In the midst of the ongoing war, Itachi moved with a calm certainty. From a distance, he was giving commands to his troops and directing their movements. His Sharingan eyes watched every detail of the field around him.
The enemy forces, mostly Uzumaki, were falling one after another under his gaze. This should have come as no surprise since most of the Uzumaki ninjas were still fresh from rebirth, lacking the proper experience that Arthur's other reborn ninjas had accumulated in his village.
They were resilient but inexpert, and Itachi seized every opportunity to diminish their numbers.
As he stood there, a swarm of Uzumaki made their way past the Rain shinobi and surrounded him. Then one of them spoke up, "Your Sharingan won't work on us!"
It was clear they had done their research on him. Yet Itachi didn't react; he didn't even blink.
Some of the ninjas snickered at his lack of response until another voice said, "Don't underestimate him."
"I know that."
The ninja who had spoken up lunged forward while the others followed suit. Itachi didn't move, didn't flinch. He simply waited until they drew closer. And when they did, he threw a kunai that landed in the chest of the lead ninja.
Then he jolted forward and extracted the kunai before the ninja crumpled to the ground. The others hesitated, so he took advantage and spun with the kunai, slicing all of them in one motion.
"Argh!" they all screamed.
Then it was over. With just one kunai.
After having dispatched these Uzumaki, Itachi's focus shifted elsewhere. His main concern was never once on the Uzumaki here. No, there had been a shinobi within Arthur's forces giving him trouble: Sakon.
That ninja was running amok and threatening his forces. Only when he had caught sight of Sakon did Sakon also catch sight of him. Quickly, the former Sound shinobi neglected the Rain shinobi and jumped toward where Itachi was.
"Fancy seeing you here, Itachi."
His voice was clearly laced with mockery, but beneath that was a clear challenge.
Itachi himself remained silent with an unreadable face. He had heard of Sakon's reputation, but he didn't let that show.
"It's a shame you won't be able to see your little brother, Sasuke, after I'm done with you," Sakon added, hoping to rattle him.
Sakon's words about Sasuke were meant to provoke a reaction, but Itachi kept his composure; his expression hadn't changed even once.
"Tsk!" Sakon let out.
Then he drew a kunai and lunged forward. Itachi responded instantly, evading the attack with a fluid movement and closing the distance between them.
Their fight quickly turned into a test of taijutsu, each trying to land a blow. It wasn't long until Itachi used his Sharingan to verify that Sakon wasn't fighting alone; his twin brother, Ukon, was fused with him, allowing the duo to fight with two of each limb.
Their fighting style was unusual. But despite this, they were not quick enough to land a strike on Itachi. The Uchiha's speed and skill kept him out of reach.
Annoyed, Sakon managed to block a punch from Itachi, then swiftly bent down to perform a sealing technique. The Uchiha's eyes flared for a quick moment.
"Explosive destruction formation!"
A purple seal emerged, and suddenly, a powerful explosion erupted from the ground beneath his opponent. The blast created a cloud of dust and debris, obscuring the battlefield momentarily.
When the dust settled, Sakon was annoyed that his opponent was not caught in the blast radius. Instead, Itachi was several yards away. He stared silently at Sakon, who looked on with a little fury.
Anyone could tell by the look on Sakon's face that he would have gladly activated his curse mark against such an opponent. Yet he didn't have one. None of his former Sound ninjas did. Yet here the brothers were, able to stand toe-to-toe against one of the top ninjas in this world.
The Uchiha remained calm, almost detached, as if he had been anticipating the next move.
"It seems lord Hoshikaze was right about this Uchiha," Sakon said. "What do you say we end him here now, brother?"
Ukon slowly detached himself, emerging from Sakon's back. "I say that's a good idea, brother."
The twins coordinated their attack. They both smacked their palms on the ground and said in unison, "Summoning: Rashomon: abyss!"
The ground beneath quickly Itachi tore open as a giant gate with a devil's face appeared under him. Then the gate swung open, revealing what looked like a bottomless pit. Itachi's gaze looked up with an eerie calm.
He was caught. Or so it seemed.
Ukon, observing the situation, suddenly felt something was wrong. Why was Itachi still so composed? The twin brother shouted to Sakon, "Brother, stop the jutsu!"
Sakon was caught off guard. "What do you mean, brother?"
Before he could understand, the abyss erupted in a burst blast that shot upward, forming a pillar that lit up the sky and engulfing Itachi whole.
"See, we—"
"Aah!" Ukon cried out in alarm, interrupting his brother's triumph.
Then Sakon felt a burning, twisting sensation inside him. His eyes widened as he saw that he and his brother were somehow being engulfed by their own technique. It was then that he understood: Itachi had placed them under a genjutsu, and they had unknowingly been using their own technique against themselves.
But when was this used? They were cautious of his illusory-based techniques.
A memory quickly resurfaced: the moment that Sakon had used the Explosive Destruction Formation technique was exactly when Itachi had won this battle.
The brothers both screamed as the gates slowly began to close. The purple pillar of energy finally faded, and when it fully cleared, Itachi was standing at the edge of the gate, silent.
His expression was calm, almost indifferent. He had won without saying a word.
This encounter had only demonstrated his patience and strategic mind. He didn't need to shout or fight recklessly; he simply used his intellect and skills to manipulate his enemies.
