Uchiha Itachi's usually calm heart trembled for the first time in years.
Two pairs of crimson Sharingan clashed in silence.
"Long time no see, Itachi."
Izumi's voice was cold, stripped of all warmth, her very presence radiating an aura that pushed others away.
Itachi found it hard to reconcile this hardened woman with the innocent girl who once clung to him with such affection.
That incident… it had wounded her more deeply than he'd realized. Coupled with the Mangekyō Sharingan that Kakuzu had mentioned, it all made sense now.
Others might not know, but Itachi knew all too well: the girl before him had once been hailed as a prodigy of the Uchiha. She had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan at a young age, without difficulty, without tragedy, without the painful catalyst of loss.
If she'd had the same training and resources as he did, perhaps she would have grown into a genius no less than himself.
"Yes," Itachi finally replied, voice quiet. "It's been a long time."
Why she was here didn't matter. Any explanation now would be meaningless.
"Itachi! Why did you do it? Why?!"
Izumi's calm cracked, her emotions bursting forth like a dam breaking. Even Yu felt the intensity of her hatred. The night of the massacre… a sea of blood, the fall of an entire clan, all reduced to history in a single night.
If not for Naruto saving them, the Uchiha bloodline might have been erased entirely from the shinobi world—just like the countless bloodline clans lost in the Mist.
Just like the Uzumaki Clan, who were now spoken of only in whispers, forgotten by the younger generation.
Itachi knew exactly what she meant: the night of the Uchiha clan's annihilation.
"Izumi… you don't understand."
He shook his head slowly.
Izumi's expression twisted with fury. The once gentle girl's face was now filled with bitterness and rage.
"Understand? No, Itachi—I don't. I'll never understand why you did it! Did you ever think about the people you killed? Did you ask them if they wanted to die? Everyone had their own life, their own path! You had no right to decide that for them!"
Itachi's lips parted, but no words came.
Finally, after a long silence, he muttered, "They were ignorant. They didn't understand what they were doing, or the consequences of their actions."
"Oh, really?" Izumi's voice broke, half a laugh, half a sob. "By 'them,' you mean the clan members who disrespected you? Did you ever stop to wonder why they disrespected you? You were the clan head's son, yet you never stood with us! You skipped the clan meetings, chose instead to stand beside the Hokage's council, and in the end—you raised your blade against your own people!"
Her voice shook.
"You may not have cared for the clan, Itachi. But what about my grandmother? She was just an old woman. Uncle Ichiyo—do you remember him? Grandpa Sanma—do you even recall his face? What about the older sister who sold dango at the corner shop? They were ordinary people, Itachi! Ordinary people who never raised a hand against Konoha! Why couldn't you spare them?"
Her scream tore through the air, tears spilling freely down her cheeks.
Her eyes, shimmering with anguish, twisted into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Itachi's chest tightened at the sight. Memories clawed at him, fragments of the life he had destroyed. For a brief moment, his heart ached.
But his resolve, built from years of sacrifice, did not waver. His path could not be shaken so easily.
The instant Izumi's Mangekyō flared, Itachi's instincts screamed. Not good.
The world warped, twisting in on itself.
Genjutsu.
Itachi's eyes spun violently, the pinwheel-patterned Mangekyō flashing to life.
The two Sharingan clashed, dragging them into a silent, deadly battle of illusion.
Outside, Kisame stood watching, amusement tugging at his lips.
"Oh? They've already started fighting. I guess this was inevitable."
He casually reached back and pulled Samehada free, the giant blade unfurling its bandages. His Akatsuki cloak, patterned with red clouds, rippled gently in the breeze.
Beside him, Yu unsheathed the katana strapped across his back.
"Long time no see, Kisame."
A rough voice rang out.
Zabuza stepped forward, shrugging off his gray cloak to reveal his muscular frame and familiar presence.
"Well, if it isn't Zabuza," Kisame chuckled, shark-like teeth glinting. "I didn't expect to see you in this little organization too."
Zabuza rested the massive Kubikiribōchō on his shoulder. "And you're one to talk."
Kisame bared his fanged grin. "Likewise."
Yu stepped forward, blade gripped tight in both hands. His eyes locked on Kisame.
"Your opponents… are us!"
With that, he launched forward, sword cleaving down with speed and precision.
Kisame swung Samehada up, blocking the strike, the clash of steel ringing out as he leapt back with a shark-like grin.
Perched on a distant branch, Yu watched the battle unfold.
Zabuza appeared silently behind Kisame. The shark-like shinobi twisted his head slightly, Samehada already lashing out in a brutal horizontal slash!
Steel met steel as Kubikiribōchō intercepted, and the two titanic blades collided with a deafening crash.
Boom!
The impact shook the forest. The massive tree beneath Kisame splintered and toppled, sending both swordsmen crashing to the ground. They rose in silence, eyes locked, predators circling each other.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
A voice rang out from behind Kisame.
A roaring dragon of flame surged forward, tearing through the air with explosive force.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Kisame's hands moved in reflex—but he froze when Zabuza's blade cut across his vision. It hadn't been Zabuza behind him at all, but a Water Clone, striking with ruthless precision!
Kisame rolled aside just in time. The flaming dragon devoured the ground he had been standing on, incinerating Zabuza's clone in an instant.
Smoke billowed upward.
"Long time no see, Zabuza. Looks like you've improved," Kisame said, voice dripping with disdain. But beneath his words, his shark-like eyes narrowed with genuine surprise. Zabuza's growth was undeniable.
By any measure—even compared to his battle with Kakashi years ago—Zabuza's strength had multiplied several times over.
Zabuza hefted his great sword. "Then let's see how you measure up."
Kisame slung Samehada onto his back, hands flashing through seals.
"Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique!"
From the churning water at his feet, spectral sharks materialized—massive, translucent beasts radiating chakra. With a roar, they surged forward, ripping through the battlefield like predators on the hunt.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Yu's fingers blurred, unleashing another torrent of fire. The blaze crashed into Kisame's sharks, but the flames barely singed them, dispersing only a fraction of their chakra bodies.
Zabuza's warning came sharp and grim: "Don't underestimate him! Kisame isn't called the 'Tailless Tailed Beast' for nothing. His chakra is monstrous—like a living bijū!"
Yu tightened his grip on his katana, his easy calm gone. This opponent demanded his full focus.
The proof was already before him: Kisame's attacks carried power on par with S-rank jutsu.
Kisame grinned, baring his fangs. "You think that's all I can do?"
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
He exhaled a roaring torrent of water, drowning the battlefield in a rising flood.
"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique!"
From the waves, a titanic chakra shark formed, tearing through the waters with devastating force. The landscape itself warped under the sheer volume of water Kisame unleashed.
Even Zabuza's eyes narrowed. So he's grown too…
"Wind Release: Whirlwind Slash!"
Zabuza swung Kubikiribōchō in a vicious arc, conjuring a crescent blade of compressed wind that shredded through Kisame's sharks.
Yu grimaced. "I don't have Wind Release!"
His natural chakra affinities were Fire and Earth, and he had been honing Lightning Release. Water Release, however, was still only half-developed.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Rampart!"
A massive stone wall erupted upward, shielding him from the surging sharks and lifting him to higher ground. From the elevated vantage point, Yu scanned for Kisame's movements through the floodwaters.
The entire terrain had transformed into Kisame's domain. He was pouring out chakra without hesitation, reshaping the battlefield itself.
This was no ordinary fight—every move reeked of an S-rank battle.
...
TN:
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