Chapter XXXIV - Rebirth of an Avenger

Zuko continued to laugh uncontrollably as he neared the brothers faster, not caring that the chakra given by his Curse Mark was eating away at his remaining time left.

He hated Itachi and Sasuke, he hated their clan, and he hated what they stood for. Even more so for Itachi due to his constant thwarting of Gyatsō's plans.

Sasuke gritted his teeth as he entered the second stage of his own Curse Mark, irritated by Zuko's persistence.

Zuko really did remind him of Kimimaro, and was disgusted at how both of them reminded him of his past self. But as an immediate result, he grew somewhat thankful towards Akazo and his peers for not allowing him to stay that way. The death of his best friend, Naruto, also took a toll on Sasuke to prevent him from causing harm to the village Naruto loved so much.

"Damnit," he said to himself as his brighter hair extended to his waist. Itachi flashed him a quick glance before dashing forward, with Sasuke following behind him.

"Itachi. Let me in on whatever plan you've got," said Sasuke, displeased with the silence of his brother. They both knew communication was key to defeating such an unreadable opponent.

"We can't put him under genjutsu, so we either stall until he succumbs to his injury, or quickly end him right now," replied Itachi, performing multiple hand seals.

"What about Tsukuyomi? He can't break out of that."

"There's two problems with that, Sasuke. I can't even perform the Tsukuyomi, as I lost my left eye upon separating with Gyatsō. Also, Gyatsō broke out of Tsukuyomi with his standard Shaolin before, so even if I could use it, we should assume Zuko can do the same thing," Itachi replied. He then inhaled deeply before blowing out a large sphere of flames.

Fire Style: Blaze Ball!

Zuko arched his back as he threw himself into the fire, but Itachi instantly noted that the black, solidified chakra from earlier covered his body, absorbing the flames with ease before any harm came his way.

It's the same dark chakra from earlier, he thought, remembering for a brief moment the time Zuko sent such chakra his way in their previous battle. The substance resembled that of the Truth-Seeking Orbs, yet it was supposedly just chakra. Itachi knew too little in order to formulate a counter to it. His thinking was interrupted when Sasuke suddenly dashed past him.

"If that's the case, the one who should be leading our attack is me," said the younger Uchiha male, black electricity already forming in his hand.

"No, Sasuke!" Itachi yelled, but his words fell on deaf ears.

With Sasuke and Zuko a few feet apart, Sasuke shoved his arm towards Zuko's body, but the boy's reaction time surpassed his speed. He caught Sasuke's arm with a hand full of his dark chakra, which immediately dispelled the ninjutsu.

"GOTCHA! YOU'RE DEAD!" boomed the white-haired male as he directed his other hand to Sasuke's neck. The chakra fizzling around his clawed fingers aided in deepening the cut. With just another swift motion, Zuko succeeded in slicing off Sasuke's head with a blood-lusted roar.

Poof!

Sasuke's body quickly dissipated into a puff of smoke, indicating he was a shadow clone. Itachi gasped lightly, trying to figure out how Sasuke managed to slip the hand signs for his clone technique past his Sharingan.

Zuko didn't react to the ruse, as his mind was almost fully under Mirage's control. He kept stumbling forward towards Itachi, intending to finish him off as well.

I see now, Sasuke.

He noticed that his little brother was now some distance away. Sasuke closed his eyes as he began to perform hand seals at almost lightning speed.

You're going to have me stall Zuko as you charge one of your most powerful jutsu to ambush him with. Quite the risky thing to do...

He was glad that the visual prowess of the Shaolin wasn't nearly as strong as the Sharingan's, otherwise, Zuko would have found out what Sasuke's plan was in an instant.

Itachi smiled gently as his eyes now focused on Zuko, who was rushing towards him faster than before. The older Uchiha male dodged Zuko's near lightning speed attacks with ease, which as a result caused Zuko to make his blows unpredictable.

"It seems you haven't gone completely insane yet... However," Itachi started, gritting his teeth a bit as he jumped back, his feet skidding against the ground below him.

Zuko's breathing hindered as he clutched his chest before falling to the ground face-first. After a brief moment, he stopped moving completely.

Itachi stared at Zuko's motionless body as he deactivated his Sharingan, redirecting his attention to his brother. Sasuke appeared at Itachi's side, looking over to Zuko's body. The disappointed male crossed his arms.

"Well that was anticlimactic," he sighed out. Itachi began to walk towards Zuko's body.

"I noticed that he was actually getting desperate in his attack. He knew that his time was already up, yet he still wanted to prove himself to Gyatsō by fighting the two of us. Do you know why?" Itachi softly asked, crouching above Zuko's body to turn him over.

Zuko's eyes were lifeless, and his Mūgetsu had already deactivated. Itachi concluded that he really was dead after failing to sense a pulse. Sasuke stood next to Itachi, frowning a little as he looked at Zuko's pale face.

