Chapter 515: Capturing Shisui Uchiha Alive
Iwagakure.
A few days later, Ishiro once again left the village, taking Chiga, Sōkai, and Izumi Uchiha with him.
The reason for the delay was that Izumi needed time to digest the ocular power she had absorbed from Obito Uchiha.
This time, Ishiro's destination was Konoha. Of course, with just the few of them, they weren't strong enough to force their way in. He would have to wait outside the village for Shisui Uchiha to leave.
On the way, Sōkai asked, "Teacher Ishiro, why aren't we going after Itachi Uchiha first?"
Ishiro glanced at him. He couldn't very well say it was because Itachi was being protected by the Sage of Six Paths on account of his little brother.
So, he said, "Itachi Uchiha has a powerful backer right now. It's best not to provoke him."
The three looked at each other, not understanding who this "backer" could be. Who could be so strong that even the "Fox of Iwagakure," who loved to stir up trouble, didn't dare to offend them?
Ishiro didn't want them to dwell on the Sage of Six Paths, so he changed the subject. "Izumi, how is your ocular power now?"
"Lord Tsuchikage," she replied, "after I digested the power from Obito Uchiha, my ocular power has increased by a large margin. It's already stronger than when I first awakened it."
After a moment's thought, Ishiro asked, "Have you felt any special changes? For example, is it faster to digest ocular power? Is the consumption from using your Mangekyo less? Or is the power of your dōjutsu stronger?"
Izumi gave him a strange look. "Lord Tsuchikage, are you talking about the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?"
Ishiro nodded. "You and Sōkai have no close blood relatives with whom to exchange eyes. You have no compatible Mangekyo to fuse with. Under normal circumstances, you have no chance of achieving the Eternal Mangekyo."
"However, your dōjutsu is special. Perhaps your ability to absorb ocular power is a different path to awakening it."
Izumi thought carefully. "Lord Tsuchikage, of the situations you described, I only have a feeling about the first one. My speed at digesting ocular power is indeed faster than before. As for whether the consumption has decreased... I can't really tell. Even if it has, it's not obvious. After all, I haven't used my Mangekyo many times, and the situation is different each time, so it's hard to compare. As for the power of the dōjutsu, it has not increased."
Ishiro nodded and looked at Sōkai. "We can try again in the future. Absorb the power of a few more people, preferably from different individuals. Perhaps there will be a change."
Sōkai's hair stood on end.
"Teacher Ishiro, why are you looking at me when you say that?" he stammered.
Ishiro rolled his eyes at him. "Look at you, you coward. What's wrong with making a little sacrifice for your Sister Izumi? Don't worry, I still have one of Shisui's eyes. When you go blind, I'll transplant it for you. His dōjutsu is even stronger than yours."
Sōkai: ...
How is that supposed to make me feel relieved?
Izumi, at the side, giggled into her hand.
Behind them, Chiga sighed internally. Teacher Ishiro, you're really going all out to get Sister Izumi to join the village.
As if sensing her thoughts, Ishiro glanced back at her.
Chiga blinked, then immediately went and linked arms with Izumi. "Sister Izumi, let me tell you some of Sōkai's embarrassing stories from the past."
Izumi's eyes lit up. "Oh, do tell!"
"Chiga, don't!" Sōkai pleaded.
Chiga ignored him. "Sister Izumi, I used to be his teammate. But back then, he had another name: Chūkō. Tenbin Chūkō. He was the most famous 'dead-last' in the school. I don't even know how he got into the advanced class. His combat scores were terrible, and his academic scores were so bad you couldn't even look at them. His reputation as a loser was so great that even those of us in the regular classes knew..."
Listening to her, Ishiro gave her a mental thumbs-up. It proves that the disciples taught by me, the great Fox of Iwagakure, are mostly intelligent. Airheads like Riori and Sōkai are the minority, the exceptions.
Amidst Chiga's exaggerated descriptions of Sōkai's past, Ishiro led the group into the Land of Fire.
He found a relatively secluded forest dozens of kilometers from Konoha and hid, beginning his wait.
Of course, he wasn't just going to foolishly wait for Shisui to leave the village. He had to find a way to lure him out.
He already had a rough plan. He found a team of Konoha ninja who had just finished a mission and were preparing to return. Then, he used his Porcelain Release to form a giant python.
He had the python swallow the ninja whole, and then he waited.
There weren't many ninja in Konoha who could handle an Orochimaru-level threat. He was sure Shisui would be dispatched.
His operation quickly bore fruit. Nearby Konoha ninja soon discovered the "battlefield" and immediately reported it back to the village.
When Danzō heard that Orochimaru was still causing trouble near the village, he was furious. He immediately decided to teach him a lesson, or at least drive him out of the Land of Fire.
