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Uchiha Haru's words made Itachi's pupils contract sharply.
What?
"Release him, or die!"
Such an arrogant tone!
Did he truly look down on Uchiha Itachi?
Though Itachi had long been aware of the gap in strength between himself and Uchiha Haru ever since the night of the Uchiha clan's massacre, there was a clear difference between fighting and running away. If he couldn't defeat Haru, why couldn't he just retreat?
He refused to believe that.
"You're far too arrogant," Itachi sneered.
"So, you don't plan to let him go?"
"Alright, alright," Haru replied coolly.
Before Itachi could react further, Uchiha Haru, who was standing directly in front of him, suddenly vanished.
When he reappeared, he was already behind Itachi.
Caught off guard by Haru's sudden disappearance and reappearance, Itachi was momentarily stunned.
Though well-versed in numerous ninjutsu techniques, he couldn't identify the jutsu Haru had just used—a technique that made him vanish so completely.
Not even his close friend Uchiha Shisui, famed as "Instant Body Shisui," could perform such a technique.
What kind of ninjutsu was this?
Clearly, after leaving Konoha, Uchiha Haru had grown far stronger than before.
Haru appeared behind Itachi and leapt upward.
With incredible speed and overwhelming strength, he brought his palm down hard on Itachi's neck.
His power was immense.
Even the head of the Kaguya clan—who possessed the feared Shikotsumyaku, or Corpse Bone Pulse—had suffered grievous injuries from Haru's strike.
Itachi, however, was not the same as those others.
At that moment, Itachi finally realized Uchiha Haru had already attacked from behind.
He now faced two choices.
First: kill the elder Genji immediately.
Itachi's original mission had been to kill the messenger delivering critical information, so that the elder would believe the Uchiha clan had taken action.
With the elder dead, the entire Hidden Mist Village would turn against the Uchiha clan.
But now, with Haru here, Itachi could not kill Mei Terumi in front of him.
Though his original goal seemed harder to achieve, it was still possible.
Killing the elder would make any outsider approaching Kirigakure suspicious—including the Uchiha.
In that way, the Uchiha clan could also leave the Land of Water.
Different means, same end.
But with Haru behind him, ready to strike…
If Itachi killed the elder, the elder would die.
And under Haru's palm, even if the elder survived, he would be severely wounded and unable to flee.
It was a dead end.
The second choice was not to attack the elder but to use the elder's body as a shield to make a break for it.
In that case, Haru would definitely be cautious and it would guarantee Itachi's survival.
But with the elder alive and Mei Terumi unharmed, Itachi's mission was a complete failure.
All of this mirrored the choice Haru had left for Mei Terumi earlier: either let them go, or die.
Itachi had been indifferent at first.
Now, between the two options, the choice was easy.
He was Uchiha Itachi of Konoha—not the Akatsuki Itachi.
He could sacrifice himself for Konoha but would never die for Akatsuki.
He chose to live.
In an instant, he threw the frail elder Genji's body forward.
Just as planned.
The elder's body blocked the path.
Itachi would surely hold back his strength, worried about the elder's life—and seize this chance to escape.
Everything was going exactly as he imagined, smoothly and perfectly.
But just as he was about to slip away, something unexpected happened.
And the one who changed everything was someone Itachi had never anticipated.
The elder Genji himself!
This frail old man, toyed with by Itachi as if he weighed nothing, suddenly exploded with astonishing energy.
His once cloudy eyes sharpened with clarity and fierce determination.
Itachi's frown deepened.
He realized then how wrong he had been.
This elder was not just a feeble old man. In his youth, he had been an outstanding shinobi.
Among the Hidden Mist's leaders, he was one of the most respected.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have risen to his current high position.
But Itachi had underestimated him, deceived by his frailty and used him as a human shield.
He never expected the elder had been waiting for this moment all along.
Itachi's eyes narrowed further.
He saw, almost in disbelief, that the elder Genji had produced two shuriken in his hands.
One was hurled directly at Itachi.
The other was aimed at Uchiha Haru.
"Elder Genji!"
He actually intended to severely injure both of them with his own hands!
At that moment, the distance between the three was minimal—so close that firing the shuriken was almost instantaneous. There was no time to form hand seals or perform any ninjutsu.
Uchiha Haru was slightly taken aback by this sudden shift.
