Just as the few of them were still reeling from Mei Terumi's transformation, the atmosphere at the other end of the battlefield was strangely tense.
In Uchiha Itachi's eyes, the Three Tomoe slowly turned.
His gaze finally shifted from the man's empty sleeve to his face.
Looking at those familiar yet unfamiliar features, and those Rinnegan and Mangekyo eyes brimming with impossibly complex emotions...
At last, his gaze fell on the Kusanagi Sword in the man's hand...
He gradually pieced together a truth that seemed almost impossible.
This is... Sasuke?!
At the thought, Itachi's body jolted!
The perpetually icy mask on his face cracked for the first time.
"You..."
He stood and walked toward Sasuke, his voice hoarse in a way even he hadn't noticed.
Whoosh!
In almost an instant, he pushed off the ground and appeared right in front of him.
"Your eyes... your arm... and the way you're looking at me..."
He murmured, reaching out, but stopped halfway.
"So—who exactly are you?!"
At his words, the future Sasuke tightened his grip on the Kusanagi Sword and pressed his lips together.
Under Itachi's gaze, which seemed to see through everything, his attempt to hide the truth felt utterly futile.
Behind the bangs covering his Rinnegan, wave after wave of complicated emotions churned.
There was... twenty years of pent-up hatred and pain!
And an even deeper longing.
If Uchiha Jin inspired nothing but affection and nostalgia in Sasuke, then... Itachi made him love and hate him at once.
Those complicated feelings had been inevitable ever since the Night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre.
So, after taking several deep breaths, he abruptly turned his head away and deliberately lowered his voice. "It has nothing to do with you."
"Answer me!! Look me in the eye!"
But Itachi seemed to have confirmed