Even though Minato Namikaze had said Kazuki didn't have to pay for the damages, Nara Kazuki still felt a little guilty. So he personally grabbed a set of tools and went to help clean up the mess on-site.
When he arrived, he realized the situation was even worse than he'd imagined.
Most buildings in Konoha were low-rise, so the rooftops had ended up coated—in sewage.
For once, Kazuki didn't allocate any Shadow Clones to training. He had all of them helping with the monumental clean-up.
Fortunately, ninja had jutsu.
Kazuki didn't need to scrub manually; he simply learned a basic Water Release: Cleansing Jet Technique to wash everything down.
Cleaning itself wasn't hard. The real issue was the compensation that would follow.
Many of the businesses affected were food stalls or clothing shops. The filth had soaked into their inventory. Selling anything after that would be nearly impossible unless they fully renovated—and even then, customers might not come back out of psychological trauma.
"Hey, why did the sewer explode anyway?" asked a villager helping nearby, glancing curiously at Kazuki.
To the civilians, someone like Nara Kazuki—clearly a ninja—must know the full story.
"...No idea." Kazuki coughed awkwardly, careful not to reveal that he had been the cause. That would be suicide.
He could already imagine it: decades from now, these villagers would tell their grandchildren, "Back in my day, I saw a guy named Nara Kazuki—Konoha's demolition genius! Blew the entire village sky-high with human waste!"
Yeah. No way he was letting that legacy happen.
Wanting to avoid social suicide, Kazuki climbed up to help clean the rooftops. And that's when he met another ninja—also helping out.
"Hello," came a young, calm voice.
Kazuki looked up and saw a black-haired, good-looking guy—with eyes that could only belong to an Uchiha.
"Hey there," Kazuki replied politely, though his curiosity was piqued. From what he'd seen recently, the Uchiha were walking a political tightrope in the village. Tensions were high, and some of them were making things worse with their arrogance.
Yet this guy had come out voluntarily to help?
Kazuki glanced more closely—and connected the face to a name in his memory.
Uchiha Shisui.
The one known as Shunshin no Shisui—"Shisui of the Body Flicker"—renowned for possessing Kotoamatsukami, arguably the most powerful genjutsu in the world. So powerful it had a decade-long cooldown.
But fans of the original series often considered Shisui a waste of potential.
Despite having such a broken ability, he never used it to shift the course of Uchiha history. Instead, he hesitated and dithered—until Danzo ambushed him, stole one of his eyes, and pushed him to his death.
Some fans even joked that he should've used Kotoamatsukami on Tsunade, seduced her, and brought her back to succeed as Hokage.
There were so many possibilities—none of which Shisui had acted on.
It was like receiving a hypnosis app with unlimited potential... and choosing death instead. A colossal waste.
Still, even though Kazuki recognized the walking tragedy in front of him, he didn't strike up a conversation. Shisui obviously didn't know who he was.
So Kazuki continued cleaning.
With help from Shadow Clones and other volunteers, they cleaned until late evening. Under the starlight and crescent moon, Kazuki stretched out his sore back and groaned as his joints popped. It was a satisfying sound.
"Good evening."
A voice—familiar now.
Kazuki looked up.
It was Uchiha Shisui again.
Kazuki was a little stunned.
If he hadn't seen Shisui cleaning earlier, he'd have assumed the guy had been tailing him this whole time. He was literally standing on the rooftop beside Kazuki.
"Evening," Kazuki replied with a wry smile. What were the odds? Out of all the rooftops in Konoha, he kept running into this guy.
"I'm Uchiha Shisui." The young man formally introduced himself.
Kazuki chuckled and responded in kind. He wasn't wearing his ANBU mask, so there was no need to hide his identity.
Shisui smiled politely and leapt down.
But something strange happened.
The surrounding villagers who had been helped—who had seen Shisui working all day—acted like he wasn't even there. They only came to thank Kazuki, handing him snack pouches and cold drinks from their refrigerators.
Shisui stood off to the side, silently watching it all. His lips pressed together.
Kazuki frowned slightly.
He knew the Uchiha were outcasts, blamed for things they hadn't done. But to see it this clearly—Shisui working just as hard, only to be ignored—left a bitter taste in Kazuki's mouth.
When the crowd dispersed, Shisui also quietly slipped away.
"Clan… village…" Shisui looked up at the sky, his expression lost.
He couldn't understand it. Why had it come to this? The Uchiha were supposed to be part of Konoha too.
Yet during that recent crisis, their entire clan had been locked down and treated like criminals.
"Catch."
A voice broke through his thoughts, followed by the whoosh of a flying object.
Shisui's eyes snapped into focus.
A cold canned drink was flying toward him, droplets still clinging to the metal.
He caught it instinctively.
And looked up to see the one who threw it—Nara Kazuki, standing there with an unreadable expression.
Holding the cool can, something inside Shisui eased.
"Thanks," he said with a smile, popping it open and taking a long swig.
The cold liquid flowed down his throat and washed away some of the burning frustration inside.
"That mess had nothing to do with you. Why'd you come help?" Kazuki asked curiously. He was genuinely interested. After all, this guy had deeply influenced Uchiha Itachi, maybe even helped him awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Why had Uchiha Shisui shown up to clean?