The Uchiha Hideout is a grand spectacle against a midday sky, bright light shining down on an ostentatious fortress surrounded by encroaching nature. The tiered skirts on the perimeter of the massive structure hold bountiful game, waters full of fish and untended flora that spreads and weaves in the places rarely occupied by humans.
It was once a home for their kind. The Uchiha needed just one place to retreat when all was lost. When alliances fell and when numbers dwindled, they would return here to rejuvenate and regain strength. It's sacred to the Uchiha, more than even their little shrine in Konoha. The one place that only they could set foot on.
"Naruto will not be pleased." Sasuke comments softly to himself, knowing that it would likely see irreparable damages in the coming battle.
Yugao isn't as relaxed.
"I don't like this, Sasuke. It feels like a set-up, Itachi was never one for dramatics like waiting for you in some sanctified battleground, what if he has the battlefield advantage."
"Agreed," Shino adds. "A tactical retreat is our best option. We have a greater advantage in a field of our choosing."
"We've known it was a trap since we felt the Yonbi nearby."
Yugao and Shino furrow their brows. 'We' being Sasuke and the Nibi.
"The Yonbi?!"
"It's a trap." Sasuke concludes carelessly. "But they have the advantage no matter what we do now. They've already got the Yonbi, so the fact that they haven't sealed it already means it's going to be used as a tool by Itachi to capture Matatabi and make the sealing process easier. They're going for me because they can't get the Sanbi, and if they have the Yonbi and haven't sealed it yet, then they probably have the Gobi too and they can't seal that yet either. They were counting on me coming here."
"All the more reason to leave. Why? So they can't capture the Nibi." Shino argues, though his voice is dull.
"No. Obito got impatient. That's where he messed up. He hasn't taken into account that it doesn't matter what he puts in my way, it's not going to stop me. In fact, I see this as an opportunity to take the Yonbi back. He's trying to get too much done at once and hasn't assessed the threat level of his opposition. Either that, or he's counting on someone panicking that those two Bijuu were captured and he's making a move separately to capture another one while everyone runs around looking for missing Jinchuuriki. This area is too isolated for conventional backup."
"The Summit was not a proactive enough attempt at hindering Akatsuki's movements." Shino seems to gain some insight.
"No use crying over spilt milk. We have an opportunity here, I'm not going to waste it. I don't think we have the time to rely on luck to find it's way to us and send help. I can do this- no... Matatabi and I, we're ready. We're about to show them a whole new level. They think they've backed us into a corner. They don't know how unprepared they are."
"We will be of no use, Sasuke." Yugao almost pleads, begging him to see that he can't do it alone.
"I'm a Shinobi of Konoha." Sasuke insists, smiling as he stands from his kneeling position. "I would give my life to protect it. Even against my own brother. So you two go get help, those are my orders. I'm going to need more shovels to bury them."
Tsunade doesn't like the quiet that has taken over the village since Naruto's operation to eradicate the traitors. It's not too out of the ordinary, some days are slow and some are busy, but there's a foreboding silence. People are on edge, seemingly understanding the seriousness of what's happened and what's about to happen. Konoha cannot have in-fighting when there are madmen running around capturing primordial forces of Chakra.
"I've kicked the Hyuuga out of my compound." Naruto comments, not sitting on her chair for once and instead throwing pieces of balled up paper at Fujita while he's trying to meditate. Upside-down. On the ceiling. "Got sick of the uppity one demanding for better accommodation, but there's a lot of free space up in the actual Hyuuga Compound now."
"You mean the 'Heiress'?" Tsunade scribbles something on a scroll and puts it away.
"I'll be happy if I never have to manage something like that again." Naruto states, looking a bit down.
"It's not easy for anyone involved. And I've never had to deal with something this bad before either. The worst is behind us now, put it out of your mind and let's focus on the more pressing matters at hand."
"But how do you feel about all this? Sarutobi was your teacher. My old man did some pretty horrible things, and it didn't exactly make me feel great."
"I am not my teacher." Tsunade insists firmly. "I console myself with that fact alone. He was a guide for my skills but not my soul. I am my own person, and I refuse to become him in my leadership. You're not Madara, just like I'm not Sarutobi. Don't think so hard about it."
Naruto gives a hum, not agreeing but seemingly thoughtful.
The intercom buzzes loudly, startling them out of their little chat.
"Hokage-sama, we have an Iwagakure Shinobi requesting an emergency audience regarding the Akatsuki."
"Send them in, now." Tsunade orders immediately.
"Fujita. Go home, we'll continue training another time." Naruto suggests to his apprentice.
"Okay..." Fujita acquiesces nervously.
The Iwa Kunoichi barges in, looking beaten and ragged. Her pink eyes stand out to them, and they don't fail to notice she's alone.
