A lonely wind tossed his white hair, making it sway in the breeze.
Kakashi stood atop the Huiyao Building, his gaze fixed on the landscape below. Under his rule, the Hidden Leaf Village had expanded to nearly three times its original size.
For some reason, a faint pang of unease flickered in his heart.
At a level of power such as his, a premonition like this never surfaced without cause. A tiger is not startled by a rabbit, and a lion does not feel trepidation because of a stray dog.
Under his reign, the entire Shinobi World might not yet be a perfect utopia, but it was certainly flourishing.
Is it because of Moryo, whom I'm about to deal with?
In the entire world, there were few existences left that Kakashi had to take seriously. Moryo, of the Land of Demons, was one of them. Unsealing it to transform its power into a source for Shion was indeed a dangerous gamble.
Aside from Moryo, only the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave and Gamamaru of Mount Myoboku were worth a second glance. As for the Slug Sage of Shikkotsu Forest, she was Kakashi's own summoning beast; she naturally wouldn't turn against him.
It could be said that in the current Shinobi World, only these few could make Kakashi exert himself.
Suddenly, an electronic beep chirped from his person.
He pulled a black device from his pocket. A status report flickered across the green display:
Report: While sealing the Two-Tails in Leizhou, we encountered the Three Snake Sisters of Ryuchi Cave and a woman bearing a striking resemblance to His Majesty.
Itachi?
Kakashi's brow furrowed.
He thought back to that sudden tightening in his chest. If the enemy were merely at that level, they wouldn't be a match for Itachi.
But...
Kakashi took the communicator and sent messages to Hayama Shirakumo and Might Guy, who had just returned to the village.
If something was going wrong on Itachi's end...
Kakashi trusted his instincts. The mission regarding Moryo hadn't begun yet; currently, the only active combat operation was the one Itachi was leading.
As the messages were sent, Might Guy and Hayama Shirakumo received Kakashi's orders simultaneously.
"Hayama-sensei, what happened?"
Naruto, who was currently undergoing daily training with Sakura under Hayama's guidance, looked toward the man who was his teacher in all but name.
"It's nothing. A mission has come up; I need to head out."
"You and Sakura keep practicing. I'll check your progress when I get back."
Hayama didn't waste words. He gripped his blade and prepared to leave.
"Don't worry, Sensei! I'll train harder than anyone!" Naruto chirped with a grin.
Meanwhile, at the gates of Konoha, Might Guy was already waiting for Hayama. The two shared a brief look—no words were necessary. They leaped into the air, treading through the sky at extreme speeds. Above them, the light distorted into a shimmering blur as the Ancor Vantian appeared out of nowhere. As the hatch opened, the two synchronized their movements and entered the craft.
The moment they were inside, the light distorted once more, and the Ancor Vantian vanished from the sky.
Leizhou
Itachi Uchiha, currently in his Sage Mark state, had successfully used the Uchiha Flame Formation to trap the Three Snake Sisters and Kagura.
Orochimaru and Hiruko were poised to move, desperate to rescue the four of them. However, the flame barrier maintained by ten Uchiha shinobi stood as a daunting obstacle in their path.
In the original history, the Uchiha Flame Formation deployed by Obito Uchiha alone had been enough to block a full-force strike from the Eight-Tails. Although none of these ten Uchiha could match Obito individually, the barrier they produced collectively was even more durable than the one Obito had once conjured.
Given time, this barrier wouldn't be an issue for researchers like Orochimaru and Hiruko. But time was the one thing Kagura and the others didn't have; they could fall to Itachi at any moment.
"Damn it, we'll have to try and break it by force."
Orochimaru stood atop a mountain peak, his expression grim as he looked down at the magnificent red barrier. He didn't actually care about the Three Snake Sisters; he had only been forced into this action because of their scheming with White Zetsu.
But while the sisters were expendable, Kagura was his masterpiece. He would not allow her to die here.
"What should we do?"
Hiruko was also at a loss. He could only hope that a combined frontal assault with Orochimaru might shatter the formation. But a forced breakthrough would surely deplete their strength, leaving them vulnerable to Itachi's bizarre ocular powers.
