"I might die here today! "
Uchiha Shisui's heart sank into despair.
With his latest death and resurrection, the five-minute limit of Izanagi—paid for by the blindness of his right eye—had expired.
Worse still, his ocular power was completely drained; he could no longer summon Susanoo.
With no chakra left and the unbreakable Uchiha Fire Flame Formation sealing the area, escape was impossible. He was at a dead end.
"Uchiha Shisui, today is the day you die! "
Sensing Shisui's exhausted state, Uchiha Fugaku's face hardened, his expression glacial.
To him, Shisui was a traitor—an Uchiha who couldn't see that the clan's plight was orchestrated by the Third Hokage.
A clansman who willingly obeyed the Hokage's orders to strike against his own people.
A wolf in sheep's clothing, Fugaku thought. Only your death can quell my fury.
"I can't let the Mangekyō Sharingan fall into his hands! "
Shisui touched his remaining left eye. He knew all too well the power it held. Should it fall into the wrong hands, it would become a catastrophic threat.
And Fugaku, in his eyes, was exactly that sort of man. He couldn't allow his Mangekyō to be taken.
He made his decision.
"Izanagi!"
Activating Izanagi once more, he sacrificed his left Mangekyō Sharingan, destroying the eye entirely to ensure Fugaku would never possess it.
"Just as I expected," Fugaku sneered.
Of course, he had desired Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.
But wresting a Mangekyō eye from a Kage-level shinobi—especially one on guard—was nearly impossible. Even Danzō had succeeded only by catching Shisui off guard with Izanagi in the original timeline.
Fugaku hadn't expected to claim the eye, and the outcome unfolded exactly as predicted—Shisui destroyed it.
"Shisui-ryū: Body Flicker Technique! "
With his left eye's vision already fading into darkness, Shisui unleashed his ultimate technique.
Dozens of afterimages split from his form, each converging on Fugaku in one desperate, final assault.
The odds were slim, but he had to try—one last chance to kill Fugaku and protect the village's fragile peace.
"Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals! "
Fugaku's lips curled into a scornful smile as he watched Shisui's desperate charge.
Shisui at his peak had been no match for him—how could this exhausted shadow hope to prevail?
Forming hand seals, Fugaku summoned a hall of mirrors: dozens of crystalline ice panels surrounded them.
In a blink, he melded into one of the mirrors.
Slash—
A beam of light shot from a mirror—Fugaku crossed Shisui in an instant. The tip of his kunai traced a bloody line across Shisui's body before he vanished into another mirror.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
Again and again, Fugaku shifted from mirror to mirror, each time crossing paths with Shisui, each time cutting him with surgical precision.
Shisui countered with body flicker after body flicker, but even at full speed, he couldn't match Fugaku's terrifying velocity.
Deep wounds opened across his body, some so severe that bone showed through. Blood streamed from him in torrents.
Thud—
A kunai pierced Shisui's brow, his vision contracting violently in his final moment before death.
Buzz—
And then he revived—whole again, thanks to Izanagi.
Fugaku's cold smile widened, and he struck again.
During Izanagi's duration, Shisui could revive endlessly. But the agony of each death, the suffocating terror that came with it—those were real.
Fugaku would kill him over and over, forcing him to experience the pain and fear of death repeatedly.
A quick death would be mercy; this was punishment. Punishment for betraying the Uchiha, for siding with the Third Hokage.
For such a traitor, no cruelty was excessive.
If Shisui had never existed, the Uchiha might have survived.
Why should a traitor like you be spared when no mercy was shown to the hundreds of innocent Uchiha—men, women, and children—who were massacred on the night of the clan's downfall?
Ten minutes passed.
Shisui's left eye finally went blind; Izanagi's effect ended.
The Mangekyō Sharingan's power far surpassed a three-tomoe Sharingan, which was why Shisui's Izanagi had lasted so long.
But the extended duration brought no relief—only more suffering.
Over that time, he had died more than a dozen times, each death adding to the torment until his mind began to fray.
"Uchiha Shisui, for betraying the Uchiha Clan—I now pronounce your execution."
Fugaku's voice was solemn as he gazed at the now-blind Shisui.
Whoosh—
He closed in. Shisui, relying on sound alone, swung his katana toward the approaching presence.
Fugaku sidestepped easily, driving his chipped kunai mercilessly into Shisui's chest.
Had he not wanted to keep the corpse intact, he would have torn Shisui apart once more.
Squelch—
Blood welled from the pierced heart.
Shisui swung blindly in retaliation, but Fugaku was already gone.
That strike consumed the last of his strength.
Thud—
He staggered, then collapsed heavily to the ground.
In the instant before death claimed him, regret shadowed his face—regret that he had failed to take Fugaku with him and safeguard the peace of Konoha.