"You're Uzumaki Naruto?" Itachi asked, unsure.
"What? Need to see my Konoha ID?" Naruto said flatly.
The hallway went quiet. No one spoke.
Suddenly… Kisame drew his sword and attacked!
Totsuka Blade!
Naruto formed a lightsaber with one hand and clashed with Kisame.
Kisame's strength was overwhelming. Blocking his strike with one hand made Naruto's arm tremble.
But because of the special nature of the Totsuka Blade lightsaber, Kisame's sword sizzled from the burn.
"What kind of sword is that?"
Kisame was shocked. He was about to pull his weapon back when Naruto gripped his lightsaber with both hands and swung hard.
One Sword Style: Tiger Shark!
The slash was so powerful it cut Kisame's blade clean in two and even split the wall behind him.
"What?!"
This time it wasn't just Kisame—even Uchiha Itachi was shocked.
He never thought Naruto could actually overpower Kisame!
"You both planning to attack me together?"
Naruto gripped the Totsuka Blade in both hands, staring coldly at Kisame and Uchiha Itachi.
"This is a tricky one… one against two."
Kisame glanced at his broken Samehada, now only half its size, feeling a bit of pain in his heart. "Is this the Nine-Tails' power?"
"No."
Uchiha Itachi spoke. "I've seen the Nine-Tails' power before. He shouldn't be able to create this kind of golden sword out of thin air."
"So it's a jutsu then?"
Kisame grinned. "Interesting. Two against one—let me give him a try."
"No. We retreat." Uchiha Itachi shut it down.
"Why?" Kisame looked puzzled.
"We only lured Jiraiya away, but he's not far from here. If you go all out, the fight will cause too much disturbance, and he'll be back in no time," Uchiha Itachi explained.
Kisame hesitated, then slung the broken Samehada back onto his back. "Guess we have no choice—next time we'll come back and grab this brat!"
Naruto watched as Kisame and Uchiha Itachi left, making no move to stop them.
There was no need to fight them. Even killing them wouldn't mean much.
And if he pushed Uchiha Itachi too far, that guy might pull out Shisui's eye and use it on him—that would be trouble.
Even though he'd learned some ways to counter illusions, those methods wouldn't work against Itachi's Tsukuyomi or Shisui's Kotoamatsukami.
On top of that, with Kurama inside him, who knew if that little fox might weaken his mental defenses?
Thud thud thud thud thud!
From downstairs came the sound of someone running up the stairs.
"What happened?"
"Why was there an explosion?"
It was the boss's voice—judging by how anxious he sounded, if he saw Naruto standing in the hallway, he'd definitely come over to demand compensation.
Sensing danger, Naruto instantly turned into a flash of gold, slipping back into his room and closing the door.
No way he was paying for anything. If you've got the guts, go ask Kisame for compensation!
None of this had anything to do with him!
Sure enough, the moment Naruto returned to his room, the boss's pig-like scream echoed down the hallway.
"Which bastard did this?! You actually smashed my wall!"
"Don't let me find out who it was, or you're dead meat—unforgivable!!"
...
"Itachi, why didn't you just use genjutsu on the Nine-Tails kid? Wouldn't that have been easier?" On the way back, Kisame finally voiced the question he'd had ever since Itachi called for retreat.
He had doubts, but since Itachi had already made the call, he didn't argue.
When it came to Itachi's decisions, he always supported them.
Uchiha Itachi stayed silent for a moment before saying, "He never looked into my eyes. Not even once."
From the moment the door opened, Naruto hadn't looked at his eyes for even a second.
It was like Naruto had seen through them while they were still behind the door.
Maybe… Naruto had guessed they were coming.
But was that even possible?
"Can he see the future?"
Kisame asked curiously, "Is the Nine-Tails' power really that strong?"
Itachi had never been a Nine-Tails jinchuriki, so he didn't actually know the fox's full abilities.
Back when the Nine-Tails attacked, he had only seen it once from far away.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting."
Uchiha Itachi stopped and spoke into the air. "Sasuke!"
"Sasuke?"
Kisame turned and looked at the late-arriving Uchiha Sasuke. "Oh? Same eyes as you! He even looks a lot like you, Mr. Itachi!"
"Yeah, because he's my little brother." Uchiha Itachi said with no change in expression.
"Itachi's little brother?"
Kisame's grin widened with interest. "I thought you wiped out the entire Uchiha clan?"
"One on one, I'm going to kill you!"
Before Itachi could answer, Sasuke's hatred boiled over. He formed hand signs, lightning chakra crackling in his left hand—bzzt, bzzt!
"Chidori?" Itachi was a little surprised, but only a little.
Chidori was just a jutsu Kakashi created when he was twelve. Sasuke learning it at the same age wasn't that impressive.
"You made me hate you, made me want revenge! I've done it! That's the only reason I'm alive now!"
"Ahhhhhh!"
Sasuke's face twisted in rage as he charged at Uchiha Itachi with the Chidori like a madman.
But just before the strike landed, Itachi caught his wrist with ease, cutting off the chakra flow.
The Chidori vanished instantly.
"You're nowhere near Uzumaki Naruto's level," Itachi said flatly.
At Naruto's name, Sasuke first looked frustrated, then snapped, "Where's Naruto? What did you do to him?"
"You care about him that much?"
Itachi's expression turned cold. "Looks like your hatred for me isn't complete yet. Is something distracting you?"
"If you've forgotten, then I'll help you remember, my dear little brother."
His eyes spun into the Mangekyou pattern—Tsukuyomi!
"Where is this?"
Sasuke felt like he was being swallowed by an endless black void, falling… until he stood in front of a small wooden house.
Two figures appeared before his eyes.
"Dad! Mom!"
Sasuke shouted, his voice trembling with emotion, but Itachi suddenly appeared behind Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto.
"For the next seventy-two hours, you'll be trapped in this moment."
Then he raised his short sword and slashed down at them.
"Noooo!!"
No matter how Sasuke screamed, Fugaku and Mikoto still died right in front of him.
Then came the rest of the Uchiha clan.
"My foolish little brother… you're too weak to even be worth killing."
"If you want to kill me…"
"Then hate me!"
"Despise me!"
"And live on in ugliness!"
"Run with everything you've got, cling to life with everything you have!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
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