Landing from Susanoo's palm, Kisame looked up at Itachi's clone, formed from a flock of crows.
Itachi left chakra inside me beforehand, set to trigger a Crow Clone just before I was killed... but when did he do it?
As Kisame pondered, a detail from yesterday drifted back to him... when Itachi had said goodbye to him in the rain, he had seemingly rested a hand on his shoulder without thinking!
Ah, so that was when! Itachi foresaw that Sasuke would come after me, so he prepared this safeguard!
Itachi's Crow Clone had witnessed the entire third match through Kisame's eyes. Looking at his familiar yet unfamiliar younger brother, enveloped in Susanoo, he sighed with heartfelt emotion. "Sasuke, you really have grown stronger..."
Sasuke's heart was equally conflicted. Since his rebirth, he had imagined countless reunions with Itachi, but he had never expected it to happen at this time, in this form.
He had so much he wanted to tell Itachi, but not now, and certainly not while facing a clone!
So... Sasuke clenched his fists, forcibly suppressing the tangled emotions in his heart, and asked in as calm a voice as he could manage:
"Itachi, you didn't plant something like this on Kisame Hoshigaki just to offer that little observation, did you?"
Itachi sighed. "You really have changed, Sasuke. Even in these circumstances, you can restrain your killing intent instead of striking down this clone of mine!"
Sasuke's fists tightened further. "If you don't start talking, I really will attack that clone of yours...!"
Itachi grew serious. "Come alone to the Uchiha Hideout in one month. There, we will settle everything between us once and for all. But for me to be able to keep that appointment, I need you to agree to one thing."
Sasuke asked, "What is