A Strange Battle

Ninjas had been around for a very long time, and the way they fought had changed little over the years.

When Uchiha Itachi attended the Ninja Academy, he sometimes read lessons recorded by people decades earlier. Even after all that time, they remained useful.

But this was different. In all the centuries past, an ordinary shuriken had never turned into a Fuma Shuriken in the blink of an eye, nor had walls and rooftops suddenly vanished.

Uchiha Itachi urged himself to adapt to fighting inside Tsukuyomi. He threw another volley of shuriken, and once they were airborne, they too became Fuma Shuriken.

But his opponent's Fuma Shuriken turned into bursts of the Great Fireball Technique. Formless flames broke through the solid shuriken and exploded against Sasuke.

The attack failed to achieve its intended effect. At the last instant, Itachi opened his mouth and expelled a torrent of cold water that enveloped him and Sasuke.

With Water Release in the way, the blazing fireballs raised only a cloud of steam. Then the rising steam abruptly changed shape, becoming sharp ice crystals that flew toward the Uchiha Itachi who had attacked Sasuke.

He had never actually met anyone from the Yuki Clan of the Land of Water, but his two former teammates from Kirigakure had described them well enough for him to imagine how they fought. Here, imagination was the strongest weapon.

An Earth-Style Wall rose abruptly to block the ice crystals. When they touched the thick, damp earth, the ice slowly melted into water. The water gathered again, pooling into an enormous Water Prison that threatened to swallow the wall and Itachi together.

But the Earth-Style Wall began to change shape. It became a dam, blocking the water's rise, while its soil loosened and absorbed every drop.

Then he saw Sasuke