Chapter XL: Sasuke vs Itachi

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Sasuke arrived at the Uchiha Hideout, and confronted Itachi. The battle began with both of them seemingly using taijutsu, soon ending with Sasuke cornering Itachi and deciding to ask him one last question before killing him off. Sasuke asked, "Who is he?" Sasuke recalled when Itachi had said that three of the Uchiha clan would have the ability to use the Mangekyō Sharingan, including himself, if Sasuke would be able to awaken his. Itachi explained that the person who had assisted him when he murdered the entire clan was none other than Madara Uchiha, one of the founders of Konoha, and revealed that one of the purposes of the Mangekyō Sharingan was to control the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox which he had done 16 years ago when it attacked Konoha. He also revealed that, once the Mangekyō Sharingan was activated, it would progressively lead to blindness. Itachi referred to Madara is the founder of Akatsuki and his mentor. It then turned out that Sasuke and Itachi's battle so far had been pure genjutsu. Itachi then finally activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, and revealed that the only way to stop the blindness was to take the eyes of another Sharingan user; he stated that this was the reason he had left Sasuke alive, and why he had pushed him to become stronger. After a flashback of his childhood, Sasuke stated, "Finally... it all ends here." During their talk, Zetsu watched hidden from the ceiling, and his halves began to comment on the battle.

After securing him in place with a shadow clone, Itachi then proceeded to rip out Sasuke's eyes. It was revealed that the whole fight so far had been a genjutsu, namely Itachi's Tsukuyomi, which Sasuke had overcome.


Sasuke shortly lectured Itachi about the tools of the ninja, and how a tool was only as powerful as the ninja who used it. Itachi told Sasuke that he would make his dream, of ripping out his eyes, a reality, and readied the Amaterasu. Itachi and Sasuke both used the Great Fireball Technique, and Sasuke held a slight advantage until Itachi used Amaterasu, which burnt out Sasuke's fireball immediately, and melted through his remaining cursed seal level 2 wing, as well as scorching his body. Itachi prepared to rip the eyes out of the half-burned Sasuke, but the corpse was shown to be an empty shell left behind, and the real Sasuke had dropped into the floor below. He used a new ninjutsu, named Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique, from down below. Itachi dodged, but it still burnt his arm. Soon it began to rain, and Sasuke said that this new technique was unavoidable. Zetsu continued watching the fight, narrating their movements and adding background to mysterious moves.


Sasuke charged his final technique, Kirin. A huge creature made of lightning appeared, fuelled by the Great Dragon Fire Technique which had dumped a huge amount of residual heat into the upper atmosphere, and Sasuke's chakra remained suspended in a usable form, changing with the atmosphere from simply fire chakra into a bolt of lightning characterised in the same form as the earlier Great Dragon Fire Technique, but cast instead from lightning. Sasuke hit Itachi, who appeared to be dead.


Itachi was then shown to be alive somehow, and revealed a third Mangekyō technique: Susanoo, which pulled out the legendary Sword of Totsuka. Giant snakes suddenly appeared out of Sasuke. One of them revealed Orochimaru inside its mouth. Sasuke, having used up nearly all of his chakra fighting Itachi, could no longer suppress Orochimaru, who had been inside of Sasuke since his failed attempt at taking over his body. The snakes were all killed, and Orochimaru was stabbed by the Sword of Totsuka, sealing him in an eternal dream state, and the remains were subsequently sucked into the Sake jar that the Sword of Totsuka was sheathed in.


Itachi then asked Sasuke if that was all he had. Sasuke then proceeded to attack Itachi, again ending in a futile attempt as all his attacks were reflected by another effect of Susanoo, the Yata Mirror, which reflected all attacks directed at Itachi. Sasuke was knocked back by his own attacks, and laid on the ground. Itachi seemed to be invincible, when Susanoo began to fade. Itachi walked towards his brother, seeking his eyes. When Itachi reached Sasuke, he poked Sasuke's forehead, saying, "I'm sorry, Sasuke. There won't be a next time", a reference to his constant unfulfilled promises to train with Sasuke in their youth. Itachi then died of exhaustion. Zetsu figured that Itachi must have been injured before the battle started, also noting that Itachi was unable to dodge attacks he would normally be able to. Sasuke then smiled and closed his eyes before collapsing himself, as Itachi's Amaterasu continued to burn around them.

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