I Want One of Your Eyes

"Let’s see how you use your power now!"

Kisame watched as the enormous sphere of water completely enveloped both himself and Li Chuan. He swiftly swam a circle through the water, a smug expression appearing on his face.

This massive water sphere had no offensive power and required an enormous amount of Chakra to form.

However, once formed, it could greatly strengthen him while weakening his opponent.

First, in his shark form, he would become incredibly fast in water. Even if his opponent possessed powerful Body Technique, without anything to push off against in the water, it would be difficult to use it effectively.

Second, he could breathe freely underwater in this form, while his opponent would have to hold his breath, which would likewise severely affect combat.

Finally, after fusing with Samehada, his Chakra reserves, physical strength, Ninjutsu power, and sensory ability had all increased dramatically. He could also absorb an enemy’s Chakra through physical contact.

So if his opponent was merely powerful in Body Technique, there was absolutely no way he could defeat him.

"Summoning Jutsu: Thousand Feeding Sharks!"

To be safe, he clapped his hands together and used the Summoning Jutsu to summon over a thousand real sharks, charging toward Li Chuan alongside them.

"This water sphere is so huge that Konoha’s rescue ninjas will definitely notice it. Looks like I can’t keep playing around."

Inside the water sphere, Li Chuan watched Kisame rush toward him with over a thousand sharks, then vanished from where he stood using Apparition.

"Where did he go?"

Kisame’s cruel grin froze when Li Chuan disappeared right before his eyes. He immediately stopped and began using his sensory ability to search for him.

"Impossible!"

The next second, he sensed Li Chuan’s Chakra—and his face filled with disbelief.

That Chakra was behind him, less than half a meter away.

"Goodbye!"

Li Chuan appeared behind Kisame, instantly opened all Eight Inner Gates, and lightly tapped Kisame’s back with his right hand.

"Boom!"

Kisame immediately felt as though he had been struck by a meteor. He shot out of the water sphere and smashed fiercely into the muddy ground below. Every bone in his body shattered, and he passed out like a lump of mud.

Had Samehada within Kisame not desperately transferred its Chakra to him to sustain his life, that blow alone would have been enough to pronounce Kisame dead.

In truth, Li Chuan had deliberately held back. If he had truly wanted to kill Kisame, he could have released his flying sword from the start. Kisame would not even have had the chance to fuse with Samehada before his head was severed.

With Kisame unconscious, the giant water sphere sustained by his Chakra naturally disappeared, and the summoned sharks were sent back as well.

Li Chuan also directly released the Eight Inner Gates state.

"Kisame actually lost!"

Watching Kisame fall heavily injured and unconscious from afar, Itachi’s expression changed once more.

Kisame’s strength ranked among the best even within the Akatsuki Organization, yet today he had been defeated by an unknown young ninja.

The crucial point was that this had not been a narrow victory after a back-and-forth battle. It had been an overwhelming suppression from beginning to end, which was truly terrifying.

"This is troublesome."

Watching Li Chuan appear not far away again using Space-Time Ninjutsu, Itachi inwardly cursed.

He did not want to harm the Konoha Ninja before him, but his opponent’s strength was no longer something he could easily handle. If he did not go all out next, he might follow in Kisame’s footsteps.

"Don’t be nervous. I think we can talk first, because I know you are not truly a Konoha rogue ninja."

Seeing Itachi’s three tomoe rapidly spin, on the verge of transforming into the Mangekyō Sharingan, Li Chuan smiled and spoke.

At Li Chuan’s words, Itachi’s pupils suddenly contracted, and his Sharingan temporarily reverted to three tomoe.

"Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you don’t wish to fight, then I’ll take my companion and leave."

Only four people in all of Konoha knew of his identity as a spy: the Third Hokage, Danzo, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu. Under normal circumstances, they would not reveal his identity to anyone else.

So he could not acknowledge his identity based on Li Chuan’s words alone.

Li Chuan also knew that Itachi would not admit it so easily, so he directly recounted everything that had happened back then.

"Back when the Uchiha Clan was exterminated, it was not actually because of you. They had intended to launch a rebellion. For the peace of Konoha and Sasuke’s safety, you joined forces with a mysterious man calling himself Uchiha Madara and killed the other clansmen.

"Afterward, you made a deal with the Third Hokage. Sasuke would grow up safely in Konoha and restore the Uchiha Clan, while you would join that mysterious man’s organization, Akatsuki, as a rogue ninja and spy, gathering intelligence for Konoha.

"Am I right?"

As for Itachi, how should Li Chuan put it? He did not dislike him, but neither did he approve of what he had done back then.

Perhaps he was simply selfish. If he had been in Itachi’s position back then, he absolutely would not have compromised with Konoha’s higher-ups.

If the rebellion had truly begun, the Uchiha Clan would certainly have lost, but Konoha would also have suffered devastating losses and ultimately been swallowed up by the other ninja villages.

Using rebellion as a threat, Konoha’s higher-ups might not actually have dared to make a move.

Even if they had truly fought to mutual destruction, if they could not win in the end, they could have taken some elites and their families, fled Konoha, and become rogue ninjas.

Afterward, with Konoha’s strength greatly diminished and other ninja villages attacking it, it would have had no energy left to pursue them.

That would have been better than ending up saving only Sasuke.

All he could say was that Konoha’s ninja academy had been far too successful at brainwashing the new generation of ninjas.

And Itachi—or rather, the entire Uchiha Clan—were naturally people of extreme temperaments. They were either extremely good or extremely evil.

"Who exactly are you?"

Hearing Li Chuan reveal all the truth from back then in one breath, Itachi was briefly stunned.

If the other party had only revealed some minor details, it might have been intelligence leaked by the mysterious man calling himself Uchiha Madara. But Li Chuan had revealed everything, including the agreement between him and the Third Hokage.

"Me? I’m the Prince of the Land of Fire and the Fourth disciple newly accepted by the Third Hokage of Konoha. You can call me Yuan Chuan. You can easily verify my identity after you return.

"But the truth behind the Uchiha Clan’s extermination was not told to me by the Third Hokage."

Li Chuan raised a hand and briefly introduced himself.

After several seconds of silence, Itachi looked at Li Chuan seriously.

"What do you want to do now?"

"I want to make a deal with you—a deal that would greatly benefit both of us."

Li Chuan stopped wasting words and directly stated his purpose.

"I want one of your Mangekyō Sharingan."

"Are you joking with me?"

At Li Chuan’s words, both of Itachi’s eyes immediately transformed into Mangekyō Sharingan.

Leaving aside whether Li Chuan’s identity was real, even if it was, let alone Li Chuan being the Third Hokage’s disciple and the Prince of the Land of Fire, even if Li Chuan were the Third Hokage himself or the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, Itachi could never agree to such a request.