NYP Ch. 119

Kenji looked up at the sky. The sun had already set behind the horizon. Night was coming fast.

He needed to find Shisui immediately. He could not let the young Uchiha follow the same path as the original timeline, handing his Sharingan to Itachi before throwing himself off a cliff.

That suicide had been presented as a noble sacrifice in the story. But the consequences had been catastrophic. Shisui's death had triggered Itachi's Mangekyō awakening and planted the seeds for what came after: the complete annihilation of the Uchiha clan, guilty and innocent alike.

All because one good man had seen death as his only option.

Kenji activated Sage Mode fully, markings spreading across his face as natural energy flooded his senses. His perception exploded outward, covering a massive radius that encompassed most of the village. Chakra signatures became clear as daylight. He could feel every ninja within range.

There was one that stood out. Shisui's chakra moved rapidly toward the training grounds on the village's eastern edge. The signature felt agitated and unstable, suggesting both emotional distress and injury.

He didn't hesitate. He reached for the network of Flying Thunder God marks he'd placed throughout Konoha over the years. His chakra connected to the mark nearest Shisui's trajectory, and after two seconds, the world blurred and reformed.

He appeared directly in Shisui's path, standing in the middle of an empty street. The young Uchiha was maybe thirty meters away, moving at high speed through a Body Flicker that left afterimages.

"Shisui, wait!"

The Uchiha slammed to a stop, his technique cutting off abruptly. He landed in a defensive crouch, his remaining eye locked on Kenji with suspicion.

Kenji quickly scanned the surrounding area, searching for any sign of White Zetsu's presence.

Nothing. The area was clean.

That was unusual. White Zetsu had been monitoring Shisui closely for weeks, keeping tabs on the young prodigy's movements and reporting back to Obito. The sudden absence suggested that losing one Sharingan had made Shisui less valuable as a surveillance target. Or maybe they'd already gotten what they wanted and moved on to the next phase of their plan.

"Kenji?"

Shisui's voice was cautious. His single eye tracked every movement. Even though the markings covering Kenji's face should have made identification difficult, Shisui had clearly recognized him anyway. But instead of relaxing, he remained several meters away.

Of course he was paranoid. After what Danzō had done, why wouldn't he assume that Kenji was here to finish the job and take his other eye?

"Don't be nervous," Kenji said, keeping his hands visible and his posture non-threatening. "Danzō and I aren't allies. We're not even on the same side."

Shisui's stance shifted, though he didn't fully lower his guard.

The war hawk had taken one of Konoha's most loyal and talented young ninjas and driven him to the edge of defection through sheer greed and shortsighted ambition. Shisui was one of the rare sane Uchiha. Unlike the parade of mentally unstable Mangekyō users who'd littered the clan's history, he had cared about others. He'd wanted peace and cooperation. He'd been willing to sacrifice himself if it meant protecting both his clan and his village.

And Danzō had repaid that loyalty by ripping out his eye.

In the original timeline, it had been Hiruzen who'd assigned Shisui to handle the Uchiha situation. Yet after losing his eye, Shisui had chosen to entrust his remaining Sharingan to Itachi and commit suicide rather than go to the Third Hokage for help.

That showed how completely Danzō's betrayal had shattered his faith in Konoha's leadership. The fact that such a fundamentally good person had seen death as preferable to asking for help was damning. If he had been less kind-hearted, less forgiving, the Akatsuki would have gained another S-rank member that day.

"You know that Danzō took my right eye?" Shisui asked slowly. His eye narrowed, studying Kenji's face. "How?"

"Not only do I know," Kenji said, reaching into his ninja pouch. "I took it back."

He pulled out a sealing scroll and held it up so Shisui could see it clearly.

"Your Sharingan isn't lost. It's right here. Danzō doesn't have it anymore."

Shisui's eye went wide. His mouth opened slightly, then closed. When he spoke again, his voice had gone quiet.

"Thank you."

The words sounded stunned, like he couldn't quite process what he was hearing.

"You were way too careless. Minato warned you specifically to watch out for Danzō. How did you still let him get the jump on you?"

"I didn't expect..." Shisui scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I didn't expect him to use Izanagi. I thought I had him completely under control."

"We can discuss your tactical mistakes later," Kenji said. "Right now, we need to get you to the Hokage Building. Minato's waiting, and we should restore your eye before any more time passes."

Before Shisui could respond, Kenji closed the distance between them in an instant. His hand settled gently on the Uchiha's shoulder.

