Everyone saw Itachi and the blonde haired child from earlier facing off in the forest, only this time things were considerable different. For starters, Naruto looked a lot older because of the two year time-skip. Another difference was the appearance of Itachi. To the untrained eye it only looked like he aged slightly, but to a detective like Batman it was like Itachi had aged a lifetime. No matter how well Itachi tried to hide it, Batman could see that Itachi was suffering greatly from his disease and was on his last legs of life.
"Why aren't you in a hospital getting treatment?" The dark knight asked.
"It was already too late for me. I needed to act now or I'd lose my opportunity forever." Itachi answered.
"What end game could possibly be worth your life you idiot?" Artemis asked.
"The redemption of my clan and the future of my brother. Too bad as it turned out, I failed at both in the end." Itachi answered with a hint of sadness in his voice.
The scene started to play out as Naruto got ready to fight Itachi. He thought that if he could capture the rogue ninja here, then that would give him the best chance of seeing Sasuke again and finally bring him back home to the Leaf.
"Why do you care so much about my little brother? He's merely a rogue ninja now." Itachi asked the young jinchuriki.
"That's because I think of him as more of a brother than you ever could!" Naruto answered defiantly.
That answer made Itachi do something for the first time in almost a decade; smile. That answer was all he needed to know about the type of friend Sasuke had in Naruto. The others around him though were still confused.
"Why are you smiling? He just insulted the entire reason for you doing this?" Conner asked.
"Because he showed me that I wasn't the only one looking out for my brother. He had other people who cared about him as much as I did." Itachi said with a look of peace on his face.
Naruto charged at the Akatsuki member, but was put under a genjutsu almost immediately.
"You are already inside of my genjutsu. Calm down, I merely wish to speak with you. You want to bring Sasuke back, right? If things didn't work out the way you want them to, what would you do?" Itachi asked genuinely curious. The others didn't get why Itachi was doing this or why it was so important of an event in his life.
"I would do whatever it takes to bring him back!" Naruto proclaimed.
"Even by force? If Sasuke chose to willingly return with you to the village, that would be fine, but what if the complete opposite were to happen? What would you do?" Itachi inquired.
"What do you mean?" The blonde asked while being puzzled by the question.
"Earlier, you said that you think of Sasuke as a brother, right? I want to hear what you would do if that same Sasuke decided to attack the Leaf Village." Itachi asked as if he was testing the teenager.
"What? Why would Sasuke do that? He would never do such a thing." Naruto said not believing that his friend was capable of such a thing.
"Sasuke is still like a blank canvas. He still can be influenced very easily. If that were to happen, would you be able to stop him? Even if you had to kill him? Does Sasuke mean more to you than the village?" Itachi said as if he were goading Naruto.
"I will protect the Leaf! And I will stop Sasuke without killing him!" Naruto answered with all the conviction he had. Itachi stared at him with discontent.
"You're still a child. Everything you've said so for is nothing but wishful thinking. There are times when a shinobi has to make harsh decisions." Itachi said in a scolding manner.
"Wow, talk about condescending." Captain Marvel noted.
"He reminds me of you all." Itachi said offhandedly.
"Is that a good thing or bad thing?" Kid Flash asked.
Itachi ignored them and let the group decide for themselves whether that was good or bad. Naruto then defended his decision, saying that he had no choice because his ninja way was to never go back on his word, and he promised a friend that he would bring Sasuke back home and save him from the darkness. His answer was all Itachi needed to hear.
He sent a raven to plunge itself inside of Naruto. Much to the disgust over everyone watching, "I have given you some of my powers. Though I hope the day never comes when you may have to use them."
Naruto fell to the ground from shock and demanded to know what was really going on. Naruto was positive that he was Itachi's target and was perplexed why all he wanted to do was talk. Itachi kindly made his leave and for once in a long time, he sounded like his old childhood self again.
"I'll be going now. There's something important I have to take care of." Itachi then dispersed into crows and waited. He had another clone out to draw the true focus of his attention.
"What's going? What was the important thing you had to take care of?" Wally asked.
"My brother. It was time for our final battle." Itachi answered as everything changed around him until he was at the Uchiha Hideout, the place of his death.
