After what felt like an eternity but could only have been a few minutes, he finally broke through the exit of the underground base.
The night air hit his face, cool and sharp, and he lifted his gaze toward the open sky.
The stars were still the same, the moon still shone bright.....but to Shisui, it all felt distant, as if he had returned to a world he no longer belonged to.
Though he had escaped Danzō's clutches, he knew it was far from over.
The Root pursuers would be on him soon. He could not afford to stop now.
Worse yet, he could feel his Susanoo beginning to falter.
His Mangekyō Sharingan throbbed violently with pain; each heartbeat sent sharp stabs through his skull.
Had it not been for his years of rigorous training and sheer willpower, he would have collapsed already.
But his body.....his body was failing. The poison had spread further.
He had tried every antidote he carried, drinking each vial one after another, but none worked.
In fact, it felt as if the poison had grown even more aggressive, as though mocking his futile efforts.
He didn't stop at the cave mouth. He moved, pushing forward toward the Uchiha compound in the village.
If his Susanoo faded before he reached safety, and if the Root caught up… it would be the end.
The Foundation's hideout wasn't close to the main village.
That distance was deliberate.....Danzō had built it far from prying eyes to avoid being discovered by wandering villagers or low-ranked shinobi on nearby missions.
For an elite jōnin, the distance was trivial. But for the poisoned, battered Shisui, it felt impossibly far.....each step heavier than the last.
As he neared Konoha, his breath grew shallower.
His chest down to his waist was completely numb; the poison had reached this far already.
He knew that once it reached his heart, it would all be over.
His Susanoo trembled, its form flickering as his chakra and mental energy neared exhaustion.
His vision blurred, his head throbbed, and his consciousness began to fade.
He forced himself onward purely by instinct...a desperate echo of his willpower.
Then, suddenly.....his heart seized.
A burst of unbearable pain tore through his chest.
The poison had reached it.
His Susanoo shattered in an instant, dissolving into scattered green fragments of light.
Shisui's body plummeted, crashing heavily onto the ground below.
The impact jolted him, clearing his mind just a little, enough to regain a sliver of clarity.
But his limbs refused to move. He lay there, gasping weakly.
"…So… in the end, I still failed to keep my promise to Arata…" he murmured faintly.
"I can only hope he'll use this chance to lead our clan away from destruction…"
His eyes, now dull and black.....the Sharingan long gone.....gazed at the sky.
A faint smile tugged at his lips as a bird flew past overhead.
His vision darkened, his consciousness slipping toward the abyss.
Just before the world went completely black, he heard a voice....someone calling his name. "Shisui!"
For a moment, he thought it was an illusion, a trick of the dying mind.
But then the voice came again, louder, clearer. It was no hallucination.
Uchiha Arata had come for him.
Shisui tried to open his mouth, to answer...but all that escaped was a faint, broken sound.
The ground beneath him trembled slightly, then his vision filled with shadow as someone knelt beside him.
With great effort, he focused his gaze....and there it was: Arata's face, filled with anxiety and pain.
Arata immediately placed his hands over Shisui's chest, activating the Healing Palm Technique.
Green light shimmered faintly as he scanned Shisui's condition, searching desperately for any chance to save him.
But the moment his chakra entered Shisui's body, Arata froze.
Something was terribly wrong. He tore open Shisui's blood-soaked shirt.....and his heart sank.
Shisui's skin had turned a deep, poisonous purple. His cells were dead, his flesh beyond repair.
Even the most advanced medical ninjutsu could do nothing.
Shisui caught the look on Arata's face and understood instantly.
He had known it from the start.
Danzō wasn't the type to bluff. When he said even Tsunade couldn't cure the poison, he meant it.
A faint smile crossed Shisui's lips. "Our promise… is fulfilled," he whispered.
"I've brought my body back intact. The rest… is up to you."
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