Dark, ash-gray clouds piled up, a fierce wind howled, and the sky turned completely gloomy. A single raindrop fell, followed by an instant downpour, the long-accumulated storm clouds unleashed a torrential rain.
His hair soaked, Logan slowly pulled himself out of the mental quagmire left by Tsukuyomi. His body still pulsed with weakness as he dragged his drenched clothes forward, his limbs feeling as if they were filled with lead. The weight pressing down on him finally rolled away.
Half-kneeling, he supported himself with one hand on the ground and looked toward the two figures in the distance… Itachi and Sasuke, now reaching their final moments.
"Damn it..." The raindrops struck his face, cool to the touch, washing away the grime but leaving his heart cold. He glanced up at the overcast sky, "This is Kirin... It's already come to this..."
He couldn't let Itachi use Susanoo. While it might block Kirin, the strain on his eyes would be too much. In his current condition, Itachi wouldn't survive it. In the original work, pushing Susanoo to its limits in this state had hastened Itachi's death.
The screeching of Chidori grew louder. The surrounding buildings were already reduced to ruins. Sasuke leaped onto a high platform emblazoned with the Uchiha Clan's crest, glaring down at the target of his vengeance.
"There's no way you can dodge this technique."
"Hmph." Despite the blood streaming from his right eye, Itachi remained composed, his left Mangekyo calm as he replied, "Then let me see it."
The thunder rumbled ominously overhead.
'I have to stop them.' Logan sensed the gathering storm of lightning above, his mind racing through countless possibilities, 'Is there no other choice but that move?'
"Logan, be cautious with that technique. You're not yet proficient enough."
Before leaving the Paulownia Forest, the clan head's warning echoed in his mind.
Logan's gaze shifted to the seal on the back of his left hand.
He had no better options. His Chakra was nearly depleted, his mental energy weakened, and there wasn't enough time to gather Natural Energy for Sage Mode.
If he wanted to counter Itachi and Sasuke's ultimate techniques, he had no choice but to rely on that half-mastered Sage Art...
Could he absorb the lightning like he had done at Tokyo Skytree? Theoretically, it was possible. But given his current state, could his body withstand such a massive energy surge? And even if he could, would he make it in time?
Taking a deep breath, Logan picked up an intact three-pronged kunai from the rubble, slicing his skin. Blood dripped onto the seal on his hand.
With a focused thought, after a brief silence, the Divine Bird soaring through the heavens suddenly lit up.
It was as if something had been unlocked. Logan felt the air grow warmer, an indescribable power awakening within the seal.
"This Sage Art is called 'Divine Gift'."
The seal seemed to come alive, its patterns flowing like living threads of fire, spreading from his hand, crawling over his wrist, arm, and upward...
"It is one of our clan's oldest techniques, said to have been created by our ancestor, the Divine Bird. When used, it temporarily grants the user the ancestor's blessing, bestowing boundless power… hence the name."
"...Don't lose focus. Listen carefully. You've only just mastered Sage Mode, so your compatibility with the seal is still weak. If you force its activation, there will undoubtedly be severe side effects..."
The clan head's warnings flashed through Logan's mind like a slideshow, but he pushed aside all distractions, focusing entirely on the glowing seal as a medium to connect with the unseen resonance.
The fiery red patterns spread across most of his body, as if forming something, or perhaps sketching a totem. The lines shimmered gold and red, elegant and sublime.
Then, at a certain moment…
Boom!
A whirlwind of energy surged, the air itself twisting as power gathered from all directions. Flames, pristine and untainted, erupted across Logan's entire body.
But these flames were golden.
Logan opened his eyes. The brightness in the air intensified instantly. His pupils burned, edged with gold, while ancient, oppressive patterns of red and gold spread across half his face. His hair, too, transformed into a vivid crimson.
Rumble…
The thunderclap signaled the technique's completion. Sasuke clenched the sphere of lightning in his hand, as if gripping the weight of every moment since he was seven years old. He stared down at the man below and pressed his hand forward without hesitation.
His mind flashed through the scenes of his clan's massacre… what he had witnessed with his own eyes, the hellish visions within Tsukuyomi, the nightmares that had jolted him awake countless nights. To kill Itachi, he had endured every pain, embraced every darkness, all for the sake of power.
He longed for an end. Let it all end here… Let every ghost and demon vanish along with this lightning.
As for Itachi, he gazed calmly at the turbulent sky, also yearning for an end, to close the book on this life. He had waited so long to say those words, the words he had desperately wanted to speak.
Amid the roaring thunder, Itachi's eyes reflected the darkened heavens as he murmured:
"Forgive me, Sasuke. This is the last time…"
"Forgive you my ass!"
A furious roar shattered the introspective moment between the two brothers. It was a voice that shouldn't have been there.
Both Itachi and Sasuke instinctively turned toward the sound, but at that very moment, the storm erupted.
Boom!
A bolt of lightning, vast and majestic, split the sky with a deafening roar, crashing down toward Itachi's position.
How fast is light?
A lightning strike descends in a thousandth of a second. No one, no technique, could evade it. That was why this move was called an absolute hit.
But Logan disagreed.
To catch up to light, one only needed to become light itself.
In the reflection of Itachi's eyes, the blue-white flash of Kirin streaked down… unstoppable, inevitable.
Yet at the same time, another light tore through the heavens.
Out of reflex, Itachi activated his Susanoo.
But the lightning never reached him.
The two beams of light collided midair, triggering an explosion that swept across the battlefield. Azure and crimson clashed, an unsettling dissonance resonating in the mind.
Through the Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi saw it… the image reflected in his pupils.
At the point where the two lights met, a kunai engraved with a sealing formula spun wildly before dissolving into nothingness under the might of Kirin.
Logan had teleported in front of Itachi using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Cloaked in golden flames, his Railgun shattered into countless particles of light. He had transformed into the Perfect Sage Mode that Akiyama had once mentioned.
Boom!
He took Kirin head-on in Itachi's stead.
The shockwave was no less devastating than a massive explosion. Rain and wind lashed against the ruins, the sky clearing momentarily from the sheer force.
Itachi stared at Logan in disbelief. He couldn't comprehend how his former senior had mustered such power to appear before him at this moment.
"Hattori… senpai…"
The overwhelming aura radiating from Logan left Itachi speechless. This resembled his Sage Mode, yet it was different… far stronger.
The golden flames flickered relentlessly, unharmed by the lightning.
'Had he really blocked the lightning with nothing but a Chakra-infused flame cloak?'
The rain resumed, falling heavily over the collapsed structures. Sasuke and Itachi stood on separate platforms, while Logan hovered midair, his position unstable.
But just as gravity threatened to pull him down, a brilliant crimson light flashed.
Countless embers scattered like stars.
A pair of wings, woven entirely from flames, unfurled from Logan's back.
Itachi was stunned. The wings stretched gracefully, spanning nearly eight meters, their glow illuminating the battlefield with an otherworldly beauty.
"…"
'Senpai… had he been hiding this kind of strength all along?' Itachi's lips parted, but no words came out.