"Useless is great. Useless people are the easiest to farm traits from."
Shisui didn't understand a single word of that.
He waved it off, assuming Jin was spouting nonsense again, and asked,
"What do you need me to do?"
"Oh? You felt it?"
Jin sounded slightly surprised.
Coming back from the dead, Shisui's mentality really did seem different now.
He didn't beat around the bush.
"I need you to be a thug. The Uchiha clan's thug."
"Oh, right—let me remind you."
"I saved you."
"So strictly speaking—"
"From now on, you, Uchiha Shisui, are my servant."
As he said this, the flippant laziness vanished from Jin's face, leaving only seriousness.
He stared straight at Shisui's face.
In his right palm, delicate Adamantine chains appeared—
three intertwined together, with an eyeball suspended in the center.
Kotoamatsukami.
The reason Jin hadn't come to talk about this until today—
despite Shisui having been saved for quite some time—
was because he had been figuring out how to use Kotoamatsukami.
And today, he had finally figured it out completely.
Now—
as long as Shisui dared say the word "no,"
Jin would fire it off without hesitation.
Shisui's Kotoamatsukami was extremely useful to him.
At worst, he could just treat the Uchiha Kaien as a gacha game—
collecting SSR cards.
Of course, someone like Danzō—
even dogs wouldn't want him.
"So… Jin has already decided to stand completely against the village?"
Hearing this, Shisui fell silent once more.
He vaguely sensed what was coming, even saw glimpses of brothers turning against each other in the future.
It filled him with powerlessness.
And the torment in his heart only grew stronger.
Escape.
Perhaps death really was the only way out.
Sensing Shisui's emotions, Jin stepped closer and leaned down, whispering softly by his ear:
"Of course, if you really want to die, that's even easier."
"Have you ever heard of the Second Hokage's forbidden technique—Edo Tensei?"
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/CanonBreaker