Itachi chose not to let Kushinada-hime accompany him. Instead, he ventured alone into the depths of the serpent's lair.
"Hiss... hiss... a detestable aura."
Just as Itachi was preparing to seek out Garaga, deep within the lair, a colossal, one-eyed serpent resembling a king cobra—except its body was entirely crimson except for its underbelly—slowly raised its head. Flicking its forked tongue, it spoke in human language.
Towering like a small mountain, it was an imposing beast.
Seated upon her throne, the White Snake Sage's alluring eyes glimmered as she glanced toward the direction of the serpent lair, her expression thoughtful.
"This little one... if he wanted a battle companion, couldn't he have just come to me? Why seek out that temperamental and mediocre Garaga?"
The White Snake Sage's tone carried a hint of grievance. But after considering the enormous amount of chakra required to summon her, she sighed and closed her eyes, returning to her meditative state.
Itachi encountered no obstacles along his path. The aura of the White Snake Sage lingering on him caused the other serpents to retreat early, slithering out of his way.
"You brat! What are you doing here?"
Sensing Itachi approaching him directly, Garaga's enormous form swayed like a mirage before appearing before him.
His lone vertical pupil locked onto Itachi, who stood firmly on the ground.
Within Garaga's body, his senjutsu chakra stirred restlessly, as if it would lash out and kill its prey at any moment.
Noticing Garaga's irritable temperament and the overwhelming senjutsu chakra emanating from him, Itachi stared at the mountain-like serpent ahead with a serious expression.
"Garaga, how about becoming my subordinate?"
Feeling the brutal aura radiating from Garaga, Itachi refused to be overpowered. Instead, he brazenly issued his challenge with arrogance.
"Despised human! Don't think that just because you're a guest of Ryūchi Cave, you can speak to me like this!"
Garaga roared, his fetid breath rushing toward Itachi like a gale, sending him swaying like a leaf in the wind.
Seeing Garaga preparing to strike without regard for his status as a guest of Ryūchi Cave, Itachi felt a bit speechless.
His impression of Garaga soured.
Bringing along such a subordinate would be... somewhat embarrassing.
Even so, Itachi's Sharingan began to evolve.
The three-tomoe Sharingan... Shisui's Mangekyō pattern resembling a shuriken... and Itachi's own windmill-shaped Mangekyō pattern.
The patterns spun faster and faster.
The two designs alternated, merging as if a new pattern was being born.
At a certain moment, the spinning slowed and gradually stopped.
A new pattern emerged.
At the center was a black circular ring, with Shisui's shuriken-like design spinning within it. The ring occupied one-third of the crimson pupil, while the outer part featured Itachi's enlarged windmill pattern.
The windmill's edges were connected by rough arcs, with black tomoe hanging in the center of each arc.
The design radiated an aura of grandeur.
"A Mangekyō? You annoying brat, awakening the Mangekyō at such a young age... not bad. But judging by your stance, you still intend to fight?"
Sensing the sinister chakra exuding from Itachi, Garaga's single eye studied him with curiosity. His expression and tone were annoyingly smug.
Itachi didn't reply to Garaga's comment.
Instead, he focused on sensing the unknown power within his eyes, his curiosity piqued.
He was eager to try it out, but also hesitant, fearing he might accidentally kill Garaga.
After all, Garaga was a summoning beast from Boruto. Despite his strength being leagues ahead of Aoda's, Itachi couldn't shake his doubts.
After all, Boruto had nerfed even its main characters to absurd levels. Naturally, the summoning beasts weren't spared either.
After a moment of deliberation, Itachi decided to test his mutated Tsukuyomi.
With that thought, his left eye began to spin. The shuriken and windmill rotated in opposite directions, creating a disjointed, chaotic appearance.
Meanwhile, his right eye remained still, with only the shuriken design spinning within the central ring, while the larger windmill design seemed to have gone on strike.
"You know these eyes are Mangekyō Sharingan, yet you keep staring. How amusing..."
Itachi finally spoke.
But before Garaga could utter a retort, his mind was flooded with confusion.
The surroundings had transformed completely, and the Mangekyō patterns in Itachi's eyes had come to a complete halt.
