Chapter 50

Chapter 50

The ground beneath his feet cracked as he pushed his chakra into his legs to leap backward, and the iron sand erupted from below a moment later. Samehada carved through the air behind him. His hand moved quickly as he weaved hand signs before he put his finger to his mouth. The weapon was a hair's breadth away from his head at that moment.

"Fire Release: Piercing Fang."

A twisting lance of fire pierced through Kisame's shoulder, drawing him back. His Sharingan caught the movement from behind Kisame. Tilting his head, he avoided the puppet's extended arm. Yet the attack wasn't the end; the puppet's arm transformed into blades that shot out at him. This time, the blades managed to cut a strand of his hair as he backed away.

Sliding aside, he encountered a water shark flying at him. But it was just a taste of what was to come. Like rain, it fell upon him with nowhere to escape. Sasori's puppet was right behind him, ready to interfere with anything Fugaku did. Fugaku felt as if he were back at war, facing attacks from every side.

"What is it, Uchiha?" Kisame smirked. "Not that fast anymore, are you?"

As the sharks chopped at Fugaku, Kisame appeared slightly disappointed. It ended too quickly, until Sasori's puppet came in front of Fugaku and took the hit, protecting him. For a brief moment, Kisame couldn't believe what had just happened and turned to Sasori for answers, only to find Fugaku in his partner's place.

"You," Kisame snapped at Fugaku, bringing full strength to his attack. "Don't fuck with me."

"What are you doing, Kisame?" Fugaku asked as he used his puppet to block the attack, the same puppet that should have been under Kisame's assault. "Snap out of it."

"What?"

A fireball hit him from behind, knocking him down for a second and snapping him from the illusion. Fugaku emerged from Kisame's jutsu, a bit roughed up but having avoided most of the damage. This was something he wouldn't have been able to do if Sasori hadn't retracted his puppet at the last moment to defend him.

"What?" Kisame felt angered that he had fallen for a genjutsu. "But I haven't met his eyes."

"Still young, I see," Fugaku replied from behind again, but when Kisame turned, there was nothing. "It is true that Uchiha can use their Sharingan to put others under genjutsu with just one glance. But that doesn't mean we need it to use genjutsu. Your focus on one thing will blind you to everything else."

Voices appeared and disappeared around them. Both Kisame and Sasori were caught in the illusion; although they could see Fugaku standing before them, they could not trust their eyes or any other sense. However, they quickly gathered their chakra to break the genjutsu. A simple illusion could not deter them.

"A nice trick," Kisame said. "But you will need more than this."

"Secret art: Thousand hands."

Sasori's Third Kazekage puppet extended its arms, and from within those arms spread out more arms. The cycle continued until there were more than a thousand of them, all striking at Fugaku. Dodging every single one was impossible as the arms branched out in every direction. Fugaku could only cut them down with Samehada.

"Stop it, you idiot." Only then did Sasori realize he was attacking Kisame.

"Too late," Fugaku replied from Sasori's side as the puppeteer turned to him.

A kick sent Sasori flying before a fist struck his face, bringing him down to the ground. But Sasori didn't react; he only extended his hand toward Fukagu, who launched a third attack and shot out countless poisoned senbon needles at him. Fugaku skillfully dodged and blocked them, but it forced him to back away.

"Another genjutsu," Kisame said as he watched Sasori slowly stand up. "I take it back. It is no fun fighting someone like him."

"All of this without even using his eye prowess," Sasori commended. "What a monster."

"You're not going to back out now, are you?"

"I never considered it before, but now I'm curious about how strong of a puppet he will make. I can't let go of such an opportunity."

"Well then, what's the plan? I've never fought against a genjutsu specialist, at least not at such a caliber."

"There has to be a limit to his abilities." Sasori wasn't too concerned. "He might be able to trap me in an illusion, but my puppets are beyond his reach. It had been a long time since I did it, but I can use the senses of my puppets to fight."

"Sounds like a plan," Kisame smiled in excitement. "Samehada is a living being; I will use it to snap me out of any genjutsu. Even if it will be quite painful and my movements will be rigid, I will manage, somehow. You heard that, Uchiha? You're done for."

Fugaku merely looked at the duo, showing no emotion. Being young was quite a privilege—a privilege he never had. Ever since childhood, expectations were set on him, and mistakes weren't tolerated. He had to be perfect in every aspect, and any ignorance he had was beaten out of him. As the head of the Uchiha clan, he could not afford any weaknesses.

"Come," Fugaku replied, unsealing a couple of Fuma shuriken.

Sasori responded by unsealing one hundred puppets, and Kisame grabbed his sword as spikes pierced his palms. Neither of them moved, and they looked at each other, prepared for anything. Fugaku more than welcomed this as he gathered his chakra, his eyes tracking every minuscule motion of their muscles.

Nothing escaped his gaze, not even the movements of one hundred puppets. So, he easily avoided two puppets coming from the ground by jumping up, and twisted his body to dodge another two. He was quickly surrounded; blades, senbon needles, poison, and every deadly weapon imaginable were employed by those puppets to kill Fugaku, but they never touched him as he moved around them like water in the river.

"Got you," Kisame suddenly appeared from behind one of the puppets, swinging his sword down on Fugaku. "Your party tricks won't work on me anymore."

"You haven't learned," Fugaku replied, blocking the attack with one of the Fuma shuriken. "Focusing on one tree, you will miss the forest."

Fugaku threw the other Fuma shuriken as it passed through the puppets, not touching a single one, and went straight for Sasori. The puppeteer reacted accordingly and used the Third Kazekage's puppet to block it. Meanwhile, Kisame pulled his sword back and broke the Fuma shuriken Fugaku was using to defend himself before rearing back for another swing.

