Among those brainwashed by the Third Hokage, none had been more thoroughly indoctrinated than Itachi Uchiha.
Though Itachi had struck a deal with Danzo to protect Sasuke and participated in the Uchiha clan massacre, Richard still couldn't comprehend Itachi's reasoning. Whether his goal was protecting Sasuke or safeguarding Konoha, numerous alternatives had existed.
Take the simplest example: with Itachi's strength at that time, had he desired to become the Uchiha clan patriarch, no clan member could have opposed him. Once installed as patriarch, even if many Uchiha remained dissatisfied with Konoha, he could have used force to "persuade" them to abandon their ambitions.
Beyond claiming leadership, taking Sasuke and his family away from Konoha had also been an option. He'd clearly had multiple paths to prevent the clan's extermination, yet he chose to cooperate with Danzo.
From a power perspective, Richard admired Itachi. In other regards, he held little respect for him.
Seeing Itachi approach with Susanoo activated, Sasuke stood frozen in surprise, his chakra nearly depleted. Though exhausted, he could see that Itachi's condition was hardly better.
Just as Sasuke moved to draw his Kusanagi blade to attack Itachi, Richard's voice rang out.
"Stand down! He's my opponent now!" Richard called, hovering in the air using his flight ability.
Richard had little interest in Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan itself. What captivated him were Tsukuyomi, the Totsuka Blade, and the Yata Mirror that Itachi commanded.
Tsukuyomi required no elaboration—it was the premier genjutsu in the shinobi world. As for the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror, they were spiritual weapons without physical form, manifested through chakra. Despite their incorporeal nature, both were exceptionally powerful.
The Totsuka Blade could seal any enemy it struck into a dreamlike illusory realm. The Yata Mirror could adapt its properties to match incoming attacks, rendering them ineffective.
Richard had long considered how to acquire Itachi's Tsukuyomi, Totsuka Blade, and Yata Mirror for himself. After extensive research, he'd identified two methods.
The first: kill Itachi and use his plundering ability on him. This would grant Richard Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan, ninja cells, and ninja constitution. If nothing unexpected occurred, with these acquisitions, he could gain the same ocular techniques and Susanoo as Itachi.
The second method: extract Itachi's left eye and, when Itachi manifested Susanoo, "capture" the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror from Susanoo's grasp.
Superficially, it seemed impossible to capture these formless weapons. For Richard, however, this wasn't entirely out of reach. If he could transform the Nine-Tails into an energy crystal, he could similarly convert the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror.
As for Itachi's Tsukuyomi—after acquiring Itachi's left eye, he could attempt to transfer the technique. Though tremendously interested in Tsukuyomi, Richard wouldn't transplant Itachi's eye into himself. A mere Tsukuyomi wasn't worth such measures.
As Itachi approached with bleeding eyes and unsteady gait, Richard decided to attempt both methods. He would first try the second approach to see if the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror could be directly crystallized. If unsuccessful, he'd resort to killing Itachi personally and employing his plundering ability.
Itachi's movements were slow, but speed was unnecessary—Richard had no intention of escaping.
When Richard entered the Totsuka Blade's range, Itachi activated it without hesitation. Under the watchful eyes of Richard, Sasuke, and the others, the "sake" from the gourd in Susanoo's right hand flowed out, transforming into a flaming sword that Susanoo grasped firmly.
Once the Totsuka Blade formed, Itachi immediately directed Susanoo to attack Richard.
Susanoo's sword stroke was swift, but Richard evaded it effortlessly. Though the Totsuka Blade possessed extraordinary sealing capabilities, its effectiveness depended entirely on striking its target. If it couldn't make contact, its sealing power—no matter how formidable—posed no threat.
After the initial strike, Itachi persisted, commanding Susanoo to keep swinging the Totsuka Blade. Yet regardless of how Susanoo wielded the sword, it failed to connect with Richard. Worse, maintaining Susanoo was driving Itachi—already at death's door—closer to his end.
After casually dodging several attacks, Richard finally countered. He raised the Masamune in his hand and swung it toward Susanoo's right arm.
FS Judgement Cut End!
Richard didn't use Judgement Cut End but FS Judgement Cut End —an upgraded version of Judgement Cut End. Unlike the original technique,FS Judgement Cut End could not only cut through physical objects but also tear space itself and sever energy constructs.
The crescent-shaped purple-black energy blade shot forth like lightning, instantly slicing across Susanoo's right arm and severing it at the root. The arm, formed from solidified chakra, began falling to the ground under gravity's pull.
Before Susanoo's arm reached the ground, Richard activated his magical energy and performed a rune seal. Under the astonished gazes of Sasuke and Itachi, Susanoo's descending arm reverted to pure chakra and flowed toward Richard like a liquid stream. Before their eyes, a fist-sized red crystal materialized in front of Richard.
Richard gazed at the energy crystal with satisfaction. Though he had previously used rune seals on both Yin and Yang Kurama, transforming them into energy crystals, the Nine-Tails and Susanoo weren't identical. He couldn't be absolutely certain his rune seal would affect Susanoo.
Now he had confirmation—the rune seal he'd developed, combining his magical power with sealing techniques, could indeed capture Susanoo's form.
With this verified, Richard didn't hesitate. He swung Masamune again.
FS Judgement Cut End!
