Boom! Rumble!
A series of violent explosions and endless gales roared through the dense forest, punctuated by the meaty thud of fists colliding and the metallic clang of blades drawn from their sheaths.
"Who would've thought Uchiha Sasuke was this strong? No wonder he managed to take down Hidan. Human hatred is truly a remarkable thing. Tsk, tsk."
Hidden in the earth, White Zetsu watched the distant battle, half-buried and half-concealed, marveling at the spectacle.
"Too bad he's still too young. Even Kakuzu with only four hearts is beyond his capabilities right now. Reaching this point is already quite impressive, but the outcome remains inevitable: death."
White Zetsu spoke with feigned regret, but his tone lacked any genuine remorse.
Turning to Uchiha Obito, who was also watching the battlefield intently, he grinned and said, "Obito, are you going to intervene and save him later? I remember Uchiha Sasuke had some role in your plans, right?"
"Although we notified Uchiha Itachi earlier, judging by the current situation, Sasuke might not last until he arrives."
Uchiha Obito remained silent for a moment before saying indifferently, "He's just a pawn. His life or death makes no difference to my overall plan. If he dies here today, so be it. It's no great loss."
White Zetsu chuckled mischievously, teasing, "If Uchiha Sasuke dies here, that Itachi fellow will probably go berserk on Kakuzu, right? Heh, that would be interesting."
Uchiha Obito didn't reply, instead focusing his gaze back on the battlefield.
There, Kakuzu's main body, working in perfect coordination with his three masked monsters, moved through the air with bird-like agility, faster than the wind.
Simultaneously unleashing combined ninjutsu of Fire, Earth, Wind, and Lightning Attributes, he sent shockwaves reverberating through the surrounding air.
In an instant, the battlefield was filled with shattered rocks and flying debris, sparks and lightning crackling through the air!
Kakuzu's attacks sealed Sasuke's movements from all four directions, trapping him in a deadly cage.
Yet Sasuke's speed was equally astonishing, his movements ghostlike and fluid.
His Sharingan eyes darted left and right, scanning the battlefield as he shifted and spun like a dancer pirouetting on the tip of a blade.
Sasuke not only evaded Kakuzu's relentless frontal assaults but also narrowly avoided attacks from his blind spots, time and again.
Crack!
Once again, a masked monster crackling with blue lightning emerged from behind Sasuke, spewing a bolt of electricity that he deftly evaded.
"Are you a Sensor Ninja, brat?" Kakuzu asked, his brow furrowing slightly, his voice cold and ruthless.
This Uchiha brat was slightly stronger and faster than Kakashi had been.
Kakuzu could understand how Sasuke could evade his frontal attacks using the Sharingan's perceptive abilities, after all, Kakashi had managed the same with just one Sharingan.
However, that was only against direct attacks.
The Sharingan wasn't the Byakugan, lacking its 360-degree, omnidirectional vision. Under the Earth Grudge Fear's all-encompassing assault, Kakashi had quickly become overwhelmed.
Yet Uchiha Sasuke seemed to have eyes in the back of his head.
Every time Kakuzu struck from a blind spot, Sasuke anticipated the attack and dodged it with uncanny precision.
Once or twice could be chalked up to coincidence and experience, but for it to happen consistently made Kakuzu increasingly suspicious.
"Sure, whatever you say," Sasuke replied dismissively, dodging Kakuzu's attacks with practiced ease.
"Heh," Kakuzu chuckled, amused by Sasuke's flippant tone. "If your body still possesses the talent of a Sensor Ninja, that would be quite a pleasant surprise."
As he spoke, the Wind Attribute monster emerged behind him, opening its maw to unleash a barrage of compressed air bullets.
The projectiles shattered rows of trees with explosive bang-bang-bang sounds as they hurtled toward Sasuke, yet he evaded them all with practiced agility.
"Impressive."
Kakuzu abruptly ceased his assault, a flicker of satisfaction and longing flashing in his eyes as he regarded Sasuke.
