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"Is that boy also a ninja from Konoha?"
Atop the towering mountain, four pairs of Rinnegan locked onto the figure that had suddenly appeared beside Shisui.
"His ocular power... it's on this level?"
The man standing on the massive bird spoke first. Like the others who stood behind him, he had orange hair tied into a single ponytail, with long bangs framing the right side of his face.
Through the power of the Rinnegan, he saw the potent chakra and eye strength radiating from Itachi. Though the boy appeared young, his power couldn't be underestimated.
"Including the two we've already taken down, that makes six of them in total?"
Itachi's Sharingan, once rotating with three tomoe, accelerated as the tomoe fused into the intricate pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan. The surge of ocular power sharpened his perception. He observed the four figures before him in detail, his vision piercing beyond their physical forms.
Just like Shisui, Itachi noticed the peculiar chakra flow in their bodies—each of them was controlled by black rods embedded across their forms. While they moved and acted with consciousness, these were nothing more than puppets, their strings pulled by an unseen master.
Despite possessing the Rinnegan, these eyes were not genuine. It was reminiscent of how Itachi and Shisui could imbue crows with their ocular power to manifest temporary Sharingan patterns.
Controlling six bodies simultaneously while wielding such immense chakra…
Itachi felt a flicker of unease. Even if this was an ability unique to the Rinnegan, it far exceeded the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Still, strength wasn't everything. Tools, whether they were weapons or ocular powers, were only as effective as the one wielding them. Clearly, whoever controlled these puppets lacked mastery over the full extent of the Rinnegan's abilities. Otherwise, Shisui wouldn't have lasted this long.
But Itachi knew better than to let his guard down. The Rinnegan, no matter how incomplete, was still formidable. And with Shisui's chakra depleted from the earlier battle and Itachi himself not yet fully recovered, the odds were grim.
He recalled the overwhelming chakra of Pain from his days in the Akatsuki. If the one Shisui defeated earlier was indeed that same Pain, their situation was dire.
"Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Both Shisui and the Rinnegan user reacted, their gazes snapping to Itachi as his eyes emitted a renewed, overwhelming power.
"Shisui-senpai," Itachi spoke calmly but firmly, "we can't afford to hold back. Against an opponent like this, we must go all out."
Shisui tightened his grip on the hilt of his tanto. Though his chakra reserves were low and his Mangekyō abilities momentarily inaccessible, his resolve hadn't wavered.
"Understood," he said, stepping into position beside Itachi. His three-tomoe Sharingan spun with determination.
The man atop the bird watched the two Uchiha, a flicker of recognition crossing his expression. His voice was low and laced with malice. "I never imagined Konoha's Uchiha clan had such prodigies...
"The potential of Uchiha Shisui was troublesome enough, but this boy—" his Rinnegan fixed on Itachi "—is something else entirely. A Mangekyō at his age? Unheard of."
The man's killing intent spiked. His ultimate goal had been to eliminate Shisui, a dangerous threat to their plans. But the arrival of Itachi—a child who could already wield a Mangekyō Sharingan—changed everything. Both of them had to die.
"The Uchiha clan has no place in the world we will create," the man said coldly. "I'll eliminate you both before you become the thorns in our path."
Itachi's Mangekyō glinted ominously as he locked eyes with their opponent. "Let's see if your power can match your ambition."
With this thought in mind, the four pairs of Rinnegan fixated intently on Shisui and Itachi below.
Swish!
The instant their gazes met, the figures of Shisui and Itachi blurred and vanished, leaving behind faint afterimages.
"So fast!"
The man with the single ponytail—the Deva Path Pain—narrowed his eyes, visibly surprised by their incredible speed and agility.
The two Uchiha darted in the same direction, moving in perfect synchronization. Although outnumbered, they had no intention of splitting up. Instead, they aimed to combine their strength to defeat their opponents one by one.
Their first target was the figure stationed atop the mountain to their left—a large, imposing man who seemed physically slower than the others. His appearance suggested he might be the heaviest and, perhaps, the least agile of the group.
For a ninja, speed was often tied to physical build, and both Shisui and Itachi had honed their ability to exploit such weaknesses.
They swiftly closed in, flanking the target from opposite sides of the mountain.
However, just as they were about to strike, the Deva Path Pain standing at the center formed a hand seal.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
With a loud, guttural cry, the massive bird hovering above flapped its wings and dove toward the mountain, heading straight for the two Uchiha.
"He's manipulating a summoned beast?" Itachi muttered, glancing briefly at the source of the chakra controlling the creature. It was indeed the ponytailed Pain commanding the bird with a seamless flow of chakra.
Analyzing the situation, Itachi recalled Shisui's earlier observations. If this Pain had a unique ability, just like the two others Shisui had defeated, then each puppet must specialize in one specific technique.
"Then what is this one's ability?" Itachi thought, narrowing his Mangekyō Sharingan as he prepared for combat.
The giant bird closed in with alarming speed, its wings slicing through the air like blades. Itachi and Shisui immediately reacted, both forming hand seals in unison.
"Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni!"
Shisui was faster, unleashing a flurry of flame-coated kunai that streaked toward the target. The burning projectiles illuminated the battlefield as they shot toward the mountain.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
Simultaneously, Itachi completed his seal, summoning a swarm of crows that erupted from his body, their sharp cries filling the air.
Boom!
The giant bird collided with the mountain, triggering a massive explosion of dust and debris. Shisui and Itachi leapt from their positions just as the impact struck, narrowly avoiding the blast.
Amid the swirling smoke, Shisui's Sharingan locked onto the battlefield, piercing through the haze to track their target. But to his surprise, the flaming kunai he'd launched earlier had missed.
The massive figure of the target Pain emerged unscathed, leaping high into the air with surprising agility.
"So he dodged them all," Shisui muttered, tightening his grip on his tanto.
Meanwhile, Itachi's crows circled the battlefield before diving toward the target from an unseen angle. Their sharp beaks glinted as they honed in on the Pain's blind spot.
Swish!
Yet, impossibly, the target twisted mid-air, evading the attack as though he had eyes on his back.
Itachi's eyes narrowed. "Even with enhanced sensory abilities, no one should be able to avoid an attack from a blind spot with such precision..."
The realization gnawed at him, but there was no time to dwell. He and Shisui exchanged a quick glance, their movements synchronized as they prepared their next strategy.
This was no ordinary opponent.
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