"Uchiha Itachi, your sick, twisted, and utterly incurable way of thinking has already gone beyond what counts as normal in the shinobi world. Even some of the most vicious criminals don't have a mind as warped as yours."
"Those criminals may be unforgivable, but at least their minds are still intact. Yours shows no trace of sanity. I've given you countless chances. I've endured you countless times."
"But every time, you've trampled on the chances justice gave you, and spat on all the tolerance shown to you. You're so far gone you've never once admitted that your own thoughts and actions might be wrong."
Step by step, Uchiha Keizumi advanced toward Uchiha Itachi.
With every cold, indifferent word he spoke, the air temperature visibly climbed. In Itachi's vision, more and more of the scenery wavered and warped.
The faint stench of sulfur spread through the air. The tender green buds on the roadside trees withered yellow before his eyes.
Even the edges of the dry leaves on the ground began to glimmer with tiny sparks, as if spontaneously combusting out of thin air.
The scorching heat dried out Itachi's face.
Each breath seared his lungs with burning pain.
"So… in your eyes, Absolute Justice has already become a threat to Konoha, something you can't wait to erase completely." Uchiha Keizumi halted, less than ten meters away. Across the distance, his gaze locked with Itachi's.
"Because that's the truth." Itachi drew in a deep breath of the sulfur-laden air, feeling the sting in his chest. The confident expression he had worn while facing Keizumi gradually hardened into wariness.
He subtly shifted half a step back, widening the gap between himself and Izumi, in case Keizumi struck without warning.
Then, fixing his stare on Uchiha Keizumi, he said: "Uchiha Keizumi, you have no idea how much damage you've done to Konoha. With every swing of your blade cutting down countless shinobi, Konoha's strength has been bled away."
"Today, Konoha is less than a third of its peak. All of it, thanks to your Absolute Justice. Can you really claim Konoha's decline has nothing to do with you?"
"Uchiha Itachi! The shinobi slain by Keizumi-senpai were nothing more than parasites rotting Konoha from within!" Izumi could no longer hold back.
Gripping her blade, she glared angrily at Itachi.
"Those parasites were already gnawing away at Konoha's foundations! Take Shimura Danzō! In the name of studying kekkei genkai, he preyed on Konoha shinobi who possessed them, and even on Konoha's war orphans. How many shinobi and civilians did he mutilate? Did you ever see that?!"
"And Sarutobi Shinnosuke! The Hokage's eldest son, running a secret research base behind the Third Hokage's back, carrying out inhumane human experiments. He claimed it was for Konoha's sake—but that was just the excuse for his atrocities! Men like him only drag Konoha into the abyss!"
"A Sarutobi Asuma! Colluding with outsiders, attempting to assassinate shinobi of his own village. As the Hokage's second son, yet siding with the Daimyō of the Land of Fire instead. Such a man claims he loves Konoha—but in truth, he is the one who least loves the village!"
"And beyond him, there are countless other parasites! Yet in your mouth, all these vermin of Konoha suddenly become the so-called victims of Absolute Justice."
"In your eyes, it is Absolute Justice that has become Konoha's evil."
"I've never seen someone as laughable as you. Today, Uchiha Itachi, you've truly opened my eyes! Keizumi-senpai was right—your way of thinking, even your very mind, is deeply flawed!"
In Izumi's eyes, everything Keizumi-senpai had done was for the sake of making Konoha better, for the sake of making the shinobi world better.
It was Uchiha Itachi who kept twisting the meaning of senpai's Absolute Justice.
Itachi cast her a sidelong glance. "Izumi, you've already been brainwashed by his extreme justice. What Konoha needs is not his Absolute Justice. What Konoha needs is simply the true Will of Fire."
With that, Itachi deliberately shifted his gaze away, avoiding Uchiha Keizumi's eyes so as not to be caught in his strange dōjutsu.
Then he said to Uchiha Keizumi: "Since you insist on killing me without mercy, then I have no need to—"
Before the words had even left his mouth, Itachi's pupils shrank.
