Disclaimer : All characters and places belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Any characters and/or locations not recognized in the Naruto Shippuden universe belong to Jennifer Nicole Siciliano, a/k/a Grand Phoenix.
A/N: Here it is, the chapter you've all been waiting for: The Sasuke/Itachi fight. Who will live and who will die? Your questions will be answered.
. . . or will they?
"There is a destiny that makes us brothers.
None goes his way alone.
All that we send into the lives of others
Comes back onto our own."
---- Edwin Markham
Chapter VIII
POINT BLANK
"ORA! SUITON: DEAD RINGER!"(1)
Suigetsu plunged Kubikiri Hōchō into the lake. Enhanced by its aura, whirlpools formed and dotted the area. Kisame ran along the water, jumping and dodging the ferocious columns blasting from the undercurrents.
With a hand seal Hozuki's right arm bulked in mass(2), muscles flexing and veins visibly popping beneath the skin. Lifting his weapon he shouted: "SUITON: BAKURETSU HA!" (3), then brought the head cleaver down in a slow, powerful swing.
A colossal, almost solid wall of the universal liquid surged on frothing combers. It plowed forward for many meters, a seemingly unstoppable phenomena wrought not by the hands of a god but by the unnatural molded energy that was chakra.
Hoshigaki grinned. As soon as the wall loomed high above him, the shark man melted, literally, into shapelessness(4). It continued its path of destruction as if he were never there, heading straight for the two remaining Team Snake members.
"Shit!" spat Karin. She and Juugo jumped out of the way, right as it collapsed. The wave crashed into the rock outcropping (elevated by both Kubikiri Hōchō and Samehada), its raw power utterly crushing it in a single blow.
The pair of ninja landed on another of the raised hills that was distanced from the battle. Lightly they panted, sweat dripping from their brows and necks and drenching their cloaks and tunics. For an hour -- one whole, sluggish hour -- they had been evading Death's reach, whether it be from devastating Ninjutsu or flying terrain or the gleaning steel of blades -- two fearsome blades belonging to the legendary Seven Demons of the Mist. Their constant movement and use of supplementary Jutsu left them fatigued and low on chakra.
In that hour the sun had dipped behind the patchwork of ash and redwood. Daylight tapered off at every aching, inching interval. Dusk was nearing, and soon the night would come.
By then someone was going to die, and it would not be either of the quartet.
"Juugo," the specialist panted, "please tell me you have more chakra. Your Jutsu . . . is starting to wear off. I don't want to use my reserves in the case those two go at it again."
"I'm almost empty myself," said Juugo officiously. "I may have enough for one more casting."
She nodded grimly. "One more, huh? I think it's best you cast it now; that way we'll be prepared when the fighting picks up again."
"Are you sure? This could go on for a while." He indicated to the battle below them. Kisame had risen to the surface, his Suikoudan no Jutsu whipping angrily at Mangetsu's younger sibling fending off the rapid strikes.
Karin didn't have to think twice on the matter. "I'm sure," she answered plainly.
"Alright," he acquiesced. Juugo clasped his hands together, forming them as if in the Ram or Rat seal, but the fore and middle fingers of his left curled like a hook. "HAYAMETE."(5) he murmured, and a red glow permeated from their bodies before receding into their tenketsu.
Immediately the redhead felt her adrenaline spike, the chakra rushing fluidly in her bloodstream. Her mind sharper, eyes keener, body loose and relaxed, ready for action. "Thanks," she said to the Man of the Scales, straightening her posture. "Now whatever they throw at us, we'll be ready!"
"The time of the casting depletes much faster the less chakra you use," he warned gently. "Don't waste it all at once--"
KER-RASH!
"Ah! Here comes another one!" Her cry prompted the both to look up and witness a second hail of raining debris and the amorphous remains of Suiryuudan no Jutsu.
They leapt off their perch and onto dry land, running across the expanse as the earthly torpedoes rocked the ground under their feet.
Across the lake, Kubikiri Hōchō and Samehada clashed, Hozuki and Hoshigaki pressed in a standstill.
