At the summit of the cliffs of the Naka River, the night wind howled.
The turbulent black river rushes past below, crashing against the rocks and creating white foam.
In the shadows at the edge of the cliff.
A tall figure, clad in a black trench coat with red cloud patterns, stood silently against the wind, like a stone sculpture.
Uchiha Itachi tucked his hands into his wide sleeves.
The night wind ruffled two strands of black hair on his forehead.
His slightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open, and the crimson Mitsudomoe slowly swirled in his pupils.
Through the sight of Crow scattered in the dense forest behind Konoha.
Everything deep in the distant woods was reflected in his retina with perfect clarity.
In the picture.
That younger brother Sasuke Uchiha, who was once fragile, sensitive, and cried every day while immersed in nightmares.
He was currently shirtless, his muscular upper body exposed.
On his still-tender shoulders, he was carrying a hard, Black Iron Wood weighing several hundred pounds, gleaming with a dark luster!
Sweat poured down Sasuke's face like a torrential downpour.
It splashed onto the muddy mountain road, sending up faint steam.
His feet sank deep into the mud, and his whole body trembled violently.
But in those clear, black and white eyes...
Gone is the obsession and lifelessness torn apart by hatred of the past!
Instead, there is an unprecedented tenacity, passion, and vigorous masculine vitality!
Every step he took was as steady as iron.
Looking at my younger brother's energetic and healthy appearance.
Itachi's heart, riddled with holes from years of torment by darkness, self-blame, and pain.
At that moment, a long-lost sense of peace and tranquility welled up within me.
"Click, click..."
A crisp chewing sound broke the somber atmosphere on the cliff.
Kisame Hoshigaki stood half a step away from Itachi, his back tightly wrapped with thick Samehada.
He was holding a shriveled salted fish in his hand, chewing it so much that crumbs were falling out, while curiously peering down at Konoha.
They originally regarded Konoha as infiltrating the forbidden area.
Looking around now, everything is brightly lit.
Even in the dead of night, groups of burly male ninjas were seen running wildly through the streets and alleys carrying stones!
"This is truly bizarre, Mr. Itachi."
Kisame, revealing a mouthful of sharp, shark-like white teeth, and couldn't help but shake his head and loudly complain:
"Is this the Konohagakure you described, with its strict rules and emphasis on the inheritance of Ninjutsu?"
"How come this doesn't match up at all with the intelligence gathered by the Akatsuki?!"
"Looking around, you can't find a single ninja properly Hand Seals!"
Kisame bit off half of a dried salted fish, then pointed below and clicked his tongue in amazement:
"They're all shirtless, munching on huge chunks of roasted meat— Taijutsu lunatics!"
Even your once-neighborly young master brother has been turned into Kurozumi briquette!
"What kind of fake medicine did this place take? How did the whole village turn into a concentration camp of Taijutsu monsters?!"
Kisame's Samehada sword seemed to faintly sense the raging, powerful energy at the heart of Konoha, as vast as a boundless ocean.
It writhed and trembled restlessly beneath the bandages, emitting a low hiss.
Itachi ignored Kisame's sarcastic remarks.
His gaze was firmly drawn to a figure that suddenly appeared in the shared vision of the Crow.
On the open ground behind the mountain.
Sasuke finally completed the entire ten kilometers carrying the Black Iron Wood.
"Boom!"
The heavy wooden stakes crashed into the mud, raising a cloud of dust.
Sasuke collapsed onto the grass, utterly exhausted, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath.
Just then...
Accompanied by the casual clattering of slippers.
Senju Kenya, shirtless, wearing brightly colored floral shorts, and with a white jade pipe dangling from his lips, strolled over leisurely.
Kenya walked up to the limp Sasuke.
Without saying a word.
"Smack!"
With a powerful backhand slam, he smashed a dunk onto Sasuke's sweat-drenched back of the head!
"I told you to run ten kilometers, and you were as slow as a snail! Didn't you eat?!"
Kenya looked down at him and rebuked him.
Sasuke was so badly injured that he saw stars and yelled in pain as he jumped up from the ground.
His face flushed red, and he glared at Kenya with gritted teeth, clearly about to unleash his arrogant temper again.
However.
Before Sasuke could even shout it out...
As if by Kenya pulled out a whole roasted chicken from behind his back, golden brown and glistening with oil, brushed with Akimichi's secret sauce!
With a "thud," it was shoved directly into Sasuke's nose.
"Stop talking nonsense, finish this and get the rest of the five hundred squats done!"
The rich aroma of meat instantly and forcefully filled my nostrils.
Sasuke's face, filled with grief, indignation, and stubbornness, froze instantly.
His Adam's apple bobbed violently up and down twice.
The next second.
Uchiha Sasuke snatched the roast chicken, scrambled back onto the grass, and unceremoniously tore off a large chicken leg, stuffing it into his mouth and chewing it up!
While glaring fiercely at Kenya, he ate with his mouth full of oil, and even his Kakuzu involuntarily welled up with tears of satisfaction!
The "law of true fragrance" has been perfectly proven once again.
At the top of the cliff.
The night wind caressed Itachi's cold face.
The Crow silently observed this scene through its eyes.
Watching my younger brother, who was grumbling and swearing while devouring a roast chicken.
On Itachi's icy face.
An unusually gentle and relieved smile involuntarily appeared at the corners of his mouth.
once.
He believed that bearing all the darkness, turning the destruction of his family into a blade of hatred, and forcing Sasuke to awaken the Mangekyō in despair was the only way to save his brother.
But that painful path would only turn Sasuke into another demon consumed by fate.
And now.
That burly man named Senju Kenya used the most savage and down-to-earth big slaps and fragrant barbecue.
They forcibly pulled Sasuke out of the cold hell and stuffed him into a vibrant and passionate new world.
There is no need for genocide, no need for painful infighting.
Under the absolute invincible, all-encompassing iron umbrella of the Senju Clan.
Sasuke can finally grow up like a normal teenager, basking in the sunlight.
Itachi took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.
That self-destructive plan, meticulously planned for years, intended to cost him his life in the future to Awakening his younger brother.
At that moment, it vanished completely, turning into nothingness!
"Click."
Kisame swallowed the last bite of salted fish and patted the crumbs off his hands.
He gripped Samehada that was trembling behind his back, and his gaze pierced the night like lightning, fixing on the Senju compound in the center of Konoha.
Kisame grinned, indicating that he really wanted to compete with the man known as the Great Emperor in terms of physique.