Itachi, Kakashi: How Can We Kill This Uchiha Madara?

And what was with that arm?

Uchiha Itachi saw Obito Uchiha's hand come into contact with Yamanaka Torune's Phosphorus Destroying Insects and immediately decay.

He knew about them—the Yamanaka Clan's secret technique, the Phosphorus Destroying Insects.

Once touched by them, one's flesh would rapidly deteriorate. After Yamanaka Fu had accidentally touched Yamanaka Torune, he had been tortured by the Phosphorus Destroying Insects until he screamed repeatedly.

Yet Obito Uchiha was completely unaffected. On the contrary, he simply detached his right hand and tossed it away like garbage.

There's something wrong with this Uchiha Madara's right hand. His arm can be detached so easily, and there wasn't even any blood. Uchiha Itachi calculated inwardly. That means his arm has undergone some kind of modification. It probably isn't normal flesh and blood—or rather, perhaps this is why Uchiha Madara has survived into this era. His body is no longer a human body.

Uchiha Itachi was hardly unfamiliar with human modification, but this Uchiha Madara's alterations were clearly unlike anything he had known before.

Still, it explained many things that had previously been impossible to explain. For example, how could a person live for over a hundred years? That was obviously utterly unreasonable.

Even if ninja possessed unimaginable, godlike power, they were still ordinary humans at the end of the day. They would still die if pierced by ninja tools like shuriken.

What about the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama? He had been called the God of Shinobi, invincible in the human world.

But so what? Hadn't he still died in his thirties? The Second Hokage was called the God of Water and was the fastest in the Shinobi World, yet didn't he die as well?

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had lived a long life, but he was already decrepit with age. How much of his former combat strength could he still possess?

But if one underwent some kind of inhuman modification, many problems could be explained.

Humans were bound by lifespan, so I'm not going to be human anymore!

Moreover, Uchiha Itachi was beginning to understand why Sasuke had gone astray instead of following the path Itachi had planned for him—to become Konoha's great hero. It most likely had something to do with this Uchiha Madara.

This Uchiha Madara must have bewitched Sasuke.

At that thought, Uchiha Itachi had already begun considering how to eliminate this Uchiha Madara. He would leave his ocular power in Sasuke's eyes, and the moment Sasuke came into contact with Uchiha Madara, he would activate Amaterasu through a Transcription Seal and kill him completely.

But that move was not foolproof either. The other party could also phase through things. Even if Amaterasu was known as the strongest physical attack, what could he do if the opponent phased into another space to evade it?

I need to find a way to estimate the duration of his phasing. Only by exploiting the timing gap will it be possible to kill this troublesome Uchiha Madara. Uchiha Itachi began planning in his heart how to deal with Obito Uchiha.

At the same time, Hatake Kakashi was also silently recording the information revealed by the scene.

He had the ability to phase through things, a mysterious space, and an arm unlike a human arm. He had likely undergone some kind of inhuman body modification, which was probably why he had survived until now. He had also participated in the Uchiha Clan massacre.

Judging from his conversation with Shimura Danzō, they must have been in contact before. It was highly likely that they had jointly brought about the destruction of the Uchiha Clan.

Danzō's hostility toward the Uchiha Clan was no secret among the Higher-ups. He had wanted nothing more than to wipe out the Uchiha Clan entirely, so it was entirely possible that he had taken part in their destruction.

Otherwise, the Uchiha Clan had been full of powerful fighters at the time. For the still-young Uchiha Itachi alone to slaughter the entire Uchiha Clan while leaving only Uchiha Sasuke alive was itself incredibly hard to believe.

The key was not that Uchiha Itachi could massacre the Uchiha Clan, but that not a single survivor had been left behind.

Clearly, Root had participated as well. That also explained the reason Kitahara Kaede had mentioned in his diary for the arm covered in Sharingan—because Root had taken part in slaughtering the Uchiha Clan, it had been able to gather so many Sharingan.

And this Uchiha Madara was very likely one of the participants from back then.

Then there was the clothing he wore. It was unmistakably Akatsuki attire: a Black Cloak with Red Clouds.

In other words, the three known parties involved in the Uchiha Clan's destruction were Uchiha Itachi, Danzō's Root, and the Akatsuki represented by this Uchiha Madara. Did Konoha's Higher-ups know about this?

Had Root's participation in the Uchiha Clan massacre been authorized by the Third Hokage? If that were true, it would be news that shook the entire Shinobi World.

How many secrets were hidden within all this was simply impossible to estimate.

This also answered one of Hatake Kakashi's questions. Akatsuki was an organization made up entirely of S-rank Rogue Ninja, with Kage Level strength as the bare minimum. Why were people like that flying, orange-haired powerhouse from last time, who kept shouting about carrying rice, able to gather in the same organization?

Because the organization had someone powerful enough to keep everyone in line. That person was none other than Uchiha Madara.

And the target of such an organization—or one of its targets—was the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. What exactly were they trying to do?

They would even invade Konoha in the future. The sheer value of the information contained here was staggering. Just thinking about it was enough to give Hatake Kakashi a splitting headache.

But as for Uchiha Sasuke, this was said to be a battle between him and Shimura Danzō, yet he had not appeared at all so far.

However, just as he thought that, after dealing with Shimura Danzō's two subordinates, Obito Uchiha entered the Kamui Dimension. There were two people inside: Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Karin.

The moment he entered, Uchiha Sasuke could not help saying, "Let me out."

Outside the scene, Hatake Kakashi made another note. This ninjutsu was likely Space-Time Ninjutsu, capable of transferring people into a special space. However, the space created by this ninjutsu seemed to be more than one. Yamanaka Torune and Yamanaka Fu, who had previously been sucked in, were not in this space. They had likely entered another space.

Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke did not recognize the two guards beside Danzō, but Hatake Kakashi, who had also served in Root and had been an Anbu Squad Leader, recognized them with ease.

They were Danzō's most trusted confidants!

The fact that neither of them was in this space already said a great deal.

Like Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi instinctively began analyzing how to deal with Obito Uchiha within such a space. If there was more than one such space, then the problem was enormous.

The opponent could imprison him in a mysterious space, completely cut off from the world. Even without fighting him, he could simply starve him to death.

What should he do? How could he break this deadlock?