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Chapter 827 - Chapter 827: Decision of Illusion

As the explosion's thunderous roar gradually faded and the thick smoke began to dissipate, the black-robed figure slowly turned his ringed eyes toward the mountainside where his unexpected attacker waited.

Standing among the ANBU operatives was a young man whose presence commanded immediate attention. He wore the standard-issue uniform of Konoha's elite forces, a katana strapped across his back, and possessed the distinctive features that marked him as Uchiha nobility—straight black hair that fell to his shoulders and blood-red eyes that seemed to pierce through the very soul of anyone who met his gaze.

"Uchiha Itachi," the man in black said, his voice carrying a note of recognition and wariness.

Even among the legendary Akatsuki, Itachi's reputation preceded him. He was the youngest squad captain in ANBU's storied history, the eldest son of the Uchiha clan head, and a shinobi whose name was whispered with equal parts respect and fear across all five great nations. His tactical brilliance and mastery of advanced jutsu had made him a figure of considerable renown throughout the ninja world.

Whoosh!

The Third Hokage and Enma landed gracefully on the mountain beside Itachi, the elderly leader's weathered face showing relief at the timely intervention.

"Itachi, my thanks," Hiruzen said, glancing at the young prodigy before returning his steely gaze to their airborne enemy. "That was perfectly timed."

"I'm relieved you're unharmed, Lord Third," Itachi replied with characteristic calm, his voice betraying none of the tension that filled the air around them.

The Third Hokage's expression hardened as he addressed the dozen ANBU operatives positioned behind them. "All of you, fall back immediately. Escort the remaining civilians as far from the village as possible—at least beyond the outer perimeter."

His tone brooked no argument. Ordinary ANBU, skilled as they were, simply couldn't participate in a battle of this magnitude. Having to protect them while fighting such a formidable opponent would only create unnecessary complications and potentially fatal distractions.

"Yes, Lord Hokage!" the masked shinobi responded in perfect unison before melting back into the forest shadows with practiced stealth.

"How far have the civilians been evacuated?" the Third asked, his strategic mind already calculating their options.

"Approximately three hundred meters from the village center," Itachi reported with clinical precision. "The evacuation remains my primary responsibility."

It was a monumental task—relocating thousands of Konoha residents in such a short timeframe would challenge even the most experienced logistics teams. Despite the Uchiha Police Force's full participation in the effort, they had only managed to move the majority of non-combatants to relatively safe positions just outside the village proper. Many families were still dangerously close to the combat zone.

The Third Hokage nodded grimly, his expression growing darker. "In that case, we have no choice but to eliminate this threat here and now. We cannot allow him to pursue the evacuees."

"Understood," Itachi responded, though his analytical mind was already working through the tactical implications.

Every senior shinobi currently engaged in combat was facing opponents of extraordinary caliber. The enemies who had invaded Konoha weren't mere criminals or rogue ninja—they were all S-rank threats, each capable of single-handedly destroying smaller villages. Battles at this level rarely ended quickly, and the outcome was never guaranteed, no matter how skilled the defenders might be.

This was life-and-death warfare at its most brutal and unforgiving.

"In that case..." Itachi murmured, his hands already beginning to weave through a complex sequence of hand seals with fluid precision.

"Summoning Technique!"

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The moment his jutsu activated, a massive murder of crows materialized from thin air, their black wings creating a living storm as they streaked directly toward the floating enemy. The sound of hundreds of beating wings filled the air like thunder.

"Incredible seal speed!" the man in black thought with genuine alarm.

Even with his enhanced visual perception, he could barely track Itachi's hand movements. The young Uchiha's fingers moved with such velocity that they seemed to blur together. While his divided attention among multiple Pain bodies certainly affected his reaction time, this was still the fastest seal formation he had ever witnessed from any ninja.

However, raw speed alone wouldn't be enough to threaten someone of his caliber.

The approaching crow swarm arranged itself into two distinct formations, each echelon maintaining careful spacing from the other. The black-robed figure's analytical mind immediately began dissecting the attack pattern.

"They're not all the same type of medium," he observed, his ringed eyes detecting the subtle differences in chakra signatures.

While every crow contained stored chakra, the birds in each formation possessed distinctly different energy levels and compositions. This wasn't a simple mass summoning—it was a carefully orchestrated multi-stage assault.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The crows in the leading formation suddenly transformed mid-flight, their feathered bodies morphing into gleaming black shuriken that whistled through the air with deadly precision.

"First a physical attack, then the explosion," the man in black realized, his eyes narrowing with newfound respect. "Uchiha Itachi has studied my abilities."

The tactical implications were clear. The first wave of transformed weapons would force him to use repulsive force rather than absorption—you couldn't absorb solid projectiles, only energy-based attacks. The moment he deflected the shuriken, the second wave would detonate in a coordinated explosion, catching him during his technique's cooldown period.

A two-stage assault designed specifically to counter his known abilities.

The young Uchiha had been preparing this combination attack from the moment he'd appeared on the battlefield. While performing the summoning technique, he'd simultaneously woven the seals for transformation jutsu—a level of multitasking that spoke to truly exceptional skill and battle awareness.

Given the attack's design, the man in black had only one viable option.

"Shinra Tensei!"

The Pain body's form rippled with unleashed power as devastating repulsive force erupted outward from his position. The invisible wave of energy swept through the air like a tsunami, sending the transformed shuriken spinning wildly off course.

"Clone Explosion Technique!"

