While Orochimaru was lost in rapture over Kimimaro's successful "resurrection" and dreaming of boundless futures, another meeting was unfolding somewhere on the border of the Land of Fire.
In a desolate valley ravaged by Sasuke's Mangekyo power, Uchiha Itachi's figure appeared in silence.
He still wore the black-and-red cloud robe of the Akatsuki Organization, his calm face betraying no emotion. Only in those deep black eyes, when they fell upon the familiar yet foreign figure in the valley, did a barely perceptible ripple flash.
Uchiha Sasuke stood with his back to him atop a scorched boulder, night wind tugging at his clothes and hair.
He had clearly sensed the arrival long ago, yet did not turn around at once; the cold, arrogant aura around him only grew denser.
"You came," Sasuke said, the old hysteria gone, replaced by a settled, heart-stopping chill.
Itachi stepped forward slowly, stopping a few meters away. His gaze swept across the traces left by Amaterasu—patches of eerie nothingness—then returned to Sasuke, speaking in a flat tone, as though stating a fact.
"You have awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan."
Sasuke finally turned. Those demonic eyes, shaped like three-bladed shuriken, shone ominous and mighty under the moonlight as he met Itachi's stare without flinching.
"Thanks to you." A cold curve touched Sasuke's lips, thick with sarcasm.
"Had I not learned those... nauseating truths, I might not have gained these eyes—eyes that can kill you—so quickly."
"Truths?" Itachi's pupils contracted, yet his face remained as calm as an ancient well.
"What did Orochimaru tell you?"
As he spoke, his Sharingan surfaced silently, and a powerful, subtle ocular Chakra spread like an invisible web toward Sasuke.
It was a probe: testing Sasuke's mental state, checking for foreign genjutsu or mental suggestions, and gauging the strength of these newborn Mangekyo.
Yet the instant his Chakra touched Sasuke, a colder, fiercer force—like a Vicious Beast roused—burst from Sasuke's Mangekyo and struck back.
The two invisible forces clashed violently in the air. No sound was made, yet the very air seemed to freeze; Sasuke's ocular power was overwhelming.
"Enough of your tricks, Itachi," Sasuke's Mangekyo stared coldly.
"It seems you've learned things you shouldn't have," Itachi said, slowly withdrawing his probe. His Sharingan faded, leaving calm black eyes again.
"Things I shouldn't have?" Sasuke let out a mocking laugh, steeped in irony and sorrow.
"Do you mean the truth that you slaughtered our clan to protect Konoha? Or the lie that you did it all to protect me?"
No expression crossed Itachi's face.
"Sasuke, you're still as naïve as when you were a child. Power is the only real thing in this world."
He deliberately steered the topic toward power, trying to drag Sasuke back onto the track of "hatred breeds strength."
"Power?" Sasuke advanced step by step, his Mangekyo locked on Itachi.
"Then let's test the strength I now possess—with these eyes you 'gave' me!"
Before the words faded, Sasuke's left Mangekyo snapped into focus!
"Amaterasu!"
Black flames erupted without warning on the boulder where Itachi stood—inescapable, burning everything to ash.
Yet the instant the blaze was about to consume him, Itachi's figure rippled like a reflection in water, then burst into countless crows that scattered away. Amaterasu burned silently on the empty rock.
"Genjutsu? Or Body-Flicker?" Sasuke's heart tightened; his Mangekyo swept the surroundings.
"Is that all, Sasuke?" Itachi's voice came from behind him.
Sasuke spun around to see Itachi standing not far away, as unruffled as ever.
"Your eyes still can't fully control that power."
Itachi spoke quietly. His own Mangekyo Sharingan opened.
Terrifying ocular pressure rolled out like a physical force, far beyond anything Sasuke had felt before!
"Then let me show you the true power of these eyes."
Itachi's Mangekyo slowly spun, fixing on Sasuke.
"Tsukuyomi!"
In an instant the space around Sasuke twisted and discolored. He felt himself dragged into a bizarre world of crimson moons and black crosses; time and meaning vanished here, endless agony flooding in to swallow him whole.
This was Tsukuyomi—the ultimate spiritual attack!
"Ngh—!" Sasuke groaned in pain, yet his newborn Mangekyo whirled wildly, resisting the mental erosion.
"Struggle, suffer, Sasuke," Itachi's voice echoed through the mental world, cold and cruel.
"Only thus will you grasp the gap in power, abandon pointless illusions, and devote yourself to hatred and growth!"
"Sh-shut up!" Sasuke roared amid the torment. Scenes that had jerked him awake countless times flashed through his mind.
In the end every image condensed into boundless hatred for the man before him and a craving for answers.
"Tell me! Uchiha Itachi!" Sasuke stared at the illusory Itachi.
"Look into my eyes! Tell me! What truly happened that night?! Are those things real?!"
For the first time, facing Itachi, he asked the core question—not simply "I'll kill you."
The Tsukuyomi world quivered slightly under the force of Sasuke's will.
Outside the illusion, in the real world, Itachi's body swayed, his face growing a shade paler.
"A boring question," Itachi's voice remained icy.
He intensified Tsukuyomi. "It seems you need a deeper lesson."
A fiercer mental surge crashed into Sasuke!
Yet just as Itachi poured everything into Tsukuyomi, trying to shatter Sasuke's mind, Sasuke's Mangekyo, bloodshot to the limit, gathered every shred of his Chakra, every ounce of will, all his fury and defiance, into an invisible, razor-sharp mental spear that shot back along Tsukuyomi's link and stabbed straight at Itachi!
"Ngh!"
In the real world Itachi let out a stifled cry, eyes snapping shut as a line of blood-tears ran down! The Tsukuyomi world collapsed instantly!
Sasuke staggered back several steps, gasping, face pale, eyes burning with pain—but he had broken free.
The brothers stood a few meters apart, both breathing hard. The valley was dead silent except for the wind keening through stone crevices.
Seeing Sasuke escape his ultimate genjutsu, Itachi realized his original plan had been completely derailed.
Sasuke had not followed the path of a pure avenger forged in hatred; under the impact of truth he had become something more dangerous and unpredictable.
He could no longer guide and "protect" Sasuke with hatred alone.
Now Sasuke possessed power, knew part of the truth, and harbored hatred for Konoha—he was a bomb that could detonate at any moment.
Suppressing his discomfort, Itachi called up Chakra again and spoke to the exhausted Sasuke.
"Cherish those eyes. Don't seek me again until you have power enough to kill me. Otherwise, next time I will not hold back."
Itachi's form dissolved into crows that scattered; his presence vanished entirely from the valley.
Sasuke stared in the direction he had gone, then dropped to his knees—his Chakra was spent.
"Damn it!"
To Sasuke, Itachi's retreat felt like tacit admission.
Far away, once he was sure Sasuke wasn't following, Itachi coughed several times, blood spattering the ground, and sat leaning against a tree.
He lifted his gaze to the cold moon, a flicker of pain crossing his eyes.
He had to adjust his plans quickly and find a new way to "protect" Sasuke before he lost control—or was swallowed by other forces.
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