The night was colder than usual. Gotham's skyline stretched like jagged teeth against the dark sky, lit only by the occasional flare of neon or the glow of burning streetlights. Somewhere, in the shadows, Batman watched. His jaw was tight, his cape wrapped around him like armor. He had underestimated the boy once — and never again.
Tonight, he would strike.
From the rooftops, Batman descended silently, landing with all the precision of a predator. Below, the safe house sat empty of visible threats… but the air hummed differently here.
Itachi emerged from the shadows before Batman could even step closer. The crimson of his Mangekyō Sharingan pulsed faintly beneath the hood. He had grown stronger. He knew he had grown stronger.
"You again," Batman growled, throwing a flurry of punches and kicks that could fell lesser men. But Itachi's taijutsu had advanced beyond anything Batman had faced before. Every strike was anticipated, parried, and countered with inhuman fluidity.
A kick sent Batman skidding back, his armor dented. A sweeping strike of the ANBU sword disarmed him, then gently nudged him off balance. But still, Batman lunged forward with desperate precision, fists and feet moving in perfect rhythm, determined to take the boy down.
Itachi sighed softly. So persistent.
He flicked a finger, just once. The world shifted.
Chains of crimson light wrapped around Batman's mind. His vision blurred; reality bent. One perfect illusion, executed in a fraction of a second, and the Dark Knight was frozen, trapped in Tsukuyomi's world. Pain, fear, and helplessness assaulted him — and through it, Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan reached into his mind.
Thoughts, memories, files, plans — all unlocked. Every secret Batman had ever stored, every contingency, every mission from the animated series, comics, and the movies flowed into Itachi's consciousness like water through a broken dam.
This world… Itachi murmured, absorbing the knowledge. It's not like my own. It's… a hybrid. The animated series, the comics, the movies… all combined. A patchwork of heroes, villains, and realities.
Batman's body slumped, powerless but alive. He could do nothing against the perfect genjutsu.
Itachi lowered his finger and the illusion dissolved. Batman fell to a knee, chest heaving, eyes wide with disbelief. The boy before him — no, the force before him — was no longer a child. He was a storm. A predator. A god of shadows.
Itachi tilted his head, crimson eyes gleaming. "You taught me a great deal tonight… about this world, and about its heroes."
Batman struggled to rise, voice strained. "You… you've grown beyond… anything I've seen."
"It is only the beginning," Itachi said quietly. "And I am far from finished."
He turned, slipping into the shadows. Crows erupted around him, carrying him silently into the night. Behind him, Batman's mind reeled — the memory of the boy who had bested him would haunt him, and Gotham, for a long time to come.
Itachi now carried not only overwhelming power but the knowledge of the world itself. And the realization struck him with cold clarity: he was no longer just a ninja in a foreign city. He was something far more dangerous.
He was unstoppable.