Lightning flashed across the sky, thunder crackled through the clouds, and countless electric serpents writhed and coiled around Indra's Perfect Susanoo.
With each swing of his gleaming Susanoo blade, Indra unleashed unfathomable power.
The heavens raged. Thunder and lightning surged.
Wherever the two titans clashed, hell followed.
Each time Armored Susanoo: Six Paths Sage Fox Mode collided with Perfect Susanoo, the earth split, the sea surged, mountains collapsed.
Although Itachi had done his best to steer their battle away from cities and villages, disasters of this scale left devastation in their wake—
—and not everyone escaped with their lives.
The cries of the wounded and dying echoed through the air. The scene was heartbreaking, even for hardened shinobi.
As the two titans crashed into each other once again, Indra roared. Suddenly, his Perfect Susanoo sprouted four additional arms that grabbed hold of the Six Paths Sage Fox Susanoo's limbs, slamming it down and pinning it to the ground with immense force.
"This ends now, boy!" Indra growled.
The Susanoo raised its twin arms high. Lightning surged across the blade, coiling around it in arcs of raw power—
—and then, with a thunderous crash, brought it down upon Itachi!
DUANG!!
The earth shook violently. But—
The Nine Tails of the Sage Fox Susanoo crossed over Itachi's head, shielding him. The tails absorbed the full force of the blow.
The impact cratered the earth. Dust and stone exploded outward. A spiderweb of cracks split the land beneath them.
Now! Indra's left eye narrowed, his pupil tightening as his gaze locked onto Itachi.
Amaterasu!
"There's no escape," Indra declared, confident. "I've won."
But—
The jet-black flames of Amaterasu didn't ignite on Itachi's body.
Instead, they were blocked—by a fiery-red shield.
Yata Mirror.
An ethereal, formless divine relic said to possess every nature transformation. It could adapt to any elemental attack and neutralize it completely.
The black flames of Amaterasu fizzled—then rebounded, harmlessly.
And in that moment—
Itachi moved.
He activated a technique that felt like something out of a different world altogether—like the martial art from Yu Yu Hakusho, mastered by Shinobu Sensui—
Resshūken—Fissure Kick Fist!
The Sage Fox Susanoo, which had been seemingly restrained, suddenly twisted its body with unnatural precision. With a blur of movement, it slipped out of the Perfect Susanoo's grasp!
Then it unleashed an astonishing counterattack.
"IKUZO!"
BOOM!
A massive leg slammed straight into Perfect Susanoo's stomach.
Indra spat blood. His eyes bulged. The force launched both him and the titan backward like meteors, crashing through mountains as they tumbled.
The Perfect Susanoo's feet carved an enormous trench into the earth, dragging for kilometers before it finally came to a halt.
"Cough! Cough!" Indra clutched his chest, gagging. He could barely keep the bile down.
What… was that?!
How had Itachi's strike—meant for Susanoo—felt like it hit him directly?
Then he saw it.
The crimson glow of the Yata Mirror hovering in front of Itachi. Indra's expression darkened.
Damn it. This brat was holding back the whole time.
He hadn't been in Stage One Susanoo at all.
He had the full set—the mirror, the blade…
"You've made me angry, brat."
With a furious roar, Indra summoned a glowing violet longbow in front of him.
The Perfect Susanoo drew the bowstring to its fullest, forming a gigantic lightning-charged arrow.
Itachi was undaunted.
He pressed his hands together in a seal—
And from the earth, a towering figure rose: a Thousand-Armed Kannon, each arm outstretched, the sky above shadowed beneath its immensity.
In the world of Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, monks watched the sky in awe. The towering bodhisattva and the blazing red sun above its head—
They dropped into lotus position all at once, chanting with burning zeal.
"Dainichi Nyorai!"
"Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara!"
"They manifest together—Buddha's Way shall flourish!"
"Amitābha… praise be!"
"Disciples offer reverence to the Great Sun Buddha! To the Bodhisattva of Infinite Hands!"
Indra's voice thundered across the skies.
"Asura! For a thousand years I've waited. You think I'll lose to you again?!"
The Perfect Susanoo loosed its bow.
A lightning-wrapped arrow shrieked through the air toward Itachi.
"Indra's Arrow!"
Itachi stood unmoving atop the Thousand-Armed Kannon.
"Sage Art: Wood Release — True Several Thousand Hands: Top Transcendent Buddha!"
The Kannon surged forward. Thousands of arms, thousands of fists, rained from the heavens like a storm.
Indra's Arrow tore through dozens of limbs on its path toward Itachi.
"COME ON THEN!"
"Let's see who's faster!"
Indra's eyes were wild with frenzy. He didn't dodge. He didn't blink. He drove his arrow forward through the onslaught.
BOOM!
"I won!" Indra roared with glee as his arrow reached Itachi.
But—
A heartbeat later, his grin froze.
The arrow passed through Itachi. Through the Thousand-Armed Kannon.
Like they weren't even there.
A genjutsu? A space-time shift?
Whatever it was, Itachi stood unharmed.
"…Impossible…" Indra whispered.
What answered him—was a storm of fists.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The ground where the Perfect Susanoo stood erupted.
A crater thousands of meters wide was hammered into existence.
A bottomless chasm appeared.
Indra collapsed, eyes blank, body broken.
The once-mighty Perfect Susanoo—shattered. Not even scraps remained.
"It's over," Itachi said calmly, descending in his golden glow. Before Indra, he raised the Totsuka Sword—a spiritual weapon capable of sealing anything it pierced.
SHUNK.
The sword plunged into Indra's chest.
"Guh—"
Indra looked down at the blade, then at his now-vanished Susanoo.
Then up at Itachi.
A faint, bitter smile crossed his lips.
"…So I really lost."
"Cough… cough… incredible. Truly incredible."
"You… even kept a trick up your sleeve…"
"Space-time ninjutsu…"
"And the Totsuka Sword, the technique that sealed the outcome…"
"You didn't use them until the final moment."
"You hid your trump card… all the way to the end."
"Impressive… so impressive. I have no regrets."
Cough.
His eyelids drooped. But his expression was peaceful—relieved, even.
If this had been the past, defeat would've filled him with rage.
He would've vowed vengeance.
But now… after being beaten by this descendant, all he felt was contentment.
Like a proud father.
"Brother!"
Asura rushed to his side. Tears welled in his eyes as he saw Indra's body sealed, his chakra bound.
Indra turned to Itachi, voice soft.
"You have earned… my acknowledgment."
As those words left his lips, Itachi felt a new surge of energy pass into him. He looked down at his left palm—
A crescent moon seal had appeared.
Six Paths – Yin Power.
The final half of the Sage's chakra.