The moment the pattern in Itachi's eyes shifted fully, Black Zetsu froze.
For the first time in centuries, the ancient manipulator felt something dangerously close to shock.
The Mangekyo that had once resembled a sharp, spinning shuriken, angular, aggressive, hungry had changed. The blades seemed to soften and curve inward. The harsh lines smoothed. The design opened outward instead of cutting inward.
A lotus.
A perfectly symmetrical lotus blooming within the crimson eye.
Black Zetsu's voice tore out of it before it could stop itself.
"WHAT?!"
The forest echoed faintly.
"How did you awaken the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan without the Mangekyo of a sibling? It's impossible! No one has done this ever since-"
It stopped mid-sentence.
Centuries of control reasserted themselves like a lid slamming shut over boiling water.
Silence.
Its single visible eye stared at Itachi, unblinking and uncomprehending.
This was impossible.
Every evolution of the Mangekyo into the Eternal Mangekyo required sacrifice. That was the rule. That was the structure carved into Uchiha blood, even someone like Madara had taken Izuna's eyes.
Only by combining two Mangekyo from close blood, siblings, could the degeneration be halted and the pattern refined. The merging purified the chakra lineage, brought it closer to Indra Otsutsuki's original power. Only then could the blindness end. Only then could the Eternal Mangekyo awaken.
That was law.
A single bloodline was not enough, it never had been, yet here, in front of it, nn Uchiha who had just been overpowered by a Senju… An Indra bloodline temporarily suppressed by Ashura's…
Had evolved.
Without transplantation, sacrifice or theft.
Black Zetsu felt something deeper than confusion.
Doubt.
The sensation coming from Itachi's eyes was wrong.
The Eternal Mangekyo it remembered from Madara and other Uchiha;s had radiated madness sharpened into steel, obsession, dominance. Hunger refined into eternity.
But this, This was different.
The chakra that pulsed outward from Itachi's eyes was calm and still. It did not spike wildly, it did not lash out, it flowed like water in a pond untouched by wind, like a flame that burned without smoke.
The lotus pattern glowed faintly within the crimson iris.
A lotus.
Black Zetsu knew the significance of eye patterns. Most shinobi ignored them as aesthetic variations, but it did not. It had watched the Uchiha for generations. Patterns were reflections of the psyche.
Itachi's original Mangekyo, the shuriken pinwheel, had represented sharp ambition, a spinning drive. The craving for strength to achieve a goal.
But this lotus…
This was not ambition sharpened.
This was endurance.
A flower that bloomed in mud yet remained untouched by it.
Peace not through dominance.
Peace through transcendence.
Something fundamental had changed inside him.
Black Zetsu's mind raced, an Uchiha defeated by a Senju should spiral into hatred, that was the pattern, that was the cycle.
Ashura and Indra.
Conflict.
Jealousy.
Revenge.
Yet this one had evolved through resolve.
Through clarity.
Through peace.
That was not how Indra's descendants behaved, that was not how they were designed to behave. The more it observed the chakra flowing from Itachi, the more unsettling it became.
It was powerful, undeniably powerful. But it lacked the corrosive edge. It did not feel like power grasped through desperation. It felt like power accepted and balanced.
That was new, dangerously new. Black Zetsu understood immediately what this meant.
If this boy was not Indra's reincarnation, then he was something equally significant. Perhaps more dangerous.
An Uchiha who did not fall to hatred was unpredictable, an Uchiha who could evolve without sacrifice, it was a thing that broke precedent, structure and centuries of controlled narrative.
For the first time since manipulating Madara, Black Zetsu recalculated without certainty.
Itachi Uchiha stood upright now, blood still flowing from his eyes, yet no strain distorted his face. No mania twisted his expression.
Only quiet determination.
His chakra stabilized further, the faint tremor of internal Genjutsu resistance smoothing out like a ripple fading across water.
Black Zetsu's thoughts hardened.
Whether or not this generation's Indra reincarnation was truly Itachi or Sasuke no longer mattered in that moment.
This evolution, this deviation, it could not be left unchecked.
If guided properly, this power could be molded. If left alone, it could disrupt everything.
"I see…" Black Zetsu finally spoke, voice lower now, more controlled. "You are… special."
It watched the lotus spin faintly.
Centuries of planning depended on Indra's line continuing to crave power through pain, jealousy and blood.
But what if, for the first time an Uchiha sought ultimate strength not for vengeance… but for peace?
The idea itself was destabilizing and Unacceptable.
Black Zetsu reached a decision, it had to take Itachi Uchiha.
Even if he was not the reincarnation of Indra, even if Sasuke later proved to be the true vessel.
Itachi was now something else entirely.
The first Uchiha since Indra himself to awaken the Eternal Mangekyo without sacrifice was worth acting for.
~~~
A streak of lightning carved through the forest.
White Zetsu's clone spasmed mid-lunge, body locking up as Ren's compressed thunder sphere burst against its chest. The clone split apart like wet bark and melted back into the earth with a faint squelch.
