Interlude 7: Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha.

He came to a stop, landing in front of the entrance to an old Uchiha compound.

Naruto and Sakura landed next to him a moment later.

He didn't need his Sharingan to see that they were agitated. Three years with Sakura and five more with Naruto allowed him to read them both with ease.

Naruto's arms crossed over his chest, an uncharacteristic scowl in place.

Sakura herself had a frown, and was eying him with worry.

He opened his mouth- but he wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say.

He sighed. "I have to do this."

"You don't need to justify it, Sasuke." Sakura gently stated. "We know." She looked down at the ground for a moment.

"You're an idiot." Naruto spoke. The next few were surprisingly subdued. "But... we know."

He nodded at the entrance, before looking back at Sasuke. "If you're in trouble, we're going to come in whether you like it or not."

He knew that already. Naruto didn't need to say it here and now, he'd made it perfectly clear long before what, exactly, he thought of his plan to confront Itachi alone.

"Take care, Sasuke."

He nodded, before walking inside.

It wasn't Itachi. A clone. Not a Shadow Clone, but different, still solid.

"You took your time." A pair of red, Mangekyo eyes opened within the darkness. "Come to die, little brother?"

He'd play the game. For now.

"Did you forget, Itachi?" Sasuke came to a stop, unsheathing his sword. "The last thing I said to you?"

"The next time I see you, I will kill you." The memory came unbidden.

"You will be the one to die today." Sasuke stated.

Itachi gave a dark chuckle. Menacing, but there was a strange emotion within that Sasuke couldn't identify.

"You will try."

"Bold words." Itachi noted. "Then and now."

His fingers blurred, launching dozens of Shuriken at Sasuke, who simply stepped to the side and deflected the scant few that were still a threat to him.

Naruto was fond enough of that tactic that he was more than used to it by now.

His left hand grabbed a few Shuriken of his own, which he immediately launched at Itachi. Small amounts of Chakra flowed into each, aspected with Lightning.

A trio of clangs, and all three dropped to the ground, alongside three of Itachi's.

"Did you think that I wouldn't see the Chakra you channelled into them?" Itachi asked. "Fool."

Slowly, he stood up, eyes focused on Sasuke.

He saw Chakra, infinitesimal threads reaching his own system.

"Come. Try your hardest." Itachi spoke. "I want to laugh when all your efforts fail."

He disrupted it as it came.

Sasuke walked forwards, his Chokuto held low to the ground.

"Did you think, Itachi..." Sasuke rushed forwards, slashing at him.

Itachi moved quickly, grabbing Sasuke's wrist and stopping him.

"That I wouldn't notice the illusion?"

There was a grunt of pain from across the room, the clone in front of him dispersing into a murder of crows.

He looked to the side, seeing his clone with its sword through Itachi's chest, piercing the stone chair.

Not Itachi. Another illusion.

"You've grown... quite strong." Itachi coughed.

"Save it." He looked up, staring behind Itachi. "I saw through the illusion, Itachi."

The chair, along with the wall behind it, promptly vanished, his Shadow Clone standing up and turning around.

Itachi -the real one, this time- stared back.

"Skilled indeed." He commented.

Was that pride in his voice? Sadness, too.

The Sharingan in Itachi's eyes shifted, changing into the pinwheel of the Mangekyo.

He saw the flow of Chakra, beginning to gather in Itachi's eyes.

Strings of Chakra snapped out. He attempted to disrupt them, but couldn't.

"But skill is nothing compared to these eyes."

Tsukuyomi, he realised.

Sasuke scoffed. "Boast more, Itachi. It will make it all the more satisfying when I feed you your own eyes."

He was caught, for the moment. The knowledge that it was just an illusion wasn't helping.

"Hmph. You fail to understand, I see." Itachi mocked him. "Let me show you."

Gather Chakra in eyes, Chakra system. Prepare for excising foreign Chakra.

Itachi rushed forwards, a kunai brandished.

Pulse. The illusion shattered.

