In a brightly lit sterile room.
The emaciated Nagato lay on the operating table, staring directly into the glaring shadowless lamp. His lower legs were covered in horrifying, shocking scars.
It was hard to imagine what kind of damage his legs had endured.
His lower legs were entirely charcoal black, giving the impression of scorched tree trunks. Large, visible vascular networks were solidified beneath blood scabs, a result of venous thrombosis in the fatty layer of his calves.
Outside the transparent glass window, Konan looked at his legs, her eyes filled with remorse and pain.
If not for her, how could Yahiko have died? How could Nagato have endured such agony?
With Nagato's talent, he should have been like the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, a powerhouse who awed the shinobi world, enjoying the respect and admiration of the people.
His feet should not have been confined to that chakra transmission machinery; the boundless earth was where he was meant to stand.
He was supposed to become the second Sage of Six Paths!
The Masked Man leaned against a nearby wall, observing everything in the operating room, a flicker of profound emotion in his eyes.
The leaders of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, even in their wildest imaginations, would probably never guess that the leader of Akatsuki, the one who tore away their last shred of dignity, was a hemiplegic cripple incapable of independent movement.
He really didn't know what those in Amegakure would think if they saw this scene.
Their god, stripped of his majestic and benevolent surface, concealed an inner pain and suffering far exceeding their own…
"Truly ironic, isn't it…" His voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz; if one weren't close enough, even Black Zetsu might not have heard it.
"Ironic, perhaps." Black Zetsu's hollow eyes betrayed no thoughts.
"It seems that fellow Orochimaru has noticed something. Sasuke Uchiha is rapidly approaching this location," White Zetsu spoke up.
"Itachi will handle it," Black Zetsu said.
"It's starting." The Masked Man's exposed eye had, at some point, transformed into a three-tomoe Sharingan.
Watching the middle-aged man walk into the operating room, Konan's expression couldn't help but turn grave, her focus more intense than ever before.
Before she drew her last breath, no harm would come to Nagato.
"Do you need anesthesia?" Shinnō asked, looking down at the man beneath him.
"No need."
Nagato's tone was utterly flat. Compared to mental anguish, what was mere physical suffering?
Seemingly sensing his state of mind, Shinnō's hand movements paused for a moment, then resumed their normal pace as if nothing had happened.
He began to infuse the purified Gelel Stone energy liquid into Nagato's body via an IV drip.
Under the sharp scalpel, the charred black muscles of Nagato's lower legs were slowly incised…
"Things have started on Itachi Uchiha's end. I'll leave this to you." The Venus Flytrap Zetsu's form slowly vanished into the wall.
Pitter-patter~
Under a light drizzle, two men wearing conical straw hats and black cloaks adorned with red clouds stood waiting for something.
From the ground beside them, a white figure slowly emerged.
"He's here," White Zetsu reminded them.
"Mr. Itachi, do you need me to intervene?" Kisame turned his head to look at the man sitting silently beside him. "We are, after all, human, not sharks who have preyed on each other's flesh and blood since birth."
"No need." Itachi Uchiha slowly stood up and walked towards the distant enemy.
"How cruel…" Kisame turned and walked away.
"Aren't you curious about the outcome?" White Zetsu was taken aback by this.
"…I believe in Mr. Itachi." Kisame's steps faltered slightly.
Watching the figure approach, feeling that presence he would never forget even in death, Sasuke Uchiha's calm expression gradually showed fluctuations of emotion.
"Those Sharingan eyes, how far can you see with them now?" Itachi Uchiha slowly removed the straw hat from his head, revealing a pair of crimson eyes.
"How far can I see?" Sasuke Uchiha slowly drew the Kusanagi Sword from his waist, a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan gradually appearing in his eyes. "I can see you being killed by me."
"Your… time of death!"
"My time of death." Itachi Uchiha tilted his head up, letting the raindrops patter on his face.
"Everyone lives depending on their own knowledge and perception, shackled by it, and they call it reality."
"But knowledge and perception are ambiguous things. That reality might just be an illusion, a phantom…"
Squelch~
A bloodstained blade pierced through his chest.
Itachi Uchiha's expression didn't change. He turned his head to look behind him, at his beloved younger brother, and said softly:
"People live within their own self-awareness. Don't you think so?"
"Those Sharingan of yours, how much can they truly see through?"
"A boring genjutsu," Sasuke Uchiha said flatly. The moment his voice fell, the Itachi Uchiha before him had already transformed into countless crows, flying off in all directions.
"I'll ask you one last time: why did you slaughter the clan back then, killing Mom and Dad?"
"Why?" Itachi Uchiha shook his head slightly. "Is this the extent of your capacity?"
"You, who have seen the clan's stone tablet, why would you still ask such a foolish question?"
"The Uchiha clan has always been a defiled clan, one that wouldn't hesitate to kill comrades for the Mangekyo Sharingan, where fathers and sons turn against each other, and siblings slaughter one another for eternal pupil power, priding themselves on obtaining this strength."
"And from the moment you were born into this clan, you were also destined to be drawn into this bloody fate."
As the answer was spoken, the last trace of emotion in Sasuke Uchiha's eyes was slowly erased.
At this moment, the icy killing intent emanating from him seemed capable of freezing the rain.
"Very good!" As if sensing his resolve, Itachi Uchiha grinned ferociously. "Come, my younger brother."
"I will kill you, liberate you from the clan's destiny, and thereby achieve true transformation, break free from these shackles, and liberate myself from my own [capacity]."
"We are each other's spare eyes. This is precisely the bond between Uchiha brothers!"
"Let me become the next Madara Uchiha!"
"Chidori Nagashi!"
Crackle! A blinding electric light emanated from Sasuke Uchiha's palm.
The three-tomoe Sharingan in Itachi Uchiha's eyes spun rapidly. He leaped backward; the stone he had been standing on instantly split in two.
"Is this your growth?"
Swish, swish, swish!
His Sharingan darted left and right, capturing a fleeting opportunity. Sasuke Uchiha, surrounded by shuriken, suddenly lunged forward.
"I will show you the growth you fear."
Clang, clang, clang!
The Kusanagi Sword danced at high speed in the air, striking down several shuriken.
In the blink of an eye, only a step separated the two.
A savage arc lifted the corner of Sasuke Uchiha's mouth. The Kusanagi Sword in his hand suddenly erupted with a dazzling electric light as he swung the long blade into the air.
Suddenly,
His body slammed down onto the ground.
Just as his other hand began to move, Itachi had already twisted it behind his back.
"Ugh…" The intense pain forced a groan from Sasuke Uchiha.
"Is this the extent of your capacity?" Itachi Uchiha's tone was filled with disappointment.
Crackle!
A flash of lightning erupted where the two made contact.
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