"Identify yourself, Kunoichi." Naruto orders her, standing up with his arms behind his back.
She takes in several quick breaths. "Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure, granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage! I have news, the Yonbi and Gobi Jinchuuriki have been taken!"
"Exact location of both of them when they were taken and where they were last seen, and who took them if you can identify them."
"The Yonbi Jinchuuriki, Roshi, was in a hut near the border of Ishi and Tsuchi. Gramps had a platoon guarding him, which included me. Itachi killed everyone else. We don't know who was with him, but there were two."
"And the Gobi?"
"Han was by six guys with orange hair and the same eyes as you, and we have no idea where they went."
Naruto leans in incredulously. "Nagato captured the Gobi himself?"
"Naruto? Why is that important?" Tsunade feels his slight panic.
"Nagato is the one with the Rinnegan, only he can initiate the sealing ritual. The fact that they're letting Itachi keep the Yonbi means that they're not planning to seal it, and they're leaving other capable Akatsuki members out of it for other duties means they're being delegated to another capture. Guess who's chasing Itachi around right now?"
"Sasuke's walking into a trap!" Tsunade realizes in horror. "They're using Itachi as bait to capture the Nibi!"
Naruto gets ready to leap out the window. "I'm gonna gear up! Keep the village on high alert, and protect Karin!"
As he vanishes in a blur of movement, Tsunade turns to the girl.
"How'd you get out alive? It's not like Itachi to be so sloppy."
"I don't think he knew I was still alive, but the big blue guy who was with him definitely knew. He just kinda... spared me."
"Kisame spared you..." Tsunade murmurs thoughtfully. "Perhaps the Akatsuki isn't as united as we thought."
Disgruntled dark eyes look up at him. The small face winces into a pout when he pokes the boy on his forehead.
"Sorry, Sasuke. Maybe next time."
He is startled from his memories by the crashing noise of furniture being forcibly tipped over.
Hidan punts a small wooden coffee table out of sheer, aggressive boredom.
"Fucking hell! What the fuck are we doing in this dump?!"
"Shut. Up." Kakuzu growls back.
"Now now, children." Kabuto smiles amiably at them over the collar of his Akatsuki coat. His hands are alight with glowing green Chakra, restoring Itachi's own after he'd captured the Yonbi. "You're guests in Itachi-sans holiday property. Show some respect."
"Go fuck yourself you creepy snake-fucking cun-"
"Hidan." Itachi interrupts stoically. "Make yourself useful."
"Sasuke-kun approaches. I think it wise to prepare." Kabuto recommends, still smiling.
"As if one little teenage runt can take all of us at once. He'd be pushing it just to beat the best mass-murdering Onii-chan up there."
It may be overkill, Itachi concedes that point. He, Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu and Kabuto. Five S-Rank Shinobi to take one Jinchuuriki, but they need to prepared. The capturing of Jinchuuriki is becoming increasingly difficult with Naruto running around hindering their efforts. His appearance in Kiri had been testament to that, he's willing to just outright kill a Bijuu to buy some time.
There'd be no telling if Naruto would see through the deception, though Itachi is quite certain he'd left no-one alive.
Kisame has been unusually quiet since Obito outed himself to the world, but he's been doing his job just fine. Normally Kisame would be the one talking away, his unusual appearance catching someone's eye just long enough for him to smooth-talk some intel out of them. For someone so brutish and beastial in appearance and in battle, he has a strange charisma about his person. Little of that is showing now, he's letting Itachi do the talking. It's a red flag.
The dark chamber they reside in is the assembly, and perched in the stone throne in front of a decorative shrine depicting the Kyuubi, Itachi observes his 'allies' with little regard for them as people, but for what they offer him now to get closer to the Eternal Dream.
He can almost feel the warmth, imagining in his own thoughts how blissful life will be with everything he ever wanted. His eager and springy Otouto bugging him to play, his proud brother figure keeping a watchful eye over him. His parents are nowhere to be seen, unable to poison his world with Uchiha values. He will be Hokage, and live a long and fulfilling life, free of the dirtiness and hatred of reality.
All he needs to do is be rid of his bond with the current Sasuke.
And now, he hears the slapping of sandals against the cold stone floor.
"You come alone." Itachi states his observation monotonously. "Unwise."
As Sasuke steps into the window-lit hall, Itachi feels as though his imagination may have been playing tricks on him. Faint traces of heterochromic colouring fade from his brother's eyes. Sasuke is much bigger than he remembers. Calm, not as hot-headed or petulant.
And his eyes are pitying, as if he sees something worthy of pity in Itachi.
"You've been through a lot, Nii-san." Sasuke's Sharingan whirls into life. "But I can't let you have your way with the innocent anymore."
