Chapter 94: A Difficult Choice

At that moment, Itachi Uchiha suddenly said in a low voice, “Sasuke.”

Sasuke supported the frail Itachi Uchiha, tears streaming down his face. “I’m here, Brother.”

Itachi gave him a gentle smile, filled entirely with affection for Sasuke. He wiped away Sasuke’s tears and said, “Sasuke, from now on, you must take good care of yourself. Your brother can’t stay with you anymore.”

Sasuke was shocked, panic flooding his eyes. He looked at Itachi and said, “No, Brother won’t die!”

As he spoke, he turned and glared viciously at Orochimaru. “Brother, don’t worry. I’ll kill Orochimaru!”

With that, he was about to strike at Orochimaru.

Itachi stopped him, shaking his head at Sasuke. “Forgive your brother. This is the last time.”

Sasuke was in tears, but then a surge of ferocity suddenly erupted from him. He violently threw off Itachi, sending the weakening body staggering; It nearly collapsed. Sasuke’s face twisted as he shouted, “You promised you’d stay with me forever!”

…

“Heh heh heh.”

Orochimaru laughed softly. “Itachi, are you trying to die?”

Itachi looked helplessly at his brother, then at Orochimaru. His gaze turned cold. “Orochimaru, I will pass my ocular power to Sasuke. Sasuke will take my place and follow you.”

Sasuke stood nearby, his expression icy. “I don’t want it! If you give it to me, I’ll kill myself!”

He was utterly resolute, his mind made up.

Orochimaru extended his tongue and licked his lips. “So that’s how it is?”

Itachi said heavily, “Yes.”

He looked again at Sasuke, his gaze softening, then turned back to Orochimaru and said, “Sasuke’s talent is no less than mine. I hope you will... treat him well.”

Having said that, he pointed a finger at Sasuke’s forehead. Sasuke tried to dodge, only to discover he could not evade it no matter what he did.

To his shock, he took Itachi’s blow, and Itachi’s eyes instantly dimmed to gray. He had transferred his ocular power to Itachi.

Sasuke roared, “No!”

After passing on his ocular power, Itachi went limp, hanging on by the thinnest thread of life.

Sasuke did not catch him. Instead, he stood there with eyes wide open, staring at Itachi’s crumpled body on the ground, tears flowing as he murmured, “Br... brother...”

Orochimaru shook his head. “All right, stop crying. Your brother won’t die.”

At that, Sasuke immediately looked at Orochimaru. “What do you mean?”

Orochimaru walked over. “He won’t die.”

Seeing Orochimaru approach, Sasuke instinctively took a defensive stance, then slowly lowered it, letting Orochimaru come near.

No matter what Orochimaru did, he could not stop him, and Orochimaru was his only hope now.

Orochimaru crouched and examined Itachi’s body before saying, “He’s critically ill. He’d been suppressing it with ocular power all along. When he fought me earlier, he used a forbidden illusion, which triggered the illness. Then he transferred all his ocular power to you, so now he’s only barely hanging on.”

Sasuke understood. He had long known his brother was sick, and now he asked urgently, “You’ll save my brother?”

Orochimaru used medical ninjutsu to stabilize Itachi’s last thread of life, then stood up and clapped his hands. “I will.”

Sasuke remained doubtful. “Then why did you wait until now? It would have been easier to act before he transferred his ocular power, wouldn’t it?”

Before the transfer and after the transfer, the difficulty of treatment was entirely different. So why choose the latter?

Orochimaru smiled. “I wanted to give you a choice.”

Sasuke bent down and carried the limp Itachi onto his back, his eyes hardening with determination. “What choice?”

“An eye exchange,” Orochimaru said.

After a pause, he continued, “Itachi has given you his ocular power. Now the two of you have already merged yours into one. With only the final step of exchanging eyes, a stronger pair of eyes can be formed.

“I wonder which you will choose: give Itachi your eyes to save his life, or take Itachi’s eyes for yourself and awaken a higher level of power?

“You don’t need to decide right now. Let’s go back and finish the meeting first. During that time, you can think it over carefully.”

Sasuke gritted his teeth. “Why are you doing this?!”

There was clearly no need for an eye exchange at all!

Why?

Orochimaru gave no answer. He only saw Itachi always giving everything for Sasuke, while Sasuke had remained rebellious all along.

He wanted to see whether Sasuke was truly worth such devotion from Itachi. Their eye techniques were destined for only one of them to possess.

…

Inside the war fortress, after the initial chaos, everything quickly became calm and orderly.

Though everyone kept looking outside to watch the battles between the ninja, there was no pushing or noise.

Even Shanks Blackthorn received special courtesy.

“Come over here. The view is clearer from this side.” It was an offer from a very wealthy ruler of a minor country.

Shanks Blackthorn walked over, and the other rulers and magnates made way for him, smiling and nodding in greeting. One even said to him, “You raised a fine son.”

Shanks Blackthorn felt immensely honored. He was the world’s richest merchant, yet not many rulers would give him face; after all, a merchant was only rich.

But now, even the ruler of a superpower like the Land of Fire smiled at him, and he felt almost overwhelmed by the attention.

The minor-country ruler who had invited him said, “Shanks, when we return this time, you must treat your black-haired son and his mother well.”

Shanks Blackthorn nodded repeatedly and smiled. “Of course.”

Once he went back, he would depose his legal wife and elevate the black-haired child’s mother in her place.

The attack on the war fortress by the Dawn Organization was doomed to failure, a complete and utter failure.

Although they had prepared in advance and captured one of the reanimated dead, discovering a method to make such beings disappear, the other subordinates under Orochimaru were terrifyingly strong as well.

Especially with Black Zetsu having fled with some of the Dawn members, the situation was even more grim.

Aside from Itachi, the second-strongest among them, Kisame was completely defeated, crushed by Kabuto Yakushi.

Kabuto Yakushi possessed the complete bloodline of the Otsutsuki and also held a Rinnegan. Defeating Kisame, whose strength surpassed the Kage, was not difficult.

Naruto had already formed a partnership with the Nine-Tails and could be said to be the third-strongest, but in Wood Release techniques he still fell short of Hashirama Senju.

If Naruto could obtain the Yang power of the Sage of Six Paths, he would certainly be much stronger than Hashirama.

Unfortunately, he did not have it.

Naruto knew how to make the reanimated Hashirama Senju disappear, but just then Kimimaro arrived. After repeated enhancements, every bone in Kimimaro’s body had evolved into pale gray bones.

Anyone struck by those bones would instantly stiffen, progressing toward petrification. In the end, Naruto was captured alive.

…

Kabuto’s battle took place right under the noses of the Raikage and the others.

The Raikage, A, who already possessed power beyond the Kage, suddenly said, “We... should keep lying low.”

Mizukage Mei Terumii had not yet broken through to Kage level. She nodded and agreed wholeheartedly. “Exactly. I suddenly remembered I still have something to do. When are we going back?”

The Tsuchikage, Onoki, flew down from the sky. “My old back hurts terribly. Is everyone all right? Then let’s head back now.”

The Kazekage, Chiyo, was the most direct of all. She simply left.

Even the Dawn Organization was only running for their lives; with only the Raikage and Tsuchikage among them at super-Kage level, they had even more reason to flee.

No one could charge in recklessly.

But they had only taken two steps when they happened to run into Orochimaru returning with Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha, whose life still hung by a thread.