[POV: Mitsuro]
In front of Itachi stood a young man with black hair and blood-red eyes, gripping a sword.
"Itachi, have you gone mad?"
Shiro was shocked to see Mitsuro. He should be hiding with the other kids in his shelter right now, he thought. Why is he here? Has what was supposed to happen to him changed because of me?
Without taking his eyes off Itachi's emotionless face, Mitsuro continued,
"Have you fallen so low that you're now raising your hand against children? How pathetic!"
Itachi ignored Mitsuro's insult and calmly greeted him instead,
"Mitsuru-senpai. It's been a while."
His eyes shifted to the Mangekyou state.
Mitsuro already knew Itachi had the Mangekyou, so unlike Itachi's other victims, he wasn't shocked. He simply said,
"Kid, do you think having the Mangekyou makes you a winner before the fight even begins?"
Itachi didn't let Mitsuro finish his sentence. He instantly appeared in front of him and plunged his sword into Mitsuru's heart. Instead of being shocked, a smirk appeared on Mitsuru's face, and suddenly—
Puff!
Mitsuro vanished in front of Itachi! He was a Kage Bunshin!
In the same second, a blade was pressed against Itachi's neck.
"Little Itachi, you should know that having the Sharingan isn't everything for a ninja! Don't underestimate your opponent!"
Itachi coldly held the blade to his neck.
"You're right, Senpai. I underestimated you. You are more skilled than you appear. But it seems you've underestimated me too!"
In that very moment, Itachi turned into a flock of black crows and disappeared from in front of Mitsuru.
"Damn it… I knew it wouldn't be this easy."
Mitsuro spun around and quickly made another hand seal.
"Katon: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"
A fireball immediately erupted and shot towards where Itachi had appeared.
As if he had anticipated Mitsuro's attack, Itachi moved quickly and dodged it with ease.
Slash!
Clang!
The two swords clashed multiple times.
Slice!
Two deep cuts appeared on Mitsuro's thigh and right arm. Blood slowly trickled down his skin, but he didn't lose his focus for a second. To avoid Itachi's sword, he jumped to the side, tensing his abdominal and thigh muscles, and with the help of his waist, he leaped into the air. He twisted his body and spun like a wheel over Itachi's head, bringing his sword down with all his might.
Clang!
He couldn't rely solely on his Taijutsu. Even a brief glance into Itachi's Sharingan eyes would be enough to fall into the Tsukuyomi. So he carefully avoided direct eye contact.
Clang!
Itachi seemed to have noticed Mitsuro's cleverness and didn't attempt to use Tsukuyomi.
Avoiding the Mangekyou genjutsu wasn't as simple as Mitsuro thought. After a few exchanges of swords, he felt his strikes seemed to be getting slower. Fear of Itachi had crept into his heart, which was something that was unnatural for him.
The surroundings seemed to have grown darker. His breathing became fast and short.
"Hoo… hoo… hoo…"
He stared at the moon. It was red. His eyes widened in shock and fear. Mitsuro's face crumpled.
" Fuck !… A genjutsu?!"
"Oh? I didn't expect that. You caught on so quickly, Senpai!"
Itachi stared calmly at Mitsuru.
"I must admit… I'm very surprised by your skill. I always thought you were just a regular Special Jonin… I didn't even know your Sharingan had advanced to three-tomoe."
Mitsuro was utterly shocked; he was certain he hadn't been foolish enough to look directly into Itachi's eyes.
"How?"
"The difference is in the level of the Sharingan. Resisting the Mangekyou isn't as simple as you think."
Itachi simply said,
Itachi's Sharingan began to spin.
"Tsukuyomi!"
It was as if his Sharingan had pierced Mitsuro's soul.
Darkness suddenly engulfed everything. Izumi's house and the entire alley they were in no longer existed. It was as if he was standing on a black sea. Then, Mitsuro felt as if he was tied to a wooden stake. Then the darkness turned into Itachi. Then Itachi multiplied into thousands of Itachis. Each one was holding a sword.
"This is the world that I control."
Itachi said,
An Itachi's sword plunged into Mitsuro's abdomen, creating an intensely real pain. Mitsuru could feel all of his internal organs being torn by Itachi's sword. The Itachi who had plunged the sword into him vanished, and another Itachi appeared and thrust his sword. The pain returned.