"Anyone who serves Gyatsō Mataba is bound to be a lunatic, Itachi. It's best that we don't try to learn more about this dead guy. Enemy shinobi are still invading the village, you know," Sasuke replied.

"In any case, we have to keep his body. Whether the Taisega clan is extinct or not, Zuko possessed the Shaolin. The village's higher-ups would want to preserve such a treasure," Itachi said as he picked up Zuko's body.

Sasuke scoffed and turned around, still displeased by the outcome of the fight. He wanted to be the one to strike down Zuko, just as he did with Kimimaro previously. The male closed his eyes as he remembered Kimimaro's earlier words.

"No longer do I fight through physical means. Bodily wounds such as these? They won't be enough to kill me. My will to fight... and my ability to fight itself... comes from my spirit, through Lord Orochimaru's ambition."

"Sas...uke..."

Sasuke turned his head and looked into Zuko's eyes, before looking besides him to look at Itachi, who had a massive hole in the centre of his chest. Zuko smirked widely as he clenched his fist before pulling it out of Itachi's chest, covering himself with his blood.

"Wasting your time on a Reanimation when you could've gotten me instead? Zuko, you've only given yourself away," said Sasuke, walking towards the white-haired male.

"Look at your brother's dying face... and tell me if he's a Reanimation!" Zuko yelled before breaking into a mad laugh.

Sasuke widened his eyes and immediately fell to his knees, turning Itachi's body over to look at his face. He felt his heartbeat increase drastically as he stared into his brother's eyes.

"Weren't you reanimated by Orochimaru earlier?" he asked Itachi, and felt his body cave in when he didn't receive a response. Itachi's hair gently swayed in the wind as the life in his eyes slowly faded. However, unlike last time, he didn't have a smile on his face.

Don't tell me...

"I brought your... brother back to life... when I fought him earlier! I brought him back into the realm of the living... AND NOW I KILLED HIM!" cackled Zuko, clutching the right side of his face.

"So... you placed a genjutsu on us to make us think that you died," Sasuke said to himself as he stared at the ground before closing his eyes. The feeling of being humiliated and tricked by his opponent angered him, and the death of his brother for the second time greatly troubled Sasuke. He didn't know what was happening, but he felt too many emotions at once. Confusing emotions, conflicting emotions.

Zuko, still cackling, pointed his finger at Sasuke, still holding a grudge against him.

"And you, Sasuke Uchiha, will die next!" he roared, charging at Sasuke.

Sasuke quickly looked up at Zuko with his eyes still wide.

His Sharingan was different from before, in fact, it appeared completely different. Instead of the standard red iris with three black tomoe, his irises were black with three red ellipses that intersected over each other.

"Now that I've regained control of MY mind, there's no way I'll lose to you!" roared Zuko, arching his back as he was now in front of Sasuke. He tried to kill Sasuke in the same manner, by causing tremendous damage to his chest.

His eyes are different now, but what does that mean? Zuko thought as he shoved his fist towards Sasuke's chest.

Suddenly, Sasuke appeared behind Zuko with his sword, successfully stabbing Zuko from behind in the stomach. Zuko's eyes widened as he jumped forward, forcing the blade out of his body.

"W-what in the hell was that?!" Zuke demanded. His hair colour then began to change back to normal.

Damnit, the curse mark is receding at a time like this!

Sasuke stared into Zuko's eyes as he slowly walked forward, clutching his sword tighter in his fist. When he was an inch away from the male, he took a moment before quickly slicing at Zuko's neck, but Zuko moved his body away from the sharpened blade.

Expecting him to do this, Sasuke had already teleported to Zuko's new position and jabbed the sword into his stomach once again. With each passing second, Sasuke pushed the blade deeper into the younger male's flesh.

Zuko slumped over Sasuke's shoulder as he slowly grabbed his assailant's wrist, trying to pry the sword out of him, but to no avail. Sasuke had more strength than Zuko, so it wasn't hard to resist.

"Damn you," whispered out Zuko as he coughed out blood, gritting his teeth.

The Uchiha clan member slowly let go of the sword as Zuko dropped to his knees, knowing full well he'd bleed out without Mirage's healing.

"We both know that I won't let you die that easily," said Sasuke, speaking for the first time since he began his vengeance on Zuko.

Prying the sword out of Zuko's stomach, causing the younger male to writhe in agonising pain, Sasuke kicked his opponent onto the ground before shoving the sword back into the open wound.

Sasuke's newly awakened Mangekyou Sharingan blared in the light as the whimpering of Zuko caused him to smile gently. He could never forgive him for what he did to Itachi, playing with his life as if it was some toy. Sasuke's ambition to fight alongside his brother has diminished thanks to this enemy, so there was only one thing he felt he had the right to do.

Once again taking the sword out of Zuko's wound, the Uchiha clan member instead gripped it with both of his hands this time.

"You'll regret that you aren't dead yet."