"Susanoo?"
"So he can activate Susanoo at barely over ten years old? Itachi really is a genius…"
"And his younger brother actually forced him to this point."
"The Uchiha clan's combat power is completely broken, hahahah—huh?! Damn it!!"
At the edge of the Uchiha compound, a masked man in a black cloak had been watching with relish, nodding as he critiqued the fight like a spectator.
But in the very next second, he saw something he couldn't believe.
So shocking that he actually swore.
In his sight, the Susanoo enveloping Itachi was snapped apart by a single palm strike.
Yes—snapped apart.
The recoil alone was enough to make the already frail Itachi spit blood and pass out.
Obito narrowed his eyes, his face behind the mask probably not even sure what expression to wear.
Breaking Susanoo with bare hands?!
Bro—what are you, Hashirama?!
No… wait.
That crimson chakra!
Obito instantly realized something was off. His gaze locked onto the red chakra coating Ren.
Behind the mask, his startled eye turned scarlet in an instant.
"That is—Nine-Tails power?!!"
"Damn it. How does this guy have the Nine-Tails' power?!"
The moment he understood, he couldn't hold back anymore and flashed forward.
If it was truly Nine-Tails power, Ren really could crush Itachi to death with a single squeeze.
And Obito wasn't about to let the helper he'd worked so hard to recruit die here.
Whoosh.
In the next instant, only a ripple of warped space remained where he'd stood.
At the same time—before the ancestral shrine.
Just as Ren was about to move, a sharp voice suddenly cut in at his ear:
"Stop!"
So you finally showed up, Obito.
A faint curve rose at the corner of Ren's mouth.
But his hand didn't loosen at all.
He kept Itachi clenched in his right hand and turned to face the direction of the voice.
There, a masked man in a black cloak emerged quietly.
Obito.
Or rather, the man currently parading around under the name "Uchiha Madara," scamming the world with it.
"Should I just keep this guy here?"
A sudden, crazy thought surfaced in Ren's mind.
With the abilities he had now, it might not be impossible to keep Obito here—permanently.
And if the chain reaction played out right… maybe even Madara would be forced to stay obediently buried in his coffin.
Of course, Obito didn't know any of that.
He stood ten meters away and rasped at Ren:
"He's your biological brother. You can't kill him."
Ren's sheer abnormality made even Obito feel a wary, "don't-touch-that" kind of caution.
With no other option, he tried the family angle—hoping to save Itachi through sentiment.
Unfortunately for him, it didn't work.
Since when did Obito start doing "family values"?
Ren casually shook the unconscious "One-Tap-Seven" in his grip, utterly unconcerned.
"Precisely because he's my big brother. Otherwise I would've strangled him to death back when we were kids."
That, at least, wasn't a lie.
The best way to deal with danger was to crush it in the cradle.
"Sentiment? Good. Sentiment is good."
But Ren's answer made Obito relax for real.
He brushed at the hem of his cloak and pointed toward the front courtyard—where countless clan members lay unconscious.
"As the clan head's son, can you bear to watch the entire Uchiha clan vanish inside Itachi's Tsukuyomi?"
"That illusion… is something only Itachi can Lift—only he can release it."
"As long as you hand Itachi over to me, I'll have him undo the illusion for them. How about it?"
He pointed directly at Itachi.
The message was obvious:
Don't hurt him. Or your clan will stay trapped forever.
It was a naked threat.
Fugaku was the first to react.
He opened his mouth to speak—then felt as if something had lodged in his throat.
No sound came out.
Emotionally, he didn't want to see brothers killing each other.
As clan head, he didn't want the clan to die like this, either.
But…
He hesitated.
Ren had stopped Itachi. As a father, Fugaku couldn't afford to "choose wrong."
After a moment, he made a decision: he lowered his head and said nothing.
"Genjutsu? Is Tsukuyomi really that strong?"
Behind Ren, the crimson chakra hand jostled Itachi like he was nothing more than an object—cold, careless, without a trace of mercy.
"Cough—cough…"
Maybe the shaking was too rough.
Itachi, who'd been unconscious, slowly came to.
And very quickly he understood what was happening.
His usually calm eyes filled again with shock and disbelief.
He hung limp in Ren's grip, but his gaze stayed fixed on his younger brother—full of awe, surprise, fatigue, and something complicated.
Finally he steadied himself and spoke softly:
" Ren. Put me down. I'll undo the genjutsu on the clan."
"You'll undo it? Why would I need you to undo it?"
Ren rejected him without hesitation.
The words made the other three Mangekyō-bearing Uchiha present completely freeze.
Fugaku scratched his head, his square face openly puzzled.
"Does this kid… actually have insane genjutsu too? That can't be right—I've never seen him train it."
"And besides… Itachi's genjutsu… even I would—"
"Is he seriously planning to compete with Itachi in genjutsu?"
Obito loosened his grip on the war fan at his back, almost wanting to laugh.
He'd observed Itachi for a long time.
He knew Itachi was the true genius of the Uchiha.
And what were the Uchiha best at?
Genjutsu.
In Obito's eyes, Itachi's genjutsu was already at the peak.
As for why Tsukuyomi had failed at first—Obito simply assumed Ren had resisted it with Mangekyō.
Resist, sure.
But that didn't mean you could match it.
In Ren's grip, Itachi couldn't help letting pride and confidence show.
" Ren… my genjutsu isn't something ordinary people can break. You might be able to resist it, but breaking through—"
Ren rolled one shoulder and casually pointed behind himself.
"I never said it'd be me."
"…What?" Itachi slowed his breathing, eyes sharpening as he observed.
Creak… creak…
Then, from behind the building, the sound of a wheelchair dragging across the ground approached.
A man with messy bangs and bandages over his eyes slowly rolled closer.
"Shisui? You're here to help me too? That's great—cough, cough!"
Itachi's eyes flashed as he called out—but the shaking in Ren's grip made him gulp down too much air.
He choked hard, his face going pale-green from it.
In a rush, he could only tilt his gaze downward—
And in that instant, he froze.
In his vision—
Behind the bandages, a three-tomoe scarlet eye spun—
And transformed into four blade-like shapes.
"This is…"
"Kotoamatsukami?!"
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