The sun continued its descent.
Kawkawkawkawkaw! went the crows as Itachi's Karasu Bunshin erupted in a cloud of black feathers. He stepped back to avoid a jumping strike from Sasuke's Chidori-powered chokuto, then backflipped away from an elegant, quicksilver spinning horizontal slash. The Demon's Cross, it was called -- a technique of the Dexterous Style in Uchiha kenjutsu.
Rising he pulled forth a few fast seals. He threw his palms out in front of him, chakra adopting the form of a one-hundred-eighty degree round shield. The moment it solidified the Chidori Eisou made its impact with a crash. Ripples coalesced along its surface, glowing green as he drew the energy inside the protective area and siphoned it to his tenketsu. Little by little he felt his strength replenish, his shield hardening as blast after blast slammed into him (6).
But it wasn't long before Sasuke realized his mistake (7). Foregoing his current strategy, he flew at the elder via Shunshin, fist cocked and crackling with Chidori's electric aura. He punched him in the jaw, sending him stumbling back. Itachi regained his balance, ready to fall into a defensive Taijutsu stance. The sword flashed, and he leaned away, missing his fate by decapitation.
Sasuke lunged, aim poised to stab at his front, but Itachi moved -- maneuvered to the side and cuffed the younger with a jab to the stomach. A clothesline to the face and the winded youth was flying end over end across the room.
He staggered to his feet, using the chokuto as a clutch. Tomoe spun ominously, irises bleeding and yearning for liquid red.
'Such unbridled hatred.' Itachi mused candidly. 'Truly he has gotten stronger. He's come a long way to make his dream a reality.' At this he frowned softly. His illness had not perturbed the battle yet, thank the Gods, but sooner or later it was going to happen.
He noted that the sun was shining no more; most likely it was sinking below the treetops where it would journey to the Unknown Lands, that other side of the world where none had dare tread beyond the boundaries of the Sea.
Indeed, this was to be his last sunset; that much he knew. With the inevitable drawing near, he would not be able to tell Sasuke everything. About Madara. About himself. About the book with the black feather in it.
. . . About the Haruno.
His neck hair bristled at the familiar burning sensation. Behind him the Tengu King watched, his visage bearing an eternal, deadly grin.
No. He would give otouto his all. This was a match between brothers, the Avenger and the Executioner. He did not need any more help in spite of his injuries.
Ziiip! Ziiip!
A spike in chakra--
Twin Fuuma Shuriken sliced through the air.
His muscles tensed.
'Do not be idle!' He reprimanded in his head. He charged, fingers itching to enact Jutsu at any moment. A hop, a spin, and he neatly leapt twain the giant stars.
Sasuke smirked. He pulled, diverting the weapons' course. They crested the wall, tips grazing the futatsu-tomoe tapestry, redirected and glided above the dais with a venomous buzz.
'He used Soushuriken no Jutsu without hand seals?!' Upon closer inspection, Itachi understood why. 'Storage seals on the wrists. Orochimaru must have taught him Fuuinjutsu.(8) This is an interesting turn of events . . . !'
He whirled around to face the looming assault. Hands formed a cross-shaped seal, and a pair of Kage Bunshin sprang to his side. Before metal met flesh, he turned and flung a kunai at Sasuke.
Sasuke sidestepped, the knife darting past. At the same time he snapped the wires from their seals. The blades detached from the base of the Fuuma Shuriken, striking the clones and obliterating them. The kunai he dodged transformed into Itachi, who braced himself against the wall next to the Estate's entrance. He raised a hand, caught a shard flying towards his face, and threw it back at Sasuke.
The younger countered with a flurry of the throwing stars, hands shifting through the air faster than the blink of an eye; a feat that Itachi felt to be startled, amazed, and proud of to witness in his sibling.
But not now.
He whipped out another kunai and charged headlong into the storm, deflecting steel rain with equal speed. Loud pings! echoed as shuriken, dented or slashed to pieces, clattered to the floor.
