UK:GSW Chapter 376: Sasuke — "Uchiha Itachi, Let's Be Clear, The One Who Doesn't Understand Is You"
The ocular power of the Sharingan was truly mysterious, especially at the Mangekyo level—it could produce many bizarre and seemingly magical techniques.
For example, in the original story, Itachi placed Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan inside a crow he controlled, then hid that crow inside Naruto's body. When the trigger condition was met, the crow—composed of Itachi's chakra and manifesting his Mangekyo power—would emerge from Naruto and activate the jutsu.
Similarly, during his final battle with Sasuke, Itachi left his own Mangekyo power inside Sasuke's Sharingan, with a sealing of Amaterasu set to trigger the instant Sasuke saw the mysterious masked man "Uchiha Madara." His plan was to kill this dangerous figure who could threaten Sasuke with a sudden strike.
Although the plan ultimately failed, it still caught "Uchiha Madara" (Obito in disguise) off guard, leaving him wary and impressed by Itachi's foresight.
Now, however, that boomerang had crossed time and worlds—only to hit Itachi square in the head.
The ocular counter Sasuke had unleashed came from Uchiha Kei. Its sole purpose was to respond to top-tier genjutsu by striking back at the caster with absolute ocular power, with the added effect of passively resisting regular genjutsu.
That was why Itachi's ordinary illusions had been useless against Sasuke.
Sasuke sneered:
"Didn't expect that, did you, Itachi? I have Uncle Kei's help now. And you? What do you have? Self-righteous, self-sacrificing sentiment over slaughtering your whole clan?"
"Pff—!" A mouthful of blood burst from Itachi's lips, making his weakened state even more apparent.
It was as if Sasuke's words had wounded him, but in reality, it was the backlash from the ocular counter striking his already fragile body.
With one eye wide and the other narrowed, looking almost comical, Itachi coughed, then weakly asked:
"Sasuke… who is this 'Kei' you speak of? Who is he? Why does he have the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?"
Even as he spoke, Itachi's mind was already racing, spinning into new speculation.
He suspected that other hidden Uchiha still existed in the ninja world. He was certain that on the night of the blood moon, every member of the clan—hundreds strong—had truly died, leaving only Sasuke alive.
Thus, this "Uncle Kei" could not be from the Hidden Leaf's Uchiha.
Considering the Uchiha clan had existed in the ninja world for over a thousand years, and that the ninja world was vast, it was possible for a branch of the clan to have gone into hiding somewhere, evading detection.
So Itachi guessed that "Uncle Kei" might be from such an external branch—a strong one, with multiple Mangekyo users.
At that thought, Itachi's heart sank. He sensed that the ninja world—and the Leaf—might be in danger again, for the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was far beyond the ordinary Mangekyo in power.
Most importantly, to gain the Eternal Mangekyo, one had to take the Mangekyo from a blood relative—just as Uchiha Madara once did to his younger brother, gaining the power to rival the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
Moreover, his suspicion that more than one Uchiha existed outside the village came from the Eternal Mangekyo's conditions—and from the fact that in the Tsukuyomi realm, the mysterious Uchiha had left a message: "We Uchiha will be waiting for you in the Leaf."
This led Itachi to think that the truth of the clan's massacre had reached these outsiders. They would surely believe in exacting vengeance on the Leaf, bringing its destruction, and conducting a blood sacrifice upon the clan's old grounds—upon him, Itachi.
"The Uchiha clan… truly a cursed clan. For the sake of power, no matter the era, they are always so mad and extreme—seeing nothing but the clan and themselves, never looking at the world from a higher perspective…"
Itachi spoke with a sigh, pain in his tone, yet still carrying that condescending air—projecting the attitude of "Ah, I see it all now."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the words, anger flaring—then, a mocking smile:
"Itachi, you really haven't changed. Always so self-righteous, always thinking you have some vision beyond the rest of the clan. But the truth is, you understand nothing."
"Of course, with your mindset, you'd scoff at what I say, thinking I'm the one who doesn't understand. Which is why I say—you're just an arrogant fool."
"Itachi, let me ask you: do you understand what class exploitation is? Do you know why, even after the ninja villages were founded, the nations still aren't at peace? Do you really think war comes from hatred?"
"Another question—why can daimyo and nobles always stand above everyone else? Everyone says the governance of the ninja world can't do without them, but why? What's the key reason here? Why are commoners always commoners, and nobles always nobles?"
"And do you even know what productivity is? Do you know that the ninja world's current productivity could easily feed everyone—yet so many still go hungry, with many starving to death every year?"
"No—you know nothing, understand nothing. All you know is what you think you know. Hiruzen Sarutobi once said you had the mindset of a Hokage, but in truth, his idea of a Hokage's mindset was just the self-righteous ideology of a warlord who understood nothing."
"Compared to Uncle Kei and Uncle Minato, he's far inferior. And you—thinking you stand at that height—are just gazing down from a little hill, not knowing that others already stand atop the mountain looking down on you with cold disdain… nor imagining that some have gone beyond the mountain entirely, standing in the clouds and gazing at the stars."
It was merciless ridicule, giving Itachi no face. The one Sasuke spoke of on the mountain's peak was himself, while those standing above the clouds were Uchiha Kei, Minato Namikaze, and others. After meeting and speaking with them, and seeing what they had done—and having experienced his pseudo-travel as Batman—Sasuke knew they had surpassed the backward and ignorant ninja world, reaching a height far beyond this era.