"In all my decades of observing shinobi, I've never encountered anyone your age more exceptional in both taijutsu and ninjutsu."
'So, you Kakuzu would call me the strongest?' Sasuke mentally quipped, retreating swiftly while his right hand remained firmly gripped on the hilt of his Kagutsuchi blade.
Sasuke and Kakuzu finally clashed.
Although Kakuzu's strength had been diminished after Kakashi destroyed one of his hearts, leaving him in an incomplete state, the battle proved exceptionally challenging.
The three masked monsters coordinated seamlessly with Kakuzu's main body, and their ability to fly at low altitudes allowed them to frequently unleash combined ninjutsu utilizing two elemental attributes simultaneously.
This relentless assault kept Sasuke, still only wielding the three-tomoe Sharingan, pinned down in a purely defensive posture.
Sensing Uchiha Obito's arrival, Sasuke was determined not to reveal his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Of course, if the situation became dire, he wouldn't hesitate to use it to save his life first. Ideally, he wanted to force Kakuzu to retreat without exposing his Mangekyō, even if it meant failing to kill him.
Lost in thought, Sasuke casually glanced at the swirling clouds above, making a decision.
The chakra particles along the blade of Kagutsuchi began to spin even faster.
One strike!
If this strike couldn't defeat Kakuzu or force him to retreat, Sasuke would risk exposing his Mangekyō Sharingan and use his Chakra-infused wings to carry Kakashi away from the battlefield.
Just as Sasuke was formulating his plan, Kakuzu moved again, rapidly forming hand seals.
Simultaneously, the three masked monsters surged forward.
Earth Release: Earth Prison Dome!
With a thunderous rumble, the ground beneath Sasuke trembled violently, heaving like an earth dragon awakening.
Massive stone slabs erupted from the earth, forming a circular dome that threatened to trap Sasuke inside.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He braced his legs and leaped away at lightning speed.
Almost instantly, the three masked monsters unleashed their attacks: gales of wind, searing flames, and crackling lightning erupted, hurtling toward Sasuke's position.
Kakuzu sneered. "This time, there's nowhere to run."
"Run?"
Unexpectedly, despite the ferocious, coordinated assault, Sasuke showed no intention of evading the attacks.
The air around him shimmered, the light suddenly dimmed, and he drew his blade with overwhelming force!
The next moment!
Golden light blazed brilliantly, scarlet flames burned like the scorching sun!
A colossal blade of crimson fire erupted, slashing through the air like a white rainbow piercing the sun, cleaving toward the three masked monsters.
"Is that the technique he used to defeat Hidan?"
Kakuzu's eyes widened in shock.
Reacting instinctively, he ordered his three monster puppets to unleash their ninjutsu simultaneously, hoping to block Sasuke's attack, while his clones swiftly evaded the incoming strike.
A series of explosive clashes erupted as the monsters' ninjutsu briefly stalled the colossal blade of flame.
Yet the blade surged forward, engulfing and entwining the opposing forces, its crimson radiance and swirling winds piercing the heavens.
The blade detonated high in the sky, triggering a cataclysmic eruption. In an instant, the heavens churned with storm-like fury, the entire sky ablaze with a deep scarlet hue, transforming into a breathtaking spectacle of fire-colored clouds, resembling the fiery twilight of sunset.
"That technique is truly dangerous," White Zetsu observed from afar, his face twisted with surprise. He smacked his lips thoughtfully. "But what a pity... it seems he didn't execute it perfectly. Kakuzu managed to evade the full force of the attack."
White Zetsu glanced at Obito beside him. "That sword he's wielding... it's a divine weapon, isn't it? Does the Uchiha clan possess such a weapon?"
Obito pondered for a moment, then shook his head slightly. "I don't recall the Uchiha ever having a fire-attribute weapon like that."
Black Zetsu studied Sasuke's sword—a blade as black as obsidian, shimmering like dark crystalline glass.
