Uchiha Shisui was a prodigy of the Uchiha clan, one of the most powerful and influential clans in the ninja world. He was known as “Shisui of the Body Flicker” for his mastery of the Body Flicker Technique, which allowed him to move at incredible speeds.
He was also the best friend and mentor of Itachi Uchiha, who would later become one of the most notorious and tragic figures in history. In this article, we will explore Shisui’s background, abilities, relationships, and role in the anime Naruto Shippuden.
Contents
All about Uchiha Shisui
[schemas]- Birthdate: October 19
- Sex: Male
- Status: Deceased
- Height: Part II: 180 cm
- Weight: Part II: 68.9 kg
- Blood type: A
- Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan/Mangekyō Sharingan
- Affiliation: Konohagakure
- Team: Team Shisui
- Clan: Uchiha Clan
Uchiha Shisui’s Background
Graduating from the Academy during the Third Shinobi World War, Shisui was placed on a genin team alongside his best friend. Immediately after the war ended a year later, Shisui witnessed his friend die on a mission, consequently awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan as he felt responsible.
A year later, he met a 5 year old Itachi Uchiha, whom he became best friends with while the two formed a brother-like bond. A year afterwards, Shisui began drawing attention as a genin, garnering the name “Shisui of the Body Flicker” for his usage of the Body Flicker Technique.
Two years later, living with his parents as a jonin and breadwinner for the family of three, Shisui’s bedridden father stopped recognising him, due to his decline of health from falling ill as a result of him losing his leg in the last world war. Acknowledging that everybody dies someday, Shisui was prepared for his passing.
In the anime, Team Shisui was assigned a long mission, which they were tasked with chasing away Kirigakure forces being lead by Ao. The team completed their mission after Ao realised they were facing Shisui and had his team retreat.
When Itachi began to act oddly, Shisui was instructed by the Konoha Military Police Force to monitor Itachi because the younger Uchiha’s position in Anbu was instrumental to the Uchiha’s future status in Konoha.
Unbeknownst to the clan, Shisui in reality sympathised with Itachi, not wanting the Uchiha to go to war with the village. As the Uchiha continued to grow angrier and more violent from the distrust of the village due to the suspicion of their involvement in the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox’s Attack, Shisui approached Hiruzen Sarutobi revealing the truth to the Third Hokage.
Trusting Shisui, seeing as he is Kagami Uchiha’s descendant, Hiruzen allowed the Uchiha to spy on his clan for the village. Shisui was perplexed that the clan would not deter from the coup detat that they were planning and soon became greatly concerned with the consequences that would follow their actions. Ultimately, it was decided that Shisui would use his Kotoamatsukami on Fugaku Uchiha to subtly end the coup d’état plan.
Later, as Shisui prepared to make his move, Danzo Shimura, believing that simply manipulating the Uchiha’s leader wouldn’t end the conflict and that he would eventually try to manipulate him as well, chose to take Shisui’s eyes for himself in the desire to protect the village in his own way.
While Shisui effortlessly subdued Danzo at first, the ruthless elder caught Shisui off guard by using the forbidden Izanagi with another Sharingan already in his possession to break free and steal Shisui’s right eye. As Danzō and his men surrounded Shisui to take the left eye, Shisui managed to escape.
Fearing that Danzo was right in Shisui’s inability to stop the Uchiha’s revolt and that the elder would continue to pursue his left eye as well, Shisui entrusted it to Itachi, telling him to protect both the village and the Uchiha name.
Shisui wrote a suicide note telling his clan he cannot follow through with the coup d’etat, but his clan’s narrow mindedness made them unable to understand this, preventing them from understanding his desire for peace and reconciliation.
The contents of the suicide note also made it appear as though he had crushed his eyes when jumping off a cliff into the Naka River to kill himself in order to prevent conflict from arising over his eyes within the clan.
He, at the same time, was able to erase his existence, leaving no corpse behind. In the anime, Shisui was also hoping to use his death to awaken Itachi’s Mangekyō Sharingan, succeeding in the goal.
Uchiha Shisui’s Personality
Shisui was a very humble and down-to-earth individual. He was never arrogant about his own talent or accomplishments, yet was not above telling others when they made mistakes. At the same time, he was open-minded, never stubbornly believing in one ideal solely and strove to see that unique nature of current situation before him.
Shisui was also a deeply compassionate man, even to enemies, showing sympathy and kindness to a dying Mukai Kohinata despite having been ordered to assassinate him as a traitor.
