Dim lamp light barely reached the rows where Sarada wandered. Plenty old medical books, but they didn't interest her. Lines from Konoha Medical Herald she'd read long ago resurfaced, but as before, Sarada didn't grasp meaning.
How'd Mom make sense of this?
Eyes adjusted to semidark, reading titles easier. Crumpled scroll "Anthology." Beside—book "Pediatric Heart Pathologies." Bundle old Konoha Medical Herald issues.
Not it, none it!
Sarada wiped dust from spines with fingers, dug deep into shelf piles, involuntarily swallowing airborne dust.
"History of Poisons. Downfall of Great Feudals." Sarada yanked the scroll, unrolled it on floor, adjusted glasses, read avidly. History and history. Poisoning cases, superficial symptom descriptions, some herb names. Nothing specific. Not it! She carelessly rerolled and shoved back in gap.
Excitement gripped her. If they fought poison... she urgently needed to learn all about poisons.
Sarada ruthlessly dumped Herald bundle from shelf and climbed halfway in. Dug out deep scrolls. Opened. Not it.
Moved to another shelf.
Just hope Aoba-san lingers here longer.
"Toxin Extraction Methods."
Toxins. Toxins like poisons.
Sarada opened crumbling book with torn spine.
"...gut microorganisms penetrate walls into bloodstream and spread through corpse hours after death. Under bacterial enzymes, putrefaction begins. Thus toxic compounds form in dead bodies, hindering researchers from detecting some poisons in rotting organs and tissues..."
Sarada clamped mouth, stifling nausea surge. Nervous tremor gripped again. Flipped page hoping for poison info.
"...in putrefaction, corpses dehydrate. Thus favorable for worms and mold fungi. Worms may devour..."
Sarada skimmed far ahead.
Myriad corpse poison extraction methods, each poison type its own. Not it. Not what she needed. Sarada slammed book and angrily hurled to shelf. Loose pages scattered.
Forehead beaded cold sweat. Still queasy from reading.
"They found Shisui's body..."
She wanted to scream, sob, but just clenched teeth tighter.
Keep searching, shannaro!
****
Danzo snorted.
"So you killed Suguru?"
"Yes."
Itachi prepared for this meeting, not to fall stupidly like Shisui. He always knew his ex-ANBU partner was Aburame clan, but that his insects were venomous...
"Revenge?"
"More precaution."
Indeed, precaution. So he wouldn't get underfoot with his kikaichu swarm. To protect Sasuke and Sarada. But watching Suguru burn in Amaterasu black flame, with all his venomous bugs—somewhat pleasurable, as Shisui half-avenged.
Danzo swiftly formed seals, leaped to clearing edge with unexpected agility for age, fired wind bullets. Itachi didn't budge.
Wind bullets... I know this technique. Doesn't need so many seals. Something off.
Bullets pierced body; clone turned crow flock. Danzo froze, scanning for foe. Ripped face bandages.
"Sharingan!" Itachi realized. "The one he stole from Shisui?"
No time lurking in branches.
Crows scattered through forest regrouped toward Danzo, but he inhaled deep and exhaled forcefully. Transparent Wind Release blades whirled, flew directions slicing hapless flock. Danzo kept them at bay. As exhale ended, Itachi hurled exploding seal kunai at his back.
Danzo ducked, slammed hands to ground. Kunai flew over head; seal exploded meters ahead, but earthen shield saved man.
Itachi couldn't shake the question nagging at him: why was only Danzo fighting? Why weren't the others attacking? Something was clearly being planned, and he still couldn't figure out what.
Not Kikaichu. Suguru was gone. Not Kotoamatsukami. Shisui's eye hadn't recovered yet.
But how many more aces did the leader of Root Anbu have up his sleeve?
Danzo emerged from behind the earth shield's cover and scanned on the move for where the enemy was hiding. Their lines of sight crossed for just an instant. The old man surely hadn't even noticed it, but Itachi didn't miss his chance.
Mangekyo Sharingan.
Tsukuyomi.
It was an utterly unusual sensation. Sharp pain in his eyes, his chest muscles and lungs filling with leaden heaviness, as if Itachi were breathing not air, but metal.
