Chapter 154: For the Freedom of Stone!

"Caw, caw."

A flock of crows circled in the sky above the cliff, their harsh cries echoing with a sense of inexplicable sadness.

Below the cliff, by the Naka River.

Dan and Tsunade were waiting.

Tsunade frowned, looking up at the cliff, reflecting on what Dan had previously said to Shisui.

He wanted Shisui to put on a show, with the aim of— awakening Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan.

Could Dan's method really succeed?

Tsunade was both skeptical and curious.

After all, she now also possessed a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan, and could use it as freely as an Uchiha.

If she could witness the awakening of a pair of Mangekyou, it would undoubtedly be a valuable experience and revelation for her, deepening her understanding of the Sharingan.

Just then.

Whoosh.

A figure leapt from the cliff, more than a hundred meters high, and fell like a meteor.

It was Shisui.

With a splash.

Shisui fell into the waters of the Naka River.

This was the cliff-jumping scene Dan had arranged for Shisui, using the latter's suicide to stimulate Itachi's awakening. For a ninja, falling from this height into the river wouldn't pose too much danger.

But.

After waiting for a while, there was no movement from the river.

Dan calmly took off his shirt, dived into the water, and after about half a minute, he fished Shisui out from the bottom of the river.

He laid him on the ground by the shore.

"Cough, cough..."

Shisui, who had lost both eyes, coughed violently, spitting out the water and blood in his lungs. He looked utterly miserable.

Something was wrong.

Seeing this, Tsunade's brows furrowed, and she immediately went to check on Shisui, only then realizing how bad his condition was.

"You've been poisoned, why didn't you say so earlier?"

She looked surprised, quickly taking out her "universal antidote" and giving it to Shisui.

Then.

Tsunade used her chakra scalpel to cut open the wounds where Shisui had been bitten by poisonous insects.

As her palm emitted a misty chakra, droplets of poison formed into a green liquid, floating out from Shisui's body.

Extraction Jutsu.

This was a high-level medical ninjutsu that could remove all toxins harmful to the human body.

But Shisui spoke with difficulty, telling Tsunade:

"Lady Tsunade, thank you, but don't waste your chakra anymore. I've been poisoned by a Aburame clan ninja, and the poison has already spread throughout my body. Even you can't do anything about it."

Back on the cliff, Shisui had accepted his impending death, which was why he had hoped Itachi would kill him himself.

Tsunade was taken aback, her movements slowing, her gaze becoming desolate.

She didn't have much of a relationship with Shisui Uchiha.

But this sixteen-year-old boy, with his sunny disposition, polite and gentle speech, made everyone feel at ease when they were with him.

He was kind-hearted, willing to sacrifice his own life to protect the peace of the village.

In Shisui Tsunade saw a reflection of her own brother, Nawaki.

So she didn't want Shisui to die.

But as Shisui had said, it was already too late.

Tsunade couldn't help but turn her head to look at Dan beside her. She didn't speak, but her eyes clearly asked him— You knew it would turn out like this, didn't you?

She didn't understand.

If Dan had seen through the true face of the Third Hokage, why did he still encourage Shisui to meet him, deliberately putting the boy in a life-and-death situation?

Because Shisui had to die.

Up until now under Dan's influence, Shisui's character seemed to have changed a lot, but deep down, he was still that naive idealist.

When the Uchiha and Konoha truly went to war, Dan couldn't predict which side Shisui would ultimately stand on.

So he decided to let Shisui die.

Shisui's death could not only stimulate Itachi's potential but also ignite the anger and hatred of the Uchiha clan. It could be said that his death was not in vain.

However.

Dan had no interest in explaining these things to Tsunade. He walked up to Shisui, looked down at him, and asked indifferently:

"Do you have anything else to say?" Shisui indeed had something to say.

His face was calm, gradually revealing a sense of enlightenment. He slowly began:

"Dan. I once thought that the Uchiha clan had fallen into narrow-minded clanism, and apart from myself, no one in the clan could understand the Will of Fire.

I also believed that it was my mission to ease the relationship between the family and the village, that I was the savior who would bring peace to Konoha.

When I went to see the Third Hokage this time, I was still self-righteous, naively thinking that he would accept my proposal.

Until now. I finally see how foolish and arrogant I was, how ridiculous, pitiful, and sad."

