Living Through Time

Shisui didn't know how much time he stayed sitting like that.

Probably months, seeing as the corpse were now just pack of bones on the floor.

He didn't move from his spot since Naruto's death.

Why would he? There wasn't anything else to watch. No humanity. Just the remains of the people who once fought for peace.

With all this time, he thought of all the mistakes that lead to this moment. Memories were the only thing he has now, so he just pass the time by remembering them.

"Oh my! What are you doing here, child?" A voice asked, obviously referring to Shisui.

It should have been a surprise that someone was there, and even more that someone was able to see him, but Shisui made no sign to acknowledge the voice.

He didn't care.

"And here I thought I could have a friendly chat with someone." the person sighed, standing a few meters away from him. The figure looked at the destruction and corpses surrounding them, before letting his gaze rest on the teen.

"This world truly took a turn to the worst, I would have never imagined that human would all perish. That was certainly... surprising. Isn't it, Uchiha Shisui?" The figure stated with a calming and somewhat soothing voice.

How the man knew his name? Shisui had no idea.

But did he care? Nope.

He didn't even spare the man a glance. He already knew that humanity was dead, he had watched it die before his very own eyes.

Talk about stating the obvious.

"I'm sorry you had to watch that, Shisui." The man continued,"But I had a feeling something like that would happen, so I wanted you to see.".

Okay, that made Shisui look at him.

So he was the one who made him watch all the world die little by little? If he was the same person he was years ago, he would have screamed in the face of the man, demanding a reason to do that.

But he was so tired, that he only found the strength in himself to ask a single question, voice devoid of emotion:

"Why?"

A few seconds pass, letting the question take its meaning. The man knew what he was talking about, but still wanted the teen to explain.

"Why what, Shisui?".

Shisui just stared at the man, with those tired, bottomless black eyes. He didn't respond immediately. And just when the older one thought he would remain silent, the teen spoke.

"What I meant is why would you do that? I don't see any reason to make me watch all these things." Shisui's eyes grow colder,"And if all of this was supposed to be a joke, it's not funny."

"Woah! Eh! I didn't do it for fun! I promise you, there is a reason for that."

"Then what is?" He responded bluntly.

The man turned, back facing Shisui. His voice was very soft, saturated with remorse. So much that it made Shisui feeling a bit uncomfortable. He said. "To explain everything to you, I guess I have to start at the beginning. Shisui, do you have any idea of who I am?"

"No." Well, the response was simple.

" Very well, then I shall introduce myself. " The man offered a small smile to the other." Hello Shisui, I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki, or mostly known as the Sage of Six Paths. I am happy to finally meet you."

That wasn't what he expected, but after everything he saw, he was pretty sure anything was possible.

He didn't found the need to introduce himself in return. The sage already knew who he was, and Shisui didn't really want to talk to anyone right now.

On the other hand, the curious part of him was confused on what he did to make the sage want to meet him.

Still, Hagoromo was rewarded by silence.

The man sighed." You know, it's common curtesy to introduce yourself after someone did."

Still silence.

"Ok! Ok! Geez! You could at least show some kind of respect. I am the Sage of Six Paths after all!"

In the far distance, you could hear the sounds of crickets.

Hagoromo pinched his nose in frustration, 'Young people with their respects for the elders' he thought. But he remembered why he was here, and it really wasn't the time to play around.

"Shisui, the reason you stayed here after your death was for you to see the mistakes and fix them."

Now, Shisui was very confused. "What do you mean by that?" He found himself strangely asking. 'Fix? Does he means tha- No! It's not possible.'

The Sage stared at Shisui. It might be his imagination, but he saw a small flicker of something inside the blank eyes of the teen.

It made him feel hopeful.

He never wanted to make the other one suffer as much as he did, but if it was the price to pay for saving the futur, he had to take it.

"I'm gonna tell you the reason your soul stayed here." He saw Shisui slightly nod his head to show he was listening. Good, he was paying attention.

