"So… it's already over? We barely even started, and now it's done… Hah. Sorry, Shisui. I let you down. I couldn't remove the cancer festering in Konoha."
"It's grown far too big for me to cut out alone. I did find an ally, but… I was still too late."
"So the Pure Land… really does exist. I can feel it pulling at my soul, guiding me somewhere."
Uchiha Itachi muttered quietly to himself, gaze drifting around in confusion.
All around him was nothingness—just endless void. He was alone.
Looking down at his hand, memories of his father, his mother, and Sasuke flashed through his mind.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I wanted to teach you how to throw a shuriken again. I wanted to hear you call me 'brother'... just one more time."
"But that chance is gone now. Maybe we'll see each other again in a few decades... or a hundred years."
As he walked forward through the void, his eyes suddenly widened in shock—someone was standing ahead of him.
"Shisui?!" The name came out before he could stop it.
It really was Uchiha Shisui.
"Itachi… I thought I'd be waiting here another few decades before seeing you again."
In the real world, Shisui had lost both his eyes—one stolen by Danzō, the other given to Itachi.
But here, he looked whole. His eyes were intact, and he was smiling.
"Looks like you failed… just like me."
As Itachi approached, Shisui didn't scold him or ask what went wrong. Instead, he gently placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder and smiled.
"Don't worry. Even if we're gone, someone else will carry the torch. That's how Konoha works—fallen leaves become the soil for the next generation. They'll carry our will. Sometimes… we just have to trust them."
Itachi could feel the warmth of the hand on his shoulder. He took a deep breath, fighting the tightness in his chest.
"You… were waiting for me this whole time?" he asked.
"Of course."
Shisui gave a soft laugh. "How could I not? When I died, you were still a kid—ten, maybe eleven? I couldn't just leave without worrying."
"But I never expected… you'd die even earlier than I did."
He scratched his head, guilt flashing across his face.
"Maybe giving you that eye was a mistake…"
"So tell me—what happened?"
"I've only caught vague glimpses of what went on after I left."
Itachi fell silent for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"I believed the real cancer in Konoha… was our clan—and Chizumi. I tried to save the village my own way, so I made a deal with the man in Akatsuki who claimed to be Uchiha Madara."
Shisui visibly tensed.
"I had two plans. Plan one: kill Chizumi. Destroy his ideology of 'Absolute Justice.' Because that ideology is just as dangerous to Konoha as our clan's extremists."
"Plan two…" He paused.
"Wipe out the Uchiha clan. They'd either gone too far into radicalism, or they'd become zealots of 'Absolute Justice.'"
"And the way our clan awakens the Sharingan—it's driven by pain and trauma. It makes us too unstable. We were the village's biggest ticking time bomb."
"If I could eliminate both threats… I thought Konoha could finally have peace."
"But… I failed."
"I wasn't strong enough to beat Chizumi. He killed me before I even made a move."
Shisui froze.
He just stared at Itachi.
"Then what about… the Mangekyō I gave you? What about Kotoamatsukami?"
Itachi took another deep breath.
"I was going to use it on Sasuke—to make him loyal to Konoha for the rest of his life. Oh… I didn't mention this earlier, but I planned to leave Sasuke alive. He'd rebuild a new Uchiha clan."
"And with the Kotoamatsukami seal burned into his mind, that new Uchiha would be forever loyal to the Hokage—just like the Hyuga clan."
Shisui's mouth dropped open.
"You were going to use that… on Sasuke? He's just a kid—six, maybe seven?"
"Itachi…"
Shisui's voice was a mix of shock and disbelief.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"I gave you that eye to stop the clan's coup. Not to use it to brainwash your brother—especially after wiping out the entire Uchiha!"
Itachi's smile cracked.
Shisui shook his head, voice low.
"How can you be so sure Sasuke would be able to revive the clan by himself? Why would you put that kind of burden on him? Itachi, what… the hell were you doing?!"
He was starting to realize something horrifying.
He couldn't follow Itachi's logic anymore.
Why annihilate the Uchiha? Why target Chizumi's justice?
What kind of twisted genius thinks this is how you save a village?
Shisui opened his mouth, then hesitated.
Finally, he asked softly—with concern:
"…Were you… traumatized?"
Itachi froze.
Why… Why didn't Shisui understand?
His father had understood. His father approved of his vision.
Why not Shisui?
Had he… changed?
…
Back in the Real World – Konoha
"Susanoo?!"
Uchiha Fugaku's breath hitched as he stared up at the towering, lava-colored humanoid figure.
His stern face twisted into visible shock.
"That magma-like aura… that's Chizumi's Susanoo. And it's armored? What form is this—how far has it evolved?"
"Chizumi's Mangekyō has reached this level already? Is he trying to match the legendary Uchiha Madara?"
But then—something even more disturbing hit him.
"…That other Susanoo—" he whispered.
"The one that just got split in half… who did it belong to?"
Only a few Uchiha in the last decade had awakened the Mangekyō: himself, Shisui, and Chizumi.
The cut-in-half Susanoo wasn't his.
Shisui was long gone.
