"What a despicable brat."
A pitcher plant tendril pushed through the soil near Obito's feet.
White Zetsu emerged halfway from the ground, his tone dripping with schadenfreude. "I was sure Itachi had this fight locked down, but after burning through this much energy... the outcome's anyone's guess now."
Black Zetsu cut in, voice low and flat. "The kid's after the Sharingan. If he takes Itachi's eyes, that could be a problem. You're fine with that?"
"It doesn't matter."
Obito's tone was as flat as still water.
His gaze drifted to the young figure at the center of the battlefield, and the faintest curve touched the corner of his mouth. "He's not Sasuke. Even if he implants Itachi's Sharingan, he can't evolve it into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Besides, Itachi's eyes are nearly spent."
He paused, letting his gaze slide toward Kakashi, locked in combat with Sound ninja in the distance. "The kid isn't even an Uchiha. Even with the eyes, he'd never draw out their true power."
The indirect dig at Kakashi was as blatant as it gets.
On the battlefield, Itachi's hands flew through seals.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire!"
Dozens of small fireballs erupted from his mouth, scattering like burning petals as they streaked toward Makoto.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Water surged beneath Makoto's feet, spiraling upward into a cylindrical wall that enclosed him completely.
The fireballs slammed into the barrier. Steam billowed in thick white clouds, each impact punctuated by a sharp, hissing pop.
Then, in the next instant, several kunai punched through the water wall and shot outward.
The runes etched into their handles marked every one of them as Flying Thunder God kunai.
Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan locked onto their trajectories.
He knew exactly what those kunai meant. Let even one get close, and it was over.
He flicked a handful of shuriken backhanded.
Each one struck true, knocking every Flying Thunder God kunai out of the air at ten meters' distance.
But then...
One of the downed kunai erupted in a burst of white smoke, and Makoto charged out of it, closing the gap to Itachi in a heartbeat.
A fresh cut bled across his face, but his eyes still burned with fighting spirit.
He transformed himself into a kunai? And it's the real body, not a clone?
It made sense. A Shadow Clone would have popped the instant it was struck down.
A high-pitched whine cut through the air.
In Makoto's right palm, a Rasengan spun at blinding speed. But this was no ordinary Rasengan. Four curved wind blades extended from its edges, shearing the surrounding air at impossible angles, shrieking like something alive.
"Let's see you block this."
He leveled the new Rasengan straight at Itachi.
That piercing howl alone was enough to freeze anyone in place. A standard Susanoo shield wouldn't survive this.
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. Incomplete form.
From his vantage point, Obito's expression shifted.
That was the same move that killed Kijuurou Suikazan.
A trail of bloody tears trickled down Itachi's right eye.
At this range, there was no missing.
"Amaterasu!"
But in that same instant, Makoto snapped his leg up in a vicious high kick, launching something at Itachi.
Something small and metallic tumbled through the air.
A Flying Thunder God kunai.
He'd stuck it to the sole of his foot with Chakra, hidden in Itachi's blind spot the entire time.
Damn it... no time for Amaterasu!
Itachi's pupils contracted. He abandoned the jutsu, bit down hard, and the orange-red skeletal frame of Susanoo flickered into existence around him, sealing him inside.
The Flying Thunder God kunai bounced off the Susanoo shield with a sharp ring and spun away.
But an afterimage blurred, and Makoto was already standing in front of the shield.
Right palm forward.
The incomplete Wind Release: Rasenshuriken smashed into the orange-red skeleton.
The explosion tore through the arena.
A hemisphere of compressed wind blades detonated outward, cracking the ground open and sending stone fragments flying in every direction.
Makoto shot backward, putting distance between himself and the blast radius.
In the distance, Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai stood frozen.
"Lord Fourth's Rasengan..." Kurenai whispered, disbelief written across her face. "Was it always this powerful?"
Asuma sucked in a breath. "That's it for Uchiha Itachi, then. That Rasengan wasn't even in the same league as the last one."
As if answering him, a roar like something from the dawn of the world erupted from the heart of the explosion.
