Valley of the End! Susanoo's Clash (Part 2)

"Rumble—!!!"

The Thunder-Flame Greatsword and the purple-black chakra arrows slammed into each other in midair. This was no ordinary clash of ninjutsu, but the purest destructive collision between two towering giants.

The enormous shock wave was like a nuclear blast, forcibly cutting off the endlessly surging waterfall in the middle of the Valley of the End. Tens of thousands of tons of river water were instantly vaporized by the terrifying blast into a sky full of white mist. Even half the heads of the two giant statues, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, shattered with a boom in the explosion, and huge chunks of rock fell like meteors into the abyss below.

Kakashi dragged Naruto with him as they desperately retreated more than a thousand meters before barely avoiding the destructive aftermath. Naruto stared blankly at the area above the waterfall that had been flattened. In a battle on this level, even the Rasengan he was so proud of was not qualified to interfere.

"Crack!"

In this ultimate collision, Sasuke's not-yet-fully-mature purple skeletal Susanoo was still lacking in foundation. Its three arrows were shattered inch by inch by the Thunder-Flame Greatsword. The red warrior-god Susanoo did not lose any momentum and split apart the purple chakra shield Sasuke had used for defense with a single slash.

The immense backlash sent Sasuke and his purple Susanoo crashing down from midair, slamming heavily into the rubble-strewn shallows below the Valley of the End and blasting out a giant crater a hundred meters across.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

At the bottom of the crater, Sasuke vomited mouthfuls of blood. The frame of the purple Susanoo around him was covered in dense cracks, and even two ribs on the left side had snapped. The overuse of the Mangekyō Sharingan, combined with the Curse Mark Level 2's frenzied extraction of his body's strength, made every cell in him let out agonized screams.

"Too weak."

A ghostly black shadow appeared at the edge of the crater in an instant. Yuan withdrew that colossal warrior-god Susanoo and walked down over the broken stones alone, without the slightest defense.

His windbreaker snapped loudly in the gale as he looked down from above at Sasuke struggling at the bottom of the pit, the contempt in his eyes completely undisguised.

"This is the power you traded everything for? This is the capital you plan to use to kill Itachi?" Yuan walked up to Sasuke, raised his right foot, and mercilessly stepped onto Sasuke's chest, which was covered in the hornlike layer of the curse mark.

"Boom!" The ground beneath his foot sank another half foot.

"Get... off me!" Sasuke's eyes nearly split with rage. He used the last of his strength to control the broken arm of his purple Susanoo, swinging its fist viciously toward Yuan's head.

Yuan did not even look at that enormous chakra fist. He simply raised his right fist, wrapped in violent red chakra, and met the Susanoo fist ten times larger than himself with a plain, unadorned punch of monstrous strength!

"Bang—crack!"

There was no suspense at all. Yuan's terrifying physical strength, boosted by the system's berserk enhancement, smashed the purple Susanoo's fist apart with a single punch. Violent cracks spread all the way along the Susanoo's arm to Sasuke's real body.

Sasuke let out a scream. Under the tremendous backlash, both of his arms were dislocated at once and hung limply at his sides. The purple Susanoo that had been protecting him was like a fragile glass cover. With a crash, it completely shattered, turning into countless purple motes of light that scattered into the air.

He had been utterly defeated. Beaten black and blue.

Yuan did not move the foot planted on Sasuke's chest. He bent down, his arrogant, coldly smiling face drawing close to Sasuke's bloodstained one.

"Do you see reality now? Trash is trash. In your pathetic state, forget taking revenge on Itachi. If I use even a little more strength, I can crush your heart." Yuan's voice was so cold it held not a trace of human warmth.

"Kill me, then..." Sasuke's Mangekyō, streaming bloody tears, glared fixedly at Yuan. There was no fear in his eyes, only endless unwillingness and stubbornness. "If you don't kill me... one day, I'll kill you too!"

Yuan was silent for one second.

