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One week later.
Neji swung a leg over the silver air-bike a sleek, low-profile frame with a pearly sheen and micro-etched channels hidden beneath a glass-smooth skin.
A tap on the console brought the HUD to life. Four vector nozzles whispered awake, lifting him a half-meter into a rock-steady hover.
"AI, open the exterior lane."
[Acknowledged, Boss.]
The wall in front of him irised apart with guiding beacons. Neji rolled his wrists, clean thrust, silent acceleration, and the bike slipped out over Wave's cliffs like a streak of quicksilver.
A faint chakra feed bloomed into a thin, eggshell barrier; the roar of slipstream cut to nothing. Wind became fuel; a nudge of chakra turned fuel into thunder. The air buckled with a muted pop as he pushed past the sound barrier.
In minutes he skimmed above the Land of Fire, then leveled out over the Land of Earth. He let the bike settle inside a bank of cloud, peering down with those cool blue eyes.
Below, Itachi and Kisame stepped out from an Akatsuki hideout fresh off sealing the Four-Tails.
"Out they come," Neji murmured. "Which means… Sasuke's close."
A separate team ghosted across the rocks toward Akatsuki's trail Karin in front, then Jūgo, Suigetsu, and Sasuke. Within moments, the two sides saw each other.
---
Itachi paused. Kisame cocked his head.
"What is it?"
"Trouble," Itachi said softly as mist, sure as rain.
That killing intent was obvious even to civilians. To men like them, it was the scent of blood in the water.
Kisame's grin showed a line of shark-teeth. "Think they came for me, for you, or for the two-for-one special?"
His hand had already found Samehada's hilt. The four newcomers fanned out. Red hair, orange hair, two pale heads Kisame's gaze slid past them and locked on the dark one.
"Looks like they're here for you."
Itachi didn't answer. His eyes were on Sasuke and, for the briefest beat, the memory of their mother flickered across his face.
"Leave the others to me," he told Kisame.
"Fine by me." Kisame hefted Samehada onto his shoulder and tilted his chin at Sasuke's team. "Come on then. Your dance is over there."
Suigetsu glanced at Kimimaro. A tiny nod. They peeled off with Kisame, giving the brothers an empty stretch of stone.
Sasuke drew the Kusanagi, the blade flashing a line of cold light. The tip leveled at Itachi.
Neither of them moved.
Their eyes did.
Scarlet irises, spinning tomoe genjutsu slammed into genjutsu, silent and vicious. In the world outside, the air didn't stir. Inside the shared illusion, knives sang, positions reversed, and truths lied with perfect clarity.
A beat later, motion returned steel, shuriken, a tight exchange, and then the world snapped back into scarlet quiet again.
Within the illusion, Sasuke pressed his palm to the Kusanagi's spine and drove it through Itachi's chest. The blade came out red.
"One question," Sasuke said, voice level. "Answer it and you keep breathing. Who's the third man the other Uchiha with Sharingan?"
Itachi glanced down at the sword lodged off-center. Blood traced his lips. "You avoided the vitals."
"Answer me."
"And why," Itachi asked, "do you want to know?"
"So that after I kill you, I can kill him too."
A shadow of surprise crossed Itachi's eyes. Sasuke remembered every word from that night the way Itachi had said he'd left one alive.
"No matter how strong you are," Sasuke said, "you couldn't wipe out the whole Police Force alone."
"You figured that out."
"Name him."
"Uchiha Madara."
Sasuke's brow eased, then tightened. Naruto's fox had once compared her eyes to Madara's. Founder of the Leaf… first to awaken the Mangekyō…
"Founder?" Sasuke's tone went cold. "He should be long dead. Don't play with me."
Itachi's gaze didn't waver. "Madara doesn't die so easily."
The illusion trembled like heat above stone.
High above the clouds, Neji watched without blinking.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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