Against ordinary genin and chūnin, the three-tomoe Sharingan is practically unbeatable. Only once you reach jōnin level do you have a real chance against it—and even then, it isn't easy.
Hozuki Castle is a prison; there aren't many strong shinobi there, hardly any jōnin at all. The whole place really runs on its warden, Mūi. His Fire Release: Heavenly Prison is basically a moving cell for restraining inmates.
"Kitazawa-sama."
Once they were on the boat, Uchiha Itachi spoke first. "I'll take the Anbu ahead to secure Hozuki Castle."
"Go ahead."
Kitazawa nodded.
The only shinobi in Hozuki Castle who could make Kitazawa lift a finger was Mūi, and even Mūi wasn't strong enough to be fun. Since he'd brought a whole squad of Anbu, there was no need to do it himself. He was Konoha leadership now; plenty of things could be left to subordinates.
Itachi vanished.
"Let's go."
Kitazawa looked toward the distant outline of Hozuki Castle.
"Sasuke!"
Uzumaki Naruto grabbed a pair of oars. "Race you to see who rows faster!"
"Idiot."
Uchiha Sasuke shot him a glance. "Rowing is about coordination, not speed."
"Really?"
Naruto scratched his head, then thrust a thumbs-up. "Then let's unleash the power of our youthful bond and row together!"
"…"
Sasuke couldn't be bothered to answer.
Their skiff slid toward the island where Hozuki Castle stood as the two of them rowed.
Time passed. About ten minutes later, they landed at Hozuki Castle. The guards who had been on the shore lay sprawled out, replaced by four Konoha Anbu.
"Kitazawa-sama."
The four Anbu bowed.
"Where's Itachi?"
Kitazawa stepped off the boat, asking casually.
"Itachi-sama is in the castle hall. He just finished fighting Mūi," one Anbu answered.
"Head to the hall," Kitazawa said, nodding. He led Hyuga Hinata and the others up the stone steps.
Architecturally, Hozuki Castle looked like an old fortress city, just on a smaller scale.
"Kitazawa-sama."
Itachi came forward to greet him.
"Nice work," Kitazawa said with a smile, then looked past him to the young man tied up in the center of the hall.
"That's Mūi, the warden of Hozuki Castle," Itachi introduced.
"Mm."
Kitazawa walked up to him.
"Your raid on Hozuki Castle violates the rules laid down by the great villages," Mūi said calmly, despite being a prisoner.
"You broke the rules first," Kitazawa replied evenly. "You fed Konoha inmates to the Box of Ultimate Bliss."
"You… how do you…?"
Mūi's face changed at once, sweat beading on his brow. When captured, he'd been stone-faced and unafraid, but the Box of Ultimate Bliss shook him. He wasn't afraid of being exposed—he was afraid Konoha would take the Box away.
The Box was his life's obsession and, more importantly, the only way to save his son, Muku. He could only hope Kitazawa and the others wouldn't find it. If they didn't, he might still bargain for his life.
"Kitazawa-sama," Itachi said at the right moment, "we've found the Box of Ultimate Bliss, but we can't move it for now. Please take a look yourself."
"Impossible," Mūi blurted, eyes wide. The Box's location was extremely secret—only he knew it in all of Kusagakure.
"Take me there."
Kitazawa ignored Mūi and followed Itachi down into an underground chamber.
In the dim hall sat a huge, ominous chest. It was jet black, with four faces carved on its sides—joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.
"That's the Box of Ultimate Bliss?"
Sasuke eyed it curiously. "So how does it grant wishes?"
"It isn't open yet."
Kitazawa stepped up, lifted Zangetsu, and brought it down in a heavy chop.
A shrill clang rang out. The Box didn't budge; it didn't even show a scratch—not a mark.
"As expected, very tough."
Kitazawa nodded, put Zangetsu away, and pressed his palm to it. Chakra flowed along the Box's surface in a circuit. He sensed an unknown sealing formula. To open it, you needed not only massive chakra but a specific technique performed by five people together.
He'd thought he might unravel it using his own knowledge of fūinjutsu, but it looked like that would be a time sink. Breaking an unfamiliar seal of this level would take too long.
"Itachi."