Ren exhaled slowly.
His abdomen still throbbed beneath the layered Earth–Yang reinforcement. Tsunade's barrier held, but every sharp twist reminded him that he wasn't at full strength.
His gaze flickered past the battlefield, towards Itachi.
Ren's blue eyes narrowed, the difference was unmistakable, the Mangekyo pattern had shifted.
Lotus.
Even from this distance Ren could feel it, the quality of chakra had changed. The sharp, slightly unstable vibration that Mangekyo carried was gone. In its place was something deeper.
Ren blinked once, then twice.
"…No way," he muttered under his breath.
Even he hadn't expected that, there really was never something like that, not in the past and not in the future he remembered.
Even Sasuke, the deuteragonist had needed Itachi's eyes. That was the rule, mechanism. Two Mangekyo merging to halt degeneration.
But this, Itachi had awakened the Eternal Mangekyo without another set of eyes.
Ren felt a ripple of genuine shock pass through him.
Then the corner of his mouth lifted.
'Good shock. Very good shock.'
With the EMS, the blindness threat vanished. The chakra drain reduced. The clarity sharpened. Most importantly, any residual influence from Shisui's Kotoamatsukami would be destabilized. The evolved dojutsu alone should grant Itachi enough spiritual stability to rip apart Danzo's layered suggestion.
Earlier, Ren had felt a faint worry that Black Zetsu's honeyed words might land. Itachi's mind had been strained and conditioned it was twisted between layered compulsions.
But now?
That lotus chakra radiated balance.
Black Zetsu's manipulation would feel obvious.
Ren grinned.
With EMS, Itachi just stepped into top-tier combatant territory. Solid Kage-level threat. Maybe higher once he adapted.
Leaf now had: Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Himself and Itachi.
Five.
Kakashi and Gai were climbing fast.
However more importantly, there was no Danzo to poison the roots anymore.
The future was tilting towards Dominance.
Ren turned back to the original White Zetsu a few meters away, who was currently half-merged into a tree trunk while sending out disposable clones like bored confetti.
"You're dead, you know?" Ren said casually, flicking a finger and sending a narrow lightning arc through another approaching duplicate.
The clone convulsed dramatically before collapsing.
White Zetsu stuck out its tongue.
"Bleeehhh~~ Don't care. Blackey just said I had to stall you. And I'm totally doing that. Anything else? Way too much work for me."
Another clone sprinted.
Ren casually kicked it mid-air, the impact shattering bark-like flesh before it dissolved into mud.
"Yeah thing," Ren replied conversationally, weaving a small wind blade between two charging bodies. "You're right about that. I mean seriously. Who waits for centuries for one goal? Like gurlll. Isn't that a bit too desperate? Move on."
White Zetsu gasped theatrically, eyes sparkling.
"RIGHT?!" it screeched.
"He's soooo despo. Like, brooding all day about his momma, no hobbies, no vacations. Just 'Mother this, resurrection that.' I would never hang with a mama's boy like that if I wasn't literally born attached."
Ren snorted, ducking under a vine-like limb and countering with a compressed lightning cutter that bisected three clones at once.
"Man, no. Thing, you're fun. Let's be friends."
White Zetsu froze.
Its eyes widened like it had just been proposed to.
"OMG YES. My first friend."
Another clone lunged half-heartedly and was immediately vaporized.
White Zetsu's expression dimmed slightly.
"But I still gotta stall you or injure you a little. Blackey will be mad if I don't."
Ren laughed and rotated his shoulder, sparks crackling across his hardened armor.
"Daijoubu," he said smoothly. "Datte kimi, yowai mo."
(Don't worry. After all, you're too weak.)
White Zetsu blinked.
Then blinked again.
"…Oh."
It looked at its own arm.
Then at the smoking crater where another clone had just died.
"…Ah. That's true. I am much weaker."
It straightened proudly.
"Then it's fine. We're friends now, my bestfriendo."
Ren grinned wider.
"Best friendo."
White Zetsu immediately sent twenty clones at him.
Ren laughed dramatically.
"WOW! Betrayal already?"
"NOOOO," White Zetsu protested as Ren detonated a lightning burst that fried half the incoming swarm. "It's symbolic effort! Symbolic!"
~~~
A sharp twitch passed through both Itachi and Black Zetsu.
Itachi's newly awakened Eternal Mangekyo rotated slowly, lotus petals gleaming with quiet light. Black Zetsu's single visible eye narrowed, the layered consciousness inside it tightening.
From not too far away…
"Best friendo!"
"Best friendo!"
A burst of lightning cracked.
White Zetsu squealed.
Black Zetsu's face darkened.
Here he was, centuries of manipulation, bloodlines shaped like clay, wars engineered, destinies nudged, and in the middle of it all were those two idiots chatting like they were at a festival stall.