He looked at Sasuke's unruly eyes, the eyes of someone who would rather break than bend. The stubbornness and paranoia in them were actually exactly like Uncle Cheng from his memories, the man who had taught him how to grip a kunai on a rainy night. Though their strength was worlds apart, that madness deep in the bones of the Uchiha was inherited from the same source.

"Heh."

Yuan suddenly gave a cold laugh. He slowly lifted his foot from Sasuke's chest.

The tangible killing intent around them, cold enough to freeze blood, receded like the tide in that instant.

Yuan straightened up and turned around. He did not finish him off, nor did he strip him of his life and chakra fragments like he usually did with enemies.

"You're not even qualified to make me kill you." Yuan had his back to Sasuke, his voice calm to the point of infuriating. "You're too weak. Go back."

"I'm not going back!!" Sasuke dragged his dislocated arms and struggled madly in the mud as he roared hoarsely. "I'll never go back to that damned village! I'm going to find Orochimaru! I'm going to get even stronger power!"

Yuan stopped.

He did not look back, only tilted his head slightly, his scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan glancing at Sasuke from the corner of his eye.

"Go." Yuan indifferently spat out one word. "Take that pitiful hatred of yours and get as far away as you can. When you think you're strong enough, come find me again. Don't die on the way."

With that, Yuan pushed off with his foot, and his entire body turned into a streak of black lightning that shot straight out of the crater.

Standing on the distant cliff, Naruto watched with his own eyes as Yuan let Sasuke go, then allowed several Otogakure ninja who had long been hiding in the shadows—the retrieval team Orochimaru had sent—to rush out, awkwardly hoist the heavily injured Sasuke up, and disappear into the depths of the forest.

"Are you insane?! You let him go?!" Naruto charged up to Yuan with bloodshot eyes and grabbed him by the collar, looking like he was about to lose control again. "Orochimaru will kill him! Why didn't you stop him? You can beat him, can't you!"

Yuan backhanded Naruto's wrist with a slap, sending him staggering five or six steps back.

"He needs time. Just like you need time." Yuan looked coldly at Naruto. "A bird protected in a cage will never grow claws that can kill. He chose that path. Whether he lives or dies is his own business."

Kakashi stepped forward and looked at Yuan with a complicated gaze. "If the higher-ups find out you deliberately let Sasuke escape, they'll definitely put this on your head. Orochimaru isn't doing charity. For Sasuke to follow him is no different from seeking skin from a tiger."

Yuan sneered and could not even be bothered to respond to Kakashi. He turned and walked straight toward the Hidden Leaf Village.

"The higher-ups? If they're tired of living, they can come settle accounts with me."

From an angle Kakashi and Naruto could not see, an extremely cold calculation flashed through the depths of Yuan's eyes.

Had he let Sasuke go out of softness? Because he had seen Uncle Cheng's shadow in him?

Bullshit.

In this cruel world, Yuan only believed in power and revenge.

It was just that when he had seen Sasuke awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan earlier, an even larger, even more bloodthirsty plan had surfaced in his mind. Although his own Sharingan's endurance had been strengthened by the system, it was still far from enough to reach that legendary ultimate realm that could even cut through time and space.

Sasuke's Mangekyō... actually awakened. Yuan spoke coldly to himself in his heart, the corners of his mouth curving into a hidden arc.

That had nothing to do with brotherly affection, nor was it the tolerance of an elder. In his eyes, Sasuke was only a fruit that had just begun to ripen.

Go train well at Orochimaru's place, Sasuke. Cultivate those Mangekyō to their peak. When you possess eternal obsession and incomparable power... Yuan said silently in his heart.

Those eyes will be of great use later.

A gale laced with moisture blew past, and the Valley of the End fell into deathly silence once more. Only the collapsed stone statues silently bore witness to the parting of the ways between two Uchiha monsters.

Sasuke disappeared into the dense forest behind the waterfall. A few days later, in a hidden underground ruin that remained in Otogakure, Orochimaru, whose whole body was wrapped in bandages and whose arms were still paralyzed, looked at Sasuke as he was brought in and let out a hoarse laugh that made one's hair stand on end.