Luminous

Chapter 1

Shisui knew that it was the end of the road for him.

The pain throbbed in his guts and lungs, the deep, excruciating feeling like someone had their hand in there and was squeezing his organs. A deep wound was sliced in the flesh of his upper right arm, heavily oozing out blood, and it trickled down the length of his arm, his fingers and onto the dusty ground below.

Sharingan faded and the jade-colored chakra construct that protected the young ninja from the last assault with it.

The raven looked in front of him blearily. Unfortunately, he was unable to get rid of all these Root scums, and he had no strength to run away or use chakra anymore.

His right eye socket burned like it was showered in hell-fire. The teen gritted his teeth, blindly reaching for a kunai. Danzo managed to steal one of his eyes and that was already bad enough, but if that sly bastard got his greedy claws on his second eye... it would be a disaster.

It was kind of ironic that he ended up cornered on the cliff of the Naka river – the same place where Itachi and he used to play and train and just spend time together.

Itachi.

Shisui could clearly imagine what kind of face his adoptive brother would make after hearing the news that he passed away. He felt guilty for leaving him without a word, but there was no way that he would allow his second eye – the power that came with it – to fall into the wrong hands and be abused or worse – used against the people he was trying to protect.

Another barrage of kunai whizzed towards the Uchiha's legs, aiming to injure but not to kill.

The teen took a deep breath and closed his eye. With the last drop of his strength, he jumped backward and straight off the cliff. Whipping out his own kunai while in a free fall, he moved it to slash it over his left eye...

The blade never made contact with his flesh. There was a sound of rattling chains and suddenly he felt something cold and sturdy slither around his limbs and body, leaving him completely immobilized in an instant and suspended mid-air. And then Shisui was yanked back up with the force so powerful that it knocked the wind out of him. He flew over the edge of the cliff and stopped high up above the ground. His eye widened at the sight.

The same chains were restraining the remaining Root ninjas, wrapping around them like golden glowing snakes with the sharp spikes on their endings pointed straight to their hearts. Then they shot forward and drilled themselves deep into their victim's chests, penetrating it like a wet tissue and bursting out on the other side in a mesmerizing fountain of blood and flesh.

Shisui went rigid, chill crawling up his spine. His gaze snapped to the spot from where all those chains sprouted.

The first thing he saw was scorching and fiery red hair, capturing the light of the setting sun in vibrant ruby hues. It tumbled over the person's shoulders like rusty water, flowing in gentle, warm curls of lava to their mid-back.

Shisui wondered if it was burning to the touch as it gave an impression from afar before the chains around him tightened and his heart sped up. He wasn't afraid of death, he was prepared for it – even as gory as getting impaled by these things – but he didn't recognize this person, didn't know if it was an ally or enemy, and thus uncertainty over the fate of his remaining eye caused the dread pool in his gut.

But instead of being speared through, the stunned raven was settled gently on the grass right next to the red-haired savor. Chains unwrapped from around him and slowly retreated, sinking into the back of their summoner who finally turned to face Shisui and fixed the most brilliant cerulean eyes he had ever seen on him.