Chapter 284: Shion

Chapter 284: Chapter 284: Shion

Beneath the mask, the corners of Hyuga Kagami’s lips curled upward slightly.

Defeating Itachi might not have been particularly difficult for him at this point, but it still gave him a sense of accomplishment that was difficult to put into words.

After all, in the original timeline, Itachi had practically been undefeated.

But just then, the smile at the corner of Kagami’s lips suddenly froze.

"Wait... something’s wrong!"

Caw! Caw!

Almost at the exact moment Kagami sensed that something was amiss, Itachi—whose throat was still pressed against the edge of Kagami’s sword—suddenly transformed into countless crows.

Amid a chaotic chorus of cawing, the flock scattered in every direction!

Kagami’s heart jolted.

"Crow Clone Technique!?"

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Kagami noticed countless inconspicuous steel wires springing up from beneath the thin layer of snow surrounding him.

In an instant, the wires pulled taut, dragging countless kunai and shuriken out from beneath the snow!

Watching the kunai and shuriken, guided by the steel wires, shoot toward him from every direction, Kagami immediately realized what had happened.

He had fallen straight into a trap Itachi had prepared in advance.

At the same time, Kagami was secretly astonished.

There was no doubt that all of these kunai and shuriken had been inconspicuously planted by Itachi during their earlier exchange.

Where each one should be placed, the angle each should be positioned at, even which steel wire should connect to which weapon—Itachi had considered every single one of these details in the midst of their intense battle and had flawlessly put the entire setup into place.

With just a sweep of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes, Kagami immediately realized that Itachi’s trap had no blind spots whatsoever!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In the blink of an eye, Kagami’s body was riddled with kunai and shuriken.

Itachi, who had hidden himself nearby using the Crow Substitution Technique, was shocked by the sight.

He knew that Kagami could use Susanoo, which was precisely why he had held nothing back and constructed the trap without a single blind spot.

But never in his wildest imagination had he expected Kagami to simply not use Susanoo at all and allow the kunai and shuriken from the trap to turn him into a pincushion!

Caw! Caw!

In the next instant, Kagami’s riddled body also transformed into countless crows, scattering in every direction amid a chorus of cawing.

Itachi exclaimed, "Th-This is the Crow Clone Technique!"

Then, Itachi suddenly felt a cold sensation against his throat.

Glancing downward from the corner of his eye, he discovered that Kagami’s sword was once again resting against his throat.

Kagami stepped out from behind Itachi.

"Everything Shisui taught you... I know it too!"

Itachi lowered his head dejectedly.

"I lost."

After all, Itachi was only eleven years old, and his body had yet to fully develop. Setting up that trap during their battle had consumed a great deal of his stamina and ocular power, leaving him with very little fighting strength now.

Kagami sheathed his sword and said calmly, "Being able to take out my Crow Clone was already quite impressive."

Kagami genuinely meant those words.

Thinking back to when he had been around ten years old, he had only just barely managed to graduate from the Ninja Academy.

Among the ninety students who graduated alongside him, he had ranked eighty-ninth.

The only reasons he had not become a complete laughingstock were, first, that the Third Shinobi World War was raging at the time, and second, that he had at least managed to beat one Uchiha, sparing himself from finishing dead last.

Of course, during the graduation exam, Kagami had been somewhat afraid of being thrown into the Third Shinobi World War and had been distracted as a result. That was why he had ended up in eighty-ninth place.

Had he focused completely and gone all out back then, he probably could have ranked somewhere around seventieth.

As for the Uchiha who had finished dead last, that was only because he had been late on the day of the exam after stopping to help an old woman cross the street. He had automatically forfeited the first round.

Otherwise, even that Uchiha would never have ended up as the dead last.

After resting for a while, Itachi asked Kagami, "En-senpai, you’re also a member of the Uchiha clan, aren’t you? Then why have I never seen you in the clan compound before?"

Although Kagami’s face was hidden behind a mask, making his appearance impossible to see, Itachi’s powers of observation were exceptionally sharp.

From Kagami’s physique alone, he could easily determine that he had never before seen this Mangekyo Sharingan wielder named ’En’ anywhere within the Uchiha compound.

Kagami replied, "That’s not something you need to know."

Itachi fell silent.

Kagami continued, "That’s all for today’s assessment. We’ll continue tomorrow, at the same place!"

Itachi asked, "I still have another chance?"

"Mm." Kagami nodded, then added another warning. "You’re not allowed to tell Shisui anything about this assessment, nor are you allowed to ask him for advice. Otherwise, I’ll consider it cheating. Understood?"

Itachi thought for a moment before nodding.

"I understand."

After the two parted ways, Itachi did not linger outside the village and headed straight back to Konoha.

Throughout the journey, Itachi kept thinking about ways to defeat Kagami. Before he knew it, he had already arrived home.

Sasuke immediately came running over.

"Big Brother, where did you go today?"

Itachi smiled. "I went out to train."

Sasuke pouted. "That’s so unfair! You went training without taking me with you!"

Itachi shook his head with an amused smile as he sat down and changed his shoes.

Sasuke hovered beside him and complained, "Hanging around with those other kids is so boring. Big Brother, next time you go training, take me with you too, okay?"

After changing his shoes, Itachi beckoned Sasuke over.

Sasuke immediately leaned his little head closer.

Itachi gently tapped Sasuke on the forehead with two fingers and smiled.

"We’ll talk about training another time."

With that, Itachi stood up and headed toward the inner courtyard.

The smile disappeared from his face, replaced once again by the deeply furrowed brows and thoughtful expression he had worn earlier, as though he were pondering some incredibly difficult problem.

Over the following month, Kagami would use his Fire Release clone to spar with Itachi every few days.

Itachi grew at a speed that was practically visible to the naked eye.

At first, Kagami could still approach their fights with the mindset of training him—their battles were half sparring and half instruction.

But as time went on, Kagami had no choice but to abandon that attitude.

He had to start taking the fights seriously if he wanted to defeat Itachi.

Aside from sparring with Itachi, Kagami had also remained constantly on guard against an attack from Hiruko during this period.

Yet, to Kagami’s surprise, there had been no movement from Hiruko whatsoever.

It was almost as though Hiruko had no intention of attacking Konoha at all, leaving Kagami uncertain about what exactly he was plotting.

Another peaceful day passed.

As usual, after completing his mission, Kagami made his way home.

By now, the sky had completely darkened, and the streetlamps lining the roadside were lighting up one after another, illuminating the path for the pedestrians passing beneath them.

Walking leisurely through the streets, Kagami thought to himself,

"Either Hiruko really has changed his ways... or the hidden problems from his Kekkei Genkai fusion ritual have already begun to surface. Otherwise, there’s no way he’d be this quiet!"

As he continued walking, Kagami soon arrived at the entrance of his home.

At that moment, he noticed two small, slender figures standing in front of his gate.

Judging from their appearance, they seemed to be waiting for him—and had apparently been waiting for quite some time.

Kagami walked closer for a better look, and his brows immediately furrowed.

"Shion, you... what are you doing here?"

The moment little Shion saw Kagami, she immediately threw herself at him and cried,

"Big Brother, please! Please save my mother!"