Even he had ignored the old man up to now, never expecting the elder Genji to have been concealing his true strength—and only now reveal his true ferocity.
"Feigning weakness to seize the advantage?" Haru muttered under his breath.
Seeing the shuriken flying straight toward him, he immediately activated the Body Flicker Technique.
The essence of the Body Flicker Technique is simple: speed.
It's a ninjutsu designed for sudden, unexpected encounters.
Its hand seals are minimal—especially for a forbidden-level Body Flicker Technique, which bypasses redundant steps and can be released almost instantly.
Under Haru's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, even with the incredibly short distance and lightning-fast projectiles, he could clearly track their trajectory with terrifying clarity.
Activating the Body Flicker, Haru's form suddenly blurred into multiple afterimages.
The shuriken struck one of the afterimages and sailed past harmlessly.
It finally slammed into a wooden door over ten meters away with a loud bang.
Uchiha Itachi, however, was not so fortunate.
Unlike Haru, Itachi had not mastered the forbidden-level Body Flicker Technique.
Though his Mangekyō Sharingan allowed him to see the shuriken's path clearly, seeing and dodging were two different things.
Fortunately, Itachi was no ordinary ninja.
Despite his youth, his composure was unshakeable—he could always maintain the clearest mind in any situation.
Skilled in a variety of ninjutsu with his own distinct style, as the shuriken hurtled toward him, he immediately executed a jutsu.
In a flash, the shuriken pierced Itachi's body—but simultaneously, his form disintegrated into a flock of black crows that scattered into the air.
When he reappeared, he was standing on the roof above the elder Genji, clutching his left shoulder with one hand, breathing heavily, his expression grim.
It had been a near-death moment. Though Itachi's ninjutsu saved him from the shuriken, he was not unscathed.
His left shoulder was wounded, and his chakra significantly drained.
This was the cost Uchiha Haru had paid.
Itachi squinted slightly, then glanced toward Haru, the elder Genji, and Mei Terumi before vanishing with a sudden Body Flicker.
It was too late now.
Too late to change anything.
The mission had ended in complete failure.
Inside the elder Genji's residence, only Haru, Mei Terumi, and the elder remained.
"Elder, are you alright?" Mei Terumi asked anxiously as she rushed forward after Itachi's departure.
The elder Genji held immense prestige in the Hidden Mist Village, deeply respected by both its people and ninja.
Mei Terumi trusted him implicitly.
She had believed him to be a kind, loyal guardian devoted to the Hidden Mist.
But before she could reach him, several shuriken were suddenly hurled toward her.
She dodged swiftly. Bang! Bang! Bang!
The shuriken buried deeply into the ground near her feet.
Clearly, the elder Genji did not hold back—he truly intended to kill her.
"Elder... it's me, Mei Terumi. What's wrong with you?" she asked, startled.
Having just dodged the attack, Mei Terumi suspected the elder might be under some genjutsu or illusion.
Yet, she dared not approach him so recklessly anymore.
"Traitor! I'll kill you!" the elder Genji spat venomously.
Though likely in his sixties and bent over with age, appearing feeble and slow, he was surprisingly lethal in this critical moment.
Not even Itachi—or any other ninja who might arrive—could likely alter this grim outcome.
The elder Genji narrowed his eyes at Mei Terumi, his gaze filled with hatred.
At the same time, his vigilance toward Haru was sharp.
"Mei Terumi, you are a ninja of Hidden Mist Village. Over the years, this village has nurtured you as its future hope and has never treated you unfairly," the elder declared.
"Yet now, you have allied yourself with a member of the Uchiha clan to commit such treason!"
"Do you have any conscience? Do you have any respect for your ancestors?"
Mei Terumi was speechless.
The one who attacked the elder moments ago was an Uchiha, and now she stood alongside an Uchiha.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't deny it.
Even if she threw herself into the river, she couldn't explain it away.
Still, she forced herself to speak.
"Elder, you've misunderstood. I am not a traitor."
"I, Mei Terumi, am a ninja born and raised in Hidden Mist Village. How could I betray it?"
"Just… just listen—"
She frowned, panic growing in her chest.
How could she possibly explain her connection with Uchiha Haru?
There was no relationship.
Would it make any difference?
Even a child would suspect.
As she struggled to find words, Uchiha Haru's calm voice broke through the tense air.
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