Elsewhere, Naruto leaped rapidly through the forest, landing on a branch.
Itachi emerged from the shadows ahead.
Naruto drew a Kunai from his Ninja tool pouch, while Itachi simultaneously backhanded the handle of the Kunai at his waist.
Swish... Swish...
Clang, clang, clang...
The two clashed rapidly amidst the intersecting branches, the sound of Kunai striking Kunai ringing out through the forest.
Naruto slashed diagonally from the right, and Itachi met him at the same angle.
Naruto flipped and countered with an upward strike from below. Itachi stepped aside a split second early to dodge the blade, simultaneously striking at Naruto's wrist joint with the handle of his Kunai.
In just a few seconds, they exchanged over a dozen moves, with every offensive and defensive maneuver occurring at the limit of close-quarters combat, their bodies nearly touching.
During the gaps in their exchange, Itachi attempted to use genjutsu several times, but each time the ocular power of his Sharingan entered Naruto's Chakra, it vanished, with the strength of the opponent's Kunai parries remaining steady.
Both were testing each other, so neither had used their full strength.
"Itachi, I hear about you often from Sasuke. It's nice to finally meet you in person." Naruto sidestepped a thrust from Itachi and began to chat casually.
"Sasuke?" Itachi frowned slightly.
"That foolish little brother of yours." Naruto's expression was relaxed as he spoke but the force behind his Kunai did not weaken in the slightest.
"Sasuke..."
At the mention of Sasuke, Itachi's focus wavered for a moment. Naruto keenly captured the micro-twitch in the muscles of his right shoulder. This was the moment when an opponent's instinctive defensive rhythm would develop a minuscule lapse after being suddenly interrupted by a piece of information during high-speed combat.
Without waiting for that lapse to pass, Naruto kicked out. The timing was perfect, Itachi couldn't react in time and was struck.
Itachi blocked with his crossed arms, the immense impact sending him flying backward.
He flipped in the air, absorbing most of the impact, then pivoted against a tree to land on a branch.
His arms were faintly numb, but more than that, what made his heart tighten was what Naruto had just said.
Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!
Itachi looked up and saw three Kunai released from Naruto's hands, splitting into dozens in mid-air, each blade coated in a layer of Wind Chakra.
The cutting power of Kunai coated in Wind Chakra was off the charts. If hit head-on by this storm of Kunai, he would likely be sliced to pieces.
Naruto's timing was impeccable. The Kunai reached his face the instant Itachi stabilized his body, leaving him no time to form hand seals.
Itachi's mind raced and the three-tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly, merging into a pinwheel-shaped pattern.
Mangekyo Sharingan!
The proof of the Uchiha Clan's ultimate power.
A red skeletal structure formed from Chakra emerged, assembling at high speed to encase him.
Clang, clang, clang...
The rib-like structure blocked the Kunai coated with Wind Chakra, producing a series of dense clashing sounds.
After the attack ended, the red Chakra skeleton dissipated into the air, revealing Itachi's slightly labored expression.
Naruto leaped to a nearby tree, looking at Itachi's slightly pale face caused by the consumption of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Itachi straightened up, his pair of Mangekyo Sharingan fixed on Naruto. "Naruto, you are not only very strong but also quite skilled at psychological warfare."
Naruto shook his head. "Not really. Every word I said was true. It's just that the moment you heard Sasuke's name, your rhythm was disrupted. That's why I had the chance to seize that opening."
"It seems Sasuke carries a lot of weight in your heart, so some of my speculations regarding the Uchiha Clan's extermination can be tentatively verified."
"What speculations?" Itachi's tone was calm, but a cold light gradually ignited deep within his pupils.
If anything seemed amiss, he would immediately greet the Naruto before him with Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, regardless of whether he was Sasuke's friend or not.
Anyone who knew the truth about the extermination, if they could not be completely trusted, had to be eliminated.
Naruto spoke with a calm tone, "Sasuke has been my friend since we were kids. I've done some investigation into matters concerning him, and I've also learned a bit about the Uchiha Clan's extermination incident back then."
"The entire clan was wiped out, leaving only one survivor. On the surface, it was Itachi killing the entire clan to test his own capacity, but if you think about it for a second, you know that explanation doesn't hold water. A thirteen-year-old ninja, even if they had awakened the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan, couldn't possibly kill all the combatants of the entire Uchiha Clan on their own."
"Unless it was Madara, but Madara died a long time ago."
"So, from the very beginning, this wasn't something one person could accomplish."
"Therefore, this wasn't some so-called capacity test, but a form of exchange condition completed under duress, using the only acceptable outcome available."
Amaterasu!
Just as Naruto was about to continue, Itachi's left eye snapped open.
A drop of blood slid down his cheek from his eye socket as a mass of pitch-black flames ignited in the space in front of Naruto.
But Naruto was faster than Amaterasu. He clasped his hands together, immediately placing a Shadow Clone in front of him while his real body leaped backward.
The moment the Shadow Clone appeared, it was swallowed by the black flames, disappearing into a puff of white smoke without even a scream.