The instant black flames ignited on the back of Makoto's hand, he vanished.
A heartbeat later he stood in the spectator seats, right beside Mrs. Yukinoshita.
Flying Thunder God.
He took the kunai from her hand. He'd passed it to her earlier for safekeeping.
BOOM.
Where he'd been standing a moment ago, a pillar of black fire erupted skyward.
Amaterasu.
Sasuke stumbled backward, trembling head to toe, staring at the masked man.
"You... you're...!?"
Makoto smiled and turned to the impostor. "You come all the way back to the village to see your little brother, and you won't even show your face?"
The mask came off slowly.
Beneath it was a face that looked seven-tenths like Sasuke's own.
Kakashi. Asuma. Kurenai. Every Konoha shinobi in the arena went rigid.
On the high platform, Hiruzen Sarutobi's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Sakura's eyes nearly popped out of her skull. "He looks so much like Sasuke!"
The players stared blankly.
Kakeru Tobe, one arm already gone, glanced around in confusion. "Who is he?"
"Uchiha... Itachi."
Sasuke ground the name through clenched teeth.
Hiruzen shot to his feet, about to demand how Itachi dared return to the village without authorization.
To his left, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, moved first.
A kunai pressed against the old man's throat.
"Lord Kazekage, what are you...!?"
Rasa didn't answer. He muttered under his breath: "This isn't quite how the plan was supposed to go... but no helping it now."
Before anyone could react, he seized Hiruzen and leaped to the rooftop above the arena. His four bodyguards kicked the Hokage's guards aside and followed, tearing away their disguises in midair.
Sound Village headbands gleamed in the sunlight.
Orochimaru's Sound Four.
The moment the disguised Orochimaru dragged Hiruzen onto the rooftop, the four landed at the corners and flashed through identical hand signs, palms slamming to the ground.
"Ninja Art: Four Violet Flames Formation!"
Meanwhile, the man who'd been sitting to Hiruzen's right, the Fourth Mizukage Yagura Karatachi, remained where he stood. When he spoke, the voice that came out belonged to someone else entirely.
"Itachi, that fool. Too impatient."
Then, before the horrified eyes of the entire arena, Yagura's small frame began to peel apart. Skin split and fell away like petals blooming open, and from inside stepped a wholly different figure.
The masked man. The real one.
Obito.
"What... what is happening!?"
The arena erupted into chaos. Spectators were stunned. Konoha shinobi were stunned. The players were stunned.
The Kazekage had taken their Hokage hostage, and the Mizukage had been a fake all along?
What the hell was going on?
Kabuto Yakushi, disguised as an ANBU operative, frowned.
Damn it. This isn't the plan.
The genjutsu was supposed to go first, knocking out the weaker fighters before the assault began...
Then again, this could still work.
"Move!"
At Kabuto's command, figures throughout the stands ripped away their disguises. Sand and Sound headbands caught the light.
The killing started a second later.
In barely a heartbeat, several spectators dropped.
A blur of motion streaked toward Kakeru Tobe.
"Wait..."
He never finished. The kunai punched through his throat.
Blood sprayed.
Hayato Hayama. Yumiko Miura. Yui Yuigahama. Everyone around him went blank.
They weren't strangers to blood. The earlier rounds of the exams had put them through real combat. Some of them had even killed, mostly out of desperation.
But this was the first time they'd watched someone from their own world die right in front of them.
"Kakeru!"
Hayato screamed, unhinged.
A Sound shinobi swung a kunai at his head.
A fraction of a second before impact, Haruno Yukinoshita ripped out her own kunai, caught the blow meant for Hayato, and locked blades with the attacker.
"What are you standing around for? Fight back!"
The players snapped awake. Those who could weave signs started weaving. Those who carried weapons drew them.
"Mom! Sonoko! Get behind me!"
Ran Mouri shoved her mother and her best friend behind her back.
Eriri Spencer Sawamura pulled a kunai and planted herself in front of Sayuri.
"Airi. Marina."
Makoto called once.
Both sisters stepped forward instantly.
"Makoto, what's..."
"Don't worry. I moved Aunt Kayoko somewhere safe ahead of time."
His gaze locked onto Itachi, standing not far away. "You two only need to protect yourselves."
Those crimson Sharingan stared back at him.
"Stay well back." The corner of his mouth curved. "If you get caught in the crossfire, even I can't guarantee your safety."
The sisters didn't hesitate. They fell back, shielding Mrs. Yukinoshita, Sayuri Sawamura, and the other noncombatants, fending off Sound and Sand attackers as they went.
"Itachi! I'll kill you!"
Sasuke had lost all reason. He should have been pursuing Gaara, but the moment that face was revealed, everything else ceased to exist.
Chidori blazed to life again, lightning searing the air. He launched himself off the arena wall and dove straight for Itachi.
Itachi's expression didn't flicker.
At the last possible instant he shifted his weight, letting the Chidori scream past his body, and caught Sasuke's left arm in a precise grip.
Not even close to the same league.
Sasuke glared at him with raw, helpless fury.
Then another howling gale bore down.
Rasengan.
A sphere of blue energy came hammering toward Itachi's forehead like a slam dunk.
Itachi sidestepped again. The Rasengan grazed past his nose by a hair.
But this time, it wasn't so easy.
Bang.
The instant the Rasengan missed, Makoto dissolved into smoke.
Shadow clone!?
Both brothers froze.
The shrieking wind came again.
Makoto burst from Itachi's blind spot, right hand already cradling a fully formed Rasengan.
"Let's see you dodge this one."
Dead angle. Nowhere to go.
For the first time, that glacier of a face cracked.
Both eyes transformed. Mangekyou Sharingan.
An orange-red skeletal shield materialized around his body in an instant.
CRASH.
The Rasengan slammed into the ribcage of Susanoo. The bones didn't so much as shudder.
"What kind of jutsu is that!?"
Players mid-retreat and Konoha shinobi mid-fight alike went pale.
Something that could tank a Rasengan head-on?
But Makoto's face showed no surprise whatsoever.
He didn't give Itachi a single second to breathe.
"Sasuke. Now."
Sasuke snapped back to reality.
He was inside Susanoo's perimeter. He could reach Itachi.
"Die!"
His left arm was still wrenched in Itachi's grip. He forced through the searing pain, risked the fracture, roared, tore a kunai free, and drove it at Itachi's throat.
Itachi whipped his head around.
His left Mangekyou spun into a frenzy.
"AAAAAAGH!"
Sasuke's scream ripped across the arena.
He went rigid. Blank-eyed. Gone.
Tsukuyomi.
"Sasuke!" Naruto, pinned down by Sound shinobi, screamed himself hoarse.
Makoto couldn't help but laugh. "Was that really necessary? You haven't seen your little brother in years, and the first thing you do is hit him with Tsukuyomi? Wasn't the Night of the Massacre highlight reel enough for you?"
Seriously, what was wrong with Itachi? Every reunion, the opening move was forcing his brother to relive the clan's annihilation in first person.
Itachi said nothing.
He stiffened, fighting to stay upright, willing his body not to buckle.
Every cell screamed in agony.
Makoto's smile didn't waver. "Amaterasu. Susanoo. Tsukuyomi. You've burned through your whole arsenal back to back. That can't feel good."
He tilted his head, studying the man in front of him.
"How much fight do you have left?"