"Is it there?!" The Second Tsuchikage's pupils shrank, his sensing barrier failed to detect any trace of the enemy. This was simply unbelievable!
Sizzle!
Suddenly, a thunderclap rang out within the smoke.
Though it was a reanimated body, the Second Tsuchikage still sensed a chilling threat.
However, that sound also revealed the enemy's location to him!
"Found you!"
Relying on years of battle experience, the Second Tsuchikage pressed his hands together, forming a pure white cube barrier: "Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
The pure white, transparent cube barrier flew out and suddenly expanded dozens of times, emitting a dazzling white light.
Anything inside it was instantly erased and vanished!
But... the sound of thunder exploded again from his rear diagonal direction.
"Damn, I've been tricked!"
The Second Tsuchikage's pupils constricted, but it was too late to dodge.
He immediately used the "Clone Technique," his body appearing to cast an afterimage, creating another entity and separating from it.
Using this move would weaken his strength and prevent him from using Dust Release again.
Obviously, Uchiha Itachi was well prepared. His whole body was wrapped in thick shadows, as if five heads were extending out, each wearing a different mask.
The five masks all opened their mouths at once, brewing a destructive chakra.
"Earth Grudge Fear · Final Shot!!!"
Rumble—!
A light wave mixed with five layers of chakra nature swept across the entire rooftop.
In an instant, the fierce wind surged like a tide. Wherever the destructive beam passed, everything was completely annihilated and destroyed!
A huge chasm several meters wide extended directly to the barrier.
The barrier, carefully improved by Orochimaru and unbreakable by the Five Kage, was now filled with terrifying cracks, almost shattered by the destructive beam!
As for the Second Tsuchikage and his clones, all were destroyed with a single strike.
Although the Edo Tensei bodies can't truly die, once thoroughly shattered, it takes a long time to reassemble.
In one encounter, two of the three Kage were taken down, leaving only the Fourth Hokage, Uchiha Sogetsu.
"I've heard about your deeds for a long time, Uchiha Sogetsu," Uchiha Itachi's eyes burned hot, staring at him like a fat prey, licking his lips and showing a sick, wild laugh.
"Today, I finally get the chance to fight you!"
"Is that so?"
Uchiha Sogetsu's gaze was cold, as if the two people being eliminated caused no emotional ripple in him.
"Let me see the power of Uchiha Sogetsu!"
Itachi had grown up listening to stories about the Fourth Hokage and had gradually developed a rebellious spirit.
No, why does Uchiha Sogetsu earn the recognition of so many people?
Where exactly is his strength?
Today, Uchiha Itachi finally gets the chance to personally experience the rumored power of Uchiha Sogetsu!
The Mangekyō rotates in his eyes, blood streaming down from the eye sockets.
"Tsukuyomi!"
Although Uchiha Itachi is a bit crazy, he always respects his opponent.
The spinning windmill reflects Uchiha Sogetsu's figure, and a powerful force rushes forward, pulling him directly into the genjutsu space.
The blood moon hangs high in the sky.
Looking at Uchiha Sogetsu bound to the cross, Uchiha Itachi covers his face and laughs wildly like a madman:
"Hahaha, the rumored Uchiha Sogetsu doesn't seem that strong after all. As expected, my genjutsu is the strongest!"
He holds a short blade, eyeing Uchiha Sogetsu from head to toe, licking his lips, excitement and desire showing in his gaze:
"In my world, every factor—time, place, weight, and so on—is completely under my control, and the damage you receive is exactly the same as in reality!"
While speaking, he slowly pushes the blade into Uchiha Sogetsu's abdomen, squinting with enjoyment as he waits for the imagined scream.
But... until the blade is fully pushed in, piercing deep into flesh and skin, the imagined scream never comes.
Uchiha Itachi opens his eyes and looks at the other with some surprise.
But those calm eyes and the expressionless face feel like sharp steel needles, piercing Itachi's heart.
"Impossible! Impossible! Impossible!"
Uchiha Itachi's veins bulged on his face as he roared angrily, pulling out his sword again and stabbing once more.
But no matter how much he hurt the other, Uchiha Sogetsu remained calm, as if completely numb to pain.