When he emptied his metallic repertoire and the Kanji on the storage seals faded, Sasuke hunkered down and performed the seals:
Ox--
Rabbit--
Monkey--
He willed his chakra to concentrate solely on his hand--
Pachichichichichichichichichichichi!
His legs pumped, feet pounding the hard-packed earth and sandstone. His teeth rattled, heart drumming in his skull.
Closer . . . .
Closer!
He struck with an ear-splitting roar.
"CHI-DO-RI!"
Right for the bastard's face--!
CLASP!
A gasp tore from his throat.
Itachi grabbed the offending appendage. The pain was execrutiating, the blood and water composing his body bubbling and hissing. The Mangekyou Sharingan squinted, vision blurring and duplicating, sliding out of focus--
'No! Not now!'
He bit his inner cheek from crying out.
'Not--'
Sasuke's free hand, the left, lashed out, surrounded by the crackling force field.
'--now!'
It, too, was snatched.
Unmoving pinwheels stared into furious orbiting planets.
Predictable! the elder mouthed to the younger.
Sasuke's brow knit, tomoe contracting to tiny black holes. He snarled and screamed, tendrils of lightning branching from both Chidori; planting into the ground and sprouting internal wrath converted as a rare component of physical element. The current encaged them, a carousel of doom, and coiled about Itachi's frame.
All the while, the Last Uchiha observed the torture, unscathed.
Itachi grit his teeth, blood leaking past the pearly gates, his chest aching to cough. He tightened his hold on the wrists, standing firm as Sasuke pushed and pushed and pushed--
He headbutted the Avenger once--
Twice--
Thrice--
A fourth headbutt disengaged their standstill. Sasuke backpedaled, reeling from the shock of the blows.
The Executioner glided in and out of hand seals--
took a deep breath--
and ---
'Goukakyuu no Jutsu!'
FOOOMM!
A grand fireball flew from his lips, hurdling in the direction of the Konoha nukenin.
Sasuke fell, hand cupped round his mouth, head aimed toward the ceiling.
"GOURYUUKA NO JUTSU!"
Blazing dragon heads punched through the concrete, a dozen parading to the darkening heavens--
He hit the floor, heat washing over as the flames above him passed.
"OCHIRO!"(9)
Half of those beasts plummeted to earth, predatory smiles widening at the sight of their succulent prey.
Itachi moved to evade--
-- but found he could not.
'Snakes!' he exclaimed. Two large, violet snakes with eyes deep as gold and enticing as sin sized him up and down; forked tongues flicking in and out, tasting the hollow of his neck, the mountain peaks of his knuckles. They embraced him, conformed to his body. And with every attempt to resist their touch, their love strengthened.(10)
'Orochimaru, you devil. How dare you tempt my brother with visions of grandeur and blood-soaked misanthropy! Hate me I have told him, but to taint Sasuke with your silver tongue and poisonous fang . . . You have no reason to get involved nor interfere!' (But he knew it was too late to change that.)
The next few seconds were spent in bone-jarring darkness. The six Gouryuuka rocked the Estate, engulfing the bound man as if the jaws of hell consumed him whole. And for one brutal, timeless moment it was. Pain Pain PAIN thundered in his very core, raged and ravished and tore him limb from limb, and it burned Burned BURNED.
And the screams -- oh, the screams! -- they were unlike anything he ever heard. Wretched, tormented, raw and animalistic. It made him want to curl up in a ball, put his hands to his ears and scream and cry and yell, if only to deafen (deaden) himself to the cruelty of the world.
. . . To his horror, he realized those screams were his.
He wanted to die Die DIE. So badly. So very, very badly. Not since the Third Great War. Not since learning of the planned Uchiha rebellion against the Konoha government. Not since murdering Shisui, his clan, his family, not since learning of Madara's true intentions--
He wanted to die.
'Just end it already.'
-- The Tengu King's shadow lengthened --
'I'm not worth saving!'
He returned to the light, on his hands and knees and a puddle of gore splattered before him. Heavy, labored breaths wracked his bruised chest. His sight fought with the world, struggling to refocus.
He wondered, distantly, why it was raining all of a sudden.
