"I heard about what happened to Shisui. Konoha is rotten to the core; staying is not a wise decision."
Itachi remained silent, seemingly unwilling to speak.
Obito was slightly taken aback by Itachi's reaction but continued, "Join us, for the future of the shinobi world..."
"Uchiha Madara!" Itachi shouted.
Obito was startled. Why the sudden outburst? The moment he looked at Itachi...
"Tsukuyomi!"
No testing the waters, just a full-powered blast of dojutsu from the start! A torrent of chakra poured forth!
Obito's vision blurred, and he found himself in the crimson and black world of the Tsukuyomi.
"Itachi, how did you know?" Bound and restrained, Obito's expression was calm, showing no surprise at being caught in a genjutsu. He actually found it somewhat amusing that Itachi mistook him for Madara.
Itachi stood before him, silent, a sword in hand, ready to strike.
Hmph, Obito scoffed internally. He unleashed the full power of his Mangekyo Sharingan.
However, the illusionary world only trembled for a moment before stabilizing. Obito's eyes widened in disbelief.
The blade pierced his body, searing pain washing over him, but the genjutsu remained unbroken. He opened his eyes, only to find himself back on the wooden stake as another sword descended...
This is the power of his Mangekyo Sharingan?!
Schlick.
Another blade stabbed into him. Obito grunted as his spiritual energy was drained.
It had to be said, Obito's spiritual fortitude was abnormally strong. He endured seven days of torture in the illusion and was still standing. But the drain on his spiritual energy had taken its toll.
His Sharingan had already devolved from its Mangekyo state to a three-tomoe, and then, from three-tomoe, it regressed further, shutting down completely.
The moment Obito broke free from the Tsukuyomi, before his mind could even recover, a kunai was already plunged into his throat.
"You ambitious fool..."
Obito's form grew intangible, phasing through the ground and disappearing.
Itachi watched the spot where he vanished, not a trace of surprise on his face.
Ugh...
Itachi clutched his eye, his stance unsteady. He stumbled back a few steps, leaning against a tree trunk for support.
Drip... drip...
Tears of blood slid from his eye, staining the collar of his shirt. The excruciating pain continued until other Uchiha clan members returned to find him.
Izumi, her heart aching for him, began applying medical ninjutsu. The others stood guard around them. After a short while, her treatment showed initial success, at least allowing Itachi to stand on his own.
"We can't stay here. Let's go!"
...
Kawasaki had already informed Itachi of Obito's true identity.
That was why Itachi had gone all out, pouring every last bit of his dojutsu into the Tsukuyomi, determined to force Obito out of his Sharingan state.
Itachi knew this man had manipulated the Nine-Tails, causing Konoha's long-standing suspicion of the Uchiha. He loathed him for it.
Obito also bore an undeniable responsibility for the future death of Sasuke.
Itachi had funneled all his available ocular power into that single, all-or-nothing attack.
Fortunately, it had succeeded.
If Obito enjoyed playing the part of Uchiha Madara, then let him. Today's encounter had served as a vivid lesson. At the very least, it might make Obito think twice before trying to approach Itachi again.
The Itachi of today was no longer alone; he had a hundred followers at his back, and he had Izumi.
...
Inside the Kamui dimension.
After a ripple of distorted space, Obito stood up, clutching his face.
"You look like you got the short end of the stick," a voice said slowly. A figure resembling an unfurling aloe vera leaf swayed from side to side—it was Black Zetsu.
Obito removed his mask. His left eye had turned a dull gray, completely useless.
Black Zetsu was stunned. "You even had to use Izanagi? Is Itachi really that powerful?"
Izanagi! The Uchiha clan's jutsu to reverse fate, capable of rewriting any unfavorable outcome, but at the cost of the Sharingan's light.
Ordinarily, Obito's space-time ninjutsu, Kamui, gave him a massive advantage in most ninjutsu and taijutsu battles.
But he had one major weakness: he couldn't defend against genjutsu.
That was why, in the past, he never dared to be too brazen out in the open. It was only after Itachi was manipulated by Danzo into massacring the Uchiha clan, with Fugaku dead and both Shisui and Itachi gone, that Obito began to move about without restraint. Without another Mangekyo Sharingan to contend with, no one could pose a genjutsu threat to him.
As for Sasuke, he was a typical ninjutsu-focused shinobi, not particularly skilled in genjutsu.
He never expected that today, upon meeting Itachi, he'd be hit with such a devastating move before they could even exchange pleasantries. Though Itachi had the element of surprise, Obito had to admit that his genjutsu was the perfect counter.
"It was just a momentary lapse," Obito said, standing up. "Good thing Itachi doesn't know about Izanagi, or I would have been in real trouble." He removed the blinded Sharingan from its socket.
"He didn't want to be recruited?" Black Zetsu asked curiously.
"I'm not sure. I thought Itachi was different, but it turns out he's just as crazy as the rest of the Uchiha. Attacked me on sight." Obito's tone was laced with annoyance. Having not experienced the clan massacre in this timeline, he didn't have many spare Sharingan on hand. Losing one was a significant blow.
...Aren't you just as crazy? Black Zetsu thought, remaining silent for a moment.
"Are you still going to make a move on Itachi?"
Obito shook his head. "Let him go. A powerful asset like Uchiha Itachi leaving Konoha is for the best. It will make it easier for us to capture the Nine-Tails in the future."
Obito should consider himself lucky. If Shisui hadn't exhausted his dojutsu and was still recovering, he would have undoubtedly hit him with a Kotoamatsukami.
...
Meanwhile, in the Hidden Cloud Village.
Killer B and Yugito Nii, who were about to depart on a mission, were summoned back by the Fourth Raikage.
"Big bro! Why'd you call us back again, yo! You fool! Ya fool!" The speaker was Killer B.
He always spoke in a peculiar rhythm, and regardless of his rapping talent, his love for it was genuine, even if everyone else found it grating.
Ay was long accustomed to his sworn brother's manner of speaking. As the Eight-Tails jinchuriki, B had put up with enough grief in the village; having a small hobby was nothing.
"We've received intelligence. Uchiha Itachi has left Konoha with half of the Uchiha's elite shinobi."
"So those crazy Uchiha finally snapped, yo! You fool! Ya fool!"
The major hidden villages all had spies in each other's territories. After all, with villages that large, infiltration was inevitable. That was how they had learned two days ago that Konoha's Danzo had taken Shisui's eye.
The incident had made Konoha the laughingstock of the entire shinobi world.
Killer B had zero political acumen. It wasn't just his youth; even decades later, he would remain politically naive. Thus, he couldn't grasp the intricate implications.
But Yugito was much sharper than B. She immediately seized on the key point. "Has Konoha been weakened again? Should we change our mission's target to the Uchiha?"
Ay shook his head. "The situation has become more complicated."
He handed the intelligence report to Yugito. Killer B craned his neck to look and immediately noticed the imposing photograph of a Susano'o.
"So... that's a Susano'o... yo! You fool! Ya fool!"
After reading the report, Yugito learned that while over a hundred elite Uchiha had left the village, the clan itself had suffered no casualties besides property damage. It also revealed that both Fugaku and Itachi were powerful Mangekyo Sharingan users...