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Mastermind of the Akatsuki 429
🕑 Added 2025-07-04 16:00:04 +0000 UTCChapter 429: Rushing to the Battlefield
After seeing Shisui intercept the fatal blow, both Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha turned to him with puzzled expressions.
Sasuke was the first to speak, “Shisui, why did you stop me from taking down this traitor?”
Itachi sighed, as if he had expected this, “Shisui, you saw right through me after all. Can’t you just let me die in peace?”
Shisui snorted coldly, his face stern. “Itachi, do you really think that your sins can be offset just by leaving behind a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan for the clan?”
Itachi smiled bitterly. “Shisui, I never hoped to atone. I just feel I no longer belong in the shinobi world, and I don’t know how to face the clan members who are still alive.”
“Death isn’t an excuse to run away. You’ll have to face them eventually.”
After a short pause, Shisui spoke seriously. “Even if you had died just now, I would’ve had Orochimaru use Edo Tensei to bring you back and drag you to the Naka Shrine. But since you earned the clan another pair of Mangekyō, the others wouldn’t tear you to pieces. At worst, they’d draw and quarter you. Maybe you’d even get to live out your days in solitude.”
The conversation between Shisui and Itachi immediately put Sasuke on alert. He walked up to them, Mangekyō active, and asked, “Shisui, you knew Itachi’s plan was to provoke me into awakening my Mangekyō?”
Shisui nodded and replied, “Of course, I knew. I also know how the Eternal Mangekyō is created. Itachi’s goal was to bring about the Eternal Mangekyō by merging two Mangekyō. But he didn’t want it for himself. He wanted to give it to you.”
“He wanted to give me his eyes?”
Hearing that, Sasuke was shaken. He shook his head and muttered, “That’s impossible. He cast a genjutsu on me using the Sharingan to make me awaken the Mangekyō, to gain eternal power. There's no way he meant to leave his eyes for me.”
Shisui looked directly at him. “Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter anymore. What matters now is that you must merge Itachi’s Sharingan and evolve your Mangekyō into the Eternal Mangekyō. Only with the Eternal Mangekyō can the Uchiha hope to influence this war.”
“No!” Sasuke’s gaze turned intense as he snapped back.
“I think the truth matters more than the Mangekyō. If Itachi’s real goal was for me to get the Eternal Mangekyō, then what were all these years of effort for? After all that, I’m supposed to accept that ‘he did it for my own good’? So my entire life was just a pre-written script? All to awaken the Mangekyō?”
His emotions spiraled, and it showed, this was one of the Sharingan’s curses. While it allowed the Uchiha to gain power rapidly, it also made them obsessive.
From Madara, Shisui, and Itachi to Sasuke, they all lived by obsession, and none of them ever turned back once they picked a path.
Just then, Naruto stepped up to Sasuke and patted him on the shoulder.
“Sasuke, whether your past was scripted or not doesn’t matter. You’re the one in control of your destiny now. You can choose whether or not to forgive your brother. You can challenge Shisui to become the new leader of the Uchiha. But most importantly, you have me as your rival. Everything else might be fake, but our bond isn’t.”
Seeing Naruto comfort Sasuke of his own accord, the surrounding shinobi breathed a sigh of relief. After all, Sasuke had awakened the Mangekyō, making him one of the allied forces’ top-tier assets.
And once he obtained the Eternal Mangekyō, he would become a decisive force on the battlefield.
In fact, the Second Hokage was already envisioning a plan, using Sasuke to strike at Madara Uchiha. The boy whose life was twisted by loved ones looked exactly like Izuna.
Madara would go all out against anyone else, but someone who looked like Izuna? He’d definitely let his guard down. That would be the moment to seal him.
With Naruto’s support, Sasuke finally calmed down.
If anyone else had tried to tell him to let it go, he would’ve snapped back that they didn’t understand his pain. But Naruto was different. Naruto’s suffering was just as deep. He too had lived under the Third Hokage’s lies.
Sasuke shook Naruto’s hand off, walked up to Itachi with an expressionless face, and asked, “Itachi, how do I fuse the Mangekyō? I want the Eternal Mangekyō right now.”
Itachi answered, “Just a few surgeries. Take out both our Sharingan, then merge our ocular power. That’s how you obtain the Eternal Mangekyō.”