But Itachi had been waiting for exactly this moment. The instant his enemy committed to the repulsive technique, he formed a single hand seal and triggered the second phase of his assault.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The detonation was even more powerful than the previous explosion. Multiple crow clones erupted simultaneously, creating a chain reaction that lit up the sky like a series of miniature suns. The shockwave was so intense that trees on the mountainside swayed violently, their leaves stripped away by the tremendous force.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Even as the explosions reached their peak, Itachi wasn't finished. A massive sphere of roaring flames burst upward into the chaos, feeding on the disturbed air currents and amplifying the destruction even further. The combined assault created a hellish maelstrom of fire and force that would have vaporized most enemies instantly.

"Third Hokage, please coordinate with me," Itachi said urgently, glancing toward his elderly ally while his hands flashed through a series of subtle tactical signals that only a seasoned commander would recognize.

Hiruzen's eyes widened with understanding, and a spark of hope appeared in his weathered features. The old professor had taught enough brilliant students to recognize tactical genius when he saw it.

Through the roiling smoke and flames, the black-robed figure moved with supernatural grace. Even an explosion of this magnitude couldn't harm someone who had transcended normal human limitations, but it had served its true purpose—creating the perfect conditions for the real attack.

"Sword Shadow Clone Technique!"

As the enemy burst from the obscuring smoke, he was met by a rain of gleaming blades launched from below. Each sword moved with lethal precision, forming a deadly net designed to force specific evasive maneuvers.

Meanwhile, the Third Hokage's hands were weaving through his own sequence of preparatory seals, ready to support whatever strategy Itachi had devised.

"The same tactics again?" the man in black thought with disdain. "Are you simply trying to buy time until reinforcements arrive?"

His floating form twisted gracefully through the air, avoiding the sword barrage with contemptuous ease. "It seems the so-called Third Hokage, once feared as the Professor, has become nothing more than an ordinary old man desperately clinging to false hope."

The Pain body's voice carried across the battlefield with cruel mockery. "Do you really believe that Minato Namikaze can return to save you and your precious village? How pathetic."

He had overheard enough of their earlier conversation to understand their situation. This elaborate display was nothing more than desperate stalling tactics from ninja who knew they were outmatched.

A third mechanical arm sprouted from the black-robed figure's torso, extending downward as its palm transformed into a cannon-like aperture. Purple chakra began to coalesce within the organic weapon system.

WHOOSH!

A concentrated beam of destructive energy lanced downward, disintegrating several of the thrown swords before continuing toward the Third Hokage's position. The purple light carved through the air like a spear of pure annihilation.

Seeing the attack coming, Hiruzen immediately abandoned his hand seals and dove sideways, his aged body moving with surprising agility.

BANG!

The energy beam struck the ground where he had been standing moments before, creating a smoking crater and sending debris flying in all directions.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

But even as the dust settled, another wave of black crows descended from above, their formation identical to the previous assault.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Once again, the leading group of crows transformed into spinning shuriken, while the trailing birds pulsed with unstable chakra signatures that promised another devastating explosion.

"He's not deflecting them immediately," the Third Hokage observed from his new position, his analytical mind processing the subtle change in their enemy's behavior. "His recovery time between techniques is definitely longer now."

The second wave of crows had already begun linking together in mid-air, forming multiple humanoid silhouettes just as Itachi had done during his initial rescue of the Third Hokage. Each shadow clone carried enough explosive chakra to level a building.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Finally recognizing the imminent threat of another coordinated detonation, the man in black unleashed his repulsive force once more, but the timing was fractionally different from before—proof that maintaining multiple Pain bodies was taking its toll on his reaction speed.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Itachi's shadow clone exploded in sequence, filling the air with smoke, flame, and flying debris. The mountain itself seemed to shake from the repeated concussions.

But one location remained conspicuously silent.

"No explosion there," the black-robed figure noted with sharp attention, his ringed eyes focusing on a single point where no detonation had occurred. After a moment of analysis, understanding dawned. "It's not a clone... that's his real body!"

The tactical implications hit him immediately. "Foolish! Does he think he can survive an explosion at point-blank range?"

Flight gave him a significant advantage in dealing with area-of-effect attacks. Ground-based ninja had limited options for avoiding explosions when they couldn't move freely through three-dimensional space. This seemed like a suicidal gambit.

Poof!

However, just before the explosion could engulf Itachi's position, the shuriken that had been aimed at the man in black suddenly burst into concealing smoke—the telltale sign of dispelled transformation jutsu.

From within the smoke cloud, Enma appeared in his true form, his diamond-hard body positioned directly in front of Itachi. The legendary summon spread his arms wide, using his indestructible physique to shield the young Uchiha from the searing flames and crushing pressure of the explosion.

"My thanks, Enma," Itachi said calmly, seemingly unperturbed by the hellish inferno raging mere inches away.

The Monkey King's vajra body could withstand attacks that would reduce mountains to rubble. An explosion of this magnitude, while impressive, posed no threat to his supernatural durability.

Enma nodded acknowledgment, then suddenly reached out and grasped Itachi's shoulder with one powerful hand. In a fluid motion, he spun around and hurled the young shinobi through the air with tremendous force, launching him directly toward their airborne enemy.

"Itachi, everything depends on you now!" the Third Hokage called out, his eyes blazing with hope and determination.

When he saw Enma's form materialize within the explosion, Hiruzen knew their carefully coordinated battle plan had succeeded. The man in black could absorb ninjutsu-based attacks, and physical techniques were nearly impossible to execute effectively against a flying opponent who controlled gravitational forces.

Given those limitations, there was only one possible way to defeat such an enemy—Itachi's legendary mastery of genjutsu, the art of illusion that could trap even the most powerful ninja in mental prisons of their own making.

The decisive moment had finally arrived.

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