Sakon and Ukon, despite their aggressive assault, were outmatched by the subtlety of his Sharingan. Such was the nature of how deadly it was to fight someone who knew how to use that Kekkei Genkai effectively.
Itachi soon turned around, moving past the remnants of the gate and the swirling dust. While he might have remained calm on the outside, his mind was actually caught off guard by Sakon's taunt about Sasuke.
No matter how anyone looked at it, that was still a weakness for Itachi that his enemies could always use—trying to provoke him with personal attacks. Whether it was Arthur or Orochimaru that revealed his past, he had a strong feeling that his time with the Akatsuki might come to an end.
As he moved through the field, he eventually paused to look around. There was no sign of pursuit. The Uzumaki forces, though persistent, had been weakened in this sector. Reinforcements might arrive, or perhaps they would retreat and regroup.
As he stood in silence, contemplating the aftermath of his confrontation, a figure approached him. It was a shinobi from the Rain Village, someone who had fought alongside him earlier in the battle.
"Sir, congratulations on your victory."
The shinobi's tone was respectful, yet Itachi didn't turn or acknowledge him. His eyes remained fixed on the distance, tracking something unseen, something that drew his attention away from the praise.
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. The Rain shinobi saw it first—the flicker of red flames igniting around Itachi's body. The flames surged upward, engulfing him and the shinobi in a crimson blaze.
It was his Susanoo, and it roared out in its skeletal form. With a swift motion, the Susanoo swung its sword downward, creating a shockwave that tore through the earth beneath them.
The Rain shinobi instinctively watched in awe. And when the dust settled, the Susanoo dispersed. Standing before them was none other than Shisui Uchiha with a composed look. And behind him, Izumi arrived with even more backup.
The Rain shinobi blinked in surprise upon learning that the entire display had been an attempt to stop the new threat.
"Fall back," Itachi suddenly ordered.
"But sir, we should—"
"That is an order," Itachi firmly interrupted.
Seeing the seriousness of his command, the shinobi quickly relayed the message. He called out to the rest of the troops, urging them to retreat. The soldiers, recognizing the authority, then quickly began to withdraw from the battlefield to a safer distance.
The remaining Uzumaki were quite alleviated upon seeing this. Even more, they were happy to see their reinforcements.
"What should we do, lord Shisui?" asked one of them.
Shisui, who had been observing Itachi's strategy, simply ordered, "Do the same…"
Some of the Uzumaki ninjas were surprised, but they responded without question. Now only the three of them remained at the center of the field: Itachi, Izumi, and Shisui—all had their Sharingan activated.
This scene couldn't have been more dramatic, if "dramatic" was the right word to use. There stood Itachi, about to face his former best friend and lover. And not as comrades, but as enemies.
Since the beginning, they were both connected to Itachi's story.
Izumi, who liked and looked up to Itachi, was an innocent caught in the clan's conflicts. Her death at Itachi's hands during the Uchiha Clan Massacre showed how he had to make painful decisions to protect others, even if it hurt people he cared about.
Shisui, who was like a brother to Itachi, believed in peace and sacrificed himself by giving his eye to Itachi and then committing suicide. His actions were meant to stop the violence.
Now things were far from what they seemed.
"Stand down, Itachi," demanded Shisui.
For a brief moment, Izumi could have sworn she had seen Itachi make a grieving face. Then he spoke, "We both know I'm in no position to do that…"
"Itachi, stop!" Izumi tried. "You don't have to fight on their side."
"Izumi…" he calmly replied, not fully recognizing her in a more grown form. "I didn't think he would have revived you for his army."
"Well, he did, and I'm not backing down from you or this."
Did they know, wondered Itachi? Did they know what he had gone through? What trials he had to force himself through in order to save what little was left of their bloodline. Those questions didn't seem to matter at this current time.
Shisui was the first to move: he lunged forward with a kunai in hand. Itachi did the same, and the two collided as their blades clashed in the center.
Izumi leapt up from behind Shisui and threw three shuriken at Itachi as Shisui stepped back. Seeing the diversion, Itachi raised his weapon and deflected them all. This allowed Shisui to appear from behind and place Itachi in an arm lock.
Izumi then landed, ran forward, and delivered a sharp kick at Itachi's upper body, causing a loud thud. "Caw!" she heard. She was surprised when she saw that this was a clone made of crows.
Their forms flapped their wings and gathered in the sky behind, revealing the real Itachi floating in the air.
"Fire style: fireball jutsu…!"
Itachi unleashed his technique as Izumi and Shisui responded at the same time, launching their own fireballs. Their flames clashed, but it soon became apparent that their combined strength was stronger.
They overwhelmed Itachi's fireball, engulfing his body as he landed on the ground. Even with those burns, his face remained stoic. Flames flickered on his Akatsuki cloak, so—without hesitating—he tore the burning cloak off and cast it aside.
They each knew this battle was far from finished, but they had made their stand.
"You've gotten strong, my friend," commented Shisui. Itachi's eyes narrowed upon seeing green flames coalescing around the two's bodies. It happened quickly. Towering on the field was Shisui's ultimate technique: a flaming emerald half-Susanoo with a drilling spear as its weapon. "But we both know how this'll end."