The waters of the Naka River shimmered with a cold light beneath the moonlight.
Uchiha Itachi stood alone on the riverbank.
After Shisui's death, the situation had grown ever more tense.
Uchiha Shinsuke had risen to dominance with an iron hand, unifying the Hawks and Doves in a manner bordering on brute force and twisting the entire Uchiha into a single cord.
This should have been a good thing.
But Uchiha Itachi felt dread.
Because the direction Uchiha Shinsuke was pointing toward did not lead to reconciliation.
The relationship between the Uchiha and the village was now even more strained than before, with war on the verge of breaking out at any moment.
This ran completely counter to everything he and Shisui had ever pursued.
Itachi decided he could no longer stand by and watch.
His figure melted into the night, and when he reappeared, he was already outside Uchiha Shinsuke's courtyard.
"Itachi."
"Elder Shinsuke."
Itachi stepped out from the shadows, the moonlight tracing the lines of his handsome and melancholy face.
"Elder Shinsuke, you are leading the clan toward destruction."
Upon hearing Itachi's words, Uchiha Shinsuke shook his head with a helpless sigh.
"I thought Shisui's death had made you see reality clearly."
"It is precisely because I have seen it clearly that I cannot allow you to continue."
Itachi stepped forward, his gaze locked tightly onto Uchiha Shinsuke.
"This hostility will only bring the conflict between the village and the clan to a complete eruption, and when that happens, blood will flow in rivers and no one will be spared."
"Peace?"
Uchiha Shinsuke smiled.
"Itachi, the peace you speak of is nothing but a false tranquility built upon the charity of Konoha's higher-ups."
"What I pursue is the true dignity the Uchiha wins through their own strength."
These words were something Uchiha Itachi could not accept.
This was not dignity at all, this was arrogance on a path straight to hell.
"If that is your answer..."
The look in Uchiha Itachi's eyes shifted, and he finally stopped concealing it as a fierce pressure radiated from his entire body.
"Then let strength decide."
"If I win, Elder Shinsuke, I ask you to abandon this aggressive path and join me in seeking a way to coexist with the village."
Uchiha Itachi had absolute confidence in the Mangekyō power he had awakened.
He believed he had both the ability and the standing to correct this mistaken course.
Uchiha Shinsuke looked at Itachi with not even a trace of surprise in his eyes, and instead a hint of amusement showed through.
"Agreed."
In a deserted mountain valley outside the village, the two stood facing each other as invisible killing intent collided and rose between them.
In the next instant, both moved simultaneously.
Flash!
The sharp ring of clashing kunai echoed through the empty valley.
In the eyes of both fighters, the three jet-black tomoe spun at high speed, capturing every minute movement of the other.
Their taijutsu clash was as fast as lightning and as sudden as thunder.
Shinsuke's attacks were broad and sweeping, every punch and every kick carrying a fierce and powerful force.
Itachi's footwork was more fluid and elusive, always deflecting force at minimum cost and searching for gaps in which to counterattack.
Thud!
After another brief clash of fists, Itachi's body was sent sliding back several meters, his arms slightly numb.
In taijutsu, Uchiha Shinsuke's strength and reaction speed were subtly but clearly suppressing Itachi.
Recognizing that he could not match Shinsuke in taijutsu, Uchiha Itachi immediately created distance and began forming seals at a rapid pace.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
The massive fireball Itachi expelled carried a scorching blast of heat that nearly lit up half the valley.
Uchiha Shinsuke stood in place without dodging, forming seals in kind.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
The two fireballs collided in midair with a deafening roar.
Within the violent blast of heat, several needles crackling with lightning had already pierced through the smoke and dust, aimed straight at the vital points around Itachi's body.
"Lightning Style: Chidori Senbon!"
Itachi's pupils contracted sharply as he activated the Body Flicker Technique, narrowly avoiding that lethal barrage.
The moment he steadied himself, he wasted no time, his hands forming seals at an even faster speed.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Technique!"
Dozens of fist-sized fireballs scattered in all directions like falling petals, sealing off every escape route available to Uchiha Shinsuke from multiple angles.
Mixed in among the fireballs were needles glinting with cold light.
But the corner of Uchiha Shinsuke's mouth curled into a mocking smile.
Crackle!
Shinsuke's body had already been completely enveloped by violent blue lightning.
Lightning Style Chakra Mode!
Faced with that downpour of fire from every direction, Uchiha Shinsuke's figure flickered and turned into a blur, weaving freely through the gaps between the fireballs.
Not a single one of those lethal fireballs or needles could so much as touch the hem of Uchiha Shinsuke's clothing.
