The Matter Concluded and Farewell

Killer B walked out of the ruins, brushing the dust from his body. His sunglasses had flown off somewhere, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes, but his expression was far more relaxed than before. Samehada trembled slightly in his hand, as if celebrating their victory—or urging him to leave this dangerous place quickly.

"Hehe... you damn fool, it's finally over." Killer B walked up to Naruto and placed one hand on his shoulder. "Kid, you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mr. B," Naruto answered, but his eyes never left Itachi.

Itachi turned around to face Naruto. Moonlight fell across his face, making his gray-white skin, covered in the cracks of Impure World Reincarnation, especially clear. His Mangekyō Sharingan had returned to its normal black, the Three Tomoe slowly turning within his pupils, with no more blood seeping from them. His expression was calm—too calm for someone who had just broken free from death and control.

"Naruto," Itachi called his name.

"Yeah."

"That crow," Itachi said, "was something I placed inside you when you were still a Genin."

Naruto froze for a moment. He remembered—the road outside Konoha that night, years ago, when Itachi and Kisame had come for him. Itachi had used Tsukuyomi on him, making him endure seventy-two hours of torment. But afterward, something had entered Naruto's body. At the time, he had assumed it was some lingering effect of Tsukuyomi and paid it no mind. Now he understood. It had been a seed Itachi left behind, one that had waited for years.

"In that crow's eye," Itachi continued, "was Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan. The strongest genjutsu Shisui entrusted to me—Kotoamatsukami. It can implant a genjutsu that 'changes the target's will' without them realizing it." He paused. "I placed it inside you to prevent Sasuke from going down the wrong path.