◉◉◉◉◉
Sasuko stared, stunned, as Itachi's form grew inside the towering, skeletal avatar. Before she could move, a voice curled up from deep within her mind.
I'll… I'll lend you my power.
You need me, Sasuko.
Didn't you swear revenge on Itachi?
Release me… and you'll get what you want.
The curse mark at the nape of her neck burned hot, old pain surging back like a fever. She clutched at it, nails digging into skin as something inside her writhed to break free. Her fingertips scraped the ground, leaving harsh grooves in the stone.
It's coming out…
It's forcing its way out!
With a wet rip, a pale serpentine mass burst from her body an avalanche of white snakes flooding the battlefield. Their collective hiss shook the air.
Itachi's fading vision flickered. Even nearly blind, he could feel the chakra boiling out of Sasuko.
"This presence… [Yamata no Orochi]. Orochimaru."
High above, Neji narrowed his eyes. "So you couldn't help yourself, could you? Step out and Itachi's goal is sealed."
Far away on the secondary front, Kisame stood entombed in a tower of ice, his earlier bravado reduced to fogging breath behind frost. Kimimaro's [Shikotsumyaku] made closing distance suicidal, Haku's [Ice Release] froze every water source Kisame tried to shape, and the white-haired kid from the Hōzuki clan glided through water like it was air.
Add a sensory-type from the Uzumaki line, seals ready in hand, and even a former Mist Seven Swordsman had nowhere to run.
Back at the main field, the massive eight-headed serpent lunged for Itachi's completed [Susanoo]. The giant drew a gourd-shaped vessel from nowhere, chakra condensed into the shape of a flask, and from it manifested a blade.
One sweeping arc.
Serpentine heads fell like stalks of wheat, severed cleanly, thudding into the rubble. Another strike, another head. Only a final, towering skull remained. Its jaws yawned wide and Orochimaru, slick with pale mucus, stepped out laughing.
Itachi's voice was flat. "There you are at last."
The serpent vomited Orochimaru free; Orochimaru, in turn, spat out a sword into his palm the Kusanagi. Neji grimaced at the sight.
"Of course you'd spit it out. Figures."
Orochimaru leveled the blade toward the armored giant and sneered.
"Exactly as I planned. Sasuko's chakra that kept me suppressed is gone. I'll take her body now and—"
A colossal chakra blade punched straight through him.
Inside [Susanoo], Itachi barely looked. The intruder threatening his sister was removed with a single, inevitable motion.
Orochimaru's pupils shrank. He stared down at the luminous weapon pinning him, terror dawning.
"Th-that sword… the Totsuka Blade?"
From a distance, Neji exhaled.
"Bingo."
Orochimaru reached for words and found only silence. The ethereal blade drank him in, body and soul, drawing him toward a drunken dreamscape from which there was no return. The legendary sealing sword myth, given form, did the rest.
A last white snake wriggled free of Sasuko and slithered off, the final thread of Orochimaru's will snapping as the seal completed.
Itachi's eyes were lifeless pools, his expression unreadable. The strike had been an afterthought.
"This ends now, Sasuko."
He doubled over, coughing hard enough to splatter blood. Across from him, Sasuko pushed herself up on shaking arms. Her eyes were dull and black she didn't even have the strength to keep her Sharingan active.
Itachi saw the conclusion written there and set his mouth in a thin line.
"In that case… your eyes are mine. I'll take them slowly."
He took one step and faltered, clutching his chest as a violent spasm tore through him. Blood spilled from his lips. Even the chakra shell of [Susanoo] shuddered, then began to fade.
Sasuko reacted on instinct. A kunai flew, paper tags fluttering.
Boom.
Smoke billowed, rock rained down. When the air cleared, Itachi still walked forward, swaying, the remnants of [Susanoo] warding away every blast.
He kept coming.
Sasuko bit down, refusing to fold. She unrolled a sealing scroll, snapping more kunai into her hands, stringing them with explosive tags and hurling them in volleys. The battlefield thundered; Itachi never stopped.
A shard of memory Tsukuyomi, the vision of her eyes being taken stabbed through her mind. She tore the Kusanagi from its sheath and charged.
Clang.
The recoil ripped the sword from her numbed fingers. It skittered across stone. The shockwave knocked her back to the ground.
She crawled, retreating on scraped palms, until her spine hit a jagged boulder debris blasted up by [Kirin]. Trapped.
When she looked up, Itachi was already there. Blood-slick fingers lifted toward her forehead the same gentle, maddening gesture from their childhood.
Her pupils shrank to pinpoints as the hand drew closer. The distance vanished.
His fingers touched down—
—and then his body gave out.
Thud.
Itachi collapsed against the stone behind her, his hand sliding from Sasuko's brow and leaving only a thin streak of red.
Sasuko didn't move. Eyes wide, breath caught in her throat, she stared frozen between terror, disbelief, and something she could not yet name.
◉◉◉◉◉
~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
◉◉◉◉◉
For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access Patreon normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!