"Is that all?" Itachi is bored of this 'justice' approach. "You don't seem to understand. You've walked into enemy territory with no backup. You're facing down someone who has outclassed you in every way from begining, and all you can do is spout platitudes. Ideals will not win you this fight, nothing will. Are you surrendering yourself this easily? Then you are weaker than I imagined. I had hoped that you would have greater sense, or perhaps at least a honourable death to see the world's new future come to light with triumph. I expected more."
Sasuke does not take the bait. It is unsettling to him that Sasuke has risen above such things, despite Itachi's meddling. He is as cool as can be, still looking at him with those damn pitying eyes.
"I'm sorry, Itachi. Maybe next time."
Itachi's eye twitches, ever-so-slightly.
"Tsukuyomi."
He renderes the illusion as a perfect copy of the hall, other Akatsuki included, so Sasuke wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Only he didn't expect a massive, two-tailed flaming cat to appear behind Sasuke in the supposedly-perfect Genjutsu.
"Such a shame." The Nibi tuts.
Itachi grunts in pain and covers his eye as the illusion shatters forcefully.
Hidan and Kakuzu swoop in instantly, one with an insane cackle and the other stoic. A decorative scythe and earth-coated fist slam into Sasuke. Or it should have.
A purple, etheric rib cage appears around his brother, just enough to cover him from head to toe.
Sasuke doesn't say a word. Lightning Chakra leaps out from the skeletal structure, zapping and sparking his assailants into retreat.
"The fuck is this?" Hidan curses angrily.
Tears of blood dry quickly, enough for Sasuke to pick the red shells off of his face.
Sasuke's hand touches his stomach and twists. The potent energies of the Nibi leak out but do not consume him. The expanse of Chakra melds with Sasuke's own, causing a bright eruption of purple Chakra. It forms a cloak of similarly coloured light on Sasuke, make his skin glow just the same. His sclerae change to match the Nibi's, though his Sharingan remains unchanged.
Straight black seal patterns crawl down Sasuke's newly formed cloak of purple Chakra, Magatama appearing in the collar and back.
He puts his hands into a Horse seal.
"Katon: Kasha Mekkyaku!"
A colossal wave of blue flames spreads violently through the hall, decimating what little furniture remained.
Itachi barely had time to summon his own Susanoo, the mirror-shield deflecting the flames but not nullifying them. It does little to mitigate their danger as they immediately scorch Hidan to a crisp and Kakuzu attempts to shield himself with water, turning his skin earthen and attempting to retaliate with the natures of his other hearts. Five Chakra natures losing to Sasuke's sudden and immeasurable power.
The redirection of flame causes it to crash against the assembly walls, weakening them and causing them to crumble. The roof falls down on top of them.
Sasuke vanishes before their eyes, reappearing with a Chidori in-hand behind Kabuto and spearing him through the heart before any of them even realise he's there.
Itachi notices that Kakuzu howls in pain and anger too, only it's not Sasuke.
It's Kisame.
"Going after the medic is an established tactic, I'm impressed with that little Sasuke!" Kisame grins viciously.
"Kisame! You damn traitor-"
Samehada peels off Kakuzu's Katon heart.
"I really hate liars, and I'm sad to say that real life has more truth in it than Obito's dream." Kisame explains jovially, whirling Samehada around and tossing Kakuzu into the rubble that was once the stone ceiling.
Kabuto sputters as he feels a massive hole form where his heart should be. The sparking lightning Chakra burns his insides away.
His head twists around unnaturally to look at Sasuke, though he's careful not to peer into his eyes. Even his Senjutsu-enhanced senses hadn't been able to keep up.
"You motherfucker!" Hidan's scorched body comes running with scythe in-hand, flailing furiously.
Sasuke's palm opens through Kabuto's chest.
"Chidori Nagashi."
Lighting streaks out and stops Hidan in his tracks, making him scream and flail in pain on the spot. Kabuto uses the opportunity to use body-replacement, vomiting himself out of the mouth of his old body and slithering into the rubble to reconstitute.
With Hidan being completely bullied and Kakuzu occupied with an apparently traitorous Kisame, that leaves Itachi and himself to fight-off this unbelievably dangerous Jinchuuriki.
Worse yet, he can feel Naruto rapidly approaching and filled to the brim with Natural Chakra.
He can work with this. He just needs to make a quick getaway to prepare his contingency. Zetsu spores wiggle out and attach to his skin. Good. While Hidan struggles to heal with his strange immortality Jutsu, Kabuto will simply slink off for a minute.
At least Hidan's voice box is the first to go when he gets fried by lightning.
Sasuke vanishes again when Itachi's Susanoo swipes with the strangely fluid bright yellow sword.