Kitazawa withdrew his hand. "The Box needs a specific ritual to open."
"Understood. I'll ask Mūi," Itachi said, turning to go.
Kitazawa wasn't worried about Itachi failing to extract the intel. The Mangekyō Sharingan was the best interrogation tool there was—no exaggeration; it outperformed Konoha's entire T&I division.
"Kitazawa-sama, is this S-rank mission really just us making a wish?" Naruto couldn't help asking as they waited. He'd expected an S-rank assignment where he could really cut loose, but so far there'd been no fighting at all.
Sasuke and Hyuga Neji also looked over. Now that Naruto had said it, they felt it too—this S-rank job seemed a bit too easy.
"Of course it's not just wishing," Kitazawa said with a shake of his head. "Be patient. You'll have something to do very soon."
They were still puzzled, but since Kitazawa said so, they held their tongues.
In under five minutes, Itachi returned, holding a scroll he handed to Kitazawa. "According to Mūi, he and four elders of Kusagakure each hold a part of the ritual. This is Mūi's portion."
Just as Kitazawa expected. He unrolled the scroll and, with his sealing expertise, immediately saw it wasn't complete. They'd have to visit Kusagakure and take the other parts from the four elders. Or… no, there was an easier way.
"Itachi," Kitazawa said, "take the Anbu to Kusagakure and collect the other pieces."
"Yes, Kitazawa-sama," Itachi replied, calm as ever. For most people this would be a hassle—dealing with four jōnin and prying a ritual out of them. For Mangekyō Sharingan? One glance would do.
Itachi left again. This trip would take longer.
Bored, Kitazawa studied the Box. He placed his palm on it again, this time pushing chakra inward. He instantly felt a powerful pull, greedily drinking his chakra.
"Born of Satori, moves with Satori, ends with Satori—make a wish, and all shall be yours."
A low, seductive voice echoed in his mind. Kitazawa cut off his chakra feed without changing expression and took two quick steps back. The Box shuddered, then went still. It wasn't actually open yet, so it couldn't suck him in. Even if it were, he could get clear in an instant and avoid ending up like Muku.
"Kitazawa-sama?"
Hinata noticed his movement and asked on reflex.
"Hinata," Kitazawa said as an idea struck him, "use your Byakugan on the Box."
Hinata activated her Byakugan at once and peered in. She blinked, then said, "Inside it is an incredibly dense, oppressive chakra—pure Yin Release."
Kitazawa nodded. Just as he thought. When chakra feels that cold and heavy, it's almost certainly Yin Release. Only in such an environment could "Satori" be born.
From the current signs, the Box matched his expectations. Forging two Yin-Release bows and having Satori create Yin-Release arrows should both be feasible. The only problem was how tough the Box was; whether you took it apart for materials or tried to shape it into a bow, it would be a headache.
Fortunately, as Konoha leadership, he could summon every smith and toolmaker in the village to brainstorm it.
Done examining the Box, Kitazawa opened the scroll and began learning the opening ritual. It wasn't that hard; it was only one-fifth of the whole and fairly simple in effect.
An hour later, Itachi returned with four more scrolls. Kitazawa read them all—much the same as Mūi's, different pieces of the same whole. Not hard to learn; half an hour, tops. And while the ritual called for five people, in theory five shadow clones with enough chakra would do the same job.
"Itachi, have the Anbu use Earth Release to lift the Box along with the slab of ground under it and move it outside to the open shore," Kitazawa ordered. He'd already checked: the Box wasn't fused to the floor. Itachi hadn't moved it earlier because it was just too heavy. Doton would solve that.
Also, fighting in an underground chamber was a bad idea—directly above them was the prison. If they released Satori, its size would likely wreck the castle, and the inmates would scatter. Huge hassle.
"Yes, Kitazawa-sama," Itachi answered immediately.
Kitazawa led Hinata and the others up ahead. While they moved the Box, he kept studying the ritual.
Soon the Box sat on open ground by the sea outside the castle.
"Opening it takes a lot of chakra. In a minute, all of you pour chakra into it," Kitazawa said, once he'd learned the full ritual.
"Yes, Kitazawa-sama."
