Sasuke leapt onto the crumbling rooftop, his body trembling with rage, his curse mark fully spread across his skin. Across from him knelt Uchiha Itachi, shoulders heaving, blood staining the corners of his mouth.
"I'll prove it to you," Sasuke spat, his voice sharp with hatred. "Even without your cursed eyes, I can surpass you. I'll make you kneel before our parents and beg forgiveness in hell!"
Itachi didn't answer. He forced himself upright, his breath shallow, his expression as calm as ever.
From the shadows, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu watched with unnerving stillness, their mismatched halves whispering to each other.
The brothers moved at once. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Twin spheres of flame collided in the night sky, and the air turned molten hot. For a moment, Sasuke's fireball surged forward, overwhelming Itachi's. The Curse Seal's sinister chakra lent him strength, twisting his body into a grotesque, winged form.
"Tch… Itachi's going to lose at this rate," White Zetsu muttered nervously.
Black Zetsu's tone was flat. "Don't be so sure. Itachi's strength isn't so easily measured."
Just as Sasuke's fireball threatened to engulf Itachi, one of Itachi's eyes snapped open, bleeding tears of crimson. Black flames erupted across the battlefield, devouring Sasuke's jutsu whole.
Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. "What… what is this?"
Amaterasu spread mercilessly, consuming the cursed wings sprouting from his back. Sasuke screamed in pain as the flames clung to his flesh, forcing him to crash to the ground.
Black Zetsu's voice was low and satisfied. "Amaterasu. The Mangekyō Sharingan's inextinguishable flames. This is the difference between the two of them."
Itachi staggered, blood spilling down his chin, his vision swimming with afterimages. Still, he advanced toward his brother, step by step.
Desperate, Sasuke gasped for breath, sweat soaking his brow. "Good thing I escaped with a substitution earlier… otherwise…" He raised a trembling hand toward the sky.
Thunderclouds gathered overhead, lightning splitting the heavens. Zetsu's eyes widened.
"That's…"
"This is it," Sasuke hissed, hatred burning in his voice. "The jutsu I prepared to kill you, Itachi!"
"Lightning Release: Kirin!"
The sky itself roared as a colossal beast of lightning took shape. In an instant, the thunder dragon crashed down, obliterating the Uchiha compound in a blinding flash. The ruins trembled beneath the force, sparks crackling long after the strike had passed.
White Zetsu peeked out from the earth. "Terrifying… an S-rank technique. Itachi couldn't have survived that."
But a voice, hoarse and faint, cut through the silence.
"Do you think you've won, Sasuke?"
Sasuke froze. From the dust rose Itachi, bloodied, broken—yet standing. Around him formed a massive, crimson skeleton of chakra.
"This is the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan in both eyes," he said. "Susanoo."
The skeletal frame grew muscle, armor, and then a fearsome visage, an ethereal mirror in its left hand, a gourd and spectral blade in its right.
"The Yata Mirror… and the Totsuka Blade," Black Zetsu whispered reverently. "Offense and defense made manifest. With these, Itachi is invincible."
Sasuke hurled shuriken, explosive tags, and even his Kusanagi blade. Nothing pierced Susanoo's defense. Desperation mounted in his chest. His chakra reserves were nearly gone, and the curse seal began to writhe out of control.
A serpentine voice slithered into his mind. "Sasuke… give me your body. I'll kill Itachi for you."
"Orochimaru…" Sasuke gritted his teeth, but exhaustion betrayed him. The seal erupted, birthing a monstrous eight-headed serpent. Orochimaru's form slithered free, laughing with glee.
"Hahaha! Finally, I'm free! Itachi, this time, I'll—"
A flash. The Totsuka Blade pierced through Orochimaru, his laughter cutting off into a strangled cry.
"The Totsuka Blade seals all it pierces," Itachi said coldly. "You will trouble Sasuke no longer."
Orochimaru and his serpent form were dragged screaming into the gourd, disappearing forever.
Itachi stumbled forward, Susanoo flickering, collapsing by degrees until only his own broken body remained. His eyes bled freely, his vision fading, but still he pressed on, step by step, toward his younger brother.
"No… stay away!" Sasuke cried, backing against a wall, terror clawing at his chest.
Itachi raised a trembling hand. For a moment, Sasuke thought the end had come—that his brother would take his eyes.
Instead, Itachi reached forward and tapped his forehead gently, just as he had when they were children.
"Forgive me, Sasuke," he whispered. "And… watch Naruto carefully. He is not as simple as he seems."
Then his body gave out at last. Itachi collapsed, lifeless, at Sasuke's feet.
The younger Uchiha stared blankly at the sky, mind unraveling. Which was the real Itachi? The cruel murderer? Or the brother who, even at the end, showed a gentleness that left Sasuke more confused than ever?
From the earth, Black and White Zetsu emerged, watching quietly.
"Itachi's body had reached its limit long ago," Black Zetsu murmured. "We'll inform Tobi. He'll handle what comes next."
The two vanished, leaving Sasuke alone in the ruins of his clan.
Far away, deep in the forests of the Land of Fire, Naruto adjusted the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye, feeling its immense power settle within him. A small smile tugged at his lips.
"It's almost time," he murmured. "The real game begins now."
He drew out a black cloak, slipping it over his shoulders, then fastened a mask that concealed his face. Only his left eye was visible, its three tomoe gleaming ominously in the darkness.
With this disguise, he could pass for a Uchiha survivor—an identity that would grant him freedom of movement without exposing his true self.
No one can know who I really am, he thought. Not yet. If they discover me too soon, every shadow will turn its gaze toward me. That… I won't allow.
With a burst of speed, Naruto vanished into the night, heading toward the Land of Sound. His goal was clear: Orochimaru.
To Naruto, the Snake Sannin wasn't just a dangerous rogue. He was a genius of forbidden techniques, a treasure trove of knowledge in genetics, ninjutsu, and immortality.
And knowledge like that must be mine.
At that very moment, in one of Orochimaru's hidden lairs, Kabuto sat alone in despair. The absence of his master had left him hollow, aimless.
If Lord Orochimaru is truly gone, Kabuto thought, trembling hands hovering over preserved fragments of the White Snake's corpse, then I'll make sure he lives on inside me. Forever.
His eyes gleamed with unsettling resolve as he began preparing for his twisted union.
And in the darkness outside, masked and cloaked, Naruto's senses locked onto Kabuto's chakra.
He moved silently toward the base, a predator closing in on prey.
Inside, Kabuto froze as a shadow fell across him.
"Uzumaki Naruto?!" he gasped, disbelief flashing in his eyes. "How… how did you find this place?"
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