Itachi refused to believe it and summoned hundreds of clones at once, all stabbing toward Uchiha Sogetsu together.
An eerie sound echoed through the blood-red space.
Itachi's expression changed from wild rage to utter disbelief, his pupils dilating to the limit. "Why is it impossible? You didn't even react at all?"
In the past, whenever he used Tsukuyomi, he could hear his opponent's screams, satisfying his inner desires to the fullest.
But with Uchiha Sogetsu, Tsukuyomi seemed completely useless.
"When exactly did you think I fell for the genjutsu?"
Uchiha Sogetsu finally spoke, slowly stepping down from the cross that had bound him. He approached Itachi and gently took the short sword from his hand.
Only then did Itachi realize in terror that somehow, he was the one tied to the cross!
"When exactly?!"
Looking clearly around, Itachi felt fear for the first time in his life.
The positions between them had switched.
The one tied to the cross was now himself!
Had he been pulled into a genjutsu?
Could everything that just happened really be just a genjutsu he fell into, something he imagined?!
"I'm curious — who gave you the courage to play genjutsu in front of me?"
Uchiha Sōgetsu toyed with his dagger, looking at the terrified Uchiha Itachi with a half-smile. "Don't you know I'm famous throughout the ninja world for my genjutsu?"
Of course, Itachi knew. Sōgetsu was renowned for genjutsu. The 'Dream Come True' genjutsu he created was still talked about by many in Konoha.
But precisely because of this knowledge, Itachi had dared to challenge him — he just didn't expect the result to be so brutal!
"Then… let's begin."
Sōgetsu slowly pushed the dagger into Itachi's abdomen. "First question: How long is eternity?"
The sharp blade pierced his flesh bit by bit, slicing through muscle and sinew.
Time seemed to slow down hundreds of times at that moment. He could clearly feel the dagger slowly, agonizingly, stabbing through his body.
How long had it been?
A minute? An hour? A year? A hundred years?
Uchiha Itachi didn't know. He only felt his spirit wither.
But despite this, he didn't cry out. Instead, he stared defiantly at his opponent. "You don't think using my own methods will make me feel pain, do you?"
He was a complete madman!
Such a level of pain was nothing to make him bow or scream.
No matter how slow, what did it matter?
Itachi calculated that once the genjutsu ended, he would properly punish the damn Uchiha Sōgetsu!
Seeing Itachi still so defiant, Sōgetsu smiled but didn't argue. He simply continued his work, stabbing again into the body.
"I'll tell you then, just how long eternity really is."
Still the same as last time.
The short dagger piercing the body was stretched out hundreds, even thousands of times longer!
Too slow.
Too slow!
With only two stabs, Uchiha Itachi felt like he was about to break down.
"Faster! Faster! Faster, ahhh!"
He screamed desperately, begging for the dagger to pierce his heart quickly.
After who knows how long, Itachi's eye sockets sunken, pupils hollow, as if he lost focus, he only repeated instinctively: "Faster. Faster."
Then came the third, fourth stab, until Itachi's whole body was covered with daggers.
He didn't know how much time passed—felt like a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years—so long he almost forgot his own name, even why he was here.
"Is it... over?"
Itachi's hollow, unfocused gaze looked at the figure before him, somewhat familiar yet strange.
But the next second—
He acted as if he'd never been hurt, memories flooding in like a tide.
Those dull memories of hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands of years broke him instantly, and Itachi let out a sharp, terrifying scream.
"Ahhhh——!!!"
At that moment, Uchiha Sogetsu looked at him with a smile and slowly said:
"Once upon a time, there was an emperor who asked a shepherd, 'How many seconds are in eternity?'
The shepherd answered, 'There is a diamond mountain. It takes an hour to climb over, and an hour to go around,
But every hundred years, a little bird flies here to sharpen its beak on this diamond mountain.'"
Every hundred years, the little bird comes once, repeating endlessly, until the entire Diamond Mountain is worn down flat. The eternal first second has just passed.
"Congratulations."
Uchiha Sougetsu smiled and said, "Just now, the eternal first second has passed."
At that moment, Itachi completely broke down.
"Ahhhhh—!!!"
*******
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