The clash of thrown weapons between the two had just reached a fever pitch. Their hand speed was so fast that, aside from Kakashi Hatake—who could barely track fragments of it with his Sharingan—no one else could even follow the rhythm of the fight.
And yet, in the middle of such a relentless exchange, Itachi Uchiha had still found the time to weave hand seals and hide a shadow clone.
It was absurd.
Kakashi couldn't make sense of it.
He recalled his own battle with Itachi from Kaede Kitahara's earlier footage. Back then, Itachi had already demonstrated terrifying hand seal speed.
Kakashi's own speed wasn't slow by any means. Among elite jonin, he ranked near the top.
But compared to Itachi, it wasn't even the same level.
He couldn't begin to imagine how someone could train to that degree.
"Forming a shadow clone in the middle of that exchange…"
Despite being shaken by Itachi's almost inhuman speed, Sasuke Uchiha wasn't without a response. From the Cursed Seal at his neck, a snake burst forth and wrapped around him, shielding him from the lethal strike.
Seizing the opening, Sasuke summoned a massive Fuma Shuriken and hurled it toward Itachi's true body. In the instant Itachi moved to block it, Sasuke infused the weapon with Chidori, forcing Itachi to switch to a crow clone.
But Itachi's reaction speed was just as terrifying. In a blink, he appeared in front of Sasuke, kicked him away, and restrained him in one fluid motion. The gap between them seemed to decide the outcome in an instant.
With Sasuke pinned, Itachi reached out and grabbed for his eyes, intent on ripping them straight from his sockets.
"Forgive me, Sasuke. This is my reality. I'll be taking this light."
Sasuke's scream echoed through the chamber as his Sharingan was torn free.
"I told you already. Without the Mangekyō Sharingan, you can't defeat someone who possesses it," Itachi said calmly. "I'll take the other one as well."
At that critical moment, the power of the Cursed Seal erupted from Sasuke's body, pushing him into its second state and forcing Itachi back.
Everyone stared in shock at the inhuman transformation overtaking Sasuke.
"So that's the power of the Cursed Seal…" Itachi muttered, observing the change.
"Cursed Seal…"
Tsunade frowned. She wasn't unfamiliar with it. It was something Orochimaru had developed through his experiments.
The one on Sasuke was a more complete version—the Heaven Seal—but it wasn't Orochimaru's first attempt. In Konoha, Mitarashi Anko bore an earlier, incomplete version.
Tsunade understood the basic principles. The village had even asked her to help research a solution, providing her with extensive data.
Even so, the true origin of that power remained unclear. But seeing it now, it was obvious that it was anything but ordinary.
In the video, Itachi placed the stolen Sharingan into a container filled with liquid.
"This is the difference between you and me," he continued.
At some point, he had already moved behind Sasuke and seized him again.
"And this is the difference in our ocular power."
With Sasuke restrained by the shadow clone, Itachi slowly extended his bloodstained fingers toward Sasuke's remaining eye.
But at that very moment, the power surging from Sasuke's Cursed Seal shattered the space itself, breaking the illusion.
It had all been a genjutsu.
Everything from the eye extraction onward had been nothing more than Itachi's illusion.
"Genjutsu… again."
Jiraiya let out a breath as he watched Sasuke, panting heavily, his mind clearly battered.
"This is what makes the Uchiha so troublesome."
In a fight against them, their genjutsu could come at any moment, from any angle. You wouldn't even realize you had been caught until it was already too late.
Even Sasuke, who possessed the Sharingan himself, had suffered greatly from it, repeatedly falling under its control.
For anyone else, it would have been even worse.
Itachi's talent for genjutsu was unparalleled. There were few in all of Konoha who could match him.
By the time you realized what was happening, he would already be upon you.
Fighting the Sharingan truly was exhausting.
Kakashi felt this more keenly than anyone. Normally, others had to be wary of his Sharingan.
But against Itachi, he knew he wouldn't fare much better than Sasuke.
Watching Sasuke expend enormous stamina and mental energy just to break free from Itachi's illusions, even White Zetsu began to speculate that the battle might end sooner than expected.
Against Tsukuyomi, Sasuke had no reliable defense.
Just like Kakashi in the earlier footage, there was no clear way out.
Anyone struck by Tsukuyomi would suffer immense mental strain.
But what no one expected was that after using Tsukuyomi, Itachi himself seemed to reach his limit. He dropped to one knee, clutching his eye.
"You… broke my Tsukuyomi…"
He stared at Sasuke in disbelief.
And yet Sasuke stood there, steady, showing none of the signs of someone who had been caught in that illusion.
At that moment, Black Zetsu revealed the truth.
Sasuke hadn't been hit by Tsukuyomi at all.
He had broken it.
The realization left everyone stunned.
A mere Sharingan had countered a Mangekyō Sharingan technique.
"Sasuke… you've grown."
Watching through the diary, Itachi felt a rare sense of relief.
At that critical moment, Sasuke hadn't rushed in blindly. He had used his mind.
That alone proved he had matured.
In the end, the Sharingan was just a weapon. It wasn't some invincible force.
No jutsu was absolute.
Everything had a weakness.
To understand that was already a significant step forward.
Still, the fact that Tsukuyomi had failed meant something else.
Sasuke's talent had surpassed his expectations.
More importantly, Itachi himself had already weakened to the point where he could no longer sustain Tsukuyomi.
In the footage, Sasuke looked down at Itachi, who lay on the ground, and spoke coldly:
"I told you already. No matter how you use those eyes, I'll turn your illusions into reality with my hatred."
Itachi forced himself back to his feet.
"Turn illusion into reality? Fine. I'll return those words to you exactly as they are."
At this point, he finally became serious.
He was about to complete Sasuke's final test.
And with his own life, teach him the last lesson.
"In that Tsukuyomi just now, you should've seen the illusion of your eyes being taken. Now I'll make it real."
The Mangekyō Sharingan in Itachi's eyes glowed with a chilling light.
Everyone watching could tell.
He was about to use Amaterasu.
Meanwhile, the exchange between Black Zetsu and White Zetsu drew attention as well.
"That black-and-white guy… he's actually two people?"
Sasuke noticed it immediately. Even while focusing on how he would defeat Itachi, he couldn't ignore the difference in their voices.
It wasn't a single person, nor some condition. It was two beings merged together through some unknown method or technique.
But he had no time to dwell on it.
Itachi had already gone all out. The Mangekyō Sharingan was activated, and the battle was reaching its climax.
Continuing with genjutsu alone would lead nowhere. From the moment Sasuke broke Tsukuyomi, its effectiveness had diminished sharply.
The fight was shifting to ninjutsu.
"If Itachi's left eye holds the strongest genjutsu, then his right eye possesses the strongest physical attack."
Black Zetsu's voice echoed.
"Amaterasu… the black flames that will burn everything in sight until nothing remains."
The evaluation startled many.
One eye for ultimate genjutsu.
The other for ultimate offense.
Itachi's abilities were overwhelmingly complete.
Jiraiya, in particular, felt this deeply, recalling his earlier encounter.
Just as everyone braced themselves for Amaterasu, Itachi rapidly formed hand seals.
Sasuke didn't hesitate. He launched the Shadow Shuriken Technique, sending his weapon hurtling forward.
In the instant Itachi dodged, Sasuke triggered the hidden mechanism.
The strike landed.
And in that single moment, Itachi was critically wounded.