Shisui did not choose visible locations for private conversations.
The meeting place was neither inside the Uchiha district nor within obvious village boundaries. It lay beyond the riverbank where the forest thickened and patrol presence thinned, a place used often enough for quiet discussion but rarely monitored heavily.
Or so it appeared.
Kuroto arrived without haste.
The air felt still, but not empty.
There is a difference.
Shisui stepped from the trees with the same relaxed posture he always carried, hands loosely at his sides, expression unreadable but not hostile.
"You came," Shisui said calmly.
"Yes."
Shisui studied him for a moment before speaking again. "The clan is stabilizing."
"For now."
"You influenced that."
"I corrected trajectory."
A faint flicker of something passed across Shisui's expression — not approval, not disapproval.
"Danzō is accelerating," Shisui said quietly.
"I know."
"And the Hokage is losing maneuvering space."
"Yes."
Shisui exhaled slowly. "Then we may have limited time."
The wording was careful.
Kuroto did not miss it.
Before he could respond, something shifted.
Not in the trees.
In the ground.
The faintest tremor beneath their feet — too controlled to be natural.
Shisui's eyes sharpened instantly.
"Kuroto—"
The forest perimeter ignited with sealing arrays.
Not explosive.
Containment.
Four cardinal points lit simultaneously, forming a geometric barrier that rose in faintly glowing lines between the trees.
Root.
The precision was undeniable.
This was not an ambush aimed at Kuroto alone.
This was calculated.
Shisui did not panic.
He understood immediately.
"They moved sooner than expected," he said under his breath.
"They moved because you stepped forward," Kuroto replied evenly.
Masked figures emerged at measured intervals along the perimeter, maintaining equal distance from one another. No shouting. No threats.
Containment had been the objective from the start.
Shisui's gaze hardened.
"This was meant for me."
"Yes."
"You were the variable."
"And you were the solution," Kuroto replied calmly.
The trap was not about elimination.
It was about leverage.
Danzō did not need Shisui dead yet.
He needed him contained.
Isolated.
Perhaps forced into decision.
A Root commander stepped forward from the barrier's edge.
"Stand down," he said evenly. "You are ordered into protective custody."
Shisui almost smiled.
"Protective."
The word hung between them.
The sealing barrier intensified slightly, compressing the available space within the clearing.
This was not ordinary chakra containment.
It had been modified.
Adjusted.
Designed with awareness of Kuroto's ability.
Interesting.
Shisui glanced sideways briefly.
"They are not here to kill you," he said quietly.
"No," Kuroto replied. "They are here to remove you."
Shisui understood the implication immediately.
If Shisui disappeared under Root custody, the clan would fracture beyond repair. The elders would accelerate coup plans out of outrage. The Hokage would be cornered between protecting a clan prodigy and preserving order.
Danzō would gain justification either way.
The Root commander raised a hand.
The barrier tightened.
Kuroto did not move dramatically.
He simply adjusted his stance slightly.
The pressure within him responded — not explosively, not recklessly — but with controlled alignment.
The space around the sealing lines distorted subtly, as though gravity pressed unevenly against their geometric symmetry.
The Root operatives noticed.
The commander's voice hardened.
"Restrain them."
Wind and earth techniques struck simultaneously from multiple angles, not aimed to injure but to restrict movement within the barrier's geometry.
Shisui moved fluidly, evading without strain.
Kuroto did not evade.
He pulled.
Not at the operatives.
At the structure itself.
The barrier lines warped.
Ink-based seals bent under redirected spatial pressure, their symmetry destabilized as compression vectors shifted unpredictably.
For the first time, the formation faltered.
Shisui's eyes widened slightly.
"That's new," he murmured.
"It was designed for expectation," Kuroto said calmly. "Not adaptation."
He stepped forward once.
The barrier fractured.
Not shattered violently.
Collapsed inward under redirected force, the sealing nodes crushing against each other until their chakra alignment broke completely.
The forest fell silent.
Root operatives froze momentarily.
That was enough.
Shisui disappeared in a flicker of movement, neutralizing two operatives instantly without lethal intent.
Kuroto redirected pressure once more, destabilizing the formation's rear.
The Root commander withdrew first.
Not out of fear.
Out of recalculation.
The remaining operatives followed.
The trap had failed.
But that was not the true outcome.
Shisui stood still once the forest quieted again.
"They will not stop now," he said quietly.
"No."
"You exposed the containment strategy."
"Yes."
Shisui studied him carefully in the dim moonlight.
"They moved against both of us tonight," he said. "That means Danzō no longer believes patience is viable."
"Correct."
A pause.
"You could have let them take me," Shisui said.
"Yes."
"And you didn't."
"No."
The wind shifted again.
Somewhere beyond the trees, patrol rotations were already changing.
This was not an isolated move.
It was escalation.
Shisui's expression grew more serious.
"Then the next attempt will not be containment."
Kuroto's gaze remained steady.
"I know."
Above them, unseen but aware, Itachi watched from distance.
The net had been thrown.
And though it failed to capture its target—
It tightened the board permanently.