Four months had passed since the fortuitous encounter where Shisui Uchiha had left his "homework" on micro-flows of chakra. Autumn now painted the leaves of the Konoha forest in shades of copper and blood.
In that same isolated clearing, the constant sound of fabric cutting through the wind echoed. Matsuri wasn't just swinging the wooden sword. He was executing what he had secretly dubbed the Interception Katas.
He had taken the rigid, linear stances of the Gōken (Strong Fist) taught at the Academy and deconstructed them. Instead of direct punches and heavy strides, he applied a circular fluidity for evasion. But his real trump card was in his feet. Beneath the soles of his shinobi sandals, a thin, almost invisible layer of chakra remained stable.
Matsuri advanced half a meter in the blink of an eye, anchoring his left heel to the ground with chakra and using the inertia to spin his body in a perfect 180-degree arc. The wooden sword hummed, stopping millimetrically just inches from an oak trunk. Perfect balance. No energy leakage.
"You finally stopped looking like a drunk duck trying to dance on an ice rink."
The familiar voice descended from the trees.
Matsuri lowered his sword, breaking his stance with a controlled breath before turning around. Shisui was leaning against the trunk of a nearby tree, his arms crossed and a tired smile on his face.
Despite the lightness in the prodigy's tone, Matsuri's Nature Breathing triggered alarms in his mind. Shisui looked terrible. There were deep dark circles under his dark eyes, his posture was rigid beneath the ninja mesh, and the aura around him carried a dense, almost suffocating weight. The political tension between the Uchiha clan and the village was crushing him alive.
"And you look like you haven't slept since the Third Shinobi War," Matsuri countered, stowing the wooden sword on his back and crossing his arms, maintaining his usual sarcastic humor. "Seriously, Shisui-san, if you pass out from exhaustion in my clearing, I'm going to leave you there and tell the ANBU you tripped on a root. I'm not big enough to carry a corpse."
Shisui let out a genuine laugh, throwing his head back. The sound seemed to relieve the tension in his shoulders for a fraction of a second.
"Fair enough. That would be a tragic end for Shunshin no Shisui," he smiled, walking to the center of the clearing. "Show me what you've done these last few months. Don't hold back."
Shisui didn't wait. He didn't draw his sword, but he reached into his pouch and fired three blunt kunai at Matsuri with terrifying speed, spreading them to cover the boy's blind spots.
Matsuri's eyes narrowed. He didn't think; his body reacted with the muscle memory of the katas. The layer of chakra on the soles of his feet flared.
Micro-Shunshin.
With a muffled pop on the dirt, Matsuri didn't jump back. He slid at a 45-degree angle forward and to the right, invading Shisui's guard while the kunai whizzed harmlessly through the space where he had been a millisecond before. Using the pivot of his anchored heel, he spun his body and stopped the tip of his wooden sword a hand's breadth from the Uchiha's neck.
Shisui didn't move. He simply looked at the tip of the wood and then down at the boy's feet. The chakra flow was intact.
"Not bad," Shisui murmured, a gleam of proud approval appearing in his eyes. "You merged continuous chakra control with rotary dodges. That spends the absolute minimum of your reserves and maximizes your reflexes. You've found your foundation, Matsuri."
"Thanks to a certain deadbeat instructor who only shows up every change of season," Matsuri lowered the sword, panting slightly, but he couldn't help the tone of gratitude in his voice.
Shisui smiled, ruffling Matsuri's pink hair harder than usual. However, the smile was short-lived. He looked up at the sky, where the gray clouds of the late afternoon were beginning to gather, promising rain.
The silence that settled between them was heavy.
"Matsuri," Shisui's voice lost its playful tone, becoming deep and smooth. "Do you remember that day in the courtyard? When you told Sasuke that a clan's name doesn't pull a body back up when it's knocked flat on the ground?"
"I remember saying that to Sasuke, and you were hiding and listening like a nosy spy," Matsuri corrected, trying to maintain the lightness to push away the icy knot forming in his own stomach.
Shisui chuckled weakly.
"True. You have a sharp mind. But it's exactly about Sasuke and that pride that I want to talk about," the Uchiha crouched down, meeting Matsuri at eye level. There was an unshakable determination in his gaze, the aura of a man ready to do whatever it took to protect those he loved. "The Uchiha clan has a lot of pride in our name, but sometimes that pride blinds us. To protect the peace of the village, some of us need to act in the shadows, making difficult decisions and carrying the burdens so others don't have to. I am going to resolve my clan's situation today, Matsuri. Once and for all."
Matsuri held his breath. Kotoamatsukami. The reincarnated man's heart physically tightened. Shisui wasn't expecting a massacre. He faithfully believed that his supreme genjutsu would peacefully save the village and the clan this very night. He had no idea that Danzo Shimura was already lying in wait, ready to betray him and rip out his eye.
"But even if things calm down tomorrow," Shisui continued, placing a hand on the civilian boy's shoulder, "Sasuke lives isolated in the pressure of that name. He thinks he needs to carry everyone's expectations alone. He needs rivals from the outside, people who won't pity him and won't treat him like an 'untouchable genius.' Someone to pull him back down to reality. Keep clashing with him, Matsuri. Show him that effort surpasses blood. Can I count on you?"
Matsuri swallowed hard. The urge to scream, to grab Shisui's arm and warn him about the Root's ambush, burned in his throat. But he was an adult in the mind of a child. Altering Shisui's fate now could fail, break Itachi's mind, instantly trigger the Uchiha civil war, and destroy all of Konoha. The temporal clock was unforgiving. The tragedy, inevitable.
With clenched fists and his eyes burning behind the mask, Matsuri simply nodded.
"No one is going to sink if I can help it. I promise."
The smile that crossed Shisui's face was the most serene, confident, and purified expression Matsuri had ever seen. The weight seemed to lift from the prodigy's shoulders, certain that the future would be in good hands.
"It's good to hear that. And don't stop practicing those katas. If I look from afar next time and see you losing your balance, I'm going to throw rocks at your head."
Shisui stood up, turning his back to the clearing. He formed the seal of confrontation with a single hand.
"Goodbye, Matsuri."
The word, for Shisui, was a simple, friendly farewell before an important mission. But for Matsuri, it was definitive. With the characteristic sound of the Shunshin, a circle of dry leaves rose into the air, and Shisui Uchiha vanished into the gloom of the forest, walking straight toward the abyss that awaited him.
Matsuri stood alone in the center of the clearing, the cold autumn wind cutting through his clothes. The icy grip on his chest finally overflowed. He fell to his knees in the dirt, digging his nails into the soil as a solitary tear slipped beneath the dark fabric of his mask.
Childhood was over. Konoha's true era of blood was about to begin.
[Author's Note] Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying Matsuri's journey! Writing and planning each chapter takes a lot of time, dedication, and effort (even more so dealing with hand pain from the keyboard!). If you like my work, believe in the potential of this story, and want to encourage me to keep posting frequently, please consider supporting me with any amount. Every bit of help makes a huge difference and motivates me a lot! ☕ To support (PIX[Mercado Pago] or PayPal): [email protected] Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and for all the support! ❤️