His Sharingan had clearly caught Keizumi's movement.
The ten-meter gap vanished in an instant. Itachi watched as the other man suddenly drew the ninjatō from his waist, the sharp blade slashing down at his skull. If he didn't dodge, he would be split clean in two from crown to crotch!
Itachi bent sharply backward. The blade tip grazed his ANBU mask, slicing the butterfly-shaped mask neatly in half.
It revealed his face beneath—still youthful, yet carrying a grave heaviness.
Dodging the strike, Itachi flicked his wrist and sent over a dozen shuriken flying.
As he retreated swiftly backward, he slid his ninjatō back into its sheath. His hands clapped together—six seals in a single second.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!!!"
The storm of shuriken shot toward Uchiha Keizumi, each one wrapped in roaring flames, blazing like fiery meteors.
A storm of flaming shuriken tore straight through Uchiha Keizumi's body, bursting out from behind him. Yet, astonishingly… before they had flown half a meter farther, they froze in midair, their momentum halted, and melted into clumps of molten iron that splashed down onto the ground.
By then, Uchiha Itachi had already retreated to the guardrail of Konoha's riverbank. He showed no surprise at Keizumi's elemental ability to nullify both fire and steel.
"Water Release: Water Fang Bullet!!!"
At once, several torrents thicker than barrels surged out from the Konoha River behind him, lashing toward Uchiha Keizumi from multiple directions.
Itachi did not only wield Fire Release—he also commanded Water Release ninjutsu, though he was not as skilled in it.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!!!"
All of a sudden, the voice came from behind Uchiha Keizumi. A shadow clone of Uchiha Itachi had appeared at some unknown moment, standing right at Keizumi's back.
At once, a fierce dragon of surging water lunged at Uchiha Keizumi with snapping jaws.
"I've drawn up battle plans against you many times."
Uchiha Itachi's face was calm as still water as he spoke coldly: "When magma meets water, it cools rapidly and hardens into volcanic rock such as obsidian and basalt. And I've witnessed several of your battles before—when others used Water Release against you, you always dodged or blocked. That proves Water Release is one of your weaknesses!"
[Boom!!!]
Several torrents of water, along with the Water Dragon Bullet Technique, crashed down upon the spot where Uchiha Keizumi stood. At the same moment, Itachi heard the sharp sizzle of magma.
[Hit!]
No… Itachi's face darkened with worry rather than relief. He knew Keizumi would never fall so easily.
If his opponent knew water was his weakness, then he would certainly have prepared for it.
The very next moment—
A bad premonition rose in Itachi's chest, and in the blink of an eye it came true. For suddenly, a dense cloud of white steam erupted ahead, billowing outward like the shockwave of an explosion. Scalding vapor surged toward him, burning his face crimson in an instant.
He hastily leapt back, landing on the surface of Konoha's river before plunging fully beneath it, using the water to shield himself from being consumed by the searing wave of steam.
When he surfaced again—
He lifted his head in a disheveled state, only to see Uchiha Keizumi standing tall on the riverbank, magma coursing over his body, looking down on him.
"You should have read more books. When magma meets water, yes, it cools quickly. But it also causes violent explosive reactions. The water instantly vaporizes, and the steam expands nearly two thousand times in volume. This steam explosion can cook a man alive."
Itachi caught the mocking tone, and his eyes fell on Keizumi's right arm, where the magma was swelling and surging with tremendous force.
"Great Eruption!"
Itachi's pupils narrowed to pinpoints as an enormous magma fist came crashing down toward his position!
His hands clapped together.
"Crow Clone Technique!"
In an instant his body scattered into a swarm of crows, scattering in all directions, while the massive magma fist smashed down into Konoha's river.
[Rumble—!!!]
The deafening impact shook all of Konoha. A colossal column of water, tens of meters high, erupted upward, exposing even the riverbed below.
That single punch…
Had split Konoha's river in half, cutting off its flow for several seconds!
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