"Itachi's Susanoo is quite different to Naruto's. It has some strangely versatile abilities."
"That sword should only be able to absorb so much." Matatabi points out. "He'll hit the limit on what he's absorbing and have to dispose of it eventually. That'll be your best opportunity to catch him from behind. An assault from the front will do no good against that shield."
'I wonder...'
He appears before Hidan, digging elongated claws into his victims back to lift him up, and throws the cultist into the path of Itachi's blade.
"What the fu-u-u-u-u-"
Hidan seems to liquify as he gets sealed into the gourd attached to the blade.
Sasuke retracts his claws.
"We only have so long in this state, we are unpracticed. Go all out!"
He focuses all of the combined might of their Chakra.
Itachi glares with hatred. It's startling to see it as a real emotion, unfaked like it had been in the past.
The yellow Susanoo points the gourd away, blasting Hidan and a huge amount of rubble out in a gust. He weaves hand-signs to summon.
"Here we go." Sasuke tenses, focusing their Chakra. Combined with his own, it remains purple and expands rapidly to take corporeal form.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu(Summoning Jutsu)!" Itachi slaps his palm on the ground.
Naruto's Susanoo soars as fast as it can. He senses numerous spikes in strong Chakra, both inhuman in strength.
He transforms his eyes into binoculars using Shurado.
'The old Uchiha Hideout?'
He retracts his eyes when he sees a gargantuan plume of smoke and the Yonbi appearing, enslaved to the Sharingan. But even from this distance, he can feel Sasuke's Chakra levels skyrocket. What the hell has he done?
And now, without enhanced vision, he can see a bright purple light in the middle of the day at the top of the terraced compound.
Remaining still, he absorbs Senjutsu Chakra and enters Sage Mode as the Susanoo carries him to his destination. He can feel Itachi and Sasuke. Kabuto is hiding somewhere away from the battle, but still present. Two other signatures he doesn't recognize, with Kisame fighting one of them. At least that gives him a little wiggle-room to get rid of the other unknown before taking on Kabuto, the greater threat.
At least this way, he can let Sasuke extract some closure from Itachi in the form of vengeance or however he wants to justify it.
Floating into place above the fortress, he lets his Susanoo dissipate and suspends himself in the air, judging what the best spot would be to drop for a shock entry. No doubt Kabuto already knows he's here. But something is off about this whole thing, he can sense a blob of weak and plain Chakra signatures under the hideout. He wants to dismiss them as summon's, but no summon has such weak Chakra.
But he needs to act regardless. This wild form Sasuke has taken is impressive but everything has its weakness, he doesn't doubt there will be some way to counter it, or if it'll even last that long against the Yonbi.
Sasuke's Chakra pools out of him and takes the form of a purple Nibi, flaring gloriously with two swishing tails. Sasuke claimed he had come far with the Nibi's Chakra, maybe he has unleashed the theoretical state of being between human and Bijuu.
"Futon: Shinku Tobikomu(Wind Release: Vacuum Dive)!"
Hidan's body begins to heal, drawing power from the souls trapped in his shadow. Sacrificed in the divine ritual of Jashin, their lives fuel his crusade to spread the power of a true god!
He takes sight of the massive flaming purple cat. Seriously, what the fuck is that about? The kid doesn't even seem a slight bit scared of them and then he whips out that bullshit? Itachi is gonna fuck him up.
But he can't fight something that big anyway, better to kill Kisame and add that fish-fucker to his Well of Souls.
Or he would, until his entire midsection gets ripped apart but a massive shuriken of screeching wind. It flies through him and curves around in the air towards Kakuzu.
"Oi, Kakuzu! Watch out!" Hidan howls at him
"I know!" Kakuzu splits all of his hearts away, narrowly dodging the expanding Rasenshuriken.
Footsteps next to him reveal just who decided to rob him of yet another life. A clink of crimson armour and a massive weird-ass Gunbai on his back are dead-giveaways.
"You're still alive?" Uchiha Naruto asks disbelievingly.
"Kehahaha!" Hidan cackles delightedly. "I'm immortal, cocksucker! Ya can't kill me!"
"No, I think I've figured it out." Naruto comments again, off-handed and calm. "You're trapped a bunch of souls in your shadow, I can see them with my Rinnegan. You let the soul replenish your 'shape' when your body takes irreparable damage. Quite inventive, I don't know how you did it, but unlucky. I can control souls with these eyes."
A black rod spears out of Naruto's gloved-hand and straight through Hidan's heart, nailing him to the floor.
"Harder daddy!" Hidan cackles again, unflinching. "Ya can't do shit!"
Near-translucent blue orbs with dense red ones float around them suddenly, coalescing in front of Nibi-Sasuke's mouth.
"Oi..." Naruto balks. "That's a bit close, Sasuke."
