Sasuke accepted the praise without hesitation.
But he had to face another problem: with his current strength, he still couldn't break through Susanoo. The only consolation was that the Susanoo Itachi was using in this cramped space was merely a basic skeletal frame.
This first-stage Susanoo wasn't particularly strong.
Sasuke quickly formed a hand seal, lightning crackling along his blade as he leaped forward to stab at Itachi's Susanoo.
"That's not enough..."
Itachi commanded Susanoo to grab at Sasuke. The giant, bony hand carved a deep gouge into the cave floor, narrowly missing as Sasuke leaped away.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Itachi's fingers moved swiftly through the seals. From within Susanoo, he spat out a massive fireball that instantly lit up the dark cave.
"This guy...!"
Sasuke stabbed his sword into the cave's ceiling and hung there upside down, his hands flying through seals at lightning speed.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Itachi's eyes widened at the sight. A storm of soaring flames completely swallowed his fireball, and the searing heat nearly caused Susanoo's skeletal frame to buckle.
His little brother's Fire Style was truly exceptional. Itachi had always been a natural prodigy with the technique, but he now realized Sasuke had surpassed him.
The power of the Great Fire Annihilation was so overwhelming that it forced Itachi out of the Akatsuki cave. The blazing flames chased after him, licking at the stone as they erupted outside, leaving deep cracks etched into the hard rock.
"Amaterasu..."
Itachi had no time to continue evolving Susanoo. As blood streamed from his eyes, jet-black Amaterasu flames instantly devoured the fire, blocking the cave entrance.
But inside the cave, Sasuke just smirked. He pressed his palm to the wall, and a pitch-black sealing barrier appeared.
"Fire Sealing Technique!"
The Amaterasu was sealed away, vanishing as if swept up by a wave.
"Chidori!"
With the flames suppressed, Sasuke tossed his sword aside and dashed forward, lightning crackling dangerously in his hand. He understood his disadvantage.
Thanks to the intelligence provided by "Uchiha Madara," he knew how to counter Itachi's Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu. However, the third Mangekyo ability, Susanoo, was still an unbreakable defense.
His chance was now.
He needed to pierce Susanoo while it was still in its vulnerable first stage and drive his Chidori straight into his brother's heart.
The Chidori shrieked. Its lightning-fueled speed propelled Sasuke forward, and the razor-sharp attack broke through Susanoo's bones. He even managed to cut a wound across Itachi's chest, but that was as far as he could go.
Susanoo began to evolve again.
The second stage gained flesh and muscle. The third stage took the form of a giant warrior. Then came the fourth stage, where tough armor plates formed a protective shell. The gourd containing the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror were now held firmly in the grip of the red Susanoo.
At this moment, Itachi was truly invincible.
Sasuke could only leap away, but he felt no despair. He was ready to switch tactics.
"Without an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, Susanoo can't be maintained forever," Madara's advice rang in his ears. "Based on what I learned, his chakra won't be enough to keep up the fourth-stage Susanoo. That will be your chance to win."
"And you don't need to worry too much," the voice echoed in his memory. "Unless he senses you're a huge threat and is forced to abandon the goal of an Eternal Mangekyo, he won't kill you before you awaken your own Mangekyo. So for now, just keep attacking Susanoo. Even if you can't break its defense, he'll keep burning through his chakra and straining his eyes to maintain it..."
...
Sasuke began to step back.
...
Itachi clutched his mouth as blood gushed out, another symptom of his worsening illness.
His recent duel against Madara's Susanoo had left his condition much worse. And now, after using Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu, he had been forced to use the fourth stage of Susanoo. No matter how hard he trained, it wasn't enough to offset the heavy toll on his sick body and fading eyesight.
Truthfully, his body couldn't hold on much longer. The end of this fight might be his last moment.
Death… wasn't such a bad thing. Especially dying by his brother's hand. This was the ending he had planned for himself on the night he destroyed their clan, and it was the fate he had set for Sasuke.
He just wished Sasuke would accept his death and never suspect the deeper secrets behind the massacre.
The red Susanoo advanced under Itachi's control, the Yata Mirror held tight in defense as he stepped toward Sasuke.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
Sasuke spat out four dragon-headed fireballs. One was blocked by the Yata Mirror, while the other three scattered harmlessly against Susanoo's armor.
But Sasuke didn't look desperate. At sixteen, he fought with a careful rhythm. His Sharingan remained fixed on the gourd in Susanoo's hand as he backed away carefully, alert for the possibility of the Totsuka Blade striking out.
He also noticed Itachi spitting blood and the flicker in his gaze. Victory was near.
His brother's body couldn't withstand Susanoo much longer. From Madara's reports, Itachi's eyesight should be failing badly by now, making it hard for him to keep up with Sasuke's movements.
If only he could...
BOOM!
Just as Sasuke was waiting for his chance, the Akatsuki base behind them collapsed. Tailed beasts roared as they burst out into the open.
"That idiot Kakashi!"
