Blinding white light engulfed the mountains, and deafening thunder shook heaven and earth!
The enormous shock wave swept across the wilderness, pulverizing rocks and splitting the earth. Smoke and dust billowed into the sky as lightning and flames swallowed the entire battlefield!
With a single strike, Heavenly Punishment came to an end.
After repeatedly pushing himself beyond his limits to force out his trump card, Sasuke could no longer hold on. His strength drained away, his legs buckled, and he collapsed in the ruins.
Bracing himself against the shattered ground, he stared fixedly into the dust filling the air ahead and murmured.
"I... finally had my revenge..."
"You couldn't possibly dodge it."
"You had to die!"
Yet when the words left his lips, there was no wild joy, no relief, no satisfaction at having avenged his deepest grudge.
Only endless emptiness, bewilderment, and tangled emotions remained.
Years of obsession, his lifelong goal, the sole reason he had stayed alive-all of it vanished the moment that lightning struck.
His revenge was complete.
But his heart was empty.
Beyond the Sky Screen, the entire shinobi world fell utterly silent for an instant, then erupted!
Everyone stared in disbelief at the lingering glow of lightning, their hearts filled with shock.
"My god! What kind of Ninjutsu was that?! He controlled natural lightning!"
"So that's it! Sasuke wasn't using Fire Release to trade attacks at all! He deliberately heated the air to create thunderclouds!"
"He used his own Lightning Release to guide natural lightning! He borrowed the power of heaven and earth! That's genius!"
"That wasn't ordinary Ninjutsu at all! Sasuke really is a genius!"
Many ninja with a Lightning Release affinity lit up with excitement, exclaiming that they wanted to try it themselves.
"I use Lightning Release too! Does that mean I can learn it?"
"As long as we can guide natural lightning, can we recreate Kirin?"
But some veteran ninja coldly dampened their enthusiasm. "Keep dreaming. Make one wrong move, and heavenly lightning will burn you to ash. There won't even be a body left."
Once the shock faded, the discussions gradually turned wistful.
"Uchiha Itachi... died in the end."
"That crazed, obsessive lunatic who sacrificed his clan for power finally fell at his little brother's hands."
"But look at Sasuke... he isn't happy at all."
"Isn't that only natural? He's lived to kill Itachi ever since he was little. Now that his goal is gone, he suddenly has nothing left."
"His revenge is complete, but there's nothing ahead of him except emptiness. Who could be happy about that?"
The Konoha ninja.
Only seven or eight years old, Sasuke silently watched his older self lying on the ground within the Sky Screen, his eyes utterly hollow.
As he watched that future in which his revenge brought him no joy, a profound tangle of emotions quietly settled over his cold face.
He had always believed that killing Itachi and completing his revenge would be the most satisfying, fulfilling moment of his life.
But only after witnessing the outcome himself did he suddenly realize.
He did not seem all that happy!
While the entire shinobi world was still caught up in the shock and melancholy of Sasuke's successful revenge and the conclusion of Heavenly Punishment, discussions rose from every direction.
Everyone believed Uchiha Itachi had perished beneath Kirin and that the battle was settled.
But just then, within the Sky Screen!
A faintly mocking voice pierced the swirling dust and rang clearly across the battlefield.
"My foolish little brother..."
"It seems... you celebrated too soon."
Hum!
The instant that voice rang out, the entire shinobi world fell deathly silent!
Every discussion, sigh, and lament was abruptly cut short. Countless people shuddered, their scalps prickling as overwhelming horror swept through them.
Even that hadn't killed him?!
That was Kirin, a jutsu that called upon the might of heaven and earth!
Lightning that couldn't be dodged!
Even such a terrifying killing blow had failed to kill Uchiha Itachi?
Amid the battlefield's ruins, Sasuke Uchiha stiffened where he lay. His pupils trembled violently, his face filled with utter disbelief as he cried hoarsely, "Impossible... that was the power of heaven and earth! There was absolutely no way to dodge it! How could you be unharmed?!"
Before his figure emerged from the dust, Itachi's indifferent voice sounded again, calm and commanding, crushing every last shred of Sasuke's confidence.
"Sasuke, your idea was clever. I truly couldn't dodge it."
"But what made you think that one strike alone could kill me?"
"Besides, why would I need to dodge?"
A strong wind swept through, slowly dispersing the dust.
A tall figure stood quietly at the center of the devastated earth, completely unharmed.
A layer of translucent energy covered Uchiha Itachi's entire body like divine armor, shielding him completely and neutralizing all the terrifying destructive force of Kirin's lightning.
The lightning had faded without leaving a single wound.
Itachi lowered his gaze to his exhausted, disheveled little brother. His eyes betrayed not a ripple of emotion. His voice was soft, yet carried the absolute pressure of someone looking down upon an ant.
"My foolish little brother."
"Today, I will show you-the godlike power of the Uchiha Clan."
In the next instant!
The scarlet Mangekyō in Itachi's eyes spun furiously. Vast amounts of eye power poured forth as chakra surged violently around him!
A low, icy declaration shook heaven and earth!
"Susanoo!"
Boom-!
The earth trembled slightly. Vast torrents of crimson energy shot into the sky, and the towering upper body of a spectral giant rose from the ground!
Its stark skeletal frame burned crimson, radiating divine might. Its enormous body loomed over the mountains, imposing its presence upon the world around it!
This was the ultimate ocular jutsu exclusive to the Mangekyō Sharingan-the godlike power that placed the Uchiha above all other beings!
Beyond the Sky Screen, the entire shinobi world stared in utter astonishment!
Countless ninja gaped at the immense crimson figure, shaken to their cores and unable to speak for a long time.
They had never seen such terrifying Ninjutsu!
Sasuke, within the Sky Screen, felt it even more acutely. The blood in his body seemed to freeze.
Before the mountainlike Susanoo, his exhausted, utterly drained self was as insignificant as a speck of dust, as an ant.
Fear seized his heart once more.
Helplessness, insignificance, despair... every dark emotion churned wildly within him.
"Sasuke, look closely."
Itachi's voice reached his ears from above, cold and condescending.
"This is the true power of the Mangekyō."
"An absolute power that you cannot withstand, even if you exhaust every means currently at your disposal."
"No... impossible!"
His eyes bloodshot, Sasuke broke down completely, shaking his head and roaring in fury!
Years of grueling training, hellish trials, absorbing Orochimaru, developing his trump card, Kirin!
He had thought he had finally caught up to Itachi!
But reality had brutally crushed him!
Overwhelming resentment swept away his reason. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke drew the ninja blade at his waist and, enduring the agony wracking his body, charged at Susanoo like a madman!
He didn't believe it!
He refused to concede!
He would never accept such an overwhelming gap!
Facing Sasuke's desperate charge, Itachi remained rooted to the spot, neither flinching nor dodging.
Clang-!!
The piercing sound of shattering metal rang across the mountains!
The sharp ninja blade struck Susanoo's divine armor with brutal force, but failed to disturb it in the slightest. Instead, the blade instantly shattered into two pieces!
A terrifying backlash burst along the blade and surged straight into Sasuke's body!
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