"Snap out of it, Kisame," Fugaku said, making Kisame flinch, and that was enough for Fugaku.

Kicking Kisame's hand, Fugaku redirected the massive sword to block the incoming Iron Sand before catching the broken pieces of the Fuma shuriken and throwing them at Sasori, who once again used his puppets to block them. Before Kisame was able to recover, Fugaku flashed a hand sign, and the shuriken exploded into smoke, covering Sasori.

"Useless," Sasori said within the smoke. "With my puppets, I can see everything outside the smoke."

"This is the end," Kisame yelled out, as he finally managed to bring his sword down on Fugaku, ripping his head off.

"It was not to block your vision, but Kisame's," Fugaku said within the smoke, right beside Sasori as Kisame destroyed his shadow clone. "Using other senses outside your body isn't a simple matter. You should not have forgotten to use your senses, too, to have a full vision of your surroundings."

Fugaku stabbed his kunai at Sasori's chest, looking at Sasori's eyes, pushing it deep, but he quickly let it go and got away. There was no blood coming from Sasori's body. However, it couldn't just be another puppet as he tracked the chakra strings to him. The only explanation would be that he had become a puppet. He used the same methods of making puppets on himself.

"Monsters, both of you are monsters," Fugaku couldn't help but comment.

In ten years, Fugaku wouldn't be able to match this duo. Once their ignorance and recklessness are gone, they will be legendary shinobi who will shake the world. And if the rest of the Akatsuki are as dangerous as they are, then their organization alone could fight against any of the five villages.

"You're one to talk," Kisame replied, slashing Fugaku. "To kill monsters, one has to become one too."

Fugaku's hands were shredded as he blocked the attack, and he felt not only his blood but also chakra being sucked out by that sword. He already had limited chakra reserves, and he wasn't one to completely exhaust himself, as there was always more danger that his eyes could not see. But this might have to be an exception.

He barely had time to think before Iron Sand hit him from behind. Rolling away from another swing from Kisame, Fugaku was met with puppets rushing at him; he spat out a stream of fire to fend them off. Yet Kisame got in the way and cut through the flames, leaving a clear path towards him.

And just as Fugaku was about to jump back, the Iron Sand caught him, restricting his movements and digging into his body. The next moment, Samehada ripped through his torso, leaving a bloody mess behind. Blood spilled from his mouth as he stared at Kisame's victorious eyes, delighted in his victory.

"Finish me, please."

"Does it hurt so much?" Kisame asked, disappointed at Fugaku's defeated and tired, and empty eyes.

"Make it stop, please. I don't want this anymore."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kisame was now disturbed, before chakra ran through his palms, and he snapped out of the illusion. "No, you aren't. Why?"

"He is reliving his nightmares, the worst kind," a tired voice answered Kisame. "There is no escape; at least, no one has been able to do it yet. He is reliving the worst things he has done or that have been done to him. Again and again. As his consciousness devours him, he has no choice but to accept what he has done, what he has become. People like them can't live with themselves after realizing it."

Kisame looked horrified as Sasori cried out for him to finish it—to kill him and end his misery. But Kisame didn't move and only watched as Sasori used his puppets to stab himself to pieces while the Iron Sand held him down. Fugaku's eyes were bleeding as he looked at Sasori before turning his gaze to Kisame.

"He looked you in the eyes," Kisame surmised the situation. "You call us monsters. But I admit I have never felt as terrified as I am of you, Fugaku Uchiha. You are worse than any monster I could ever be."

"Are you giving up?" Fugaku asked as he prepared to fight Kisame.

"I can fight any man, no matter who he is," Kisame hoisted his sword over his shoulder. "I would be delighted to have a battle until our bones break and we bleed out from our wounds. But I will never face you, Fugaku Uchiha. You are no man, you're something entirely different, something that I will never want to face ever again. So, yeah, I am giving up on facing you. We shall not meet ever again."

Leaving behind his partner, Kisame ran away. He moved faster than Fugaku thought he could. He didn't expect such a reaction, yet he could not capitalize on it. Looking into his eyes was a condition set by his powers, but it wasn't the only thing that made it hard to use. It exhausted Fugaku, for he had to relive the nightmares he inflicted on his opponents. Feel everything they felt.

At times, he wished he were blind rather than see the worst humanity had to offer. Knowing all those nightmares were real only made it worse. It was exhausting, and something he would never reveal to anyone else. It was his burden to carry, no matter how heavy or painful it was. So, he let Kisame go, as he was in no condition to fight anyone, not after what he witnessed from Sasori's dreams.

"I guess the least I can do is bring you home, kid," Fugaku said as he took Sasori's body. "I am sorry for your loss. No one should live forgetting what love is, forgetting what it means to be human. And I am sorry that you had to relive it again and again."

Fugaku collected the puppets, too. He was truly sorry for Sasori, but in the end, it was Sasori's actions that created those nightmares—his own choice to abandon his humanity and take it away from countless others. No matter the man, no matter the reasons, when they finally see what they've become, they can't live with it. None of them can.

A.N. Firstly, sorry for the delay. Been feeling a bit under the weather for a few days. Nothing serious, just a slight headache and stomach problems. Probably ate something bad.

Fifty chapters, phew, to tell the truth, the initial plan was to have a short fanfiction with a bit of fun, but as it grew and went in a way different direction than I expected. I'm not sure if it's for the better or not, but I like how the story is going, and I hope I haven't disappointed any of you.

As always, thanks for reading and supporting me, so I can continue writing without any concerns, and if you want more, up to seven more chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852.