The Heavenly Screen video...
Deep inside the cave, the damp air was filled with a strange mixture of decay and herbs. Candle flames flickered faintly, casting twisted shadows across the uneven rock walls, as though countless venomous snakes were writhing in the darkness.
The wavering light stretched Kabuto Yakushi's shadow long as he sat cross-legged on a moss-spotted stone platform.
His body had fully entered "Sage Mode"—pale snake scales covered him like armor, gleaming with an eerie pearlescent sheen in the candlelight. Horns curled from his head like dead branches, and his golden snake eyes glinted coldly in the darkness, their pupils contracted to thin slits.
"Hehe, what rare guests." Kabuto slowly raised his head, his neck making an unsettling cracking sound. An eerie smile curled his lips, revealing sharp fangs. "Uchiha Itachi... and Sasuke-kun." His voice carried a distinctly serpentine hiss, echoing strangely through the enclosed cave.
Fury flared in Sasuke's eyes, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan standing out in the gloom. "Kabuto, you toyed with the souls of the dead and desecrated their will. Today is your end!" His hand was already on the Kusanagi Sword, Lightning Release chakra crackling between his fingers.
Kabuto rose unhurriedly, his loose white robe slipping down to reveal his scale-covered body. His snake-like tongue lightly licked his lips. "Desecration? No, I was only making use of their value.
"His gaze shifted between the two brothers. "You two are the pitiful ones. One of you has long been dead, yet still interferes in the world of the living. The other stubbornly pursues an illusion of revenge... How lamentable."
Itachi's gaze remained calm as still water, but the pattern in his Mangekyō Sharingan had begun to turn slowly. "Kabuto, your actions have gone too far." His voice was low and full of authority. "Release the Impure World Reincarnation and end this farce. This is your final warning."
Kabuto suddenly threw back his head and laughed. The harsh echoes filled the cave, startling bats from the cracks in the rocks. "End? No, the game has only just begun!"
Kabuto's hands flew through hand seals. The ground shattered with a roar, and countless giant snakes burst from the earth, gaping jaws lunging at the brothers! Sasuke and Itachi leaped back together, and just as the snakes were about to reach them—
"Boom!"
A violent burst of smoke erupted. When it cleared, two enormous Susanoo stood towering before them, one red and one purple! Sasuke's purple Susanoo wielded a giant chakra sword and swept it across in a fierce slash, cutting down every snake that came at them. Snake blood sprayed like rain. He made the Susanoo step forward and tear off Kabuto's hood.
"Whoosh!"
His body turned into several white snakes that scattered in every direction!
"A snake clone?!" Sasuke's gaze sharpened.
"Hehehe..." Kabuto's voice drifted from deep within the cave, accompanied by an unsettling, raspy laugh. "Sasuke-kun, your movements are as direct as ever."
His real body slowly emerged from the shadows, his golden snake eyes glinting coldly, a twisted smile on his lips.
"To reach the level I have today, I paid a price you can hardly imagine." Kabuto slowly raised an arm, the pale snake scales gleaming eerily in the candlelight. "All of Lord Orochimaru's test subjects... his loyal subordinates, their abilities, their Kekkei Genkai—I fused them all into myself."
His body writhed slightly, as though countless living things were moving beneath his skin.
"I have surpassed Lord Orochimaru... Now, I am a perfect being!"
The Heavenly Screen abruptly zoomed in. Kabuto Yakushi's Sage Mode gave off an eerie glow in the dim cave. His hands rapidly formed seals, and a crazed light flickered in his snake eyes.
"Sage Art: White Rage Technique!"
In an instant, the entire cave shuddered violently. Blinding white light swept through it alongside high-frequency sound waves, shaking the air into ripples visible to the naked eye. Sasuke and Itachi both grunted, forced to shut their eyes and cover their ears.
"What... what jutsu is this?!" Sasuke felt every bone in his body resonating, and his chakra flow was thrown completely into disarray. Worse still, the Sharingan's vision was rendered useless by the intense light.
Kabuto's figure appeared and vanished amid the turbulent light and sound. "It's no use, Uchiha! This jutsu was designed specifically to counter your Dōjutsu!"
Itachi's Impure World Reincarnation body was also trembling violently, but he suddenly noticed a detail—the scales on the neck of Kabuto's serpentine body opened and closed in a regular pattern whenever he used Senjutsu.
Now!
Just as Kabuto prepared to launch a second attack, Itachi suddenly pressed a hand against Sasuke's back. Sasuke immediately understood through the sensation transmitted by chakra. The brothers moved together, blasting the cluster of stalactites on the cave ceiling. The enormous stone cones fractured in the intense heat and fell, striking the exact spot crucial to Kabuto's jutsu.
"What?!" Kabuto was forced to interrupt his Senjutsu and dodge, and the White Rage Technique's effects immediately weakened.
Itachi seized the fleeting opportunity, his hands blurring. "Release!"