Anbu began to assemble—twenty-four here, with four more still outside the castle.
Kitazawa formed a seal and split off four shadow clones. He glanced left and right, then suddenly thought of Samehada. The greatsword could absorb chakra and also spit it back to its wielder. But since it had been contracted to Naruto, it was basically one-way—Naruto almost never ran out of chakra, so he rarely needed Samehada to feed him.
"Naruto, lend me Samehada," Kitazawa said.
"Got it!"
Naruto unrolled a summoning scroll and brought out Samehada. The moment it appeared, it wriggled up to rub against him. Naruto grabbed its handle and passed it to Kitazawa.
"In a bit, dump all the chakra in your body into the Box," Kitazawa said, resting Samehada against the Box.
"…?"
Samehada, which had been thrilled, went stiff.
"Ready!"
Kitazawa and his four clones formed the ritual seals simultaneously. In a flash, the Box's surface bloomed with seal-patterns. A pitch-black aura gushed out and wrapped the Box. In the blink of an eye, it looked like some monster opening its maw in the dark.
"Feed it chakra!" Kitazawa shouted.
The Anbu thrust out their hands, chakra streaming into the Box like water. Samehada reluctantly opened its maw and poured a torrent of chakra in. The Box shuddered violently, its aura thickening and spreading, kicking up gusts of chill wind. Everyone felt a knot of unease press on their chests.
"Back up!" Kitazawa called. "But don't stop the chakra!"
The Anbu fell back, maintaining their output. Kitazawa and Itachi stayed put. Fortunately, the aura did nothing besides weigh on their emotions.
With a boom, the Box unleashed a powerful pulse of chakra—black, visible to the naked eye. The four carved faces opened their mouths. They weren't mouths so much as narrow tunnels filled to the brim with pure Yin Release chakra, black as pitch.
Kitazawa tossed Samehada back to Naruto. Naruto grabbed it; the sword had slimmed down noticeably. Back in his hands, it looked up at him pitifully. It had taken a beating—its hard-won reserves were gone. Naruto scratched his head and fed it chakra. Samehada perked right up, wriggling with pleasure. Delicious. It practically hummed, all its earlier grumpiness forgotten.
"Born of Satori, moves with Satori, ends with Satori—make a wish, and all shall be yours!"
With the Box open, the words that had whispered in Kitazawa's head now rolled across the island.
The Anbu glanced at one another. They had no idea if the promise was true, but they'd been trained well; none of them rushed the Box.
"Can it really grant wishes?" Sasuke asked, staring at the ominous black chest.
"This looks bad," Neji said, shaking his head.
"I suddenly don't feel like wishing anymore," Naruto muttered, instinctively repelled.
"Sasuke, you make a wish," Kitazawa said once he was sure it was fully open.
Sasuke blinked and stepped between Kitazawa and Itachi. He reflexively looked to his brother.
"With Kitazawa-sama and me here, you'll be fine," Itachi said, ruffling his hair.
"I wish to awaken the three-tomoe Sharingan!" Sasuke shouted. Strange as the Box was, if Kitazawa and Itachi said it worked, he believed them.
"As you wish," the Box replied.
Endless black chakra poured out, alive, and wrapped Sasuke. Itachi's three-tomoe Sharingan spun open. He frowned slightly; within the black chakra he sensed a hint of something off.
He thought of what Kitazawa had said—the Yin-Release monster, Satori. He didn't interfere. From what he could feel, it wasn't beyond his Mangekyō's ability to handle.
Sasuke clutched his forehead as an overwhelming surge of Yin power rammed into his eyes. Scarlet flared; his two tomoe opened by themselves and began to tremble violently. Then, at last, a third tomoe bloomed.
Sasuke shuddered as power flooded his body. He clenched his fist; he felt invincible.
"Lightning Release: Chidori!"
He thrust out his right hand. Black lightning crackled; the shriek of a thousand birds screamed in the air. The Chidori was larger than before. He couldn't help but grin. "Hahaha! So this is the three-tomoe Sharingan? I can see it—I can see everything!"
He let the Chidori fade and burst into laughter.
"Sasuke's off," Neji said, eyes narrowing.
"His laugh doesn't sound as youthful as before," Naruto said solemnly after watching a moment.
