A cold wind swept by.
The smell of earth mixed with the scent of blood.
Itachi lowered his eyes slightly, sheathed the blade in his hand, and slowly exhaled.
Up to this point, he had done everything he needed to do.
Itachi looked up towards the direction of the Uchiha Clan's compound, his gaze complex.
He could still see his younger brother's desperate and frightened expression, and the anger when he awakened his Sharingan.
'Forgive me, Sasuke.'
'Live on, and then, become stronger...'
Just as Itachi was pondering,
Suddenly, behind him in the air, a distorted spatial vortex began to appear.
Subsequently, the masked man in the black robe emerged from within.
"Ho..."
"It's already over, Itachi?"
The moment he appeared, the masked man spoke in his unique low tone.
The reason he had chosen the Naka Shrine as the rendezvous point,
First, because this place was sparsely populated, let alone Konoha's villagers, even the Uchiha Clan rarely came here.
And another reason was that this place was directly on the edge of Konoha, basically at the point where one could leave just by hopping over the wall.
Hearing the masked man's voice, Itachi immediately collected his thoughts and turned around.
He saw that the masked man's black robe was, unnoticed, also stained with quite a bit of blood, dyed a strange dark red.
It was very obvious that since he had come here, it meant that all the members of the Uchiha Police Force had also been completely annihilated.
"..."
After a moment of silence, Itachi asked flatly:
"...You arrived later than I expected. Did you encounter some situation?"
Indeed,
Based on his understanding of the power of the masked man, dealing with just a police force shouldn't have taken this long.
Hearing this, the masked man let out a low laugh and replied:
"Heh..."
"No situation, I just went to handle a small matter."
"Let's go, Itachi."
"We can go find the organization now."
Having said that,
The masked man turned around.
Itachi's gaze flickered slightly, and he also turned around, preparing to leave.
But just then,
Suddenly,
A faint voice gently sounded from the darkness behind the two of them, ethereal like the ring of a blade.
"Tsk tsk..."
"I didn't expect that in such a short time, your operation was already finished?"
"You two Uchiha really are fast."
"?!"
As the words fell, it was like an explosion in the darkness.
In an instant, both the masked man and Itachi paused in their movements, their pupils sharply constricting as they quickly looked behind them!
Both of their hearts were filled with shock,
With their powerful strength, they hadn't even realized someone was behind them!
Who was it?!
When did they come?!
What was their purpose?
In that brief half-second of turning around, thousands of thoughts rushed through both their minds.
And only when they clearly saw the existence behind them did their thoughts cease.
There,
On top of the lamppost in front of the shrine,
A moon-white figure stood upon it.
He wore a mysterious fox-like ogre mask, and a pure white short sword was sheathed at his waist.
A light wind blew, lifting the hem of his garment, his silver hair fluttering.
Beneath the moonlight,
The entire scene appeared so eerie and incongruous.
This man,
Gave them an extremely dangerous feeling!
Like the white bones of death,
Like a beast on the hunt!
The masked man and Itachi immediately exchanged glances, and then both saw a hint of gravity in each other's eyes.
It was obvious that neither of them recognized this person.
Realizing this,
Both of their expressions turned serious simultaneously.
Itachi even directly placed his hand on the hilt of the blade behind his back, ready for battle at any moment.
The plan had reached this point; he couldn't allow any other errors.
The masked man narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a low voice:
"Tch, a pretentious guy..."
"Who are you?"
Hearing this,
Kyo on the road immediately smiled and said:
"Pretentious?"
"Compared to you, I'm still lacking a bit."
"Uchiha Madara-sama."
"..."
'He actually knew my fabricated identity?'
The masked man's gaze flickered, and he couldn't help but feel puzzled inside.
The fact that he appeared in this orange mask guise and pretended to be Madara was known to very few people.
Apart from Akatsuki's Pain, Konan, and Zetsu, within Konoha, it seemed only Itachi and Danzo knew.
But obviously, Itachi wouldn't reveal his information,
'That meant...'
'Could this guy be someone sent by Danzo?'
Realizing this,
The masked man immediately looked up and said deeply:
"Tch,"
"You... are you a subordinate of Shimura Danzo?"
Hearing this,
Itachi's gaze shifted slightly beside him.
However,
Kyo on the road suddenly chuckled lightly, raised his hands, and clapped.
Clap, clap.
"As expected of you... a really accurate guess."
"Well then,"
"It seems I have no need to continue hiding either..."
As he spoke,
Kyo leaped down from the lamppost and arrived before the two of them.
While stepping forward,
He slowly, drew the white blade from his waist.
Smiling, he said softly:
"That's right."
"I was sent by Danzo-sama."
"Responsible for obtaining all of tonight's Sharingan, and... silencing you two, you know."
"?!"
'Huh???'
As the words fell, the masked man and Itachi both instantly had their pupils constrict.
They froze in shock.