Control over space and time.
"The strongest genjutsu user, a shinobi who commands time," Danzo had called Shisui.
But none of them had any idea that in truth, it wasn't Shisui of the Body Flicker Technique who commanded time—it was him, Uchiha Itachi.
He created the world of Tsukuyomi for his victim, and in that moment, his consciousness split. The second, splintered fragment of consciousness—tiny and minuscule—controlled that world, lived through it all itself, then dissolved back into his mind, gradually losing its memories. Itachi kept the most important parts in his memory, ruthlessly killing off the rest. What use was there in remembering monotonous tortures that dragged on for weeks? Those memories were utterly useless to him, just cluttering his head and wasting memory.
Naive fools. They thought Shisui could move a person through time. But Itachi knew: it was impossible. Only someone behind the scenes of the world, crafting the timeline itself and unbound by it, could control time. Someone ordinary people would call a god.
For the world of Tsukuyomi, he himself was that god. He created both space and time within it. Sure, it was slowly killing him, but the sense of power over the world—even through the metallic heaviness in his lungs—brought Itachi a little closer to the level and understanding of higher beings, one of which Sarada had once encountered.
The ability to create one's own world. The power of gods.
How did it awaken in me?
In Tsukuyomi, Danzo was drawn to the cross. Why invent something new? Itachi was never inspired by pointless cruelty, so he didn't put much thought into seeking fresh torture methods in Tsukuyomi.
And so...
But something disrupted the fabric of reality. Tsukuyomi suddenly emptied. If not for the splinter of personality—whose perception of time was more sensitive—Itachi might not have noticed it at all.
Danzo's consciousness had vanished from Tsukuyomi.
Had he broken the technique using Shisui's eye? Itachi never would have thought a man not born into...
He suddenly realized it wasn't Shisui's eye. Danzo hadn't just vanished from Tsukuyomi—he had physically disappeared from in front of him. And only by surfacing on the heightened sensitivity of that lingering splinter-personality, still sustaining the now-empty Tsukuyomi, did Itachi catch sight of Danzo appearing behind him, very close.
Tsukuyomi consumed far too much chakra. It was impossible to overcome the technique, and Itachi hadn't anticipated a sudden counterattack from his victim: things usually ended after Tsukuyomi. He'd long since pinpointed and controlled the positions of the Root members. Danzo appearing at his back was completely unexpected.
Itachi couldn't instantly switch from Tsukuyomi to other techniques. He had only a fraction of a second to react. In the last moment, he managed to twist slightly and redirect the lethal strike with his elbow. The kunai tore his cloak and sliced open the skin on his side. Danzo's leg whistled past his nose, but Itachi managed to lean back out of the way.
Damn. Exposed!
Danzo immediately capitalized and smashed his heel into Itachi's cheek.
The last seconds were enough to fully dispel Tsukuyomi, and Itachi repaid the hit in full: he spun and drove his foot into Danzo's solar plexus. Pain lanced through his wounded side from the sharp motion, but Itachi endured. Danzo flew back and hunched slightly, gasping for air in spasms. Itachi hurled shuriken. Too fast for the immobile Root members to react. Danzo, still choking and recovering from the previous blow, couldn't dodge: even in the backlash from Tsukuyomi, Itachi managed to act almost instantaneously.
The Root leader crumpled to the ground with a shuriken in his forehead. Other shuriken protruded from the white crumpled fabric of his clothes all over his body, dark amorphous bloodstains spreading around them.
Now it was over. But it was still dangerous.
His bruised cheek throbbed, an unpleasant metallic taste of blood in his mouth. His eyes ached. A sharp chakra depletion washed over his entire body.
He still didn't fully understand how Danzo had escaped Tsukuyomi and appeared at his back. It wasn't a clone. Itachi wouldn't mistake a clone—he had precise control over the chakra signatures around him.
Genjutsu?
No.
Even with Shisui's eye, a man without Uchiha blood and body couldn't unlock the full potential of the stolen eye.