"This is the end for you," said a familiar, mellifluous voice. Raising bloodshot kaleidoscopes, Itachi saw Sasuke lift an arm to the tumultuous sky, illuminated by a dazzling array of lightning.
"I've waited so long to use this," he added woodenly. "This technique is like Amaterasu: impossible to avoid. Its power source is lightning from the Heavens themselves. All I have to do is guide it straight through your skull . . . and it'll be over in an instant."
BA-KOOM! boomed the thunder, and instead of gutting the rolling cumulonimbi like a trident, it struck the Last Uchiha's hand and exuded a sparking, blue force field -- emerging from its glow a prince seeking the beck and call of his ally the Holy Land of Svarga.
"I call this . . . Kirin."(11)
Itachi thought his otouto to appear to be more of a ghost than any human being, with his too pale skin and red RED eyes.
"It's time to reproduce what I have foreseen." Fingers clenched, tingling with the raging cesspool that was Mother Nature. Sasuke regarded the ruin figure of his brother, a demigod among ninja his generation; white-hot fury set his heart and soul aflame, and his once idle Sharingan churned a whirlpool of tar none could ever hope to escape. "Judgment has come and decided your Fate! For your crimes against the amendments and the Uchiha clan, the Gods have found thee guilty! Therefore your Punishment is the prophecy of thy Downfall, the vision that is your Death!"
He dropped his arm and slapped the pavement. "Disappear into the thunder, and haunt me no more!"
From the clouds a terrifying beast descended. It roared with the finality of divine redemption and splayed forth its claws in the act of delivering the wicked to the decaying macrocosm of Yomi(12).
Itachi's neck craned, irises widening as the Slayer of Sinners swiftly bore down on him. 'This is it. This is the end. There is no point in using Susano'ou, no point in going on.' He screwed his eyes shut.
'There is no hope.'
He waited with bated breath--
(YOU WILL NOT DIE.)
KRA-KOOM!
Outside the Estate, the battle came to an immediate STOP. Suigetsu, who was facing the building, looked upon the sudden distraction and felt his grip on Kubikiri Hōchō grow slack.
"Holy hell!" he exclaimed. "Look at THAT!" At this Kisame, Juugo, and Karin turned around and saw what had so captivated Hozuki at first glance: a gargantuan beast comprised of thunder and fire -- Sasuke's Kirin -- cleaved in two.
"By the Gods and Goddesses!" Karin gasped. "What's going on?!"
"Amazing!" Juugo awed, breathless.
Kisame watched, speechless, as the upper levels of the Uchiha Estate and the surrounding foothills and terrain detonated in burning glory.
When the smoke and dust cleared and he opened his eyes, Sasuke could not believe -- nor comprehend -- what he was seeing.
A giant of a man stood at the center of the destruction, consuming the wounded Uchiha below him in his towering presence. He was clad in a long-sleeved striped haori and blue hakama, with a leather belt, scabbard, and feathered harisen secured to his waist. In his right hand was a beautiful nodachi, its silver fuller encrusted with a colorful rainbow of jewels, and in the wake of the dying storm it shimmered as if it were forged from a sea of stars.
But those were not what caught Sasuke's attention. No, it was the man's round oculi, red complexion, long white hair, and unusually long nose that sent a shockwave to his extremities.
He did not want to acknowledge the fright dwelling in the pit of his bowels, but he could feel it. An inkling of primal instinct in the recesses of his brain.
It was there.
Itachi looked up at the mysterious stranger, his voice escaping on a cloud floating twain the line of slumber and wakefulness. "S-S-Sojobo . . . . I didn't ask . . . ."
"Hush, Master," said the King of Tengu, a rough, bass rumble of the vocal chords. He lowered the nodachi, cast a sideways glance to his mortal ward. "You will only hasten your death."
"Sojobo-sama . . . ." He coughed into a hand, splattering calloused, white skin with bloody droplets.
"Hush, Master," repeated the giant. "Don't move. You're no condition to fight." He sheathed his blade. "Allow me to deal with this whelp."
