"Though you still lack the courage to face me directly, at least you no longer rush at me screaming the moment you see me. You've grown somewhat over the years," Uchiha Itachi remarked calmly, turning his gaze to Sasuke, who remained with his eyes tightly shut, after Kakuzu had left.
"If you're not confident in defeating me, flee in disgrace, just like you did back then. I might spare your life again, you foolish—"
"Enough talking!"
Sasuke, still with his eyes closed, struck first.
The Futsu no Mitama in his hand flashed like lightning as he thrust the blade forward.
In an instant, accompanied by a dazzling, blinding surge of electricity, a lance-sized beam of blue-white light erupted, hurtling toward Uchiha Itachi with lightning speed.
The pillar of light resembled a thunderbolt hurled from the heavens, brimming with infinite light and boundless heat.
Its destructive power seemed capable of tearing apart and annihilating every living thing in the shinobi world.
With a thunderous boom, the beam struck Uchiha Itachi's body in less than a millisecond.
The impact sent tremors through the ground, shattering the solid rock beneath his feet into countless fragments.
Over a dozen trees nearby were instantly reduced to charred, pitch-black husks.
'Was Uchiha Itachi defeated so easily?'
"Idiot, just watch quietly," Black Zetsu retorted coldly. "Even if it's just a Clone Technique body, Itachi isn't someone you can take down so easily."
Sure enough, as flames erupted across the battlefield, dozens of jet-black crows suddenly soared from the blaze, instantly transforming into the figure of Uchiha Itachi.
'Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Claw Crimson!'
The moment he materialized, Itachi launched a counterattack.
Countless fireballs, large and small, erupted from his hands, each one encasing a shuriken, scattering across the sky like crimson phoenix sage flowers aimed at Sasuke.
Just as Sasuke darted aside to evade the assault, the mid-air fireballs collided with each other.
Their trajectories instantly shifted, sealing off all four directions—above, below, left, and right—completely trapping Sasuke.
'Boom!'
A crimson blade of flame erupted from Sasuke's sword as he drew it at lightning speed, slicing through Itachi's Phoenix Sage Flower Claw Crimson.
'Bang!'
The instant he drew his sword, Sasuke stomped his foot. A muffled explosion rang out as he propelled himself forward with explosive force.
His figure streaked forward, leaving long trails of compressed air in his wake.
Only after these shockwaves had spread out from his trajectory did the piercing whistle of the sonic boom finally reach their ears.
The effect could only be achieved by a physical body instantly breaking the sound barrier, tearing through the air.
'Brother Shisui's Wild Gale Sword?'
As he retreated at lightning speed, Uchiha Itachi observed Sasuke's familiar footwork during his charge and thought to himself.
He was intimately familiar with the Wild Gale Sword; after all, no one in this world understood Uchiha Shisui better than he did.
Yet Sasuke's Wild Gale Sword remained both familiar and foreign. Its instantaneous burst of power far surpassed even Shisui's, clearly the result of some refinement.
'I can't meet this head-on.'
In a split second, Uchiha Itachi reached his decision. If he were in his true body, he might have had the strength to test Sasuke's power.
But as a mere Clone Technique manifestation, he clearly lacked the capacity for such a confrontation.
Even as his thoughts raced, his hands moved without hesitation, rapidly forming several hand seals.
Faced with Sasuke's ferocious Fire Release blade techniques, Uchiha Itachi dared not meet it head-on. He retreated swiftly,
But as Sasuke's flaming katana slashed through Uchiha Itachi, erupting in countless bloody holes, the entire figure dissolved into a swarm of pitch-black crows, scattering in all directions.
'Crow Clone Technique!'
A unique support ninjutsu created by Uchiha Itachi himself, combining the Substitution Technique and the Clone Technique, with birds serving as the medium.
It allowed him to evade enemy attacks while also imbuing the crows with the caster's abilities.
"You've grown stronger, Sasuke," Uchiha Itachi's voice drifted from the dispersing swarm. "Much stronger than before."
Uchiha Itachi's figure suddenly materialized in the distance, his cold voice drifting from beneath the high collar of his black trench coat.
'This sword... forged from materials venerated in the shrine?'
The familiar texture and chakra signature allowed him to recognize the weapon's origin.
Uchiha Itachi cast only a fleeting glance at the pitch-black katana in Sasuke's hand before fixing his gaze back on Sasuke's tightly closed eyes.
'Is he afraid I'll use genjutsu on him? It seems the Tsukuyomi from four years ago left a deep shadow on Sasuke's psyche.'
Uchiha Itachi sighed inwardly, but his expression remained unchanged. His cold, emotionless gaze remained steady as he said indifferently:
"Obsessing over clan loyalty and clinging to past glory will only limit your potential, becoming a negative factor hindering your growth. You, however, have cast aside such attachments, instead transforming them into fuel for your own strength. In this regard, you've avoided the typical Uchiha foolishness—you're much like me."
"However, your vessel remains insufficient."
"Vessel?"
A mocking smirk curled Sasuke's lips as he slowly opened his eyes.
The scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan swirled within them, a flash of bloodthirsty intent flickering across their surface.
In an instant, two pairs of Sharingan locked eyes in mid-air, locked in a silent, tense standoff.
Sasuke gazed into Uchiha Itachi's calm, unfathomable eyes and slowly asked, "A level of capacity like yours?"
As he spoke, Sasuke subtly observed every detail of Uchiha Itachi, reaching a conclusion: 'Clone Technique!'
Just as Kakashi, who hadn't yet mastered the Mangekyō Sharingan in the original timeline, sensed something amiss about Uchiha Itachi while still in his three-tomoe Sharingan state, Sasuke immediately detected the anomaly the moment Uchiha Itachi appeared.
Driven by suspicion, Sasuke acted decisively, striking first to probe his opponent.
Despite his apprehension about Itachi's Kotoamatsukami and Izanami, Sasuke understood that Itachi wouldn't use these techniques directly against him—not until Sasuke underwent a complete personality shift or completely slipped beyond Itachi's control.
Now that Sasuke knew it was merely a Clone Technique, he completely relaxed.
'Three-tomoe Sharingan, huh?'
Uchiha Itachi glanced at Sasuke's Sharingan without the slightest change in expression. His cold, detached blood-red eyes remained as deep and calm as the ocean.
"So, your capacity still falls short. You're only at three-tomoe Sharingan? I had thought you'd already awakened the same eyes as mine, given your progress.
"It seems your hatred and resentment toward me remain insufficient—far from enough. You, like me, possess the potential to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan. You must kill your closest person, just as I did—my foolish..."
"It's true that people tend to emphasize what they care about most."
Before he could finish, Sasuke interrupted, staring intently into his eyes.
He spoke slowly, each word deliberate: "You must be in immense pain, aren't you? Uchiha Itachi!"
___
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