Whoosh~ Whoosh!
The fierce wind howled past his ears. Future Sasuke glanced at the dark clouds in the sky, and for some reason, an ominous premonition welled up in his heart.
"Weren't you headed to the Land of Rain? Why have you come looking for this old lady again?"
The first words Nekobaa had spoken when she saw him couldn't help but surface in his mind.
The Land of Rain was Akatsuki's main base.
Why would this world's version of him appear there?
At this point in time, shouldn't he be training with Orochimaru?
Countless questions flashed through his mind. The sense of urgency welling up inside him spurred him to quicken his pace, his high-speed movement even carving a path through the rainwater.
"Itachi, wait for me!"
Amidst a field of ruins, Sasuke Uchiha, in his Curse Mark Level 2 state, circled rapidly around the figure in the center. Behind him, black flames followed closely.
Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh~
Anything touched by these flames immediately ignited.
When rainwater fell upon these black flames, not only did it fail to extinguish them, but it instead became their fuel, causing them to burn even more fiercely.
"What is this now?"
Watching the black flames spread towards him, Zetsu quickly submerged into the ground to avoid being caught by them.
"The black flames that incinerate all creation—Amaterasu!" Black Zetsu explained.
Sasuke Uchiha glanced behind him. Seeing the black flames that could even burn solid rock to cinders, his expression darkened, and he immediately quickened his pace again.
But how could his speed surpass Itachi Uchiha's visual tracking speed?
Fwoosh!
Black flames suddenly erupted on his menacing right wing.
"Argh!" The soul-searing burning sensation instantly robbed him of his ability to move, his body instinctively curling into a ball.
"Looks like it's over." On the other side, Zetsu emerged halfway from a rock, observing the scene.
"He's already done exceptionally well, to hold out for so long under the suppression of the Mangekyo Sharingan," Black Zetsu said.
"The flames are extinguished?" White Zetsu was stunned, watching the flames slowly disappear.
"Itachi has retracted Amaterasu. Is he preparing to take Sasuke Uchiha's Sharingan?"
Itachi Uchiha dragged his exhausted body, slowly walking towards his younger brother, who was curled up in a heap not far away, having lost all ability to resist.
"Your eyes… are mine." He laboriously squatted down. Just as his hand reached halfway, a mouthful of blood gushed from his lips.
He clutched his eyes in pain. Just as he was about to try and ease the agony, a numbing sensation spread through his body.
Crackle!
The "corpse" curled up on the ground suddenly dissolved into a puddle of white slime. Sasuke Uchiha, no longer in his Curse Mark state, leaped out from the white slime, wielding Chidori Sharp Spear, and thrust it towards the enemy within arm's reach—his former kin, his beloved older brother!
Itachi Uchiha's expression changed drastically. His figure leaped backward abruptly, dark red skeletal bones rapidly materializing.
Perhaps due to excessive physical exertion, the Susanoo's formation stalled momentarily halfway through. It was this brief pause that gave Chidori Sharp Spear the opportunity to pierce his body.
"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on?!" White Zetsu stared at this scene in shock.
Thunk!
Sasuke Uchiha felt the sensation of Chidori Sharp Spear piercing through, a flicker of pleasant surprise in his eyes. It was simply divine intervention.
"It seems using Amaterasu put quite a burden on you… Ugh!"
Thwack! Before he could finish his sentence, a dark red skeletal hand swatted him into the distance. He crashed heavily onto the ground, sending countless fragments of stone flying.
Ptui!
A mouthful of blood spewed from his nose and mouth.
"That was an Orochimaru-style Substitution Jutsu just now, wasn't it?" Itachi Uchiha clutched the wound on his waist, trying to prevent more blood from flowing out.
"You've grown, Sasuke."
Sasuke Uchiha struggled to his feet, coughing up another mouthful of blood.
"The Sharingan is an eye that can see chakra. Your chakra is already depleted," Itachi Uchiha said. "Give up resisting."
Sasuke Uchiha labored to even out his ragged breathing. Although the Orochimaru-style Substitution Jutsu was powerful, its chakra consumption was equally terrifying. Coupled with the consumption from the previous battle, just as Itachi had said, his chakra was indeed exhausted.
But to have him give up resisting…
What a joke!
"Yes, my chakra is indeed depleted. But how much chakra could you possibly have left?" Sasuke Uchiha retorted.
"Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo… how little chakra could those things possibly consume?"
"Look up at the sky," he said, pointing upwards.
Itachi Uchiha tilted his head. The originally gray sky had become pitch black, with flashes of lightning occasionally rolling through. The terrifying might felt as if the end of the world was descending.
"I should also thank you for using so much Fire Style." To return the favor for Itachi's earlier explanation, Sasuke similarly explained the principle of his ninjutsu.
"Thank your Fire Style for causing the surrounding air temperature to rise sharply. Aided by the rising air currents, I was able to create a thundercloud of this scale."
"This ninjutsu doesn't use my own lightning, but that of nature. I am merely guiding it, so it doesn't require much chakra."
As he spoke, a flash of lightning lit up his right hand. Like a lightning rod attracting lightning, several bolts struck the ground beside them.
"This ninjutsu… is called Kirin!"
His right hand, crackling with lightning, suddenly thrust downwards.
A terrifying streak of lightning connected the earth and sky. Under his control, these bolts of lightning coalesced into the shape of a beast. Coupled with that heaven-piercing brilliance and the terrifying might of the lightning, it was as if a divine beast from mythology had descended to deliver divine punishment upon the world.
The moment Kirin descended, Sasuke Uchiha frantically squeezed out the remaining chakra in his body, barely managing to enter Curse Mark Level 2. The wings on his shoulders completely enveloped his form.
Kirin was a ninjutsu he had developed by combining natural lightning with Lightning Release shape and nature transformation, a technique that had astonished even Orochimaru.
Its advantages were obvious: wide range, immense attack power, and low chakra consumption. Attacking at the speed of lightning, one-thousandth of a second, it was almost impossible to dodge.
But its weaknesses were equally apparent: extreme reliance on nature, and the need to avoid being caught in Kirin's own massive attack range.
BOOM!
With Itachi Uchiha's position as the epicenter, a terrifying white light engulfed everything, sparing nothing. Even the objects at the very periphery were reduced to countless fine particles in the attack's aftershock.
Zetsu didn't dare to face its edge either; the ground seemed to turn into a liquid, allowing him to move through it.
"This is… Kirin?!" Future Sasuke stared at the white light illuminating the world beneath the dark, ominous clouds in the distance, his pupils shrinking.
Why?
Shouldn't Kirin have been developed two years later?
The Lightning Release nature and shape transformations required to train Kirin, logically, even with Orochimaru's unreserved tutelage, shouldn't have been mastered by now.
What on earth is wrong with this world?
He felt as if everything had been put on fast-forward.
The emergence of Akatsuki was like this; Naruto's bizarre control over the Nine-Tails' power was like this; and now, even this world's version of him was like this!