M'gann shuddered at having to see all of this over again, "I'm sorry, M'gann. I know how watching this made you feel last time."
"As long as the others understand you better, I'll watch again." M'gann replied trying to ease him.
"What's going to happen next? It can't be as bad as you're making it out to be." Robin said trying to play down all of the melodrama around him. M'gann just looked at him and shook her head which let him know that whatever they were about to see next will shake most of them to the core.
They all saw Sasuke showed up to the hideout. He had the same look of hatred in his eyes, even after all these years. They could tell that this would be a war between the two brothers. Itachi was sitting on a throne like chair, almost as if he was symbolizing that he was the top Uchiha alive. Itachi addressed his brother by asking him how much he could see with his Sharingan. Sasuke responded by saying that he could finally see Itachi dead at his feet.
"You see me dead, do you? Well then, go on. Make it happen." Itachi said as he sped out of the throne and into a clash of blows with Sasuke. Itachi and Sasuke were engaged into a fight that almost resembled a dance. Sasuke tried to stab Itachi with his sword, but was countered perfectly by Itachi's kunai. Whenever Itachi would try to land a strike or kick Sasuke would maneuver his blade to take the brunt of the hit. It was the most acrobatic exchange of close combat Itachi's companions had ever seen.
Itachi had gotten past Sasuke's defenses and knocked him off balance while simultaneously jumping in the air. Sasuke recovered fast and tried to thrust his sword into his brother, but missed because Itachi thought ahead by jumping. Itachi was able to grab his brother and slam him to the ground by his collar, which made Sasuke lose control of his sword as it got lodged into the ceiling.
Sasuke got some distance and used his Chidori to go for a fatal blow. He rushed forward like back in the hallway all those years ago, except this time he stopped and turned his jutsu into Chidori Stream. A stream of lightning shot towards Itachi and caused him to leap upwards to avoid it. Unfortunately, Sasuke was waiting there for him with his sword in his hand. He quickly leapt forward and stabbed Itachi right through his stomach and sent him hurdling to the ground.
Everyone had wide, scared eyes as they saw Itachi on the ground with a sword through his stomach. Itachi, though, was impressed by his brother's improvement in such a short period of time, "You…have gotten stronger."
"Listen close, Itachi. I have one final thing to ask of you," Sasuke stopped when Itachi extended his arm like when he did whenever he was about to poke Sasuke's forehead. Only this time, Itachi aimed his fingers back at the thrown where he originally was sitting. Everyone, including Sasuke, saw that there sat Itachi who was completely unharmed. Artemis voiced her confusion.
"What? How? We just saw you with a blade in your stomach. How are you there and on the ground? Did you use a clone?" She asked. M'gann explained to them that this wasn't going to be a typical fight. "Guys, Sasuke has the same eyes that Itachi does. A lot of this fight will be genjutsu and illusions. What you just saw was the first one. Because Itachi is showing us his memory, we're seeing exactly what he did. If not for him, we'd just be looking at the two of them staring at each other."
"So everything in this fight is an illusion?" Superman asked.
"No, trust me when I say I wish it were." M'gann answered sadly. Sasuke figured out pretty quickly that Itachi was using his favorite genjutsu to mess with him. Itachi looked on and decided to answered whatever questions his brother had to ask, "So what do you want to know? It won't be the last thing, but I'll hear what you have to say."
"Let me try this again," Itachi looked down to see that his brother was hidden behind his throne and had successfully stabbed him through it. A jolt of pain and a cough of blood ran through Itachi's body. It was revealed that the Sasuke in front of Itachi was a clone created by Sasuke's genjutsu, "I have one last thing to ask. You will answer my question. The pain in your chest won't stop until you do."
"Wait is this genjutsu or is this real now?" Captain Marvel asked.
"Be patient and watch. Itachi shouldn't have to answer something every five minutes." M'gann replied.
"Sorry, it's just he's our friend and we're worried." Robin responded. M'gann found that comical, "Really? Because last I heard he was nothing but a murderer to you and Wally."
That made Robin and Wally put their heads down in shame. Green Arrow intervened on their behalf, "Look, there was no way any of us could know that this could get so…complicated. We should have waited for Itachi's side before casting judgment and we're sorry."
