Lead-colored clouds blocked out the sunlight. Cold mist dampened the hem of his coat. Even though it was just past noon, the gloomy sky made it feel like night was about to fall. Uchiha Shisui walked along a mostly deserted street, tightening his coat and scanning the shops on either side. After walking halfway down the street, he finally saw a small diner that was open for business.
At this point, he clearly had no room to be picky.
His stomach growled loudly.
After days of eating cold food on the road, he missed a hot bowl of red bean soup with mochi and stir-fried udon.
The diner was small, with fewer than ten seats. The dim yellow light brought a touch of warmth, and the floor was spotless. There was little noise, with only two customers quietly enjoying their lunch in the farthest corner.
Shisui pulled out a chair at an empty table near the entrance and sat down.
"Welcome! What would you like to order?"
The waitress was a short girl with bright, curious eyes—probably the owner's daughter. Small family-run shops often didn't have the luxury of hiring extra staff. Whether in the Land of Water or the Land of Fire, the lives of ordinary people were the same: tough and unrelenting.
The old man with fully white hair, likely her grandfather, was also wiping down tables that were already clean.
Shisui took the menu and scanned it. Luckily, he immediately spotted stir-fried udon and red bean soup with mochi. "Do you have everything on the menu?"
"We do! What would you like?"
Her voice was bright and clear.
"Hmm… I'll have the stir-fried udon and the red bean soup with mochi," Shisui said, patting his rumbling stomach. He decided to treat himself today and glanced over the menu again. "Also, give me an order of grilled pork and fried chicken cutlet."
He had only eaten a cold plum rice ball for breakfast while rushing on his journey, and now that was long gone. His stomach was completely empty.
He couldn't help but sigh at his own indulgence. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel[f]ire.net
Back on the battlefield, there were times he wouldn't have a hot meal for days, surviving on military rations. But now, just skipping one meal left him feeling ravenous. Living in peace truly softened one's resolve.
The wait felt endless.
Shisui's mind began to wander, thinking about his mission to find the Six Paths Tools. The intelligence he received from Sougen was frustratingly vague, with only some islands of various sizes circled on a map of the Land of Water. But once Shisui arrived, he realized that those circles represented areas much larger than they appeared on the map.
A tiny dot of an island on the map could actually take half an hour to cross.
And that was measured by a ninja's speed.
To find a few ancient tools that could be hidden in any random corner, he couldn't just dash across the island and be done. He needed to comb every inch of land. After searching two small islands without any luck, Shisui realized this approach wasn't going to work—he needed a better plan.
But he hadn't come up with one yet.
It had been decades since the tools were lost. If they were easy to find, someone would have discovered them by now. Many of the islands were desolate, with no one to ask for help or even share old stories. All he could do was search every inch of the land.
"Where could they be?"
Shisui rubbed his temples, frustrated.
The sooner he found the Six Paths Tools, the sooner he could go home. But given the current situation, he doubted he'd finish this mission quickly. It might drag on until his time ran out, with nothing to show for it. This needle-in-a-haystack task was wearing him down.
"Are you looking for someone… or something?"
A raspy voice broke into his thoughts, sending a chill down Shisui's spine.
The voice dripped with malice, coiling around him like a poisonous snake.
"Who are you?" he asked, calm but alert.
In the deepest corner of the diner sat two figures, one large and one small. The smaller one was a boy, about seven or eight years old, with white hair, green eyes, and red marks on his forehead. He was strikingly handsome. As for the person sitting across from him, most of their body was hidden behind a pillar, with only a glimpse of long black hair reaching down to their waist visible to Shisui.
When Shisui entered the diner, his trained eyes had quickly noticed that the boy had already refined chakra—a significant amount, too, enough for Shisui to genuinely admire his talent. The other person… made Shisui feel a sense of danger and faint familiarity.
The man hadn't shown any hostility when Shisui entered.
Shisui, who preferred to avoid unnecessary trouble, had no intention of provoking them. But it seemed the other person had no such reservations. After a long silence, their deep malice finally surfaced.
"Shisui, we've met before when you joined the Anbu. Have you forgotten me already?"
The man's voice slithered from behind the pillar as his head turned unnaturally 180 degrees. A pale face, devoid of any color, stared back at Shisui. His golden, snake-like eyes glimmered with excitement and cruelty. His purple eye shadow extended to his nose, and two blue-green magatama earrings dangled from his ears.
Shisui's expression became serious.
He hadn't expected to run into Orochimaru, Konoha's most wanted criminal, here of all places. Was this good luck or bad?
Back when Shisui joined the Anbu, Orochimaru hadn't yet defected, so they'd crossed paths a few times. It made sense that he found the man familiar but couldn't immediately place him.
"What are you doing here?"
Shisui's Sharingan flared red as he glared at Orochimaru.
"Is it strange for a rogue ninja like me to wander about? But you, Shisui—what are you doing here? This isn't Konoha, nor is it the Land of Fire. What are you searching for?" Orochimaru licked his lips, his curiosity blatant.
Though he had defected from Konoha, Orochimaru still had many followers who fed him information, including his ally Danzo. Even after leaving the village, he remained well-informed about its affairs—until Danzo's sudden death, followed by the unexpected ousting of his former teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, as Hokage.
This series of shocking events brought Orochimaru's attention back to the Uchiha clan, which had seemingly fallen into obscurity.
Especially when his spies reported seeing a "deep crimson skeletal giant," reminding Orochimaru of the notes left behind by the Second Hokage. Those notes described the "Mangekyō Sharingan" and "Susanoo."
At the time, none of the Uchiha had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, and the clan's elite jōnin were troublesome to deal with. Starting a conflict with them would have been risky. Orochimaru had put aside his research on the Mangekyō for later.
He never imagined that later would come so soon. Uchiha Sougen had demonstrated the power of Susanoo in full view of many.
Just as Orochimaru was preparing to leave the Land of Water and return to the Land of Fire, he received more intelligence: Sougen had led Konoha's forces in a major battle against the Hidden Mist at the eastern border. So Orochimaru decided to stay in the Land of Water, continuing his own search for two long-lost corpses.
He received word that Sougen had come to the Land of Water and was heading for the Hidden Mist Village.
And now, just as Orochimaru had finished his search and was heading toward the village, he stumbled upon another Uchiha.
"This has nothing to do with you, Orochimaru. You'd better think about how you'll atone for your crimes once you're in Konoha's prison!"
Shisui stood up, pushing his chair back and drawing the small sword strapped to his back, ready for battle.
If it had been a rogue ninja from the Mist, Stone, Sand, or Cloud Villages, Shisui likely wouldn't have gotten involved. But Orochimaru was Konoha's rogue ninja. Now that they had crossed paths, Shisui couldn't simply turn a blind eye.
Orochimaru clearly had no intention of letting Shisui go. Before facing Sougen, he relished the chance to spar with another Uchiha of the three-tomoe Sharingan level. Not only would it help him brush up on his memory of fighting the Uchiha, but with a little luck, he might even get his hands on a pair of Sharingan.
Orochimaru sneered. "Such things mean nothing to me, Shisui. Now, why don't you give me your eyes right here and now?"