Itachi and Naruto Face Each Other Head-On

A narrow path lay shrouded in a faint shadow.

A golden figure appeared in Uchiha Itachi's field of vision.

Namikaze Naruto!

The moment he saw who had arrived,

Uchiha Itachi's expression didn't change. His lips moved slightly as he murmured the name in a voice only he could hear.

From the moment he had infiltrated the area to Naruto's arrival,

not even a minute had passed.

Though he had prepared himself for this possibility from the start,

seeing Naruto appear before him so quickly

still stirred a faint ripple in Uchiha Itachi's heart.

Naruto felt much the same.

The chakra he sensed.

The unusual fluctuation.

It wasn't a hundred percent certain,

but even when he'd all but confirmed it,

Naruto had still clung to the faintest sliver of hope.

The moment he saw Uchiha Itachi in person, however, that hope shattered completely.

Still, at least the worst possible person hadn't shown up.

Though Uchiha Itachi was an exceptionally troublesome and complicated figure at this stage, overall, he was still a gray presence whose loyalties remained unclear. If Uchiha Obito had appeared before Naruto instead,

there would have been only one outcome.

The clash would have erupted ahead of time!

In other words,

Uchiha Itachi's arrival

was, among all the outcomes Naruto had imagined, barely the least terrible—in other words, a small mercy amid misfortune.

"Uchiha Itachi!"

Naruto looked at the young man before him, dressed in the red-and-black Akatsuki Cloak marked with the organization's clouds. The youth's face was calm, but Naruto's eyes held a trace of wariness and cold menace as he spoke softly.

"Looks like I was right. Uzumaki—no, Namikaze Naruto! Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki!"

Uchiha Itachi seemed entirely unbothered by Naruto's knife-sharp gaze. His expression remained placid as he turned fully to face him and spoke in an