"I have no desire to walk a path like that! And I refuse to abandon the only family I have left!"
"I see. You're right, how one chooses to live should be decided by oneself." Itachi nodded slightly, acknowledging that path.
"No matter how much you try to rewrite the signposts, with my eyes as they are now, I can see right through the traces of your alterations!"
Itachi let out a soft chuckle.
"What's so funny?!"
"Nothing. It's just that signposts aren't the only things that can point the way." Itachi thought of Naruto. "I am a man who is already dead; I will say no more," he added plainly.
"When you were alive, you always ignored us! You always poked our foreheads, told us to forgive you, and then ran away!" Sasuke roared. "Now that you're dead, are you trying to run away again?!"
"I'm not running. As I said... I have something I must do. I must stop the Reanimation!"
Seeing Sasuke still following close behind, Itachi wove hand signs, the Summoning Jutsu. Countless crows erupted forth, swarming Sasuke and blocking his path.
"Dammit..."
"Stay here."
Once he saw Sasuke entangled by the crows, Itachi charged alone into the stalactite cave where Kabuto and Kanon were hidden.
"Over there, is it? A tedious barrier."
Behind Itachi, Susanoo manifested, shattering the wall with a single punch.
"I'm impressed you managed to find this place by tracing my barrier." Kabuto slowly put away his chess pieces and stood up.
"When I was being controlled by you, I could clearly feel where your chakra was coming from," Itachi stated calmly.
"That is indeed a risk of the technique, though you no longer need to worry about remembering that."
"You've taught me a lesson."
"Since no shinobi has ever been able to escape this jutsu, I wasn't worried about it at all. Oh, by the way, there is one thing I hope you remember."
Itachi looked at him with a hint of doubt.
"Even if you kill me, you won't stop the Reanimation. Aside from me, the only person who can stop this technique is Kanon-chan. In other words, you cannot kill me. If I die, this jutsu can never be released."
Kabuto began to laugh hysterically. "Hahahaha! It seems my luck hasn't just turned; it's overflowing!"
At that moment, Sasuke appeared behind Itachi.
"I suppose resolving this as intended was too much to ask. Really..." Itachi said, sounding resigned.
"I caught up to you. What on earth are you doing in a place like—" Sasuke started, but he stopped mid-sentence.
Suddenly, Kabuto took a large leap backward. It was then that Itachi and Sasuke felt a jolt of alarm. Both looked upward to see a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan spinning in the darkness, staring down at them with lethal intensity.
In an instant, she moved. Stepping out from the shadows, Kanon, clad in her blue coat, plunged from the ceiling with her Kusanagi Sword drawn, slashing directly at Itachi.
Sasuke flickered instantly to Itachi's rear, drawing his own Kusanagi Sword to parry Kanon's strike.
"Bastard." Seeing Sasuke's interference, Kanon flipped her blade and spun in mid-air, hurling a punch toward Sasuke.
Sasuke now possessed the Eternal Mangekyō; his perception allowed him to narrowly counter Kanon's clever Taijutsu maneuver.
"Kanon... why are you here?!" Sasuke asked in shock.
Kanon ignored Sasuke completely, her gaze fixed solely on Itachi. "Itachi. To think that Kotoamatsukami was with you all along. Have you come to deliver that eye to me?"
Seeing his younger sister looking at him without a shred of emotion, as if he were a total stranger, Itachi remained stoic, though both he and Sasuke felt a surge of inner turmoil.
"I have already destroyed that eye. It takes over a decade to manifest again; it's useless now."
"To think that Kanon-chan's enemy and her family would show up together. How fortunate," Kabuto remarked.
"What do you mean? Why are you two here?" Sasuke demanded.
"The situation is a bit complicated. Perhaps I should give you a brief explanation."
Itachi looked at Kabuto's arrogant posture and said coldly, "Explain all you want. I will use the time to stop the Reanimation."
Kabuto's voice was frigid and steady. "This jutsu has no weaknesses and no risks. Itachi, I've been wanting to explain that to you. Regardless, I think you can try to move, but I doubt Sasuke will just sit by and watch. If you're too hasty, you might end up unable to stop what could have been stopped."
"Kabuto! Answer the question!" Sasuke commanded.
"Still as arrogant as ever." Kanon picked her ear with her pinky and looked at Sasuke. In her eyes, the markings of Sage Mode appeared as she stepped in front of Kabuto.
Indeed, Kanon was now standing in direct opposition to Sasuke and Itachi.
Kabuto proceeded to inform the two of the situation on the battlefield outside. "The Fourth Shinobi World War. Kanon, Tobi, and I are fighting against the Allied Shinobi Forces formed by the Five Great Nations. The war is currently at its peak."
"Enemies of the five great nations? How could you possibly face them alone!" Sasuke stared at Kabuto and Kanon.
"Indeed. That's why Kanon's original body is likely facing the Five Kage by herself right now."
"What?!" Itachi and Sasuke were stunned.
