"You're just a bottom-tier ninja from an outside clan. Don't try to show off that Sharingan in front of me!"
BOOM!
A terrifying explosion erupted. Kakashi was sent flying by the force of Kanon's Kusanagi Blade. Sparks flew from his kunai; he was already being overpowered in their very first exchange.
As Kakashi hurtled backward, the rose patterns in Kanon's eyes began to swirl.
"Amaterasu!"
A surge of black flames ignited, lunging toward Kakashi. Kakashi grit his teeth; if he dodged now, Sakura, who was standing not far behind him, would be hit by the attack.
"Dammit, she's seen too much real combat! You bastard, Kanon..."
Kakashi instantly pulled a scroll from his ninja tool pouch. The black flames consumed the scroll in a split second, but it bought him the space he needed to escape.
Seeing this, Sakura scrambled to hide. Kanon gave Kakashi no room to breathe as he tumbled and rolled across the ground. She pressed her palm toward her chest, and a cylindrical light cone blasted toward Kakashi's silhouette at extreme speed.
"Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"
CRASH!
A massive explosion followed. The moment Kakashi's body appeared to be dismantled into molecules, it vanished in a puff of white smoke.
"Below me?" Kanon's lips curled slightly. Sure enough, Kakashi's real body appeared beneath her feet, his kunai driving straight for her chin.
But in the next instant, the kunai passed right through her. Kakashi, holding the kunai, was left completely exposed. Catching Kanon's cold sneer, Kakashi realized he had messed up.
Kanon's smile widened as she slammed her hand against Kakashi's abdomen.
"Rasengan!"
BOOM!
Amidst the deafening blast, Kakashi let out a groan of agony. He was sent spiraling toward the water beneath the bridge. Kanon pressed her advantage, leaping off the bridge toward the staggering Kakashi.
"Die!" Pink eyeshadow, the mark of Sage Mode, appeared at the corners of Kanon's eyes. As she and Kakashi plummeted, a Sage Art: Rasenshuriken formed in her hand.
She hurled it with a single hand. This terrifying Rasenshuriken was a guaranteed hit; Kakashi, having already taken a Rasengan to the gut, had no hope of dodging.
Falling through the air, Kakashi felt a searing pain in his abdomen. Though he was coughing up blood, the massive Rasenshuriken before him was the true killing blow.
In that split second before hitting the water, Kakashi's left eye became bloodshot, and a tear of blood trickled down.
"Kamui!"
SHOO!
The massive Rasenshuriken was swallowed by Kamui. As the spatial vortex closed, Kakashi's pupils shrank. Kanon had followed right behind the Rasenshuriken, Kusanagi Blade in hand.
The blade pierced through the right side of Kakashi's chest.
"AAAAAGH!"
As Kakashi screamed, Kanon kicked him away. She used her blue Uchiha trench coat to wipe the blood from her blade.
"I missed the heart? A pity. I was aiming right for it... I suppose the space was still slightly distorted by Kamui."
After cleaning the blood off her Kusanagi Blade, Kanon looked mockingly at the distant Kakashi, who was coughing blood and struggling to stand.
"You look pathetic, Kakashi," Kanon jeered.
"I knew you'd use Kamui to block it. For a borrowed eye, you use that Sharingan well enough. But in the end, you're just a ninja from an outside clan. You understand nothing of the grand and lofty name of the Uchiha!"
"There is a clear gap between our Sharingan, a gap so vast you can't even imagine it."
Sage Mode faded, and Kanon's eyes shifted into the Mangekyo. Behind her, a massive, rose-red Susanoo emerged. This was the Susanoo's second form: muscle and skin wove over the skeletal frame, all wrapped in a cloak-like layer of chakra.
"Yasaka Magatama!"
Three massive red magatama, connected by a thread-like substance resembling the Sharingan pattern, were hurled like giant shuriken straight at Kakashi.
Kakashi grit his teeth, preparing to release Kamui again. But Kanon smiled; Kakashi's Kamui was actually being suppressed by the Flower Realm's rose space!
BOOM!
Left with no choice, Kakashi threw a kunai with an explosive tag into the water. The massive explosion on the surface blasted his body away. He looked wretched, like a man desperately struggling to survive.
He collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily. Was he truly going to die here today?
"Kakashi, it's time to go," Kanon sneered. She raised a hand, and a Chidori Sharp Spear dozens of meters high slashed from beneath the bridge toward the sky, reaching the bridge deck.
"Kanon... your heart shouldn't just be about your clan or your own hatred. You need to look into your soul and think about whether what you're doing is truly right!"
As expected, Kanon stopped. Her expression shifted from coldness to rage. Her distorted features, paired with her delicate face, gave Kakashi a sense of total alienation.
"Destroy it all..."
"Destroy it all."
"DESTROY IT ALL, AAAAAAAGH!!!"
