A brand-new Simu appeared before Itachi. On the ground, only a lifeless husk remained, being incinerated by the black flames.
Of course, Itachi's attack was not entirely without results. At the very least, he had burned away the mask on Simu's face.
It's truly a pity, the mask actually fell off.
Simu adjusted his glasses with a hint of feigned distress.
Seeing Simu remain so nonchalant, Itachi was instantly consumed by rage. Ignoring the exhaustion in his eyes, he activated his newly awakened ocular jutsu once more.
"Amaterasu!"
As his gaze focused, the ominous black flames erupted again.
Simu reacted exactly as he had before. His entire body was engulfed and burned by the black flames, only for him to crawl out from a crack in his own back, completely unscathed.
Oh my, Mr. Itachi's attacks are truly terrifying. If you use it one more time, I might actually die.
A cold glint flashed across Simu's lenses. The look he directed at Itachi was filled with amusement.
Itachi clenched his fists tightly.
He had originally thought he could use Amaterasu to instantly deal with this man. He hadn't expected Simu to possess such a troublesome ability.
Itachi was certain that Simu couldn't use such a life-saving technique in high volumes within a short period. However, the crux of the matter was that he couldn't use Amaterasu in high volumes either!
Whether it was Tsukuyomi or Amaterasu, both placed a massive burden on his eyes. Itachi could clearly feel his vision beginning to decline.
While it wasn't obvious yet, this was a very bad sign.
Unlike Itachi, Obito and Black Zetsu were silently observing Simu from the sidelines.
This jutsu is somewhat similar to Orochimaru's, Black Zetsu remarked.
Obito nodded. The two of them have likely exchanged a lot lately. I just wonder how far their relationship has progressed.
Both of them understood Orochimaru well; he was an uncompromising, mad scientist.
Simu was likewise a crazed creator. It was hard to imagine what kind of sparks would fly now that the two had met.
Should we give Itachi a hand?
Black Zetsu suddenly asked.
Obito remained silent for a moment before shaking his head. For now, Simu Kamizuki is a member of the Akatsuki. We need to consider Nagato's thoughts.
Besides, letting the Jashin Religion bleed the Leaf Village a bit more isn't a bad thing.
For Obito, the weaker the Five Great Shinobi Nations became, the easier his future plans would be to execute.
Black Zetsu nodded in agreement.
On the battlefield, seeing Itachi's offensive halt, Simu looked toward Sasuke, who was continuously rising into the sky.
"Mr. Itachi, have you made your choice? If you hesitate any longer, the damage Sasuke deals to the Leaf will far exceed the damage over there."
Itachi remained silent.
He had planned to deal with Simu as quickly as possible and then have the others in the village help to temporarily seal Sasuke.
To his surprise, Simu possessed a special molting-like jutsu that rendered Amaterasu completely useless.
Furthermore, the battlefield on the other side of the village was also under attack by the Jashin Religion. The scale of the assault seemed to exceed everyone's imagination.
Because of this, the reinforcements he expected would most likely not arrive.
Thus, he was left with only two choices.
One: deal with Sasuke before he caused massive destruction!
Two: allow Sasuke's transformation to continue and gamble that he wouldn't cause too much damage to the Leaf, or that Itachi himself could control the damage.
One second passed. Two seconds passed. Ten seconds passed.
Itachi still hadn't moved.
This man, who was capable of personally slaughtering his entire clan, had not chosen to strike Sasuke.
Simu smiled at the sight. As expected, in Mr. Itachi's eyes, his younger brother is still more important.
Right in front of Itachi, Simu snapped his fingers.
"Since you can't bring yourself to strike your own brother, how can you strike others so self-righteously, Itachi Uchiha?"
As his voice fell and Itachi stood speechless, the entire Uchiha Clan compound erupted in a frenzy!
"Why?"
"Why did you kill us?"
"Didn't you say it was for the glory of the Uchiha? Why was Sasuke spared?!"
"Itachi Uchiha, you hypocritical sinner!"
"I'm going to kill you!"
"You'll die a horrible death!"