The gravity of Itachi's expression deepened further, as he had not expected the opponent's speed to be this extreme.
Itachi drew a deep breath and gathered more chakra.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
A roaring fire dragon charged forward with the ferocity to burn everything to ash, surging toward that streak of blue lightning.
"Too slow, Itachi."
A cold voice sounded close to his ear.
Itachi barely had time to raise a kunai across his chest.
Boom!
An irresistible massive force struck him, and Itachi was blasted away like a cannonball, slamming hard into the cliff face in the distance as fragments of rock flew in all directions.
Before Itachi could catch his breath, that streak of blue lightning was already closing in again.
Itachi could only dodge in a sorry state, relying on the Body Flicker Technique and Substitution Technique to evade.
With every dodge, the devastating attacks left behind deep gouges or spider-web cracks in the ground where they landed.
Uchiha Itachi had been completely suppressed.
"Give up, Itachi."
Uchiha Shinsuke's figure came to a stop not far away as the lightning surrounding his body slowly faded.
"You cannot beat me."
Itachi braced himself against the cliff wall and slowly rose to his feet, coughing up a mouthful of blood, yet a bittersweet smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.
"Is that so..."
"Then let me show you what I am truly capable of!"
Uchiha Itachi snapped his head up.
Those eyes were no longer the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Three jet-black blades rotated slowly around a blood-red pupil, radiating an aura of ill omen and calamity.
The Mangekyō Sharingan!
The air seemed to freeze in that instant.
"Do you see it, Elder Shinsuke."
Uchiha Itachi's voice carried a confidence that suggested he held everything in his grasp.
"This is..."
"This is what gives you your confidence?"
Uchiha Shinsuke cut him off, and his tone carried a trace of undisguised disappointment.
Not even a fraction of surprise showed on his face.
"Do you think you are the only one?"
Under Itachi's incredulous gaze, Uchiha Shinsuke's eyes slowly closed, then snapped open.
Hummm!
A pressure of ocular power far deeper and more terrifying than Itachi's swept across the entire valley like a tidal wave.
It was also a Mangekyō Sharingan.
"This... is impossible!"
Itachi's breathing stopped completely in that moment.
The trump card he had been so proud of, the power he believed would be enough to change everything, looked so laughable in the face of his opponent.
No.
He refused to believe it.
Extreme shock transformed into a frenzied killing intent.
"Tsukuyomi!"
The Mangekyō in Itachi's left eye contracted sharply as he poured every ounce of his ocular power into it.
He would use this most powerful mental attack to completely shatter Uchiha Shinsuke's will.
"Your mental prison has no effect on me."
Uchiha Shinsuke still stood in place, and not even a flicker of movement crossed his eyes.
Itachi's body trembled violently as blood slowly seeped from his left eye.
Tsukuyomi... had been broken?
No, it was not broken.
It was outright immunity.
Uchiha Shinsuke had not been caught by Tsukuyomi at all, but how was that possible?
Uchiha Itachi could not comprehend it.
Previously, in order to guard against Kotoamatsukami, Uchiha Shinsuke had specifically exchanged for the skill called Mental Barrier, which was dedicated to granting immunity against genjutsu attacks tied to the Mangekyō, and Shisui's Kotoamatsukami as well as Itachi's Tsukuyomi both fell within the scope of that immunity.
And so Uchiha Shinsuke had absolutely nothing to fear from Itachi's Tsukuyomi.
For the first time, fear crept into the heart of this genius, Uchiha Itachi.
"Amaterasu!"
Itachi let out a final roar as the Mangekyō pattern in his right eye spun at a furious pace.
A cluster of jet-black flames appeared on Uchiha Shinsuke's body out of nowhere, burning fiercely.
These were the inextinguishable flames that could burn even fire itself to nothing.
Yet Uchiha Shinsuke still did not move.
Boom!!!
A surging chakra so vast it was suffocating erupted from within Uchiha Shinsuke and shot into the sky.
An enormous skeletal energy framework blazing with lightning rose from the ground and enveloped him within it.
The black flames of Amaterasu, before that immense energy form, were easily kept at bay on the outside.
Susano'o!
And not the first stage either, this was the second stage Susano'o.
Itachi could also use Susano'o himself, but at present he could only summon the skeletal form of the first stage.
He had been beaten without a shred of dignity remaining.
The ocular power of the Mangekyō drained rapidly, his vision began to blur, and his body swayed on the verge of collapse.
In the end, Itachi could only sink powerlessly to his knees and, in a state of complete exhaustion, abandon all resistance.