“A few transplant surgeries, huh?”
Sasuke considered it briefly, then turned to Kabuto. “Kabuto-senpai, I’m entrusting you with the transplant surgery for me and Itachi. I think I can trust you.”
Kabuto adjusted his glasses and smiled.
“Sasuke’s willing to trust me? I’m honored. Once you have the Mangekyō, I’d love to test myself against you. We’ll see if my ‘Dragon Sage’ mode is stronger, or if your Mangekyō has the upper hand.”
“Of course, the Sharingan will win. I’ve still got the power of the Cursed Seal too.”
Sasuke accepted Kabuto’s challenge with a smile. Then, together with Itachi, he followed Kabuto into a small wooden cabin built by the First Hokage.
Kabuto’s medical ninjutsu was top-notch. In just one hour, the surgery was complete, and Sasuke had successfully obtained the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
During the surgery, Orochimaru stared unblinkingly at the operating table, clearly tempted to take the Eternal Mangekyō for himself.
But with the four Hokage, Shisui, and Jiraiya all present, he didn’t dare make a move and had to bury that desire deep inside.
When it was over, Kabuto turned to Sasuke and asked, “How does the Eternal Mangekyō feel?”
Sasuke took a moment to sense it, then turned and cast Amaterasu on a tree. After reducing it to ashes, he replied coolly, “I don’t feel a change in the eye techniques themselves, but the ocular power seems to regenerate on its own now.”
Shisui walked over. “The ability to recover your eye power is the biggest advantage. I’ve been using the three-tomoe Sharingan all these years just to avoid going blind. But I am curious, what exactly are your Mangekyō abilities?”
The others also looked to Sasuke, intrigued by his dōjutsu.
Sasuke didn’t hold back. Calmly, he said, “Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi. Amaterasu ignites inextinguishable black flames on anything I see. Kagutsuchi lets me shape those flames and even embed them into weapons.”
“Inextinguishable flames, huh?”
Shisui gave it some thought and said, “That’s certainly a powerful ability, but I don’t think it’ll be very effective against Madara Uchiha or Byakuya. Madara’s already dead, and Byakuya excels at clone techniques.”
Sasuke sneered. “I don’t believe the chakra of Edo Tensei is infinite. As for Byakuya and his clones, I’ll just burn all of them.”
Seeing Sasuke speak with such confidence; everyone could tell he’d walked out of the darkness.
Naruto frowned. Every time Sasuke acted full of confidence, the outcome was always a brutal beatdown, and that worried him deeply.
Sure, Sasuke might be strong right now.
But there was no way he could win against the combined forces of Naruto, Killer Bee, and Gaara. On top of that, Byakuya had already taken control of Nagato, and his Rinnegan could absorb any ninjutsu.
But... was Byakuya really an enemy of the Allied Forces?
If he were, then why hadn’t he just killed them outright? Why had he deliberately spared a few of them? The other Jinchūriki who had their Tailed Beasts extracted had all vanished, no bodies, no traces left behind.
Thinking this through, Naruto looked over at Shisui, Orochimaru, and Kabuto Yakushi.
Shisui had been secretly working with Kushina all along, and clearly, both were Byakuya’s people. As for Orochimaru, he was a defector from Byakuya’s side.
But had any of them truly betrayed Byakuya?
And Kabuto... Naruto had never heard of Ryūchi Cave being skilled in medical ninjutsu, let alone capable of saving someone who’d lost so much life force. His healing method bore a striking resemblance to what Kushina experienced all those years ago.
Putting the pieces together, Kabuto also seemed deeply entangled with Byakuya.
So then, why had Byakuya spared their lives on purpose? Could it be that he was simply too powerful, so powerful that he wanted to raise a worthy opponent just to enjoy a real fight?
It sounded ridiculous… but Naruto couldn’t help thinking there might be some truth to it.
……
[Sasuke awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. You have gained Sharingan ocular power!]
[Sasuke awakened the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. You have gained a large amount of Sharingan ocular power!]
[Your ocular power has reached its limit. Your Mangekyō Sharingan abilities have been upgraded. Stored ocular techniques have increased, and some have been enhanced.]
While rushing to the main battlefield, Byakuya heard the notification from his system.
