"Is that Sasuke?"
Itachi Uchiha spoke wearily. Looking at the figure in his blurred vision as the fading lightning gradually died away, he braced himself against his knees and struggled to stand, only for his body to sway before he nearly collapsed from exhaustion.
Sasuke Uchiha, who had been sitting there, quietly vanished and appeared behind Itachi Uchiha. One hand pressed on his shoulder to steady him as he said calmly, "Itachi Uchiha, how far can your Sharingan see?"
"—" Itachi Uchiha steadied himself. After a brief silence, he said blandly, "How far can it see? Far enough to see that you don't have the same eyes as me, yet you still dare stand before me."
He heard Sasuke sneer above his head. "Itachi, is that Mangekyō Sharingan really so powerful that it gives you such arrogant confidence?"
"Whether it's arrogance or not—" Beneath the wide sleeve of Itachi Uchiha's Akatsuki cloak, his hand shifted lightly. A kunai was already in his grip as he stabbed backward at Sasuke's head.
One of Sasuke Uchiha's hands remained on his shoulder while the other knocked aside the wrist holding the kunai. As he deflected Itachi's wrist, he reached behind himself, seized the hilt of his sword, and with a clang, a streak of white blade-light slashed toward Itachi Uchiha's other shoulder.
Itachi Uchiha broke free, borrowing the force of Sasuke Uchiha's hand pressing on his shoulder to spring away like a fish and roll aside. Sasuke's slash brushed past the hem of his black cloak patterned with red clouds and missed. The cloak billowed wildly as Itachi's foot shot out from beneath it, kicking at Sasuke's right wrist. The long sword flew from his hand, spinning through the air.
Sasuke Uchiha caught the spinning sword by its hilt with his left hand