And Chizumi's was this hulking, crimson colossus.
"...Itachi!!!"
Fugaku jolted forward—but then stopped abruptly.
His face froze in a mix of shock and dread.
Could that really have been Itachi's Susanoo?
And if so—if it had been cleaved in two by Chizumi's…
Was Itachi even still alive?
His chest tightened at the thought.
…
Elsewhere…
Sarutobi Hiruzen was racing toward the scene with a squad of Anbu when he came to a hard stop, eyes wide and filled with disbelief.
"Old man, if I'm not wrong," said a small voice, "isn't that one of the Uchiha's Mangekyō-exclusive techniques?"
He turned toward the voice—and saw Jiraiya, standing nearby with the elderly toad Shima perched on his shoulder.
"That's Susanoo, right?" Shima added.
"I remember seeing a shinobi named Uchiha Madara use it a long time ago."
Jiraiya's voice followed, low and grave.
"If that's really a Mangekyō technique, then it has to be Chizumi's. Look at it—the armored body, that massive sword… and all of it radiating molten chakra. His eye power has completely merged with his bloodline limit."
He turned his head toward Hiruzen and the Anbu squad, eyes sharp.
"Old man, for a second I thought Chizumi had come to take you out. Guess I overthought it."
Hiruzen didn't respond immediately.
He just stared at the Susanoo towering over the village, then let out a slow, heavy breath.
If Chizumi ever used that power against him… in a one-on-one fight…
Hiruzen realized something deeply unsettling:
He had no real way to counter it.
That thing wasn't just strong—it was beyond the scale of any normal shinobi.
Chizumi had already entered the realm of Kage-class shinobi.
And not just any Kage-class—top-tier.
Only Hiruzen in his prime might've been able to match him.
But now? He was old. Weary. Past his peak.
There was no denying it anymore:
Tolerating Chizumi—even swallowing the deaths of his sons—had been the smart move.
If Chizumi ever turned against Konoha, the destruction would make the Nine-Tails' attack look tame by comparison.
Especially now, with Konoha far weaker than it was back then.
…
Every villager, every shinobi—everyone had their eyes locked on the godlike being that loomed in the distance.
Some older folks vaguely recalled ancient legends.
But most people, even among the ninja, had no idea what they were looking at.
"What the hell is that thing?! Is this gonna be another Nine-Tails night?!"
A veteran chunin's face was drenched in fear, haunted by memories of that terrible night years ago.
Someone nearby gulped, hard.
"Don't say that! The alarms haven't gone off yet, right? If it were that serious, the village would've sounded them by now."
"Still! I'm not taking chances. I'm getting my family out of here. If anything's about to go down, we're not staying to watch it happen."
"Is this… even a jutsu? Could it be some kind of massive transformation? Like the Akimichi clan's expansion technique?"
"No way. Even Chōza-san couldn't get that big."
…
"This has to be a Uchiha technique, right?"
Nara Shikaku's eyes didn't leave the scene as he spoke to Yamanaka Inoichi.
Inoichi nodded slightly.
"It's called Susanoo."
Chōza Akimichi chimed in.
"Full name: Susanoo-no-Mikoto. Our family archives mention it—a past Akimichi ancestor once saw it used by an Uchiha. But even in the records, it wasn't this massive."
He exhaled.
"Power like this… it could turn the tide of an entire war. And it's in the hands of one man."
Turning to Inoichi, he said quietly:
"Looks like we really did make the right call. Chizumi clearly has the strength to become the next Hokage."
"With the support of our three clans… the only real obstacle would be whether the Third Hokage wants to cling to power."
Inoichi shook his head.
"Chizumi isn't the kind of guy who wants to be Hokage. It's not about qualifications—he definitely has what it takes. If he were Hokage, Konoha could rise again, maybe even back to its First-Hokage-era strength."
"But that title would only chain him down. His vision… goes far beyond just this village."
Chōza scratched his head awkwardly.
"Guess I've been thinking too small."
"Don't worry."
Inoichi gave him a reassuring look.
"Knowing Chizumi, if the Third ever steps down, he'll make sure someone who believes in Absolute Justice takes the seat."
"That way, the Will of Fire and Absolute Justice can finally merge. From there, justice can spread—not just through the Land of Fire, but to other nations, other villages. Maybe even the whole shinobi world."
Shikaku let out a low sigh, hands in his pockets.
"Only someone like Chizumi could hold that kind of ambition and still earn our trust. If it were anyone else, we'd all be terrified they were trying to become the next Madara."
…
Uchiha Compound
Back at the Uchiha residence, Mikoto sat quietly, her elegant features shadowed by unease.
She and Fugaku had argued earlier over dinner—but he was still her husband. And now he'd run off toward the epicenter of something massive and dangerous. Of course she was worried.
A young voice cut through her thoughts.
"Mom… what is that?!"
Sasuke's wide eyes were glued to the sky, where crimson light still pulsed in the distance.
Mikoto inhaled slowly.
"That's… Susanoo."
She paused, then added, "It's an extremely rare dojutsu technique—only a handful of Uchiha throughout history have ever awakened it."
Sasuke blinked.