"You should be." Artemis said to her fake uncle. They all went back to watching Itachi sit on a throne with a sword through his chest. Batman knew that by the way the blade was positioned Itachi's brother had missed all of his vital spots. But he also knew that was probably by design so he could interrogate him.
Sasuke then went to ask him about the other man Itachi mentioned that had a Mangekyo Sharingan because he wanted to kill him after Itachi. Sasuke then showed more of his maturity by deducing that Itachi had an accomplice to help him slaughter their clan because not even he was strong enough to kill the entire police force by himself. Itachi smiled to himself after hearing that. He decided to indulge his brother and give Sasuke his name, "Madara Uchiha."
Sasuke refused to belief it because Madara should be long dead by now, but Itachi assured him that Madara was indeed alive. Itachi then spoke on disbelief and reality, "Each of us lives dependent and bound by our individual knowledge and our awareness. All of that is called reality. However, both knowledge and awareness are equivocal. One's reality might be another's illusion. We all live inside our own fantasies. Don't you think that's true, Sasuke?"
"Thinking Madara is dead is merely an arbitrary assumption you've made; in exactly the same way you assumed I was your kind and gentle older brother" Itachi said coldly.
"What happened that night…I was so young. I thought it was all merely an illusion. I wanted so badly to believe that I was just stuck in a horrifying genjutsu but it was no mistake; I was trapped in reality!" Sasuke shouted as he aimed a Chidori stream behind him. As it turns out, Itachi sat behind him, yet again completely unharmed because of the genjutsu.
"My eyes are not the same as they once were. My eyes can see through genjutsu." Sasuke declared. Itachi barely even acknowledged his claim, "You speak with such confidence as you always do. Well for now, I'm willing to take your word for it."
The image of a stabbed Itachi disappeared, leaving only the real one to stare down Sasuke. Sasuke had enough of Itachi's genjutsu and wanted to get on with killing him. Itachi headed against his brother's arrogance, "Confidence is fine, but it appears that you still do not possess the same eyes as I do. So you just couldn't do it. You couldn't kill your best friend, but you dare to come before me to face me with such weak resolve."
"Alright, just get it over with and try to kill me with your Mangekyo Sharingan then. Or am I too strong for you to dare to test you capabilities on against mine." Sasuke said as a jab to Itachi's reason for killing their family.
Itachi stood up and got ready for combat but first decided to give his brother a history lesson on their clan's strongest weapon, "The Mangekyo Sharingan are very special eyes. The moment they awaken they progress towards darkness. And the more they're used the faster they're sealed. In other words, the Mangekyo eventually lose their light."
"Blindness, that's the drawback for having that power. Itachi, you were going blind at this point, weren't you?" Batman asked.
"Yes, it's part of our family curse, in more ways than one. At this point I could barely make out Sasuke's facial features." He answered as the scene continued. Itachi began to explain to Sasuke that Madara is an immortal who took him under his wing. He also was the man who discovered the other secret of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Sasuke demanded to know what the other secret was, so Itachi answered him with another history lesson. He showed Sasuke a genjutsu of Madara and his younger brother. Itachi told him about how Madara had younger brother with whom he trained with since they were small children. Eventually, both of them killed their best friends and unlocked the Mangekyo Sharingan. Madara had used his too much and eventually went blind. That is the Mangekyo Sharingan's fate. Madara tried everything he could to reclaim his sight, but nothing worked. So in an act of desperation, Madara stole his brother's eyes from out of his socket, much to the disgust of everyone watching, and transplanted them as his new eyes.
After doing that not only did Madara reclaim his vision, he also made it so that his light would never be lost again. It is an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Because they found a new host, Madara's brother's eyes gained eternal light and new visual power. Madara would use his new eyes to gain power and eventually fight for control of the Leaf. He failed in that, but returned to destroy it by unleashing the nine-tails fox. He failed in that too.
"People in your family used to do that?! Kill their best friends and then take their siblings' eyes. That's inhumane." Hal Jordon protested.
"It's complicated. It didn't happen that way. Sasuke just needs to think it did." Itachi explained.
"Why though?" Robin asked. Batman answered for Itachi, "To keep up with the rouse. Itachi needs Sasuke to believe that he is the enemy. This story helps push that agenda forward."