"…"
Neji twitched. That's the issue?
"How do you feel, Sasuke?" Itachi asked.
"Brother, I feel better than ever!" Sasuke drew a breath, then turned to Naruto. "Naruto, fight me again!"
Naruto glanced at Kitazawa. This Sasuke wasn't acting like himself.
"Go on," Kitazawa said with a nod. "Fight him."
"Careful, Sasuke," Naruto said, stepping forward.
"Hmph. You have no idea how strong the three-tomoe is," Sasuke said, lifting one finger, confidence surging through him. "I only need one jutsu to beat you."
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Hundreds of Narutos burst into existence.
"Shadow clones are worthless against me now," Sasuke said, forming a seal.
"Lightning Release: Chidori Current!"
Black lightning erupted from him in waves, rolling out like a stormy sea and swallowing Naruto's clones.
"What—!"
Naruto sprang back as the clones went down in a chorus of pops, all dispelled in an instant.
"How is that possible?" Neji's pupils contracted.
"Sasuke's chakra is way higher than before," Hinata said, Byakugan open in surprise.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Naruto dodged the lightning and split into two ranks of clones.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
The front rank clapped their hands and whipped up a storm.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Shuriken!"
The second rank hurled shuriken wrapped in wind chakra, their speed boosted by the gale.
"Pointless," Sasuke said, rushing in with the Sword of the Thunder God blazing in his hand. The shuriken storm missed; the wind battered him but broke on the lightning shroud around his body.
He dove into the clones, and his blade flared—black lightning writhed like a nest of vipers, tearing through them. Pop, pop, pop—Naruto's clones vanished in smoke.
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted. "You're pathetically weak now!"
Naruto's breath hitched under the pressure. He stared at Sasuke. "You're not Sasuke!"
"If I'm not Sasuke, who is?" Sasuke smiled brightly. "What's wrong—can't handle losing?"
"Naruto, fall back. I'll take it from here," Itachi said, flashing in front of him. He'd seen enough. This wasn't just Sasuke awakening three tomoe; more accurately, it wasn't Sasuke at all. Satori was driving.
"Brother, you want to fight me?" Sasuke said, brimming with confidence. "Even you—I can beat you now!"
"You're not Sasuke," Itachi said flatly.
"Brother, are you scared of being beaten by your dear Otouto?" Sasuke sneered.
"…"
Itachi simply raised his hand.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
He tipped back his head and spat a massive fireball. Sasuke slipped past it in a blur and appeared at Itachi's side, sword flashing down—Itachi scattered into crows.
Heat rolled. Sasuke turned to see countless fireballs blooming like a flower around him; he was at the center, flames converging from every direction. He slipped through them one by one.
"Something's wrong," Itachi muttered. Under normal circumstances, the three-tomoe couldn't so easily evade his Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson. Was that Satori's doing? He pictured Sasuke slipping through Naruto's hail of wind-charged shuriken earlier.
At that speed and density, he shouldn't have gotten through so cleanly. Satori was a Yin-Release construct—its power had to be Yin-related. Emotions? Itachi felt he was on the right track.
The shriek of birds split the air.
"Lightning Release: Chidori Senbon!"
Sasuke flicked his left hand and sent a cloud of lightning needles forward.
"Crow Clone Technique!"
Itachi burst into a swirl of crows. One of them flew straight into the needles—boom!—and exploded mid-air, swallowing the attack.
Sasuke's eyes darted. He smirked and spun, ready to speak—only to meet Itachi's three-tomoe straight on.
"Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique."
Itachi's tomoe shuddered; an invisible wave crashed into Sasuke's mind. Sasuke froze—then, in the space of a heartbeat, snapped free and drove his blade for Itachi's heart.
"As I thought."
Itachi slid back, the thrust missing. Normally Sasuke couldn't break his genjutsu instantly—unless he were a jinchūriki or something similar. In other words, Satori was inside him.
He'd also confirmed another point: Satori could read emotions. Show killing intent and it sensed it in advance, slipping away. The only way was to be desireless, to show nothing, and then strike.
"Tsukuyomi."
Itachi's eyes changed. The three tomoe spun and twisted together into a shape like a triangular shuriken.
