Uchiha Shisui stood silently at the center of the chamber, his expression unreadable, calm to the point of eeriness.
Without a word, he walked toward the ancient chessboard resting on the table. The board was already filled with black and white stones, locked in a frozen duel of strategy. Shisui stopped before it, lowering his eyes to study the arrangement.
The silence was suffocating. The faint flicker of candlelight cast distorted shadows along the walls, each shift of flame making the figures in the room seem more sinister.
Orochimaru's golden eyes lingered on Shisui, narrowing with unusual gravity. His voice broke the silence, soft but heavy with implication.
"...This is no ordinary resurrection. Uchiha Shisui's original soul… may already be devoured—or worse, corrupted."
Tobirama's cold snort cut the air like steel. His words were laced with certainty, but beneath them was a hidden edge of unease."Corrupted or not, it changes nothing. This vessel is bound to me through Edo Tensei. Whether it is Shisui—or Uchiha Gen—I hold the reins."
The sacrifice was a deliberately flawed clone, a body of poor quality, unstable and disposable. In theory, such incompatibility left the soul shackled, weak, incapable of defiance.
And yet…
Even Tobirama, who trusted his own technique above all else, felt a faint chill at the calm, watchful aura radiating from Shisui. Something about the young Uchiha's silence gnawed at the edge of his instincts.
His voice grew sharper, cutting through the gloom:"Enough. Drop the pretense. Brat—are you Uchiha Gen?"
Shisui raised his head slowly, his movements deliberate. His crimson eyes gleamed faintly in the half-light as his lips curved into a placid smile."No, Lord Tobirama. I am Shisui. A loyal shinobi of Konoha… Shisui of the Body Flicker."
The tone was soft, almost reverent—yet something in it rang hollow.
Before the last syllable faded, Tobirama's hands blurred through seals.
Chains of sealing formula erupted across the floor like iron serpents, winding up Shisui's body in an instant. The marks glowed with suppressive force, tightening until they seemed to sink into his very flesh.
"Did you think I would fall for such a clumsy lie?" Tobirama's eyes hardened. "I'll make you serve your purpose, whether you will it or not."
The bindings pulsed. Shisui's head was forced upright, his crimson eyes locking open. Tobirama directed his will into the Edo Tensei, pushing, commanding, forcing Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan to awaken.
A terrible crimson light flared to life within Shisui's eyes. Chakra poured outward in waves, stirring the air, resonating with something unseen, something vast.
The wish contract forged by Uchiha Gen began to tremble.
"The mechanism…" Orochimaru hissed, his tongue flicking unconsciously. "It's being activated again."
Both men's gazes locked on Shisui as his power threaded into the ancient construct. The fabric of the world seemed to quiver.
Then—suddenly—Shisui froze. His body stilled, his breath paused, and for a heartbeat it was as if his soul had simply stepped away. Time itself seemed to hesitate.
Dead silence.
When motion returned, Shisui closed his eyes. A faint, almost weary smile touched his lips—one not of mockery, but of sorrow and resolve. His voice, soft and steady, broke the silence:
"This… won't do."
"I… more than anything… want to protect Konoha."
His eyes snapped open.
A blinding light burst from his pupils—Mangekyō flaring with overwhelming brilliance. The seals binding his body shattered at once, melting away like frost under flame. The Edo Tensei's control disintegrated before Tobirama's eyes.
"Kotoamatsukami," Shisui whispered, his tone absolute. "Protect Konoha."
The technique surged outward, rewriting reality with a genjutsu so deep it transcended illusion.
Tobirama's face hardened instantly. His hands moved in a blur, summoning a towering surge of Water Release. A massive torrent roared forth, a tidal wave crashing down toward Shisui.
At the same instant, Orochimaru's sleeve split open. A storm of black serpents, scales gleaming with venom, erupted forth, striking from every angle. Their hissing drowned the chamber.
But Shisui only turned his head, eyes calm, voice as tranquil as still water.
"Isn't this what you wanted? For me… to protect Konoha?"
And before their attacks could land—
The chamber fell into endless darkness.
Not the absence of light, but the suffocating weight of a genjutsu realm. The water, the snakes, the air itself—all swallowed by shadow.
Only Shisui's eyes remained, twin crimson stars burning in the void.
The darkness surged like a living tide, swallowing the chamber whole.
The walls, floor, even the flickering candles dissolved, replaced by a lattice of distorted black lines, writhing and endless. The world bent into something alien, oppressive, suffocating.
Orochimaru's pupils contracted. His keen senses, usually so sharp, faltered in this warped realm. It was as if his mind itself had been dragged into another dimension.
"Don't meet his eyes!" Tobirama's voice cut through the gloom, hard as steel. "Track his presence—feel his location!"
But the warning came too late.
Orochimaru's vision blurred, and in that instant, Shisui's Mangekyō pierced him. His body froze, his will seized. The serpent-like Sannin, who had danced with countless forbidden arts, now felt the choke of invisible chains binding every inch of him.
He strained, his chakra surging wildly, but the bonds only tightened.
A cold breath brushed the back of his neck.
"...Orochimaru-sama."
The voice was calm. Almost gentle. Yet it chilled him more than any threat.
Orochimaru turned—if such a word could even apply in this realm—and there he was. Shisui stood behind him, eyes half-lidded, lips curved into a faint smile.
"Is your dream… eternal life?"
The words were soft, almost kind, but they struck like a knife to the marrow.
Orochimaru's face darkened. His lips curled into a defensive sneer, but sweat pricked his temples. He refused to answer. To respond was to yield ground.
But the voice returned, insistent, wrapping around him like a curse.
"Don't you crave the Sharingan most of all?""I can give them to you."
Each word dripped into his ear, echoing through his skull. His iron defenses buckled under the relentless murmur, the genjutsu peeling at the edges of his will.
Shisui stepped forward, each movement impossibly heavy, each footfall pressing directly into Orochimaru's soul.
Their eyes met.
Orochimaru's trademark smile—the one that mocked gods and men alike—cracked, then froze. His throat tightened. For the first time in years, true fear stirred in him.
Shisui raised his hand, pale fingers extending. Between them pulsed two living Sharingan, crimson orbs thrumming with life, their tomoe spinning in silence. They beat like hearts torn from a chest.
"Do you want them?" Shisui whispered, his voice delicate, coaxing, irresistible.
The sight burrowed into Orochimaru's being, magnifying his hunger, his dread, his weakness. His chest heaved, sweat dripping down his pale face. His composure frayed. The abyss yawned beneath him, ready to devour.
And then—
A flash.
A ray of light tore the dark realm apart, a ripple in the suffocating illusion. A firm hand gripped Orochimaru's shoulder, dragging him back.
Tobirama's figure materialized beside him, sharp and resolute. With a single pulse of chakra, he wrenched Orochimaru from the jaws of Shisui's genjutsu.
Reality slammed back into place.
Orochimaru staggered, gasping like a drowning man breaking the surface. His face was ashen, his hair clinging to sweat-slick skin. His golden eyes darted forward—
Shisui was still there. Standing as he had been from the start. His expression unreadable, calm. As though nothing had transpired.
Tobirama's jaw tightened. He could feel the Edo Tensei vessel degrading—the poor clone body wouldn't last more than five minutes. That should have been a comfort.
But instead, unease gnawed at him.
Even bound to a failing vessel, even with his soul in flux…
Shisui's presence carried the weight of unknown destruction.