A/N: Written for the /r/NarutoFanfiction writing prompt challenge #13 (you can see the other entries at redd dot it slash 4ym510). "Naruto's setting wasn't inspired by ninja. Instead, Kishimoto was watching TV and saw a setting he could re-use instead." Minor crossover with the Highlander movie.
Thunder rolled outside the window as Sasuke went through his sword exercises one more time. After three hundred years, he still found it helpful from time to time. Each slash and stab brought to mind all those he'd had to kill, their death cries echoing down through the years. It had been self defense, most of the time, and tonight he'd find out if it was all worth it.
After all, there could only be one.
With a final flourish, Sasuke sheathed his sword. The time and place had been set, and there would be no quarter asked or given. In two hours time he would be victorious or dead. Putting on a long raincoat, he left the small house that had been his home for the last decade or so. He didn't lock the door.
Two lefts and a right took him to the old church. With a flick of a switch, a single bulb cast a harsh glare over the inside. It'd seen better days; the door was almost rotted off its hinges and the pews crumbled at a touch. While Sasuke wasn't a religious man himself, he valued the tradition and connection to the past that such a place should have offered, and he took a moment to apologize silently for what was about to happen in the hallowed hall.
Sasuke heard the footsteps before he saw the man they belonged to. Long black hair, a dark cloak with red clouds. A longsword hung in a loose grip while unnaturally white hands emphasized purple nails. The man was silent, dark eyes probing in a placid face.
Sasuke spoke first, to claim the moment for himself. "I've always dreamed of this moment. I've climbed over a lot of bodies to get here, but I never enjoyed any of the kills. But you - your death will make me complete. I will avenge my family and my home, and finally ascend as the last one standing."
"Come and try."
"You know, I wondered why you did it. Years and years of uncertainty and hate. But I realised something important, Itachi. It doesn't matter. I don't need answers from you. I just need your corpse."
This time, his brother wordlessly gestured. Sasuke drew his sword slowly, planning his attack. The pews were between the two of them, but there was an open path down the middle. If he charged then Itachi could dodge or counterattack, while he'd be forced into a choke. To keep space to manoevre, he'd need to go around the side. Or...
Sasuke slowly walked towards Itachi, who kept his calm and relaxed posture. The longsword in his hands turned to point at Sasuke's face, but his own sword - a claymore, with more power but less finesse - was prepared to parry if necessary.
You really think that little of me? You'll just let me close for free? You deserve this a hundred times over, you arrogant bastard. There was barely two yards between the combatants now, and Sasuke focused on the tip of his foe's blade. Nothing could be allowed to distract him, now that victory and death were both almost in arm's reach.
He struck. A probing blow was swiftly deflected, and the followup - a low slash followed by a stab towards the eyes - was dodged easily. Itachi's counterattack hit his crossguard as he stepped forward and pushed the blades against one another, relying on momentum to force Itachi's back against the wall.
"Not so easy now, is it? I'm a fighter, not an old man or a young child! You bastard!" Sasuke's lapse in concentration cost him as Itachi somehow slipped out of the awkward position he'd been in, and backed Sasuke up towards the pews. He kicked out backwards, smashing one to dust and cautiously stepping over it. The ground was slightly slippery, but -
He smashed two more pews and continued backing over them, keeping an arm's length out of Itachi's maximum reach with his longsword. He was still being slowly chased down, but now he had a plan. As Itachi took his first step onto the wood pulp and splinters, Sasuke suddenly charged. Throwing his weight behind his shoulder, he barged into Itachi and knocked him to the floor, following him down as his own foot slipped. His ankle rolled over but he was too full of adrenaline to notice.
Itachi scrambled out of the way of his first two stabs and blocked the third. The fourth took three fingers off his off-hand, along with a ring he'd been wearing.
"Sasuke, listen -" Itachi had to stop talking as Sasuke's attacks redoubled. He smelled blood, a warm heady scent that reached into some deep, long-forgotten part of him. A predator's instincts. His sword swung in wide arcs, fast enough that every parry jarred Itachi's hands. Every near miss cut pieces off his outfit or smashed more of the wooden pews apart. And then Sasuke saw an opening - Itachi's hands were tangled in his cloak for just a second.
It was a bait. He realised it almost as soon as he took it, but by then Itachi had already recovered and the die was cast. A block and a stab and Sasuke had barely managed to avoid a sword through the stomach. There was a cut in his side and he felt a hot stream of blood run down his left leg. He'd just been put back on equal footing, mere seconds after expecting the winning strike.
The two exchanged blows for another minute, trying to tire the other out. Itachi had wrapped his hand in cloth, while Sasuke did his best to avoid pulling his side wound open further. Blood drops covered the ground, and the church looked more like the site of a pagan sacrifice than anything else.
It was time to end it. There was one trick Sasuke had hoped to avoid, but it was all that he could do now. He was becoming slower, and even his thoughts were sluggish. If he didn't win soon, he wouldn't be able to continue fighting at all.
He didn't block the next stab and the blade ran all the way through his stomach. He grabbed Itachi's arm, holding him in place, and with a single one-handed swing took his head off. The look of surprise frozen on Itachi's face was worth every inch of bare steel currently sat inside his intestines, he thought, as he fell forward. A small yellow slip of paper caught his eye, and he grabbed it before it could be stained red.
If you're reading this, I am dead. There is one other man who has yet to be killed. You may know his name; he is from the same family. You know what I did; I couldn't have done it alone. One man against a whole clan is impossible. But two men, who both know the place inside and out, can manage it. Uchiha Madara is alive and massacred half the clan. He
Sasuke stopped reading, tears streaming down his face. After so long, and so much work, to learn that there was still more to do? Another murderer to bring to justice, another relative who had the blood of his family on his hands?
Slowly, Sasuke straightened up and pulled out the longsword. A cold smile settled on his face. There was another man out there, who had no idea that Sasuke knew of him. He'd find out.
After all, there could only be one.
