Just as the various powers across the Shinobi World were occupied with their own affairs, the enormous countdown in the sky finally reached zero. New images appeared on the screen of light stretching across the sky, and the busy onlookers found themselves turning toward the Heavenly Screen.
[TOP 5: Sage Kabuto vs. the Uchiha brothers]
[The rankings are not in any particular order and only indicate sequence]
[Main character: Kabuto Yakushi, the Snake Sage. I am no longer a snake. The power of a perfect sage has allowed me to shed my snakeskin and ascend into a dragon!]
[Akatsuki's Vermilion Bird: Itachi, reincarnated through Impure World Reincarnation. What makes a ninja a ninja is that they are often forced to make cruel choices... Forgive me, Sasuke. This is the last time.]
[Orochimaru's disciple, Sasuke of the Hawk. To Itachi, I was more important than the village, and I feel the same way about him. He's more important to me than the village.]
As the images on the Heavenly Screen played, people across the Shinobi World saw the Uchiha brothers making their way through the depths of a dark forest.
In the video, the reincarnated Itachi took each step with perfect steadiness, the hem of his dust-covered Akatsuki cloak swaying gently. Beside him walked Sasuke, the hatred and resolve in his eyes almost tangible, the cold gleam of the Kusanagi Sword flickering in and out of sight among the dim trees.
Amid the rustle of footsteps, Itachi suddenly stopped. A dead leaf drifted onto his shoulder, and he gently brushed it away.
"According to our intel, Kabuto should be hiding somewhere around here." Itachi's voice came through the Heavenly Screen, as calm as if he were discussing the weather.
Sasuke's reply carried a bone-chilling coldness. "That devious bastard. This time, we have to finish him off for good." His hand drifted to his left eye, where pain still lingered from his battle with Danzo.
When the brothers reached the entrance to the cave,
"Be careful. He may already know we're here." Itachi's Sharingan shifted in the darkness, the Mitsudomoe slowly joining to form the Mangekyō pattern.
Sasuke's cold laugh made the viewers' hearts tremble. "Fine by me." The Chakra around him began to churn, lightning dancing between his fingers.
Just then, the Heavenly Screen suddenly zoomed in for a close-up of Itachi's face. Beneath that placid expression, there seemed to be endless stories hidden away.
And at that moment, the entire Shinobi World saw the look in Itachi's eyes as Sasuke entered the cave first and he fell behind for an instant—the look of an older brother watching his younger brother grow, both gratified and worried.
The real Shinobi World...
The dust on the training ground had yet to settle, and Sasuke's Chidori Sharp Spear still flickered around his fingertips. When he looked up and glimpsed that familiar figure on the Heavenly Screen, the lightning abruptly vanished, and the whole world seemed to freeze in that instant.
"Itachi..."
Sasuke forced the name through clenched teeth, his voice laced with poisonous hatred. A Kunai struck the ground with a clang. His Sharingan spun wildly, the Mitsudomoe twisting into a fierce pattern against the bloodshot whites of his eyes.
Kakashi quickly formed Hand Seals to end their sparring match, the Sharingan beneath his Forehead Protector wide open as well. "Wait, Sasuke! That's not..."
"What am I doing?!" Sasuke suddenly roared, his voice so hoarse it hardly sounded human. He stared at himself walking beside Itachi on the Heavenly Screen, his Chakra raging out of control. "Why didn't I kill him?! Why am I walking with him?!"
The trees around the training ground began to shake violently, and startled flocks of birds scattered. Several Anbu Ninja appeared around them in an instant, but Kakashi raised a hand to stop them.
"Look closely, Sasuke." Kakashi's voice was unusually stern. "Something doesn't look quite right about that Itachi. And..." He narrowed his eyes. "You seem to be fighting a common enemy."
"Shut up!" Sasuke whipped around and blasted a Great Fireball into the sky, its searing flames warping the air over the training ground. "How could I possibly be with that man... with the demon who slaughtered our entire clan..." His voice suddenly caught, because his counterpart on the Heavenly Screen had given the reincarnated Itachi a slight nod, a gesture that somehow carried a strange... understanding?
He pointed at the Heavenly Screen like a madman. "What kind of sick Genjutsu is this? Who's playing games with me?!"
Just then, the image on the Heavenly Screen abruptly changed, revealing Kabuto Yakushi's fearsome face in Sage Mode. Sasuke, who had been about to vent more of his anger, suddenly froze—because he clearly heard himself on the Heavenly Screen say, "That devious bastard. This time, we have to finish him off for good."
Kakashi seized the opening. "It looks like you really are joining forces against a powerful enemy. Sasuke, calm down and think. This could be..."
"The future," an Anbu suddenly said. "The Heavenly Screen has shown scenes that haven't happened yet before."
Sasuke's breathing gradually steadied, but the hatred in his Sharingan had not diminished in the slightest. He stared at the brothers' backs as they entered the cave on the Heavenly Screen, then suddenly laughed coldly. "Fine. I'll wait and see... see exactly what kind of game my future self is playing."
