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Chapter 26 - Chapter 26: The Future and the Eternal Mangekyo

Boom!

A blinding bolt of lightning tore across the sky, and cold rain fell in a steady drizzle, dampening Sakura's hair.

In front of her, a massive red sword blocked Captain Roger's beloved blade, absorbing her attack into the gourd at its hilt.

Meanwhile, Fugaku Uchiha stood behind a giant shield wreathed in red flame-like chakra, nullifying the strike from his Susanoo blade.

"Cough… cough!"

Fugaku spat out a mouthful of blood, his face pale as he dispersed his chakra. He staggered, about to collapse.

"Father!"

Itachi rushed forward, catching Fugaku and gently lowering him to the ground.

'Hold up, what?!'

Sakura panted heavily, utterly confused.

Just moments ago, Fugaku was fighting her with everything he had. Now, suddenly, he was acting frail as hell?

Oh, come on!

When he was battling her, he threw on his Susanoo and unleashed both his Mangekyo Sharingan techniques like nobody's business. But now that his son showed up, he's playing the helpless old man?

Fugaku Uchiha, you're a complete stranger to me now!

Rolling her eyes, Sakura tucked her supreme-grade sword into her ninja scroll.

[Notification: Achievement Unlocked — Uchiha Overthrower. Reward: 80 Achievement Points]

'Nice! All that grueling fighting wasn't for nothing!'

Her achievement points, previously drained from mastering the Shadow Clone Technique, were back up to 80. After the intense battles, this lifted Sakura's spirits considerably.

She walked over to the Uchiha father and son.

"Cough… Itachi, my ocular powers are almost gone. Take my eyes," Fugaku rasped, blood trickling from his mouth.

"No, Father, I—"

Before Itachi could finish, a swirling vortex appeared in the air nearby.

From its center emerged a figure in an orange mask, his hand lunging straight for Fugaku's eyes.

"The Uchiha clan leader's Mangekyo? Mine!"

The black-robed figure's fingers were inches from Fugaku's face. One more moment, and those eyes would be gone for good.

But then…

"Tensu Tsuchio!"

Despite his weakened state in Itachi's arms, Fugaku forced his eyes open. The intricate pattern of three interlocking yin-yang fish reappeared in his gaze.

In an instant, a massive surge of yin chakra rippled through the strings of fate, resonating like a thunderous collapse.

The world itself seemed to shift under the faint glow of Fugaku's crimson eyes.

The future was rewritten.

"Sakura, Itachi, now!"

At Fugaku's shout, the two acted on instinct, their blades flashing.

Sakura's fiery sword strike roared, while Itachi's Ten Fists Sword thrust forward with deadly precision.

The combined force of their domineering aura and surging chakra overwhelmed the masked man, tearing him apart into a mess of flesh and blood.

But in the next moment, the masked man, reduced to dust and fragments, suddenly reappeared dozens of meters away.

"Izanagi, huh?" Itachi muttered, positioning his blade protectively in front of his father, his Sharingan locked onto the masked figure.

"Hey, Uncle Fugaku, can you hit him with another—" Sakura started, but her Observation Haki picked up a rapidly fading presence. She swallowed her words.

Gripping her supreme-grade sword, Ace, Sakura charged forward, her exhausted body pushing through.

Mechanism monster, huh? Taste the power of a pirate's stats!

Itachi moved to join her, but Fugaku grabbed his hand.

"Father?" Itachi looked down, his eyes trembling.

The man who was always stoic and unyielding now looked so old, so fragile.

"How did you end up like this? The fight with Sakura shouldn't have—"

Fugaku coughed, blood speckling his clothes. "Before she arrived, I used Amaterasu's Fate… many times."

"I searched every possible future to find a way to avoid bloodshed."

"But I failed."

Fugaku gripped Itachi's shoulders tightly, his bloodshot eyes staring blankly at the sky.

Using his Mangekyo repeatedly had pushed him to the brink of blindness. He could barely make out his son's face anymore.

"I thought these eyes could secure a future for the Uchiha, but you've seen the result."

"But fighting that girl made one thing clear."

Fugaku raised a trembling hand, touching Itachi's eye.

The last flicker of his ocular power, like a dying flame, poured into Itachi's pupils.

"It's not eyes or techniques that create the future—it's people. Especially you young ones."

"So, Itachi, my proud son… go forge that future!"

His ocular power faded, his yin chakra burned out.

Fugaku's hand fell to the ground, his body growing cold in the rain.

"Father…"

Tears spilled from Itachi's eyes, mixing with the rain.

As the downpour intensified, a new Mangekyo pattern—three yin-yang fish interwoven with a shuriken—ignited in his eyes.

Fused with the power of both father and son, Itachi's Sharingan evolved into something greater.

The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan!

A legendary power, recorded on the Uchiha's ancestral stone tablet, free from the risk of blindness.

Immense strength surged through Itachi's body, but the pain in his heart was beyond repair.

"Sakura, move!"

A furious roar erupted behind her.

Sakura swung her blade with force, pushing the masked man into his intangible state, then used Moon Step to leap into the air.

As the masked man re-materialized, his single eye met Itachi's rage-filled gaze.

"Tsukuyomi!"

The illusion activated. Blood-red clouds and darkness swirled, trapping the masked man in a unique genjutsu space, bound to a cross.

"Such a shame. So you're done working with me?" the masked man said casually, as if unconcerned. "Giving up on the path to world peace?"

"Peace? What kind of peace can't even protect family?!" Itachi snarled, drawing his blade and plunging it into the masked man's body.

"Argh!"

Blood poured from the wound as the masked man cried out in pain.

"Space, time, matter—it's all under my control here," Itachi said coldly.

"For the next 72 hours, I'll keep stabbing you."

"Feel the pain. Survive it, then we'll talk about your so-called 'peace'!"

Countless copies of Itachi appeared in the genjutsu space, each driving their blades into the masked man, tearing him apart.

"71 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds to go!"

His voice, like a chilling wind, declared the masked man's fate.

In the real world, a mere instant passed. The masked man convulsed and collapsed to the ground.

"Damn it… I'm at my limit," he muttered.

Having burned through a three-tomoe Sharingan and endured three days of torment in Tsukuyomi, the masked man was done. He glared at Sakura and Itachi before a spiraling vortex reappeared, sucking him away.

The surrounding Uchiha hawk faction ninja began to regain consciousness, slowly closing in.

"Looks like the fight's not over!" Sakura grinned wildly, her trembling hand tightening around her sword's hilt despite her exhaustion.

"No need, Sakura. You've done enough for us. Leave the rest to me," Itachi said, placing a hand on her head and ruffling her hair.

Stepping past her, his Eternal Mangekyo swept over the crowd.

His chakra roared like thunder, and the divine shadow of his Susanoo dominated the scene.

"Listen up, all of you!"

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