"You were crippled in the last war," Sasuke said calmly. "Kicked down and driven off like a stray dog."
His voice never rose, but each word landed clean.
"You lost your blade to someone younger than you. And even when she lay dying, you never dared challenge her again."
A faint curve touched his lips. Not a smile.
"So now you slaughter miners and civilians to pretend you're strong."
"Strong?""Do you really think you qualify?"
Raiga's face twisted.
Every sentence struck where he hid things from himself. Memories he buried clawed back into the light. His breath grew uneven, veins standing out along his arms as he gripped the Lightning Fang.
"How… how do you know that?" he snarled.
Sasuke met his gaze without blinking.
"Because in front of these eyes," he said softly, "you don't have anything left to hide."
Raiga stared into the scarlet tomoe, his thoughts scattering. Under that gaze, he felt stripped bare, as if every excuse and every lie had been peeled away.
"Raiga, move!" Ranmaru cried.
Too late.
Sasuke stepped forward. The water beneath his foot rippled outward as he vanished into motion.
Lightning sang.
The golden blade thrust toward Raiga's chest, dragging a wake of spray behind it.
Raiga reacted on instinct alone. He crossed his blades to block.
At the last moment, Sasuke released the sword.
The Lightning Fang collided with it in a shriek of metal and thunder.
Then the wind hit.
Sasuke was already there.
A single, clean kick smashed into Raiga's side.
"Leaf Hurricane."
Raiga flew.
He twisted midair just enough to shield Ranmaru with his body before slamming down onto the water. The impact rattled his skull, sound draining into a dull ringing.
"Raiga, he's coming again!" Ranmaru shouted.
Raiga barely registered the warning before a shadow dropped from above.
A simple downward cut.
In desperation, Raiga poured chakra into his blades and fired it outward.
"Lightning Release: Thunder Sphere!"
The crackling orb met Sasuke's blade head-on.
It shattered.
Red heat flared along the sword as it descended, pressure crashing down like a falling cliff.
Raiga blocked again.
This time, his legs buckled.
The force drove him down, water exploding outward as one knee struck the surface.
He knelt.
Sasuke stood above him, blade resting against crossed swords.
"A strong one?" he asked evenly."A strong one who kneels?"
Raiga's face burned with fury and humiliation. Rage drowned out reason.
He forced himself upright with a roar, muscles screaming. Sasuke stepped back, letting the pressure go.
They separated.
Raiga glared, breathing hard. "I'll kill you."
But he didn't rush.
Instead, he asked, voice tight, "Ranmaru. Was that genjutsu?"
"No," Ranmaru answered after a pause. "I didn't sense any."
Raiga's eyes flicked, avoiding Sasuke's gaze.
Then how does he know…?
He formed seals.
"Hidden Mist Technique."
Fog surged across the sea, swallowing everything. Vision vanished, sound dulled, the world reduced to breath and movement.
Sasuke didn't react outwardly. Thin threads tightened around his fingers as the lightning blade slid back into his grasp.
Raiga's voice drifted through the mist, cold and deliberate.
"Throat. Spine. Eight vital points."
A pause.
"Which one do you want me to start with?"
He would not look at those eyes again.
The eyes that had already seen through him.