Chapter 52: Preparing to Deal with Danzo

The next day, Shisui’s body was discovered in the Naka River.

The Uchiha clan immediately erupted into an uproar!

It wasn’t only because the dead Shisui had been known as the strongest shinobi in the Uchiha clan.

More importantly, both of his eyes were missing from his corpse.

At Reiji’s home.

Having just learned the news, Reiji felt a wave of melancholy wash over him.

Even though he had already known that Shisui would commit suicide the previous day, he still felt a sense of sorrow now that it had actually happened.

Amid his emotional turmoil, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes opened automatically.

Over the past two years, his interactions with Shisui had long since turned them into friends.

Although Reiji had always held the Will of Fire that Shisui constantly spoke about in contempt, Shisui himself was still a pretty good person.

He had a kind and amiable personality, always wore a smile on his face, and left a good impression on everyone he met.

As a teammate, he was powerful and gave others a strong sense of security.

Although his heart was devoted to the village, he could also understand the resentment of the Uchiha clan members.

Day after day, he tirelessly tried to reconcile the two sides, even though his efforts were ultimately futile.

Someone like that had still ended up dying.

Why?

Your death truly wouldn’t accomplish anything.

The Uchiha clan’s anger wouldn’t disappear.

Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn’t change either.

What was destined to come would still come in the end.

Knock, knock, knock!

Someone was pounding urgently on the front door.

The person outside seemed extremely anxious, their voice loud and hurried.

"Reiji, open the door! Why exactly did Shisui die?!"

Reiji exhaled, composed his expression, and got up to walk outside.

Outside stood Uchiha Yashiro, Uchiha Inabi, Uchiha Tekka, and a large group of other Uchiha clan members.

Every person here had been close to Shisui.

At this moment, some wore expressions of confusion, while others were barely able to contain their anger.

Uchiha Yashiro was the first to speak.

"Reiji, you, Shisui, and Itachi didn’t attend the clan meeting last night. What exactly happened? How did Shisui die?!"

Although Reiji had previously sent word through his subordinates that he would come later, Shisui had ultimately chosen to commit suicide, and Reiji had lost the mood to attend the clan meeting.

"Shisui committed suicide. You should be able to tell that much."

Reiji’s expression remained emotionless.

"We know that!"

Uchiha Inabi was extremely agitated, his anger almost impossible to suppress.

Judging from Shisui’s condition when his body was discovered, there was no doubt that he had deliberately drowned himself.

But—

"What exactly did Shisui go through? Why would he throw himself into the river and commit suicide? And where did his eyes go?!" Uchiha Inabi demanded one question after another.

If he hadn’t known Reiji for so long and trusted his character, he might even have suspected that Reiji had killed Shisui.

"Sorry. Shisui didn’t want me to tell you about what happened yesterday. That was his final request before his death."

Reiji spoke calmly.

As for the truth behind Shisui’s death, he had no intention of revealing it for the time being.

If he told them everything now, the clan members might immediately launch a coup.

His overall strength was currently at the level of a Quasi-Kage (Strong).

With the Eight Gates added on top of that, he was strong enough to fight a Kage-level opponent.

But if a coup broke out, his enemies wouldn’t just be Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo.

There would also be the ANBU and Root under their command, as well as a large number of members of the Sarutobi clan.

At that point, even if he could unleash genuine Kage-level strength, victory would still be uncertain.

And the Uchiha clan would suffer enormous casualties as well.

Uchiha Inabi and the others fell silent.

That really was something Shisui might have asked for.

But what exactly could have happened to make Shisui unwilling to tell them?

"...Reiji, at least tell us something. You can’t expect us to just accept Shisui’s death without knowing why, can you?"

Uchiha Inabi spoke helplessly.

After remaining silent for a long time, Reiji’s lips moved slightly, a hint of mockery appearing on his face.

"Shisui died because of the Will of Fire."

After saying that, he paid no further attention to the bewildered Uchiha Inabi and the others, simply turning around and returning home.

Why had Shisui committed suicide?

On one hand, Shisui didn’t want to see a future in which the Uchiha launched a coup or the village exterminated the Uchiha.

On the other hand, Shisui also wanted to use his own death to at least temporarily dispel the clan members’ desire to launch a coup.

After all, if even the strongest shinobi in their own clan had died, who would still be thinking about launching a coup?

In order to maintain a brief period of peace between the village and the Uchiha, Uchiha Shisui had chosen to die.

"Truly... ridiculous."

Shisui was willing to die for the sake of peace within the village.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others would never give up the power in their hands simply because Shisui had died!

They would continue suppressing the Uchiha all the same, because the clan posed a potential threat to their authority.

Reiji gently touched his eyes, sensing the increase in his ocular power.

The emotional upheaval just now had increased his ocular power by another 500 points, bringing it to 4,500 points.

"Unfortunately, I’m still some distance away from the Mangekyo... That guy Uchiha Itachi should have already awakened his Mangekyo, right? Tch, it’s really irritating."

Reiji clicked his tongue.

Although the explosive increase in strength that came with awakening the Mangekyo was achieved by drawing upon one’s future potential, it had to be admitted that evolving from the Three-Tomoe Sharingan to the Mangekyo Sharingan truly resulted in a tremendous increase in strength.

Previously, Uchiha Itachi had, at most, possessed the strength of an Elite Jonin.

Now that he had awakened the Mangekyo, his strength had probably jumped directly to the Quasi-Kage level.

And that was despite him being only twelve years old.

If someone like the Shippuden-era Sasuke had awakened the Mangekyo at sixteen or seventeen, his strength would probably have risen directly to the Kage level.

"My ocular power is slightly lower than his now, but aside from that, my other abilities were already far beyond his."

After confirming that his strength should be above Uchiha Itachi’s, Reiji nodded slightly.

Regardless of what happened, he didn’t want to lose to someone like Uchiha Itachi.

"Danzo..."

As he murmured that name, killing intent surfaced in Reiji’s eyes.

He had to find a way to eliminate Danzo and his Root forces first.

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