"You're dead, cocksucker." Hidan grins wickedly, already feeling his body put itself back together.
Naruto narrows his eyes and plunges his hand into Hidan's shadow.
"Let's see how well you do now, then." Naruto grins back. "Ningendo!"
Hidan feels the pull on his shadow, and the following eruption of a rainbow of wisps that are the souls once trapped in there.
"Aw, fuck!" Hidan panics. Though his body is restored, he now only has one life to toss away.
The ground seems to melt slightly, pulling his full body down into it. Good, Kabuto is looking out for him.
"Mokuton: Mokujin no Jutsu(Wood Human)!"
Hidan sees only the humanoid construct of wood slide down onto another terrace before Kabuto whisks him away.
"Bijuudama!" Sasuke and Matatabi cry in unison.
Itachi makes the Yonbi put its head down, summoning his Susanoo to manifest its shield. The Bijuudama collides with it and explodes violently, but the shield deflects its energy into a ring of force that carves a gaping chasm through the middle of the elevated hideout.
Another massive plume of smoke explodes in the distance, and the most gargantuan purple snake he'd ever seen slithers towards them faster than anything that size should be able to move.
"Ignore it, Sasuke-kun! Naruto will take care of that, focus on Itachi!"
The terrifying rumble of the beast is so loud and deep that their footing shakes.
"Such delicious morsels!" It growls unnaturally. Kabuto is barely visible on its head.
Kabuto snake could swallow a Bijuu whole, how did he create such a massive creature? Even Gamabunta and Matatabi were dwarfed by it. Did Naruto even have anything that could take that thing on?
Regardless, Naruto shoots out some light blue chains that pierce the Yonbi's flesh. The Bijuu howls in anger, grabbing the chains and flinging Naruto straight towards the massive conjured and enhanced snake. Seems that had been his plan, so Sasuke refocuses on Itachi.
Matatabi bats away incoming Yasaka Magatama with one of her tails and dashes to one side to avoid a river of lava. Chidori sparks to life on the ends of both her tails, and they weave around the fluid blade and tails of Itachi and the Yonbi with swift agility.
She claws the edge of Itachi's shield, whipping one tail around to hit the gourd attached to the sword. The Yonbi catches it with one of its feet, doing a cartwheel and whipping all of them into a twirl. Matatabi's other tail strikes, using the precision of Sasuke Sharingan to guide her movement, and this time it strikes true. The gourd shatters from the Chidori, disabling the sword as a flurry of rubble and lava globs explode from it.
They roll down the side of the hideout, landing on its highest terrace. Matatabi leaps back up with the Yonbi in-tow, lava streams being spit ferociously, but she is too nimble, even for him.
The Yonbi swings from one of the standing sky-pillars, crashing down upon Sasuke and Matatabi and pinning them and their tails down.
"You are a nuisance!" Itachi's eyes begin to bleed. "Amaterasu!"
Black flames appear pelt down on the side of Matatabi's head, burning the Chakra composing her physical form away and getting closer to Sasuke.
Sasuke's right eye shifts shape, and instead of contesting Amaterasu with more flame, he instead decides to control Itachi's. His eye bleeds as well.
"Enton: Kagutsuchi(Blaze Release: Flame Control)!"
Applying the principles of all Chakra being connected, Sasuke dominates Itachi's own power and uses it like it were his own. The black flames change direction as if chasing something and attack the Yonbi.
"I can't maintain form for any longer, I need to regather our strength!" Matatabi informs Sasuke desperately.
"That's fine." Sasuke agrees readily, huffing from controlling Itachi's unbelievable power.
But with the Yonbi tumbling down the edge of the hideout and into the chasm left previously, they have a bit of time.
The purple cloak of Chakra whisps away while she recovers, and Sasuke and Itachi face eachother alone.
The snake is empowered by Senjutsu Chakra, Naruto notes. It's an unnatural creation of experimentation. No being, even one with Chakra, can be that massive without using Ninjutsu, and this snake is certainly no Akimichi.
Kabuto is continuing to be a massive pain in his ass. As he soars towards the snake, he wonders just what he can do to put this enhanced clone of Manda in the ground for good. Genjutsu wouldn't work with Kabuto atop its head to break it out of it, so he needs to think of something massive enough to contend with it and protect Sasuke.
He has a few ideas though, and for now he's going to start off small. Well, as small as Senjutsu-enhanced Mokuton goes, anyway.
Naruto feels his blood pumping. The thought that Kabuto has come this far, possibly far enough to be a worthy enemy, has him excited to go all-out for once. Kabuto, for all the pains he brings Naruto, is truly a model of how far someone can come without legendary genes.
Not wasting Chakra creating another construct, he uses the Summoning Jutsu mid-flight to make his previous Mokujin appear under his feet.
