"Susanoo?"
"So he can activate Susanoo at barely thirteen… Itachi really is a freakish genius."
"And his little brother… actually pushed him this far."
"The Uchiha are seriously broken as a combat clan—HAHAHAHA—huh?! What the—?!"
At the edge of the Uchiha compound, a man in a black cloak and mask had been watching with great interest, nodding along and commenting to himself—
Until the next second, he saw something so absurd his brain stalled.
He even cursed out loud.
In his vision, the skeletal Susanoo wrapped around Itachi—
Got smacked apart.
Not shattered by a jutsu.
Not pierced by a blade.
Not cracked by some clever weakness.
It was literally slapped until it broke.
The recoil alone made the already frail Itachi cough up blood…
And collapse unconscious.
Obito narrowed his eye beneath the mask, unsure what expression he was even supposed to wear.
Bare hands… snapping Susanoo's ribs?
Brother, are you Hashirama?!
No—wait.
That crimson chakra.
Obito's gaze locked onto the red chakra coating Kai.
Under the mask, that surprised eye instantly turned scarlet.
"This is… Nine-Tails chakra?!"
"Damn it—how does this brat have the Nine-Tails' power?!"
Now he couldn't stay calm anymore.
If it really was Nine-Tails chakra, then yeah—Kai could absolutely crush Itachi to death with one squeeze.
And Obito had no intention of letting the helper he'd spent so long grooming die here.
Whoosh.
A spatial ripple flashed.
The spot he'd been standing in was suddenly empty.
At the ancestral shrine—
Just as Kai was about to move, a sharp voice snapped through the air:
"Stop!"
Kai's lips curved.
Finally… you're here, Tobi-bro.
But his hand didn't loosen at all.
He kept his right hand clenched around the unconscious "one-against-seven," and turned calmly toward the voice.
A masked man in a black cloak appeared silently in the courtyard.
Obito.
Or rather—the guy currently swaggering around using the name Uchiha Madara to scam the world.
A wild thought flickered through Kai's mind.
What if… I keep this guy here?
With all the abilities he'd gathered, it might actually be possible to trap Obito tonight.
And if that chain reaction played out…
Maybe Madara would stay buried in his coffin for good.
Of course, Obito had no idea what Kai was thinking.
He stood about ten meters away and said in a hoarse voice,
"He's your brother. You can't kill him."
Kai's unpredictability made Obito feel a rare trace of caution—like he was stepping into a minefield.
So he tried the "family" route.
He was hoping emotion would work.
Unfortunately—
It didn't.
Since when did Tobi-bro start preaching brotherhood?
Kai casually shook the unconscious Itachi like he was just checking the weight of a bag of rice.
"Because he's my brother, I didn't kill him when we were little."
"Otherwise? I would've strangled him in the cradle."
That part was true.
The best way to handle danger was to crush it before it could grow.
"Good," Obito said, visibly relieved.
He brushed at his cloak, then pointed toward the front courtyard—where countless clan members lay collapsed under Tsukuyomi.
"As the son of the Uchiha clan head, can you really bear to watch your entire clan… sink forever into Itachi's Tsukuyomi world?"
"This is a genjutsu only Itachi can undo."
"So—hand him to me."
"I'll have him release the genjutsu on them."
"How about it?"
He extended a finger toward Itachi.
The meaning was blatant.
Don't harm Itachi—
Or your clan stays trapped in nightmare sleep.
A naked threat.
Fugaku understood it immediately.
He wanted to speak, but it felt like something had jammed in his throat.
He couldn't force the words out.
Emotionally, he didn't want his sons killing each other.
As clan head, he didn't want the clan to die either.
But…
He hesitated.
Kai was the one who had stopped Itachi. As a father, Fugaku couldn't afford to throw one son away to protect the other.
After a moment, he made his choice.
He lowered his head.
And stayed silent.
"Genjutsu?" Kai tilted his head, the crimson chakra hand still gripping Itachi like an object, completely without mercy. "Is Tsukuyomi really that impressive?"
"Cough…!"
Maybe Kai's shaking had been a little too enthusiastic—because the unconscious Itachi finally stirred awake.
And the moment he did, he understood exactly what was happening.
Those calm, glassy eyes of his turned once again into pure shock and disbelief.
His body dangled in midair, swaying like a fish on a hook.
But his gaze stayed fixed on Kai.
In that look there was awe, surprise… and exhaustion.
Finally, Itachi steadied himself and spoke softly.
"Kai… put me down. I'll release the genjutsu on the clan."
"You'll release it?" Kai shook his head immediately. "And who said I need you to release it?"
That one sentence made the three Mangekyō users present—Fugaku, Itachi, and Obito—go a little blank.
Fugaku scratched his head, his broad face full of confusion.
"Is this kid actually good at genjutsu too? That doesn't make sense… I've never seen him train it."
"And Itachi's genjutsu… even I might not—"
Obito loosened the grip on his gunbai fan, almost wanting to laugh out loud.
He'd watched Itachi for a long time.
This was the Uchiha's true prodigy.
And what did the Uchiha excel at more than anything?
Genjutsu.
In Obito's eyes, Itachi's genjutsu had already reached a terrifying peak.
As for why Tsukuyomi hadn't worked on Kai at first?
Obito simply assumed it was because Kai had used his Mangekyō to resist.
Resisting didn't mean matching.
Kai—competing with Itachi in genjutsu?
That was comedy.
Even Itachi, still held in Kai's grip, couldn't help letting pride rise in his eyes.
"Kai… my genjutsu isn't something ordinary people can break. You can resist it, but breaking it is—"
Kai casually pointed behind him and rolled his shoulders.
"I didn't say it was me."
"…What?" Itachi's breathing slowed. His senses sharpened.
Creaaak…
Creaaak…
Then—
From behind the house came the sound of wheels dragging across the ground.
A moment later, a man with messy hair and bandages wrapped over his eyes slowly approached in a wheelchair.
"Shisui…?" Itachi's eyes lit up. "You're here to help me? Thank—cough, cough!"
He got choked mid-sentence, swallowing air from being dangled and shaken so much his face almost turned green.
He hurriedly lowered his gaze—
And froze.
Behind Shisui's bandages…
A crimson eye spun.
Three tomoe twisting rapidly—
Until they became four blade-like shapes.
Itachi's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
"…That's—"
"Kotoamatsukami?!"
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