In an instant, the entire compound became like a hellish landscape filled with endless wailing. The resentment directed at Itachi Uchiha pierced the heavens.
The next second, the corpses of the Uchiha scattered throughout the Leaf opened their eyes.
Amidst the wails, their eyes bulged further and further out.
Then, the blood vessels beneath their skin began to writhe frantically. Ghastly bone insects, carrying souls filled with resentment, burst from the eye sockets and flew straight toward the sky!
These bone insects were very long and thin, appearing as if they had no weight at all. As they flew, their bodies began to expand. Their backs twisted into eerie human faces that emitted a terrifying aura of resentment, and two crimson eyes flashed with a sinister light.
What on earth are these things?
Standing at the edge of the battlefield, Obito and Black Zetsu opened their mouths slightly as they watched the sky fill with these grim bone insects.
Itachi watched the scene in utter disbelief.
Every face he had personally killed resurfaced in his mind at that moment.
His body trembled uncontrollably as he watched hundreds upon thousands of insects fly into the sky with endless wails, merging into Sasuke's body.
With the injection of the countless insects, the terrifying aura surrounding Sasuke grew even heavier.
"Next, all the Uchiha will merge with Sasuke. While Sasuke inherits their power, he will also inherit their pain and their hatred for the village—and for you!"
Simu spread his arms and spoke eloquently.
Itachi Uchiha's face turned pale as he hissed, "I will never let you succeed."
He immediately summoned a large murder of crows, preparing to fly into the sky to hunt down the insects.
But Simu would naturally not let him have his way. A massive flow of iron sand erupted from the ground beneath his feet like a sprawling iron tree. It flattened into a thick wall of iron sand in mid-air, firmly blocking all the crows.
"This is... Magnet Style!"
Itachi's expression was incredibly grim. His crows couldn't break through this iron curtain. If he took a detour, it would cost too much time. By then, the insects would likely have already merged into Sasuke's body!
"Mr. Itachi, what I promised you earlier was that you could choose to kill Sasuke at any time, not that you could kill my lovely little insects."
"Since you don't want to make a choice, you'd better stay here and watch Sasuke turn into a monster."
Simu pushed up his glasses, calmly looking at the enraged yet helpless Itachi Uchiha.
A massive amount of flame-like red chakra emerged from Itachi again, forming a gigantic warrior that charged toward Simu.
"Even if I exhaust all my chakra, I will kill you with my own hands, Simu Kamizuki!"
It was hard to imagine that the usually calm Itachi Uchiha would ever display such a desperate side.
However, Simu was not afraid in the least. A large amount of black iron sand seeped from the cracks beneath his feet, ready for action.
With a sound like a bursting cannonball, the massive samurai's fist smashed forward.
Simu was not to be outdone. A tide of iron sand crashed heavily against his opponent!
The powerful force of the fist instantly smashed through the wave of iron sand, but Simu's offensive did not stop there. Even more iron sand surged forward, quickly trapping Itachi's Susanoo in the center.
Above the sky, cut off by the iron curtain, the fusion of the Uchiha souls and Sasuke continued.
It seems Itachi's situation is a bit dire, Black Zetsu said with concern.
Itachi had gone through multiple battles in a single night. First, he dealt with Fugaku, then he slaughtered the entire clan, and finally, he fought Simu.
Although he had the chakra Fugaku left him, it wouldn't last long under this kind of consumption, not to mention his body was already overburdened from using the Mangekyo for so long.
Obito agreed with Black Zetsu's judgment. Clearly, the current Itachi was no match for Simu.
Don't worry. If he is at risk of dying, I will step in immediately.
Mm.
Black Zetsu felt relatively at ease regarding Obito's space-time Ninjutsu.
Itachi was, after all, a powerful combatant they had personally selected. They couldn't let him fall at Simu's hands, or who knew what kind of monster that man would create next.
The iron curtain blocking the sky was suddenly pulled back. Under the blood-red moon, the final insect carrying the last of the Uchiha's resentment merged into Sasuke's body.
"Mr. Itachi, your time is up."
Simu stood atop the iron curtain, looking down through the gap.
"No..."