With a calm tap to claim the reward, a faint smile curved his lips. He now knew that the conflict between Sasuke and Itachi had finally come to an end.
Sasuke hadn’t let him down. Not only had he awakened the Mangekyō, but he had even evolved it into the Eternal Mangekyō.
That meant Sasuke was now potentially at the ‘Super Kage’ level, standing above even the strongest Kage-tier ninja. No wonder his own Mangekyō had been upgraded.
As for why his own Mangekyō hadn’t evolved into the Eternal stage, Byakuya didn’t care much.
His Mangekyō relied on the use of other ocular techniques to activate and didn’t drain power quickly. Whether or not it evolved into the Eternal stage didn’t matter much to him.
Besides, in Byakuya’s eyes, his Mangekyō was already god-tier.
It could not only record Mangekyō techniques, but it could even record Rinnegan and other Ōtsutsuki ocular abilities. That meant he could counter almost any eye-based jutsu.
As for collecting even more ocular power to evolve his eyes into the Rinnegan?
Byakuya didn’t believe the Mangekyō was a prerequisite for the Rinnegan at all. Mangekyō was a power of the God Tree. It had no true connection or hierarchy with the Rinnegan.
Sasuke’s Mangekyō had turned into a Rinnegan only because of the power of the Sage of Six Paths.
Not long after, Byakuya received a report from Kabuto detailing the outcome of the brothers’ battle and the next move of the Konoha squad.
Even after obtaining the Eternal Mangekyō, Sasuke and Shisui hadn’t killed Itachi Uchiha.
Byakuya wasn’t surprised in the least. In fact, this was his plan all along. He had never intended for Itachi Uchiha to die.
Not because he held any affection for Itachi, they barely knew each other and were practically strangers, but purely from a utilitarian standpoint.
Itachi’s talent was exceptional. As long as he lived, he had the potential to become even stronger.
And if Itachi grew stronger, then Byakuya’s own strength could also increase through interaction. Naturally, he wouldn’t waste such valuable talent.
Bringing his scattered thoughts back together, Byakuya had Nagato carry him on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to the battlefield’s edge.
After a brief pause, Byakuya instructed Nagato to head into battle while he himself vanished into the surrounding forest, disappearing into the sunset.
Though puzzled, Nagato obeyed and continued moving forward with the Gedo Statue.
---
At the front lines, the ninja world war’s tournament-style competition was nearing its conclusion.
The Golden and Silver Brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, had proven overwhelmingly powerful, causing many of the Allied Forces' jōnin to be disqualified, helplessly watching the masked man’s team rack up victory after victory.
There was nothing to be done.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku were Kage-tier on their own and could enter Tailed Beast Mode. Their wielding of the Six Paths’ treasured tools was another huge headache that caught everyone off guard.
Even powerhouses like Kakashi and Might Guy were forced to admit defeat and leave the ring.
However, their consecutive wins relied heavily on the Six Paths tools. Once the Hidden Cloud side brought out the Amber Purifying Bottle from Kumogakure, Kinkaku and Ginkaku were finally defeated and sealed.
Their defeat gave the Allied Forces a massive morale boost, immediately shifting the momentum against Madara Uchiha’s side.
And Madara? He had no more worthy fighters left.
In the simultaneously running individual matches, both Shinnō and Hiruko had already lost. Shinnō’s Eight Gates were artificial and eventually got exposed, leading to his defeat.
Hiruko’s technique of combining multiple kekkei genkai gave him an edge over elite jōnin.
But when facing true Kage-level fighters, he started to fall behind.
More importantly, these two were nominally subordinates of the masked man but were in fact members of Akatsuki.
They knew this competition was just a game, there was no need to fight with full power. Once their leader, Byakuya, returned, the war would end anyway.
At this point, the only person left on Madara’s side who hadn’t fought was the masked man himself.
Under Madara’s signal, the masked man stepped reluctantly into the ring. Before accepting the challenge, he glanced coldly in Byakuya’s direction. He despised being a pawn in someone else’s game and loathed these pointless games of war. When would he finally become the Jinchūriki of the Ten Tails? When would he put an end to this damn charade and stomp Byakuya underfoot? When would he finally demonstrate to Madara and the world just how powerful he truly was?
