Chapter 28: The Death of Shisui
Having sent off a satisfied Anko, the shop finally quieted down.
"Haruko..."
Teuchi, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, "Haruko, you really won't consider what Anko-sensei mentioned? Although I also think living a peaceful life is best, after all, you are a Ninja..."
"Old man, don't worry about me."
Haruko waved his hand, "I know what I'm doing. By the way, I happen to have something I want to discuss with you."
He pointed to Kin, who was obediently tidying up the dishes nearby.
"Kin is already nine years old. Although she's sensible and always helps out in the shop, she can't just drift around like this forever. I'm thinking of sending her to the Ninja Academy."
Kin's movements suddenly stopped, and she looked up, a hint of panic flashing in her large, clear eyes.
"Brother Haruko, did I... did I do something wrong? I don't want to go to school; I want to stay in the shop and help you guys..."
"Silly girl."
Haruko walked over and gently ruffled her long hair.
"It's not about kicking you out. Going to the Ninja Academy is so you can learn some skills. The world is unstable, and I can't keep you tethered to my side twenty-four hours a day. If you have skills of your own, you'll be able to run faster if you encounter danger in the future, right?"
Actually, Haruko had a selfish motive he didn't mention.
Since returning from this business trip, the way the little girl looked at him was becoming increasingly unusual—a mix of admiration and dependence, with a hint of a young girl's budding affection.
If he kept her by his side as a personal secretary, he might raise her wrong, or if something happened while he was away on a mission and he couldn't look after her, he would regret it too late.
Besides, he really wasn't good at teaching children. Better leave it to the professionals.
"But the tuition..." Kin lowered her head, her fingers twisting the corner of her clothes.
"Don't worry about the money; I'll pay."
Haruko waved his hand grandly.
"Just promise me that you won't overwork yourself at school. Learn the skills, and as for exams, just doing okay is fine. The important thing is to get along well with your classmates, okay?"
Kin bit her lip, looked at Haruko's nonchalant face, and nodded heavily.
"I'll listen to Brother Haruko!"
"Alright, then I'll take you to register tomorrow."
Haruko nodded with satisfaction, completely unaware that his advice to "lie flat" had been automatically filtered by Kin into an ambitious directive to "study as hard as possible and expand Haruko's network."
...
It was late at night.
Having sent off the last wave of drunken customers, Teuchi and Ayame were already cleaning the kitchen, preparing to close up.
Just as Haruko was about to take down the curtain at the entrance, a dark shadow appeared silently at the shop door.
No footsteps, no presence—it was as if he had appeared out of thin air.
Haruko's movements paused for a moment before returning to normal.
"Itachi...?"
The newcomer was indeed Uchiha Itachi.
But his state today was very off.
His back, which was usually held perfectly straight, appeared somewhat hunched now.
His face was as pale as paper, the two tear troughs under his eyes seemed deeper, and his entire being exuded a deathly silence, as if his soul had been drained.
Itachi didn't speak; he just walked silently into the shop and sat in the corner seat he usually occupied.
"The usual?" Haruko asked tentatively.
Itachi shook his head.
"Not eating yet."
Haruko frowned. As a Transmigrator, he was all too familiar with this expression.
It was the precursor to a collapse of faith and the destruction of one's world.
He didn't ask further, but poured a cup of hot tea and placed it before Itachi, then gestured to Teuchi for him and Kin to leave first.
He pulled up a chair and sat opposite Itachi, not saying a word, just sitting there to keep him company—at a time like this, any words of comfort were nonsense; he would speak when he wanted to.
The clock on the wall ticked away.
After an unknown amount of time, the steam from the tea cup had completely vanished.
Itachi finally moved.
He gripped the cold tea cup tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white from the force, as if it were his only lifeline at this moment.
"Haruko."
He lowered his head, staring at the murky tea in the cup.
"Shisui... is dead."
"D-dead?"
Haruko widened his eyes slightly, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
'It really happened after all."
His relationship with Shisui wasn't particularly close; Shisui had just given him some pointers, and he had given Shisui a few words of advice.
But as a Transmigrator who knew the plot's direction, that inescapable sense of fate was still somewhat unpleasant.
Itachi was still sitting in front of him, looking like his bones and flesh had been removed, leaving only a breathing shell.
Although Haruko wished he could just kick him out and stay far away from the Uchiha mess, he couldn't say what Itachi might do if he did.
The boy was clearly mentally unstable right now; if he really went crazy, Haruko had no confidence he could win against an Itachi who had awakened the Mangekyo.
"When did it happen?"
Itachi didn't speak; he just looked up, his Sharingan flashing with a red light.
'Genjutsu?!"
His body instinctively wanted to resist, but Haruko immediately guessed what Itachi was trying to do. He temporarily relaxed his mind, not resisting initially, and entered the world of Genjutsu.
Before Haruko, the cliff of the Naka River appeared.
Shisui stood at the edge of the cliff, giving Itachi his final instructions.
Different from the original story, his words contained more suspicion and hostility toward Danzo, but the overall sequence was largely the same.
Until—
Before jumping off the cliff, this guy actually dropped a line: "If you're lost, you can go talk to Haruko. As a bystander, he sees things more clearly than those of us caught in the middle."
Shisui's phantom gave a bitter smile, leaned backward, and fell into the abyss.
The image froze.
At that very moment, he figured out the seemingly illogical Border Deployment Order...
'I was wondering why they suddenly threw me and Inuzuka Hana to that godforsaken border. So it wasn't for testing..."
Inuzuka Hana was Itachi's desk-mate at the Ninja Academy, and Haruko was close to Itachi—even if it was just a relationship between a Ramen Shop and a regular customer, it was enough to be included on the higher-ups' list.
It wasn't until Shisui died and the Uchiha temporarily quieted down and stabilized that this isolation came to an end.
"Haruko." Itachi's trembling voice pulled Haruko's thoughts back. "Shisui entrusted everything to me. But I... I can't see the path. If it were you, what would you do?"
Haruko's mouth twitched.
'Brother Shisui, if you're going to leave, just leave. Why did you have to mention me at the end? Do you think my life is too comfortable?"
This wasn't a last will; it was clearly a move to forcibly drag him, a salted fish who just wanted to lie flat, into the mess.
'I shouldn't have mentioned the Uchiha matter to him at the border... Not only did the outcome not change, but I also got myself involved."
Haruko sighed and pointed to the non-existent cliff.
"Shisui was a good man, but he chose the easiest path. Now you want to follow his example and make me take over the mess?"
Itachi shuddered and closed his eyes in pain: "I don't want to... I just want to hear your opinion."
'Hah, hear my opinion? Next thing you know, it'll be "Haruko made me do it."""
Haruko rolled his eyes inwardly. With the lesson from before, where Shisui had just screwed him over, he wasn't going to take the bait this time no matter what.
"Itachi, don't ask what I think yet. First, ask yourself which side you intend to stand on and what outcome you want?"
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