The world spun as though time itself trembled under the weight of the Seer's power. The once-frozen air of the Hidden Vale had become a swirling vortex of raw chakra and collapsing moments. The shrine at the heart of the vale had shattered, replaced by a storm of sigils and symbols that twisted like the branches of some ancient cosmic tree.
Itachi stood firm, his Mangekyō Sharingan burning with intensity, fighting not only against the Seer's illusions but against the pull of fractured time. The rift above them, an undulating gateway of flickering memories and unborn futures, cast a pale glow across the battlefield. The presence of the Seer loomed like a god—not in power alone, but in purpose.
She descended from the shrine's crumbling remains, floating just above the cracked earth. Her eyes shimmered with eternity, seeing not the present, but the infinite strings of what could be.
"You came here hoping to stop what has already begun," she said softly. "Your courage is admirable, Itachi. But you are bound by a world of scars. I offer one where none of it ever existed."
"Your vision is a lie," Itachi replied, his voice calm even as the wind howled. "A world without pain is a world without meaning."
Beside him, Sasuke's eyes narrowed. His Rinnegan pulsed faintly. "You're not erasing the past. You're replacing it with delusion."
The Seer's expression hardened. "You speak from wounds that never healed. I offer healing. I offer salvation."
"You offer control," Sasuke snapped. "Nothing more."
The ground quaked.
Reality rippled as she raised her hand. Behind her, six cloaked figures emerged—guardians of the Vale, beings infused with temporal chakra, their movements stuttering like broken frames of an old film.
"They are echoes of time," she said. "Champions plucked from the moments where they died in vain. They serve me now."
The six spread out, surrounding the Uchiha brothers in a tightening ring.
Itachi stepped forward. "Sasuke, we split them. You take the right flank. I'll draw the Seer."
Sasuke nodded. "Try not to rewrite history without me."
With a blur, the battle erupted.
---
Sasuke's Side
Three of the Seer's echoes surged toward Sasuke. One wielded a jagged blade that glowed with violet flame; another carried scrolls that unraveled mid-air, summoning serpents of wind; the third moved like water, intangible and fast.
Sasuke met them head-on. He spun with graceful precision, his Chidori igniting the air. The first echo struck with unnatural speed, but Sasuke ducked low, sweeping its legs and blasting it with a Chidori Stream that cracked the earth.
"Too slow."
The scroll-wielder launched a barrage of wind-serpents, but Sasuke's Rinnegan activated. With a flicker, he vanished, reappearing behind the caster. One sweep of his katana cut through the illusion—the echo dissolved into motes of light.
But the third attacker was different. Every time Sasuke struck, his blade phased through the figure. It wasn't genjutsu—it was unstable chakra.
Sasuke's eyes widened. "He's from a moment that never stabilized. He doesn't exist fully."
He activated Amaterasu, coating the echo in black flame. The creature screamed as it was consumed, its essence dispersing like smoke.
One left.
The flame-blade wielder circled again, this time whispering a chant in an unknown tongue. The violet fire surged, forming a phoenix-like shape.
Sasuke braced—then leapt straight into the attack.
At the last second, he summoned his Susanoo's ribcage, absorbing the brunt of the flame as he dove forward and plunged his blade through the echo's chest.
The phoenix dissipated.
Sasuke landed hard, panting. "Three down."
---
Itachi's Side
Itachi faced the Seer directly.
Her aura was immense, her chakra rippling in strange pulses. Each step she took distorted the ground, making time fracture beneath her feet.
"You truly intend to kill me?" she asked.
"No," Itachi replied. "But I will stop you."
The Seer extended her hands, weaving seals that shimmered with symbols older than the Sage of Six Paths.
"Then face the origin of your sorrow."
The air trembled. A shimmer appeared before him—and then Itachi saw him.
Fugaku Uchiha. His father. Alive. Whole. Proud.
And behind him, the entire Uchiha clan stood watching. Mikoto. The elders. The children. Every life he had taken that night.
They stood in the field, smiling. Reaching out.
Itachi's breath caught.
"Come home, Itachi," Fugaku said gently.
The genjutsu was flawless—down to the scent of sakura on the breeze. Itachi felt his heart strain.
But then he remembered their silence. Their eyes in his final moments with them. The blood.
And he remembered his purpose.
"You are not them," he whispered.
With a flare of his Mangekyō, he released Tsukuyomi. The illusion shattered.
The Seer staggered, surprised. "You resist what you love most?"
Itachi stepped forward. "Because I loved them, I carry their truth—not your fantasy."
He charged. Their chakra collided in bursts of red and white. The Seer conjured glyphs, barriers, and wave after wave of distorted jutsu. Time warped around them.
But Itachi countered with precision, using decades of refined skill and illusion mastery. Each clash tore reality further, the rift above growing unstable.
---
Reunion
As Sasuke rejoined Itachi, the Seer cried out in frustration. Her six echoes had failed. Her power was waning.
"You cannot stop what's begun!" she screamed.
But the rift above trembled now with instability. Her control over it was slipping.
Itachi turned to Sasuke. "We have to close it."
Sasuke nodded. "Together."
They formed seals in tandem. Their chakra merged—Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi fusing into a new jutsu, a technique they had theorized but never used:
"Tenseigan no In'en" — The Twilight Seal of Cause.
They cast the jutsu directly into the rift. Light erupted across the Vale. The Seer screamed as time collapsed around her. Her essence began to unravel.
"You've chained the future to pain!" she shouted.
"No," Itachi replied. "We've accepted it."
The rift exploded in a final burst of crimson and silver light.
---
Aftermath
When the light faded, the Vale was silent.
The shrine was gone. The storm had passed. Only snow and the soft whisper of wind remained.
Itachi stood, weak but alive. Sasuke staggered beside him.
"It's over," Sasuke muttered.
"No," Itachi said, eyes dimming. "It's just begun."
He looked down at his hand.
It was fading.
Sasuke's heart dropped. "No. You're—"
"The Seer's power was tethering me to this era," Itachi said quietly. "Now that it's gone, so am I."
Sasuke's voice trembled. "I won't let that happen."
"You must. My time was borrowed, Sasuke. I was never meant to stay."
Sasuke clenched his fists. "You came back to fix this world."
"I came back to give you a choice," Itachi said, smiling faintly. "You've made it."
His body shimmered, fragments of chakra dispersing into the wind like fireflies.
"Live on, little brother. Not for vengeance… but for hope."
And then, Itachi was gone.