After a moment's contemplation, he finally recognized its origin.
'These three surviving Uchiha... they truly are intriguing.'
'A bunch of interesting brats!' Black Zetsu sneered inwardly.
Just then, White Zetsu's boisterous voice piped up again:
"Uchiha Sasuke's Fire Release is really something, isn't it? And now he has a divine weapon too. If he keeps this up, he'll probably kill Itachi in a few years."
"You're oversimplifying things, White Zetsu," Obito said, his hands clasped behind his back, his tone utterly detached. "Perhaps Sasuke has already surpassed Itachi in standard ninjutsu mastery. But Itachi awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan at an even younger age."
"All standard ninjutsu, and even so-called divine weapons, pale in comparison to the supreme power of the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"That's true..." White Zetsu scratched his head, puzzled. "But didn't the Fourth Hokage almost kill you back then?"
Uchiha Obito: "..."
Meanwhile, Uchiha Itachi, having departed from Takigakure, raced toward the location at breakneck speed, leaving streaks of afterimages in the air.
'Is that Brother Shisui's Sword Leap Flame?'
As he hurtled forward, Itachi spotted the colossal blade of fire soaring into the sky, his expression turning surprised.
The so-called Shisui's Notes were actually left behind under the guise of Uchiha Shisui.
Judging by what he saw, Sasuke had indeed read the Will of Fire and mastered its techniques.
However, this Sword Leap Flame variation was almost unrecognizable, its power far exceeding the original technique. Only a faint resemblance hinted at its origins.
'Sasuke has already surpassed me in swordsmanship and Fire Release,' Itachi thought with a sense of quiet pride.
He too could perform Sword Leap Flame, but neither he nor the late Uchiha Shisui had ever achieved such devastating power with it.
After a moment of reflection, Itachi glanced at the sky again.
The fiery sunset had faded rapidly, transforming into a gloomy, hellish landscape.
Thick, pitch-black clouds swiftly coalesced and churned, with faint flashes of lightning flickering within.
Itachi's gaze sharpened, and he accelerated his pace.
Swish, swish, swish!
The three Earth Grudge clones returned to Kakuzu's side.
Kakuzu glanced at their scorched, tattered bodies and the severed black threads hanging from their limbs, letting out a sigh.
"Did you take down Hidan with that technique?"
As he spoke, Kakuzu's main body continuously emitted tendrils of dark chakra, connecting to the Earth Grudge and repairing its damaged form.
"But the power seems significantly weaker than before. Was it due to insufficient preparation or a lack of chakra?"
Sasuke glanced at Kakuzu but remained silent.
The Mahakala he was using now couldn't match the strength of the one he had unleashed after a prolonged sprint and single-minded accumulation of chakra.
Moreover, Sasuke's goal wasn't to defeat Kakuzu with Mahakala alone.
Under constant assault from all sides, he couldn't fully unleash the technique's true potential.
'Almost there!' Sasuke thought, his peripheral vision darting to the densely clouded sky.
"This ends here, Uchiha brat!" Kakuzu growled, his patience wearing thin. He couldn't believe he was struggling to defeat a mere Konoha brat after all this time.
This made the man who claimed to be a match for the First Hokage look utterly foolish.
"Your heart belongs to me now!"
With those words, Kakuzu's body erupted with a surge of potent chakra.
"Have you ever seen a blue deeper than the ocean, or heard a roar more scary than the crashing waves?"
Just as Kakuzu was about to charge forward again, Sasuke's calm voice cut through the air.
"Hmm?"
Kakuzu froze mid-stride, glancing at Sasuke in confusion. Seeing Sasuke simply meet his gaze with an unwavering composure, he scoffed coldly.
"Empty theatrics!"
Three Earth Grudge tendrils, crackling with lightning, roaring with flames, and howling with hurricane-force winds, swept toward Sasuke in a blindingly fast assault.
Kakuzu's true body followed closely behind.
