Jieyin completed the seals in an instant, raised his right hand to his mouth, and expelled a torrent of flames that condensed into a massive fireball.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
"So fast… I didn't even see the hand seals!"
Kakashi's heart tightened in shock.
"Do you really have time to be distracted?"
Kisame sneered, swinging Samehada as he charged. Kakashi barely managed to brace himself in time.
This power… it's on a completely different level than Zabuza.
"What kind of technique is this!?"
Kenya twisted his wrist, and the sword aura unleashed from Kyōka Suigetsu instantly tore through the blazing fireball, scattering it into sparks.
Whoosh!
As the flames dispersed, another figure appeared in the air—Itachi. He held three kunai between his left fingers and hurled them straight at Kenya.
"So, you launched a Shadow Clone alongside the Great Fireball? Not bad."
Kenya raised his blade and cleaved through the flying kunai with ease. His tone was calm, almost dismissive. "Of course, that's only passable… by the standards of an ordinary shinobi."
But in the instant his sword cut them down, the kunai burst into three crows, flapping and cawing as they swarmed around his head.
"Trying to trap me with genjutsu? How arrogant of you, Itachi."
The spiritual pressure inside Kenya surged like a tidal wave. In an instant, the crows dissolved into nothingness.
And then—Itachi's real body appeared less than half a meter away, kunai flashing toward Kenya's throat.
Kenya's left hand shot out. At the very moment Itachi's kunai grazed his neck, Kenya ducked low and pointed his palm at Itachi's abdomen.
"Fiery Lightning Howl!"
Rumble!!!
Thunder erupted like a roaring beast, a pillar of blinding lightning more than ten meters high tearing through the western district of Konoha.
Though it was only early morning, the shock left villagers collapsing in fear.
"W-What was that!?"
"Are shinobi fighting!?"
"What terrifying power…"
The villagers trembled, unease spreading like wildfire. The scars of the invasion had yet to heal, and now chaos threatened again. Patrol shinobi rushed toward the scene, their faces tense.
Crack!
A sound like breaking bone echoed. The ribbed, orange skeletal armor of Susanoo fractured, pieces crumbling away.
"Hah…hah…hah…"
Itachi staggered, gasping heavily, sweat streaming down his face. At the last possible instant, he had summoned Susanoo's ribs to shield himself.
But still… to unleash such a powerful Lightning Style without a single hand seal… this ability rivaled even the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"What incredible power…"
Even Kisame and Kakashi, locked in their own battle, couldn't help but falter, shock written on their faces.
"So that's Susanoo… magnificent."
Kenya rotated his wrist slowly. "I thought the progress I made after my battle with Sarutobi Hiruzen would let me dispatch anyone below peak Kage-level with ease."
He smirked. "It's worthy of our Uchiha bloodline. You've done well, Itachi."
As his words fell, the protective shell of Susanoo faded from his body.
Itachi said nothing, his Mangekyō spinning wildly despite the strain tearing at his body. The tomoe in his left eye twisted into a triangular shuriken—Tsukuyomi. His right eye burned with the dark promise of Amaterasu.
That was the power of Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyō.
"So you're planning to settle this with illusion?"
Kenya's lips curled into a smile. He lowered Kyōka Suigetsu, its tip pointing toward the ground.
The two spoke at once:
"Tsukuyomi!"
"Shatter—Kyōka Suigetsu!"
To Kisame and Kakashi, the two men stood perfectly still, motionless. But both knew better. One of them could collapse at any moment, their mind shattered from the clash.
It was an invisible battlefield, a war of wills.
To resist Tsukuyomi required a mental strength greater than Uchiha Itachi's. But Kyōka Suigetsu… there was no true counter. Only sheer, overwhelming power could break free.
The only flaw: the stronger the opponent, the less time Kenya could dominate them—and the easier it was for them to notice the seams of illusion. Against gods like Six Paths Madara or Kaguya, even he wasn't certain he could hold them for a few seconds.
Darkness enveloped Itachi's Tsukuyomi world.
Kenya opened his eyes to find himself bound to a cross. Across from him stood Itachi, sword in hand, his gaze icy.
"In this world, everything bends to my will—time, space, all of it. Your defeat is already decided."
The blade plunged into Kenya's chest.
"Is that so?"
Kenya looked down at the blade piercing his heart, but instead of despair, laughter played at his lips. His gaze locked with Itachi's.
And then the world shifted.
The cross was no longer his. Itachi was the one bound. And it was Kenya who drove the sword through his chest.
Itachi's eyes widened in shock, agony twisting across his face. "Th-this… how…?"
"If I had not awakened to this truth, I wouldn't be so certain of victory." Kenya's voice was calm, absolute. "You are exceptional, Itachi—but your vision is too shallow. Everything you do begins and ends with Konoha."
He pressed the blade deeper, the hilt pushing against Itachi's heart. "I'll allow you the ending you desire—but do not stand in my way. Do not waste your strength on futile resistance."
Crack!
The world of Tsukuyomi shattered like glass.
Reality returned.
Kenya's blade had not pierced Itachi. But the Uchiha prodigy fell to his knees regardless, his spirit shaken to its core.