Aoki Shiraishi—the most powerful existence in the ninja world today. He was a man who, by his own strength, had suppressed the legends of the Leaf, forcibly rewritten the landscape of the Third Ninja War, and ushered in a dominant era for the Hidden Sand.
To many, he was the Uchiha Madara of the modern age.
Despite the silver mask, Shiraishi made no effort to conceal his gargantuan spiritual pressure. Even within his own domain, Itachi found his palms drenched in sweat.
"The Uchiha clan truly never ceases to produce geniuses... compared to the Senju or the Hagoromo, you possess a talent that invites the envy of heaven itself."
Though Shiraishi remained motionless, Itachi could feel his absolute control over the Tsukuyomi world beginning to erode with every word the man spoke.
Countless silver butterflies fluttered around Shiraishi. In reality, these were manifestations of his spiritual energy.
They danced through the air, their rhythmic wingbeats interfering with the very frequency of the Tsukuyomi world.
These butterflies... they are parsing the Tsukuyomi!
Holding the Divine Dao Sword, Shiraishi didn't immediately transition into his armored state. Instead, he directed the butterflies to dissolve into the fabric of the illusion, using this opportunity to gain a profound understanding of this specific class of Genjutsu.
Rather than defeating Itachi, Shiraishi was far more interested in the architectural logic of the Tsukuyomi world.
These butterflies were linked to his core "Regeneration Kernel," allowing him to stream high-level data back to the supercomputing systems at the Naval Headquarters for permanent storage.
Itachi unleashed a barrage of blades formed from twisted shadows, but before they could even get close to Shiraishi, they shattered and fell to the ground like broken glass.
Unlike the crude spiritual destruction from before, Shiraishi's consciousness was now actively seizing administrative "permissions" over the Tsukuyomi world.
Realizing the silver butterflies had already analyzed his technique, Itachi was forced into a direct confrontation.
As Shiraishi slowly raised his head, Itachi felt a crushing weight descend upon his soul. The full release of the world's strongest ninja's spiritual energy caused the entire Tsukuyomi dimension to tremble and fracture.
"Uchiha Itachi, even if this is your world, how much longer can you resist?"
Itachi didn't answer. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Kaede. "Have you already defected to the Sand...?"
"The Leaf no longer has a place for the Uchiha, Itachi. Don't you understand that yet?" Kaede replied coldly.
Since everything happening here was contained within the Tsukuyomi world, Shiraishi didn't care if Itachi learned the truth.
Itachi was the type of person who shouldered every burden himself; knowing that the Sand was the architect behind the scenes would only drive him to accept the reality silently while searching for a way to change it from within.
If Itachi were to tell the Leaf's high command that Kaede was colluding with the Sand, it would essentially confirm the Uchiha's treason.
At that point, Konoha's blade wouldn't just be aimed at Kaede—it would be aimed at the entire clan.
"Does... does Father know about this too?" Itachi asked, his voice wavering.
The fact that Kaede dared to bring Shiraishi out into the open suggested that it wasn't just a rogue action. It implied that Fugaku, and perhaps the entire clan, had decided to collaborate with the Sand to destroy the village from the inside.
"Perhaps you should consider one thing first," Shiraishi interjected. "How exactly do you think I entered your Tsukuyomi?"
Itachi's expression finally broke.
Indeed. Without the support of his father and the clan, how could someone sneak into his mental world right in the middle of a clan assessment? Shiraishi had to be physically present nearby.
And that voice... it was identical to the "Lop Nur" representative from the Loulan Chamber of Commerce.
So it's true. When Lop Nur arrived at the Leaf, the Uchiha and the Sand had already reached an agreement?
Under Shiraishi's deliberate misdirection, Itachi came to the tragic realization that his clan had truly stepped onto a path of no return.
Pushed to his limits by Shiraishi's overwhelming spiritual pressure, Itachi broke through his own boundaries. In the depths of the mental world, he manifested the ultimate power of the Uchiha bloodline: Susanoo!
