A Growing Affection

Chapter 77: The First and the Last

"Tsukuyomi," Orochimaru countered. The dark world formed around them,  and on either side of Orochimaru now stood Hashirama Senju and Hoshi  Hyuga. Madara stared at his sister and the First Hokage impassively,  blatantly unimpressed. Hoshi darted forward, her fingertips striking  Madara. And Hashirama's Mokuton caused saplings to shoot up around  Uchiha, sealing his legs. But the red spirals in the Shin'en Sharingan  flared brilliantly, and the illusion dissolved.

"Did you honestly  expect that to work on me?" the Akatsuki leader shook his head, his tone  of voice surprisingly free of recrimination. Despite his reaction,  Madara was mildly shaken by the vision, but he could not allow his enemy  to know that. Unfortunately, his attempt at bravado cost him.

"No,  I didn't," Orochimaru agreed viciously as he stabbed Kusanagi into  Madara's chest. The immortal noticed the attack just before the sword  struck, too late to completely avoid it. He hopped up and backwards,  just far and fast enough that the Grass Cutter struck the bottom of his  left lung, instead of impaling him through the heart. Madara was able to  push back, pulling his torso free from the blade before the snake could  expand the weapon and pin him to the wall.

"I understand you  don't really know any weapons," Orochimaru taunted him, "In your time  all one had to do to become a Jonin was to defeat or be acknowledged by  another Jonin; so you were never forced to broaden your skills.  Fortunately, that doesn't apply to me."

"You make it sound like  that matters," Madara straightened, allowing the blood to flow freely  down his robe, "This wound is not enough to hinder me. And now that your  surprise is spent, you will fair no better with that blade than you did  with Taijutsu."

Orochimaru slashed out in response, but Madara  subtly dodged. Even changing the length of his blade to counter his  opponent's dodges or avoid his blocks did not allow the serpent to land a  blow on the immortal. The true Uchiha moved simply and without wasted  effort, refusing to counterattack. Instead he absorbed his enemy's skill  with each swing, making it easier to evade with each missed strike.

But  his avoidance served another, greater purpose. The deep stab was  hurting more than he had let on, and he had spent a great deal of chakra  on the sustained Amaterasu and the Kamui. He wanted to give Orochimaru  time to wear himself down, while his wound started to close. Though  immortal, Madara did not heal substantially faster than most other  shinobi. So he had also activated a minor wound sealing Ninjutsu. If the  snake summoner would continue this swordplay a few more minutes, Uchiha  expected they would be back on equal footing.

Orochimaru slashed  and stabbed artfully, but his mind was racing. Hitting Madara with  Tsukuyomi and summoning Kusanagi had been a desperation move. The amount  by which the first Uchiha's Sharingan outclassed his own stolen Kekkei  Genkai was stunning to the Sannin. He had not been expecting Madara to  be able to produce Amaterasu from both eyes, though in retrospect it  should not have been too much a surprise, given the fact Itachi and  Sasuke manifested the black fire in different eyes. But what really  frightened Orochimaru was Madara's casual use of Kamui. He had heard of  the attack through his agents in both the Akatsuki and the Hidden Leaf,  however he thought Kakashi had created the technique.

"Kamui? Are  you reduced to stealing jutsu from the likes of Kakashi Hatake?"  Orochimaru taunted, hoping to distract Madara or gain some information.  Madara avoided the first bait, but bit on the second.

"Hardly,"  the Akatsuki leader was dismissive, "Kakashi did not 'create' the Kamui;  he simply manifested it in Obito's left eye. I can use all four of the  Mangekyo Sharingan techniques: Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, Kamui, and Suseri.  Until Itachi, all of my descendants only acquired two of those powers  when they unlocked the second level, one per eye. But Itachi was able to  use all of them except for Kamui. And I had hoped in time he would gain  that ability too."