Sasuke's expression soured. He had planned to settle things with Itachi and then go after his former teacher, but Kakashi had just freed all the Jinchuriki and tailed beasts the Akatsuki had captured. Chaos erupted.
Even worse, two of those beasts really hated him. In fact, all of them probably hated him for being a member of Akatsuki. Tailed beasts weren't mindless animals.
Sasuke could sense the imminent danger. Chakra was building up at high speed behind him.
He had captured the Two-Tails before, he knew when a tailed beast was forming a Tailed Beast Bomb. Not even he could withstand that attack.
"Die, you Akatsuki brat!"
A black-purple Tailed Beast Bomb raced toward Sasuke. In that moment, there was no way anyone could save him.
And it wasn't just one—several of the tailed beasts had started charging up their own attacks, wanting revenge for their capture.
"Wait—!"
Kakashi didn't have time to stop them. He hadn't expected the released beasts to go wild so quickly.
"It's too late..." Gaara, the now-freed One-Tail Jinchuriki, watched with regret.
He knew Sasuke was his friend Naruto's old teammate. Even though Akatsuki had captured him, Gaara felt no real hatred toward Sasuke. But he couldn't save him now, nor could he talk the other tailed beasts out of their rage.
But... one person could reach him in time.
In the next moment, a streak of vivid red appeared around Sasuke. The red Susanoo manifested, brandishing the Yata Mirror to shield him.
Itachi had pulled Sasuke into Susanoo's protection. There was no armor between them now. If Sasuke wanted to kill him, it would only take a single attack.
But Itachi didn't seem to care that he might die at any moment. His determination was clear in the serious look in his eyes as he embraced his brother within Susanoo.
Multiple Tailed Beast Bombs smashed against the Yata Mirror. Even with the so-called absolute defense of the sacred artifact, the shockwaves of the explosions left the red Susanoo shaky.
And its user... couldn't hold on anymore.
The fourth-stage armor faded away. In an instant, Susanoo was reduced to a skeletal frame.
Itachi collapsed to one knee, vomiting blood, but he still controlled Susanoo to shield them from the beasts' attacks.
But it was clear to everyone that this man's life was almost over. No one could have guessed he would use the last of his strength to protect his brother. Even Sasuke couldn't comprehend it.
"Why..." Sasuke asked hoarsely, the Chidori still crackling in his hand.
At this distance, he could stab his brother's heart at any moment.
His brother… wasn't he afraid of being killed?
He had slaughtered their parents, killed their clan, and tried to take Sasuke's eyes—and now, he was risking his life to protect him.
"Cough, cough..." Itachi just spat up more blood.
...
Kakashi watched with a complicated expression. Seeing Itachi shield Sasuke from the Tailed Beast Bombs confirmed everything he had suspected for years. The Uchiha clan massacre definitely had hidden truths.
"Is this all I can do?" Itachi laughed weakly.
His smile was heartbreakingly bitter. He turned to look at Sasuke, ignoring the glare of the Chidori, and slowly reached out with two bleeding fingers, trying to tap his brother on the forehead.
"Forgive me, Sasuke..."
...
Sasuke stared at the bloody fingers just inches away, the Chidori screaming in his hand. But his hesitation kept his hand motionless.
In that moment, the young man who had wanted to kill his brother since he was eight years old limply let those fingers touch his forehead, just like when they were kids. But now, the gesture seemed hauntingly strange.
Itachi collapsed into his brother's arms, his head resting on Sasuke's shoulder as he whispered his final words.
"You should find your own life, Sasuke..."
Thud.
Itachi's body slumped to the ground. The red Susanoo vanished in an instant.
Several tailed beasts lunged at Sasuke the moment Susanoo disappeared, the giants pouncing like wolves. But their target just stood rigid, not moving. Even as his own life was about to end, he didn't try to escape.
He didn't run at all.
It was as if he was quietly waiting for death.
But... it never came.
A wall of black flame rose to block the beasts. In his final moment, Itachi had used Amaterasu to build a curved wall of defense for his brother, stopping the beasts and giving Sasuke a path to escape.
"Hmph..."
A cold voice echoed through the air. Uchiha Obito emerged from the ruins of the Akatsuki base, his gaze fixed contemptuously on Sasuke, who stood amid the black flames.
"Not surprising at all. I knew when Itachi joined me that he was hiding something. What an earthshaking show of 'brotherly love'..."
"Obito!" Kakashi's expression changed.
"Time to go!" Gaara's face flashed with unease as he quickly summoned a wave of sand to rise beneath his feet, preparing to fly away.
"Don't think you'll escape..." Obito's fingers flashed through a seal.
The massive Demonic Statue of the Outer Path appeared from beneath his feet. Its jaws shot out a chain that stabbed straight into Gaara, ripping the One-Tail, Shukaku, from his body.
Obito's voice was chilling as he turned to glare at Kakashi, his expression full of anger that his plans had been ruined.
"Kakashi... do you really think you're the savior?"