Pumping Senjutsu Chakra into it, he forces it to grow another two heads and two more sets of arms. It grows impressively in response to the Chakra, enough to not be swallowed in one bite by the creature.
"Iso: Susanoo!"
His light blue Chakra wraps and weaves around his humanoid Mokuton construct, coating its body with dense armour. Spreading from the head-down, instead of forming wings, it covers all nine arms and gives each hand a massive blade from his Susanoo.
Glowing brightly, the Mokuton-clad-Susanoo sprints towards Kabuto and the demon-snake, leaping into a jump and making itself a bladed spinning top.
Nidaime Manda burrows underground, receiving shallow slashes on its back. Wounds that would kill a normal summon were but scratches on it.
It reemerges and strikes with a bite, grabbing Naruto's Iso Susanoo and flailing it. A ring of fire blasts from the main head and lands straight into the roof of Manda's mouth, causing a cataclysmic booming noise and cooking the entirety of its mouth. Manda whips his sharp-edged tail around and proceeds to regurgitate himself from his own mouth, as Kabuto did. The snakeskin quickly disintegrates into Natural Energy.
Naruto uses one blade of the Susanoo to swing upwards, causing a massive shockwave to chase Manda across the ground. Predictably, Manda turns around at lightning speed and goes straight back towards Naruto. The Uchiha digs four blades into the ground, upturning it and making a ramp that forces Manda to skitter up it. Manda dips his head down to bite, only to be met with another two blades slashing and wounding his eye, taking a chunk off the side of his head.
The two rear-heads of the Iso Susanoo launch a flurry of massive fireballs that chase Manda instead of simply letting him dodge them. The Senjutsu-enhanced Katon behaves sporadically, and Manda is just barely quick enough to get away with one scorch wound.
Smoke from the fireballs burning away the trees and grasslands rises up and clouds the sky, making his Susanoo shine brighter.
Manda spits out giant snakes from his mouth, one blue, one red and one green. Naruto manages to ocularly control one of them to bite another, though the remaining one sweeps the Susanoo's legs out from under it, letting Manda get the jump on him and tackle him back down.
Naruto laughs wildly, more excited than ever before. Kabuto is close, on Manda's head and smiling in his own demented way.
The Susanoo plunges three blades into Manda's neck, locking him in place and allowing Naruto to leap from his construct onto Manda's head. The humanoid, still clad in Susanoo, tears its swords away and Manda's head falls to the ground. But while Manda once again regenerates, the essentially giant Mokuton Bunshin keeps it occupied as Naruto and Kabuto clash.
He grabs his Gunbai from his back while Kabuto launches his sound-and-light Jutsu. Channeling the Chakra from it, he diverts it into the Gunbai to avoid being torn apart and deafened.
"You've learned some new tricks!" Kabuto dashes to his side, unaffected by his own Jutsu and ready to strike with a disabling Medical-Jutsu blazing on his hand.
Naruto opens his mouth and lets out his own Senjutsu-enhanced deafening roar. It tears away the flesh of the head they're standing on and launches Kabuto to the hard ground. Naruto chases him with his glowing Gunbai. A whirling ball of Amaterasu flames form in front of him, and he converts all of the energy he'd collected into Futon Chakra. Black flame blots their vision with one swing, disintegrating most of Kabuto. But surely enough, Kabuto replaces his body once more.
He stows the Gunbai, and the two engage in blurringly fast Taijutsu.
The landscape had never looked so barren.
Sasuke doesn't allow his hatred to dominate his sense. He ducks and weaves under Itachi's speeding kicks, narrowly evading grips that would end up with him being thrown down. Jiraiya's masterful teaching of defensive Taijutsu is the perfect supplement to the aggressive style given better shape by training with the Nibi's Chakra.
Itachi is getting increasingly frantic, trying to land blows. He certainly does, more than once, but Sasuke takes it. Endurance and resilience are key traits to lasting in a spar against Naruto.
His brother fights alone, with training that groomed him specially for killing enemies that cannot fight back. Genjutsu cannot immobilize Sasuke, so no single-hit kills from a disabled enemy. His body is strong, from rigorous training and sparring. His Ninjutsu is refined with the help of Kakashi. Every piece of him is forged with the help of others.
Itachi has nothing like it. As strong and genius as he is, Sasuke is the culmination of acceptance of help and love. Hatred and doing things on his own will not be enough.
"Have you nothing on your tongue?!" Itachi spits with hateful vitriol.
"My pity for you will do no good." Sasuke counters evenly. "I have no dramatics left. You are my enemy, and you will fall to me. That is all."
Itachi's face is painted with disgust and exhaustion.