"Idiots," Zetsu hissed under his breath.
White Zetsu was one thing but only Ashura's line had this maddening habit of laughing in the face of catastrophe. Treating world-ending stakes like a casual afternoon spar.
His gaze shifted to Ren for a split second before returning to Itachi.
Yes.
The more he observed, the more certain he became.
Ren felt wrong.
Too bright, too disruptive. Too aligned with that infuriating optimism that had ruined his plans generation after generation.
Black Zetsu's attention snapped back to Itachi.
"Come with me," he said, voice low, persuasive, almost patient. "The others are coming. The Hokage, the Senju girl, the clan heads. Once they arrive, do you think they will let you live peacefully after what you attempted?"
His tone sharpened slightly.
"Not you, not your clan, not even your little brother."
The wind shifted through the trees.
Itachi did not hesitate this time, his voice came out calm.
"No."
The word fell like a stone into still water.
"Earlier," Itachi continued softly, "I could not sense it clearly. My thoughts felt… layered and clouded. As if someone else's will sat behind mine."
He touched his right eye gently.
"But now… with these eyes…"
The lotus rotated once more.
"…I can see you."
Zetsu's eye twitched.
"I did not fully believe Ren-san earlier," Itachi admitted. "But now that I see you… truly see you… I understand."
His voice did not rise.
"I can see the darkness clinging to you. I can see the intent behind your words. Earlier, I might have followed you. I might have believed that power alone could create peace."
His gaze sharpened.
"But now…"
His fingers pressed lightly against his temple.
"With these eyes, I am not weak anymore."
A faint tremor passed through the air as his chakra stabilized further, smoother than before.
"With these eyes," Itachi continued, "I will ensure peace. But for that… I must deal with things like you."
Black Zetsu's expression fractured into irritation.
"You're too naive," he snapped.
His body liquefied downward and vanished beneath the soil.
A heartbeat later, Itachi felt it, cold and clinging.
Black Zetsu surged up from beneath him, dark mass wrapping around Itachi's ankles, attempting to climb, to merge, to invade.
"These eyes are not meant for peace!" Zetsu hissed as he latched upward. "They were born from hatred, from loss, from ambition. They are meant for destruction!"
But before he could rise past Itachi's calves he dropped.
Split cleanly away.
Black tendrils fell uselessly to the ground.
For the second time in the same day, Black Zetsu's composure cracked.
"You-"
His voice rose.
"You severed your chakra pathways in your legs?!"
Itachi stood unmoving.
Blood still streaked faintly down from his eyes, though the flow had already slowed compared to earlier.
"It was the simplest solution," Itachi replied calmly. "If you cannot latch onto my chakra network, you cannot climb."
His lower legs trembled slightly, but he remained upright.
Zetsu hissed again.
"You're destroying your own body for what? For an illusion called peace? I told you, I can give you strength beyond anyone. Come with me. I will help you."
He leaned forward slightly, voice lowering again, seductive in tone.
"You want your brother to smile, don't you? You want your clan to survive? I can ensure it. With enough power, you could reshape the world. No more conflict, no more pressure and no more war."
Itachi's eyes did not waver.
"You are lying," he said simply.
Zetsu's eye narrowed.
"You twist truth into shape," Itachi continued. "You were honest when you said you could give me power. But you concealed your purpose."
His gaze sharpened further.
"You do not seek peace, you seek control. Your words are layered with omission."
Black Zetsu's jaw clenched.
Itachi exhaled slowly.
"As for my body…"
His eyes flicked sideways.
Ren's laughter echoed faintly through the trees, lightning cracking again as White Zetsu squealed dramatically about "unfair electrical bullying."
Itachi's lips curved ever so slightly.
"I am not alone."
From deeper within the forest, chakra signatures approached rapidly, they were dense and Familiar.
His Father, Lady Tsunade, the Third Hokage and the others.
"I have the best healers in the world in my village," Itachi said quietly. "And I know they will stop at nothing to restore me."
Zetsu's eye twitched again.
This was wrong.
Everything about this was wrong.
Uchiha were supposed to fracture under pressure. Supposed to isolate, supposed to spiral into ambition or despair.
Not this.
Not cooperation, or trust.
Ren's voice rang out again from a short distance away.
"Hey! Lotus-boy! You done monologuing or what?"
White Zetsu chimed in helpfully.
"Yeah! Blackey is sooo dramatic today!"
Black Zetsu's patience snapped.
"You think this ends here?" he hissed. "You think awakening those eyes changes destiny?"
Itachi met his gaze steadily.
"No."
The answer was calm.
"It changes mine."
~~~~~
{Ren has a new friend, best friendo even and he really needs some more people, the only ones he could call friends could be counted in single digits.}
{I'll talk about Itachi's EMS and his transformation in the future don't worry, I am currently planning some things regarding Ren and Itachi, however since it isn't certain yet I am not delving too deep into it, once I am sure of it, I'll make it with a bang.}