Itachi looked up from the protection of his Susanoo and saw that the cocoon representing Sasuke was slowly blooming.
A powerful, evil aura filled with hatred instantly swept through the entire Leaf!
Even the ninjas and civilians thousands of meters away could feel the terror of this aura and trembled because of it!
Crack!
With a crisp sound, a crack appeared on the surface of the cocoon, followed by an outpouring of dark purple chakra.
Driven by the impact of the chakra, the cracks on the cocoon's surface became more numerous and larger.
With a loud bang, the entire cocoon was burst open by the massive surge of dark purple chakra. A purple star representing misfortune appeared in the sky above the Leaf!
"Sasuke..."
Itachi Uchiha gritted his teeth as he watched.
Sasuke was clearly no longer that cute young boy. Shrouded in dark purple chakra, his skin had turned a grayish-purple, and he had grown taller. His body seemed to be covered in a thick keratin layer.
The biggest change was his back, where two pairs of huge gray wings had grown, spreading out in a diagonal cross like an angel.
These two pairs of wings were enormous, dozens of times larger than Sasuke's body.
The next second, Sasuke's eyes snapped open.
The three-tomoe Sharingan emitted an incredibly cold gaze, looking down upon all living things.
Opening along with his eyes were the thousands of eyes on his wings!
Only then did everyone realize that every single feather on the two pairs of wings on Sasuke's back was embedded with an eye!
Some were three-tomoe, some were two-tomoe, some were one-tomoe, and some were ordinary eyes.
In other words, every two feathers on his wings represented a member of the Uchiha Clan.
"Itachi Uchiha, are you ready to atone for your actions?"
Sasuke's voice was flat, as if he had no emotion at all.
Or rather, his personal emotions had been completely swallowed by the coldness and hatred of all the Uchiha.
Instead of saying this was Sasuke Uchiha, it was more accurate to call him the collective will of the entire Uchiha Clan.
"Sasuke, wake up! Don't let the hatred consume you!"
Even now, Itachi hoped to wake his brother.
But clearly, that was no longer possible.
His cry only earned a flat sentence from Sasuke, filled with endless killing intent: "Die..."
The next second, countless Sharingan phantoms appeared in mid-air, and a terrifying ocular power instantly shrouded the entire compound.
In an instant, the ground beneath their feet twisted rapidly. Countless blood-stained arms reached out from the earth, firmly grabbing Itachi's ankles.
Then came the wailing heads—the very clan members Itachi had just killed. They questioned Itachi's heart over and over again.
"Truly terrifying. As expected of the Uchiha, I suppose."
Simu appeared at the edge of the compound, gently adjusting his glasses.
Even as the mastermind, Simu couldn't help but marvel at the terrifying power Sasuke was currently unleashing.
Back when the Spider Lily Chamber of Commerce provided medicine to the Uchiha Clan, he had implanted insect eggs into those food pills. Once those Uchiha died, the eggs would automatically carry their souls and eyes out of their bodies to find their mother host.
That's right—their mother host was the Cursed Seal-transformed Sasuke.
As for this Cursed Seal, it was a research result he had discovered from Jugo. After the Cursed Seal was transplanted, it could absorb massive amounts of natural energy from the air.
Only after injecting enough natural energy would Sasuke's body be strong enough to carry so many souls and such massive spiritual energy, becoming the vessel for Simu's Apostle of Hatred.
Others could have served as materials for the Apostle of Hatred, but the Uchiha's spiritual power had always been extraordinary. Using them produced the best results.
Furthermore, Sasuke himself, as the vessel, possessed sufficient talent and potential.
The facts proved this to be true. The moment this Apostle awakened, he displayed power strong enough to shroud the entire compound in a terrifying Genjutsu!
Even Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan could not completely immunize him. He could only struggle amidst the hatred, consuming a vast amount of ocular power trying to break the illusion.
Of course, because the radiation range of this Genjutsu was too large, Obito and Black Zetsu, who were peeking from the shadows, could not avoid it either.
Fortunately, Obito possessed the Mangekyo himself and was not Sasuke's primary target. He broke the Genjutsu in time and used his intangibility to take Black Zetsu away.