But, as the noble Hokage, he couldn't put himself in harm's way. This kind of dangerous mission was naturally not for him to handle personally.
So, he dispatched Shisui Uchiha and Kakashi.
He had also wanted to send Hiruzen, but then he thought that Konoha couldn't be left without an expert to protect him, the Hokage. So, he didn't.
While Danzō enjoyed the sense of security his old comrade provided, Shisui and Kakashi left the village.
They led a large group of Anbu to the scene to gather intelligence. The Anbu they had selected were all specialized in dealing with Orochimaru's various abilities.
What they didn't know was that from the moment they left Konoha, Ishiro had his eyes on them.
The moment Shisui left, he was located by Chiga.
However, Ishiro didn't act rashly, unsure if any other powerhouses were following.
He first used his Mind's Eye to carefully monitor their group.
"Konoha still takes Orochimaru very seriously. They sent forty men this time, all of them strong. They must be Anbu elites," Ishiro mused.
After sensing for a while longer, he added, "Besides Shisui, there's an old acquaintance: Kakashi Hatake."
"A total of three Mangekyo Sharingan. A pity, Izumi, you can only absorb from one. Otherwise, we could have drained both Shisui and Kakashi dry."
Ishiro was very familiar with Kakashi's chakra, especially his inability to turn off his Sharingan, which made him stand out clearly in his perception.
Hearing this, Izumi was also a little disappointed. "Lord Tsuchikage," she asked, "what if I only absorb a little from the first one? Maybe then I can absorb a second time?"
Ishiro shook his head. "Forget about Kakashi. Focus on absorbing Shisui's ocular power. You've already absorbed power from Shisui, Itachi, and Obito. This time, absorb the power from the Mangekyo in Shisui's eyes—the ones that belonged to Fugaku. In the future, we'll get a batch from Sōkai. Try to absorb the power of all the different Mangekyo."
Sōkai: "Teacher Ishiro, why do I feel like you're always looking forward to having Sister Izumi absorb my ocular power?"
Ishiro rolled his eyes at his pitiful expression. "Izumi's dōjutsu is too rare! What if absorbing different people's ocular power is the key to evolving the Mangekyo to its Eternal form? Kakashi's Mangekyo is Obito's. It's better to absorb Fugaku's."
Izumi nodded. "When do we make our move?"
"Wait a little longer," Ishiro said. "When we get closer, I'll check again. If there are no surprises, we'll go. It's better to be careful. We can't fall into a Konoha trap."
He then took out three sets of Iwagakure Anbu uniforms and handed them out.
A short time later, Ishiro's group arrived near the scene.
Since it was daytime and they'd be easily spotted in the air, he flew them close to the ground.
However, as they got closer to Shisui and Kakashi's group, Ishiro's gaze suddenly shot to a nearby tree.
Frowning, he extended his hand. "Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull)!"
An inconspicuous little insect was pulled into his hand.
Chiga saw it. "It's an Aburame clan insect. We've been exposed."
Ishiro nodded. He put the insect in a bottle and applied a perception-blocking seal.
"We're exposed. Full-frontal assault," he said calmly.
Being discovered at this point was no surprise. They were already less than a few kilometers away. At this distance, he could already hit them with his full power.
He nodded to the three of them, and as he rushed forward, he began to form hand seals for the Shadow Clone Technique.
After closing the distance a bit more, he stopped. He had already created four clones. They spread out into formation, preparing to cast a combination jutsu with the main body.
But before that, he used Earth Release to dig a deep pit.
Taking a deep breath, he and his four clones formed seals simultaneously and shouted in unison, "Sage Art: Five Elements Great Consecutive Bullets Technique!"
This was the second time he had used this jutsu. He held back this time, not expending all his chakra as he had against Suna. He only used about a third, but the power of the jutsu was still at the absolute peak of S-rank, if not Beyond-S-Rank.
The next moment, the explosion began.
Ishiro quickly flew into the pre-dug pit with his three disciples, then used Earth Release to seal the entrance.
On the other side, Kakashi had just finished inspecting the scene. He asked Shisui, "Shun, do you feel like something is wrong?" (Shun was Shisui's Anbu codename.)
Shisui was puzzled. "Senior Kakashi, what do you mean?"
"I've had a bad feeling since before we left," Kakashi said. "With Orochimaru's strength, he wouldn't need to use a large-scale summon to kill a small, weak squad. He could have done it silently with just taijutsu. Why would he do it like this, as if he was afraid we wouldn't know?"
Shisui said, "Senior, you mean... someone is trying to mislead us? To make us think Orochimaru did it?"
Kakashi nodded, pointing at the tracks. "Although these tracks do look like they were made by a giant snake, other than the shape, nothing else adds up. There's no smell of snakes, no scales, no bodily fluids."
