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The world fractured like a broken TV screen, colors flickering and scattering into chaotic patterns. Everything shifted in an instant.
Sasuko clutched her left eye, sweat dripping down her forehead, her back slick with it as well. Her legs faltered, and she lowered her hand. Her Sharingan is still perfectly intact.
It had all been an illusion, but the phantom pain and lingering dread carved themselves deep into her memory.
Breathing heavily, Sasuko's knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor, trembling. She remembered the searing pain of when Neji had branded her with the [Evil Sealing Method].
Forcing herself upright, she tried again and again to stand, but her body refused to obey, convulsing with every attempt.
Across from her, Itachi, who had worn a calm mask until now, finally showed cracks of strain. His left eye was covered by his hand, his face tight with pain.
It was almost poetic—cause and effect reversed. Just as Sasuko had been brought to her knees, now Itachi staggered, half-kneeling on the ground, looking back at her with faint surprise.
"You… broke through my [Tsukuyomi]…"
Sasuko's lips curled upward despite the sweat still running down her face.
She braced herself against her knee, pushed through the trembling in her limbs, and rose unsteadily to her feet.
Looking down on her brother, satisfaction welled within her chest. For the first time, she had forced Itachi to look up at her strength.
To a shinobi, the Sharingan was as much a weapon as any blade. A kunai in an expert's hand could be deadlier than a sword in a novice's grip. What mattered was the skill gap—and now Sasuko's speed and power were enough to close it.
"I told you before," she declared, voice sharp, "no matter how many times you rely on those eyes, my hatred will turn illusion into reality!"
Itachi chuckled darkly, swaying but forcing himself to stand.
"Turning illusion into reality, is it?"
Though surprised that Sasuko had shattered his [Tsukuyomi], he dismissed her growth. It wasn't enough. Not yet. Without the Mangekyō Sharingan, she couldn't possibly grasp the true difference between them.
Meeting her gaze, Itachi's voice hardened.
"Then let me return those words to you."
"The vision you saw, your eyes being torn from their sockets, that was only the beginning. Now…" His Mangekyō spun, and blood welled from the corner of his eye. "…I'll make it reality."
His hands flashed through seals.
Sasuko's own eyes widened, her fingers brushing against the seal on her wrist. A giant Fūma Shuriken appeared in her grip.
Not giving him time to finish his jutsu, she hurled it with all her strength.
Itachi ducked low, body tilting in a runner's crouch, slipping beneath it.
But halfway through its flight, the massive shuriken split into two.
Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Startled, Itachi twisted his body, threading the gap between the spinning blades by inches.
Sasuko smirked. Her fingers tugged invisible threads tied to the shuriken. With a sharp pull, one blade curved back, striking true.
Steel sliced into Itachi's thigh, sending him crashing down among scattered kunai. Blood dripped onto the ground as he ripped the weapon free, his breathing ragged. His vision blurred; Sasuko's image doubled and swayed before him.
The strain of overusing his eyes and the backlash of Tsukuyomi being broken tore at him. The searing pain behind his eyelids was far worse than the wound in his leg.
But Sasuko was relentless. Her hands flew through seals, chest swelling with air.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A roaring sphere of flame surged toward him.
Itachi tried to dodge, but his injured leg betrayed him. He leapt too late.
A thunderous cry pierced the air the shrill song of lightning.
Sasuko was already there, Chidori blazing in her hand, predicting his movements and cutting him off.
Itachi countered with his own seals, expelling a torrent of flame that engulfed her in a rolling inferno.
The battle devolved into a storm of fire and lightning, attack and defense clashing in rapid succession.
When the flames finally parted, Sasuko stumbled out, skin scorched, body trembling but still standing.
Both siblings raised their hands, forming identical seals.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Twin torrents of fire collided mid-air, a blazing tug-of-war. Sasuko's flames surged ahead, stronger, hotter. Her natural talent shone through.
But then, Itachi's right eye snapped shut, blood trickling down his cheek. When it opened again, black flames erupted.
"[Amaterasu]!"
The inextinguishable fire devoured everything Sasuko's flames vanished as the black inferno swallowed them whole.
The more chakra she poured into her fire, the more it was consumed and absorbed.
The world turned black with searing death.
And then it ended.
Itachi's body shuddered, his bloodshot eye snapping shut. The black flames dispersed, leaving only smoldering remnants.
Whether it was his body giving out, or his choice to relent, Sasuko couldn't tell.
But none of that mattered.
Her steps echoed in the silence, her killing intent sharp as a blade. The reason behind his crimes no longer mattered.
There was only one goal left.
Revenge.
Sasuko sprinted, circling her brother, closing in from all sides.
Itachi's blood-streaked eye followed, summoning more black fire with every glance. A trail of [Amaterasu] flames pursued her path, searing the earth behind her.
Finally, one black flame caught hold of her flesh, but of the monstrous hand sprouting from her back.
Agony ripped through her. Sasuko collapsed, rolling across the ground as the cursed flames seared her.
The battle was far from over.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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