"You would defend Konoha after all of this?! They used my love for you against us, they wanted us dead and now you serve them like a dog on a leash, even after knowing the truth?!"
"And that is why I pity you. You didn't grow up with the same joy that I did."
Itachi screams in anger and launches into another ferocious assault.
Sasuke deftly cartwheels back, copying Itachi's moves with his Sharingan and using them against him. Itachi does not have the same endurance and speed, and can only be put on the back foot in the face of Sasuke's now-aggressive moves.
"Sasuke-kun, the Yonbi-"
Said creature emerges from the chasm with a howl, pumping its chest with its fists.
"We aren't ready yet!"
But a huge bubble of water begins to tsunami towards it, suspending it in it on the edge of the compound.
Even from here, he can read the transformed Kisame's lips through the occlusion of the bubble.
"Ya better finish this quick, kiddo."
Sasuke lights his palm with Chidori and dashes. Blood spittles from Itachi's mouth, and his eyes morph again. The mirror-shield absorbs Sasuke's attack and disperses the lightning.
Itachi holds his hands over his eyes to wipe the blood away, making his Susanoo slash and crash around wildly with his lack of sight.
"Sasuke-kun... it's time."
"Yeah." Sasuke steels his heart.
He looks at his broken brother, so full of hatred and sporadic. So unlike the Nii-san he grew up with.
This is mercy. Itachi was groomed from the start, he never had a chance at a happy life. Not while those people were in power.
It's time to end this, once and for all. For the future of Konoha and the Uchiha Clan.
His body clads in purple Chakra. He slips under the shield before it crushes him and with all their might, they rip the shield from Itachi's Susanoo.
Sasuke hits and hits with Chidori. The Susanoo begins to crack as more and more lightning Chakra spools out into the atmosphere. The air is charged, and as the yellow light begins to fade, Sasuke puts one hand in the air and summons all of the lightning Chakra around him and in the sky down upon Itachi.
"Kirin!"
The flash is blinding, but he closes his eyes and forms his Susanoo with Matatabi's Chakra. The lightning beast crashes down. The Uchiha Hideout is no-more.
Itachi is miraculously still standing. Although he is absent in mind, blood pouring from dark eyes and hair scorched away by lightning.
Sasuke spears him through the chest.
"Goodbye, Nii-san."
Itachi coughs out chunks, and with one last hateful glare, takes his last breath.
The Yonbi snaps out of Itachi's enthralment. Kisame is relieved, he can't keep absorbing this much Bijuu Chakra.
It puts its monkey-hands up in the gargantuan Suiton prison, a sign of peace or submission.
Kisame lets the water cascade down and separates from Samehada. It chitters at him happily, having gotten a delicious meal.
"I guess it's over." Kisame says to himself wrly. "Now I just gotta survive that Naruto, heheh."
He makes his way up what remains of the flattened compound.
"Farwell, Itachi-san." Kisame bids respectfully.
Sasuke looks up at him. Scary kid. Even Kisame doubted him at first, but he supposes that Bijuu can be infinitely more terrifying when used like this.
"I'll deal with you later." Sasuke says to him dully.
Kisame takes no offense. The kid clearly still had some love for his brother and needs a moment to recover.
They stay silent, even as the Yonbi lumbers over as quietly as it can.
"Hate to interrupt, Sasuke-san. But Obito could be here any minute to take the Yonbi back. You're weakened from your fight and Naruto-san is busy, you're better off returning to Konoha with Itachi-san's body."
"Why did you help me?" Sasuke rasps.
"I didn't really do it to help you," Kisame answers honestly. "My ideals don't line up with Akatsuki's methods anymore. I don't much like liars, and I find myself not liking the idea of being trapped in an eternal one. That's all."
Sasuke doesn't respond. One of his Chakra tails does poke into the ground and pull Hidan out, though. It's so casual that Kisame thinks Sasuke doesn't realize how absurd it is that he's straight-up bullying an S-Rank criminal Shinobi like that.
"Hi, Hidan." Kisame grins and swings Samehada at him, shredding him to pieces before Sasuke can.
Hidan drops and doesn't give any hint of him regenerating. How odd! Kisame pokes the pieces of his corpse to gauge for a reaction, but it seems that whatever Naruto did has robbed Hidan of his abilities. Looks like he's dead for good.
"I have a feeling... that this isn't over." Sasuke mutters, a foreboding premonition.
Kisame's grin falters.
Suddenly Kabuto and Naruto appear by crash-landing next to them. Naruto is holding Kabuto down by the head. They both heave deeply, Kabuto in worse condition and absent of Senjutsu patterns on his face. Naruto has had his armour torn away, along with his sleeves. The blood on him probably was his, he simply healed from his wounds. Kabuto doesn't appear to have enough Chakra left to do his weird body-replacement.