" It is quite a long story, so I will try to explain it quickly." Again, a small nod. With a sigh, the sage began to explain. "It started years ago, a bit before the Uchiha massacre."

He saw the Uchiha slightly cringe at the reminder of that. Nonetheless, he continued. "I got this... vision... of an horrible disaster that would send major repercussions on humanity."

"You got visions of the war." It was stated like a fact. A firm, blunt and cold fact.

The sage gave a small smile."Yes, it was. I never thought it would be this bad. So I only changed one thing, and let the time pass thinking that humans could manage themselves without my help."

"Well obviously it didn't work. At all."

The sage wisely chose to ignore the comment. "Still, the reincarnation of my sons were there, so I believed that whatever would happen was going to sort out with time." With a glance around, he added."As we can see, it didn't."

"That doesn't explain why I'm here." Came the oh so cheerful replie from Shisui.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Hagomoro was starting to feel a little frustrated by the teen, but decided to draw the inner peace and love from his heart to stay calm.

It might be a good idea to stop beating around the bush.

It would be hard to say, but he has to. 'The boy has the right to know'. And that was true.

With regret in his eyes, the sage said, "I'm sorry that this has to be that way, Shisui. When I received the vision, I didn't think much of it, but I still decided to prepare something in case the worst possible outcome happen."

He took a step forward, making the younger one concentrate on each word he was saying. Whatever the Sage was talking about, he knew it was important.

So, with an impassive face, he listened attentively. He didn't felt like doing so, the idea of being alone in his misery far more appealing than listening to an old fart explaining why he made him go through all this torture.

But still, he listened.

"What I did is not something I'm proud of. I chose someone that will be able to witness every mistakes and fix them when given the chance." Hagoromo said, gazing at Shisui with pity.

Oh how much he hated this pity.
But why feel mad?

It's not like he care anyway.

"You chose me." Muttered Shisui, voice sharp and blunt. "Why me?"

Hagoromo wasn't shocked by his tone. The reaction was certainly better than what he thought it would be. In truth, he expected yelling and cursing so he was quite satisfied.

"I chose you because you were and still are one of the people who care the most about peace. You killed yourself to help a friend and your village. And I know that, deep down, you want to help. You always wanted to help. That's just your nature." Shisui's gaze refused to meet his eyes, but the sage continued, knowing that he stuck a cord somewhere inside the young one.

"I chose you because I knew that you would always care about peace." He took a deep breath, finishing what he started. "So, I want to ask you one thing, and one thing only. I don't doubt that what you saw was horrible and that you want to end it all. So if you refuse, I will understand."

He stoped, wanting to make the question loud and clear.

"Shisui, do you want to save the world and rewrite the future?"

"Yes."

Shisui didn't even took the time to think about it. The response was spontaneous. If he could do anything to make the world like it used to be, he would do it.

He still cared about the world.

He knew that maybe he wasn't in the right state of mind right now. He was so so so tired. Tired of life, tired of everything. His mind was scarred, probably beyond repair,

but he didn't care.

He didn't care that he knew it would hurt, because he didn't care about himself in the first place. If there was a way to make this world a peaceful place again, he would sacrifice everything for it. To make the people he has come to admire happy.

And after, he could die peacefully without regrets to haunt him each day of his existence.

So, with a small spark of determination and hope in his lifeless eyes, staring full force Uchiha style, he repeated.

"Yes. I accept."

Hagoromo chuckled. He somewhat knew the boy was going to agree, and wished from the bottom of his heart that everything would be okay and that this child would found happiness somewhere in the future.

"Shisui, I will send you some time before the Academy graduation of the rookie 9. You have one chance to make everything right. I trust you so use your knowledge for the greater good" He informed with a small smile, approaching the teen enough that he was at arm length.

He would have squeezed his shoulders in a sign of encouragement, but stopped himself once he remembered that Shisui was a ghost.

So, with a last little chuckle, he did the handsigns for his justu, whispering a quiet 'good luck' before—

Whoooooosh!!!

—Shisui was send to the past.