"Wait... does that mean Chizumi-sensei used it? Is that what made that huge thing?"
Mikoto shook her head.
"I'm not sure."
But deep down, she already knew:
Something huge had either just happened—or just ended.
…
Elsewhere, Izumi stood protectively over the unconscious Anko, shielding her from the lingering aftershocks of the battle.
She stared upward, mouth slightly agape, as the massive Susanoo began to dissolve into chakra particles.
"First time I've seen Chizumi-sama actually use that jutsu," said Jujiro, the ninja cat beside her.
"He mentioned it to me once, but never actually showed it before."
Jujiro glanced at Izumi's stunned face, then casually padded over and tapped her leg with a paw.
"Relax. That was Chizumi's technique. That other one just now? That was Itachi's Susanoo."
He snorted.
"But really, his Susanoo versus Chizumi's? That's like comparing a fire to a volcano."
Izumi stood frozen, her gaze following a long, jagged trench that had been carved straight through the village—stretching from the battlefield all the way out of Konoha's walls.
The village barrier had been split wide open.
Easily over a kilometer long.
All from a single swing of Chizumi's blade.
"…This is the power of Absolute Justice," she whispered.
She steadied herself, then turned to Jujirou.
"So... Itachi. Is he...?"
"Dead," said a new voice—calm, cold, and unmistakable.
Izumi snapped her head around.
Uchiha Chizumi approached, completely unharmed, holding a scroll in one hand and a raven in the other.
His tone was as emotionless as ever:
"The blade of my Susanoo is a fusion of Lava Release, ocular power, and chakra. It burns like magma, and its strikes hit like volcanic eruptions."
"When it cut through Itachi's Susanoo and touched his body, he was already done for. Every cell in his body was vaporized."
"Dying by Susanoo's blade? Honestly, that was a luxury."
Izumi felt a strange swirl of emotions in her chest.
She'd once considered Itachi a friend.
But then he'd chosen to betray the clan—chosen to walk a path of violence and manipulation.
She had hated him for that.
And yet...
He'd been her only companion when she first returned to the Uchiha with her mother.
"Hah…"
She let out a breath. The emotional fog in her heart lasted maybe two seconds before fading.
Chizumi-sama had executed blood relatives for justice. If Itachi was guilty—why should he be spared?
Itachi had been a shinobi. He knew the cost of his actions.
He made his choice—and paid for it.
And besides—
To many in the clan, Itachi's death was probably a relief.
As long as he lived, Chizumi's prophecy loomed over them all.
"Hey, kid! Where's the enemy?!"
The sudden voice yanked everyone's attention.
Tsunade landed nearby with a thunderous crash that shattered the concrete beneath her.
"Tsunade-sama," Jujiro said coolly, "the enemy's already dead."
"Dead?"
Tsunade casually lowered her combat stance, coughed lightly to save face, then looked at Chizumi.
"Who the hell did you run into that forced you to summon something that big? For a second I thought you were gonna flatten the whole village."
"Uchiha Itachi," Chizumi replied without hesitation.
"Huh?"
Tsunade blinked, then connected the dots.
"Wait, you mean Fugaku's oldest? The little backstabber who wanted to wipe out the Uchiha? That Itachi?"
"Yes."
Tsunade paused.
Then she walked over and patted him on the shoulder.
"You being in this clan... I honestly don't know if it's a blessing or a curse."
Chizumi replied coolly:
"A blessing for the innocent. A curse for the wicked."
Tsunade clicked her tongue.
"You little punk—can't believe you're actually bragging."
Then she shrugged.
"Well... can't really argue with that. It is true."
She glanced at the scroll and the raven in his hands.
"What's that?"
"Fire-Sealing Scroll," Chizumi said, casually tossing it to Izumi.
She fumbled to catch it.
"Inside is a black flame—it's Amaterasu, one of Itachi's Mangekyō techniques. It'll keep burning until its target is completely reduced to ash. Consider it your ace."
Izumi blinked, then quickly bowed her head.
"Thank you, Senpai!"
"Chizumi-sama!" Jujirou suddenly gasped. "The raven—it has a Sharingan!"
Tsunade and Izumi both leaned in.
Izumi's eyes went wide.
"That's a Mangekyō… but this pattern… this isn't Itachi's!"
Tsunade raised a brow.
"Mangekyō?"
Izumi hesitated, then asked,
"Senpai… is that Shisui's eye?"
Chizumi answered coolly:
"Yes. That's Kotoamatsukami—Shisui's eye. A gift from Absolute Justice."
[It dropped like loot after justice was delivered.]
Because frankly, if Chizumi's Susanoo had actually hit that raven directly?
Nothing—raven, metal, or man—would've survived.
Just as he finished, the sound of dozens of footsteps thundered toward them.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had finally arrived with a full Anbu unit.
And he'd heard what Chizumi just said—
Kotoamatsukami.
"Old man?"
Tsunade turned and gave him a pointed look, then glanced at the masked Anbu behind him.
"What's with this squad? You here to back Chizumi up? Or were you planning to contain him?"
Hiruzen said nothing.
~~~
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