Naruto stands up, looking at Kisame.
"Hold him down, and I'll see to it that you're removed from Hi no Kuni's Bingo Book, so long as you don't commit any more atrocities in our lands."
"Aye-aye, Skipper." Kisame mockingly salutes.
Naruto goes over to Itachi's fallen body and unseals two jars filled with strange green liquid and starts harvesting Itachi's eyes.
"You think that this is a victory?" Kabuto spits out globs of blood, still smiling away. It makes a menacing frontal image with his giant dead snake behind him in the distance, covered in the pieces of Naruto's wood creation.
"Enough out of you, Kabuto. Die with the pride of knowing you're the only man that's ever pushed me this far." Naruto doesn't turn away as he fills up the jars with Itachi's Sharingan.
"You idiots," Kabuto scolds wickedly. "This was all part of his plan!"
A loud shout in the distance catches everyone's attention.
"Kuchiyose: Gedo Mazo!"
The Yonbi looks alarmed.
"Get out of here now, humans!" It shouts to them, before its eyes are ensnared by the Sharingan again.
"This can't be happening, not now!" Naruto stumbles over to Sasuke, putting the eye-jars in his obi.
A plume of smoke erupts nearby.
"We need to go! I can't fight Obito and Nagato in my current condition!"
White Zetsu begin to emerge from the ground, though Kisame notes that there are many of them instead of just the one like he thought. They're all tinged blue, and Samehada growls.
"They're full of Nibi Chakra?" Kisame is confused.
"Obito left them here. The eight-trigrams seal is too complex to get through quickly, so he had some Zetsu here to absorb the ambient Chakra from your battle that you stumbled into so perfectly!" Kabuto laughs maniacally.
Dark coffins emerge from the rubble.
A dark green light begins to filter over the destroyed castle.
It's a Susanoo. And rested in the jewel on its head is Obito.
The White Zetsu get sucked away by invisible force, heading straight towards the Gedo Mazo. It swallows them whole.
"Now would be a good time if ya got an escape plan." Kisame mentions idly.
"I need Chakra, I can try one last thing!" Naruto exclaimes desperately.
The Yonbi begins to get absorbed by the Gedo Mazo. Without a seal protecting it, it dissolves into the mouth rapidly.
"Ya can absorb Chakra, right? Use as much of mine as ya need." Kisame puts his fist out. "Just take me with ya, won't ya?"
"Ours too, we still have plenty to spare." Sasuke puts out his hand.
Naruto absorbs as much as his body will allow him and re-enters Sage Mode simultaneously.
The dark marks under his eyes take shape once more, light blue Chakra flares around him as he claps his hands together.
"Senpou-" He says slowly, grinding his teeth together.
A massive black shuriken hurls towards them, they hurdle out of the way, Sasuke grabbing Itachi's body while doing so.
"-Mokuton: Shinsusenju!"
With a mighty roar, Naruto summons what could only be described as a being from legends. Kisame finds himself several hundred-feet higher than he should be.
One thousand arms or at least close to it, shrouding another humanoid, with another humanoid sitting on its head. It is so massive that even Samehada wilts at the thought of trying to absorb that much Chakra.
Naruto calls forth his Susanoo before punches start flying, and Kisame makes his escape with the two alive Uchiha and one dead.
Cataclysmic noise can be heard as the Gedo Mazo and Obito's Susanoo try to combat it. It won't last forever, but it has bought them enough time to escape.
Obito's Susanoo flies through the construct, though instead of chasing them, it throws more of those black Shuriken that teleport pieces of Naruto's Jutsu somewhere to protect the statue. Pain seems to be trying to blast it away with the power of gravity.
Kisame nearly sighs in relief when a small wooden moon begins to form in the distance, far away from them.
He wonders just how long Yakushi Kabuto can last in a world where Uchiha Naruto is out for his blood.
Tsunade is alarmed when Naruto's Susanoo fades mid-flight.
"Jiraiya!" She calls out desperately.
"On it!"
Gamabunta appears under Naruto, on his back. He inflates his stomach to soften the fall for the four bodies.
"Quite the welcome party!" Kisame compliments.
"He's with us!" Naruto blocks them from attacking, falling to the ground in exhaustion.
"What happened? We could feel your Chakra from half a nation away!" Tsunade can't lean down far enough to check on him with her bulging stomach.
"Obito has Nibi Chakra, the Yonbi and the Gobi!" Naruto dry-heaves. "This is it, this is the end. He's going to go for the others in one-fell-swoop!"
Tsunade barks out orders to everyone in sight, telling them to go into full lockdown and prepare's many parties for rescue missions.
Kisame doesn't think it'll make a difference, but he's along for the ride now so hey, why not enjoy it while it lasts?