"Madara is a bitter, defeated loser now. He is not worthy to wield the Uchiha's true power. I am the one. I shall surpass Madara and achieve real greatness. And now I can finally obtain power that exceeds Madara's. Sasuke, you are the one who will become my new light! You have my spare eyes! Activating the Mangekyo Sharingan always required an Uchiha to kill a friend. Parents and siblings killed each other to obtain eternal light. We're both from a tainted bloodline that's advanced its strength this way throughout the ages. And from the day you were born into this clan, you have been unavoidably inclined to this blood-filled fate. Now come, little brother! I shall kill you to obtain my true transformation and finally be free from our clan's fate! I shall break loose from all of the restrictions and free myself from all of the constraints that bind me! We are each other's spares! This is the true bond between the brothers of the Uchiha!" Itachi declared.
"Dude, this is the first time I've ever heard you yell before. Never yell again." Wally said trying to calm himself down.
"If I didn't know that you were secretly a good guy, I would have thought you were insane too." Conner commented.
"I had to make sure he had no doubts about my false intent to kill him. I had to make it real." Itachi explained.
"You succeeded. I swear you must have been an actor of some kind in a different life." Artemis commented while trying to shake the shivers down her spine away.
Itachi went on lamenting how futile it was for Sasuke to fight him because he lacked the visual prowess of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Sasuke responded by saying that whatever he lacked in visual prowess, he would more than make up for in his hatred of his brother.
"I will use my hatred to turn fantasy into reality. And your reality is death!" That ended the dialogue between the brothers. After that, Itachi and Sasuke started throwing shuriken at each other with great velocity. Endless amount of shuriken were thrown and the sounds of clashing metal filled the room. Superman noted how he's seen automatic guns that couldn't fire at the rate the brothers were doing now.
The most impressive part was that they weren't just randomly throwing them at each other. Each one was precisely targeted to either kill or deflect or incoming shuriken. After the clash was over, both of them met in the middle in a gridlock of death. A sword in Sasuke's hand and a kunai in Itachi's. Sasuke was starting to struggle, but Itachi remained calm as a shadow clone leapt up behind him to strike Sasuke now that he was held in place.
The attack shocked Sasuke and would cause him to summon a snake to deflect the kunai launched by the clone. The snake also caused Itachi to let go and get some distance from Sasuke. The snake disappeared and revealed Sasuke with a demon-wind shuriken primed and ready for launch. He threw it at Itachi's clone, who tried to deflect it with his kunai, but failed because Sasuke's shuriken had the Chidori running through it. It easily cut through the kunai and sliced Itachi's clone until it dispersed into a flock of crows that flew towards Sasuke. Itachi used this to blitz Sasuke and kick him back into the wall behind him hard enough to make a crater in the wall. Itachi gave Sasuke no room to recover and continued the onslaught as he restrained Sasuke against the wall.
He then positioned his hand so that it was on his left eye socket, "Forgive me, Sasuke. This is my reality. Give me your light."
He then gouged Sasuke's eye out of its socket which caused Sasuke to wail in immense pain. M'gann looked away, not being able to watch this a second time. The others looked in horror as Itachi maimed his brother, reminding them of just how brutal this feud was going to be. Artemis thought to herself that no matter how much she hated her sister, she could never bring herself to gouging her eyes out. Itachi had resolve like no one she'd ever seen before.
Sasuke covered his eye as blood poured from it. Itachi continued to taunt his brother for not having the eyes strong enough to defeat him. He then went to retrieve the other one. Sasuke used the power of his curse mark to back Itachi off of him before he had the chance, showing Itachi for the first time what the power of his curse mark was. Itachi pocketed Sasuke's eye into a vial and constrained him with a clone that snuck from out of the crater in the wall.
"This is the difference in our strengths and the difference between your eyes and mine." Itachi then walked up to his brother and prepared to take his other eye. Sasuke stopped him at the last moment once he realized that he was in a genjutsu, by using his curse mark. Everyone watched at the world around them began to shatter like glass.
Everyone was soon returned to the real world as the brother showed their exhaustion. The others were both confused and relieved. They were confused as to when the genjutsu even started, to which Itachi answered that it started right when Sasuke destroyed his clone. They were also relieved that the horrible sight that they saw was just an illusion. They gasped when they saw Itachi fall to his knees while clutching his left eye in pain.
