Sakura lowered herself into the lotus position and began drawing in nature energy alongside Lady Katsuyu, feeding it into her Celestial Lotus Seal as quickly as possible. The seal itself controlled the redistribution rate of the three energies, sparing her the trouble of adjusting her rate of absorption… but even so, getting the nature energy in the first place remained agonisingly slow.
"Answer me one thing before I end you, Itachi," Sasuke spat as he stared down his brother, who had taken a seat on the stone throne at the other end of the room. "The masked man with the Mangekyō— who is he, really? I don't believe for a single second that man is the Uchiha Madara."
"I've no intention of making a habit of repeating myself, little brother," Itachi said languidly. "I've already told you the truth, and yet you remain blind to it."
Itachi slowly pushed himself to his feet and fixed his gaze on Sakura.
"Don't you even think about it," Sasuke snarled, stepping in front of her in a protective manner. "The masked man told me you planned on killing her. Why? Was it not enough to kill the entire clan but me? Am I no longer enough for you, brother!?"
Itachi gazed at him with his sinister scarlet eyes. If it had been his old self, Sasuke would have at least felt a chill, but now, he felt only rage.
"That's right, my most disappointing little brother," Itachi said softly. "I never did tell you the full story of why I spared your life alone, did I?"
Sasuke's grip tightened on his weapon, so much so that his knuckles turned white.
Sakura's late birthday gift to him, the Thunder Deity Sword made by Takumi Village's best craftswomen, a bladeless sword hilt. A chakra lightsabre!
"The Mangekyō Sharingan are very special eyes," Itachi said evenly. "In exchange for granting extraordinary power, they carry a single fate: blindness. Slowly, but inexorably, and faster if one abuses their powers, the pupils begin to lose their light. Tell me, how much sight remains to you, Miss Sakura?"
Sakura's pupil prowess was steadily refilling at all times thanks to her Hashirama cells, so as long as she paced herself and didn't try to push out a complete Susano'o on her second try, the odds of her becoming blind were slim.
"Let's just say I don't need glasses yet," Sakura said, raising her middle finger. "How about you? Can you see how many fingers I'm holding up?"
"Heh, how spirited," Itachi chuckled.
Sasuke recalled Itachi's account of Madara and his brother, Izuna; his usually enigmatic brother had been unusually forthcoming about all he knew. Unfortunately, Sakura had missed their exchange, for it had all taken place in the blink of an eye within the genjutsu she'd shattered the moment she arrived.
Itachi had told Sasuke all about how Madara had slain Izuna for his eyes, then led the Uchiha to join the Senju in founding the Hidden Leaf Village, only to betray his new home and fall to his old rival, Hashirama, at the Valley of the End. Then, sixteen years ago, he returned with the Nine‑Tails to destroy the village once and for all… and failed again, his plan foiled by the Fourth Hokage. Consumed by bitterness, Madara sought out Itachi to help him annihilate the clan that had forsaken him, which was what had led him to betray the village in the first place.
"That's why you showed me that scene over and over!?" Sasuke howled. "Because you were going blind? Because you wanted me to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan so you could steal my eyes!?"
That night, Itachi had plunged Sasuke into a Tsukuyomi showing him the massacre on repeat, but earlier, he had shown his girlfriend an illusion of a lifetime of happiness together before killing her.
"They say Madara's visual prowess reached heights never seen before, once he merged his own eyes with his brother's!" Itachi said animatedly. "I sought to reproduce the same feat, but unfortunately, you were too weak to awaken a pair of your own, so I kept you around as a spare set of eyes, for when mine inevitably lost their light…"
A feverish edge crept into Itachi's voice.
"So imagine my surprise when I learned that a second Uchiha, a mere half-breed discarded by the clan, had awakened the Mangekyō!" he shouted. "Why, I thought to myself, should I have to content myself with my brother's ordinary three-tomoe when I could have a brand-new pair of Mangekyō Sharingan for myself!?"
A glint of madness appeared in Itachi's eyes.
"Of course, since we aren't directly blood related, those transplanted eyes wouldn't merge with mine and evolve to Madara's level," he went on. "But maybe, just maybe, if I make you, little brother, watch helplessly as I extract your lover's eyes, then maybe then, will you finally awaken your own Mangekyō Sharingan, and at last—"
"Chidori Sharp Spear!"
Sasuke let out a cry of rage and thrust out his sword hilt before Itachi could finish his sentence. A beam of electric blue light burst out of the sword hilt, nailing Itachi to his throne's backrest. Blood dribbled down the corner of his brother's mouth, but he merely smiled.
"So, the masked man really was telling the truth," Sasuke muttered to himself as he gave a flick of the wrist, twisting the sword in Itachi's wound. "Well, Madara or not, he's next on the list…"
"Sasuke, behind you!" came Sakura's voice behind him.
Itachi's form wavered, turning translucent before fading into nothingness; the body Sasuke had skewered was nothing but an illusion! But rather than listening to Sakura's warning, Sasuke swung his sword in an arc infront of him, forcing Itachi, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere, to hurriedly jump backwards to avoid the electrified slice.
"And here I thought you'd gone soft, Sasuke," Itachi said as he landed lightly on the tip of his toes, flicking a handful of razor‑wired shuriken into his palm. "Aren't you Leaf shinobi supposed to value camaraderie? You would ignore your lover's warning?"
"That woman knows her place," Sasuke said coldly. "I told her not to interfere… which means that if she does, then she's nothing but a fake."
Itachi chuckled, and Sakura's panicked form wavered and vanished.
"My eyes can see through your lies, Itachi," Sasuke growled. "No more games."
"Is that so," said Itachi, now sounding rather bored. "Then I'll just help myself to my spare pair of eyes while you figure things out."
Sasuke did a double-take as Itachi vanished before his eyes. Just like that, Itachi was gone!
"Sasukeeee, help meeee!"
Then came a terrible cry behind him. Sasuke turned on his heel, only to see Sakura caught in his brother's iron grip, his right hand slowly reaching towards her eye. His fingers were now deep in her eye sockets, gouging out the orb held within as she screamed her lungs out.
"NO!" Sasuke roared.