Most importantly, Sasuke knew these people truly sought to change the ninja world—Minato especially, aiming for complete transformation.
Though Sasuke hadn't voiced it, he had already made plans for his future—once the Uchiha vendetta in the Second World was settled, he would seek out Uchiha Kei and offer to join this great undertaking.
From Batman's perspective, compared to the ninja world, Gotham City was practically a bastion of civility and talent. The filth and rot of the ninja world were intolerable.
Having seen a glimpse of a modern, warless Earth—even if it was Gotham—made the darkness of the ninja world unbearable.
To put it simply, Sasuke's view was—You're far too backward. I'm not even asking you to try capitalism; even a unified feudal monarchy would be better!
And don't say world unification is impossible—in this superpowered world, with the continent's size, all it would take is a strong leader gathering other strong leaders, and uniting the ninja world wouldn't be that hard.
In fact, after feeling the power of the Eternal Mangekyo, Sasuke was certain—back when the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara were both in the Leaf, the village absolutely had the power to unify the ninja world. With that overwhelming might, they could have swept all before them. The Leaf had just been founded, but if they'd wielded that power properly, unification would not have been difficult.
It was only because Hashirama himself refused that they fell out, leading to their split—something recorded in the Uchiha clan history.
The records were vague, and Sasuke had once thought Madara was simply too radical and arrogant—believing that trying to unify the ninja world would be the Leaf's doom.
But after seeing the incredible people and things in another Leaf, Sasuke realized Madara hadn't been wrong—the Leaf then truly could have brought real unification to the ninja world.
Perhaps such a unification would have been unstable, but once achieved, it would have ushered in a true age of reform.
Unfortunately, the two strongest in the ninja world fell out—and the true strongest was inexplicably a pacifist.
Of course, this was Sasuke's understanding. Itachi, listening to Sasuke's barrage of criticism, was left stunned and confused.
Class exploitation? Productivity?
The ninja world producing enough food for all?
Why nobles remain nobles and commoners remain commoners? Hadn't it always been this way?
And who was this "Uncle Minato"?
After a long pause, Itachi said in a low voice:
"Sasuke… I don't know where you heard these theories, but don't be too radical. Many things have been this way since ancient times, and we—"
Sasuke cut him off:
"'Since ancient times'—does that make it right?"
Itachi: "..."
In that instant, he felt his words choke in his throat. The question was too sharp—he didn't even know how to answer.
Since ancient times… does that make it right?
Right? It's right… isn't it?
Itachi could not answer.
Seeing him silent, Sasuke snorted coldly:
"That's why I said—you're far too arrogant, Itachi. The one who truly understands nothing… is you!"
With that, Sasuke attacked again, forcing Itachi to respond.
This time, Itachi was completely on the defensive, retreating and dodging without a chance to strike back.
Weakened and badly damaged, he had less than seventy percent of his combat strength left.
He knew he couldn't drag this out—if he did, he might truly be defeated by the younger brother he'd always thought hadn't grown enough.
And so, blood tears streamed from his still-usable right eye as blood vessels burst, the Mangekyo's ocular jutsu activating.
"Amaterasu!"
Boiling black flames surged forth, sweeping toward Sasuke.
This was Amaterasu's power—black flames that burned wherever the eye saw, said in its original concept to be the strongest physical attack in the series.
Of course, that idea had long since been thrown out—too many godlike powers later made Amaterasu look like nothing.
Still, here and now, Amaterasu was terrifying. Once ignited, it would not extinguish until the target was reduced to ash, unless sealed or escaped from.
In the original, Sasuke had avoided it with the Substitution Jutsu: Snake Shedding.
But here, at this very moment, he did not evade. In an instant, the tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly, transforming into the hexagram Mangekyo.
And at the same time, his left eye activated its unique ocular jutsu.
"Kagutsuchi!"
In an instant, black-and-white flames surged forth, colliding with Itachi's black Amaterasu, intertwining in a brilliant clash.
This was the name Sasuke had chosen for one of his Mangekyo abilities—used once before in the genjutsu world, but unnamed until now.
In the original, Sasuke's Kagutsuchi was used to control his left-eye Amaterasu, shaping the black flames in various ways. Its essence reflected his regret at killing his brother after learning part of the truth, and his anger at being deceived—projecting onto the Mangekyo his will to "change" and "control" the fate Itachi had chosen.
Here, however, Sasuke's experiences were different, and his will when awakening the Mangekyo had changed. This Kagutsuchi was not about control, but about his desire—formed in the game world—to make the deranged clown that was Uchiha Itachi disappear, and to grant him redemption.
The name fit the Uchiha tradition—Kagutsuchi, the god of fire in island nation mythology.
In myth, Kagutsuchi also symbolized death and rebirth—echoing Sasuke's wish for this power.
Destruction and rebirth within the flames.
Here, black and white flames intertwined—the white flames soothing the destructive force of Amaterasu, while the black flames surged forward, burning all, ultimately devouring the pure-destructive black fire of Amaterasu. And in Itachi's shock at Sasuke's Mangekyo awakening, his ocular jutsu was utterly defeated.
The next moment, Sasuke rushed to his stunned brother's side, ready to land the final blow and knock him out.
And at that moment, Itachi played his last card.
The crow bearing Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyo suddenly emerged, eyes wide open, locking onto Sasuke.
Sasuke's gaze inevitably met the crow's.
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