Uchiha Itachi didn't believe in the existence of a perfect jutsu.
No matter how flawless Kaze's taijutsu appeared, there had to be a weakness.
With that, Itachi reached into both of his ninja tool pouches.Eight pitch-black shuriken glinted in his fingers.
His gaze sharpened, the three-tomoe Sharingan locking dead onto Kaze's eyes.
"You don't seriously think a few shuriken can keep up with my speed, do you?"
Kaze responded with a faint, amused smile.
At this point in time, Itachi hadn't awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
No Tsukuyomi. No Amaterasu. No Susanoo.
At best, he was just a souped-up version of Kakashi.
Even if the powers of the Thunder Fruit did have some hidden weakness—Itachi wasn't strong enough to exploit it.
With that thought, Kaze kicked off the floor hard.Blinding blue lightning crackled beneath his feet, lighting the entire hall like daytime.
In the blink of an eye, he closed the gap between them.
His hand curled into a fist.
And with all the force of a lightning strike—He slammed it straight into Itachi's face!
Boom!
The dull thud echoed through the Naka Shrine.Kaze's fist practically embedded itself in Itachi's skull.
The blow shattered his balance, crushed his center of gravity.
The two of them shot backward together, nearly shoulder-to-shoulder as they flew through the air toward the crowd.
The watching Uchiha froze in disbelief, quickly scrambling up from their zabuton cushions to avoid getting dragged into the chaos.
But more than anything else—It was Kaze's sheer speed that shocked them.
He'd moved faster than Itachi could throw his shuriken.
And by the time Itachi's nose was flattened, blood spraying from the impact, the onlookers were only just starting to process what had happened.
Even Fugaku's expression twisted into something complicated.
No matter what, this was still his son getting wrecked in front of the entire clan.
But…
Itachi hadn't been one-shot.
As the two hurtled back, strange black markings began appearing across Itachi's body.
They spread quickly, wrapping around his limbs like ink bleeding through paper.
"What the—"
Kaze's eyes narrowed, tracking every detail.
He wasn't unfamiliar with this particular trick.
After all, in the original Naruto storyline, Itachi had used this method more than once to fool enemies.
"Crow Clone Technique…"
Kaze muttered under his breath.
By projecting chakra into a flock of crows, Itachi could create clones that looked and moved like the real him.
Since it relied on real birds as a medium, it cost far less chakra than a standard Shadow Clone.
And sure enough, the instant Kaze spoke, the figure of Itachi disintegrated into a swirling storm of inky feathers, flapping and scattering through the air.
Only the one crow that took Kaze's punch dropped limp to the floor—lifeless.
Clack.
Kaze's foot landed back on the wooden floor.
And then, a familiar voice came from behind him:
"You're probably thinking… from the moment you attacked, to the moment your punch landed, only a fraction of a second passed."
"In that short span of time, Itachi shouldn't have had the chance to use a substitution technique… right?"
Itachi spoke with measured calm,as if narrating some trivial observation.
"You really are something, Itachi."Kaze's grin remained cocky as ever, lips curled in a smirk.He shook his head slightly and turned toward the sound of Itachi's voice.
Truth be told—
Even if Itachi hadn't awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan…Even without Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, or Susanoo…
It didn't change the fact that he was an exceptionally talented shinobi.
"Back at the Hokage Tower earlier today, you saw my taijutsu in action," Kaze said."You probably got a good grasp of my speed.""So that's why you prepared the Crow Clone Technique in advance, right?"
But…
Itachi didn't respond to the guess.He merely shook his head slightly where he stood.
"Kaze… your speed genuinely surprised me," he admitted."Even Shisui-niisan's Body Flicker might not be faster than yours."
"Even with these eyes," Itachi touched his left eye lightly as he spoke,"I could barely follow your movements."
"If this had been pure taijutsu…""I would've lost. No question."
But…
Itachi slowly spread his hands.
At some point, the shuriken in his fingers had completely vanished.
"Like I said from the beginning—every jutsu has a weakness."
"And your weakness, Kaze-san…"
"…is these eyes of mine."
"Take a good look around you."
Itachi's words sent a ripple through Kaze's thoughts.
His entire focus had been locked onto Itachi.He hadn't paid attention to anything else.
"Wait…"
Kaze's brows furrowed. A flicker of unease flashed in his eyes.
He quickly looked to his surroundings—
Where were the Uchiha clan members?
Where was Uchiha Fugaku?
Where was the Naka Shrine?
Gone.All of it.
Somehow, at some point, the entire scene had shifted—Now, they stood atop an endless ocean.
The full moon hung high overhead,casting its glow on a calm, boundless sea.
Kaze and Itachi faced each other, standing on the water's surface.
"Genjutsu…?" Kaze muttered."When did it start?"
He blinked in disbelief, his mouth involuntarily forming an "O".
Itachi watched every twitch of his expression."No matter how fast your taijutsu is—"
"If you're in this world of illusions, you'll never be able to reach me."
"In fact…"
"You won't even be able to move freely."
His voice lowered into something nearly inaudible.And then, his right arm stretched forward.
Despite being at least ten meters away,Itachi's motion somehow gripped Kaze in place—as if grabbing hold of him from across the sea.
High above them, the moon suddenly bled red.
Three tomoe slowly spun into view, forming a massive Sharingan in the sky.Its light bathed the ocean in a crimson hue.
Then—The sea beneath Kaze's feet rippled, and a wooden cross-shaped stake surged upward, locking into place.
Black chains shot from the post, wrapping tightly around his wrists and ankles.
In the next instant, he was yanked hard, bound to the cross.
No matter how much he struggled,He couldn't break free.
In this illusionary world, Itachi was the god.
And gods didn't lose.
Itachi's form began to multiply.
Two.
Four.
Eight.
Sixteen.
Thirty-two…
In just a few breaths, Kaze was surrounded.The ocean was filled with Itachis—seemingly thousands of them.
Each one wielded a short sword that had appeared from thin air.
They moved in perfect unison.
Marching forward, wave after wave.
Shnk!
One Itachi plunged the blade into Kaze's gut.Then pulled it sideways.
Kaze's intestines spilled out into the water below,the agony beyond anything he'd ever imagined.
But before the next Itachi approached—
The wound vanished.
His body was whole again.Only to be sliced open once more.
"It's over, Kaze."
Itachi's voice multiplied—thousands of them speaking in sync, eerily calm.
"You can't win in my genjutsu world."
The sound of ten thousand Itachis echoed through his mind.
It felt like a declaration of absolute, unshakable victory.
Until—
Just as Itachi was convinced that Kaze's mind wouldn't last much longer…
A voice came from behind him.
One he absolutely wasn't expecting.
"Uchiha Itachi…"
"When exactly did you get the illusion…"
"…that you'd already used genjutsu?"
(T/N: Hehe, now for a little cliff-hanger. Anyway hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
P.S.: How about a trade? You give power stones, I give more chapters.
50 Stones = 1 extra chapter
100 Stones = 2 extra chapters
200 Stones = 3 extra chapters
Yes, I have a small dream to make this book enter the top 10, and hope you all can help me.)