Sasuke snarled, fists clenching furiously. "You! Why are you helping him? He's our enemy! Kill him now!"
"What makes you think Master Itachi is the enemy?" Sojobo posed to him, sagely. "Because he slaughtered the clan? Because he spared you to suffer the trauma of being the Last?" He folded his arms across his broad chest. "It is a great sin, but one which he had no choice but to commit."
"Bullshit!" the Uchiha ground out savagely. "He's a monster! A demon! He deserves to die!"
"Regardless of his wrongdoings, your brother is not the one you should direct your hate and grief at."
"And what incentive do you have that I should believe you? Why should I listen?"
"Because neither Master Itachi nor the Haruno heiress are your enemy. Madara is, and he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants, including you."
Sasuke scoffed. "Let him come. When I'm through with Itachi and Sakura, he'll have nowhere and no one to turn to. I'll run the bastard through, immortal or not!"
"Madara is much more powerful than you can imagine. More powerful than Itachi. If you let him come, then you will most certainly die."
"Never! So long as those three are still alive, I will not Fall! I will rebuild the Uchiha clan to surpass, no, transcend its former glory!"
"If that is where you wish to tread, so be it, but you are making a grave mistake." Turning to Itachi, Sojobo said, "Come, Master. Let us tarry. The Fates decree you shall live for a while longer." He moved to retrieve the mortal in his arms.
He heard the kiss of steel being drawn from its confines, footsteps charging toward him. "Traitorous demon!" yelled the Last Uchiha contemptuously. "I won't allow this to pass!"
The Tengu sighed. Without turning he rose to his full, astonishing ten-foot-one-inch height. "Foolish boy, is that any way--" He snatched the harisen from his belt, spun about-face, and struck the boy point blank with an iron SMACK! "--to treat your patron saint?"
And Sasuke, stunned and suddenly drained of both chakra and reserves, thought that no; no, it wasn't.
Except . . . .
'Whosoever allies himself with the enemy, becomes my enemy!'
He lost consciousness before he hit the ground.
(1) Suiton: Dedō Ringā (Dead Ringer). A low-level B-rank Ninjutsu used by Suigetsu Hozuki. A sword or weapon is required to unleash it.
(2) Suiton: Gousuiwan no Jutsu (Water Style: Strong Water Arm Technique).
(3) Suiton: Bakuretsu Ha (Water Style: Exploding Wave). An A-rank Ninjutsu technique used by Suigetsu Hozuki. It cannot be stopped via Jutsu. A defensive procedure listed in Jutsu encyclopedias recommends that 'ninja avoid it at all costs.'
(4) Suika no Jutsu (Hydration Technique).
(5) Hayamete (Haste). A supplementary Jutsu technique used by Juugo of the Scales. It heightens one's senses to near superhuman degrees, but only for a short amount of time.
(6) Saiha (Crash Wave). A supplementary Jutsu technique used by Itachi Uchiha. It can afflect and/or absorb chakra projectiles. Jutsu encyclopedias list it as mid-level A to low-level S-rank in conjuring chakra into physicality (see note 7 below).
(7) The mistake being that, depending on one's control on manifesting corporeal chakra, it cannot be destroyed.
(8) Kuchiyose: Raikou Kenka (Summoning: Lightning Blade Creation). A set of storage seals created by Sasuke Uchiha sometime during his tutelage under Orochimaru. Though Itachi says it is Fuuinjutsu, Jutsu encyclopedias list it as a Summoning technique.
(9) Ochiro (Fall). A command that is issued during Gouryuuka no Jutsu,utilized by Sasuke Uchiha. A random number of the fireballs will descend to meet their target. A footnote in Jutsu encyclopedias reads that the user can expand this Jutsu by incorporating willpower to home in on an opponent.
(10) Jagei Jubaku (Snake Authority Spell).
(11) A mythical beast of Asiatic origins that punishes the wicked. In spite of its fearsome appearance (as either a chimerical creature or giraffe), it is of a gentle disposition.
(12) The Japanese equivalent to hell or the underworld, a realm where the dead go to dwell and rot for eternity.
