"I told you," Sasuke said quietly, looking down at him, "everything about you is already laid bare before these eyes."
His voice held no heat.
"You're not strong. You're not even weak. You're just a coward who spent his life running."
He stepped closer, rain and mist sliding off his shoulders.
"Zabuza dared to assassinate a Mizukage and still dreamed of returning to Kirigakure as its leader. Kisame chose his own truth and turned the entire world into his enemy."Sasuke's gaze sharpened, merciless."And you?"
A faint curve touched his lips.
"You hid in backwater lands, crushing civilians who couldn't fight back, holding grotesque funerals just to remind yourself that you exist. That's the extent of your resolve."
Raiga's mouth opened, trembling, but Sasuke didn't wait to hear him speak.
The lightning blade slid free from Raiga's chest.
Blood poured out, dark and steaming against the sea. Raiga collapsed, his body slapping uselessly onto the water's surface.
In his fading vision, the boy's expression never changed. Sasuke didn't even spare him a glance.
Am I… just a coward?
Memories surged as consciousness slipped away.
The Third Great War.A burning red figure shattering him with taijutsu, leaving him broken and fleeing alone.A younger prodigy stripping him of the Lightning Fang, reducing him to a joke within his own village.
Darkness closed in.
Sasuke glanced once at the floating corpse, then turned his attention to the boy kneeling nearby.
Ranmaru stared blankly at Raiga's body, hands shaking, eyes empty.
Sasuke felt no pity. Age meant nothing. An enemy was an enemy. Ranmaru's red eyes had interfered again and again. If Sasuke had been weaker, he would already be dead.
Winter showed no mercy to those who stood against it.
"He's dead," Sasuke said calmly. "But not completely."
Ranmaru looked up, alarm flashing across his face.
"You can still save him. If you use your power."
Ranmaru froze.
"Why?" he demanded. "You killed him. Why would you want him back?"
Sasuke smiled faintly, teeth pale against the mist.
"You were going to do it anyway, weren't you?"His tone softened, almost gentle."So hurry. Don't keep me waiting."
Ranmaru shuddered.
"You're insane."
But his hands were already moving.
Raiga was everything to him. His power only worked on the freshly dead. Delay meant nothingness.
Red light shimmered in Ranmaru's eyes as he crawled forward and wrapped his arms around Raiga's body.
"Raiga… you're my whole world," he whispered."As long as you're here… I'm alive.""So please… live."
His voice faded.
Breath returned to Raiga's chest.
At the same time, Ranmaru collapsed, lifeless.
Sasuke watched without expression. A flicker of something passed through him, then vanished.
Raiga gasped and sat upright.
The first thing he saw was Ranmaru's still body.
"Ran…maru?"
He shook him, panic rising.
"Wake up. Don't joke like this."
There was no answer.
Raiga's head lifted slowly, eyes locking onto Sasuke. Killing intent poured out, thick and suffocating.
"What did you do to him?"
Sasuke shook his head.
"Nothing. He chose this."His gaze was almost amused."He gave up his life to bring you back. Even at the end, he was worried about one thing."
Raiga's breath hitched.
"That you'd be killed again."
Something inside Raiga shattered.
Lightning erupted. Chakra howled. The sea buckled beneath his feet as he launched forward, faster than sound, faster than thought.
Sasuke didn't retreat.
"Good," he said softly. "That's it."
The collision was catastrophic.
Thunder split the sky. A wall of water surged upward, crashing outward in a roaring ring.
Sasuke was hurled back, skidding across the surface. The lightning blade in his hand shattered into fragments.
He coughed, blood staining the water.
But he laughed.
Loudly.
"Yes," he shouted, eyes blazing scarlet. "That pain. That hatred."
"You want to kill me, don't you? You want to drag me into hell with you."
From the moment Raiga appeared, Sasuke had been pushing him, cutting him open piece by piece.
He wanted pressure.He wanted desperation.He wanted a blade forged at the edge of death.
Raiga, empty and enraged, was perfect.
"So tell me," Sasuke roared, chakra flaring as a new golden blade formed in his grip,"can you still dance?"
"Do you have anything stronger left?"
"Come," he said, smiling like a demon."Give me everything you have."