Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Before Itachi Uchiha could finish speaking, Menma's fox tails shot out and severed the massive tree beneath his and Kisame Hoshigaki's feet, cutting off their path!
"Go this way."
With no intention of staying to fight, Itachi abandoned Kisame—who had already been healed by Samehada's chakra—and immediately changed direction, continuing his retreat. Kisame landed smoothly but looked dejected as he followed quickly behind, his face a mask of confusion and bewilderment.
"Itachi-san, with your strength and me backing you up, we don't need to retreat at all..."
"I just used Tsukuyomi; my body needs rest," Itachi interrupted.
He was lying. His only purpose this time was to check on Sasuke Uchiha's condition. Investigating and capturing the Nine-Tails was just an excuse. Moreover, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki before him wasn't Naruto Uzumaki, but Menma. His ability to defeat the formidable Kisame Hoshigaki already demonstrated his terrifying power.
Furthermore, the extreme negative emotions emanating from him—enough to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan—made Itachi feel uneasy. If a fight broke out, he'd have to use his Mangekyō Sharingan again to keep up, which would not only burden his already weakened body but also risk holding back and actually injuring the jinchuriki. That wasn't what a loyal Hidden Leaf shinobi should do.
And Konoha was currently facing a crisis. If Kisame hadn't been by his side, Itachi would have already gone to help eliminate the enemy invading his village. How could he possibly injure the jinchuriki and weaken Konoha's strength?
As a transmigrator, Menma understood Itachi's intentions perfectly. After wiping out his entire clan for the village's sake, Itachi inevitably walked a dark path to justify his actions. He constantly hypnotized himself with the belief that he needed to protect Konoha or his younger brother. While somewhat morbid and perverse, that didn't diminish his undeniable strength.
Therefore, Menma didn't intend to let him escape immediately. Instead, like with Might Guy before, he would trade blows while the system collected Itachi's data. If he needed it later, he could simply exchange for it.
While pondering this, Menma's figure appeared above Itachi and Kisame.
The next second, nine enormous fox tails, obscuring the sky, stabbed downward like spikes!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Debris flew everywhere, and the ground collapsed. Itachi and Kisame dodged awkwardly, retreating to their previous positions.
"We have no choice but to fight, Itachi-san," Kisame gripped Samehada again, his palms sweating. The sword trembled and hissed, as if rejecting something.
Looking at Menma, who had retracted his fox tail and landed back on the ground, Itachi frowned and asked in a deep voice, "Instead of fighting us, why don't you go and eliminate those enemies who are invading your village?"
"Enemies? Aren't those you?" Menma chuckled, the ground beneath his feet crumbling once more.
He shot forward like a blur of red lightning, moving at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow. Ahead of him, Itachi's crimson pupils darted in their sockets, tracking Menma's speed.
"Such speed! Such amazing taijutsu!"
Just as he uttered the exclamation, a flash of green appeared on Menma's golden-red aura. Then, he vanished from the spot.
"Vanished? No, it's just that he was too fast!"
The thought barely formed in Itachi's mind before he felt a tightening around his neck and his body was lifted into the air—gripped directly by Menma's hand.
"Itachi-san!" Kisame roared, preparing to intervene.
Then, the cawing of crows rang out. Suddenly, Itachi in Menma's grasp transformed into a flock of crows and scattered.
"Itachi's crow clones."
Menma ignored Kisame, standing nearby, and looked up at Itachi, who was floating in mid-air, his body transformed into a murder of crows.
Itachi didn't answer Menma's question. He simply spoke to himself. "We're not here to invade Konoha. You don't need to fight us."
"Whether we're enemies or not isn't up to you," Menma replied, his eyes darting around, quickly locking onto the large tree behind Kisame. "Heh. Found you."
A smile played on Menma's lips as he raised his arm horizontally forward. Instantly, red and blue chakra rapidly condensed at his fingertips. In less than a breath, half a Tailed Beast Ball faintly appeared.
"A Tailed Beast Ball!"
"He can actually release it in this form!"
Having witnessed many jinchuriki, Kisame had never seen one condense a Tailed Beast Ball without entering a half-Tailed Beast transformation—and so easily, with just one finger!
He immediately gripped Samehada and retreated to the tree where Itachi was hiding. Samehada hadn't forgotten the miserable state it had been in after absorbing Menma's chakra; it crouched down behind Kisame, clearly not intending to absorb the approaching Tailed Beast Ball.
"Itachi-san!" Kisame immediately turned to look at the tree behind him, his face full of utter helplessness. Actually, if he insisted on letting Samehada devour him, the sword would obey, but he didn't want to experience that madness again.
"I'll do it. You prepare your Substitution Jutsu."
Having no other choice, Itachi stepped out from behind the tree trunk. His eyes, looking at Menma, swirled with three-bladed windmills. An invisible, immense ocular power silently surged forth.
"Tsukuyomi!"
Buzz—!
The three-bladed windmill pupils rapidly enlarged before Menma's eyes until they filled the entire scene. Then the scene flashed, and Menma found himself in an unknown, peculiar space.
The sky was a strange red, constantly shifting. The ground below was stark black and white, like a colorless silhouette. Immediately afterward, Itachi—dressed only in black and white—appeared before Menma.
"Welcome to my Tsukuyomi world. Here, time, space, matter, and even everything around you is under my control..."
Looking at this strange space, Menma's face showed interest. "This is Tsukuyomi? Interesting. But unfortunately, you don't seem to be able to control me~"
Hearing this, Itachi didn't refute. Instead, he proved him right with his actions. Menma, who had been standing perfectly fine, was suddenly bound to a cross.
All around him stood Itachi, blades drawn.
Menma grinned, and his body flickered on the cross. The next moment, a confused and bewildered Naruto Uzumaki was swapped in.
"Eh? Where is this? Wasn't I just watching Menma beat up the intruder?"
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