Shisui recalled his own inspection and nodded. "You're right, senior. It is strange. But if not a giant snake, what could have made these tracks?"
"That's what I can't figure out," Kakashi shook his head.
Just then, an Aburame clan ninja in a hooded cloak suddenly said, "Lord Kakashi, someone is approaching from the northwest at high speed."
Kakashi frowned and waved his hand, signaling them to prepare for battle. "Who is it? How many?"
The Aburame didn't answer immediately but closed his eyes to sense. Kakashi didn't rush him. The Aburame's insects were miraculous, able to communicate with their master over long distances, but their individual intelligence was limited. Getting accurate intel was troublesome.
After a moment, the ninja said, "Four people. My insects report that they are very strong. And... they are flying."
Kakashi was stunned. Flying? That was a very obvious characteristic. He began to rapidly run through the possibilities.
But he didn't even need to. The first person who came to mind was: Ishiro.
And with that, Kakashi didn't need to consider anyone else.
There weren't many people who would dare to impersonate Orochimaru and try to ambush a group of this size. Ishiro fit the bill, right down to the style of the operation.
The next moment, Kakashi said directly to Shisui, "It's Porcelain Release."
Shisui was confused. "What?"
Kakashi pushed up his forehead protector, revealing his left eye. "The newcomer is the Tsuchikage. The tracks on the ground were made by his large-scale Porcelain Release. He just needs to form it into the shape of a snake; it would leave marks just like this."
Shisui thought for a moment, then nodded, his face immediately becoming grave.
Kakashi shouted, "The enemy is likely the Tsuchikage! Change formation! Watch out for his long-range attacks! Defend first!"
Ishiro was a well-known ninjutsu specialist. His combat style was different from Orochimaru's. The countermeasures they had prepared were now useless.
But just as the dozens of Anbu were changing formation, a sensory ninja shouted, "A massive chakra fluctuation from the northwest! Five sources! They're casting a high-powered ninjutsu!"
Kakashi's gaze hardened. Five?
The intel on Ishiro was now known to everyone. Especially his Sage Art: Five Elements Great Consecutive Bullets Technique, which had devastated the Suna army. A ninja of Kakashi's level had long since analyzed its power.
He immediately connected Ishiro to this jutsu. His face paled. He shouted urgently, "Use Earth Release! Get underground!"
This was the only countermeasure he had been able to think of.
As he spoke, he was already forming hand seals.
But he had still underestimated Ishiro's casting speed. Or rather, he was just doing what he knew was a hopeless act.
He had barely begun the seals when the five jutsu arrived, colliding before their very eyes.
Kakashi's face was filled with despair. The next moment, he gritted his teeth, and his exposed left eye directly activated its Mangekyo dōjutsu.
His eye's ability was a long-range Kamui, able to transfer anything in his line of sight to the Kamui dimension.
This time, he targeted the epicenter of the explosion.
He didn't know if it would have any effect, but he poured every last bit of ocular power he could muster into it.
A miracle occurred. He succeeded. He really did connect the center of the explosion to the Kamui dimension at the moment of detonation.
But he also failed. The explosion still happened. Although most of its energy was transferred to the other dimension, it still affected the real world.
Even though the jutsu had been greatly weakened, the remaining power was still enough to cause fatal damage to the Konoha ninja present.
Underground, Ishiro was still sensing the situation above.
After a moment, he frowned. "What's going on? Why was the power of the explosion so weak this time? With that little power, having me and my four clones shout the name of the jutsu in unison... wasn't that just embarrassing?"
After the explosion died down, the failed show-off Ishiro brought his three disciples out of the ground.
The surface was a wreck. A large swath of trees had been toppled, as if ravaged by a hurricane.
Looking at the scene, his three disciples were speechless, but Ishiro was even more certain: something was wrong with that jutsu. The last time, in the desert, it had gouged a huge crater. This time, it had only destroyed some surface vegetation.
He extended his perception toward Shisui's location.
"Konoha's casualties are heavy," he said as he rushed forward. "Only a dozen or so were saved by Shisui's Susanoo. Hmm, they're running. Shisui stayed behind. Wait... what's wrong with Kakashi?"
He suddenly noticed Kakashi's chakra fluctuation was off; it was much weaker than before.
"Was he caught in the blast?" Chiga asked.
It's possible, Ishiro thought.
Soon, the epicenter of the explosion came into view.
Seeing the scene, Sōkai and the others were confused, but Ishiro was dumbfounded.
Only Shisui, his eyes still stained with blood, remained. The others were either dead or had fled.
That was fine; he had already sensed that. What surprised him was that a few hundred meters away from Shisui, a huge black hole was hanging in the air.
Within the black hole was another dimension, clearly visible, with a series of square, protruding platforms.