He was also shown to be very perceptive and intuitive even from a young age, able to see through the emotional nature of others and likewise able to notice the smallest details around him.
Shisui came to care for Itachi very much; in fact, he was like a big brother to Itachi. Shisui taught Itachi that “self-sacrifice… a nameless shinobi who protects peace from within its shadow…” was the true mark of a shinobi.
Shisui was also very devoted to the clan, which is why the Konoha Military Police Force asked him to spy on Itachi. It is because of this devotion that the police did not believe he could have committed suicide.
This devotion was so great, his best friend Itachi believed that had he been alive during the Uchiha’s downfall, he would have protected the clan to the very end, even from him.
Although Shisui was devoted to his clan, he was equally devoted to the well-being of his village, a trait his own clan is apparently ignorant of. His devotion to his village was so strong that he never fell victim to the Curse of Hatred.
However, Shisui had a darker side he was deeply ashamed of; out of envy to a friend who he believed had surpassed him in ability, Shisui withheld aid at a critical moment, leading to the other shinobi’s death.
The guilt of what he had done led Shisui to consider himself a murderer, causing him to awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan, which he used as a constant reminder of his remorse and vow to never succumb to such feelings ever again.
Shisui’s devotion to Konoha even went as far as to attempt to put his clan’s leader and best friend’s father under a genjutsu in order to stop the Uchiha coup d’état which would lead to civil war.
However, this failed when Danzō stole his right eye. Knowing Danzo’s power-hungry personality would eventually lead him to steal his left eye as well, he resolved to prevent Danzō from stealing it to stop him from gaining too much power.
With this in mind, he entrusted his left eye to Itachi and told him to protect the village and was able to die with a smile knowing the village would be in good hands despite all he had been through prior to his death.
Shisui even went as far as to erase his own existence to prevent his corpse from falling into the wrong hands, which inadvertently prevented him from being reincarnated by Kabuto years later and being forced to fight his own village.
According to Itachi, he and Naruto Uzumaki hold similar ideals and goals. Shisui also greatly valued the notion of “family” as seen when he swore to never let the clan’s issues to destroy the relationship between Itachi and Sasuke.
He also had a sense of humour, as seen when he enjoyed the difficult situation he put Itachi in when Sasuke argued with Shisui over who is stronger.
Like Itachi, Shisui doesn’t appear to enjoy killing people and prefers to use non-lethal methods whenever possible as shown in his using a genjutsu to scare off Ao’s squad when it was stated he could have killed his entire squad with ease. Shisui also used a genjutsu on Danzo, which would disappear shortly, instead of killing him when the latter tried to steal his eyes.
Uchiha Shisui’s Appearance
Bearing stark resemblance to his ancestor Kagami Uchiha, Shisui also had short, unkempt, dark-coloured hair, black eyes and a relatively broad nose and well-defined eyelashes, that were turns upwards at each end. In the anime, however, these lines are broken instead of whole.
He wore the standard attire of the Uchiha clan which includes a high-collared, dark-coloured outfit along with a tantō strapped to the right side of the back of his shoulder.
He also wore what appeared to be a harness for his tantō which ran across his chest and fastened over both his shoulders. During his time in the regular forces, Shisui donned the standard Konoha-nin uniform.
Uchiha Shisui’s Abilities
Even by Uchiha standards, Shisui was noted to be one of the most talented members the famed clan ever had. Danzō even hailed him as the strongest Uchiha of his time.
His abilities allowed him to become a jonin four years into being a shinobi and eventually a captain of his own squad. Soon after, he even became an Anbu.
His prowess was so widely known that an entire squad of Kiri-nin quickly fled upon noticing him rather than confronting him. A further testament to his prowess was Kabuto Yakushi wanting to reincarnate him for the upcoming war but was unable to find a sufficient DNA sample for it.
Physical Prowess
Shisui earned the nickname “Shisui of the Body Flicker” from his signature skill and unmatched mastery of the Body Flicker Technique. He could use it to fade out of sight, leaving no trace of either his presence or indication of his destination.
In the anime, his velocity and mobility was so great that he could also move undetected by sensor ninja and leave behind multiple tangible after-images that could strike with actual force.
In battle, his speed could seamlessly dodge barrages of projectiles and likewise outpace a group of enemies. He was also a proficient taijutsu user, able to defeat Itachi in several sparring matches. Furthermore, he had high tolerance to pain as he didn’t flinch from either of his eyes being removed.
Ninjutsu
Shisui was able to summon a flock of crows to aid him and master three basic nature transformations (Fire, Lightning and Wind) along with the Yin Release.
