Journey of Discovery

Chapter 7 - Genjutsu

Sarada ran to the edge and stretched across the thick stone wall to look over. Sasuke was in a free fall. He swiped some blood off of a cut on his shoulder and quickly summoned a giant hawk, something Sarada didn't know her father could do.

"That's Garuda, he's my summoning bird" he informed her as he walked over to stand next to her. She let out a sigh of relief as she watched him get raised into the sky on the bird's back. He stood in a ready stance, looking down on the bridge.

Danzo spoke to Sasuke, "You're Itachi's younger brother that's for sure. Two brothers, whose abilities are identical, how could what your eyes perceive be so different?" Danzo still clung to the idea that he was right for what he did to Itachi and couldn't fathom why Sasuke didn't understand. He rose his arm up in front of his face to make sure Sasuke saw all of the Sharingan he had implanted in himself. "All you're doing is making the sacrifice of the Uchiha meaningless."

That was enough to trigger Sasuke; the mention of his Clan and his brother. Sasuke's brow furrowed in anger, "You have no right, whatsoever, to speak about the Uchiha!" His voice was loud and strained, Sarada could feel the anger radiating off of him.

Danzo used another wind Jutsu which Sasuke easily avoided as he leapt from his bird and dove at him. He landed and narrowly avoided being hit by a shuriken. It was aided by Danzo's wind style and its speed was increased significantly.

With the Sharingan Sasuke was able to catch one of the shuriken with the tip of his sword and hurtle it back at its sender, catching him off guard. While he was distracted Sasuke rushed him. Danzo attempted to grab him by his throat but was too slow, Sasuke had already sliced through him from his left shoulder to his right hip, severing him in two.

Sarada was amazed at what she just witnessed but it, again, turned out to be Genjutsu. Sasuke was on the bridge looking up at Danzo on top of one of the pillars.

"This level of Genjutsu is amazing" she said aloud to herself.

"If you think that's good look at this."

Crows began to come out of Sasuke's body and fly up to swarm Danzo. He looked behind him to see those crows take the form of Itachi Uchiha. "What? But how?! Itachi?"

Itachi's left eye began to bleed and Danzo was lit in the Amaterasu once again. Sasuke used this moment to run at Danzo's back, intending to stab him, but stopped just before the tip of his sword touched his back. It looked like he was frozen.

"Papa your Genjutsu is amazing! But why did you stop? That was your chance." Just as she said it she noticed markings appear on Sasuke's body. It was like the Curse Mark but different. They weren't the same wavy shapes that came from the mark Orochimaru left. These were sharp lines, almost like they were precisely drawn. It worked its way from his feet to his head.

As if Danzo could read her mind he began to explain it to Sasuke.

"Your Genjutsu is good but still a far cry from Itachi's." Out of nowhere Karin rushed to Sasuke's aid but was immediately deflected by Danzo, she was kicked back down to the bridge and laid unconscious among the rubble.

He walked back over to stand face to face with Sasuke. "I don't know why you felt to leave alive such trash Itachi" he said aloud, further antagonizing Sasuke. Danzo took his sword from his hands and held it up for him to see before slicing at his neck, attempting to behead him.

Just as the blade was about to touch his skin the purple aura of the Susano'o enveloped him. Sarada watched in awe as it fully took form, muscles covering the bones followed by skin and armor. It held a large bow and arrow. Sasuke screamed in pain, eyes tightly shut, as the curse mark Danzo had placed on him slowly faded.

"That hurt more than Orochimaru's curse mark getting removed" Sasuke said, wincing at the memory.

Danzo was thrown down onto the bridge while Sasuke's Susano'o notched an arrow on the bow. He pulled back and fired it at Danzo. It seemed like Sasuke had him but suddenly a giant tree formed in front of Danzo and took the hit from the arrow.

"How did he do that?" She inspected him closer. His right arm, the one with the Sharingan, was now fully exposed and revealed a face on his shoulder.

"That's cells from the First Hokage, Hashirama. The very same cells used to create Naruto's arm. It allowed Danzo to use Wood Release" Sasuke went on to explain.

"Why did they make an arm for Lord Seventh when he lost his arm but not you when you lost yours?" And she looked at the sleeve where his left arm would be and watched as it blew freely in the wind.

"I'll explain it to you soon." Sasuke hadn't ever told her how he lost his arm, she didn't know he was the reason that he and Naruto each lost an arm. He didn't want to tell her that until she saw their final fight.

Karin was watching from the sidelines closely studying the fight. She called out to Sasuke, she had discovered Danzo's weakness. He had been using a special ability, something the Sharingan can only do once, which allowed the user to go back in time slightly to correct any mistakes. That's why the Sharingan on his arm were closing.

"What is she talking about?" she asked her father.

"Danzo is using a special technique that can only be used once; the Izanagi. It's a form of Genjutsu and causes the user to go blind after its use. It's a last resort thing."