The Masked Man's Hideout.
The silence of the lair was shattered by a sudden explosion.
"Stop! Why are you doing this?!" the original White Zetsu shrieked in terror, staring down at the giant blade of chakra impaling his chest.
His only answer was the black flames of Amaterasu.
"AAAGH!" With a final, agonized scream, the original Zetsu was incinerated.
Sasuke finally unwound the bandages from his face, his voice a low whisper. "Time to test these eyes outside."
"My Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
Sasuke looked up, his pupils shifting into the intricate design of his new visual prowess. With a flash of cold steel, he swung his blade, the force of the strike causing the ground to erupt. After spinning the Kusanagi sword in mid-air with practiced grace, he clicked it back into its scabbard at his waist.
He cast a cold glance at the ruined base and prepared to leave, only to find a young girl in a blue coat sitting nearby, her legs crossed nonchalantly.
"Are you awake?"
At the sight of her, Sasuke's expression fractured. Guilt and bitterness swirled in his chest.
"Why did you help me with the transplant?" Sasuke asked.
"There is no 'why.' Now get lost," Kanon said flatly. "This war has already begun. There's no need for you to participate."
"I have no interest in their war," Sasuke declared, his voice rising. "But I will kill the Five Kage with my own hands. I will destroy Konoha!"
In a blur of speed, the Kusanagi sword was suddenly pressed against Sasuke's throat.
"Get lost. Didn't you hear me?" Kanon asked, her voice like ice.
Sasuke's pupils contracted. This Kanon was a stranger, cold, distant, and utterly different from the girl who had once cared for him, protected him, and shared the bond of being each other's only family.
Before Sasuke could react, Kanon's boot slammed into his abdomen. The force sent him tumbling back dozens of meters.
"Don't push me," Kanon said, a flicker of genuine anger crossing her face.
"Kanon..." Sasuke groaned, clutching his stomach as his resolve hardened.
"I said: Stay. Out. Of. This. War."
Sasuke looked at her, his hesitation vanishing. To inherit Itachi's will, he couldn't stop here. He drew his own sword, but looking at Kanon's face, his heart felt like it was being constricted. The sensation of being at odds with his only living relative was like glass shattering in his chest.
Only now did he truly understand the desperation she must have felt that afternoon by the sea, when he had pointed his blade at her.
But now, Sasuke had a purpose he could not abandon.
"Have you finally made up your mind?" Kanon watched him grip the hilt of his sword, her expression drifting toward mania.
"No." Sasuke sheathed the blade instead.
Kanon froze, startled by the gesture.
"I don't know why you've become like this, but I know it's because of me. You are my only family." Sasuke's voice was steady. "Even though I've chosen Itachi's path, I will not raise a hand against you... Let me pass."
"You idiot!"
BAM!
With a roar of fury, Kanon's fist connected with Sasuke's face, sending him sprawling across the ground.
As he lay there, splayed out, Kanon sank to her knees beside him. Tears began to fall, carving paths through her mask of indifference. Her hollow heart felt as if it were being shredded by a dull knife.
"Why... why won't you just listen to me...?"
"You didn't have to be part of this war..."
"This twisted shinobi world doesn't deserve anyone's sympathy... but family is different!"
Kanon knelt there, sobbing uncontrollably. This girl, who had endured so much darkness, finally broke. Like the child she used to be, her body trembled before her older brother. She screamed questions at the world, asking how she and Sasuke had ended up here.
Sasuke watched her shoulders shake, stunned. That slender frame looked as though it were carrying the weight of all the pain and darkness in existence. A fifteen-year-old girl, standing alone against the entire world.
The sister he remembered, the one who always watched over him, cared for him, and looked up to him, was crying like a lost, broken soul.
"What am I supposed to do?! You bastard, Sasuke! Why did you have to take on his will and abandon me again?!" Kanon gritted her teeth, her tears a relentless torrent. "Why won't you just listen? Why must you go into this war...?"
Looking at her, Sasuke remembered the words he had spoken to her at the Valley of the End:
"No matter where we are, I am your brother..."
Kanon had lived for that bond. She had lost everyone important to her, one by one, until she became a drifter in a world of shadows. And what had he, her brother, ever done for her?
Another memory flashed through his mind, a promise to make her the happiest girl in the world. He remembered her baring her soul to him:
"The only places I can cry are under my covers... and in my brother's arms."
In that memory, she had wept in his embrace, her hair and her expression so incredibly soft. Sasuke wanted to reach out and hold her now, to tell her that he was still there, that he would always be there. But he knew he no longer had the right.
Seeing her cry until she was breathless, as if trying to wash away all her suffering with tears, Sasuke felt his heart being crushed by a sledgehammer.
Through her blurred vision, Kanon saw the tears at the corners of Sasuke's eyes. Her heart hammered. She hadn't given him the Mangekyo just so she could defeat him later. She had given them to him so that he would have the power to protect himself, to do what he felt he had to do.
Only then could Kanon unleash her full power and take her revenge on the shinobi world without worrying about his safety, even if it meant her death.
Always poor with words, Kanon buried her true feelings in the deepest recesses of her heart. As her sobbing subsided, she stood up, her small silhouette looking agonizingly lonely. Sasuke stood as well.
Kanon spread her arms, blocking his path one last time. "You're going no matter what?"
Sasuke wiped his eyes and gave a small, firm nod.
Upon receiving his answer, Kanon finally let her arms drop. It wasn't the answer she wanted, but she chose to be a sister.
"Go then... and don't look back."
Sasuke nodded and walked past her, disappearing into the distance.
Only after he was far away did Kanon collapse to the ground.
"Nii-chan... please stay safe..."
"Because my other clones... won't be nearly as easy to talk to."
POOF!
She vanished in a cloud of white smoke.
…
On the main battlefield, even the arrival of Kakashi and Guy had failed to turn the tide. They were locked in a stalemate, held back entirely by a single clone of Kanon.
Kanon's Sage Transformation and combat intellect left both elite ninja struggling to find an opening.
"Kakashi! Where did you find a student this troublesome?!" Guy yelled, wiping blood from his lip.
"Who knows," Kakashi replied, his three-tomoe Sharingan spinning rapidly. He could hardly believe that a mere Shadow Clone was capable of fending off the two of them at once.
"If you won't come to me, I'm coming to you," Kanon said coldly.
"Here she comes, Kakashi!"
"Right. Stay sharp, Guy!"
Kanon lunged, a Chidori Sharp Spear extending from her hand as she tore toward them.
On the other side of the battlefield, the Nine-Tails, Kurama, watched Naruto. Seeing everything the boy had sacrificed for the sake of the Tailed Beasts, the fox found itself moved by the memories of Naruto's journey. His unwavering persistence in chasing after Kanon and Sasuke had finally touched the Great Fox.
As Naruto performed yet another miracle, pulling the chakra receivers from the Four-Tails, Kurama finally gave a satisfied nod.