"Hehe..."
Itachi gasped for breath, his hands supporting him on the ground as sweat poured from his body. His eyes remained blood-red.
Sasuke was his sacred threshold—untouchable by anyone, even in dreams.
The next second,
He suddenly lifted his head. A line of bloody tears streamed from his right eye as he locked his gaze onto Izumi and activated Amaterasu against her.
[Amaterasu Black Flames!]
Filling Izumi with horror, dark flames erupted across her body like hellfire, threatening to burn even her soul to ashes.
"Ahh!" She couldn't help but cry out in pain.
"Sleep...wake up."
Wrapped in the black flames of Amaterasu, Izumi closed her eyes again and struggled to speak those two words.
Sure enough, when she opened her eyes once more, the Amaterasu had vanished without a trace, as if she'd never been burned at all.
However, this time, Itachi rushed forward. With his rich combat experience, he knocked Izumi to the ground in one swift motion.
Izumi attempted to resist using her Dojutsu, but after three consecutive uses of the Mangekyou Sharingan's powers, her ocular energy was completely drained. When she tried forcefully activating it again, it backfired, causing her to faint.
"I forgot to mention—the power of these eyes comes with a curse. The more you use them, the more they drain you, ultimately leading to blindness."
Itachi gave a bird's-eye view of the unconscious Izumi and said calmly.
Then, he squatted down, just as Obito had done before, reaching out to remove Izumi's eyes.
Rather than leaving this precious Mangekyou to someone from Konoha, he preferred to claim it for himself.
Just then,
"Hey... that's enough already."
A voice abruptly rang out from the side.
Hmm?
Itachi was startled, jumping like a startled cat. In an instant, he leaped backward more than ten meters.
He hadn't sensed anyone nearby. If that person had attacked him from behind, he would have been seriously injured—if not killed outright.
Who is it?
After regaining his composure, Itachi cautiously looked over and saw a man in his twenties with flowing white hair dressed in a white robe stepping out of the darkness.
His pupils shrank as soon as Itachi recognized Heiyan immediately.
This mysterious man—Heiyan—left an extremely deep impression on him. Even now, having awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, he still couldn't comprehend this individual at all.
This man was like a vast and unfathomable ocean.
[Amaterasu Black Flames!]
Without a word, Itachi immediately released Amaterasu from his right eye again, but Heiyan simply waved his hand and easily sealed away the black flames.
Actually, Itachi never expected to defeat Heiyan. His real purpose in attacking was merely to buy time to escape.
Whoosh!
After releasing the Amaterasu, he turned around without hesitation and fled, using the Body Flicker Technique. Within just several jumps, he rapidly disappeared from Heiyan's sight.
Heiyan didn't chase after him, letting Itachi go freely. After all, restricted by the rules of this world, there wasn't much he could do to Itachi.
However, Heiyan could change Izumi Uchiha's fate.
He lowered his head, squatting down to channel his Chakra into Izumi. Soon afterward, her injuries stabilized.
Izumi's complexion visibly regained its rosy hue, her breathing steady and prolonged. Although she had yet to awaken, she was clearly out of danger.
Heiyan gently supported Izumi onto a nearby bench before entering Fugaku's residence.
"What... what do you want?"
Sasuke stammered as he saw Heiyan walk in.
Just now, he had witnessed Itachi's confrontation with Izumi, and how this man's mere appearance had forced Itachi to retreat.
To the young Sasuke, Itachi was an insurmountable mountain—an almost unbeatable figure. Yet against this man, Itachi could not even fight back and could only flee.
Standing before him, Heiyan exuded an aura stronger than even the Hokage, causing Sasuke to feel nearly breathless.
"Just take a peaceful rest."
With a pitying glance toward Sasuke, Heiyan's eyes glimmered briefly. Immediately, Sasuke felt dizzy and fell into a deep sleep without realizing it.
Then, Heiyan walked over to Fugaku's corpse.
In the original timeline, Fugaku had kept his Mangekyou Sharingan hidden until his death, taking the secret with him to his grave.
Therefore, by taking Fugaku's eyes, Heiyan wouldn't interfere with history or provoke consequences from the Rules of the World.
Because of the ability [Myriad Forms: Seventy-Two Transformations] in his right eye, Heiyan had previously collected Fugaku's blood from another timeline, allowing him to possess the other man's chakra and abilities.
Thus, after removing Fugaku's eyes, he activated them using the chakra of that alternate Fugaku, successfully transforming the pair into Mangekyou Sharingan.
After preserving the eyes in a test tube filled with liquid, Heiyan left the house.
He approached the bench outside, scooped up the sleeping Izumi Uchiha in one swift motion, then vanished from Konoha within a swirling vortex of twisted space-time using Kamui.
One day later.
Deep within the mountain ranges of the Land of Fire, inside a remote forest,
stood a brand-new cabin.
Inside the wooden cabin.
"Ugh..."
A soft groan escaped Izumi's lips as she slowly opened her eyes and woke up.
"Grrrrrr…"
Her stomach growled loudly, drawing her gaze toward the table, where a glass of water and some food sat waiting.
Driven by hunger, she threw off the blanket, got out of bed, and gobbled everything down like there was no tomorrow.
"Could it be because the Mangekyou Sharingan is wearing me down physically...?"
She thought while eating.
However, studying these eyes wasn't her immediate concern—what mattered now was understanding her current situation.
Izumi immediately figured out that the only reason she survived Itachi's attack was because that mysterious silver-haired man had saved her.
Sure enough, when she stepped outside the cabin, she saw Heiyan leaning against an ancient tree playing with a cute little squirrel.
"You're awake."
Noticing Izumi, Heiyan smiled and released the squirrel.
In truth, he wasn't just playing around—he was studying how natural energy affected animals.
The young squirrel he had released already had Sage Chakra implanted inside. It might grow into a powerful summoned beast in the future.
"Thank you... Lord Heiyan."
Izumi Uchiha felt nervous, unsure of what to say, and finally bowed deeply to Heiyan.
"Izumi Uchiha, I'll give you two choices."
Heiyan got straight to the point:
"First, leave now. Follow the main road down the mountain and you'll come across a small town soon enough. Whether you want to seek revenge against Uchiha Itachi or do anything else is your own business—it's nothing to do with me.
Second, follow me, become my disciple, and travel together through the world of shinobi. If you're willing, I'll wait for you at the cliff on the outskirts behind Konoha before midnight tonight."
After saying these words, Heiyan rode the wind and vanished into the distance.
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