Sasuke's pupils trembled. Kanon... fighting the Five Kage alone?
"What? You have a problem with that?" Kanon sneered. Though she was a shadow clone, she looked at Itachi and Sasuke with mockery. "Stop acting so sanctimonious, Sasuke, Itachi."
Kanon spun her sword with one hand. With Sage Mode active, she was ready for war at any moment.
"Kanon-chan started this war for Madara's Eye of the Moon Plan," Kabuto added plainly.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.
"Just like you, because she hates the shinobi world, Madara devised the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"The Eye of the Moon Plan?"
"Using the Ten-Tails to cast a massive genjutsu over the entire world, creating a world of only peace and dreams," Kabuto finished for Kanon. "Therefore, Tobi needs Naruto's Nine-Tails and Killer B's Eight-Tails no matter what. Even Nagato will likely join the fray. Right now, Madara is probably slaughtering people on the battlefield to get to them. And Kanon is already engaged with the Five Kage."
"Tsk." Sasuke grit his teeth.
"This is the war into which Kanon, Tobi, and Madara have poured everything!" Kabuto laughed. "But why are you, awakened by the Reanimation, here? Your murderous intent is the real deal." Sasuke looked at Itachi, confused.
"The reason is simple: I am not being controlled by him," Itachi explained.
Kabuto smiled slightly. "Exactly. As expected of Itachi Uchiha, to have a trump card like Kotoamatsukami hidden away. To use your own genjutsu to override the Reanimation... generally, no one would think of that."
"Unfortunately for you, I despise being commanded and controlled by others," Itachi said softly.
"And you think I enjoy it?!" Kanon looked up. In an instant, a terrifying crackle of lightning appeared in her hand.
"Chidori!"
In the blink of an eye, Kanon's hand pierced through Itachi's heart while Sasuke's pupils shrank in shock. As the debris flew, Sasuke tried to move, but he was sent flying by an invisible fist.
Sasuke tumbled across the ground, struggling to regain his footing. That invisible blow was Kanon's Dragon-Serpent Strike. Itachi's body began to reconstruct, only to be kicked aside by Kanon.
"Reanimation... you actually brought out such a tedious forbidden jutsu."
"Look at you. It's thanks to this jutsu that you two achieved such a touching reunion, isn't it?" Kabuto chuckled. "At least show me some gratitude."
"The Reanimation cannot control the heart. You have desecrated purified souls, sowing unnecessary sorrow and hatred," Itachi stated. "Do you understand the agony the dead feel when they fight? To say nothing of the feelings of the survivors. People finally managed to overcome their grief, yet you use a jutsu to bring it all back to life."
Kanon, after kicking Sasuke away, backflipped to Kabuto's side and laughed coldly. "Itachi, what right do you have to say that? This shinobi world is full of twisted wills. You, and everyone else... none of you matter to me anymore. The shinobi world needs a new order. This world will become a ruin, and I shall forge a new order from it. I've said it many times, though I suppose I haven't said it to you or that guy yet."
Kanon's eyes shifted into the Mangekyō, and a rose-red Susanoo surged around her. "The era of the shinobi is coming to an end. Neither you nor that guy can stop us."
Itachi looked at Kanon and said calmly, "Say what you will. You and Kabuto will die here."
Sasuke was startled by Itachi's words. "Why?! Itachi!"
"Some people can no longer be brought back, Sasuke. Right now, the only thing we can do is put her current self to rest," Itachi said with heavy significance.
"Don't act like you've always cared about me! It makes me sick!" Kanon exploded in rage.
In that moment, her mind flashed back to the bodies of her parents on the night of the massacre, and the heavy punch Itachi had landed on her stomach during her first defection from Konoha. The scene shifted again to her most desperate moment, when Sasuke pointed the Kusanagi Sword at her throat.
"Itachi, don't be so arrogant."
Seeing Kanon so manic, Sasuke lowered his head in self-reproach. Caught between his sister and his brother, Sasuke felt he had no place to stand.
Itachi patted Sasuke's shoulder and spoke softly. "Don't get too caught up in your emotions. Let's defeat them together first, but do not kill them. If the caster of the Reanimation is killed, the jutsu can never be released. I will use my Tsukuyomi to find the method to stop the jutsu. Then, while he is under Tsukuyomi, I will control him. I will be the one to stop the Reanimation!"
Kabuto stood up and walked to Kanon's side. "You state your method for defeating me very fluently, but have you forgotten? You aren't the only ones here with a Sharingan!"
Suddenly, Kanon's figure bolted from Kabuto's side, her Susanoo smashing directly into Itachi. The red skeletal structure collided with Itachi's orange-red armor with a sickening crack. Itachi was hammered backward instantly.
"Itachi!" Sasuke moved to support him, only to find a Wind Release: Rasenshuriken hurtling toward him.
BOOM!
A massive explosion of energy erupted. Even with his Susanoo active, Sasuke was forced back dozens of steps.