And those Root members lurking around. Why were they calmly watching their leader get killed without intervening? Still not intervening. Obviously because he'd given them the corresponding command. The uncertainty kept Itachi from fully relaxing.
Something was off.
He hypnotized Danzo's body. A sparse drop of blood trickled down the old man's wrinkled forehead skin from the base of the shuriken.
Unnecessary seals. Then Tsukuyomi. Inactive Root.
Danzo's body turned transparent and vanished like a ghost.
No way. That technique...
Itachi spun sharply, hurling shuriken mid-turn. Danzo had appeared at his back and was just about to attack, but now he had to defend.
Izanagi. But how?
Chakra hadn't properly started recovering after Tsukuyomi, but Itachi still managed a minor genjutsu. The Root leader parried the attack and once again involuntarily met his gaze. Yeah, completely avoiding eye contact with the enemy was an art, and Danzo had never fully mastered it.
Itachi hurled more shuriken. The old man, overcoming the extremely weak genjutsu, managed to deflect them. The last spinning shuriken didn't wound him, merely slicing the bandages on his right arm, which fell away to reveal unnaturally pale skin.
That was exactly what Itachi had aimed for.
From Danzo's hand, bulging Sharingan stared at him: from the palm nearly to the shoulder on both sides. The wrinkled skin around them folded into creases. Danzo had reaped no small benefit from the Uchiha clan tragedy.
How could a man not of the clan wield that many eyes so skillfully?
Danzo glanced irritably at his exposed arm. He realized Itachi now knew what technique had tried to outwit him and would act more wisely.
One, two... seven... nine... He'll keep resurrecting until he uses them all. Damn. I miscalculated and put myself at a disadvantage. Tsukuyomi was a mistake.
Itachi gritted his teeth and glared sidelong at his enemy.
"Figured it out, huh?" Danzo said with a smirk. "You've spent a lot of chakra, Itachi. Let's end this fight. I don't want to kill you—you can still be useful to Konoha."
Got it. That's why you're so aggressively coming after me. You have plenty of attempts, and you're confident.
Chakra began to recover bit by bit. Itachi quickly formed seals.
Fire Release: Great Fireball!
Danzo couldn't escape the attack in time and once again sheltered behind an earth shield. The Fireball split in two and roared past him. The grove ignited for dozens of meters ahead, and the Root Anbu lurking in that direction quickly retreated. Itachi appeared above Danzo and attacked from overhead. They closed into close combat.
The Root leader was experienced and battle-hardened, but old. His body no longer served him as faithfully as before. He could subject himself to Orochimaru's experiments, implant foreign eyes all over his body, but his joints were worn, his bones brittle—he could no longer fight at full strength.
Itachi was experienced too, though very young. He'd had a childhood and youth packed with battles, and the Sharingan's power missed no scrap of information, meticulously storing everything that came into view. But the half-century age gap with his opponent gave him no edge. Itachi felt like an old man too: mentally and physically. The clan prodigy, gifted with astonishing shinobi talent. It seemed all the best traits passed down through generations in the Uchiha clan had accumulated and finally erupted in him.
But there was a downside.
Itachi was eighteen. By civilian standards, those years were just when a person truly began living, doors opening to the adult world. But his body couldn't handle the onslaught of the Sharingan's power, couldn't withstand its master's spirit and ambitions. At eighteen, Itachi already felt almost like an old man, especially acutely after using Mangekyo.
Like now.
In hand-to-hand, the Root leader was clearly losing. Despite his wounded side, Itachi was faster and more agile, and without the stolen eyes, Danzo would have been in real trouble.
Danzo drew a kunai from his sleeve and thrust it at Itachi's chest, but Itachi deflected the strike, seized his arm, and pinned it under his armpit. Danzo instantly realized he was about to be killed again and didn't hesitate. He raised his right arm, and Wood Style shoots fired at Itachi: straight into vital organs. They pierced clean through, continuing to grow inside, shredding every tissue in their path.
Wood Style! So that's how he handles so many Sharingan... The First Hokage's power?