"Why did you fall like that," Robin asked. Itachi explained that the genjutsu he used was the Tsukuyomi. It is the most powerful genjutsu currently in existence and requires a lot of chakra to use. So having it broken on top of all of the chakra he used to activate it, drained him immensely.
Itachi was in shock that his brother broke through his genjutsu. Sasuke wasn't because he was positive that his hatred would win him this battle. Once he recovered, Itachi made it known that he was going to gouge his brother's eyes out for real this time. Itachi had gotten serious and decided that the rest of this fight would be of physical strength rather than visual prowess.
Itachi weaved hand signed for a jutsu, but was stopped when his brother quickly summoned and threw a demon-wind towards him. Itachi had to stop what he was doing and prepare to evade the shuriken. Using his Sharingan, Itachi saw that there was a second shuriken hidden under the first one, and to make things even more difficult Sasuke ran his Chidori through both of them. Itachi waited till the last possible second and lunged in between both of the shuriken.
Sasuke turned the tables when he revealed a wire attached to both of them. It was meant to rig the shuriken to disperse into smaller pieces so that Itachi would have less time to evade them all. It worked as one of the blades lodged itself deeply into Itachi's left hamstring. He fell in a painful heap as a result and had to pull the large shuriken part out of his leg.
"Wow, your brother is good. I don't know how you could have dodged that," Robin noted. Batman, on the other hand, thought something was off, "I've seen you dodge much more intricate and faster traps before, Itachi. Whether it was from your illness or loss of sight, you were fighting while severely handicapped based on that reaction speed."
"When your brother countered your jutsu it severely swayed the momentum of the battle." Aquaman noted.
Sasuke weaved the hand signs for a jutsu that everyone had become familiar with, the fireball jutsu. The large fire blast caused Itachi to leap upwards to avoid it, but Sasuke was prepared for it and had his Chidori ready to strike a defenseless Itachi. The result was an explosion towards the ceiling of the room.
Everyone looked on worried, but out of the smoke came Itachi who unleashed a fireball jutsu of his own as he landed on the roof. Sasuke used the wings of his curse mark to shield him from the blast as they faced off against each other on the roof. After the dust had settled, both brothers unleashed each of their own powerful fireball jutsu towards the other.
It was a standstill between the two at first, but after a while Sasuke's jutsu started to overpower Itachi's. Sensing that he was going to lose this contest, Itachi countered by unleashing the infamous Amaterasu. It incinerated both of the fireballs until nothing remained.
Sasuke decided that a moving target was harder to hit than a stationary one and went on the move. Itachi kept on the attack and unleashed his Amaterasu at his brother. At first he missed and only was able to set the surrounding forest ablaze, but with time Sasuke slowed down just enough for Itachi to get a hit on him through Sasuke's wing. Itachi quickly put the fire out once Sasuke was down to preserve his brother's eyes. As he went to grab them he saw his brother's body dissolve into acid.
Itachi then fell to the ground and started hacking up a lot of blood. The others could see that the disease was killing him and felt sadness for seeing their friend suffer like this. Out of nowhere, a large fire blast in the form of a dragon sprouted out of the ground. Itachi moved quickly in order to evade it, but even more dragon blasts shot upwards. None of the blasts hit Itachi and they seemed to use the last bit of chakra Sasuke had; the same could be said about Itachi and his chakra levels.
Sasuke told his brother that this next jutsu of his would be his last, but Itachi didn't believe him. He knew that Sasuke was out of chakra thanks to his Sharingan. Sasuke smirked at his brother and chided him for thinking that he didn't have a plan in place for killing Itachi.
"This jutsu is like the Amaterasu. It's impossible to avoid!" As Sasuke said that, strong thunder and lightning danced around in the sky above them. Superman figured out what Sasuke meant to do, "He's going to use the lightning in the sky and throw it at Itachi. That's why he shot all of those fire blasts upward. It was to heat up the atmosphere above and create a powerful rising air current. He basically created lightning with fire."
"It's also why he lured you outside, Itachi. He wanted to use the flames of your Amaterasu to help. Sasuke really did come prepared," Wonder Woman said while being astonished.
