In his mind, the countless resentful souls he had devoured screamed madly, urging him to destroy everything.
The last spark of reason flickered like a candle in the wind, pleading with him to spare this innocent child. But he chose to ignore it.
He wanted Itachi to taste the pain of losing the person he cherished most with his own hands. He wanted this hypocritical genius to plunge into the depths of despair.
Just as Uchiha Sasuke was about to be dragged inside Uchiha Genki's Susanoo Armor to endure endless torment, Uchiha Itachi finally broke down.
He looked at Sasuke's pained little face and heard his younger brother's faint cries. The defenses around his heart crumbled completely.
He roared in utter despair, "I'll do it! I'll do it!"
"Hm?" Uchiha Genki froze at those words. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, then gave way to even thicker scorn. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Itachi. "What did you say? I didn't hear you."
"I'll... I'll..." Uchiha Itachi's voice trembled. Looking at Sasuke, who stared up at him in despair and clung to him with his eyes, he still couldn't bring himself to say that final, cruel sentence.
Every word felt like it was carving into his own heart.
"I'm asking you! What did you say you'd do?!" Uchiha Genki's voice suddenly rose, his frenzied demand lashing Itachi's heart like a whip.
"I... I'll personally... personally send Sasuke... send him away!" Itachi's fingernails dug deep into the flesh of his palm, and blood trickled between his fingers.
Pain, despair, regret, and self-reproach surged through him like a tide, relentlessly consuming his body and mind.
But he knew all too well that if Uchiha Genki did it, Sasuke would suffer a fate far more horrific than death.
Ending his younger brother's life with his own hands might be the only "release" he could offer him now.
"Louder! I can't hear you!" Genki narrowed his eyes, staring at the despairing Itachi. Yet, for some reason, his hatred only grew stronger.
He wanted to watch this once lofty genius become utterly humble before him, to watch him completely fall apart.
Under Uchiha Genki's cold, cruel gaze, the pain in his palm burning, Uchiha Itachi clenched his teeth. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, staining his chin.
He took a deep breath, summoned all his strength, and roared at Genki, "I'll personally send Uchiha Sasuke out of this world!"
The moment the words left his mouth, he could no longer hold back. Blood tears streamed down his cheeks like pearls from a broken string, falling through the air and splattering across Sasuke's little face.
At those words, Uchiha Genki smiled with satisfaction.
He slowly lifted Uchiha Sasuke beside Uchiha Itachi. His massive hand loosened slightly, letting Itachi touch Sasuke.
Looking at his younger brother so close, his eyes filled with fear and confusion, Uchiha Itachi felt despair and regret swell within him.
If only he had been a little faster, even just a little;
If only he had managed to save Izumi—or even Hazuki. Would things have really come to this?
Despair, regret, and pain struck at his heart like countless sharp blades, tearing it to pieces.
But seeing Genki's increasingly impatient expression, Uchiha Itachi knew he had no time left to hesitate.
Suppressing the grief tearing him apart, he slowly reached out and gently pressed his forehead against Sasuke's.
"I'm sorry... Sasuke..." His voice was as soft as a whisper, filled with endless guilt and reluctance. "This is the last time! I'll come and join you..."
As Uchiha Sasuke looked at him in sorrow and confusion, Uchiha Itachi's eyes grew dull and empty.
He slowly raised his other hand. A Kunai had appeared in it at some point. As Sasuke cried out in terror, Itachi drove it through his heart without hesitation.
"Big brother..." Sasuke's voice was faint as a mosquito's buzz. The light in his eyes slowly faded, and his body went limp.
The last glimmer in Uchiha Itachi's eyes went out completely at that very moment.
He remained suspended in midair, forehead pressed against Sasuke's. His body was rigid, and blood tears continued to fall, but his face no longer showed any emotion. He was like a soulless puppet.
Sasuke's limp body still hung in the air, and Itachi's vacant gaze had yet to leave his younger brother's face when a sharp crack of breaking bones shattered the deathly silence.
Watching the tragedy of brother against brother, Uchiha Genki showed no pity. His eyes held only the satisfaction and brutality of someone who had gone completely mad.
He controlled Susanoo Armor's massive hand and clenched it without warning—"Crack! Squish!"
The sharp snaps of breaking bones mingled with the wet sound of flesh being crushed, ringing through the night sky.
Under the terrifying grip of the thousand-meter Susanoo Armor, Uchiha Itachi's already rigid body shattered instantly, like fragile porcelain.
Blood mixed with splintered bones and pulp gushed through the gaps between the giant fingers, raining down and staining the vast ruins below.
The once-glorious Uchiha genius had met a truly miserable end.
The giant hand slowly opened, and a mangled mass of flesh fell to the ground. It was no longer recognizable as a human body.
Just then, two pitch-black shadows suddenly floated out of the remains—Uchiha Itachi's soul, not yet dispersed.
Before the soul could react, two strange currents of energy surged from Genki's body: the power of Ōkuninushi and Magatsunokami.
Like ravenous beasts, the energies instantly wrapped around Itachi's soul and tore at it. Countless tiny fragments of his soul were forcibly ripped away and devoured.
Itachi's soul let out a silent wail. Its light and shadow twisted and dimmed until the two currents of black energy swallowed it completely, leaving nothing behind.
"Vmmm—!"
As Itachi's soul was devoured, and especially as the power of his Mangekyō Sharingan was fully absorbed, Uchiha Genki's eyes suddenly blazed with a crimson light.
He could clearly feel an immense power flowing from his eyes into his body, filling every limb and bone with an indescribable sense of strength.
What excited him even more was that the unique six-Tomoe Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes had begun to change once more!
The light slowly faded, and Genki opened his eyes.
In the center of the six Tomoe in each eye, a new Tomoe slowly appeared. As the Tomoe revolved, they carried an even stranger rhythm and a more terrifying pressure.
The original six Tomoe became seven. The power of his ocular techniques surged once again, and the surrounding space warped slightly under the force of that gaze. Even the Natural Energy in the air grew restless.
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