"Crack!"
The sharp snap of breaking bones sent chills down their spines. Sasuke let out a pained grunt, his Chidori vanished in an instant, and Itachi effortlessly countered him and kicked him to the ground.
"Sasuke!" Asuma and Kurenai Yuhi immediately moved to rescue him.
"Don't move." Kisame Hoshigaki's massive figure blocked their path. He drew Samehada from his back and planted it heavily in the ground with a dull thud. He watched Sasuke beneath Itachi's foot with amusement. "This is a touching reunion between brothers. As outsiders, we'd better not interrupt."
"Genjutsu: Tree Binding Death!"
Unfazed, Kurenai Yuhi rapidly formed hand seals. An enormous illusory tree rose from the ground, countless vines reaching out to ensnare Itachi.
"Too naive," Itachi said indifferently, his blood-red Sharingan meeting Kurenai Yuhi's eyes.
The next second, Kurenai Yuhi's body went rigid. She found herself bound to the illusory tree instead, a kunai pressed against her throat-and the one holding it was an illusion of herself.
Defeated by genjutsu in an instant!
"Kurenai!" Asuma cried out, but Kisame's Samehada held him firmly at bay, preventing him from advancing a single step.
Having dealt with Kurenai Yuhi, Itachi finally lowered his head. With his utterly emotionless Mangekyō Sharingan, he looked down at his younger brother, who trembled beneath his foot from agony and humiliation.
"My foolish little brother..."
His icy voice sounded like a judgment from the deepest reaches of hell, each word hammering against Sasuke's heart.
"Your hatred... is still nowhere near enough. Your Sharingan is too weak, too."
"This ends here." Itachi looked down at Sasuke on the ground, the blood-red pinwheels of his Mangekyō Sharingan slowly turning as though they could draw in a person's soul. "Experience another seventy-two hours of hell in this world of despair. Tsukuyomi!"
Just as that mind-warping