Naruto : Shisui Uchiha & Gacha in multiverse

"Let's rest," Shisui said as he landed smoothly near the mouth of a small cave tucked beneath a mossy ridge.

Without a word, Kaori loosened her grip and slipped off his back. At the same time, Shisui gently lowered Karin onto the soft patch of grass nearby, careful not to jostle her too much.

With the weight gone, he rolled his shoulders and arched his back with a quiet sigh. The long run had left his muscles tight, but nothing he couldn't handle.

Kaori crouched beside her daughter, brushing aside a few strands of red hair that had fallen across Karin's face. The girl stirred faintly.

"Okāsan...?" Karin mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper. She rubbed her eyes and removed her glasses, blinking at the light around them in sleepy confusion.

"I'm here," Kaori replied, her tone soft and warm, fingers gently smoothing her daughter's hair.

Shisui turned his gaze back to them and paused.

Both Kaori and Karin were now standing, calm and still. Their eyes were fixed on him.

They didn't speak. They didn't need to.

He could see it clearly.

They were waiting for him to decide what came next.

Shisui looked away for a moment, scanning the cave and the surrounding area, then looked back at the two redheads standing before him like silent shadows in the forest.

"We'll rest here until dawn," he said at last.

Kaori gave a small nod. Karin, still a little groggy, clutched her glasses in both hands and leaned against her mother, instinctively seeking comfort.

As the two settled into a crouch near the cave entrance, Shisui knelt and unsealed a scroll.

It contained food he had stolen from Kusagakure even before his infiltration had properly begun.

He silently placed the food between them. Simple rations, both vegetarian and meat-based.

Neither Kaori nor Karin hesitated. In a world where survival came before preference, where chakra burned through calories like wildfire, picky eating wasn't a luxury anyone could afford. Especially not for shinobi.

Kaori offered a quiet "thank you" before unwrapping one of the portions. Karin followed suit, biting into the food with cautious urgency. She ate without a word, though her eyes occasionally flicked toward Shisui with silent questions she hadn't yet worked up the courage to ask.

Noticing that Shisui was still wearing his mask and hadn't touched the food, Kaori finally spoke up.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"I will," Shisui replied calmly.

With that, he reached up and pulled the mask away from his face, a motion so smooth, yet strangely weighted. He hadn't taken it off once since the start of his mission.

The moment the mask came off, both redheads froze.

Kaori let out a sharp gasp.

Karin's eyes widened in silence, her half-eaten food forgotten in her hand.

Where his eyes should have been, there was nothing. Just empty sockets, dark, hollow, and void of life.

Shisui, however, didn't acknowledge their shock. He simply tore off a piece of dried fish and popped it into his mouth, chewing with quiet indifference.

"Not bad," he murmured.

Kaori's thoughts swirled.

No wonder I felt something strange near his eyes earlier, she realised. But still, how? How can he move with such precision?

She had been observing him the entire journey. Every movement he made was sharp, deliberate, and efficient. He didn't stumble, didn't hesitate, not even in unfamiliar terrain. He dodged branches, avoided loose ground, and never once moved like a blind man.

This isn't just instinct or muscle memory, she thought. It's something else.

Even now, sitting calmly with a piece of fish in hand, his awareness of their surroundings hadn't dulled for a second. She could tell by the subtle way his head tilted, how he adjusted his posture to follow even the softest rustle in the trees.

This wasn't luck.

This was calculated awareness.

Whatever technique or method he used to "see", it wasn't normal.

And that made him even harder to understand.

Or predict.

Taking a slow breath to steady herself, Kaori finally asked the question that had been pressing against the edges of her mind.

"Who are you?"

Shisui paused, hands frozen halfway to his mouth. His thoughts stirred, weighing possibilities. He could lie. Hide behind a false name, a false village, a false past.

But would it matter?

He was close enough now that Kaori, being a sensor, could likely identify him again if they ever crossed paths. And while she had no reason to betray him now, circumstances could always change.

Still, just because she had the ability to track him didn't mean he owed her the truth.

Yet after a long, silent moment, he spoke.

"Shisui Uchiha."

"Uchiha..." Kaori murmured under her breath, the name like a shard of glass scraping old wounds.

Then, more audibly and with a shift in her tone, she asked, "Are you from Konoha?"

The edge in her voice wasn't subtle.

There was anger in it. Grief too.

Shisui didn't answer right away.

He didn't need to ask why she sounded that way. He could feel it. The bitterness, the unspoken history buried just behind her eyes.

Every shinobi nation had its sins.

And for someone like her, an Uzumaki dragged from a clan slaughtered, likely abandoned or sold out, Konoha had probably committed more than its share.

She watched him carefully.

He nodded once, slowly. "I was."

Not am.

Not still.

Just was.

The finality in his voice said more than any explanation could.

Kaori didn't press further. She didn't need to. That single word carried a quiet weight, one she understood all too well.

He wasn't taking them to Konoha.

She looked at him for a long moment, eyes narrowed slightly.

"Are you a rogue?" she asked quietly.

It wasn't a casual question. It was a test.

She was probing, trying to see how much truth he would offer. How far his walls would lower. How much he was willing to share with the people he had just saved.

Shisui spoke bluntly.

"Well, the term 'rogue' is for the ones still alive. But as far as the world's concerned..."

A faint smile tugged at his lips, humourless and sharp.

"I'm already dead."

*********

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