Sasuke walked through the now abandoned Uchiha enclave, making his way through the damaged streets and unkempt alleys. He needed to get to the temple, he had no choice. He turned the last corner; the temple was barely a hundred feet ahead. Sasuke broke into a run; he needed to get there, no matter the cost.

He felt a surge of chakra in front of him, and Itachi materialized before his eyes, blocking his way. The legendary missing nin watched as Sasuke skidded to a stop, triple-pipped Sharingan regarding him coldly.

"What are you doing Otoutouyo?" Itachi asked calmly. "You will find no easy answers in the shrine. You know what the scrolls say. You know what you must do, but you cannot do it. You lack hatred. To gain the power you seek…you know that he must die, by your hand. You had your opportunity, but you could not complete the task."

Sasuke shook with rage and hate…and fear. I can't kill him yet, he's too strong, too fast. He will show me no mercy, there's no one to save me this time. I'm going to die, I'm going to be killed by Itachi in the end, after all. I won't be killed here and now, I will fight and I will take his life!

"Sharingan!" Sasuke quickly formed the seals for the Chidori and pushed all the chakra he could into his left hand. Keeping his eyes on Itachi's chest, he leapt forward, driving his thrust straight for his brother's heart.

Even with his complete Sharingan, Sasuke couldn't see Itachi move. Suddenly there was a crushing grip on his wrist and a foot landed brutally on the back of his leg, breaking his knee. Before the pain had fully reached his quickly clouding mind, his wrist snapped, and a knee was hammered into his spine bending him backwards to stare helplessly into his brother's cold, emotionless eyes.

"Foolish Otoutouyo. Mangekyou Sharingan! Tsukyomi…"

The name of the genjutsu echoed in Sasuke's ears as he fell into his brother's technique. The sky turned red, the clouds went black, and the sound of a thousand rushing waterfalls filled the air. Sasuke began screaming as soon as he had control of his body in the world his brother had created around him. He knew there was no escape, and he knew that his brother would not leave him alive.

Itachi appeared in front of him, holding an unconscious Naruto by the back of his orange coat.

"This is the one who you most care for, Sasuke. You couldn't bear to see him die could you? I will show you how easy it would have been." Itachi shook Naruto, and the helpless boy groaned as he came around.

Naruto screamed as he realized Itachi held him. He desperately tried to escape, kicking and punching at the Uchiha holding him. With each attempted strike, Itachi countered with a cruel slash from a kunai in his other hand. In less than a second Naruto's arms and legs hung limply, blood dripping from the severed muscles. Naruto was coughing, screaming, rasping for breath, overwhelmed by the pain.

Sasuke moved to stop Itachi, and found that his feet were rooted to the ground. Itachi turned from watching Naruto to regard Sasuke.

"Just watch, Otoutouyo. You always asked for my help when you wanted to learn, and now I will teach you the most valuable lesson you will ever get. I will even demonstrate in a way I'm sure you will be able to appreciate."

Itachi's free hand began forming half-seals, Sasuke recognized the sequence for Chidori just before the chakra began to glow in his brother's hand. Itachi raised his chakra-clad hand and drove it through Naruto's chest, just to the right of his heart. A fatal blow, but not one to bring instant death. Naruto's mouth opened as he tried to scream, but a shower of blood erupted and he choked. Sasuke watched as his best friend convulsed, shaking as blood poured from his chest. Finally, Naruto was still, and Itachi let him fall to the ground. Sasuke stared at the lifeless body; Naruto was dead.

Itachi appeared in front of him, holding an unconscious Naruto… "This is the one"…Naruto screamed…arms and legs…blood dripping…Chidori…Naruto convulsing…lifeless body…Naruto…dead.

Itachi appeared…"This is the one"…blood…Chidori…Naruto…lifeless…dead.

Itachi…Chidori…Naruto…dead.

Naruto…dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Sasuke sat up, ripping the thin blanket from his body. His breath came in gasps at first, and then slowed to panting as he realized it had been a dream. A dream, but he could remember the pain. His wrist ached, his knee shot white hot lances up his leg, and his back screamed. Most of all, though – he was injured emotionally. He had watched Naruto die. How many times? Too many… He slowly calmed down, but he knew that he would get no more sleep.

