Chapter 9
At six, he witnessed his first real battle. The Senju and Uchiha clashed in a forest clearing. Itama was supposed to be far behind the lines, but he had shadowed the patrol. He saw the Sharingan spin, the fireballs roar, the earth shake. He saw Kawarama, his cheerful brother, fall. The grief was a physical blow, a chilling echo of losses from his future-past.
As an Uchiha pursuer closed in on a retreating Senju, Itama acted. He didn't engage. He hid, and used **Copy** on the fallen Uchiha warrior Kawarama had struck down. Then, from behind a tree, he manifested the copy. The replicated Uchiha stood up, drew its sword, and attacked its living comrade from behind, creating enough confusion for the Senju to escape. Itama dismissed the copy before it was destroyed, its chakra returning to him, spent. He had become a battlefield phantom, manipulating events without ever being seen.