Kotoamatsukami

On the other side.

"Itachi, give up. Do not remain obsessed. The village is not as wonderful as you think it is." Shisui flickered to the side, landing on a tree branch. His Mangekyo Sharingan glowed with a scarlet halo, reflecting Itachi's cold, stern expression below.

However, Itachi Uchiha did not listen, mindlessly unleashing ninjutsu and occasionally firing off an Amaterasu, though Shisui dodged them all with ease.

"Itachi! Why have you become like this!" Shisui's temper flared. Although he was famous for his Body Flicker Technique, that did not mean he was lacking in ninjutsu or taijutsu.

A scarlet light bloomed in Shisui's eyes as his Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly. "Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

Dense fireballs tore through the night, weaving a sea of flames across the forest.

Itachi Uchiha flashed, vanishing from his spot, only to appear behind Shisui a second later, his kunai gleaming with a chilling light.

Shisui's reaction was lightning-fast. His body leaned forward almost instinctively, and Itachi's kunai grazed the tips of his hair at the nape of his neck, severing a few black strands.

Shisui used the momentum to flip, planting his feet against the tree trunk and hanging upside down to deliver a fierce roundhouse kick.

Itachi dodged to the side, the Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes spinning violently once more.

"Amaterasu!"

Shisui's pupils contracted sharply; in this situation, there was no way he could dodge.

"I have no choice but to use this!" Shisui roared, his chakra surging out like a physical force as a pale green light exploded from beneath his feet.

The skeletal frame of his Susanoo took shape at a speed visible to the naked eye, its jagged ribs shielding him in the center while a massive chakra blade slowly coalesced in its right hand.

The black flames of Amaterasu instantly engulfed the Susanoo, the sound of burning and the humming vibration of bone weaving into a piercing sonic wave.

"Itachi, must you really go this far?!" Shisui's roar shook the withered leaves from the branches, and the left eye of his Susanoo suddenly ignited with a ghostly blue light.

Enduring the agonizing pain of overtaxing his ocular power, he poured his chakra into the blade.

The green blade of light, carrying the force to split mountains and shatter stone, slashed toward Itachi.

Facing this green blade, Itachi's chakra surged wildly, and an orange-red light erupted from beneath his feet, shooting toward the sky.

"Susanoo!" Amidst a hoarse roar, a giant skeletal frame took shape with a boom. The orange-red ribs shimmered with scorching radiance, resembling a towering fortress of fire that stood in stark contrast to Shisui's pale green Susanoo.

The green blade collided with the orange-red Susanoo, instantly erupting with an earth-shattering roar.

A powerful shockwave spread from the point of impact, snapping trees in half wherever it passed and turning them into a sky full of wood chips.

Both of their Susanoos trembled violently from the impact. Fine cracks appeared on Shisui's chakra blade, while the surface of Itachi's skeletal frame shed some of its orange-red light.

"Everything I have done is to protect Konoha! It is not I who has changed, but you!"

Itachi's voice echoed within his Susanoo, carrying an unquestionable firmness.

His Susanoo slowly raised its arm, a giant longsword wreathed in raging flames forming in its hand. "Are you going to betray the village!"

No sooner had he spoken than Itachi's Susanoo swung its sword. The flames, carried by a hurricane, tore through the night sky in a crescent shape, vaporizing the trees in their path.

A trace of sorrow flickered in the eyes of Shisui's pale green Susanoo as the chakra blade drew a defensive arc in front of him: "You have been blinded by lies!"

"It is you who is blinded!" Itachi roared angrily from within his Susanoo.

The Shisui he had once looked up to was now nothing more than a man whose mind had been clouded by clan interests.

He didn't understand the Will of Fire at all!

Only if the village existed could the clan exist.

That was what you said, Shisui!

Itachi was deeply disappointed.

The people in the clan did not understand him and thought he had betrayed them; he didn't care.

They were just a bunch of emotional lunatics, unworthy of judging him!

But Shisui was different. He was the guide of his childhood, the older brother who had taught him how to weave hand signs, the man who had once solemnly said under the moonlight, "The Will of Fire will illuminate every member of the Uchiha clan."

Looking at the cracks covering Shisui's Susanoo and the near-desperate sorrow in the other's eyes, Itachi's heart felt as if it were being gripped by an invisible hand.

The orange-red Susanoo suddenly accelerated its offensive, the giant flame sword hacking down repeatedly with scorching heat waves.

Shisui's pale green Susanoo barely parried, the cracks on the chakra blade spreading continuously, each collision numbing his hands.

"Itachi! Wake up!" Shisui's roar mingled with the booming of the Susanoo. "The current Konoha is not worth our protection!"

His only response was an even more violent attack.

Itachi's eyes were bloodshot, the flames of Amaterasu winding along the Susanoo's arm and gathering at the tip of the sword into a twisted vortex of black fire. "Shut up!" His voice had turned hoarse from the overuse of his ocular jutsu. "You are not worthy of talking to me about protection!"

Shisui gritted his teeth and gathered all his remaining chakra, the left eye of his Susanoo erupting with a dazzling, ghostly blue light.

The pale green chakra condensed into a shield on the blade, attempting to block the strike.

However, the moment the two forces collided, the shield shattered with a boom, and the orange-red blade pierced directly through the chest of the Susanoo.

The pale green light receded like a tide, and Shisui's true form plummeted from the sky.

He barely managed to stabilize himself by stabbing his kunai into a tree trunk, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth and dripping onto the Uchiha clan crest.

Itachi's Susanoo looked down at him from above, the tip of the flame sword pressed almost against his throat.

"Kill me, then..." Shisui raised his head, his Mangekyo Sharingan bleeding from overuse. "If this is what it takes for you to see the truth..."

The flaming longsword pushed forward an inch as it trembled; Itachi gritted his teeth hard, his chakra spiraling out of control and causing the flames of his Susanoo to surge violently.

"Goodbye, Shisui..." Itachi gazed into Shisui's eyes and spoke his final words.

Just as the tip of the blade was about to pierce Shisui's throat, a strange arc suddenly appeared on Shisui's blood-stained lips, and the Mangekyo in his eyes spun rapidly.

Given his current condition, it would be difficult to win a head-on confrontation with Itachi.

A single arm was, after all, too much of a limitation for a ninja.

To win, he could only rely on the ocular jutsu residing within his Mangekyo.

A powerful surge of ocular energy erupted from Shisui's Mangekyo.

The power of Kotoamatsukami, carrying the weight of all his chakra and will, broke through the defenses of Itachi's Susanoo.

Itachi's body jolted violently, his sword-wielding hand trembling uncontrollably, and the orange-red Susanoo shook intensely as its flames flickered on and off.

"This is..." Itachi's voice was filled with disbelief; he could feel something forcibly intruding into his consciousness.

"My Mangekyo ability, Kotoamatsukami..." Shisui did not offer much explanation.

"So that's how it is..." Itachi's voice was torn to shreds by a splitting headache, and the orange-red Susanoo crumbled inch by inch amidst a pale golden light.

Unless it was an absolute last resort, he truly did not want to use Kotoamatsukami on Itachi.

Although the effects of Kotoamatsukami were powerful, capable of forcibly altering a person's will, in Shisui's view, the person whose will had been changed was no longer truly themselves.

"Goodbye, Itachi..."