Itachi's eyes burned with killing intent!
The pain of having his dōjutsu forcefully deactivated and his Mangekyō stripped from him was excruciating—but he endured it through sheer willpower.
After all, unlike that thief Danzo, his Mangekyō had been earned through genuine evolution.
Naturally, his spiritual strength far surpassed Danzo's.
Just as he recovered, Kaede had unleashed his massacre.
The moment he saw Kaede bring out the Hōgyoku, Itachi began creeping forward.
Using the cover of the smoke and debris, Itachi utilized an Earth Release technique to bypass the defenses of Susanoo.
And just like that, he was standing beside Kaede, whose body was wrapped in that bright blue cocoon of light.
Without a moment's hesitation, Itachi struck.
"You told me yourself—Susanoo's weakness is at its feet!"
He raised his sword with both hands and drove it toward the glowing mass with all his strength.
"Itachi! How dare you!!"
Naoto's eyes widened with rage.
Every Uchiha clansman nearby wished they could tear Itachi apart on the spot.
Kaede had laid everything bare, yet Itachi still chose to side with Konoha.
Not only that—he tried to assassinate Kaede while he was defenseless mid-evolution!
"Well done!"
"Kill that lunatic Uchiha Kaede!"
Meanwhile, the Konoha side erupted in cheers.
Finally—finally they saw a sliver of hope.
Even Koharu was beaming. "Well done, Itachi!"
"As expected of a rare Uchiha who truly possesses the 'Will of Fire'!"
However, the clan elders of Konoha all frowned in disappointment.
"To think it would all end because of this…"
They had hoped Kaede would continue his rampage.
That way, they could later drag Sarutobi and the others off their thrones.
Just as everyone's thoughts were running wild—
Something happened that left 90% of the audience wide-eyed in shock.
Itachi… suddenly changed the trajectory of his strike—his sword plunging into empty air beside Kaede instead!
Nobody had expected that.
The Uchiha looked confused. Had Itachi come to his senses?
The Konoha clansmen were stunned—why hadn't he stabbed Kaede?
The elder shinobi twitched at the mouth. They were completely baffled.
Koharu, after a moment of stunned silence, her expression darkened immediately.
"You traitor!" she shouted. "Itachi, how could you betray us?!"
The words reached Itachi's ears, and he turned back, visibly bewildered.
He'd just tried to kill Kaede with all his might. What was she talking about?
Then a thought struck him.
No… it couldn't be…
"You're confident—but also foolish."
Kaede's cold voice came from right beside him, his hand gripping Itachi's sword.
With a slight squeeze, the blade shattered into pieces.
Kaede had completed his evolution.
And the figure that Itachi had believed he'd stabbed within the glowing sphere? It shimmered and vanished into mist.
Kyōka Suigetsu. The technique Itachi had once believed Kaede could no longer use.
"I really…" Itachi forced a bitter smile.
Before he could finish the thought, Kaede plunged Kyōka Suigetsu directly into his chest.
This time—it was the real Itachi.
And the blade pierced straight through his heart.
"Die with your sins, Itachi. I'll be taking those eyes."
Kaede reached for Itachi's Mangekyō.
Those watching were completely dumbfounded.
Itachi had tried to kill Kaede, but struck the air.
Kaede caught his blade and immediately countered—stabbing Itachi through the heart.
What… what was even happening?
Most had never seen the true power of Kyōka Suigetsu.
Only a handful of ANBU grasped the situation.
"That illusion technique…" one muttered.
Kakashi among them swallowed hard, remembering the terror of being dominated by that genjutsu.
It had even made him kill four of his own subordinates…
Just then—
As Kaede reached for Itachi's Mangekyō, his brow furrowed.
"Hmm?"
The next moment, Tobi suddenly appeared.
One hand grabbing Itachi, the other driving a kunai toward Kaede's head.
"You dare come to me?"
Kaede's eyes gleamed sharply as he twisted around with impossible speed, catching Tobi's wrist mid-swing.
In the same motion, he pulled Kyōka Suigetsu from Itachi's chest and swung at Tobi's neck.
"Kamui!"
Tobi remained calm under pressure, phasing his body into the vortex dimension.
He didn't even hesitate to phase through Itachi—ripping through his body in the process.
"Annoying pest."
Kaede gave him a cold glare and vanished on the spot.
Tobi didn't pursue.
Having forced Kaede back, he immediately pulled Itachi into the Kamui space and disappeared.
That had been his only goal.
After being repelled earlier, Tobi hadn't left—he'd stayed in the Kamui dimension, watching Kaede's battles unfold.
But when he saw Kaede stab Itachi through the chest—
He could no longer sit idly by.
Itachi was a crucial pawn.
He had the Mangekyō Sharingan.
He couldn't be allowed to die here.
Especially now that Kaede had emerged as such a powerful threat—Tobi couldn't afford to lose any potential allies.
Inside the Kamui space, he looked down at Itachi's rapidly fading life force and frowned.
"This is such a pain…"
Being stabbed through the heart—under normal circumstances, Itachi was a goner.
But Tobi had a solution.
A sample of Hashirama's cells—cultivated into White Zetsu tissue.
It had saved half of his own body before. Healing Itachi was no problem.
Without hesitation, he dug out a chunk of flesh from his right side with a kunai.
Then he jammed it into the gaping wound in Itachi's chest.
And began the transplant process.
After some time, Tobi finally stood up again.
Itachi's life force had stabilized.
In a way, this was a blessing in disguise.
Even a small amount of White Zetsu tissue could cause a noticeable increase in chakra reserves.
Though it was only a small increase…
Tobi had made sure of that.
He wasn't kind enough to let Itachi grow stronger.
His eyes turned toward Itachi's shut lids.
"Hmph. You took something from me—I'll take something from you in return."
Without hesitation, he dug out Itachi's left eye.
He'd lost his own left Sharingan earlier, having used Izanagi in the fight against Kaede.
Now, Itachi's eye would be his replacement.
He immediately implanted it into his left socket.
"Ugh…"
After a short period of adaptation, Tobi nodded in satisfaction.
"Tsukuyomi, huh? Not a bad ability."
Although Itachi's Mangekyō had weakened considerably after Kaede's devouring technique, making it unusable for now—
Tobi's White Zetsu-enhanced body would reduce the cooldown time dramatically.
With that done, he turned coldly toward Itachi.
"I know you're awake. Get up."
Itachi, unable to pretend any longer, opened his eyes.
The loss of his left eye filled him with rage—
But he had just been dragged back from the edge of death.
There was nothing he could do.
"I saved your life," Tobi said coolly. "In exchange, I took one of your Mangekyō."
"I may not have helped much back there—but I did distract Kaede long enough."
"And I think you've realized it too—just how outclassed you are."
"From now on, you'll follow me. Looks like we now share a common enemy."
...
(End of Chapter)
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