"It's over."
Sasuke forcefully pressed his hands onto the hilt of the sword, looking indifferently at the figure in front of him, just a fist-length away, pierced through by the blade, and continuously coughing up blood—Uchiha Itachi.
This wasn't a shadow clone, nor a crow clone. The one before him now, impaled by his blade, was Itachi's true body!
The brother he had once admired the most, the sinner who had massacred the Uchiha clan of Konoha, the nightmare that had awakened him countless nights.
The person who once made him despair had finally fallen under his blade.
With this thought, Sasuke's grip on the hilt tightened even more.
At this point, Itachi could no longer speak.
He barely raised his head, trying to get a final look at Sasuke, but his vision had already blurred completely, making it impossible to see Sasuke's face.
Next, his legs gave way, and his body leaned forward, falling onto Sasuke.
Thud.
Sasuke did not evade, letting Itachi's body fall on him.
After a while, Itachi, whose head had drooped, slowly extended his right hand, struggling to move it towards Sasuke's face.
Even now, he still couldn't let go of his eyes?
Sasuke watched all of this with an expressionless face.
He let Itachi's right hand slowly approach his eye socket.
Just as Sasuke was sneering at how Itachi would make his move—
Itachi's fingers suddenly moved upwards, his index and middle fingers together, and with the last of his strength, he poked Sasuke's forehead.
In the next moment, Itachi closed his eyes, and with a soft thud, he fell heavily from Sasuke's body onto the ground, lifeless.
"What... does this mean?"
Sasuke stood there in a daze for a while before he looked down at Itachi again.
Suddenly, a gap appeared in the Amaterasu flames surrounding him.
Izumi, who had sealed away part of the Amaterasu flames with a sealing scroll, didn't hesitate to rush into the circle with the others to assist Sasuke.
"Sasuke..." Izumi had just begun to speak.
Suddenly!
She saw the familiar person on the ground. Her words came to an abrupt halt, and she stood frozen, motionless for a long time.
Not only her, but the other Uchihas who had come to support also saw the person on the ground.
Jin quickly rushed forward, carefully observing Itachi.
Very soon, the corner of his mouth curled, and it kept spreading wider and wider until he could no longer hold back, bursting into crazed laughter:
"Itachi is dead! Uchiha Itachi is truly dead!! Haha! Hahahahaha!"
One stone stirred a thousand waves.
The other Uchihas, seeing this scene and confirming it repeatedly, had their shadows of pain dissipate in an instant. It was as if they were reborn, and they too burst into laughter:
"Father! Mother! Grandfather! Grandmother! Do you see this? The one who killed you is finally dead! Hahahaha..."
"I'm so happy right now! Brother! You can rest in peace now! Hahaha!"
"Misa, your revenge is fulfilled! Haha! Hahahaha..."
"...."
At this moment, all the Uchihas were lost in their ecstatic joy.
Jin got up, rushed to Sasuke, and laughed loudly, patting him heavily on the shoulder: "Sasuke! There's no need to be reserved now! Laugh! Laugh out all the suffering! Laugh out all the pain! We won! We've succeeded in our revenge! We should laugh out loud!"
Affected by the atmosphere, Sasuke temporarily put aside Itachi's final actions.
Then, thinking about all these years—everything that weighed on his heart, no matter what he did, always ranking first in his mind—the revenge that was finally complete, he looked at his clanmates rejoicing beside him, and finally smiled, laughing loudly:
"Hahahaha..."
The ruins of Naka Shrine became a sea of laughter.
The laughter was so loud that even Gensou could hear the infectious laughter of the Uchihas.
It seemed that the four Laughing Uchihas would soon grow into the Ten Laughing Maniacs of Uchiha.
"Since the matter at Naka Shrine is settled, let's wrap things up here."
With that decision in mind, Gensou's palm turned a steel color, blocking the attack of the Sennin-mode Jiraiya's Frog Strike.
Unlike last time when he faced himself as an Edo Tensei, his power greatly limited—
In the brief exchange just now, Jiraiya deeply felt the vast difference in power between the truly revived Gensou and his Edo Tensei self.
Because of this, he had specifically let the other jōnin hold their ground, taking some time to properly activate Sage Mode.
"The sage system of Mount Myōboku."
Gensou glanced at Fukasaku and Shima, who stood on Jiraiya's shoulders.
"Let's see how the human Sage Mode compares to that of the toads."
As the sharp tongues of the two Great Toad Sages came towards him, Gensou retreated to create distance and clapped his hands together:
"Sage Art!"
Instantly, blue sage markings appeared around Gensou's eyes.
A massive surge of energy, far beyond what he had before, erupted from his body.
The nearby Konoha ninja felt their hearts sink, as though a great beast had its gaze upon them, and their bodies trembled with cold.
Among them, Aburame Shibi, the head of the Aburame clan, was stunned to find that the insects he usually controlled with ease were suddenly uncontrollable, fleeing madly as though frightened out of their wits.
Such a situation was something he had never seen before in his life.
"This is..."
Seeing the scene before them, Tsunade found it both familiar and uncertain.
"Sage Art!"
However, Shima, seeing this, instantly confirmed it.
Then, she muttered in disbelief, "Hey, did I just see wrong like the old lord, or is that human brat really using sage arts? And an unfamiliar one at that?"
"Don't defame the Great Elder like that!" Fukasaku habitually chided her before staring straight at Gensou, taking a deep breath, and nodding, "It's definitely sage art! And not from one of the Three Great Lands."
"Is it really sage art? But... why is there no change in his face?" Jiraiya asked in confusion, looking at Gensou, who apart from the eye markings, showed no other changes, not even in his pupils.
"That's because he has an incredibly high mastery of sage arts. Unlike you, Jiraiya, who's still just half-baked," Shima replied.
"Uh..." Jiraiya touched his now much larger nose in embarrassment.
"A sage art outside the Three Great Lands, and someone actually mastered it..." Fukasaku sighed, feeling deep admiration.
"It's not about mastering—it's about creating."
Gensou spoke, correcting Fukasaku's statement.
Fukasaku grew even more impressed, "The young truly are formidable!"
Gensou gladly accepted the compliment and smiled expectantly:
"Let's see if the old waves will end up dying on the shore then."
(End of Chapter)
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