"What? You're Uchiha Madara? No impossible! Madara lived in the same era as the First Hokage. There's no way you could be him!"
Uchiha Shisui's face twisted in disbelief.
Uchiha Madara ancestor of the Uchiha Clan, a legend from the First Hokage's time, and the only man who could rival Hashirama Senju during that era.
But Madara had died decades ago. How could the man standing before him be Uchiha Madara?
Yet if he wasn't… how could he possess the Mangekyō Sharingan?
According to the clan's records, no one had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan since Madara himself.
"You've heard of Kakuzu, haven't you?"
Pleased by Shisui's shock and sensing a crack in his doubt Uchiha Obito pressed the advantage.
"A wielder of forbidden jutsu, with Kage-level strength, exact age unknown… but definitely very old," Shisui recited from memory.
"Old, indeed. He lived during the same era as me and Hashirama," Obito "reminisced."
"He even tried to assassinate Hashirama once, but the First was too soft-hearted to kill him. Otherwise, he wouldn't still be around today."
Obito had spent considerable time with the real Madara—he knew the stories well.
"Someone from the First Hokage's era…" Shisui muttered, stunned.
He was skeptical of the man's claim to be Madara, but as for Kakuzu… that part, he could believe.
The data he'd seen did suggest an unusually long lifespan.
"If even a lowly insect like that could survive this long, why couldn't I?" Obito declared confidently. "Had the First not suffered such serious injuries during our battle, he might have survived into this era as well."
"Why did you sneak into my home?" Shisui asked, his suspicion unresolved.
"Among today's Uchiha, you're the only one I truly recognize."
"So how about it? Interested in joining the organization I created?" Obito offered.
"Join your organization? Never!" Shisui refused flatly.
This man, even if he were a clan elder, was clearly an enemy of Konoha. There was no way he would betray the village by joining him.
"Don't be so quick to refuse. Joining us only benefits you—there's no downside."
"You're an enemy of the Leaf. Even if you're a senior of the Uchiha, I'll never join your group!" Shisui said firmly.
"Your eyesight… it's already starting to decline, isn't it?" Obito said coldly. "Keep using your eyes like this, and you'll go blind. Not even the best medical-nin can help you."
"But if you join me I can stop your vision from fading."
He dangled the bait.
Obito was certain: once someone tasted the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan, they'd never want to lose it.
Konoha didn't have the means to treat the Mangekyō's side effects. Only he did. And if Shisui wanted to preserve his sight, he'd have no choice but to follow him.
"You… you can stop the blindness?" Shisui asked in surprise.
He had indeed noticed it every time he used the Mangekyō, his vision declined a little more.
It wasn't drastic yet, but at this rate, blindness was inevitable.
He'd suspected it was a side effect of the Mangekyō. Now he had confirmation.
He wasn't a special case. It was a curse shared by all who bore these eyes.
"Of course. Otherwise, I would've gone blind long ago."
Obito pressed again.
"Come join us. If you do, you can wield these eyes freely without worry."
"As much as I want to keep my sight, I'll never join your organization." Shisui refused without hesitation.
If he abandoned Konoha just to protect his vision, what made him any different from the short-sighted clansmen who only cared about Uchiha interests?
He carried a higher purpose one for peace in the village. His convictions would never allow such betrayal.
"Is that so? What a pity..."
Obito's voice turned cold.
Shisui's tone left no room for doubt. There was little chance he could be swayed now.
"If you won't join me, then you're my enemy!"
"Wood Style: Cutting Sprigs Jutsu!"
Green chakra surged in his palm. A wooden branch shot from Obito's hand sharp as a blade.
He advanced on Shisui with deadly intent.
"Kotoamatsukami!"
Knowing the threat Obito posed, Shisui's eyes spun rapidly as he activated his ultimate genjutsu.
Unlike other Sharingan illusions, Kotoamatsukami didn't require direct eye contact. It was a powerful, nearly unavoidable jutsu.
But—just like their last encounter—it failed again.
Despite being in Shisui's field of vision, the enemy felt… unreal. Like a reflection in water there, but untouchable.
"It's useless. Your eye technique won't work on me," Obito said with a mocking smile.
He was completely intangible, using Kamui's phase-shift state.
Shisui's jutsu, no matter how subtle or potent, could never land on someone who wasn't really "there." In this case, Obito's power completely countered it.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
When Kotoamatsukami failed, Shisui drew his blade and formed a one-handed seal.
Whoosh—
Dozens of identical clones burst into view around him.
Each one was identical. There was no way to distinguish the real from the fake.
"Surely you know these eyes can see through clones instantly!"
Ignoring the decoys, Obito lunged straight for the real Shisui, driving the sharpened wooden branch at him.
"Thunk! "
The branch stabbed into Shisui's body only for the figure to dissolve instantly.
A clone.
"A clone? That's impossible! That was the real one!" Obito exclaimed, shocked.
With Mangekyō vision, he could easily tell the difference between illusions and reality.
He was certain he'd just struck the true Shisui. But somehow, it had turned into a clone.
"Every one of me here is both real and not real!"
Shisui's voice echoed from all directions.
He was a master of the Body Flicker Technique and had created his own variant: the Shisui-Style Flicker Technique.
It allowed him to switch places with any of his clones instantly.
So in truth, every clone was him and yet none of them were.
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/XenTronix