He was very skilled with using Fire techniques such as his clan’s rite of passage Great Fireball Technique, which he could perform to a massive size, a very rare feat within in the Uchiha.
Shisui’s usage of this technique required the efforts of many Anbu-level Water Release users to counterbalance it. He also had considerable skill in kenjutsu since a young age, wielding a tantō against two Anbu.
He showed similar remarkable Shurikenjutsu-prowess to Itachi and likewise demonstrated noticeable sleight-of-hand with multiple kunai. Shisui also proved to be a very skilled tracker.
Dojutsu
Sharingan
Like many members of his clan, Shisui was a wielder of the Sharingan, which he awakened at a young age. His mastery of the Sharingan rivalled that of Itachi’s, both being highly praised for their especially high skill and sheer power in its usage.
Using it, he gains access to the dōjutsu’s generic abilities such as seeing chakra, predicting movements, and placing a victim under paralysis genjutsu upon eye contact. His genjutsu was especially powerful, hailed as the greatest user of the clan.
His most basic techniques could easily trap other powerful users of the Sharingan, like Danzō, forcing the latter to resort to using Izanagi.
Mangekyo Sharingan
Shisui was one of the few people that was able to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan. He awakened it when he watched a dear friend and rival die after withholding his aid in a moment of envy and weakness.
Once activated, its design appears as a four-point pinwheel. Shisui once noted that his Mangekyō Sharingan amplifies his ability to cast genjutsu by circumventing the need to make eye-contact to make use of its techniques.
From this, he could trap multiple individuals in his genjutsu from great distances away. Also, needing only to look at a target’s eye, he can pour large amounts of chakra into them in order to increase its ability to keep them trapped.
It also gives him access to Kotoamatsukami in each eye. Regarded as a unique genjutsu of the highest calibre, it allowed him to enter the mind of any individual within his field of view by manipulating them into believing false experiences seamlessly and completely, acting upon them as if they were truly acting on their own free will. This technique was so powerful, Shisui believed he could secretly use it to make the entire Uchiha clan abandon the coup d’etat.
Another benefit to awakening his Mangeko Sharingan was manifesting his Susanoo, which is green in colour. When manifesting its humanoid form, it takes on a fiendish look to it with a red tomoe in the centre of its chest.
Its defence was capable of withstanding a large barrage of explosive tags attached to kunai, leaving Shisui untouched. His Susanoo demonstrated the ability to unleash a barrage of chakra needles from its chest and its lance at an incredible speed to swiftly strike down a large group of targets.
When manifesting a Complete Body form, his Susanoo gains a spear that he can rapidly spin in a drill-like manner to drill enemies to the ground, and can coat it with fire to create a vortex of flames.
Uchiha Shisui’s Legacy
Having been a core member of his clan, his suicide demoralised and lessened the Uchiha’s fighting power. Throughout his lifetime and even in death, Shisui influenced Itachi greatly as a friend in teaching him self-sacrifice and how a true shinobi must protect his village from within its own shadow.
This possibly influenced Itachi in his future actions to the staving off of a possible civil war within the village that may have escalated into a world war.
Shisui’s effort to erase his very corpse was successful as even Kabuto Yakushi noted that he was unable to locate it in an effort to reincarnate Shisui for the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Despite leaving a note, claiming that he was tired of carrying out the clan’s duties, the police suspected that Itachi had murdered him and used his Sharingan to forge the suicide note, since suicide was very unlikely for someone of Shisui’s character.
Using Shisui’s death to his advantage, Itachi later told Sasuke Uchiha that he did kill Shisui to awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan and forged the suicide note, all in an effort to motivate Sasuke to kill him as repentance for his crimes.
Even years after his demise, Shisui’s powers and actions left their mark on the world. While Danzo used the eye he stole for his questionable agendas to maintain their village, Itachi kept Shisui’s other eye to honour his friend’s final request to protect the village and their clan’s good name.
Inserting the eye in the body of a crow, Itachi made final arrangements to implant the bird in Naruto’s body as a countermeasure against Sasuke if he learned the truth behind the Uchiha clan’s demise and attempted to destroy Konoha.
However, due to the immense power that Shisui’s eyes held, they were eventually destroyed to prevent them from falling into enemy hands: Danzo destroying his eye in his final moments to keep Tobi from acquiring it, and a reincarnated Itachi, after Kotoamatsukami was used on him, incinerated the crow. But Itachi also stated that above all else, Shisui wanted someone to inherit his will and ideals, believing Naruto to be that someone.
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