"Lightning can reach the ground faster than the speed of sound, the only people who would have been able to avoid this is Supes and me. Wally isn't even fast enough yet to get away," Flash said as the lightning took the form of a dragon.
Sasuke jumped up to the highest pillar and controlled the lightning dragon as if it were a tamed pet. Sasuke revealed that the name of this jutsu was Kirin and then unleashed it on his brother. Everything was blown away less than a second later; only rubble was left. Everyone feared that this was how Itachi died and Artemis looked down with tears in her eyes.
M'gann told her that it wasn't over yet. Artemis looked back up and smiled when she heard Itachi whisper on the ground, "Is this…the death you had imagined for me?"
Everyone saw a broken, bloodied Itachi, but also one that was still alive. Sasuke cursed vehemently as he saw that his brother was indeed still amongst the living. Everyone saw that what saved Itachi was his Susanoo.
"Leave it to Itachi to survive a concentrated lightning blast." Robin said joyfully. Everyone saw Itachi smile as he slowly got back to his feet, "If I hadn't had this, I'd have been dead. You really have gotten stronger, Sasuke. This is my final trump card, the Susanoo."
Itachi then told his brother that he had better pull out any backup plans he had because the battle had just restarted thanks to Itachi's Susanoo. All Sasuke could do was call on chakra that he didn't even have to use the curse mark to go into stage two. Itachi's Susanoo started creating muscle, skin and cloth to go from its skeletal phase to all the way to its armored phase.
"What's the matter? Did you use up all your chakra and run out of options," Itachi goaded. Batman caught on and grew curious why Itachi kept mentioning Sasuke's chakra level. It was like he was trying to force something specific to happen.
Everyone then saw Sasuke fall to the ground and struggle about. Then eight large white snakes sprouted from out of his body. They were even larger than Itachi's Susanoo. Itachi recognized it as Orochimaru's Eight-Headed Serpent Jutsu. The two behemoths then started to clash. Itachi's Susanoo easily decapitated seven of the eight giant white snakes. He didn't take any damage because his Yata Mirror deflected all of their attacks. The last of the snake heads opened its mouth wide and revealed a still living Orochimaru who was laughing maniacally.
"There you are." Itachi said while eyeing his former Akatsuki partner.
"Finally! I've been waiting for this! Thanks to you, Sasuke used up all of the chakra he had been suppressing me with. Now I can finally take over this child's body for good! And so-" Itachi wasted no time in stabbing the madman with his Totsuka Blade.
At first Orochimaru laughed at Itachi attacked, but when he found out it was the Totsuka Blade he showed it the reverence it deserved. Everyone saw Orochimaru get sucked into the gourd that held Itachi's sword. It sucked every bit of Orochimaru up, even the chakra that was being used by Sasuke. In short, Itachi had just freed Sasuke from the curse mark and any power Orochimaru held over him.
"That's why you kept goading your brother. You wanted to force him to bring out that creep's power," Black Canary started.
"That way you could absorb it and free Sasuke. I didn't know you were this good at multitasking. You were fighting your brother and saving him all at the same time," Green Arrow noted.
"It was my fault Orochimaru even had a chance at Sasuke. When he betrayed the Akatsuki I settled for taking his hand when I should have just taken his life. And because of my mistake he set his hooks into Sasuke. I had no intentions of making that same mistake again." Itachi explained.
"What happened to him? Not that I care about the creep or anything." Wally asked.
"I sealed him into the Totsuka Blade. To keep it simple; he's in an eternal genjutsu living out his worst nightmare for all eternity. There is no way out of it as far as I'm aware of. I couldn't free him even if I had wanted to. I usually only use it as a last resort because of that fact." Itachi answered.
"That's a pretty unbeatable sword. And with your shield there's no way you could lose a fight when healthy." Conner said.
"No, every tool has weaknesses." Itachi corrected. Superman was a perfect example of that. Until now, the God-like hero thought only a rock from space could hurt him, but he just found out that a simple stab from a sword can seal him and the entire League up forever with no way of returning. It's why none of them seemed as impressed by the tool as the younger hero's were; except for Marvel who wasn't hard to impress at all. Instead, they all grew worried about the power Itachi held and made a note to speak on it when this was over.