If Konoha were still under Sarutobi Hiruzen with Shimura Danzo as his shadow, he wouldn't reveal the Mangekyō so casually—Shisui's stolen eyes were a warning he'd never forget.
But Tsunade and Kitazawa now ran the village; they weren't Hiruzen and Danzō, and they favored the Uchiha. The clan was at a peak—power, influence, and hope. Even if he showed Mangekyō, Tsunade and Kitazawa wouldn't covet it. He hadn't found the right chance before. Now he had.
Sasuke went rigid. Satori rushed to break the genjutsu—but the Box's oppressive Yin chakra suddenly surged for it. Satori sensed danger and abandoned Sasuke without a second thought, fleeing outward.
Sasuke screamed. Black chakra poured out of him like smoke and shot into the sky. A pair of huge, chicken-like black wings unfurled from a misshapen, fur-covered body.
Satori—the Yin-Release monster—was massive and grotesque. It had no head—or rather, its head and torso were fused. Wings sprouted from behind its "head." Its body was slender with enormous arms and legs.
Itachi dashed to Sasuke, checked him, and exhaled in relief. Sasuke had only passed out from losing too much chakra; otherwise he was fine. In fact, he had finally returned to normal—especially with that overwhelming aura gone. In simple terms, he'd dropped from jōnin level back to chūnin.
Satori roared and vomited a waterfall of black chakra down at the brothers.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Kitazawa formed a seal and raised a wall of water in front of them.
Itachi scooped up Sasuke and sprinted clear. The wall shattered with a crash; the black flood veered toward Kitazawa.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
Kitazawa tipped back and blasted a compressed orb of wind that detonated, shredding the black chakra.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
Kitazawa flicked his wrist, a storm of shuriken arcing up toward Satori.
"It—"
Itachi started to warn him about Satori's ability, then stopped. The cloud of shuriken struck home. Satori beat its wings at incredible speed, but still couldn't avoid them all. Itachi blinked, then relaxed. If he could figure out Satori's trick, so could Kitazawa.
Satori howled as blades peppered it, but aside from pain they did little.
"Its defense is high," Itachi said, flashing to Kitazawa's side.
"Satori's a Yin-Release construct. In theory, it can't be killed," Kitazawa said, already weaving seals.
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
Chakra condensed to the limit, and a high-pressure jet lanced from his mouth like an endlessly extending spear, punching through Satori's wing—then turned into the sharpest water blade and sliced down.
The wing sheared in half; Satori tumbled from the sky with a hideous scream. Even for it, losing half a wing was agony. And without it, it couldn't fly—straight into the dirt it went.
"...?"
Itachi gaped for a beat. He'd just said its defense was strong—then Kitazawa lopped its wing off. What kind of Suiton had that kind of cutting power? He doubted even his Susanoo could tank it.
"Regeneration's no joke, either," Kitazawa said, forming seals again.
"Lightning Release: Kirin!"
Dazzling lightning filled the sky. Itachi held back; the strike would cover too wide an area—he'd only get in the way.
Satori sensed the danger. It roared; its severed wing regrew in an instant. It beat those wings and lunged for Kitazawa—just as the lightning peaked and a great thunder beast plunged down. Satori disappeared beneath blinding light.
"What jutsu is that?" Neji said, dumbfounded.
"So cool!" Naruto blurted, awestruck. Hinata nodded without thinking. It was their first time seeing Kirin, and it was overwhelming.
When the light faded, Satori was a shredded mess, flesh hanging. But the black chakra visibly knitted it back together. It heaved itself up, fixing Kitazawa with a murderous glare. Twice now it had been hammered; it seethed with hatred.
"Let me try," Itachi said, steadying himself.
"Amaterasu."
Black flames bloomed on Satori and raced across its body. A sea of black fire spread over the ground; Satori shrieked and thrashed like a lone boat in a storm.
Amaterasu—the Mangekyō's ultimate physical attack, an unquenchable flame. There were ways to counter it in the original records, but Satori had none of them.
"Looks effective," Itachi thought, a little easier. Satori burned, flailing, then crashed to the ground—but the fire didn't go out. Just then, the Box shuddered and belched thick black smoke from the four open mouths.