Like every morning, there came a knock on his door, but this time, Orochimaru entered instead of Kabuto. Sasuke watched as his sensei moved into the room and sat on the edge of the table.

"Sasuke-kun, today's training will be different. Today you will spar with Kabuto, but it will be with no mercy. I will only intercede to prevent the death of either of you…any injury short of death will be allowed. Come."

Sasuke rose from his bed, quickly grabbed his equipment pouch and shuriken holster, and followed Orochimaru from the room.

They arrived at the main cavern and Sasuke saw Kabuto waiting, with that infuriating smirk on his face. Sasuke grinned back, knowing that Kabuto had no idea how much he'd learned. Kabuto was rarely around for the training sessions, and hadn't seen either of Sasuke's new Katon jutsus.

They stood facing each other as Orochimaru walked to the edge of the chamber.

"Now, I expect that both of you will be eager to put your abilities to the test, given that it's quite obvious how much you despise each other. However, I do not wish to have either of you dead. If I am forced to intervene, it will not be…pleasant…for you. Begin!"

Sasuke activated his Sharingan, and began forming seals for Katon: Genzon ekitai hinote no jutsu. Fire erupted from his mouth, and instantly billowed back, forming a flaming sphere surrounding his body. Over the past months, his control over the flames had increased beyond all expectations. Inside the sphere was a relatively normal temperature, but the heat on the surface of the sphere would reduce a kunai to vapour before it even touched the flame. Once the shield was formed, he simply maintained the flames and waited for Kabuto to make his move.

Kabuto stepped back slightly as he felt the heat coming from the flaming dome over Sasuke, but his arrogant posture quickly returned as he formed seals to encase the flames in mud.

Sasuke grinned as his Sharingan saw the technique, and what it was going to do. His hands quickly rose once more and formed the seals for his second new Katon jutsu.

"Katon: Nenshou Chidori no jutsu!" This time, the fire erupted from the palm of his outstretched hand, but the flames shifted as they streaked toward Kabuto. The core of the blaze was revealed, showing a concentrated Chidori encased in the flames.

Kabuto abandoned his half-formed technique and dove to the side to avoid the lethal attack. Sasuke grinned viscously as the fingers of his outstretched hand moved, pulling invisible chakra strings connected to the fire. The flaming Chidori followed Kabuto as he rolled aside, grazing his left sleeve. The sleeve ignited and electricity shot through the medical ninja's body.

Kabuto screamed in pain as his body spasmed uncontrollably. The Nenshou Chidori impacted the ground behind Kabuto and exploded, leaving a crater in the solid rock. Seeing Kabuto's weakness, Sasuke sprinted forward, the flaming shield moving as a spearhead in front of him. Sasuke formed a full powered Chidori in his left hand, and aimed for Kabuto's uninjured arm.

Sasuke was less than a foot from striking when the shadows of Kabuto that showed his future moved unexpectedly. Sasuke was moving too fast to compensate for Kabuto's sudden roll, and watched as his Chidori drilled into the ground and Kabuto formed seals to trap him in a bed of solid rock.

The ground split open and rose to meet Sasuke as he overbalanced. He could do nothing, and soon, he was encased up to his chest is living, shifting rock.

Kabuto laughed as he watched Sasuke struggle to break free. His hands were held far apart in the stone, so there was no chance to form seals, and his control of the Living Liquid Flame had disappeared from the shock of Kabuto's jutsu.

Kabuto's eyes showed no sign of rational thought, or reason. Sasuke knew that Kabuto meant to kill him. Orochimaru couldn't see Kabuto's face from where he stood, watching, and by the time he realized Kabuto's intent, it would be too late.

Kabuto had a hooked kunai in his left hand, hidden from Orochimaru by his body. He walked slowly up to Sasuke, and Sasuke knew that he was going to die. There's no way I can get out of this jutsu, Orochimaru won't know what's happening until it's too late. I'm going to die, Itachi will live. I can't let that happen.