"What did I tell you... about seeing through the illusion?" Sasuke asked, again.

Itachi vanished.

He looked over to where Itachi had been seated, and was still seated.

However- now he was covering his eye, a trail of blood running down his face.

"Tsukuyomi." Sasuke nodded. "Such a vaunted genjutsu."

"You broke it." Itachi grunted. "So easily." More pride. Well-hidden or not.

Why was Itachi proud?

"Of course. It's ultimately just a genjutsu, pretentious name or not." Sasuke stated. "I read the tablet, Itachi. I was underwhelmed."

His best friend had a being that was almost a god sealed in him.

"You must not have read much of it, then." Itachi wiped away the last of the blood coming from his eye.

And then there was Drich. No amount of weird Mangekyo jutsu could top what Drich sometimes pulled.

"I read enough." Sasuke's hands came up as he began to weave handseals. "Fire style-"

Now, it was time to start the plan.

Itachi's eyes widened, and he leapt upwards, slamming a fist against the roof and breaking his way out with a pulse of Chakra.

"Great Dragon Fire." He finished.

A massive rush of flame followed him, hot enough to burn through the stone roof, to say nothing of the physical force behind it. The roof, more or less torn apart by Itachi, shattered even further.

It shot up into the sky, eventually dissipating.

Good.

Now his Chakra was in the atmosphere.

Illusions... none.

Sasuke leapt up, landing on the opposite side of the hole from Itachi, keeping a cool glare him. "Finally done with the illusions, are you?"

"Genjutsu isn't the only strength of the Mangekyo." Itachi answered. "For example-"

He saw Chakra gathering in Itachi's eyes, shifting and changing.

Good.

This one would be Amaterasu, which would produce extremely hot flames.

Now he just needed to make sure it was spread as far as possible.

Sasuke shot to the side.

"Amaterasu."

Black fire blossomed in Sasuke's trail, a line of it moving after Sasuke, 'chasing' after him.

Itachi spun, tracing Sasuke's path, trying to set him on fire. It inched closer and closer, but, more importantly, the flame was appearing over a wide area.

There.

Sasuke's coat caught ablaze, shortly spreading to the rest of his body.

The Chakra in his clone reacted badly. Disruption imminent.

Itachi's eyes widened.

Attack!

He ducked forwards, Sasuke's Chokuto passing over his head even while the while the clone he'd been attempting to burn burst into smoke.

The death of the clone returned the vast majority of its remaining Chakra. Just as planned.

Sasuke kept going, launching a flurry of attacks that Itachi was only barely able to dodge, striking and slicing with swift speed.

He was only buying time now. Time for the flames to burn, for the heat to rise into the air and produce the necessary conditions. Plan C.

It wouldn't take long for Itachi to make a move, but at the same time, he didn't need long.

Itachi leapt back, out of melee range, flinging a few Shuriken to interrupt Sasuke's focus.

Sasuke deflected them easily, but Itachi had gotten out of range.

But that was okay. He could work with that.

Buy more time.

"You keep talking about these so-called ultimate techniques. Yet, I am still unimpressed." Sasuke commented. "How about we end this, Itachi? I've got a technique I'd like to show you. It'd be ready to go by now..."

Itachi looked at him, wary.

Sasuke jumped up, heading to the top of one of the massive stone extensions on the Uchiha hideout.

"It actually took me a very long time to get this one down. Still, it was worth it."

Sasuke raised his hand in the air, which began to spark with electricity.

Only now did Itachi notice the storm clouds in the air.

Lightning natured Chakra, convert the Chakra in the atmosphere from Fire to Lightning.

A spark of electricity shot into the sky from Sasuke's hand. Almost as if a catalyst, lightning began sparking amongst the clouds.

Agitate the skies, and produce storm conditions.

"I call it..." Sasuke paused for a moment, glaring down at Itachi.

Wait. 1.13 seconds for necessary static buildup.

Sasuke brought his hand down.

There.

"Raiden!"

He saw Chakra. Itachi would live.

Lightning flashed.