Chapter 96 - Arc XIV: Uchiha Legacy vs. Heaven's Temper- Chapter 2

The fool. Genjutsu against an Uchiha is suicide. Even without my Sharingan, I can fight-

A hundred foot tall Yuji appeared on the horizon. The hellish landscape he’d created was a bastardization of the Leaf. Parts of Sasuke’s past. Yuji had spent the last two weeks recounting stories, details- anything of Sasuke’s youth.

Twisted images floated. There was the Forest of Death, during the chunin exams. There was the training field posts, where Naruto was tied up during their first team exercise. There was the hospital rooftop…the Hokage’s office…the Uchiha dojo…

Sasuke turned his head away. These images were so familiar. Words were haunting enough, but to see these images. And to see them all through a blood-red haze. It was torture! More torture than he’d ever imagined!

When he opened his eyes again, Sasuke saw Yuji standing in front of a door, staring at it. There were black trees all around, growing up out of nothing. There were hundreds of small grave markers, all eerily familiar yet all the same so unfamiliar as to be horrifying; like something you‘d forgotten that was hovering just on the edge of your memory. And the door Yuji stood in front of…

“Are you ready to face my fears? They beat you before, and they‘ve only gotten worse. Recall our last genjutsu battle. It didn‘t end well for you.”

Yuji was suddenly right next to Sasuke, his voice a dark whisper in Sasuke’s ear.

“My fears will make you see how wrong you’ve been. You don’t understand anything yet. But you will…”

Sasuke tried to fight back. Mentally, he willed Yuji to burn. To burst into catastrophic flame and die.

A small fire started at the hem of Yuji’s cloak.

“Pathetic.”

The single spoken word extinguished the flame, leaving only a curly wisp of smoke.

“Is that your best counter-attack? Now that I’ve robbed you of your precious eyes, you seem…useless. It seems like you’re going to come with me, whether you want to or not. Come see the life I led for years.”

Sasuke was suddenly in a darkened room. He could hear the rattling of something metal. Clanking as it dragged across the floor.

A chain?

“This is how much ‘light’ I had in my life, Sasuke. My family was alive and well. And yet…nothing. I was doomed to fail. I was damned to fall short of my goals. The best I could hope for was the role of a servant.”

A candle sent flickering light into the darkness, warming the room. Sasuke could now see a person in chains. All but his head.

The person was restrained at the arms. They were pinned above his head by chain, stretching his body to the limit. The figure was naked, and not a single part of the naked body had been spared torture. Wounds had healed and then been torn apart. Again and again; a never-ending symphony of agony. The floor held pools of both fresh and dried blood.. The skin that wasn’t red with shed blood was horribly pale.

“You, Sasuke, had choices. You made all the wrong ones. You chose to be alone. You chose to fail. You chose to fall short of your potential. I was never given that choice. I was told I was going to fail. I would gain power, but I would fail. And I would do it alone, save for service to my master and mistress.”

Sasuke could suddenly see the head on the body. It was his own.

The sight shocked him, and that gave him just enough of a burst of adrenaline to counter.

Yuji suddenly held a knife in his hand. Sasuke forced the knife toward Yuji’s heart. Yuji’s arms moved, straining against Sasuke. Another Yuji appeared and gripped the knife as well, pushing even harder. The tip touched Yuji’s chest and drew blood.

“I wouldn’t be watching me, if I were you,” Yuji cautioned, sounding calm despite his impending ‘death’. “See what you’re doing over there?’

Before the naked, chain-up Sasuke, there were older children. They had no faces, but they were unmistakably the twelve year old Sakura and the eleven year old Naruto. They were as Sasuke first met them. Once he noticed that, his vision split, so that he could see the tied up figure as well as be the tied-up figure.

The younger Sakura giggled and looked away blushing once she saw Sasuke naked. Naruto laughed and pointed. But their voices weren’t their own. They were generic voices and creepy as hell. Shadows speaking through a filter. Dead, emotionless yet cruel voices.

Yuji found he was free of the limited influence Sasuke had managed to gain.
“Do you want to see what happens to them when you desert them of your own volition? It isn’t pretty, Sasuke. She cried, you know. So did he, actually. And they did everything to bring you back. But they’re ready to give up on you. Is that what you want? To be really and truly alone? You’ve felt the pain of what I’ve had to live with. Being born to fail isn’t easy. You don’t have to be saddled with that destiny, or any destiny at all.”