This time, the purple-black crescent energy blade targeted Susanoo's left arm. Just as before, Susanoo's left arm was severed by FS Judgement Cut End, and Richard again performed his rune seal. Soon, a second red crystal manifested before him.
Success!
Though he hadn't fully tested the two energy crystals yet, Richard knew that with them, he effectively possessed both the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror. Only Tsukuyomi remained.
After storing the floating energy crystals in his system space, Richard launched his final attack.
Susanoo's third form, with its Tengu warrior armor, provided defense nearly equal to its complete manifestation, lacking only its lower body, full size, flight capability, and sealing energy. The third form could withstand most attacks in the shinobi world.
However, Itachi's Susanoo couldn't block Richard's final strike.
Richard appeared before Itachi instantly, driving the Masamune toward Itachi's heart. Normally, Itachi would have dodged immediately, but completely exhausted, evasion was impossible.
The magic-infused Masamune pierced through Susanoo first, then through Itachi's heart, emerging from his back. As his heart was impaled, Itachi coughed blood uncontrollably. With his last strength, he gripped the Masamune firmly, then closed his eyes, his face showing profound regret.
It's over.
The moment Itachi's eyes closed, the armless Susanoo vanished instantly as if it had never existed.
From his position, Sasuke witnessed Richard impale Itachi with the Masamune, and conflicting emotions surged within him. He should have rejoiced at seeing Itachi die before his eyes, yet he felt no joy—only an overwhelming sadness that consumed his mind.
Though he had always wanted to kill Itachi himself, he also recognized Itachi as his last living relative. With Itachi's death, Sasuke believed himself the final Uchiha clan member, unaware that Obito still lived.
Richard, indifferent to Sasuke's turmoil, quietly activated his plundering ability.
[Acquired new abilities: Mangekyō Sharingan, Ninja Cells, Ninja Constitution!]
[Acquired similar ability types, initiating fusion!]
[Ninja Cells and Ninja Constitution strengthened!]
Richard dismissed the system panel only he could see and withdrew the Masamune from Itachi's heart. After shaking the blood from the blade, he returned it to his system space.
Then he crouched down, extracted Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan, and placed it in a specimen jar containing preservation fluid. After storing the jar in his system space, he walked slowly toward Sasuke.
At that moment, Kisame stepped forward, approaching Sasuke.
"This is what Itachi left for you," Kisame said, producing a scroll and tossing it to Sasuke.
Sasuke caught it reflexively. Before he could speak, Kisame performed the Body Flicker Technique, returned to Itachi's body, lifted it, and departed without looking back.
"Why do you want his eyes? You already possess the Rinnegan," Sasuke asked Richard, puzzled.
"Consider it a trophy," Richard replied. "Never mind that—check the scroll he left you."
Though Richard suspected what Itachi had written in the scroll, he had no intention of forewarning Sasuke.
Hearing this, Sasuke immediately opened the scroll and quickly scanned its contents. His expression grew increasingly complex.
After reading the entire scroll, Sasuke drew his Vibranium sword and pointed it at Richard.
"You knew the truth all along?" Sasuke demanded.
Richard saw no reason to hide it. "Yes," he answered calmly.
"You—"
Intense killing intent erupted from Sasuke, and the three tomoe in his Sharingan spun wildly, transforming into a six-pointed, star-shaped Mangekyō Sharingan.
Just as Sasuke prepared to thrust the Vibranium Sword, Richard continued: "Think carefully before you strike. Is this necessary?"
"If you want to join him in the afterlife, I can personally arrange it."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Sasuke asked, his face contorted with pain.
"You wouldn't have believed me," Richard replied. "Now that you know the truth, you must also realize that even if neither of us had killed him, he wouldn't have lived much longer. He had long planned to use his death to trigger your Mangekyō Sharingan awakening."
"Furthermore, I advise you to abandon thoughts of revenge against Konoha. With your current strength, such vengeance would only result in self-destruction."
Though Richard doubted Sasuke would relinquish his desire for revenge based on mere words, he felt compelled to warn him nonetheless.
Sasuke regarded Richard with a complicated expression. After several seconds, he sheathed the Kusanagi blade, said nothing, and turned away.
Richard made no attempt to stop him. When Sasuke vanished into the dense forest, Richard used Flying Thunder God to return to his Konoha residence and descended to his underground laboratory.
Three days later.
After sequestering himself in the underground laboratory for three days, Richard finally extracted Tsukuyomi from Itachi's left eye and converted it into an energy crystal using a rune seal.
Beyond extracting Tsukuyomi, he also conducted preliminary tests on the Mangekyō Sharingan he'd plundered from Itachi. Though he'd acquired the Mangekyō through his plundering ability, he still obtained both Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi—just as Danzo had directly gained Kotoamatsukami after transplanting Shisui's Mangekyō.
However, Richard hadn't acquired Itachi's Susanoo. This didn't concern him. Without the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror, Itachi's Susanoo offered nothing exceptional compared to other Susanoo manifestations.
Emerging from his underground laboratory, Richard proceeded directly to the master bedroom's bathroom for a hot bath. After soaking comfortably for over half an hour, he retired to his bed to rest. Yugao Uzuki hadn't returned yet, leaving him alone in the house.
At seven that evening, Richard opened his eyes, rose, and dressed. After preparing himself, he used Flying Thunder God to instantly appear at Ichiraku Ramen, planning to have dinner there.
Before entering the shop, he spotted two familiar figures: Jiraiya and Naruto.