READ NOW! THE GRAND FINALE HAS BEEN RELEASED ON PATREON!
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In that moment, Sasuke's Mangekyo power surged without restraint.
The complete fourth-form Susanoo stabilized fully - vast, oppressive, and utterly dominant. It stood several times taller than Itachi's Karasu Tengu Susanoo, not merely stronger, but existing on a different scale entirely.
Itachi could only stare.
He couldn't accept it - not in so short a time.
But reality didn't ask for acceptance.
Sasuke was Chiba's direct disciple. He had fused Hashirama's cells, bringing the powers of Asura and Indra into violent resonance. It didn't mean he had stepped into the Six Paths realm - but it was more than enough to sharpen his ocular power and drive his strength upward at an abnormal pace.
Even with Mangekyo reawakened, Itachi was no longer in the same world.
Sasuke's voice cut through the tension, cold and precise.
"Uchiha Itachi… you don't understand what real power is."
His eyes narrowed, hatred steady as iron.
"These eyes awakened through hatred - hatred you gave me."
He exhaled, and the air tightened.
"How deep my hatred is… is how strong I became."
"Today, I'll make sure you understand that."
A weapon formed in his Susanoo's grasp: a gigantic chakra bow, solemn and ancient in shape, like something meant for gods rather than men.
Ame no Makakoyumi ("Heavenly Makakoyumi Bow").
With a single intent, Sasuke drew the string back. A massive chakra arrow condensed onto it - Amaterasu ("Heavenly Illumination") igniting into unquenchable black flames, Kagutsuchi ("Flame Control") shaping those flames into a killing edge.
Kagutsuchi no Ya ("Kagutsuchi Arrow").
Itachi's pupils tightened. He pushed his Susanoo to its limit and manifested his ultimate defense.
Yata no Kagami ("Yata Mirror").
A shield spoken of as though it could repel anything.
But in the shinobi world, "absolute" was just a word people used when they hadn't yet met something stronger.
The arrow fired.
There was no time, no space, no angle to evade. The attack was too fast, too broad, too overwhelming.
Itachi braced and endured.
The impact detonated like a falling star.
The Yata Mirror shattered.
Not cracked - shattered, exploding apart under the difference in power. Because it was never truly an external tool; like the Totsuka Blade, it was an ethereal chakra construct. And chakra, no matter how legendary, still broke when crushed by something vastly greater.
The arrow's force continued, igniting Itachi's Susanoo armor in Amaterasu's black fire.
Itachi couldn't control it. Without Kagutsuchi, he couldn't shape the flames, suppress them, or dismiss them at will.
His only option was brutal.
He abandoned the armor - shedding the burning outer layer as his chakra collapsed, tearing himself free at the cost of severe consumption. His Susanoo dropped to the second form, reduced to a weaker shroud.
Blood tears leaked from Itachi's eyes. He gasped, shoulders trembling. The genjutsu loss had already pushed his mind toward collapse, and now the exchange had stripped away what little stamina remained.
Sasuke watched him, expression unmoved.
"That's it?" he asked, voice like frost. "That's the 'pain' you bragged about?"
He stepped forward, shadow swallowing the distance.
"Your so-called sacrifice wasn't noble. It was self-indulgence."
"You didn't sacrifice yourself."
"You sacrificed the Uchiha."
"Our relatives. Our friends. Our comrades."
His voice sharpened into disgust. "Even our parents."
Sasuke's gaze turned contemptuous. "And you still think you get to talk about pain? About sacrifice?"
"In my eyes… you're nothing but a stray dog."
Ame no Makakoyumi drew again.
Another Kagutsuchi Arrow formed - ready to end it.
Itachi's breath hitched. He finally understood the gap completely.
But even then, he refused to die.
His obsession had replaced reason; the desire to wipe out the Uchiha had become a twisted inner demon he couldn't abandon.
So he roared and struck first.
From his Susanoo's arm, a massive chakra blade manifested - an infamous sealing weapon.
Totsuka no Tsurugi ("Totsuka Blade").
It lunged forward in a violent thrust, aiming to pierce through Sasuke's defense and seal him into the drunken-dream illusion forever.
But Itachi's Susanoo was only second form.
Against a complete fourth-form Susanoo, it was nothing.
Sasuke sneered, and the Kagutsuchi Arrow fired.
The collision erupted in a savage explosion - shockwaves ripping outward, the ground cracking under the pressure as chakra surged and detonated like a storm.
For a heartbeat, the two forces resisted.
Then the difference asserted itself.
The Totsuka Blade shattered.
The arrow kept going.
It slammed into Itachi's Susanoo again, forcing him to shed what remained of his defenses. Chakra collapsed in fragments, and his Susanoo fell all the way back to its first form - the skeletal outline.
In that state, Itachi could no longer manifest Susanoo's ethereal weapons. His offense and defense plummeted, leaving him bare and cornered.
Itachi stared at Sasuke, voice hoarse, despair seeping into every word.
"Sasuke… I didn't think you'd become this strong…"
A bitter laugh trembled. "Looks like… I underestimated you…"
Sasuke's eyes were merciless.
"You didn't just underestimate me," he said. "You never understood power."
His gaze sharpened.
"The next strike will send you on your way."
"Go to the Pure Land - "
"And face Father… and every Uchiha's rage."
His voice rose at the end, not with frenzy, but with absolute certainty.
"Because this time, Uchiha Itachi…"
"You're not escaping."