"I..."
Orochimaru frowned, beginning to speak, but he caught sight of Itachi looking back toward them from within the barrier. Their eyes met across the distance.
This guy...
Orochimaru bit his lip, a trace of dread flickering in his heart.
"Orochimaru..."
A voice spoke up. It wasn't Hiruko, but the White Zetsu who had been monitoring the battlefield.
"Zetsu." Orochimaru shifted his gaze to the creature emerging from the ground.
"If you can't figure out how to break the barrier and save your creation, perhaps you should try this."
A peculiar eyeball appeared in Zetsu's palm.
That's... the Mangekyo Sharingan?!
Orochimaru's pupils contracted sharply. Where did a Mangekyo come from? The eye in Zetsu's hand wasn't a standard three-tomoe; it bore the pattern of three interlocking sickles.
"Use me as the sacrifice. Use this eye to perform Edo Tensei... and reanimate its owner."
Orochimaru's expression shifted between light and shadow as he stared at Zetsu. He felt as though he had walked into a trap. This wasn't a snare set by Hiruko or the Snake Sisters—it was a trap laid by the person behind White Zetsu. Cold-blooded creatures like the Snake Sisters would never risk their own lives just to pressure him. Hiruko was no different.
Gazing at the white-haired figure trapped within the double layers of the Uchiha Flame Formation, Orochimaru wavered. He felt himself being pulled back into the vortex of "emotion" once again. Subconsciously, the images of several familiar figures flashed through his mind.
"Fine."
Orochimaru looked deeply at the White Zetsu. He could sense the abnormality in the creature's body—it contained a massive, overwhelming amount of Hashirama cells. If this Zetsu was used as the sacrifice, the summoned entity would possess power nearly identical to their living state. Perhaps even...
Back on the ship, Zetsu hadn't given him this feeling.
So, there's more than one Zetsu?
Orochimaru didn't have time for further contemplation. He took the Mangekyo Sharingan and began the hand signs for the Reanimation Jutsu.
As he looked at the eye in his hand, a strange smile played on his lips. "Is this Uchiha Madara's Sharingan?"
Zetsu watched him calmly. "It is, and it isn't."
With that, Zetsu fell silent.
What's happening?
As the Uchiha Flame Formation continued to contract, the area available to the Snake Sisters and Kagura grew smaller and smaller. It wouldn't be long before the top-tier Uchiha technique reduced them to ash.
Right then... a sudden jolt of alarm surged through Itachi's heart.
This feeling...
Itachi's chest tightened. He instinctively looked toward the distance behind him. It was a focal point of the flame barrier.
"Who's there?!"
The Uchiha ninja maintaining that specific point shouted a warning. But the shout was immediately followed by a scream and the sound of flesh being torn.
The flame barrier on that side collapsed instantly.
Tap... tap...
Crisp, steady footsteps echoed in the silence.
"Who are you?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, preparing to intercept the intruder.
"Stop."
His brother's stern voice rang out, halting Sasuke in his tracks.
"To think I'd be brought back by a technique like this," a raspy, muffled voice—both familiar and strange—reached Itachi's ears. "I suppose it's a blessing in disguise."
Itachi's heart hammered. He had heard that voice before. Twelve years ago, during the Uchiha Coup, the masked man claiming to be Uchiha Madara had approached him.
So... it was him?
A man wearing a black cloak with red clouds appeared before the brothers. His skin was covered in the tell-tale cracks of the reanimated, and half of his face was a mass of hideous scar tissue.
"Is the face beneath the mask truly so ugly?" Itachi sneered at the newcomer.
"Itachi Uchiha... I didn't expect to meet you here. It seems Heaven itself wants you dead."
This man was none other than the reanimated Obito Uchiha!
"Kill me?" Itachi let out a cold laugh.
Twelve years ago, the man might have had reason for such confidence. But now? Who would dare claim they could kill him?
"Sasuke, take the clansmen and leave. I'll handle this."
According to Hayama Shirakumo's mission reports from three years ago, Obito Uchiha possessed space-time abilities, but he couldn't block out sound-based genjutsu. Back then, Hayama had used a specific technique to force him out of his pocket dimension.
