Sasuke stood beside the arena, his face darkening. He felt targeted—first match against his future wife, second against his brother, would the third be against his father?
Itachi didn't have such complicated thoughts. He merely smiled slightly. "Sasuke, show me the skills you've learned from Leader-sama. Defeat me!"
Sasuke nodded with a conflicted look. "I will!"
In the memories of Sasuke Prime, there was a deadly battle between brothers—a fight to the death!
Fortunately, in this world, he wouldn't have to endure such pain!
"All of this was given to me by Leader-sama, so I absolutely cannot disappoint him!" With this belief, Sasuke leapt onto the arena.
As the battle began, both brothers activated their Susanoo forms almost simultaneously!
They understood each other well, so naturally no need for testing moves—right from the start, they unleashed their ultimate attacks.
Itachi, mounted on his orange-red Yata Mirror-wielding Susanoo, conjured a gigantic flaming Sword of Totsuka and slashed forward with unstoppable momentum toward Sasuke!
Knowing the Sword of Totsuka carried an instant sealing effect, Sasuke naturally wouldn't let it hit him. His purple Yata Mirror-wielding Susanoo swung the Kusanagi Sword, colliding violently with the Totsuka Blade.
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted as the epicenter of their blades' clash sent shockwaves rippling outward. Then, a powerful shockwave spread wildly in all directions, causing the ground beneath their feet to dramatically collapse!
However, neither cared about the destruction around them, clashing like two shifting mountains!
"Sasuke, you've definitely grown a lot!" Itachi exclaimed in admiration. That younger brother who, at seven years old, had only just mastered the Grand Fireball Jutsu—once called "talentless"—now could rival, even suppress him!
"Yes, I truly have grown a lot!" Sasuke similarly mused. He had voluntarily endured all of Sasuke Prime's experiences to awaken his eyes. When he awoke, the pain almost made him puke—from both agony and nausea!
The pain came from deception, betrayal, and slaughter—no light at the end of the tunnel!
The nausea? It came from how pathetically weak Sasuke Prime's will to live had been—a plot straight out of a common pulp novel, following the pattern of rising after being suppressed. Usually, people go "suppress, rise, flourish..." but for him? It was "suppress, suppress, rise a bit, then back to suppress!"
Too brutal!
The only fortunate part was he hadn't been cheated on—otherwise, he'd have experienced every single tragedy life had to offer!
"Since that's the case, let me see your limits!" Itachi pushed his ocular powers to the utmost, tears of blood streaming down his cheeks!
Instantly, Sasuke felt as if he'd sunk into a mud pit—his movements slowed, his thoughts also becoming sluggish!
In stark contrast, Itachi's sword slashes suddenly quickened several times over!
"Time acceleration, time deceleration!" Sasuke struggled to think, his mind feeling as if it had rusted.
In the next moment, Itachi's Sword of Totsuka sliced into his Susanoo armor!
It felt as if drawn by a black hole—as the Susanoo surrounding Sasuke was sucked toward the Totsuka Blade!
Right when his chakra was nearly completely drained and his body felt hollow and weak, Sasuke coldly uttered two words: "Reflect!"
The sinking mud pit sensation immediately shifted to Itachi. Worse yet, even Sasuke's drained chakra state was reflected back onto Itachi!
This was the Mangekyou ability he had awakened after experiencing everything that Sasuke Prime had gone through—the "Reflect" ability, sending misfortune right back to Sasuke Prime!
Though it didn't eliminate his own weakness, after dragging Itachi down to the same level, Sasuke was confident he could defeat his opponent using Sasuke Prime's extensive experience in weakened combat!
On the arena stage, these two giants not only moved sluggishly, but their chakra was also feeble, like flames that might extinguish at any moment—just like two elderly men on their deathbed!
Itachi hadn't even finished adapting when Sasuke sent him crashing to the ground with a clumsy wrestling move. Itachi quickly rolled aside to dodge Sasuke's follow-up strike.
Sasuke didn't give him a chance to get up, relentlessly hammering at him like a relentless assault, forcing Itachi to keep flipping and rolling across the ground.
Seeing this situation, everyone outside the arena stage fell silent.
The battles happening on the other arena stages were all incredibly intense, so why was this one suddenly weakened?
It was so uninspiring, like two old men shuffling around, failing to spark any interest.
Itachi tried to remove the time slowdown affecting himself, but every time he did, Sasuke immediately reflected it back.
With no choice, Itachi had to release the time slowdown he'd placed on Sasuke as well, then cast time acceleration on himself to speed up chakra control techniques.
However, he'd barely felt any relief when that sensation of shackled restriction returned to him once again!
Itachi: "???"
"It's useless. [Temporary recovery is just temporary. Mediocrity is the true permanence!]" Sasuke declared in a wise, prophetic tone.
Thanks to Sasuke Prime's decadence, the second ability he'd awakened allowed himself to rapidly enter a weakened state!
Under normal circumstances, the eye ability known as the Mind's Eye should help one avoid being weakened, but Sasuke Prime had left such a deep impression on him that subconsciously, he believed he could never escape this state!
This ability wasn't particularly effective when used alone, and even combined with Reflect, it wasn't that powerful. However, when paired with his extensive experience in fighting under weakened conditions, it became formidable!
At the very least, Itachi was being pushed back continuously by him, completely unable to counterattack!
After being taken down once again by Sasuke's sliding tackle move, Itachi had no choice but to concede defeat. "I admit defeat."
Hearing Itachi's surrender, Sasuke also exhaled in relief. Thinking about how in the Parallel World he'd defeated Itachi only by holding back, emotions surged within him. "I defeated Itachi using abilities I obtained from you. If you knew this, you'd surely feel comforted, right?"
Outside the arena stage.
Naruto looked grave. "Sasuke's abilities are just too unfair. You've got to be better at fighting while weakened if you want to beat him!"
Neji shook his head slightly. "Even if you're better at fighting while weakened, he can still reflect the disadvantage, bringing you both back to the same starting line. In fact, even if one loses fighting capability completely, he could still drag the opponent down with them!"
Naruto's eyes widened. "So how in the world are we supposed to fight him?"
"One-hit knockout. Render him unconscious!" Neji continued shaking his head. "But the problem is, one-hit knockout is only possible when there's a huge disparity between both sides. His ability forcibly brings both sides to the same level..."
Naruto sighed. "Even in the Parallel World, my counterpart had it rough. If I've gone through all his pain, why can't I gain any strength from it?"
Neji rubbed his chin. "But from what Sasuke told me, you had it rough at first in the Parallel World, but then later you became just like the classic hero archetype!"
"Was I really?" Naruto shot back, annoyed. "Have you ever seen a protagonist whose crush flings herself at other people?"
"Well, there are those kinds of novels..."
Just then, the broadcast voice rang out, "Arena Stage No.7, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kakashi Hatake!"
"Kakashi... Senior?" Naruto looked perplexed. In the Parallel World, he called Kakashi "Kakashi Sensei."
"Kakashi Senior seems pretty weak too!" Neji patted his shoulder. "This is a great chance to build up your battle experience!"
Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "In the Parallel World, Kakashi Sensei used One Thousand Years of Death on that version of you. Maybe I should get a little payback?"
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