Sasuke panted heavily, his chest rising and falling as scorched patches spread across his skin. The damage from Amaterasu's black flames pressed down on him like a suffocating weight.
The air even carried a faint scent of charred flesh. If his physical body weren't so resilient—fortified by his training and the endurance he had built—he would have been reduced to ashes the moment he broke free of Tsukuyomi. This method was something only he could endure, because only Sasuke possessed the ability to control Amaterasu itself.
Itachi watched him quietly and asked, "Can you still defeat me in this state?"
He looked at the battered Sasuke and felt a headache forming.
He needed Sasuke to defeat him—but not too easily, not too quickly.
From a short distance away, Black Zetsu observed silently.
As Itachi pondered, his eyes suddenly widened.
A faint blue flame flickered across Sasuke's body—ethereal, chakra-born. Wherever the blue light swept across his skin, Sasuke's burns mended rapidly, knitting together at an astonishing speed.
"This is… Amaterasu? One ninjutsu with dual properties?"
Itachi's expression tightened in shock. At the same time, an unconscious breath of relief escaped him.
Sasuke coldly snorted.
"Did you think I wouldn't prepare for that?"
Lightning surged around him—Chidori crackling violently—before erupting outward in a sphere of living thunder. In an instant, a twenty-meter radius was swallowed in a storm of electric serpents.
Lightning whipped like frenzied pythons toward Itachi.
Itachi reacted swiftly, rolling backward. His hands blurred into seals.
A simple Wind Release: Great Breakthrough blew a corridor through the lightning storm, and his figure shattered into a flock of crows.
At that moment, an Itachi Shadow Clone emerged behind Sasuke. He had even found time to weave the clone's hand signs during the chaos.
But the instant Itachi struck—
Sasuke stabbed his kusanagi backward, as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
Bang!
The clone burst into smoke.
Sasuke formed the Snake seal and exhaled a roaring inferno straight toward Itachi. In response, Itachi countered with Amaterasu, black flames instantly devouring Sasuke's fire and burning through it—threatening to consume Sasuke entirely.
Sasuke's fury boiled over.
"Uchiha Itachi! Are you planning to burn out your own eyes? Don't insult me with half-measures—show me your real strength!!"
He knew it perfectly:
Without Hashirama cells, repeated Mangekyō usage would push Itachi closer to blindness. Itachi knew that too—so these shallow attacks were meaningless.
And Sasuke, with insight far beyond his original-self's naivety, wouldn't be satisfied with a hollow exchange.
Furious, Sasuke unleashed Fire Release after Fire Release. One after another, blazing Great Dragon Fire Techniques erupted, spiraling skyward.
And then—
"Amaterasu!!!"
For the first time, Sasuke used Amaterasu directly against Itachi. He knew how lethal the technique was; he didn't want Itachi to die too easily.
But Itachi, familiar with its rhythms, released a burst of black flame of his own and leaped away, slipping out of the attack's lock. Sasuke, however, kept firing Amaterasu with precise, relentless tracking.
Itachi's silhouette flickered through afterimages, slipping between shadows to evade the black-fire's pursuit.
Sasuke felt the endless reservoir of ocular power surging within him.
He couldn't help but smile.
He no longer faced the risk of blindness.
But Itachi—how many more times could he use his Mangekyō?
The sky deepened into darkness—just as Sasuke intended.
Itachi looked up, realizing what was coming.
Sasuke raised his voice—sharp and solemn:
"Witness my power!!"
"This is my self-created S-rank Lightning Release—Kirin!!!"
Sasuke's voice rang across the battlefield, pride flashing across his face.
From a distance, Black Zetsu murmured, "He's even gained control over natural weather phenomena…"
Thanks to the scientific principles Naruto had pushed him to study, Sasuke's Kirin technique could never have existed without a deep grasp of atmospheric conduction and heat dynamics.
In the original history, Sasuke learned much of this from Orochimaru—one of the very few true scientific minds in the shinobi world.
Among Ninja who sought power through science, Orochimaru stood alone as an anomaly.
The heavens rumbled. The thunder-shaped beast descended.
Kirin strikes.
A blinding roar filled the landscape as the bolt tore downward. Smoke swallowed everything—ground cracking, earth shifting, terrain reshaped as if the battlefield itself had been overturned. Within the thick haze, a colossal silhouette began to take form.
Sasuke's lips curled.
As expected.
When the smoke finally thinned, an enormous chakra construct revealed itself—a towering red figure, its outline shimmering like a god of war. The Uchiha clan's ultimate guardian technique:
Susanoo.
Once a Mangekyō Sharingan wielder awakened two ocular abilities, the third—Susanoo—would manifest. A divine power of the Uchiha, spoken of as if it were a god's avatar. Its title alone revealed its terrifying might.
In front of Sasuke, Itachi stood encased within a skeletal red Susanoo—its ribs and spine forming the second stage of the manifestation, protecting him like an armored fortress.
Seeing that Kirin had failed to pierce Susanoo, Sasuke exhaled quietly.
This was the S-rank Lightning Release he created entirely on his own—with no teacher, no guidance—yet it still struggled to break through this defense.
Kirin's cost wasn't chakra, but preparation—weather manipulation, environmental setup, and precise chakra control. Its destructive force was immense, but its spread was wide. Perfect for annihilating masses, but not ideal for piercing a singular, fortified target.
Still, Sasuke wasn't discouraged.
This was not his strongest card.
"Susanoo, huh?"
Sasuke chuckled—and a moment later, his own Susanoo rose behind him, matching Itachi's stage.
Given Sasuke's ocular foundation, awakening this form was no surprise.
"Sasuke… so you've grown to this level too?"
Itachi whispered softly. Then suddenly—
Violent coughing.
He braced himself, a fleeting tremor betraying his failing body.
A moment later, he raised his head—and began laughing wildly.
"Hahahahaha!!"
"Come, Sasuke! Show me your power! Show me the depth of your hatred!!"
Sasuke watched the delirious Itachi, shaking his head.
"You think that will provoke me? Hatred can make an Uchiha stronger, yes… but so can love. Turning love into hatred isn't the best path. Hatred may strengthen you for a moment, but love strengthens you for a lifetime."
Itachi's laughter stopped instantly.
His eyes widened—truly seeing Sasuke, perhaps for the first time.
"...How do you know my beliefs?"
Sasuke didn't answer immediately. Ever since he learned from Nagato that the Rinnegan could truly revive the dead, Sasuke's worldview had shifted. His thirst for vengeance no longer consumed him. He wanted Itachi to face the consequences of his choices—to carry the burden, not escape it through death.
If death alone could erase sin, then how cruel that would be to the Uchiha who perished.
Sasuke believed something else:
Naruto could create miracles.
That belief guided him more than hatred ever did.
(End of Chapter)
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