"Are you kidding me?!" Sasuke countered without hesitation.
"You want to leave?" Obito smiled—a wide, arrogant, and manic grin. "Today, not a single soul leaves this place. I am a ghost awakened from the depths of hell... here to claim my ultimate revenge!"
A crimson glow flared in his eyes. It was the Mangekyo pattern of three interlocking sickles.
And there were two of them. A matching pair of Kamui Mangekyo Sharingan!
By using a White Zetsu infused with a massive amount of Hashirama cells as a sacrifice, combined with Orochimaru's refined Reanimation Jutsu, Obito had been restored with the power that had originally belonged to him before he lost his eye.
Chakra roared, and space-time began to warp! A spatial vortex formed in the blink of an eye.
!
Itachi's face paled. Utilizing the high-speed movement of Sage Mode, he vanished from his spot instantly. But as he retreated, the Uchiha Flame Formation—fueled by senjutsu chakra—was shredded like paper by the spatial distortion.
The Snake Sisters and Kagura watched the reanimated Obito with profound dread. It wasn't just Itachi; they felt it too. The sheer, tangible weight of his madness and hatred was suffocating.
"Ah... it's my first time using this eye. I suppose I'm still a bit rusty," Obito said, his mouth curling into an exaggerated arc.
Everyone present knew that his "miss" had been intentional. He had let Itachi escape on purpose.
"Stop acting!" Sasuke's voice rang out alongside the chirping of lightning. He swung his Chidori Katana at Obito's back.
However...
The blade passed through Obito as if he were made of mist. Sasuke's pupils shrank. I clearly... I clearly hit him. He felt a cold shiver of terror as he watched his sword pass through Obito's body.
"Sasuke!" Itachi cried out.
"Trash."
Obito looked at Sasuke with contempt as the boy passed through him. His hand shot out like lightning, reaching for Sasuke's throat.
The wind howled like the roar of a god!
A crimson, ethereal blade of fire pierced through Obito's form like a bolt of lightning. It didn't make contact, but the intervention allowed Sasuke to scramble back, narrowly saving his life.
"The Totsuka Blade."
Obito looked at the giant arm and the legendary sword manifesting from the red skeletal structure surrounding Itachi. His mania vanished, replaced by a look of intense gravity.
The legendary spirit sword capable of sealing anything it pierced, trapping the victim in a genjutsu of drunken dreams for eternity. With this sword, Itachi truly had the capital to face him.
"A pity. If you had kept that sword hidden, you might have had a chance to defeat me. But to save that brat, you exposed it early."
Obito looked at the grim Itachi, and that crazed smile returned. "Are you prepared to die today?"
As the words fell, teal light erupted from Obito, engulfing him! Just like Itachi, a skeletal frame manifested around him, wrapping him in layers of bone, muscle, skin, and armor.
A teal, half-bodied giant towered over the battlefield! But it didn't stop there. Legs formed, followed by massive wings.
A Complete Body Susanoo, hundreds of meters tall, descended upon the battlefield like a vengeful god!
Reanimated Obito Uchiha: Double Kamui Complete Body Susanoo.
"Sasuke. Take the clan and leave. This is an order."
Facing the towering Susanoo, Itachi's face took on a level of solemnity never seen before.
"Nii-san..." Sasuke started to speak, but the previous exchange left him speechless. If not for Itachi, he would already be dead. His brother had been forced to play a trump card just to protect him.
"Understood." Sasuke nodded bitterly. He suddenly realized how weak he truly was. He had thought that receiving the Sage Mark would make him different. In the end... he was still being protected.
"Ha... hahahaha... HAHAHAHA!"
"You think you can leave?! No one is leaving!"
Obito's laughter echoed from within the Susanoo's forehead. The giant moved. A teal blade, dozens of meters long, materialized in its hand and swung down mercilessly toward the fleeing Sasuke.
Clang!
The strike was blocked.
A red spiritual shield—the Yata Mirror—had intercepted the blow that would have ended Sasuke's life.
————
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