This happened for every single Itachi that had surrounded him. Each time, Mitsuro felt the same initial pain. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't. The pain pushed him to the brink of unconsciousness each time, but he never lost consciousness. Finally, when the last Itachi plunged his sword into Mitsuro, turning him into a silver puppet, it seemed like everything was over. There was no part of Mitsuro's body that a sword had not pierced.
Mitsuro wanted to finally take a breath, but Itachi said, "It's not going to be that easy." The swords on Mitsuro's body suddenly faded, and the cycle started all over again.
The time inside Itachi's genjutsu world was not the same as the outside world. It seemed like Itachi had tortured Mitsuro for days and weeks, pushing him to the point of paralysis, but in the real world, not even a second had passed.
When they finally returned to the real world, both of Mitsuro's knees slammed hard into the ground. A wave of intense pain spread throughout his body; it was as if every muscle and bone had been crushed under the pressure of countless swords. He could no longer think. He had even forgotten how to command his lungs to breathe. The pain he had experienced in the genjutsu now cast a real shadow over his body; physical and mental pain had merged.
Itachi calmly walked toward him, his steps heavy and ruthless. He held his sword and, with deadly precision, thrust the blade through Mitsuro's back, plunging it directly into his heart. Blood and pain intertwined; Mitsuro felt as if his body no longer belonged to him.
Then, with a swift and decisive motion, Itachi pulled the sword out and allowed Mitsuro to fall to the ground on his side. He fixed his gaze on Shiro, who was staring at him with eyes gleaming with hatred and fear. The battle in front of Shiro had lasted only a few moments. Mitsuro, more skilled than Shiro had thought, was still unable to prevent Itachi's brutal victory or give Shiro a chance to escape.
In this moment, Shiro neither begged nor feared death; only a deep, burning hatred blazed within him.
From the depths of his being, he screamed,
"You bastard! Don't think it's over! I'll kill you! Right in front of your eyes, I'll tear Sasuke to pieces! I'll make you beg me to kill you every single moment of your life!"
For a brief moment, boundless rage appeared on Itachi's face. Without blinking, he raised his hand.
"Amaterasu!"
The black flames of Amaterasu, like licking ink, poured from his eyes and descended upon Shiro's small body. Shiro screamed in pain but didn't fall silent. Until his last moment, among the black flames, he cursed Sasuke, and finally, slowly and gradually, he vanished into the flames.
Mitsuro, immersed in his own blood, could do nothing. He had no voice to scream; it was as if all his strength had been drained. He was in the process of boarding the boat of death. Only in his last moment did a single tear fall from his eye. A tear not just for his own death, but for witnessing Shiro's death. He considered himself the child's guardian, which was why he had taken the risk and followed him.
Even when he was trapped in the Tsukuyomi world, only one thing prevented his psyche from being completely destroyed: the possibility that Shiro might have a chance to escape. But now, his presence hadn't been able to change a thing.
Itachi, certain that he had finished the job, slowly turned and walked away. He paid no attention to Mitsuro's lifeless body, which lay on the ground like a corpse. The Uchiha clan grounds were plunged into silence. You could hear the sounds of domestic animals from a distance, but no sound came from within the clan except for the burning of a fire in the western corner where the orphanage was located.
Itachi knew Sasuke would arrive soon. He didn't want Sasuke to be sad, but he had to continue his role to the end. He didn't want to do anything that would make Sasuke live with the shame of the Uchiha. Sasuke had to become the hero of Konoha. He felt he had to hurry and return home.
But he didn't know that in the heart of the darkness, while blood was flowing from Mitsuro's mouth, something strange had begun to happen. Mitsuro's right eye began to burn, and after becoming a little cloudy, it started to turn white. Mitsuro's body began to disappear for a moment, but it seemed it wasn't enough. His left eye also began to become a little cloudy. In that moment, Mitsuro's body disappeared more, and then it returned to its original state, with the difference that there was no longer a sword wound on his chest, as if it had never existed. But the other wounds remained on his body.
In his final moments, Mitsuro remembered that he had sealed the jutsu Izanagi inside his eyes before, but the power of this jutsu was so great that his two-tomoe eyes could not handle it. Now, with two three-tomoe eyes, he had managed to activate Izanagi. But even these two eyes were not enough to fully control it, and this powerful jutsu had destroyed all of his eyesight, and only managed to prevent his death.
Mitsuro, amidst a sea of pain, passed out right there.