"Oh?"
Kurosuki Raiga looked Sasuke over, head tilting slightly. A crooked smile split his face.
"So you're the last Uchiha."
His lips twitched. "Interesting."
He lifted the Lightning Fang, electricity crawling along the blade. "Hand over the old man behind you. I'll let you live."
Raiga chuckled, voice rough. "It'd be a shame if the Uchiha vanished completely. The world would get dull."
Sasuke didn't answer.
A shadow clone formed beside him, seized Dazna, and moved away from the battlefield without hesitation.
Raiga blinked.
"Why?" he suddenly wailed, clutching his head as if struck by inspiration. "Why refuse my kindness?"
He covered his face, shoulders shaking. "How tragic. How pitiful. The last Uchiha, dying here today. Truly heartbreaking."
His sobbing cut off abruptly.
"Are you always like this," Sasuke said calmly, "or did someone kick your head in during the war?"
Raiga's eye twitched.
"So you know something," he muttered, baring his teeth. "Did anyone ever tell you that weaklings shouldn't talk back to the strong?"
His grin widened. "Still, as the final Uchiha, you deserve a proper funeral. I've always liked sending people off. Isn't that right, Ranmaru?"
"Yes," a child's voice answered softly from within Raiga's cloak. "Raiga's right."
Raiga's expression snapped into something feral.
"Die."
Lightning flared. Raiga lunged, body snapping forward like a drawn bowstring, the Lightning Fang screaming through the mist.
"What gave you the idea," Sasuke said evenly, "that I'm weak?"
Ranmaru's voice rang out, sharp with alarm. "Raiga, be careful. He's dangerous."
Too late.
Golden lightning erupted in Sasuke's hand. The black hilt bloomed into a blade of light, and he thrust forward without flourish.
Raiga tried to evade. He wasn't fast enough.
The blade tore through his thigh.
Blood sprayed, instantly scorched black by the lightning. Raiga howled and slashed wildly, forcing space between them as he retreated across the water.
Sasuke slipped aside, avoiding the counterstrike. His gaze didn't linger on Raiga's wound.
It fixed on the dark cloak behind him.
The strike should not have missed the vitals.
Something had interfered.
So that was it.
Sasuke's eyes shifted, the Sharingan spinning to life.
Raiga glanced down at his leg, then back. "Ranmaru. Why didn't you warn me sooner?"
"I'm sorry," the child replied. "His chakra was… quiet. I couldn't read it clearly."
Raiga frowned, then reached back and unzipped the cloak. A small face emerged, framed by deep crimson eyes that gleamed like polished glass.
"And now?" Raiga asked.
"Yes," Ranmaru said, staring at Sasuke. "I can see him."
"Good."
Raiga's grip tightened on the Lightning Fang. Confidence crept back into his posture.
"Uchiha," he said slowly, voice sinking into something dark and heavy. "That was an accident. Your end won't change. The strong kill the weak. That's how this world works."
Sasuke regarded him without expression.
"You think you're strong?"
Raiga laughed, licking his lips. "If I'm not, then who is?"
"Do you deserve that title?" Sasuke asked.
The question was quiet.
Raiga's laughter stopped.