A precise chakra blade sliced through a point in a barrier within the cave—it was the amplification device Kabuto had set up beforehand. As the barrier broke, the lingering effects of the White Rage Technique vanished completely.
"Impossible!" Kabuto's snake face twisted. "How did you know..."
Itachi's Sharingan glowed faintly through the dust. He slowly raised a hand, and three Shuriken tied with Explosive Tags slipped from his sleeve. "Your tactics rely too heavily on your surroundings."
Sasuke took the chance to rush in from the flank, his Chidori Sharp Spear thrusting straight at Kabuto's throat. "It's over!"
"It's not over yet!" Kabuto suddenly shed his outer skin, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow.
Hanging from the cave ceiling, Kabuto taunted them. "What difference does it make if there are two of you? A hastily formed team can't overcome my sensory abilities. Besides, you're brothers who fought each other for years because the older one was full of lies."
"Sasuke, do you remember what happened when you came on a mission with me before?"
"The time with the wild boar."
Sasuke's pupils contracted slightly, his thoughts instantly drawn back to the distant past—
(A memory flashed before him.)
A young Sasuke and Itachi stood side by side in a forest. Before them was a huge wild boar with fearsome tusks, pawing the ground in agitation.
"Sasuke, it's crafty. You can't rely on brute force alone." Itachi's voice was calm and steady. "Watch its movements and work with me."
Sasuke nodded nervously, tightening his grip on his bow and arrow.
The next moment, Itachi attacked first, sending a Shuriken precisely toward the boar's eye. The boar bellowed in pain and charged straight at him!
And just as it was about to hit Itachi—
"Now!"
Sasuke struck from the side, driving a Kunai deep into the boar's neck!
The brothers worked together perfectly, defeating their enemy in a single strike.
(The memory ended.)
Back in the present, Sasuke's eyes suddenly cleared, and his lips curved into a faint, cold smile.
"Yeah, I remember."
Before he had finished speaking, Sasuke's purple Susanoo suddenly dismissed its giant sword and formed a dazzling bow and arrow in its hands instead! Seeing this, Kabuto's golden snake eyes flashed with contempt—
"It's no use! I saw through the path of your attack long ago!"
His body twisted in an uncanny, snakelike motion.
"Sasuke-kun, you're still so naive!" Kabuto grinned viciously, trying to provoke him with words. "Get angry! Lose your mind like you did when you hunted Itachi down! Only then can you experience true power!"
Yet Sasuke's expression was unusually calm, even carrying a hint of mockery.
"You're wrong, Kabuto."
"Whoosh!"
A flash of light suddenly slashed in from the side! At some point, Itachi's Susanoo had moved into Kabuto's blind spot.
"What?!" Kabuto's face changed in shock. He dodged in haste, but the sword's edge still grazed him.
Sasuke's attack had been a feint; the real killing blow was Itachi's surprise attack!
One of the horns on Kabuto's head was severed.
The real Shinobi World...
On the Heavenly Screen, the Uchiha brothers worked together seamlessly, suppressing Sage Kabuto. The sight made the ninja watching across the Shinobi World hold their breath.
In Konoha, Naruto stood atop Hokage Rock, his blue eyes reflecting the battle on the Heavenly Screen. His fists clenched without his noticing.
"That guy, Sasuke..." he murmured.
"But why was the Uchiha Clan wiped out? Why did Itachi slaughter his entire clan with his own hands?" Someone in the Konoha crowd had given voice to the question that had weighed on everyone's minds for years.
For a time, discussion filled Konoha's streets.
"I heard it was because the Uchiha Clan plotted a rebellion..."
"But Itachi was an Uchiha genius. Why would he side with the village?"
"And why did he spare Sasuke alone? There has to be more to it!"
In Kumogakure, Raikage A stared at the Heavenly Screen and snorted. "The Uchiha Clan's power was a threat all along."
C shook his head. "But there's no denying their strength is truly astonishing."
In Kirigakure, Chōjūrō adjusted his glasses and spoke cautiously. "Lady Mei Terumi, do you think Uchiha Itachi... really is a missing-nin?"
Mei Terumi pressed her red lips together, her gaze deep. "The truth is often crueler than it appears."
On the Heavenly Screen, the battle continued. The Uchiha brothers' coordination grew ever more seamless, while Sage Kabuto found himself in an increasingly desperate position.
"Itachi, Sasuke, you think you can beat me like this?!" Kabuto roared, the power of Sage Mode surging wildly as he tried to counterattack.
But Kabuto did not understand that his defeat was already certain.
The real Shinobi World
An underground base somewhere outside Konoha...
Kabuto Yakushi adjusted his glasses. Their lenses reflected the Heavenly Screen's faint light, breaking the reflection of his eyes into fragments.
"What an... unpleasant sight." He murmured to himself, his voice echoing strangely through the empty cave.
"The power of Ryūchi Cave is indeed formidable, but..." His gaze remained fixed on Itachi's eyes on the Heavenly Screen, eyes that saw through everything. "Uchiha Itachi, I really can never afford to underestimate you."