In the teahouse, Itachi and Izumi were sitting together, sipping tea and chatting. Inari Shinko, Itachi's former teammate and now a teahouse waitress, was also sitting with them.
"Shinobi-senpai, the teahouse is so busy. You don't have to take care of us," Itachi said to Inari Shinko, who was sitting on the side.
Inari Shinko nodded. As she was about to leave, she suddenly leaned her head close to Itachi's ear and playfully smiled, "You little rascal, you're already at this age and you know how to date girls. And such a cute girl like Izumi-chan!"
Although Inari Shinko was whispering, her voice wasn't too low or too high. It was just loud enough for Izumi, who was sitting opposite Itachi, to hear.
In an instant, both Itachi and Izumi blushed, while Inari Shinko walked away with a happy expression. Apparently, teasing her juniors occasionally was quite fun.
Itachi and Izumi sat in awkward silence for a while. Itachi was the first to regain his composure and changed the subject, "By the way, have you noticed anything unusual about the clan lately?"
Izumi was taken aback. She regained her normal expression, "What do you mean?"
Itachi nodded seriously, "Yes."
"Although our clan is mainly responsible for the village's police work, there are still some clan members who are on missions outside."
"But recently, I've noticed that all the clan members who have been on missions outside haven't taken any more missions outside after returning to the clan."
"Besides that, I've noticed a lot of unfamiliar faces around the clan headquarters."
"These are all very dangerous signs!"
Izumi thought for a moment and smiled, "You're wrong. My brother took a mission a few days ago."
Hearing Izumi's words, Itachi's brow furrowed even tighter.
Since Itachi had already become a Chunin, he had his own missions. He was also fully capable of training independently now. He only occasionally asked his teacher, Yusuke, for help when he encountered problems. Therefore, Itachi didn't often meet with Yusuke.
Izumi glanced at the sky outside the teahouse, which was gradually getting darker. She said expectantly, "It's getting late. Let's go to the night market later. It's been a long time since we went together."
"No!"
Itachi's expression suddenly changed, startling Izumi, who was sitting opposite him.
Itachi immediately paid the bill and grabbed Izumi's hand, quickly rushing towards the Uchiha clan headquarters.
"Hey? What's wrong, Itachi? Why are you suddenly so nervous?" Izumi asked curiously.
Izumi had been a little shy and happy when Itachi had grabbed her hand, but seeing Itachi's serious and solemn expression, she realized that something big must have happened.
Itachi said in a low voice, "I don't have time to explain. Let's go back to the clan first."
Upon returning to the clan, Itachi immediately dragged Kabuto, who was still in the laboratory, out. He arranged for Izumi, Izumi's mother, Uchiha Izumi, Yuta, and the others to go to a secret location within the clan.
After giving Kabuto a few brief instructions, Itachi immediately rushed home to bring his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, and Sasuke to the location.
After arranging for his family, Itachi immediately went to the police force to find his father, Uchiha Fugaku.
"I hope it's not too late!"
Itachi was very anxious. He felt that a huge conspiracy was hanging over the entire clan.
But he was stopped by an unexpected person not long after he left.
"Shisui, I'm very busy today. If you have anything to say, let's talk tomorrow." Itachi looked at Shisui, who had suddenly stopped him.
Since his long conversation with Yusuke more than three years ago, Itachi's thinking had changed drastically from the original story. He naturally disagreed with Shisui's idea of "sacrificing the clan to protect the village."
Not long ago, Shisui had personally invited Itachi to join Root, but to Shisui's disappointment, Itachi had refused.
Since then, the two, who had already been estranged, became even more distant.
At the same time, Itachi had also put Shisui on the list of people he couldn't fully trust.
This wasn't because Itachi had any personal objections to Shisui. It was because he had a keen sense that Shisui's position was completely different from his own.
"Itachi, in the entire clan, I can see that you're the only one with the capacity to sacrifice the small for the greater good. Everyone else can't understand this, not even Yusuke-senpai!"
"Although I don't know what changed you, I still want to make a final effort."
Shisui looked at Itachi sincerely, his voice deep.
From Shisui's words, Itachi guessed that he might know something.
"What do you mean by 'final effort'?" Itachi asked back.
"I can't say more about the specifics. But I hope you can go with me to see the Third Hokage and Danzō. This is your only chance."
At this time, Shisui had already received orders from the Third Hokage. He was going to cooperate with Danzō to destroy the Uchiha clan tonight, just like he had played Itachi's role in the original story.
When he had first received this order, Shisui had been shocked. He wasn't someone who didn't care about his clan. It was just that in his heart, the village's position was far higher than that of the clan.
Although Shisui had also objected, hoping to invite the clan leader, Uchiha Fugaku, to have a peaceful negotiation to resolve the current crisis, Danzō had refused, saying that it would "alert them."
Danzō then showed Shisui a lot of evidence to convince him that the radicals within the Uchiha clan were planning a coup.
But what Shisui didn't know was that this evidence was half-true and half-false. Most of it was fabricated by Danzō.
Because the radicals within the Uchiha clan had indeed had some ideas, exaggerating these existing facts made it difficult to tell the truth from the lies.
Finally, the Third Hokage appeared in person. He spoke eloquently to Shisui about the heroes of the past who had made great sacrifices for the village, including Shisui's ancestor, Uchiha Kagami, and others from his lineage.
This became the final straw that tipped the scales in Shisui's heart, causing him to completely side with Konoha's high-ranking officials and accept the mission to destroy the Uchiha clan with his own hands.
Shisui had completely given up on the other members of the Uchiha clan. But he still wanted to try one last time for his former best friend, Itachi.
"Although I ultimately failed to guide Itachi onto the right path, maybe it's not too late now," Shisui thought to himself.
"My only chance?"
Itachi looked at Shisui emotionlessly. His heart was also filled with mixed emotions.
It could be said that if his teacher, Yusuke, hadn't existed, he would definitely have followed Shisui's footsteps and taken a completely different path.
Scenes of his shared experiences with Shisui flashed through his mind. But these scenes were quickly replaced by more scenes.
Scenes of eating dinner with his parents and chatting, scenes of teasing his baby brother, Sasuke, scenes of going to the night market with Izumi, scenes of training taijutsu with Kabuto, and scenes of having heart-to-heart conversations with his teacher, Yusuke.
Three years ago, Itachi's heart had lost its initial confusion. He only had determination and resolution.
"My teacher once said something. I don't know if you've heard it."
"What?" Shisui frowned. He had a bad feeling from Itachi's tone.
"Those who walk different paths cannot walk together!"
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