But the instant Kakuzu's Earth Grudge launched its attack...
A longsword radiating boundless light and wreathed in endless bolts of lightning suddenly materialized before Sasuke, rising without wind and hovering in mid-air!
Boom! Rumble!
Thunderous roars ripped through the dense, storm-laden skies, their reverberating echoes rolling endlessly.
The churning dark clouds surged like colossal tidal waves, their stormy fury threatening to engulf the world.
Lightning flashed in relentless bursts, strange electric serpents writhing and slithering through the gaps in the roiling blackness.
"Accompanying the thunder..."
Sasuke raised his right hand high, and the Futsu-no-Mitama Sword, now suspended in the air, generated an immense, invisible magnetic field.
A massive chain of lightning plunged from the sky, coursing straight into the Futsu-no-Mitama Sword.
Instantly, the blade crackled with an even more menacing, bloodthirsty aura.
Remarkably, Sasuke closed his eyes. If anyone had been close enough to observe, they would have seen his crimson Sharingan eyes spinning rapidly just before he shut them.
Absolute indifference and absolute madness—two diametrically opposed emotions—swirled within his gaze, yet there was no sense of incongruity.
Instead, they reacted like coffee meeting sugar, creating a strange and compelling synergy.
'This?!'
Kakuzu's eyes narrowed sharply. Sensing the immense danger of this technique, he hastily assumed a defensive stance.
"Vanish!"
'Lightning Release: Heavenly Cloth Flowing Clouds!'
The principle behind Sasuke's Heavenly Cloth Flowing Clouds was similar to the original timeline's Kirin, but with key differences.
Kirin had a wider area of effect, while Heavenly Cloth Flowing Clouds focused its destructive power into a concentrated strike.
Both techniques harnessed natural lightning.
Kirin required the Sharingan to perceive the lightning's speed and flow, allowing the user to control the lightning and avoid being struck themselves.
Heavenly Cloth Flowing Clouds, however, was an enhanced version of the Lightning Blade Technique: Lightning Burial.
It used the lightning-conducting properties of Lightning-Patterned Steel to summon lightning from the heavens.
Because the Futsu-no-Mitama Sword channeled the lightning, Sasuke didn't need to worry about being hit by stray bolts, allowing him to summon lightning to its maximum potential.
Boom!
In an instant, a colossal sword of lightning transformed into a concentrated beam of electric light.
With lightning-fast speed, it pierced forward, its force so ferocious it seemed capable of tearing through anything in its path, piercing all obstacles!
Earth Grudge: Final Shot!
The moment Sasuke began executing Heavenly Cloth Flowing Clouds, the battle-hardened Kakuzu realized he couldn't evade the attack and would have to endure it head-on.
He gathered the Wind, Fire, and Lightning Earth Grudge masks onto his right arm, concentrating three distinct Chakra natures into a swirling vortex before unleashing a terrifying beam of energy.
However, just as Kakuzu's Chakra cannon was about to fire...
In a daze, he suddenly noticed an eerie purple hue blooming at the core of the blue-white lightning beam.
'Purple?'
Kakuzu's expression froze momentarily, his mind drifting into a momentary daze—a lapse that should have been impossible for a seasoned ninja like him in such a critical moment.
'Danger!'
Panic seized him as he snapped back to reality.
Though he still fired the Chakra cannon, the hastily discharged blast stood no chance against the lightning's fully charged, overwhelming force.
BOOM!
With a thunderous roar that split the heavens and shook the earth, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky.
It pulverized everything in its path—Kakuzu's Chakra cannon, the rocky terrain, the towering trees, even the moisture in the air.
Every tangible and intangible thing, whether matter or energy, was utterly pulverized.
RUMBLE!
The lightning detonated, unleashing another earth-shattering, mountain-collapsing detonation.
For a moment, the once-stable ground heaved and trembled like the raging sea.
"You've grown considerably, Sasuke," a calm, emotionless voice echoed through the ravaged landscape.
___
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