The masked man would never have imagined that his identity, which he had worked so hard to hide for so long, would be compromised simply because he spoke a few extra words in front of Rin's grave. After leaving the cemetery, he used his space-time ninjutsu once again to appear within the Uchiha Clan compound.
"Who's there?"
Three black tomoe instantly surfaced in Itachi Uchiha's eyes. He stared intently at the nearby thicket, his expression remarkably grave. He could sense a very faint yet extremely dangerous presence.
"As expected of the Uchiha Clan's long-renowned genius. You are the first person capable of detecting me in such a short amount of time."
In the woods, the air began to twist like a whirlpool. Amidst the dizzying sensation of spatial distortion, a figure wearing an orange-red spiral mask emerged. He wore a black cloak adorned with red clouds, seemingly radiating an ominous aura.
Some kind of space-time ninjutsu...
Space-time ninjutsu was a technique with a very high difficulty level. The most common type was the Summoning Jutsu, which was considered a standard application. Those capable of using high-level space-time ninjutsu were invariably the elite among shinobi. The most powerful and famous representative of this was the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, Minato Namikaze, who was hailed as the Yellow Flash.
Since this man could appear silently inside the Hidden Leaf Village, his strength was undoubtedly extraordinary. Itachi made this judgment instantly, his expression becoming even more cautious as he prepared to activate his Mangekyo Sharingan at any moment to deal with the enemy.
Sensing Itachi's tension, the suddenly appearing masked man smiled faintly. "Relax, I bear no ill will, Itachi."
Itachi Uchiha certainly did not let down his guard because of this; after all, this person clearly appeared to have ulterior motives. He calmly asked, "Who are you? What have you come to the Hidden Leaf for?"
Hearing Itachi's questioning, the masked man tilted his head slightly and said in a playful tone, "My name is Tobi. As for what I'm doing in the Hidden Leaf..."
His tone shifted as he asked back, "How do you know I'm not from the Hidden Leaf?"
Itachi's eyes narrowed, emitting a dangerous aura. "Speak the truth."
Seeing that Itachi seemed angry, the masked man laughed hurriedly. "It was just a joke. The real purpose of my visit to the Hidden Leaf this time is actually to..."
"Invite you!"
"Invite me?" Itachi frowned, somewhat confused.
"Exactly. I am here to invite you, Itachi-san, to join our organization, the Akatsuki."
The masked man calling himself Tobi spread his arms and introduced, "Our Akatsuki organization is dedicated to achieving peace in the shinobi world. We are currently in urgent need of talented people with strength and ideals like you, Itachi-san."
Itachi's frown deepened. It was true that he possessed strength, ideals, and the willingness to sacrifice everything for peace. However, Itachi was no fool; it was impossible for him to believe this man based on just a few words.
A kunai slipped from his sleeve, appearing in his palm in the perfect position. "You should know what kind of punishment one faces for trespassing into the Hidden Leaf, right?"
Itachi wasted no words as the kunai in his hand shot out like a bolt of lightning. If the opponent couldn't even block such an attack, then there was no need to talk about world peace.
To Itachi's surprise, the opponent seemed as if he were frozen in shock. Facing the incoming kunai, he stood stupidly in place, allowing the kunai to hit his body without any reaction. However, Itachi soon noticed something was wrong. After the kunai hit, no wound appeared on the man's body, and there wasn't even the feeling of striking a physical object.
His intuition was correct; the lethal kunai passed directly through the masked man's chest and embedded itself into the tree trunk behind him.
"Oh my, Itachi-san's attack was quite unexpected."
The masked man patted his chest somewhat exaggeratedly before his tone suddenly changed. "If Itachi-san wants to test my strength, feel free to keep attacking."
This confident and composed tone forced Itachi to put his full focus on the encounter. Since the other party had said so, there was no harm in testing him further.
Thinking of this, four shuriken flew from Itachi's pouch, lining up in a straight line to pierce through the man's body.
Is it not instantaneous immunity, but something continuous? Itachi speculated.
The four shuriken had passed through the opponent in a continuous line with almost no gap between them. Therefore, the opponent should be capable of sustained immunity to attacks. But this level of testing was not enough!
In the second after the four shuriken passed through the body, a massive fireball instantly engulfed the masked man. The blazing flames released a terrifying heat, causing the surrounding air to distort and turning the area around the masked man into a sea of fire.
The brilliant firelight was reflected in Itachi Uchiha's eyes, which remained as calm as well water. Can you still immune an attack like this?
Itachi stared at the sea of flames. In his sight, the masked man was walking out of the fire with an incredibly lazy posture. The raging flames surrounding him seemed to have absolutely no effect. Perhaps to prove his strength, the masked man stood inside the flames for two minutes while Itachi's fire burned. During this time, he used no ninjutsu for defense or evasion.
Seeing this, Itachi finally stopped his testing. He lowered the hand seal in front of his mouth, and the flames subsequently dissipated.
The masked man whistled. "It seems Itachi-san's testing is over."
Itachi did not speak but silently activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. Since ninjutsu was ineffective, he would try genjutsu.
The moment the Mangekyo Sharingan emerged, the masked man was clearly stunned for a moment. He quickly said, "It seems Itachi-san is not ready to join us yet. But that's fine; I believe you will change your mind soon."
The space around the masked man began to rotate and distort, centering on the eye of his mask. "I will be watching you, Itachi Uchiha."
With those words, the masked man vanished from the spot.
"What a troublesome ability."
Itachi watched the empty space, his expression quite heavy. He never expected that the heavily guarded Hidden Leaf would be like a backyard to the opponent's strange space-time ninjutsu, allowing him to come and go as he pleased. If the opponent hadn't revealed himself voluntarily, Itachi would have only been able to sense a presence without being able to pinpoint his location.
If the opponent stayed at a distance and remained prepared, Itachi might not even be able to feel him. In addition to powerful mobility and stealth, he possessed an almost absurd immunity to attacks.
I wonder if genjutsu would work on him...