Kabuto stopped just in front of him, grinning madly. "You are going to die, Sasuke-kun. Your arrogance has been your undoing, and now, I will kill you."

Sasuke saw the shadows of Kabuto move; saw the kunai come up to slash his throat, and knew that in a few seconds he would be dead. I wasn't strong enough to defeat Kabuto, how did I ever think I could kill Itachi? The man who killed my clan, my parents…the man that I swore to kill, will not die by my hands because I was too weak to defeat a flunky of Orochimaru. NO! I cannot let this happen. I will avenge my clan. It is my purpose, the reason I'm alive. I will kill Itachi, I want to kill Itachi, I mustkill Itachi! I cannot die here!

Sasuke felt his chakra surge, flowing uncontrollably into his Sharingan. He felt his eyes transform, changed by the massive amount of chakra, his vision blurred. After what seemed an eternity, the tidal wave of chakra subsided, and his vision cleared. He saw that Kabuto hadn't even begun to move, and knew that the whole transformation had taken almost no time at all. Then he realized how much sharper his vision was, how much clearer the future-ghosts of Kabuto were, and how much further into the future they revealed. He also realized that the use of the Tsukyomi that Itachi had used on him, that he had copied with his Sharingan but couldn't use, was suddenly perfectly clear. He realized that he had obtained the Mangekyou Sharingan, and he had done it his own way.

Sasuke grinned wickedly as he quickly collected chakra into his eyes and stared into the depths of Kabuto's mind.

"Mangekyou Sharingan! Tsukyomi…" Sasuke released the chakra from his eyes and webbed it around Kabuto's brain.

Sasuke entered the World of the Grasping Moon for the first time as the omnipotent controller. He saw Kabuto standing helpless, and decided that he wanted vengeance.

Kabuto was suddenly lying strapped to a steel slab, unable to move, and naked. Sasuke approached him, holding the same hooked kunai that Kabuto had been about to use to cut his throat.

Sasuke stared down at the helpless medical shinobi and smiled.

"I don't know if you're aware of this genjutsu, Kabuto, but here, I control everything. Matter, time, energy…everything; even how much you bleed." Sasuke brought the point of the kunai to Kabuto's left arm and cut into the skin, opening a surface vein with surgical precision.

Kabuto screamed as blood poured out of the wound, and Sasuke moved on to the same vein on the other arm. Sasuke systematically moved over Kabuto's body, slicing into every surface vein and artery, but carefully controlling the bleeding. Kabuto would not die from this…Sasuke had other plans before he gave Kabuto his release.

Once Kabuto's body was completely covered in precise lacerations, Sasuke moved to his eyes. He created a throwing needle, and carefully inserted it into Kabuto's pupil, reveling in the shrieks and groans that it created. Another needle impaled the other eye, bringing more, horrible, wonderful screams.

Sasuke paused, and watched as Kabuto writhed in agony. Sasuke once again took up the kunai, and drove it into Kabuto's torso, half severing his diaphragm. Sasuke laughed as Kabuto tried to scream, but could only wheeze.

Kabuto began to beg, rasping out pathetic words, showing how weak he truly was. Sasuke wrenched open his mouth and impaled Kabuto's tongue with a needle, leaving it stretched cruelly outside his mouth as the needle pressed into his face.

Finished with this Kabuto, Sasuke remember what Kakashi had said about Itachi creating doubles of the victim. Sasuke created many more Kabutos and many more of himself, and went to work. The World of the Grasping Moon filled with the anguished screams of Orochimaru's henchman, and the laughter of the newest master of the Mangekyou.

Sasuke ended the technique after ninety-six hours of torturing Kabuto, knowing that less than two seconds had passed in normal time. His vision of the world around him returned just in time to watch Kabuto collapse to the ground unconscious, and Orochimaru rush forward to prevent Sasuke from finishing him as the rock-prison disintegrated. Sasuke looked at Orochimaru as he rushed forward.

"Don't worry sensei, I'm done with him…for now."