The orange-red colossus ripped through the Rasenshuriken's energy sphere, its skeletal face twisted in fury.
Wind blades had carved countless fractures across its body. But it had held.
"Susanoo?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi, locked in combat with Orochimaru across the field, whipped his head around. His pupils shrank to pinpoints.
The orange-red giant stood at the center of the arena like a war god stepped out of myth.
What is Itachi trying to do? Why come back to Konohagakure? Why unleash this kind of power?
"Sarutobi-sensei, I'd appreciate your full attention while we're fighting." Orochimaru's cold laughter drifted from across the gap as his hands pressed together. "Don't let the gift I went through all this trouble to bring you go to waste."
Two coffins burst from the ground, their lids marked with the numerals one and two.
"Ninja Art: Reanimation!"
A third coffin began to rise. Hiruzen clenched his jaw and launched the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, pinning it down before it could fully emerge.
His hand drifted unconsciously to the ninja tool pouch at his hip, fingers brushing a Flying Thunder God kunai.
Hurry, Makoto...
All he could do was buy time and wait for his most trusted student to arrive.
"There it is. Susanoo."
Makoto stared at Itachi, now encased in the orange-red colossus, and the corner of his mouth curved upward.
Itachi looked wrecked. Blood tears streamed from both eyes. The Rasenshuriken had shredded his cloak and torn through skin, leaving raw, bloody patches exposed across his body. His breathing came in ragged heaves. But his gaze had only grown sharper, more dangerous.
"To kill you..."
Chakra pathways spread from the skeletal giant, rapidly weaving into muscle and flesh.
Susanoo. Second form.
It wasn't done.
The now-humanoid Susanoo erupted with an even greater surge of ocular power, condensing into massive plates of armor. A towering, armored titan took shape.
A shield in its left hand. A sword in its right.
Susanoo. Third form.
And in its grip: the divine artifacts. The Yata Mirror and the Totsuka Blade.
The arena walls had already crumbled from the Rasenshuriken's impact.
Even the players who'd retreated to a safe distance could see everything unfolding inside.
When that orange colossus came into full view, looking like something that belonged in scripture rather than on a battlefield, even players who'd seen modern weapons of mass destruction could only stare.
Mrs. Yukinoshita pressed a hand over her mouth. "What... what is that thing?"
Sayuri Sawamura managed a strained smile. "Is this ninjutsu too? Eriri, can you do that?"
"This is not the time for jokes!" Eriri's voice shook.
"Damn it! Makoto!"
Airi Akizuki clenched her teeth and broke toward the battlefield.
"No, Airi!" Marina seized her sister's arm with one hand and locked the other tight around her waist.
"Let go of me! Let go!" Airi thrashed against her grip.
"What are you going to do when you get there? You'll only distract him!"
That stopped her cold.
Marina wanted to run in there too. Of course she did.
But she knew the truth. Going in wouldn't change a thing.
On the battlefield, Itachi raised the Totsuka Blade high above Susanoo's head.
"That Wind Release: Rasengan cost you plenty of Chakra." His voice echoed from within the giant, raw and hoarse. "Your effective range with the Flying Thunder God Technique must be limited by now."
"This next strike... no matter how far you run, I will hit you."
It was the truth.
The Flying Thunder God Technique's teleportation range depended on the user's Chakra reserves. A Rasengan that powerful had to have burned through the majority of Makoto's supply.
Unless he carried Senju or Uzumaki blood, he couldn't teleport far enough to matter even if he tried.
And yet.
Makoto stood his ground.
That same confident smile never left his face.
Something cold slithered through Itachi's chest. A premonition he couldn't shake.
But there was no turning back now.
The third-form Susanoo swung.
The Totsuka Blade came down in a vertical cleave powerful enough to split a mountain. Before it even struck the earth, the sheer pressure of the swing tore the arena floor apart, carving a straight line of destruction toward the figure standing at its center.
"Makoto!!!"
Several players screamed from the far edge.
In that final, razor-thin instant...
Makoto spoke.
Quiet, but every word carried to every ear in the arena.
"Megumi. Now. Right here."
________________________
*Keep the Stones coming*