The smoke wrapped Satori; the flames stuttered. They still burned, but couldn't reach Satori anymore, locked in a stalemate with the smoke. The burns underneath began to heal rapidly.
Itachi's pupils tightened. Trouble.
"You hold it. I'll seal it," Kitazawa said, pulling out a specially prepared sealing scroll. Normally, sealing something this big required a suitable vessel—a jinchūriki, for example.
But Kitazawa intended to seal Satori into a Yin-Release bow he would forge later. If he sealed it in a host now, removing it would kill the host. And he didn't have a prepared host anyway. Fortunately, Satori wasn't a tailed beast; it wouldn't be that complicated.
Itachi hesitated for a heartbeat—how did Kitazawa know he could pin Satori? Then it clicked. Kitazawa was Tsunade's student and Konoha's leadership; of course he knew about the Mangekyō. If Itachi had revealed it, Kitazawa had recognized it.
"Susanoo!"
Itachi stopped thinking and unleashed a torrent of chakra that formed a half-bodied giant—red chakra armor outside, fleshy chakra innards within. Most Susanoo users showed five forms in total; this was the second.
Aside from Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Sasuke, others in the records rarely got past the third. Itachi had only shown a complete-body Susanoo in official game materials. For Satori, the second form was enough.
Susanoo's hands clamped down, one on each side, and slammed Satori to the ground. Satori thrashed, the earth shaking under its bulk. It roared, blasting its black chakra straight into Susanoo. Boom Susanoo shuddered; a deep crater punched into its red armor. Itachi grunted, but didn't give an inch.
"Four Symbols Seal!"
Kitazawa's hands danced; black sealing formulae raced over Satori. Satori sensed danger, abandoned its assault on Susanoo, and hurled its black chakra at Kitazawa instead—
"Yata Mirror!"
A huge red mirror—more shield than mirror—unfolded before Kitazawa. One of Itachi's Susanoo treasures. Besides the Yata Mirror, he also wielded the Totsuka Blade.
Seals covered Satori from head to toe; it went rigid. The scroll unfurled on its own, chakra pouring out to engulf its body. Despair crossed Satori's face. Its hulking frame shrank, sucked into the scroll.
For safety, Kitazawa layered on another Four Symbols Seal. In the original accounts, Minato and Kushina had used the Eight Trigrams Seal to place the Yang Nine-Tails in Naruto's body—the Eight Trigrams was effectively two Four Symbols seals combined, though not slapped on crudely like a composite ninjutsu.
Kitazawa didn't know the Eight Trigrams, so he used the blunt method. Satori wasn't the Nine-Tails; it wouldn't break two layers of Four Symbols.
Kitazawa stowed the scroll and looked to the Box. With Satori gone, the four faces closed and the Box shut again.
"Is it over?" Neji asked, a bit dazed. Other than Naruto and Sasuke trading blows, he and Hinata had done nothing—less than background extras.
"Sasuke's nii-san is amazing!" Naruto said, staring at Susanoo.
"Kitazawa-sama is amazing too," Hinata added.
What even was that technique? Neji's gaze slid to Susanoo—and to Itachi's eyes. Weren't they supposed to be three-tomoe?
Seeing Satori sealed, Itachi dispelled Susanoo and walked to Kitazawa, opening his mouth, then closing it again. He'd thought to explain the Mangekyō and Susanoo, but Kitazawa hadn't asked. That fit his guess—Kitazawa already knew.
"I'll check on Sasuke," Kitazawa said with a nod, moving to Sasuke's side. Itachi hurried after him. Kitazawa laid a hand on Sasuke's forehead; soft green chakra flowed in. A moment later, Sasuke's eyes opened.
He shook his head, grabbed his eyes—and then memories slammed into him. He'd fought Naruto—and Itachi? And worse than the fighting, he'd mouthed off to both of them. His face flushed; he turned away, unable to meet their eyes.
A gloomy aura rippled; three tomoe surfaced in each of his eyes. Kitazawa felt something subtle. Had the eyes opened because of the Box—or because guilt toward Itachi and Naruto pushed him over the edge? Either way, his system task was complete.
~~~
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