Hokage: I Confronted the Five Kage Before the System Arrived

Chapter 142: The Feast of Illusions

"Squawk, squawk, squawk~~~"

With the harsh cawing of the crow perched on Itachi Uchiha's shoulder, the battle commenced.

Hagoromo Gengetsu moved his hands swiftly, throwing shuriken clutched between his ten fingers. Under the keen insight of his Mangekyō Sharingan, the shuriken clashed in mid-air before changing trajectory to rain down on Itachi Uchiha from all directions.

Simultaneously, Itachi mirrored his movements.

*Clang, clang, clang, clang!*

A multitude of shuriken collided mid-air, creating a dazzling display of sparks and a continuous metallic clanging.

In a short span, the surrounding ground was covered with embedded shuriken. Yet, both combatants remained unscathed.

Two swift sounds of cutting through the air were heard.

Both Itachi and Gengetsu moved, rushing at each other without hesitation. Supported by their powerful ocular abilities, their actions were fluid and direct, targeting each other's vital points with precision.

To Gengetsu's surprise, Itachi, despite his seemingly frail appearance, excelled not only in genjutsu and ninjutsu but also in taijutsu. He had forgotten that the Itachi in the manga, even in his Reanimation form, could hold his own against Naruto in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode in a taijutsu battle.

Itachi's body had not yet deteriorated to the extent seen in his final battle with Sasuke. Despite Gengetsu's intention to escalate the fight to its highest intensity from the start, Itachi not only kept up but also began targeting Gengetsu's left side after realizing he only had one Mangekyō Sharingan.

Gengetsu's left eye was a normal eye, and although his right Mangekyō could cover the left side, it was slightly slower in the heat of a battle between ocular experts.

Itachi seized a fleeting opportunity and, with a swift leg sweep, struck Gengetsu, who could only block with his arms as he slid back.

Itachi immediately pursued.

"Chidori!"

Gengetsu, retreating but composed, extended his right hand, which became enveloped in crackling lightning.

Itachi, unfazed, increased his speed and spun gracefully to dodge the Chidori, moving in to strike Gengetsu.

Gengetsu's Chidori transformed into a laser-like horizontal slash.

In an instant, Itachi was sliced in half.

"Chidori's shape transformation?" Itachi commented calmly.

The next moment, his bisected body burst into a flock of cawing crows, scattering in all directions.

Just as Gengetsu prepared to react...

*Squish!*

A powerful hand suddenly pierced through Gengetsu's chest from behind.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

Itachi had appeared behind Gengetsu, his hand through his chest, staring at Gengetsu's white swirling mask with his Mangekyō Sharingan, and said calmly, "I'm curious who you really are."

Hagoromo Gengetsu? Something didn't quite add up.

Another Uchiha? Even with a Mangekyō Sharingan, it was uncommon for someone to use it as proficiently as its original owner.

Itachi was determined to uncover the identity of the person before him.

Gengetsu, blood filling his mouth, could barely speak. Slowly, he raised his left hand, his index and middle fingers forming a sign, and gestured behind Itachi.

Knowing his opponent was powerless, Itachi turned to look.

*Squish!*

A slender hand, surrounded by lightning, pierced through Itachi's heart from behind.

Another Gengetsu appeared, staring coldly at Itachi.

"An illusion?" Itachi remarked with a calm expression as the "Gengetsu" he had pierced faded away like a burst bubble.

Gengetsu addressed him, "If you want to know who I am, you'll have to show your true strength, traitor of the Uchiha."

"I understand," Itachi closed his eyes slowly.

In the next instant, both Itachi and Gengetsu found themselves back in their original positions.

Or more accurately, they had never moved at all.

The cold wind whistled past.

No shuriken littered the ground; their clothes were unwrinkled. They exchanged a silent look.

The earlier shuriken duel, the taijutsu battle, the crows, the Chidori—everything had been within the realm of genjutsu.

This was the Uchiha.

In the ninja world, they were voted the enemies one would least want to face.

Unlike battles with other shinobi, against an Uchiha, you might die without ever understanding how.

For the first time, Gengetsu experienced such high-level genjutsu combat.

He had to admit, this silent duel was quite intriguing.

Thankfully, after embedding the Mangekyō Sharingan into his clone's eye socket, he had specifically studied its usage from the Uchiha.

Otherwise, in this initial clash, his clone would likely have fallen behind immediately.

As for Sasuke being able to contend with Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan with his three-tomoe Sharingan, it was clear Itachi had held back immensely.

Even Gengetsu himself would prefer facing a straight Mangekyō Sharingan over the curved variant.

Techniques like Kotoamatsukami, which could manipulate thoughts without the target realizing, posed a far greater threat in his eyes than Amaterasu or Susanoo.

"Squawk, squawk, squawk~~~"

The crow on Itachi's shoulder cawed again.

However, unlike before, Itachi instructed the crow carrying Shisui's other Mangekyō Sharingan to disperse into a puff of smoke, returning to its original location.

The opponent before him was different from any he had faced.

Even Itachi couldn't afford to be careless in this battle.

He could not allow any opportunity for his opponent to retrieve Shisui's other Mangekyō Sharingan.

The power of dual Mangekyō Sharingan and dual Kotoamatsukami was something Itachi could fully envision.

He wondered if the opponent's Kotoamatsukami was on cooldown.

Knowing Danzo's character, he must have used it during his battle with Gengetsu.