"You know absolutely nothing, yet you never stop talking!"
"That bastard Itachi! Everything he threw me away to protect... I will destroy every bit of it!!!"
The massive Chidori Sharp Spear was visible even to Sakura, who had finished healing her own wounds. She rushed over just as the lightning-clad spear swung down. As Sakura's pupils shrank, Kakashi rolled again, but this time the water and the massive mountain behind them were cleaved through by the ten-meter-long spear.
BOOM!
Water splashed ten meters high. After using the last of his ocular power to warp the spear away from him, Kakashi slumped to the ground, his Mangekyo reverting to a three-tomoe Sharingan.
Kanon clutched her bleeding left hand; the sheer force she had just exerted had caused a slight fracture. Using Mystic Palm Jutsu to heal herself, she glared at the prone Kakashi and snarled, "You certainly cling to life, Kakashi!"
But at that moment, Kakashi's eyes widened. "Sakura... don't come over..."
From the side of the bridge, Sakura leapt down. Her kunai lunged straight for Kanon's heart. Unlike her hesitation with Sasuke, she showed none for Kanon. But the sensation of a piercing strike never came.
Kanon's body turned intangible, and the kunai passed right through her.
"Hey! Sakura!"
"Kanon! Stop!" Kakashi forced himself up, sprinting forward with every ounce of strength he had left.
In the next heartbeat, Kanon had grabbed Sakura by the throat. With her other hand, she snatched Sakura's kunai and prepared to slash down.
A spray of blood arched through the air, splattering before Kanon's eyes.
Within Kanon's calm gaze, Naruto's sapphire-blue eyes and yellow hair flickered in the wind.
"Naruto, huh..." Kanon said softly.
Kakashi and Sakura both stared at Naruto in shock. Naruto held Sakura in his arms, glaring at Kanon with burning intensity.
Kakashi stumbled to the ground, exhausted. Kanon leapt back, putting distance between herself and the group.
"Your timing is better than mine, Naruto."
"I didn't expect you to come either..." Kakashi knelt on the ground, leaning on Naruto's side.
Aside from Sasuke, all members of the original Team 7 were now present. Naruto stared grimly at Kanon. There was no light left in her eyes; her gaze was worlds apart from the gentle, kind person she used to be.
"Kanon! Sakura is a member of Team 7 too!"
"Is she? Because she was just aiming for my heart," Kanon sneered.
Naruto was momentarily silenced. He looked at Sakura in surprise, but seeing her averted gaze, he understood.
"To me, that was just the old Team 7."
"Naruto... you see it now, don't you? Kanon isn't the same as before..." Kakashi warned.
Naruto took a step forward, facing Kanon.
"Kanon, that guy called Madara... he told me the truth about Itachi."
"Is that so? And so what? What Itachi did only makes me sick," Kanon spat.
"He also told me about how you almost died after giving me those tri-color dango that night."
"I don't know if it's true or not, but I understand... what you're doing right now."
Upon hearing this, Kanon froze. She stared at Naruto, her eyes radiating pure hatred.
"You won't understand. You could never understand. If you have nothing to do with me, then shut your mouth!"
Kanon began to laugh manically.
"Just a moment ago, I finished off one of my targets for revenge. You all know him, don't you? Your Hokage, Danzo."
"I cut off his head, severed his tendons, and tortured him to death bit by bit."
"What? Kanon actually killed Danzo...?" Kakashi was stunned.
"Next are those two village elders!"
"I will destroy every part of Konoha that Itachi held dear!" Kanon roared, gritting her teeth.
"I feel the former glory of the Uchiha clan. I will let the Uchiha achieve true sublimation."
Kanon stared directly at Naruto, her expression crazed as she voiced her intent: "I'm going to kill every single person in your village. That way, none of you will ever have to look at the Uchiha you so despise ever again!"
Seeing Kanon so utterly consumed by hatred, Naruto and Kakashi both lowered their heads. It was this accumulated despair and hatred that had turned Kanon into this. Both Naruto and Kakashi were filled with regret, regret that they hadn't noticed sooner, regret that they hadn't taken it seriously earlier.
As Naruto grieved, orange eyeshadow began to surface around his eyes. His pupils shifted into horizontal toad slits as he walked toward Kanon.
"Kakashi-sensei, please leave this to me. I think I'm close to knowing..."
"What are you saying?" Kakashi, being healed by Sakura, looked at Naruto.
"The last battle didn't give me the real answer..."
"I'm going to find the answer through this fight," Naruto said quietly, walking right up to Kanon.
"Is it your turn next, Naruto? Fine. I'll kill you."
Kanon drew her Kusanagi Blade from its sheath, twirling it into a ready stance.
Kanon and Naruto stood in a standoff, just like when they were children sparring in the training grounds. On one side was a desperate avenger truly consumed by hatred and darkness; on the other was the radiant, warm hero of the Hidden Leaf.