"Let me know when you find out that sword's weakness then bud," Wally joked. The joking stopped when Itachi fell to the ground and started coughing up more blood than even before. That was one of the risks of the Susanoo; prolonged use caused severe damage to a person's cells.
"Now, your eyes are mine. I'll take my time retrieving them." The stress from the battle and from his disease causes Itachi to drop to his knees in pain. He couldn't stop coughing up blood and as a result his Susanoo started to die down with him.
Sasuke tried to take advantage by throwing kunai with paper bombs, but Itachi had recovered in time to reestablish his Susanoo and block it. He then stepped forward to achieve his ultimate goal.
Sasuke got desperate and tried throwing everything he had left, but it was all in vain. Itachi's Susanoo has the ultimate defense thanks to the Yata Mirror.
"They're my eyes…they're mine." Itachi said in the scariest way possible as he stalked his brother. Sasuke made one final attempt by trying to stab his brother with his sword, but was foolishly tossed away. Sasuke soon found himself with no tools and no options left. Because of the destruction of the battlefield and the lack of chakra, he couldn't even run away.
Everyone saw Sasuke back up until he was up against a large piece of debris with the Uchiha crest. They could see the fear Sasuke felt as his breath was caught and his knees started shaking when his brother had finally caught up to him.
With no vision left and blood all over his mouth and hands, Itachi slowly stopped in front of his brother. Itachi appeared like he was going to gouge Sasuke's eyes out, but to his brother's surprise he only poked his forehead like when they were children. Sasuke looked up to see his brother genuinely smiling like how he used to all those years ago. It was like this that Itachi spoke his final words, "I'm sorry, Sasuke. This is the end."
Everyone then looked on as Itachi's Susanoo disappeared in an instant. And to everyone's horror, Itachi went head first into the debris behind Sasuke and landed on the ground with a loud thud. Everyone looked on as Itachi's eyes had no life in them and he showed no signs of breathing; He had died after uttering those words to his brother.
Everything around them went black and the only sounds heard were that of M'gann and Artemis crying for their friend. Even Conner silently shed a tear. They had all just witnessed their friend die.
"You died…you really died." Robin said not believing it. Wally was confused, "But if you died there, how are you here now?"
"In my world death is not the end for us. It is only the beginning." Itachi said as things changed around them. They were in Madara's hideout, Mountains' Graveyard. They soon all witnessed to Itachi, or a reanimated version of Itachi, walk out of a casket. He started to walk away with another reanimated corpse into the distance.
"You're back…but how is that possible. The dead don't just come back to life and walk away." Black Canary said.
"The limits of your world have no effect on mine. Unfortunately, it's not too uncommon for the dead to have their rest disturbed for the ambitions of a madman." Itachi answered.
"Why you though? What could possibly be worth disrespecting the dead like that?" Kaldur asked.
"War, the Fourth Great Ninja War. My eyes had the power to turn the tides of the war in either direction and are why I was revived." Itachi answered.
"Great, they won't let you live and they won't let you die. Not even death could save you from being used by evil and it makes me sick just thinking about it." Artemis vented. Itachi walked over to his friend and spoke directly to her, "You're wrong. I wasn't being used by evil. I was given a second chance to right all of my wrongs."
"What did you do that was so wrong?" She retorted. Itachi gave her a sad look, "I ruined my brother's life and filled him with so much hatred that the whole world became his enemy. I was wrong for that and needed to save him like how I should have done from the very start."
"What could you possibly have done differently?" She asked. The scene changed to Itachi and his companion, Nagato, meeting up with Naruto and a friend of his, "Tell him the truth."
(Part 2 of the truth done!) Whew! That took a lot longer than I had expected. Oh yeah I almost forgot, I'm back! It's been too long. With boot camp and "A" School, I was always swamped for time. But that's all done now! I've missed you guys so much! Thanks for all of the support you all gave me and now that I am a U.S. Sailor, I know that more love is to come. Wrath is on a mission to make change and I can't wait to show you all how he plans on doing it. It won't take me three months this time, I promise. Thanks for all of the favorites, follows, and reviews while I was gone. Let's keep it up and get this ball rolling again! Don't forget to send me a review or a PM to let me know what you think of these last few chapters! Until next time guys and gals!