"The Kamui dimension? This is Obito Uchiha's Kamui dimension?" Ishiro was stunned.
"Did Kakashi transfer the explosion with Kamui? And in the process, the massive explosion tore open a passage between the two worlds?"
This scene was familiar, a bit like the gravity-well space near Uzushiogakure. He quickly figured out what had happened.
But the connection near Uzushiogakure was stable. This one was slowly closing.
He looked at the closing hole, then at Shisui, then sensed the fleeing Kakashi and the others.
He sighed. He quickly made a choice.
"Take down Shisui first! As planned, you two are the main attack. I'll provide cover."
He wanted to use Shisui to test the dōjutsu of his two Uchiha disciples, so he didn't go all-out himself.
"Yes, sir!" Sōkai and Izumi jumped off the platform and rushed toward Shisui.
Ishiro's porcelain attacks flew out ahead of them.
The two were dressed as Iwa Anbu, so Shisui didn't pay them much mind at first. He looked for an opportunity to take them out quickly, dodging the porcelain while searching for an opening.
Soon, an opportunity came. He didn't know if these two were careless or just inexperienced at fighting Uchiha. As they charged, they didn't avert their gaze.
So, Shisui looked at Sōkai and cast a genjutsu.
He didn't use a Mangekyo dōjutsu, just a standard three-tomoe genjutsu. Of course, against anyone else, even a Kage, they wouldn't dare to take Shisui's genjutsu head-on.
But his target was Sōkai. The moment their eyes met, Sōkai also cast a genjutsu.
But Sōkai's was a Mangekyo dōjutsu. The moment they clashed, the winner was decided.
Shisui was instantly trapped.
In the illusion, he successfully escaped from Ishiro and the others, but his ocular power was over-expended, leaving him nearly blind. When he asked for a new pair of eyes, he was ruthlessly refused by Hokage Danzō. Even the gentle Lord Third expressed his disappointment and would no longer help him.
Then, he watched as the Hyuga clan quickly replaced the Uchiha.
News came from outside: Itachi, who had been infiltrating the Akatsuki, had been discovered and killed by Nagato.
Then, Sasuke was "accidentally" killed in a plot by Danzō.
The Uchiha clan was gradually forgotten, and he was left alone in a corner of Konoha, ignored by all.
Suddenly one day, a civil war broke out in Konoha. The major clans, no longer able to bear Danzō's oppression, revolted. The six-generation-long Hokage lineage was overthrown.
Before a new Hokage could be chosen, a Sage Art: Five Elements Great Consecutive Bullets Technique exploded in the village.
Then, the blind Shisui's vision was suddenly restored.
He saw the peace that he and Itachi had sacrificed their entire clan for, gone.
He saw the village's civilians and ninja unable to escape Ishiro's attack.
He saw that the ambitions of Konoha's leadership could never be satisfied.
These scenes caused two lines of blood to stream from his eyes.
Touching the tears of blood on his cheeks, he instantly woke up. This feeling... it's so familiar. It's Izumi Uchiha! She's absorbing my ocular power!
The next moment, he forcibly broke free from their dōjutsu.
He closed his eyes, turned his head away from them, and fled to the side, wiping away the blood.
When he opened his eyes again, his vision was a blurry mess of overlapping images.
The ocular power in Fugaku's Mangekyo had already been greatly depleted in the fight with Orochimaru. Now, after being drained by Izumi, it was almost at rock bottom.
Shisui quickly closed his eyes, trying to build up his power while relying on his combat instincts and his Body Flicker to dodge. At the same time, he was thinking: How did I get caught?
His mind was reeling from the after-effects of the genjutsu, and he was having trouble concentrating.
After a long moment, he remembered. I was about to cast a genjutsu on that Iwa Anbu... and the next second, I was in that terrible illusion.
What happened in that instant? He forced himself to calm down and think.
After a moment, it hit him. Sōkai! Uchiha Sōkai was also there! The person just now was him! I was hit by his Mangekyo dōjutsu!
A conclusion that should have been instant took him a long time to reach.
He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again, only to see complete darkness.
I'm blind? he panicked.
But then he realized. No, my ocular power isn't completely gone. Why am I blind?
He looked around. He quickly understood.
He was surrounded by porcelain mud.
This was his last conscious thought. The after-effects of the genjutsu were too severe, causing his mental faculties to plummet. He hadn't even been able to react in time to the danger.
Ishiro, in the air, successfully sealed Shisui with his mud. He then used his porcelain to remotely extract the pair of Mangekyo Sharingan from Shisui's eye sockets.
As Fugaku's eyes fell into his hand, Ishiro finally let out a breath of relief.
He wasn't afraid of Shisui causing trouble; he was just afraid he would damage the eyes.
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 35 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you