Itachi managed a replacement in time, but Danzo didn't know that yet. The Wood Style-ravaged dying body clung on to the last and finally turned into crows. Danzo clicked his tongue in annoyance and braced his left hand against the woody shoots. They cracked and snapped off, freeing him from the dead weight.
Squinting, the old man fended off the birds. He'd wasted time dealing with the aftermath of an attack that had backfired. Too many precious seconds. And he still had to pinpoint where the enemy was hiding.
Itachi used the time well. He appeared at Danzo's back and plunged a kunai into his heart.
The sturdy body went limp. Danzo collapsed to his knees, trembling and choking on blood. One Sharingan on his palm slowly closed its lids, so sadly and reluctantly, as if someone from the fallen Uchiha had been watching the fight through that eye and was deeply grieved not to see its conclusion.
Itachi focused on his senses. Izanagi rewrote reality. He needed to catch the moment reality shifted and spot Danzo before he attacked again.
There. Five o'clock!
Itachi spun and began mirroring Danzo's seals.
Rat. Snake. Horse. Dog.
They drew breath into their lungs and synchronously exhaled Wind Release blades at each other. Barely finishing the technique, Itachi formed seals, hurled shuriken, and immediately wreathed them in flames. The Vacuum Wave blades clashed and dispersed, but Itachi's flaming shuriken broke through behind them.
Danzo batted them away with Wind Release. The shuriken blazed brighter but veered off trajectory and scattered.
Line of sight. Perfect.
Danzo lunged into attack, but his consciousness was already caught in genjutsu. Itachi wove an illusion of battle for his opponent, forcing him to attack again and again, while making no attempt himself to land lethal blows.
That's why the others aren't interfering. You're controlling Izanagi, and it's easier for you to plan attacks solo.
The cunning old man had extended Izanagi's duration, but apparently the technique consumed too much chakra.
Danzo clearly sensed his advantage in the illusory fight. Itachi caught the chakra signatures in the forest stirring restlessly with the corner of his eye. They could see what was happening, but the command still held them in place. Danzo was confident Tsukuyomi wouldn't be used against him again: it was pointless. And from what he'd seen, he remembered how easily he'd shattered Itachi's normal genjutsu. He trusted Shisui's eye's power and didn't suspect he could sink so deep and firmly into an illusion.
And Itachi wove the genjutsu with feeling. It was exactly the type of illusion that seamlessly extended reality. Danzo had been thrashing in the genjutsu for over three minutes now. A bit more and it'd be four...
Itachi watched him closely.
I won't let you spam Izanagi endlessly.
The battle in the genjutsu was clearly going well for Danzo. Well, but too slippery and drawn-out. The old man saw his imaginary foe gradually tiring and erring, but couldn't pin him down for the kill.
The previous eye's effect had long expired. And the new one... I didn't see you form those specific seals.
Itachi took aim and launched kunai. In the last second before one sank into the carotid artery, a black-and-white beast flashed before Danzo, leaping unexpectedly from the bushes. The kunai struck the beast, which burst, leaving only ink splatters.
But the other kunai hit their mark. Danzo's cover knew Izanagi's quirks after all. They'd decided to intervene against orders and save their leader from certain death, prioritizing his life over preserving stolen eyes—which dictated the beast's throw.
Itachi had suspected no one would let him kill Danzo that easily, and the carotid was only a secondary target. The main ones were the Sharingan. Five kunai plunged precisely into five wide-open red eyes—the ones on the outer side of the arm in the strike's path.
Pain snapped Danzo out of it. He stared at his arm in surprise, malicious frustration twisting his wrinkled face. No wonder—so many precious life reserves wasted.
"Uchiha Itachi," the old man spat with hatred. "So it was genjutsu."
Blood poured over his right arm. He yanked the weapons from the eyes and suddenly raised his left hand in a strange gesture.
Not a seal. A signal.
Itachi's mind raced.
Signal for the ambushers. They're moving in together. What can they do?
Itachi tried to leap right, but his body stayed frozen. Burning spots erupted across his skin, but he couldn't turn his head to see what it was. Danzo calmed a bit and slowly approached.
Poison, like with Shisui? But I killed Suguru... Then how?
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan