"How do you plan to handle him?"

After a long silence, Shisui finally voiced his greatest concern while looking at Itachi. He didn't want Kaito to be the one to kill his own brother.

Otherwise...

Sasuke, still in the village, would undoubtedly grow suspicious about the massacre upon learning of this. And then he'd direct all his hatred squarely at Kaito.

"Kill him."

Without hesitation, Kaito drew a kunai, gripping it tightly as he dragged his cumbersome cage toward Itachi.

But just then, Hikari grabbed the cage first. Meeting his gaze for several seconds, she shook her head with utmost seriousness.

"No. He can die by anyone's hand... but not yours."

Here, she glanced at Uchiha Itachi, still lost in his own world, then declared proudly:

"I've marked him. I can drain his chakra anytime."

"Let him live in agony for the rest of his life."

"Besides... he doesn't seem long for this world anyway."

Hikari could tell at a glance that Uchiha Itachi's bloodline disease had fully erupted.

Combined with the chakra she'd already absorbed from him and his Mangekyō's uncontrolled consumption, Itachi wouldn't even live to adulthood.

Hearing this, Shisui added:

"I've already cast Kotoamatsukami on Itachi. Keeping him trapped in this illusion will help our clan stay hidden and avoid being targeted by other villages."

"At the very least, it'll buy our clansmen some time."

"And Sasuke... needs time to process this too."

Shisui sighed, thinking of that naive child with deep reluctance.

"Itachi has hurt him enough. Don't make him hate you too."

Kaito stared at Itachi in contemplation for a full ten minutes before finally nodding, murmuring softly:

"The Truman Show, huh?"To say Uchiha Itachi felt no guilt would be a lie—at the very least, that man would suffer the torment of his conscience every night hereafter.

Perhaps years later, after Itachi had lived through years of resentment, if his entire clan were to appear before him again, the sight alone might shatter him completely.

As for the clan members, Kaito planned to let the misunderstanding stand. Once they awoke, they would still believe Uchiha Itachi had slaughtered them all.

Why the resurrection?

A god possessing the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths bringing the dead back to life sounded perfectly reasonable.

And as for Sasuke, still in the village...

He would inform the boy of the truth beforehand to prevent him from genuinely believing the Uchiha clan had been wiped out, which might drive him to collapse on the spot.

"Let's leave this place first. If we don't show ourselves soon, I'm afraid those shinobi will flee."

That so-called "Giant of Light" was downright sinister. Kaito couldn't fathom how it had appeared without being summoned, only to brutally pummel three Kage.

Now, the newly assembled shinobi were terrified, scrambling to escape.

"Just... don't kill too many people..."

Shisui had a nagging feeling something was off about this kid. While hiding in the bushes earlier, he'd witnessed the girl's formidable ocular jutsu.

He suspected Kaito might be planning to mark everyone present—or worse, drive them to "suicide" beneath the power lines.

"Relax, I'm just going to use Lightning Release."

Kaito spoke casually, but his mind was already calculating whether the technique would be strong enough. If not, he might need to provoke the Heavenly Tribulation to prevent the shinobi from escaping the Rain Village.

"Lightning Release, huh..." Shisui repeated the key phrase, recalling Kaito and Sasuke's training sessions where they'd used Lightning Release to power light bulbs. He exhaled in relief.

It seemed...

His earlier conversation with Kaito hadn't been entirely in vain.

Look at him now—his temperament wasn't as extreme as before.

As for how Lightning Release would scare people off, Shisui didn't dwell on it. The moving stone statue earlier had already terrified plenty.

Shisui patted Kaito's shoulder, beaming.

"Alright, take care of yourself."

After faking the massacre scene, Kaito took his great-grandmother to seek out Pain and Konan first. Shisui remained behind, gazing wistfully at his old friend before departing with a sigh.

Itachi, standing motionless, watched as his younger brother stumbled away in terror, screaming "Don't kill me!" while wiping tears. He chose not to pursue.

He only regretted that Kaito hadn't awakened the Kaleidoscope Sharingan from this.

After Sasuke disappeared from view, the light in Itachi's eyes dimmed completely. He scanned the scorched corpses blankly.

"I didn't expect you to work so quickly."

Suddenly, Obito emerged from the bushes, his masked face fixed intently on Uchiha Itachi, displeasure lacing his words.

He'd noticed the empty eye sockets in every Uchiha corpse.

Were they destroyed? Or had Itachi taken them?

Given Itachi's past behavior, Obito's wariness deepened.

Itachi remained lost in the grief of slaughtering his clan, his mind still reeling. He didn't register a single word from the masked man.

But...The next second, Uchiha Itachi suddenly frowned, making Obito think this guy was about to attack him—he nearly activated his intangibility on the spot.

"Just killed your own clan..."

"I'm curious how you're feeling right now."

Obito's hand had already reached for the kunai behind him. If this brat dared to have any improper thoughts, he would definitely teach him a lesson.

But what Obito didn't expect was...

Facing his question, Itachi remained silent. A few seconds later, he numbly raised his right hand toward the masked man and slowly extended his middle finger.

"My finger... hurts a little?"

"?"

Itachi was merely puzzled about his own condition. Admittedly, after awakening the Kaleidoscope Sharingan and possessing the Sword of Totsuka, he was practically invincible.

Even the Uchiha clan's strongest weapon, Nameless, and his father who had activated the Kaleidoscope Sharingan were no match for him.

Throughout the entire battle, he hadn't even suffered any external injuries.

Apart from nearly exhausting his chakra, the only issue was the slight swelling on his right middle finger.

Uchiha Itachi didn't realize his chakra had been drained by a certain ancient relic from the Warring States period, nor that his swollen finger was from poking a tree while trapped in a Genjutsu...

Itachi's answer didn't satisfy Obito's curiosity. Instead, Obito felt the kid was putting on an act.

And...

There was something about Itachi's gesture that made Obito feel insulted. Combined with the brat completely ignoring him, an inexplicable anger welled up inside.

"What do you mean by that?"

Obito narrowed his single eye, his entire body radiating killing intent. Remembering their previous agreement only stoked his fury further.

"Have you forgotten our deal?"

He was furious now. Although he hadn't participated much in this battle, while on the periphery, he had helped this brat kill a few reckless clan members.

"I've already handed the Sharingan to Danzo."

Finally, after repeated questioning from Obito, Itachi revealed the truth.

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—

As if confirming Itachi's words, a large group of Root ninja immediately emerged, surrounding the two in an instant.

Danzo's face was dark as he limped forward with his cane. After coldly scanning the charred corpses on the ground, he was about to ask Itachi why he had burned the bodies to cinders when Obito beside him turned red with rage.

"You set me up?"

Obito stared straight at Itachi, immediately realizing he'd been played by Konoha. When he turned to Danzo, overwhelming killing intent erupted from his body.

"Shimura Danzo, hand over those eyes unless you want to die!"

Danzo: ?

...

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