[Kisame]: Itachi-san… before you died, did you make peace with yourself?
[Shisui]: So this… was your path, Itachi.
[Sarada]: Poor Dad as a kid—kept in the dark and lied to…
[Sasuke]: Itachi—why didn't you kill me then?
Sasuke's chest heaved. The hate he'd sharpened for years met a truth too heavy to lift.
The "monster" he swore to slay had loved him more fiercely than anyone.
The world tilted. His two-tomoe spun—and clicked into three.
[System]: Segment complete. Next: Edo Itachi.
[Boruto]: "Edo Itachi"?
[Kakashi]:Edo Tensei. Impure World Reincarnation.
[Kakashi] (thinking): …Please don't tell me Itachi comes back later.
Rain hissed on burning bark.
Sasuke tore off his bandages, stepped from a shadowed alley like a poster boy for "brooding cool," and flash-fried a cluster of White Zetsu.
Empty streets. No people. Only thunder.
He drifted into the trees—froze.
A red cloak on a branch.
A profile he knew too well.
Itachi.
Time stuttered. In classrooms and war rooms alike, mouths fell open.
[Sarada]: Uncle… revived?
[Itachi]: Seems the future has someone abusing Edo Tensei.
[Naruto]: You're kidding—they brought back someone that strong?!
[Madara]: Strong? Hmph. Average at best.
[Raikage A]: Says the man who only speaks in flex.
[Pain]: If I had the chance, I'd face Uchiha Madara myself—god versus ghost.
Madara side-eyed the comment. Those Rinnegan? His. Borrowed glory shouldn't bark.
A few days earlier
Two legends—Itachi and Nagato—walked out of a copse, Edo ash flaking from their sleeves.
Ahead stood Naruto (KCM's golden glow still a rumor) and Killer B.
They clashed. Experience and pressure crushed the kids back step by step.
Killer B: "Yo—how'd Sasuke beat that guy back then?"
The answer arrived like a twist of fate.
Itachi rose onto the bird's crown, tomoe blossoming into Mangekyō—
and Naruto gagged.
A live crow clawed its way out of his mouth amid a very unheroic amount of drool.
[Hinata]: N-Naruto-kun… stomachache?
[Neji]: No. Genjutsu contingencies.
Shisui would've smiled.
[Shisui]: Itachi… you actually used it?
[Itachi]: …Yes.
The crow's eye shone emerald—Kotoamatsukami awoke.
Somewhere in a cavern of candles and coffins, Kabuto jolted.
One of his pieces had slipped the strings—became a player.
[Ōnoki]: ???
[Raikage A]: Can you stop speaking in puzzles and say it?
[Second Mizukage]: I don't get it—what just happened?
[Sarada]: Uncle, did you set a failsafe… to break Edo Tensei?
[Itachi]: Strictly speaking—yes. The strongest genjutsu: Kotoamatsukami.
Whispers spiked into gasps.
They finally remembered: Shisui had entrusted an eye to Itachi.
Back to the battlefield:
"Why did a crow fly out of me?" Naruto wheezed.
Blood traced from Itachi's eye. He met the crow's gaze—command accepted.
The geas didn't target an enemy.
It targeted Itachi himself: Protect Konoha.
The order overwrote Kabuto's control.
Chains shattered.
Edo Itachi stood—no longer a puppet.
[Neji]: …So even a caged bird can break fate.
Black flame flared—Amaterasu devoured the Cerberus heads in howls of cinder.
Naruto leapt clear to a swaying treetop.
Nagato's eyes narrowed. "That crow—yours. What did you do?"
Itachi's face was calm. "The right thing."
Far away, Kabuto's fingers twitched over talismans. "Impossible. No Edo breaks free—no one!"
Yet the board had changed.
[Kisame]: Heh. That's Itachi-san for you.
[Pain]: The future decays into sacrilege… but interesting.
[Shisui]: Go, Itachi. End the jutsu at its source.
Itachi looked to Naruto and B. "I'll handle the one pulling the strings. You two handle Nagato."
Golden chakra flared; inked octaves rumbled.
Four legends moved.
Somewhere behind them, Sasuke stared at the red cloak between branches.
Old hate, new doubt—colliding like thunderheads.
And deep underground, a serpent-smile widened.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested:
https://www.patreon.com/MugiwaraTL