Uchiha Itachi couldn't shake the anxiety gnawing at him. The idea that future Uchiha Sasuke might abuse his ocular powers was troubling enough. What worried him even more was what that implied about Sasuke's mindset. If Sasuke couldn't control his own heart, he had no chance of controlling the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Before he could spiral further, a new video appeared in the diary.
He checked the room again, making sure he was alone. Then he set up a security barrier and finally opened the video.
The first scene showed a shuriken stopping Danzo and his two escorts.
Uchiha Sasuke frowned. He recognized Shimura Danzo, but as for the other two, he only knew they were from Root. He'd never learned their names.
Then he noticed the Hokage hat hanging at Danzo's waist. Only a Hokage could wear that.
So Kaede Kitahara wasn't lying. Danzo really did become the Hokage in the future.
On-screen, Danzo turned toward a man in an orange spiral mask standing atop a raised platform. Only now did the rest of the terrain come into focus. They were on a large bridge.
"That's… Uchiha Madara."
Itachi's gaze locked onto the short-haired man. This was the mysterious figure who'd helped him slaughter the Uchiha Clan.
The man had claimed to be Uchiha Madara and was the one who'd brought Itachi into the Akatsuki. And yet, despite the partnership, Itachi's wariness had never faded. The masked man called himself Madara, Itachi doubted it, but his abilities were undeniably ghostlike. Kage Level at minimum.
"Long time no see, Danzo."
Uchiha Obito's voice came from the footage. "Ever since the Uchiha incident."
Hearing that, the real Sasuke almost exploded. His control nearly snapped.
His parents' deaths flashed through his mind again. So did that cold, silent silhouette.
He stared at Danzo in the video with burning hatred. Was this the man who'd played such a major role in the Uchiha Clan's downfall? The man whose arm was covered with stolen Sharingan?
Danzo tossed aside his cane. He understood this was a fight he couldn't avoid.
"Fu, Torune. Cover me." Danzo pulled his sealed right arm from beneath his coat. "I'm releasing the seal. Draw his attention."
"Getting serious, are we, Danzo?" Uchiha Obito said.
"His abilities are still unknown. Be careful," Danzo warned.
That name—Uchiha Madara—shocked Kakashi and Sasuke both.
Even if Konoha tried to erase him from history, they couldn't erase everything. Especially not for Sasuke, who'd grown up hearing the clan elders speak of him. Madara was one of Konoha's two founders alongside Senju Hashirama.
If Hashirama was the God of Shinobi, then Uchiha Madara was the Ninja World Asura.
He might've defected from the village later, but Konoha could never fully erase his existence. Too much of the village's history was tied to him. Remove him, and the timeline fell apart.
What they couldn't understand was how Madara was still alive. Based on age alone, he should've been well past a hundred. Yet the man in the footage looked nothing like an old man.
Obeying Danzo's orders, Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune immediately launched their coordinated assault on Obito.
Obito responded by revealing his ability—phasing out of physical existence.
Itachi memorized it instantly. Kakashi and Sasuke also committed it to memory. For a ninja, intel was everything. Plenty of stronger fighters had died simply because the enemy knew their abilities while they knew nothing in return.
But nobody could figure out what this technique was. It didn't resemble any jutsu they knew. Only Itachi had a suspicion. Was this ability tied directly to Obito's Mangekyo?
It didn't feel like anything else.
In the footage, Obito toyed with Fu and Torune using the Mangekyo power Kamui, making them spin in circles. All their counterattacks were useless. Worse, Obito had another ability—he could drag people into another dimension with ease.
In moments, he absorbed both elite jonin into that space and ended the fight effortlessly.
"So that's the legendary Ninja World Asura?" Kakashi's expression darkened.
The man in the footage hadn't displayed the apocalyptic power recorded in the history books. But even what they'd seen—casually playing with two elite jonin—was overwhelming.
Faced with an ability like that, Kakashi doubted he'd fare any better.
"He can switch between phasing and being solid at will," Kakashi murmured, writing it down.
"But no jutsu is invincible," Itachi calculated silently. "There has to be a limit. A time restriction, maybe. And what's the nature of that special space? When he phases, is he entering it? Is that why attacks can't hit him? And once someone gets sucked inside… how do they escape? Is it full of traps? Could someone die instantly upon entry?"
Itachi was already analyzing how to counter Kamui. And in doing so, he revealed something else—deep down, he'd always considered the self-proclaimed Madara an enemy.
He'd killed the Uchiha Clan because he was forced to choose between the village and his family. But that didn't mean he had any fondness for the man who'd appeared, claimed to be Madara, and joined him in slaughtering his people.
If anything, Itachi's thoughts were clear: That's not the same at all.
I did it for Sasuke. For the village. You? What are you?
He continued strategizing. If he ever faced an enemy who could phase like that, closing the distance was suicide. One touch and he might be dragged into that space.
He needed a plan to keep that enemy far away. Only distance offered any chance of survival.