The earlier exchange between the two brothers had taken place entirely within Genjutsu.
Just as Black Zetsu watched them in quiet suspicion, the two suddenly moved—each leaping back at the exact same instant.
"Is this your strength?"
Sasuke's voice was calm, disdain dripping from every syllable.
Itachi remained silent. Sasuke's earlier words had already stirred something inside him—pain, agitation, memories best left buried.
But rather than respond, he formed hand seals.
A surge of heat burst forth.
In a breath, Fire Release ignited, blooming into a roaring wave of flames that lunged straight toward Sasuke.
Sasuke raised his left hand.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
A solid wall of earth rose from the ground, blocking the inferno head-on. Nothing fancy—no strange carvings, no stylized shapes—just a clean, functional Earth Release shield.
A flash of white light cut through the wall a moment later.
Sasuke burst from behind it, the Kusanagi Sword in hand as he slashed toward Itachi. Though he had never fully followed Orochimaru, Orochimaru had still entrusted him with the sword and the Summoning Technique to bolster his strength.
Naruto had agreed to this—it made Sasuke harder to kill.
As Sasuke slashed, dozens of Chidori Senbon erupted around him, sealing off Itachi's escape path with precise Lightning Release projectiles.
The strike should have landed.
But Itachi burst into a murder of crows, scattering into the air.
He reformed a short distance away. His Sharingan spun rapidly—three tomoe twisting, folding, reshaping.
The Mangekyō Sharingan opened.
Sasuke's face stiffened.
(That's bad.)
The world around him instantly dissolved into endless white.
From above, divine fire fell like a heavenly decree.
He gritted his teeth, activated his own Sharingan—Mangekyō unfurling in an instant.
The white world shattered like broken glass.
And now Itachi stood less than a meter from him.
Sasuke jumped back, but a searing pain scraped across his arm. Blood began to trickle.
Had he reacted a heartbeat slower, the blow would have pierced his chest—or worse, his heart.
"Amaterasu."
Itachi's voice was cold and steady. Blood dripped from his eye.
Black flames erupted out of nothing.
Sasuke raised his left arm—and a black flame shield materialized, shaped and controlled entirely by his will. Kagutsuchi manipulated Amaterasu into a defensive wall, swallowing Itachi's flame before dispelling it.
Itachi's eyes widened faintly.
"Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi… Impressive abilities."
Kagutsuchi—Blaze Release—was the ultimate control technique over black flames.
Few wielded it with such precision.
A faint smile tugged at Itachi's mouth.
Sasuke had grown—more than he had ever expected. His Taijutsu, Genjutsu, combat instincts, chakra, all of it had reached a level worthy of the Uchiha name.
Sasuke, too, allowed a small smile.
He had finally stepped onto the path of true power—into the ranks of the elite.
"Young Sasuke," Itachi said, his tone rising into feverish excitement, "since you know everything now, I will end this… and show you the true power of the Uchiha!"
Itachi laughed wildly, completely unrestrained.
"Tsukuyomi!"
Genjutsu swallowed Sasuke in an instant.
Inside the crimson realm, Sasuke exhaled lightly.
"So this is Tsukuyomi. As Naruto said… a Three-Tomoe trying to defeat a Mangekyō truly is a joke."
Mangekyō-enhanced Genjutsu was on a completely different level—untouchable by ordinary Sharingan.
"Sasuke," Itachi said, staring at him with manic intensity, "do you want to know the full truth? Then defeat me. Do whatever it takes."
He flickered forward with the Body Flicker Technique.
A Kunai slashed down toward Sasuke's face.
Sasuke caught Itachi's wrist.
Itachi dropped the Kunai, caught it with his other hand, and stabbed again—fast, fluid, merciless.
But Sasuke melted into mud.
Earth Release substitution.
Thanks to Naruto's influence, he had learned several such techniques for survival.
Though Sasuke wasn't yet fully proficient with his Earth Release techniques, they were more than enough to save his life at crucial moments.
Whoosh—!
Boom—!!
Itachi's kick slammed into Sasuke, launching him into a nearby cliff face. The stone wall caved inward, cracks spreading like a spiderweb across the impact site—proof of the monstrous force behind Itachi's strike.
Yet Sasuke rose.
Bruised, bleeding—but far from beaten.
"It hurts a bit… but that's all."
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Compared to his original story counterpart, this Sasuke's physique was on an entirely different level—refined, hardened, terrifying.
In the next instant, Sasuke vanished.
A crater marked where he had been standing.
He appeared behind Itachi—Chidori Sharp Spear piercing straight through Itachi's torso.
But once again, the body dissolved into crows.
Sasuke immediately followed with a Fūma Shuriken, mirroring the tactic he used in the original story.
But Itachi didn't replicate his past movements.
He simply performed Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, engulfing the shuriken in scorching flames. The steel wire Sasuke attempted to use burned away instantly. The flaming shuriken spun through the fire, but Itachi merely flicked his wrist, knocking it aside effortlessly.
And then—
Itachi appeared behind Sasuke in a way that defied logic, movement, and physics, striking toward the back of Sasuke's neck.
Sasuke reacted quickly, drawing the Kusanagi Sword to counter, but Itachi blurred aside, reappearing to the left and sending Sasuke skidding across the ground with a single blow.
Sasuke stood slowly, breathing hard.
"This is the Tsukuyomi space," he said quietly. "In here… I can never defeat you."
He understood immediately—inside this realm, Itachi was invincible.
"It's as expected," Itachi's voice echoed from every direction. "You have the Mangekyō now, but so what? You can't break my Genjutsu quickly. In Tsukuyomi, everything bends to my will."
In Tsukuyomi, Itachi was a god—invulnerable, omnipresent, untouchable.
If Naruto had been watching, he would've sighed that the 'Pacific War'—the original exaggerated back-and-forth—no longer existed.
In the original story, Tsukuyomi became a fair fight. Here, that notion was laughable.
Itachi had toyed with Kakashi in a single second, despite Kakashi wielding Obito's Sharingan and being an elite shinobi.
Yet when facing Sasuke in canon, Itachi deliberately weakened himself, overusing the Mangekyō, consuming his life force—all to help Sasuke grow.
Even then, Sasuke struggled. One Amaterasu nearly ended him. And somehow, Amaterasu extinguished itself.
A ridiculous outcome, considering Amaterasu should burn anything combustible to ash.
Susanoo hadn't even appeared before Sasuke was already losing control.
And at the same time, Itachi was planning to purge Orochimaru from Sasuke's body.
But now?
Everything was different.
Sasuke let out a cold breath.
"I admit I don't have a perfect method to break your Genjutsu… but I do have a crude one."
Outside, under Black Zetsu's wide-eyed gaze, black flames suddenly erupted on Sasuke's body.
He gritted his teeth, taking ragged breaths, as the Amaterasu flames burned him—searing and absolute.
Slowly, painfully, the flames dissipated, leaving scorched wounds behind.
Sasuke had used Amaterasu on himself—and with that violent shock, he forcibly shattered Itachi's Tsukuyomi.
...
(End of Chapter)
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