In response to Shisui's confession. Dan nodded in agreement, commenting: "People only truly understand themselves at the moment of death. Congratulations, Shisui."

Hearing this, Shisui smiled.

Yes, he finally saw himself clearly, but it was too late.

So all he could say to Dan was:

"Dan, the future of the clan... I leave it to you."

This time, Shisui only mentioned the clan, not the village.

"Don't worry, Konoha will pay the price. The Third Hokage and Danzo will be forever nailed to the pillar of shame in history for their actions over the years."

Dan said calmly.

But unlike Shisui, Dan only mentioned that Konoha would pay the price, but did not mention what would happen to the Uchiha clan.

Shisui didn't respond to Dan's words.

With a faint smile on his face, he took his last breath and passed away peacefully.

Tsunade, who had been silent all this time, finally couldn't hold back.

She stood up abruptly, her face filled with anger as she questioned Dan: "Shisui was your clansman, he was loyal and trusted you. But you didn't care about his life, you showed no sadness at his death, you even congratulated him?"

"Of course, I should congratulate him. Shisui finally broke free from the brainwashing of the Will of Fire, he's no longer that stubborn guy. Honestly, I find him more likable now."

Dan finished, a faint smile on his face.

Seeing him like this, Tsunade's eyes widened: "But what's the point? He's dead, he was only sixteen!"

"So what, I'll find a way to revive him later, isn't there a forbidden jutsu that can resurrect the dead in this world? Like your great-grandfather, Hashirama Senju, who developed a technique called 'Reanimation Jutsu'."

Dan spoke dismissively, as if the death of a person was a trivial matter.

In fact in this world, death was indeed not as pessimistic as it seemed, because it only meant the demise of the body, not the end of the soul.

After a person died, their soul would go to the Pure Land.

As long as there were suitable means, the soul of the deceased could be summoned back from the Pure Land and resurrected in various forms.

Dan knew of techniques like Reincarnation, Impure World Reincarnation, and Living Corpse Reincarnation.

Tsunade was stunned.

While she was stunned, Dan picked up Shisui's body and walked away.

The part of the play that Shisui was supposed to perform while alive was over, but there was still the part after his death that hadn't been performed.

Shisui, who was dead, was more useful than when he was alive.

Soon. Dan returned to the clan and found his brother-in-law, Fugaku.

"Dan, what happened? Shisui, he..."Fugaku was horrified when he saw Shisui's body.

"Gather all the clansmen, brother-in-law. The time for the Uchiha clan's survival is here." Dan said to Fugaku with a clear gaze.

In less than a quarter of an hour.

Nearly eight hundred Uchiha clan members came from all directions and gathered in front of the Body Modification Department building.

Above the steps, Fugaku and Dan stood side by side, their expressions heavy and serious.

Seeing the two of them, the clansmen couldn't help but whisper to each other, guessing if something bad had happened.

It wasn't until everyone had arrived.

Fugaku finally spoke in a deep, sorrowful voice: "Shisui is dead!"

As soon as these words came out, it was like a thunderbolt on a clear day, exploding in the crowd.

Shisui... is dead?!

All the clansmen had shocked expressions on their faces, unable to accept this news for a moment.

At this time.

Inohi and Tetsuhi, with their heads down, carried a stretcher out of the building. At Fugaku's command, they placed the stretcher in front of the steps and lifted the white cloth.

Shisui's body was revealed.

"The Third Hokage deceived the Uchiha clan!"

Fugaku suddenly raised his voice, revealing the truth of Shisui's death to the clansmen with a face full of grief and anger, "The Third Hokage made a compromise with the Uchiha on the surface, using benefits to numb us, but secretly planned to exterminate the Uchiha clan. Shisui, in order to save the clan, went to negotiate with the Third Hokage alone, but was ambushed by him, had his Mangekyou Sharingan taken, and unfortunately died!"

Hearing Fugaku's words and seeing Shisui's tragic death.

The Uchiha people came back to their senses and were filled with rage.

Among those present were Guruguru and the Fūjin and Raijin brothers.

"Big Brother Shisui!" The Rice Bucket Brothers threw themselves on Shisui's body and began to cry loudly. Although they weren't very smart, they could tell that Shisui was genuinely good to them and always treated them as friends.

Guruguru stood by helplessly, finding it hard to believe that Shisui was dead.

"Huh~"

Fugaku took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Then, this clan leader of the Uchiha, in front of all the clansmen, issued a declaration of war against Konoha.