Itachi once again felt that familiar sensation of being able to control everything, just like before. For a moment, he was slightly dazed.
Despite the enormous consumption of his ocular power and chakra, he felt confused. Wasn't his ocular jutsu supposed to mutate? What on earth was this...
However, recalling the boundless energy within his opponent, Itachi felt somewhat reassured.
Perhaps it was because of something related to the opponent that the energy consumption had changed.
...
"This is my domain, Garaga. Do you have anything else to say?"
Itachi's figure hovered mid-air as he looked down at the giant serpent, Garaga, and spoke with an odd tone.
At that moment, he found himself wondering, Should I just stab it with a knife? But with that kind of defense, killing it even once would take forever.
I'd probably need to summon a whole group of people to help stab it...
Would this be tormenting Garaga, or torturing me, Uchiha Itachi...
"Heh, so this is a genjutsu realm? Even if it's a genjutsu realm, what can you possibly do to me?"
Garaga sneered at the sight of Uchiha Itachi floating in the air.
What annoyed it even more, though, was the realization that it seemed to have turned into an ordinary snake. The senjutsu energy that had once surged within its body now seemed like it had never existed. Worse, its body was completely immobilized, leaving it utterly distressed.
If it weren't for this predicament, it would've spun, leaped, and taught this cocky brat a painful lesson.
...
Compared to Garaga's frustration, Itachi wasn't much better off.
Initially, he thought his mutated ocular jutsu would be something extraordinary.
But judging from how things looked now, it seemed rather absurd—like he had suffered a massive, epic-level nerf that left him feeling utterly drained.
Setting aside his frustration, he decided that since Garaga was already here, he might as well make the most of it and give the serpent a proper "welcome."
With a single thought, Itachi summoned a dozen armored figures, each wielding a longsword, advancing toward Garaga.
However, when compared to Garaga's massive form, the scene seemed a bit... absurd.
"Kid, are you planning to give me a massage?"
Even though its senjutsu energy had disappeared, Garaga still felt its physical defenses were intact, and it mocked Itachi with a sneer.
It remained utterly calm and composed.
...
Garaga coldly watched the summoned figures march toward it, without even batting an eye.
Meanwhile, Itachi was calculating: With scales that thick, it'd probably take at least half a day to scrape off even a single piece...
As the thought lingered, Itachi decided to summon a chair and sit back to enjoy the spectacle of perseverance—like sharpening an iron rod into a needle.
When the chair materialized behind him, Itachi froze.
"What the hell is this?!"
At that moment, confusion filled his eyes. One of his summoned figures had swung its longsword, only to slash through thin air.
It wasn't that Garaga had dodged—it was as if Garaga were merely a projection, like a droplet of water, completely unaffected, almost non-existent.
"How am I supposed to play this game?"
Itachi quickly deactivated his ocular jutsu. He had completely lost interest and decided to test out another one of his techniques to see what bizarre mutation it had undergone.
But when he returned to the real world, his expression became one of utter disbelief...
Garaga was gone.
Feeling that the ocular jutsu was no longer something he could use actively, yet still sensing a connection to it, a thought appeared in Itachi's mind as the Tsukuyomi realm came into view.
In an instant, the scene shifted, and Itachi returned to the Tsukuyomi space.
There, Garaga remained exactly as he'd seen moments ago—lying obediently, while his summoned shadows continued slashing at empty air.
...
"Did the Tsukuyomi space turn into an actual realm? Did it merge with Kotoamatsukami? Does it no longer torture the opponent's mind but instead alter their will? Reform them? But... is Garaga's actual body even in this space? Or is it some rule-bound limitation preventing harm?"
Itachi muttered to himself, perplexed as he tried to piece it together.
"Keep going, kid. I'm looking forward to this little show of yours. Once I get out of here, I'll shred you to pieces!"
Hearing Itachi's musings, Garaga taunted him groggily, seemingly enjoying its current state of mind and body.
"You won't be leaving anytime soon..."
Looking at the arrogant Garaga, Itachi spoke with a strange tone.
At this point, he couldn't even release Garaga if he wanted to.
And he still had no clue how to properly use this newfound space.