The moment Shisui Uchiha saw Fugaku Uchiha and Rei Kaguya freeze at the same time, he immediately understood what was happening.
The two of them were clashing through genjutsu.
He wanted to help Fugaku.
But the blood tears constantly spilling from Fugaku's right eye forced Shisui to abandon that unrealistic idea.
The Mangekyo Sharingan was still a realm he had yet to step into.
Even if he possessed one of the greatest genjutsu talents in the history of the Uchiha clan, he was still only nine years old. There was no way he could interfere in a genjutsu battle of this level.
As for taking advantage of Rei Kaguya's inability to move and attacking his real body?
After analyzing every ninjutsu he currently possessed, Shisui ultimately gave up on that idea as well.
There was a high chance it would only wake Rei from the genjutsu.
Konoha already had enough powerful shinobi who had personally verified just how absurdly tough Rei Kaguya's body was. There was no need to add himself, a child who was only temporarily specialized in fighting people, to that list.
"You have to win, Lord Fugaku…"
While Shisui prayed for Fugaku's victory, he also tried to think of a way to break through Rei Kaguya's Hiding in Mist Technique.
But at that moment, Fugaku, whose eyes had already been leaking bloody tears nonstop, suddenly let out a muffled groan.
Blood poured from all seven orifices.
He collapsed backward on the spot.
Seeing this, Shisui hurriedly caught Fugaku from behind.
Looking at Fugaku's unconscious face, Shisui bit down hard on his lip.
Then he raised his head and looked at Rei Kaguya, who was walking toward him and Fugaku as if nothing had happened.
"A Mangekyo Sharingan that can perform limited simulation and predict the future, huh? Quite an interesting ability… Unfortunately, the ocular power is not very strong, and the caster's quality and ambition are lacking as well. What a waste."
As he said this, Rei reached toward the unconscious Fugaku.
As expected, that small figure stepped forward decisively.
He stood between Rei Kaguya and Fugaku without the slightest hesitation, his voice so firm it did not sound like that of a child at all.
"I won't let you pass… At least, not before I become a corpse!"
"Tch. What would I want a corpse for?"
"Eh?"
Even though Shisui had already prepared himself to die, Rei's words still made him freeze for an instant.
And in that instant, Rei's palm turned straight toward him.
A幽-blue chakra lit up at his fingertips.
Then he pressed them hard against Shisui's chest.
"Sage Art: Four Symbols Seal."
"Ngh—"
Shisui let out a low cry of pain.
He immediately tried to retreat with the Body Flicker Technique, but the Four Symbols Seal activated through senjutsu chakra had already reached a strength far beyond what he could resist.
In only an instant, the chakra flow inside his body was completely suppressed.
Not only was the Body Flicker Technique he had already activated interrupted on the spot, even his three-tomoe Sharingan began showing signs of being forcibly shut down.
"D-Damn it… Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique…"
Shisui stubbornly raised his head and looked at Rei, trying to resist with the last bit of chakra he could still move.
But the genjutsu cast through his three-tomoe Sharingan could not even make Rei's chakra fluctuate.
It was directly repelled by Rei's senjutsu chakra.
"All right, brat. Accept the reality that you've already lost. I have no interest in repeating to you what I already told Fugaku Uchiha…"
Watching Shisui's eyes return to pure black, Rei stretched lazily.
Then, while releasing the Hiding in Mist Technique that covered the area, he used Water Release to create a small ball of clear water and tossed it onto Fugaku's unconscious face.
"Gah… cough, cough…"
Fugaku woke amid a fit of violent coughing.
First, he looked around in confusion.
Then his gaze fell on Rei Kaguya, who was completely unharmed, and Shisui Uchiha, who was tucked under Rei's arm with one hand.
Slowly, despair appeared on his face.
"I… lost?"
"You did lose." Rei nodded, confirming Fugaku's murmured words. "But at least you endured past the warm-up stage of my Sage Mode. More or less, you can be considered a decent expert. I'll keep my promise and let you and the other Uchiha return in one piece."
"Shisui… What about Shisui? Were you… after him from the very beginning?"
Although Fugaku was still overwhelmed by the aftereffects of having his Ego Consciousness violently broken, leaving him dizzy as if the world were spinning around him, he still fought to stay conscious.
He clenched his teeth, breathing heavily as he asked.
"Not really." Rei waved his hand and denied it. "At first, I purely came here to teach you people, who happened to run straight into my line of fire, a lesson."
"Then why…"
"A sudden whim."
A long, slender, and resilient snake slid out from Rei's sleeve.
It wrapped the powerless Shisui Uchiha tightly from head to toe.
Then Rei looked at Fugaku, who was struggling to climb up from the ground, and spoke unhurriedly.
"Instead of worrying about this brat, whom you may not meet again for a very long time, you should think about how to bring those clansmen of yours back to Konoha's camp first.
"For some personal reasons, I plan to let you Uchiha live. But my colleagues, whose countless comrades were killed by you people, may not be willing to let you escape."
"This heavy mist is about to disperse."
After saying this, Rei carried Shisui and quietly vanished into the thinning mist.
Watching his figure disappear, Fugaku clenched his teeth.
With strength that came from who knew where, he slammed his fist hard into the ground beside him.
"Damn it… Damn it, damn it, damn it! Rei Kaguya! I will repay this humiliation twice over in my lifetime! I swear it! I swear it!"
After venting his helpless rage in place for a while, Fugaku eventually had no choice but to accept reality.
Dragging his nearly exhausted body, he walked toward the clansmen who were still unconsciously groaning in pain.
He knew very well what kind of public backlash it would bring upon him and the Uchiha clan when the assault squad had been almost completely wiped out, yet the Uchiha members had nearly all survived.
He also knew this was Rei Kaguya's open scheme against the Uchiha clan.
But what could he do?
Was he supposed to blame Rei Kaguya for not killing him and every other Uchiha who participated in the raid?
Or was he supposed to personally kill the few clansmen who had narrowly survived in order to preserve the Uchiha clan's reputation?
Impossible.
Fugaku Uchiha was not the kind of man who could harden his heart enough to slaughter friends and relatives who had fought beside him.
So he could only dig his clansmen out from underground one by one.
While the mist had yet to disperse completely, he did his best to bring them closer to Konoha's stronghold.
At the same time, he silently prayed that Konoha's higher-ups would not believe those resentment-filled rumors.
As for Shisui Uchiha's safety…
Ridiculous as it was, because his understanding of Rei Kaguya was far too lacking, Fugaku could not even use the Mangekyo ability of his left eye—Void Consciousness—to simulate what might happen after Shisui fell into Rei's hands.
"Even after obtaining the Mangekyo Sharingan, all I barely gained was the qualification to not be instantly crushed by Rei Kaguya's presence alone… Is it truly only a monster like Madara Uchiha, who seized the eyes of his closest kin and evolved the Mangekyo Sharingan to a higher level, who can stand against him?"
Looking at the Konoha stronghold not far away, and at his eldest son, Itachi Uchiha, who was clumsily helping the other shinobi inside the stronghold, Fugaku clenched his teeth.
Silently, in his heart, he made an unbearably tragic decision.
"I'm sorry, Mikoto. I'm sorry, Itachi… And I'm sorry, my second child who has yet to be born."