"The Third Hokage always says that what a Konoha ninja must protect is the 'jewel'.

What is the 'jewel'? I once thought that the 'jewel' was the next generation of the village, but in the eyes of the Third Hokage and Danzo, they themselves are the 'jewel', the embodiment of the Will of Fire.

And what about us, the Uchiha clan? In the eyes of the 'jewel', we are nothing more than insignificant stones.

Perhaps the Third Hokage believes that the stones that trip people up should sooner or later be crushed or thrown into a dung pit.

But he forgot, the self-proclaimed noble 'jewel' is fragile, while the stone is very hard. As long as we are determined, we can fight with them to the end, even if it means mutual destruction!

The Uchiha do not believe in the so-called Will of Fire, we must have our own Will of Stone.

For the freedom of the Uchiha, I declare—

The Uchiha formally break with Konoha, and it's a fight to the death!"

At this moment, Fugaku was impassioned.

It had finally come.

Fugaku realized that the future he saw after initiating Amaterasu, the day when the Uchiha and Konoha would fight to the death, was today.

"Fight to the death!" "Fight with Konoha!"

The clansmen also became passionate and started shouting.

Just then. A strong chakra fluctuation suddenly came from the outskirts of the crowd.

The Uchiha people all turned their heads and found that it was Itachi.

His Mangekyou Sharingan was emitting a bizarre red light, which startled the clansmen and they all moved aside to make way for him.

Itachi stepped forward and walked through the crowd.

"Itachi, your eyes..."

Fugaku was both shocked and delighted when he saw his son's Mangekyou Sharingan.

Itachi walked up the steps, came to Dan, and opened his palm to him. In his palm was a bloody eye.

"Uncle, this is Shisui's eye. He asked me to give it to you."

Itachi said calmly.

"Good." Dan only said one word.

As soon as he finished speaking, a crow suddenly appeared and landed on Itachi's palm.

Then, Shisui's eye floated up and merged with the crow's left eye, becoming one with it.

"Caw."

The crow cawed once and disappeared into thin air, leaving only a few feathers fluttering to the ground.

Shisui's left eye, Dan accepted it.

Then Itachi turned around and walked to the front of the stretcher, lifting it up himself.

"I want to seek justice for Shisui's death from the Third Hokage." He said emotionlessly, his voice as cold as frost, and his whole person exuding a strong killing intent.

So at the order of Clan Head Fugaku, two hundred Uchiha ninjas marched out of the clan's gate and headed straight for the Hokage building.

Only a small number of combatants were left behind to guard the clan and the remaining civilian clansmen.

Whoosh.

Tsunade suddenly appeared with a serious expression.

Before Dan could speak, she took the initiative to say: "I don't want to get involved in the war between the Uchiha and Konoha, but I want to protect the research results of the Hashirama cells and not let them fall into certain people's hands."

Dan nodded at her words, then said to Mikoto next to him:

"Sis, you stay here and help Tsunade."

With Mikoto and Tsunade together, Dan could rest a bit easier.

"Okay." Mikoto responded with a worried expression, following her brother's arrangement.

Then "Guruguru." Dan called out to Guruguru, who immediately unfolded his body and wrapped it around Dan.

Whoosh.

Dan's figure flashed and disappeared from the spot.

Taking advantage of the Uchiha clan's charge towards the Hokage building, which attracted the attention of the entire village, Dan planned to act alone first, going to a certain place in the village to retrieve something.

On Ichiraku Street.

With the sound of "thud thud thud" footsteps getting closer.

The two hundred Uchiha ninjas, fully armed and filled with killing intent, led by Fugaku and Itachi, marched straight towards the Hokage building.

"What's going on?"

"Oh no, it seems like the Uchiha are causing trouble again."

The villagers on both sides of the street were frightened when they saw this scene, and hurriedly ran back into their homes, closing their doors and windows.

The news reached the Police Force. The captain, Hyuga Hiashi, led a large group of police officers and rushed over, intercepting the Uchiha clan halfway.

As soon as Hiashi appeared, he noticed the body on the stretcher being carried by Itachi and Inohi.

Was that... Uchiha Shisui?

Hiashi was immediately alarmed, feeling very bad, and finally asked with a stiff face:

"Clan Head Fugaku, what are you planning to do?"

The only response he got was Itachi's angry shout: "Get out of the way!"