A giant of solidified, orange-red chakra rose behind Itachi, radiating a terrifying aura.
Compared to the Susanoo of Madara or Shisui, the sheer intensity and specific hue of Itachi's manifestation caught Shiraishi off guard.
A breakthrough at this moment? To forcibly manifest Susanoo within the Tsukuyomi world... did I underestimate Itachi, or did I underestimate the 'Will of the World'?
The pressure Shiraishi applied had forced Itachi's evolution, allowing him to use the power of the Mangekyo to create the Susanoo's full capabilities ahead of time. It was a classic "awakening" in the heat of battle.
But summoning the Susanoo wasn't the end. The giant drew a flaming, blood-red longsword, standing in direct opposition to Shiraishi's Divine Dao Sword.
As I thought, there's more to it...
"The Totsuka Blade?"
The Totsuka Blade existed within the Uchiha's Susanoo as an ethereal weapon, accessible only through a specific genetic inheritance of the Mangekyo.
An Uchiha ancestor had once wielded it, and now, it appeared Itachi had inherited that specific genetic trait.
He can even manifest that?
Shiraishi felt a surge of annoyance, like swallowing a fly. But Itachi's "protagonist treatment" wasn't over.
As Shiraishi's silver butterflies converged into a beam of holy light, Itachi, gritting his teeth against the pain, raised a blood-red shield with his Susanoo. The shield neutralized the strike instantly.
Shiraishi's eye twitched. Since the Totsuka Blade had appeared, the Yata Mirror was no surprise.
The Yata Mirror was an ethereal shield without physical form, capable of defending against any attack—be it physical, spiritual, or elemental. By altering its own attributes to match the incoming attack, it rendered any offensive move useless.
In Uchiha history, these two treasures belonged to different ancestors. Yet, somehow, the genetic markers for both had merged into Itachi, allowing his Susanoo to inherit the strength of both lineages.
Why stop there? Shiraishi thought sardonically. Is this a gacha game? Did he just pull the 'Sovereign' bloodline?
With the Yata Mirror for defense and the Totsuka Blade for offense, Itachi had achieved a state of near-invincibility.
Even though this was a battle of consciousness, Itachi's sudden awakening of the two divine artifacts was a variable Shiraishi hadn't expected.
The threat level of this Susanoo now surpassed even the Uchiha Madara he had encountered upon his arrival in this world. It made him suspect that some form of "Chakra Will" was interfering.
It was likely the "World Will" behind the Sage of the Six Paths. While this will was largely an objective instinct, Shiraishi's existence as a "glitch" in the system was causing history to deviate so significantly that the world was beginning to fight back.
Especially after Shiraishi "summoned" Ace from another world, the world's natural immune system was bound to react.
The Sages at Mt. Myoboku probably saw him as a world-ending demon king in their nightmares. To stop him, the world was willing to empower its "chosen" at any cost.
The Totsuka Blade's attacks contained a powerful sealing Genjutsu that could trap an opponent in a world of dreams forever. Shiraishi remembered this from his studies at Ryuchi Cave; it was a weapon the White Snake Sage had feared for centuries. Now, it had finally manifested.
Kaede stood to the side, not rushing to intervene. "To maintain two divine artifacts at once... Itachi, you are burning your very life force to fight us."
Blood began to stream from Itachi's eyes. He was still just a teenager, yet he possessed a will stronger than most adults. "If I can seal you both here... it will be worth it."
He felt he had to stop the collaboration between the Sand and the Uchiha. He had to prevent his father from continuing down this "wrong" path.
Under Shiraishi's calculated atmosphere of lies, Itachi was now certain: Fugaku and the entire Uchiha clan had signed a pact with the Sand the moment the Loulan traders stepped into Konoha.
Everything finally made sense to him. Why Kaede had "lost control" and destroyed the Loulan supplies to bankrupt the Leaf, and why the Seven-Tails had been stolen.
In this long chain of events, the Uchiha had been the Sand's primary shadow agents.
So... this is the truth.
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