The children’s laughter turned cruel and demonic. All Sasuke could see was glowing red eyes of his small attackers as they used their teeth and nails to bite and rip into his flesh…

--
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Yuji released his genjutsu and immediately dropped to one knee. That had taken a lot of effort. But Yuji had Sasuke dead to rights and had let him live.

Because of master and mistress…I hope I reached him. The old Sasuke. If not, then I’m just as screwed as he is.

Sasuke, however, seemed to be in no shape to fight back. His chakra was gone, and he was shaken to the core. He collapsed to both knees, then folded forward; a quivering mess.

Jugo, Karin, and Suigestsu had all been standing across from their counterparts in mid-battle. They had all halted when Yuji and Sasuke had burst from the cave. Their silent battle had lasted only seconds, but it seemed an eternity.

“NOOO!” Jugo roared, the sight of a defeated Sasuke triggering his violent tendencies. He partially transformed and moved to smash Yuji.
But he hit only air.

Kuroko was holding Yuji on the other side of the mountain, cradling him to her chest as she rested on one knee. He was conscious, but with his chakra so low any more fighting might well have killed him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Yuji. About this ability of mine. But I didn’t want you to think I was weak.”
She set him down gently, laying his head in her lap as she settled down onto both knees.
“Speed is all I’m good for. And speed is best for retreat. But even more…you seemed like you wanted a ‘normal’ girl. But, oh well, right?”

Yuji could only manage a small smile. “Oh well, indeed. Beautiful and strong- I’m one lucky guy.”

Jugo’s enlarged hand smashed down, striking nothing but rock.

Kojiro’s hammer smashed into Jugo’s knee, while Azami’s invisible wind sword was held at his neck. Kuroko had yet again moved to the other side of the mountain. This time, Yuji saw her move.

She sort of…skates. Or glides, maybe? Either way, she’s really fast. A lot of combat potential there. Oh, yeah, and she’s saved my skin twice now. Hot and powerful- just my kind of combo.

“Stop.”

Sasuke had barely whispered the word, but it was clearly heard by all. He pushed himself up until he was standing, albeit wobbly.

“Enough. We’re withdrawing. There’s too much…no, we’re withdrawing now. Right now.”

“But Sasuke, we just-” Suigestu protested.

“NOW!” roared Sasuke, cutting off his reply.

But before Sasuke could move, Yuji was on him again, this time a bare fist hitting him across the jaw.

“Not yet. You’re not going anywhere yet!” shouted Yuji. Before everyone, his wings exploded outward into tiny fire-filled fragments, disappearing with a sound akin to glass breaking.
“Your Sharingan is gone, and I’ve made my point. Now we fight without our special abilities. Azami, Kojiro, Kuroko- now!”

All three bit into their thumbs at once, letting the blood drop onto the ground. Underneath their feet, a symbol of summoning appeared. A black barrier sprang up, creating a wedge-shaped space.

Sasuke staggered to his feet, but Yuji knocked him down again with a hard kick to the stomach. Sasuke staggered back, but Yuji doggedly pursued, hitting Sasuke with everything he had. Punch, punch, kick, uppercut. Sasuke hit the ground, and Yuji stomped down on his stomach. Sasuke coughed up blood, and it projected upward onto Yuji’s face.

Yuji pressed his foot down into Sasuke’s stomach, twisting his heel in deeper and deeper. He was being completely vicious; fighting with a complete reckless abandon.

“Get up.”

Sasuke lay still, his body aching horribly. He had no reserves left with which to resist Yuji. He simply lay there, bleeding and panting. A hard kick hit his ribs, cracking them.

“Get up, I said. Is this all you are? All your bluster; all the damage you’ve done. I should kill you right now.”

Yuji fist rocketed downward one more time. Sasuke closed his eyes, anticipating the blow. But Yuji’s fist stopped short of Sasuke’s face.

“…but I won’t kill you. You mean too much to too many people. Naruto, Sakura, Karin, Jugo, Suigestu, Kakashi, Lady Hokage…even me. You have people waiting for you, Sasuke. You killed Itachi; you proved your strength. Whatever it is you think you have left to prove…you don’t. So do the right thing. Go back to the Leaf with them. With Naruto and Sakura. Become the legend you’re destined to become…”

Yuji felt his knees buckle. He smirked to himself, realizing just how bizarre his actions had been. No one used Genjutsu against an Uchiha like that. It was so bizarre that he had caught Sasuke completely off guard. Even if Sasuke was stronger physically, Yuji was more clever. The blacking out part was worth it to find this out. He just hoped Sasuke wouldn’t recover and kill him before he woke up.

To defeat an Uchiha in genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu…damned near legendary. Too bad no one is here to crown me a legend.

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