'Itachi... Sasuke...' Fugaku watched silently as his two sons began to fight, a storm of multiple emotions churning within him.
This was the last thing he had ever wanted to see, a battle between brothers. But the sins Itachi had committed could never be washed away. The people he had killed weren't just anonymous criminals, they were members of the clan who had watched him grow up, neighbors who had been nothing but kind to their family. A man had to pay for his actions, and Itachi's death was the only atonement that could appease the souls of the Uchiha he had slaughtered. Forget the clan, even as his father, Fugaku couldn't find it in himself to forgive him.
Sasuke was right. A sinner of the Uchiha had to be dealt with by the Uchiha.
Still, when Fugaku heard the words "avenge our parents," his expression tightened. 'I'm not dead yet.'
The moment their fight began, Itachi felt the immense pressure from his brother. He had assumed Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan would be weak due to his age and lack of experience, that he could easily suppress him with Taijutsu before trapping him in Tsukuyomi. He was wrong. Sasuke's physical skill was unexpectedly powerful, and by not taking the fight seriously from the start, Itachi found himself on the defensive. Of course, the recent decline in his own health wasn't helping matters.
"Thunder Bagua!" Sasuke pressed his advantage relentlessly. Two clones erupted from his back, forming a three-pronged, triangular assault on Itachi. This time, however, he wasn't wielding swords. He held three massive Spiked Clubs, each crackling with Lightning Release and descending with the force of a thunderbolt. It was a far more vicious attack than the one he had used on Kakashi, if he had faced Kakashi with this kind of power back then, there wouldn't have been much left. Awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan had elevated Sasuke's strength to a whole new level.
'Just like Karin,' Fugaku thought, his gaze shifting from Naruto to Sasuke and the menacing, gleaming club in his son's hand. 'As expected of someone trained by Naruto. They're both so violent.'
"Thinking something rude over there, old man?" Naruto asked casually, his eyes fixed on Sasuke's slight advantage in the fight.
"Ahem... Shouldn't we be helping the Kazekage?" Fugaku deflected, trying to change the subject.
"Don't worry about him," Naruto said. "He's the Fourth Kazekage. Even if he loses, he won't go down that quickly. Atleast I hope not, if he falls now, then he deserves it."
Even with all the enhancements he'd given Sunagakure and the setbacks he'd engineered for Konoha's clans, Naruto still didn't believe the Suna could win. Sunagakure had tried to rise up in all three Great Ninja Wars, and each time, Konoha had hammered them back into the dirt. It was proof enough that their overall strength was just fundamentally lacking, truly earning their spot as one of the bottom two of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
After several of his attacks missed, Sasuke calmly pulled a few shuriken from his pouch.
"Still so naive, little brother," Itachi's voice was flat, without a hint of emotion as he watched Sasuke. "I was the one who taught you how to use those."
Sasuke had spent his childhood begging Itachi to teach him the art of the shuriken, and Itachi was a master of the Uchiha Clan's signature style. It was a method where the projectiles seemed to have springs inside them, ricocheting off surfaces to strike an opponent from an impossible angle. Naruto had once called it a flashy, useless trick that was more about looking cool than being effective.
"And now you intend to use it against me... what?"
Itachi was already anticipating the ricochet, confidently predicting the shuriken's path, when Sasuke did something that caught him completely off guard.
*Bang!*
A small crater formed where Itachi had just been standing, a warped shuriken resting at the bottom.
*Bang!*
Another projectile flew past him, fast and deadly, aimed right for his head. If he had been a fraction of a second slower, it would have been a fatal blow.
"Too bad," Sasuke said with a wicked smile, tossing another shuriken in his hand. "I'm not using that flashy, impractical technique you taught me. The next one is for your right foot."
He wasn't using the Uchiha method. He was using the Naruto-Style Shuriken Throwing Method, which held that there was no need for fancy tricks. A shuriken was a tool for a swift, clean kill, and that was how it was meant to be used. It was especially effective against enemies who tried to deflect shurikens.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
A series of explosions erupted like firecrackers, though far more powerful. A chain of craters scarred the ground and the surrounding tree trunks where Sasuke's shuriken had struck. It was as if he were throwing cannonballs, not simple steel projectiles. The Naruto-Style was all about speed, precision, and ruthlessness, driven by the simple principle that overwhelming power creates its own miracles.
While Sasuke lacked Naruto's pure, monstrous strength, he could achieve a similar destructive effect by adding something else to his throws: Lightning Release. By infusing the metal with his chakra, he created a nature transformation. From what Naruto mentioned, he had apparently stolen the secret behind the Fourth Raikage's Lightning Bomb Jutsu and taught it to Sasuke, allowing him to create his own jutsu.
Ninja Art: Shuriken Snap-Bang Jutsu.
'He's grown this much already, Sasuke?' Itachi thought, a flicker of surprise breaking his composure.
"Getting distracted in the middle of our fight, Itachi?" Sasuke's cold, murderous voice spoke from directly behind him. "You really are looking down on me."
A tachi plunged into Itachi's chest, sending a spray of blood into the air. But an instant later, Itachi's body dissolved into a flock of crows that scattered into the wind. A single drop of blood on the tip of Sasuke's blade, however, proved that the high-speed assault had managed to wound him, even if only slightly.
"So your blood is red after all," Sasuke sneered, flicking the drop from his sword in disgust. "I thought it might be black."
"Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Jutsu."
As Itachi's calm voice echoed through the clearing, Sasuke felt his entire body freeze, pinned in place as if invisible spikes had been driven through his limbs.
It was undeniable that, for all his warped thinking, Itachi was a formidable shinobi. It was no wonder the fight between them in the original timeline was infamous for how much Itachi had held back. Though skilled in Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, his true mastery was in Genjutsu. Even this new, vastly more powerful version of Sasuke was instantly put at a disadvantage the moment Itachi decided to get serious.
But Sasuke was also a wielder of the Mangekyo Sharingan, and the Shackling Stakes Jutsu wouldn't hold him for long. Seizing the opening, Itachi unleashed the unique power of his own eyes.
"Tsukuyomi!"
In the next instant, Sasuke found himself in another world. The sky was a blood-red, and his body was bound tightly to a cross. Surrounding him on all sides were countless identical copies of Itachi, each one holding a tachi.
"This is the Tsukuyomi Dimension, my domain," Itachi's voice echoed from everywhere at once. "Within this world, I control time, space, and all of reality."
"So what, Itachi?" Sasuke replied from the cross, his voice surprisingly calm. "A Genjutsu that controls time and space. Is this your trump card?" He started to chuckle. As he did, a second pattern, a hexagram, materialized over the pentagram in his eyes. "Because it isn't enough."
"Decomposition!"
A great crack fractured the red sky of the Tsukuyomi Dimension, and a moment later, the entire world shattered like glass.
Back in the real world, Sasuke gasped for breath, having forced his way out of the illusion. He looked at his brother, a triumphant smirk on his face.
"How do you like the power of my Mangekyo Sharingan?"
===============
Dear Readers and Fans,
For those eager to dive into next chapters earlier before others, I invite you to join us on Patreon. By becoming our Patron, you not only gain access to exclusive advanced chapters but also help us continue this endeavour and expand it further.
https://www.pat reon.com/8Ashes8
(no space)
You can read upto 7 Chapters in advance.