His feelings in turmoil, he turned and ran. In that instant, Kakashi noticed his fingers trembling uncontrollably.
"Should we go after him?" the Anbu asked quietly.
Kakashi shook his head, gazing at the reincarnated Itachi fighting alongside his younger brother on the Heavenly Screen, his expression conflicted. "Let him have some time alone. Some truths... may be crueler than revenge."
"Is that... Mr. Itachi up there?" Kisame Hoshigaki stood in a tree, his sharklike eyes narrowing slightly as his trademark serrated grin appeared. "Looks like the future's going to be interesting."
Itachi stood quietly beside him, his black Akatsuki cloak fluttering slightly in the drizzle. He looked up at his dust-covered counterpart on the Heavenly Screen, a barely perceptible flicker passing through his Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Impure World Reincarnation..." he murmured, reading the words on the screen, his voice almost drowned out by the rain. When he saw the grown Sasuke following beside him, his pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
Kisame watched his partner's reaction with interest. "I didn't expect you to be summoned back after you died, Mr. Itachi. And..." He glanced at Sasuke fighting alongside Itachi on the screen. "Has your little brother finally come to understand you?"
Itachi did not answer. His gaze remained fixed on his younger brother, who had grown into an outstanding ninja on the Heavenly Screen. The hatred in Sasuke's eyes remained, yet his actions revealed a subtle understanding between them. It was far better than he had expected... and far more dangerous.
When Kabuto Yakushi appeared on the screen, Itachi's fingertips twitched almost imperceptibly. Orochimaru's subordinate, the Senjutsu of Ryūchi Cave, and that strange form... All of it suggested that the future was far more complicated than he had imagined.
"Looks like Orochimaru's toy has grown quite a bit too," Kisame said with a grin, Samehada slung over his shoulder. "Still, having you brothers team up against him is an honor in itself."
The drizzle grew heavier, wetting Itachi's eyelashes. He lowered his gaze slightly, quickly working through the possibilities in his mind. Impure World Reincarnation meant he could not escape death in the end, but Sasuke... Sasuke would actually join forces with him. That meant something had changed in the plan, and for the better.
But Kabuto Yakushi's appearance was a dangerous sign. That man was as devious as Orochimaru, and if he also had Ryūchi Cave's Senjutsu... Itachi frowned almost imperceptibly. He had to make preparations in advance.
As he watched the Heavenly Screen, Itachi looked especially lonely. Yet his mind was clearer than ever. No matter how the future changed, he would continue to make plans and protect from the shadows. Even if it meant paying a greater price... even if it meant going against his heart once more.
Because under that blood-red moonlight, he had long ago sworn to be his little brother's shield forever, even if the world spurned him, even if his own family hated him.
"Let's go." Itachi turned, his Akatsuki cloak tracing an arc through the rain.
Kisame watched his partner's retreating figure and thoughtfully touched Samehada. "This just keeps getting more interesting..."
Orochimaru, disguised as the Fourth Kazekage, stood in a dense forest, staring at the Heavenly Screen. When he saw the reincarnated Itachi, his slender tongue slipped over his lips. "Heh heh... That brat from the Uchiha Clan actually died?"
A sickly smile spread across the face beneath the Kazekage's hat. "Was I the one who brought him back? Or..." His gaze swept over Sasuke's mature face on the screen. "Did something else, something more interesting, happen?"
When Kabuto appeared on the screen in Sage Mode, Orochimaru's pupils abruptly contracted. He recognized it clearly as Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode—the very forbidden technique he himself had never fully mastered.
"Kabuto..." Orochimaru's voice trembled slightly with excitement. "I never thought you'd make it this far." He studied Kabuto's perfect serpentine features, a rare glimmer of appreciation in his eyes. "Such ability... I must say, it exceeds my expectations."
His fingers rubbed together inside the sleeves of the Kazekage's robe, as if imagining what that power felt like. But what concerned him more was the fully grown Sasuke on the screen—the vessel he had coveted for so long.
"Sasuke-kun..." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, carefully examining every detail of the young man on the Heavenly Screen. "It doesn't look as though I reincarnated into him..." His voice gradually grew colder. "Did I never make my move... or..."
A dangerous possibility came to mind: failure.
The thought made the air around Orochimaru seem to freeze. He slowly raised a hand and looked at the skin he had disguised as the Kazekage's, then suddenly chuckled. "It seems the story of the future... is more interesting than I imagined."
In the distance, Baki looked with puzzlement at Lord Kazekage's back as he laughed to himself, but he did not dare approach and disturb him. He had no idea what terrible things the "Kazekage" he so admired was plotting at that moment.
"Kabuto mastered Senjutsu, yet Sasuke escaped my reincarnation..."
"That means there was a major change in the plan at some point."
"Interesting. Very interesting." Orochimaru's mouth twisted into an exaggerated curve. "It seems I need to reassess Sasuke-kun's value... and my dear subordinate Kabuto's as well..."
A gust of wind swept past, stirring the hem of the Kazekage's robe. Orochimaru looked in the direction of Konoha, a dangerous light flickering in his eyes.