"Wait, what are you—"

The world twisted.

Space-time ninjutsu activated, linking to the Flying Thunder God mark Kenji had placed in Minato's office. Reality blurred and reformed around them. The empty street vanished, replaced by the familiar interior of the Hokage's workspace. Kenji had primed the technique in advance.

"...doing?" Shisui finished, his voice trailing off in shock.

They were standing in the center of the office. Minato was already there, sitting at his desk with paperwork spread out in front of him. He looked up as they appeared, completely unsurprised by their sudden arrival.

"Space-time ninjutsu," Shisui's eye darted around, confirming their location. "We just traveled from the training grounds to the center of the village in an instant..."

His gaze swung back to Kenji. "I knew you were strong, but this..."

"Shisui," Minato said, standing up from his desk. He moved around it to approach them. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Hokage-sama. Just a minor injury."

"Don't worry about security," Minato continued, gesturing vaguely at the walls. "I've set up sealing barriers around this office. Nothing we say will leak outside this room."

He'd already known about Shisui's situation through the intelligence Kenji's puppet had provided. The barriers had been prepared in advance.

Minato's expression shifted. "I'm sorry, Shisui. I never expected Danzō would attack a fellow Konoha ninja for his own selfish gain. That kind of betrayal..."

He trailed off, and for a moment something cold flickered in his eyes.

"However, now isn't the time to move against him directly. He still holds the position of Hokage's advisor, and Root has deep connections throughout the village. Without proper justification and evidence, I can't dismantle his organization completely. But I promise you, it won't be long. He's crossed a line that can't be uncrossed."

Danzō had made himself a target. Minato was simply waiting for the right opportunity to eliminate the threat he represented.

"You don't need to apologize, Hokage-sama," Shisui said quickly. "This was his personal action. It doesn't reflect on you or your leadership."

Kenji resisted the urge to roll his eyes at that. Shisui's capacity for forgiveness was almost pathological. The man had just been mutilated by a village elder, and he was still making excuses for the system.

"Enough talking," he cut in. "Your eye's still a mess. Let's fix that first."

He gestured toward a medical mat laid out near the wall. "Minato, have him lie down over there."

Minato nodded and guided Shisui to the mat. The young Uchiha complied, settling onto his back and looking up at the ceiling with his remaining eye.

Kenji unsealed the storage scroll and removed the glass container filled with green nutrient solution. Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan floated inside. He set the container down on a nearby table and opened it. The Sharingan responded to exposure to air, the tomoe pattern shifting slightly.

"This is going to feel strange," he warned as he gathered medical chakra into his hands. Pale green light enveloped his palms. "Try to stay still."

He knelt beside Shisui and began the procedure.

First, he cleaned the damaged tissue around the empty eye socket. Blood had dried and crusted along the edges, and there was some minor infection starting to set in. He burned that away with precise applications of medical chakra, sterilizing the wound.

Next came the delicate part. He lifted the Sharingan from its container, cradling it between his fingers. The eye was slick with nutrient solution but otherwise intact. All the optical nerves were still attached, though they'd been severed when Danzō ripped it out.

He positioned the eye at the socket's entrance and began the reattachment process. Medical chakra flowed from his hands into Shisui's head, seeking out the severed nerve endings and reconnecting them. The optic nerve, the ciliary nerves, the blood vessels that supplied oxygen and nutrients, all of them had to be precisely reattached or the eye would be useless.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as he worked. This level of medical ninjutsu required absolute concentration.

Minutes passed in silence.

Finally, he pulled back. "Done. Try opening your eyes and tell me what you see."

Shisui's eyelids fluttered. Both eyes opened, and the pupils immediately shifted from black to crimson. The Sharingan activated automatically, three tomoe spinning in each eye.

"It's perfect." Shisui turned his head left and right, testing his restored depth perception. "It's like it was never damaged."

He sat up and bowed deeply toward Kenji. "Thank you. I don't know how I can ever repay this."

"You can start by not getting ambushed again," Kenji said dryly. "And maybe by being more suspicious of old men who approach you alone in empty streets."

"I..." Shisui's face turned red. "Yeah. That was pretty stupid of me."

"You're Shisui of the Body Flicker," Kenji continued. "Your entire reputation is built on being faster than anyone can track. And you let an elderly bureaucrat with a cane catch you off guard. If word gets out, people are going to start questioning whether you deserve that title."

"There won't be a next time," Shisui muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I promise."

Minato cleared his throat. "Now that you're recovered, we need to discuss what happens next."