"Kaze?"
The countless Uchiha Itachis froze in unison, pupils trembling as they turned toward the voice.
According to his understanding, the moment he made eye contact with Kaze, his Sharingan genjutsu had already taken effect—dragging Kaze into the illusionary world he had crafted.
And yet…
As every single Itachi turned to look in the direction of the voice—
They saw Kaze, standing calmly atop the serene ocean waters.
Unharmed. Completely untouched.
If the real Kaze was perfectly fine…
Then who had he just trapped?
A flicker of confusion broke through Itachi's usually composed mind.He sharply turned his head back toward the figure bound to the crucifix.
And in just a few seconds—
The Kaze on the cross… had transformed into a scarecrow.
"You're not wrong, Itachi,"
Kaze raised an eyebrow as he noticed a rare flicker of panic flash across Itachi's face. A faint smirk curled on his lips.
"Every technique has a weakness."
"And that includes your genjutsu."
"Your weakness… is me."
He returned Itachi's earlier words back at him—with poetic precision.
Poetic justice, really.
Because now—Itachi was trapped inside Kaze's illusion.
This place—
Was Kaze's own domain, a mental realm governed by his will.
And the next second, Kaze spread his arms wide—
Unleashing his full theatrical flair within the genjutsu.
"ZA WARUDO!!" he bellowed.
With his shout, the entire world around them turned a ghostly shade of grey.
A pulse of invisible energy burst from Kaze, expanding outward.
And the moment it touched the countless Itachis—every last one of them froze in place.
Completely still.
Not a single twitch.
"Time has stopped."
This was Kaze's mental world.
And within it, he made the rules.
Even something as absurd as stopping time?If he willed it, it would become reality.
But he didn't stop there—
Drawing from his memories of another world, Kaze conjured a massive humanoid stand-in.
Its appearance was striking:
A golden headdress covering its face down to the nose, reminiscent of an Egyptian red crown.A pair of compact twin scuba tanks were mounted on its back, connected to the mask by a short dual-spine tube.
Thick padded belts wrapped from its waist up to the shoulders.Its jaw, abdomen, and knees bore heart-shaped decorations.
And its towering frame—easily over two meters tall—dwarfed Itachi completely.
Standing like a god of time and power.
"…The World."
Kaze glanced briefly at the companion he had just summoned.
This Stand User was from an anime called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure—the Stand of the main antagonist from Part 3.
One of Kaze's all-time favorites.
And honestly? There was no better tool to pummel Uchiha Itachi with.
"One second down,"
Kaze quietly tracked the passage of time.
Even within his own illusionary world, stopping time demanded immense mental focus.
This was a good chance to measure his upper limit.
As for the countless Itachi clones scattered throughout—
None could escape Kaze's eyes.
"Found him."
"Two seconds."
As soon as he identified the real Itachi, Kaze issued a swift mental command to The World.
And thanks to its nature as a Stand, The World didn't need to run.
Instead, it surged forward at low altitude—gliding—appearing right in front of Itachi in the blink of an eye.
"Three seconds."
Then—
With both fists clenched, The World cocked back and delivered a brutal right hook straight into Itachi's jaw.
WHAM!
The air rippled with the dull, compressed boom of impact.
But because time was still frozen, Itachi didn't even budge.
His body remained completely motionless.
"Four seconds."
"The World… let's test your barrage speed," Kaze murmured.
No attempt was made to hide the wicked glint in his eyes.
The World looked back at Kaze.
And gave a firm, approving nod.
Then it got to work.
Its fists began flying—left, right, left, right—a relentless rhythm pounding down on Itachi's frozen body like a drumline of destruction.
"MUDA!"
"MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA—!!"
The World roared with every strike, its voice rising with the tempo.
And the tempo kept climbing.
Every tenth of a second, its punches grew faster.
Afterimages blurred the air, its fists overlapping like a storm of iron.
To the naked eye, it looked like hundreds of fists were slamming into Itachi all at once.
"Five seconds."
"Six…"
Kaze simply stood there, arms crossed, silently counting as he watched Itachi get absolutely wrecked.
But right as the seventh second approached—
A sharp pain shot through Kaze's eyes.
He winced—and had no choice but to release Za Warudo.
"Even in my own illusion world… looks like six seconds is about my limit."
Kaze blinked a few times, just for show.
And the world began to move again.
All at once—the full force of every punch The World had landed—
hit Itachi simultaneously.
SPLURCH!
Even Itachi didn't know what hit him.
All he knew was that every inch of his body felt broken.
He was sent flying like a puppet with its strings cut.
He traced a perfect arc through the air before crashing hard into the surface of the sea.
Then tumbled—again and again—skimming the water like a flat stone before finally coming to a stop in a crumpled heap.
Face-down. Soaked. Wrecked.
It was worth noting—
Even though pain inflicted in a genjutsu world doesn't translate to physical injuries in the real world,
The mental trauma?
Very real.
And in extreme cases… it could lead to total psychological collapse.
"…What did Kaze just do?"
Uchiha Itachi gritted his teeth, hard.
He still couldn't make sense of what had just happened.
It felt like he'd been hit by hundreds of punches—all within the span of a single heartbeat.
But how long had that moment really lasted?
A second?
A tenth of a second?
He couldn't tell.
All he knew…was that in that instant, it was like the entire world had stopped.
Frozen in time.
And yet, one thing was very clear to Itachi—
Through whatever mysterious attack Kaze had used,there was no doubt left in his mind now.
This was a genjutsu world created by Kaze.
"When did he…?"
"Kaze wasn't even using his Sharingan just now…"
Itachi staggered upright, rising shakily from the mirrored surface of the sea, his breath ragged.
Then, a cold realization struck.
He knew Kaze had the Sharingan.He'd even seen it with his own eyes back at the Hokage Tower—along with half the village.
But somehow, in the heat of battle, he'd dismissed it.Ignored the possibility.
He'd convinced himself that someone like Kaze couldn't be proficient in genjutsu.That the Sharingan was just a tool Kaze happened to have, not master.
But the truth?
The truth had just hit him like a freight train.
Kaze wasn't just using genjutsu—he was dominating with it.
"…Was that your plan all along, Kaze?"
Itachi couldn't help but whisper the question aloud.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
He needed to break this illusion.
Fast.
With barely a second thought, Itachi's hands blurred into motion—forming hand seals at lightning speed.
He was about to cast the release technique to escape from the genjutsu—
But Kaze?
He had zero intention of letting Itachi off the hook that easily.
He'd been waiting for this beatdown for way too long.
"ZA WARUDO!"
After a few seconds of rest, the stinging pain in his eyes had faded.
Kaze stretched out his arms once more—and time ground to a halt again.
The World stomped down with one foot—and like a hungry beast unleashed, launched itself toward Itachi once more.
"MU—DA!!!"
(T/N: And another cliff-hanger. Anyway hope you all enjoyed the chapter.)
50 Stones = 1 extra chapter
100 Stones = 2 extra chapters
200 Stones = 3 extra chapters
Let's see some power stones.