Ishiki waited.Waited for Shisui's signal.
There was at least one shinobi among the "bandits,"but acting without confirmation that they were targeting the team would only reveal their position.
And Shisui's signal—was silence.
Then the Uchiha prodigy vanished from his perch.
Moments later, screams rang out below.
Ishiki tensed. His eyes began to blur into Sharingan, but he reined in the impulse.
Down below, the refugees had no idea what was happening behind them.The bandits, however, were dead—every last one, cut down by Shisui's blade.
Some hadn't even died to his sword—Ishiki clearly saw several of them turn on each other,killing their own allies in a frenzy of fear and confusion.
"Genjutsu," Ishiki muttered. "But… will anyone believe bandits randomly massacred each other in this wasteland?"
"They don't need to believe it," said a voice behind him—Shisui, calm as ever, no bloodlust on him at all.
He still looked like the same soft-spoken squad leader.Except now, he held a torn scroll, likely looted from one of the enemy corpses.
"Let's move. Aoba, have your scouting crows continue surveillance. If anything shifts, report immediately."
With that, Shisui leapt forward, and the squad followed.
Ishiki spared one last glance behind—he was sure Shisui had left behind a clone.
A Shadow Clone, perhaps?
Five minutes later, a team of Kumogakure shinobi arrived on the scene.
"Search the area," barked the jonin in charge.
Two ninja darted toward the corpses.The third looked up—at the crows circling overhead.
Without warning, he whipped out a barrage of shuriken and kunai,hurling them into the sky.
At the same time, his fingers began flashing through hand seals.
But he didn't finish them.
A figure stepped out from the trunk of a nearby tree,his three-tomoe Sharingan locking eyes with the enemy shinobi.
The man froze mid-seal, paralyzed.
Then—a massive Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu erupted from another direction.Simultaneously, a third attacker appeared, weaving signs,launching chakra-threaded sealing nets toward Shisui's revealed position.
But just before they hit—
Shisui's body shattered into a swarm of ravens, scattering to the wind.
The fireball scorched bark.The nets ensnared nothing but feathers.
In the next breath, the jonin leader reappeared near his entranced ally,preparing a seal to disrupt the Genjutsu.
But just as his hand reached out—
a kunai pierced his gut.
"You…!" he gasped.
But the shinobi standing before him—was not his comrade at all.
It was the real Shisui, Sharingan blazing.
When…? When did this happen? Was I already caught in a Genjutsu?Or am I still inside it now?
He crumpled.
Elsewhere—Aoba emerged with a captured, unconscious Kumo-nin:the same one who had attacked the crows.
Mirina gave Shisui a radiant smile,standing over an enemy half-buried in the earth, likely the one who'd summoned the sealing nets.
And as for the fireball-user—only a pair of hands stuck up from the soil.Ishiki stood nearby, wiping blood from his ninjatō.
Back when Shisui had slain the bandit infiltrator,he'd quietly issued new orders.
None of them had really "left."They'd only repositioned for an ambush.
Shisui had left a Shadow Clone behind—perfect for striking first.More importantly, he'd retrieved a single-use chakra tool from the corpse:a sensory-type artifact.
Its residual chakra showed it had already been used.The implication?They'd likely been detected earlier.
Continuing forward would risk walking into a trap.Better to stay, lay the bait… and wait for enemy reinforcements.
And if reinforcements had been too large?Shisui had planned to retreat.
But through his and Aoba's ninja ravens,they'd confirmed: only a single squad had arrived.
Eliminate or capture—those were the options.
Even Ishiki had been given a role.Shisui had said:
"There's no better test of a shinobi's strength than combat.In wartime, the sooner you learn to kill—the better your odds of surviving."
Ishiki agreed.
Knowledge unproven in battle?Might as well be a stage magician's trick.
He'd hidden, suppressed his chakra.And when the enemy struck, Ishiki acted.
His opponent had just cast a Fireball Jutsu—and when it missed, he paused.
That hesitation was fatal.
Ishiki's Shadow Clone closed the distance with a kunai, aiming for the throat.
But instead of blood—his blade pierced a Substitution Clone.
Then—
two hands burst from the dirt beneath him, clawing toward his ankles.
One touch—and the enemy's jutsu would detonate inside his legs.
But before they reached him—the real Ishiki dropped from above,ninjatō flashing, driving it deep into the earth.
Blood gushed up.The enemy groaned—and stopped moving.
Ishiki's clone dispersed with a poof.
Just like that—the entire fight was over in seconds.
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I will post bonus chapter if we reach 300 power stones !
300 power stones = 1 bonus chapter