Eternal Pain

The abandoned industrial district had been reduced to scorched earth. The acrid stench of smoke and blood mingled in the air. Amid the shattered walls and rubble, the battered survivors of the Ten Branches had been driven into a cramped final stronghold, where they made a desperate last stand.

Haku leaned against a half-charred wall. Her icy-blue hair was matted with blood against her pale cheeks. Every breath tugged at the wound in her abdomen, bringing searing pain. She no longer had the strength to maintain her Ice Release, and her chakra was nearly depleted. Tie Xin, the Steel Branch, lay not far away, unconscious and barely breathing, with Iron Sand scattered around him like his shattered defenses. Zhua, the Beast Branch, lay in a pool of blood, his chest barely rising. He had taken a lethal blow to protect Gu of the Corpse Branch. Gu knelt on one knee, held upright by sheer will. No one could say how many bones in his body were broken, yet he still growled like a wounded beast and tried to swing his bone blade. Fu, the Feather Branch, had battered wings and dull scales. Temari's wind had driven her into a wretched state, and her chakra was nearly gone. Obito was faring somewhat better, but Kamui was badly disrupted by the barrier Shikamaru had set up in advance, working only intermittently. Against Kakashi and Might Guy's relentless assault, he could only struggle to hold on as fresh wounds kept appearing across his body. Lian's Sharingan was bloodshot, and the light of his Lightning Release had dimmed. He was locked in a dangerous fight with Sasuke, who had not yet recovered from his injuries but was tenacious all the same. Lian's left arm hung unnaturally at his side, clearly broken.

The Allied Forces' encirclement was as tight as an iron barrel. Their attacks wore away the survivors' last reserves with mechanical precision and coldness. Shikamaru Nara stood at a vantage point, his expression stern. His shadow moved like an invisible baton, directing every combined attack by the Allied Forces. The scales of victory had tipped decisively.

Just then!

The Allied Forces' outer formation suddenly fell into disarray! A bloodied figure, whose chakra surged like a volcano on the verge of eruption, forced his way through!

It was Uchiha Sakuya!

He had clearly thrown caution to the wind and forced his way through the outer blockade, but at a terrible cost! His Uchiha robe was in tatters, and his new wounds were deep enough to expose bone. His mask was long gone, revealing a face as pale as paper, yet stamped with mad, unyielding resolve. Most horrifying of all were his eyes—the powerful Eighty Gods Mirror Mangekyō Sharingan. Their light had nearly faded, his pupils were already unfocused, and blood vessels stood out along their edges. He had clearly overdrawn them and was on the brink of blindness!

But he paid no heed! His gaze fixed on Shikamaru Nara, who was directing the entire battle!

"Must... break through... must..." he rasped. His hands trembled, but with unwavering resolve, he began forming the hand seals of an ancient technique, impossibly complex and steeped in an aura of destruction and ill omen!

Forbidden Technique: Blood Prison Burning God!

It would burn all of the user's remaining life force and soul as fuel, instantly extracting enough power to destroy heaven and earth! The price: certain death and the complete annihilation of the user's soul!

A terrifying energy that made the soul tremble began to gather around him! The air warped, and the ground quivered faintly!

"Brother! No!!!" Lian was the first to sense something was wrong. He let out a heart-wrenching scream and tried to rush over, but Sasuke held him back with the Kusanagi Sword!

"Sakuya! Stop!" Haku struggled to get up, tears mingling with blood as they streamed down her face. Her voice was weak, yet full of despair. Obito tried to stop him too, but Kakashi and Guy drove him back with their reckless attacks.

The Allied Forces were even more shocked. Shikamaru hurriedly shouted an order: "Stop him with everything you've got! Now!"

Countless attacks rained down on Sakuya!

But Sakuya seemed not to notice—or perhaps he had already accepted death, determined to use this final burst of light to blast a path to safety for his subordinates!

At the very last moment, just as the devastating energy neared its peak and Sakuya was about to complete the hand seals—

A figure lunged behind Sakuya at a speed beyond anyone's reaction!

It was Uchiha Ren!

He slammed into Sakuya and knocked him aside! At the same time, instead of attacking, he swiftly laid both hands over Sakuya's nearly blind Mangekyō Sharingan, which was channeling the forbidden technique!

"Illusion Technique: Sharingan: Instant Eternity!"

An ultimate genjutsu, fueled by all of Ren's ocular power, will, and even life force, passed through his fingertips. Like the gentlest moonlight—and the strongest of shackles—it instantly invaded Sakuya's unguarded mind, boiling with the power of the forbidden technique!

Sakuya's body suddenly stiffened! The hand seals of the nearly completed forbidden technique broke off! The terrifying energy seemed to have its throat seized. It shuddered violently, then rebounded into his body!

"Pfft—!" Sakuya coughed up a mouthful of blood. His body convulsed violently, his eyes went blank, and he fell backward.

After casting that genjutsu beyond his limits, Ren's face turned ashen in an instant. Blood flowed from all seven of his orifices, yet he forced himself to stay upright.

He caught his unconscious brother and, with the last of his strength, formed a simple Earth Release barrier seal. A not particularly sturdy wall of rock rose at once, temporarily separating the two of them from the chaotic battlefield outside.

Inside the barrier, dust filled the air.

Looking at his unconscious brother in his arms, breathing faintly, blood still seeping from his eyes, Ren wore a smile of unbearable complexity—sorrowful, yet gentle and resolute.

He murmured softly, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible:

"Forgive me, Brother... This is the last time."

"This time... let me protect you."

Before the words had even left his mouth, he abruptly curled the index and middle fingers of his right hand into the sharpest of claws and, without the slightest hesitation, drove them toward his right eye!

Squish! A faint, sickening sound.

He tore out an eye still warm with blood, its pupil turning with an intricate Mangekyō pattern! The agony made his whole body spasm, but he clenched his teeth and did not cry out.

Then, just as swiftly, he tore out Sakuya's Mangekyō Sharingan, now utterly dim and nearly gray-white.

Blood stained his hands and Sakuya's cheeks.

A moment later, Ren carefully and precisely pressed his own Mangekyō Sharingan, still pulsing faintly and brimming with powerful ocular energy, into Sakuya's empty eye socket!

At the same time, he pressed Sakuya's ruined Mangekyō into his own eye socket, where blood poured freely!

The optic nerves began to connect...

The instant the exchange was complete, Ren let out a low growl:

"Forbidden Technique: Izanagi!"

He sacrificed the ruined eyes that had just been implanted—the pair that belonged to Sakuya—to activate this forbidden technique, which rewrote reality!

A flash of light!

The rules were forcibly twisted!

Reality was briefly overwritten!

When the light faded, the ruined Mangekyō Sharingan that had belonged to Sakuya, now in Ren's eye sockets, had turned gray-white and lost all its luster, like stone carvings. Meanwhile, the fresh Mangekyō Sharingan that belonged to Ren, now in Sakuya's eye sockets, had fused perfectly. Though Sakuya's eyes remained closed for now, the life and ocular power they contained were unmistakable!

Having done all this, Ren's life force flickered like a candle in the wind and rapidly died away. Staggering, he gently laid the unconscious Sakuya in a corner of the barrier.

He slowly rose to his feet and faced the outside. Though he was now blind, with nothing left in his eye sockets but two horrifying holes streaming bloody tears, a resolute, tragic aura emanated from him.

With the last of his strength, he formed hand seals and dispelled the Earth Release barrier!

The battle outside faltered! Everyone saw the horrifying scene within the barrier: the unconscious Sakuya, and Uchiha Ren standing before him, blind and bleeding from every orifice, yet still holding himself upright!

"Ren..." Haku wept uncontrollably. The face beneath Obito's mask was filled with shock and conflicting emotions. The Allied Forces, too, were momentarily stunned by the harrowing sight.

Ren "looked" toward the Allied Forces—or, more precisely, toward the source of the strongest, calmest chakra: Shikamaru Nara!

He gave a bloodstained smile, wild and freed of all burdens.

"Shikamaru Nara... I'll take your head!"

He burned the last of his remaining life force and chakra, even setting his soul alight! His whole body became a roaring bolt of lightning shaped like a man! Like a moth to a flame, like Kua Fu chasing the sun, he moved at a speed beyond the limits of life, ignoring every attack and every obstacle as he charged straight toward Shikamaru Nara at the rear of the Allied Forces!

"Protect the strategist!!" the Allied shinobi cried in terror, trying to stop him. But Ren's strength now exceeded all expectations! Any shinobi who tried to approach him was instantly flung away by the raging lightning, gravely wounded!

Shikamaru's pupils contracted. His shadow surged wildly as he tried to bind Ren, but he was too late!

"Reverse Lotus: Forbidden Thunder Soul Burst!"

When he was only a few meters from Shikamaru, Ren let out his final roar!

BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!

A blinding bolt of lightning exploded! It swallowed everything!

The terrifying shock wave hurled the Allied shinobi around them through the air like straw! Dust billowed into the sky!

As the dust slowly cleared, all that remained was a massive crater.

At its center, Shikamaru Nara knelt on one knee, his body charred black, his life or death uncertain. Raging lightning still flickered over his shadow. As for Uchiha Ren... not a trace of his body remained. Only his unyielding will and the last burst of lightning seemed to linger in the air, bearing witness to his choice.

In the most devastating and resolute way possible, he had kept his vow. He had dealt a heavy blow to the Allied Forces' command and bought the survivors one final chance at life.

The entire battlefield fell silent.

Both the Allied Forces and the surviving members of the Branches were stunned by the sudden, earth-shaking sacrifice.

The unconscious Sakuya's eyelids trembled faintly. Beneath them, a line of blood tears seeped from the newly transplanted Mangekyō Sharingan that belonged to his younger brother.

With his eyes and his life, Uchiha Ren had let his beloved older brother... Uchiha Sakuya, see the future one last time.