"You're strong," she admitted. If he were aided by Naruto, the situation could become troublesome.
She snapped her fingers, and a tide of giant dogs, demons she controlled, appeared behind her. They rushed at Sasuke, their sharp fangs ready to tear him apart. Sasuke's Susanoo repelled them with a series of violent blows, but they kept multiplying.
*Kirin!* he summoned a colossal lightning attack that plummeted from the sky, striking the dogs and Makima in a blinding explosion of light. When the dust settled, Makima stood there, slightly burned but still standing.
She raised her hand, and Sasuke felt overwhelming pressure crash down on his body. He fell to his knees, feeling his bones crack under the force of her power. But he refused to yield. With a superhuman effort, he activated his partial Susanoo, rose despite the pressure, and charged at Makima.
The Susanoo's skeletal hand swept toward Makima with devastating force. She dodged, and Sasuke took the opportunity to teleport behind her. The blade pierced Makima, but she didn't seem affected. She turned her head, her smile still present.
"You don't understand, do you?" she retorted with a slight smile.
She raised her hand, and Sasuke felt an invisible force grab him, hurling him through the snow. He crashed into a mountain, feeling pain radiating through his body. He rose with difficulty, his Sharingan beginning to fade.
The end is near.
Sasuke knew he had to end this battle quickly. He focused all his remaining chakra, summoning Indra's Arrow, an ultimate technique combining nature chakra and Susanoo chakra. A colossal arrow, charged with lightning, formed in the Susanoo's hands. He launched it at Makima with devastating force.
The explosion that followed was cataclysmic, lifting an immense heat wave that vaporized snow for kilometers. Sasuke fell to his knees, exhausted, feeling his Sharingan fade. But when he looked up, Makima stood there, slightly burned but still standing.
"You're impressive," she said, walking toward him. "But you're not enough."
Sasuke didn't respond. He raised his hand. In a fraction of a second, a black lightning bolt shot from his arm:
*Chidori Nagashi.*
The ground cracked, arcs of lightning racing across the snow. Makima stepped back gracefully, the lightning licking the ground around her without touching her.
Sasuke chained his attacks. His **Mangekyō Sharingan** swirled, and he disappeared in an instant displacement.
*Amenotejikara.*
Makima frowned for half a second. The world shifted. Sasuke appeared right behind her, Kusanagi in hand. His blade struck.
Makima parried with her arm… and felt the steel penetrate her flesh.
She simply turned her head toward him, her golden eyes impassive.
She raised her hand. Sasuke felt something wrap around his throat—an invisible pressure.
"Kneel."
Before driving her arm into his chest… but the body dissipated.
It was a Genjutsu.
Sasuke spun around:
*Enton: Kagutsuchi.*
Black flames burst from his sword and sliced her figure in two.
Makima reached out. The air vibrated. An invisible demon absorbed Sasuke's attack before exploding in flames.
She charged, gliding like an afterimage. Around her, shadowy figures burst forth, rushing at him in a black tide.
Sasuke dodged, his sword tracing an electric arc.
*Raiton: Chidori Nagashi*
The lightning swept away the first shadows, reducing them to ashes. But they reformed immediately. *Indestructible? No. She regenerates them.*
Sasuke analyzed each of her movements.
He dove, slicing a shadow with a precise thrust, then pivoted to slice another diagonally. His sword crackled, every movement calculated.
Makima raised a finger. A new wave of shadows emerged.
*Shinra Tensei!*
The wave was pulverized. He took the opportunity to leap, slashing the air toward Makima—
She snapped her fingers. A demon intercepted his sword, its jaws clamped on the blade.
Sasuke didn't hesitate.
*Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!*
A fireball exploded between them, breaking the demon's grip. He recovered his sword with a swift motion and chained:
*Banshō Ten'in!*
Makima was hurled toward him. He adjusted his grip, aiming for the throat—
Another demon took the hit, sacrificed.
*Always one step ahead.*
He activated *Amenotejikara*, swapping places with a distant kunai. Appearing behind her, he struck diagonally, exploiting the blind spot.
Makima barely turned her head.
A shadow blocked.
*Too fast.*
He retreated, analyzing. *She anticipates my movements. Then... superior vision.*
He feinted a charge, triggered a *Shinra Tensei* to destabilize her shadows, then—
His blade pierced a shadow, went through, and grazed Makima's shoulder.
A shallow cut.
She looked at him, surprised.
Sasuke dodged a counterattack, his mind already calculating the next move.
But Makima… Makima didn't tire.
She still smiled. Even when her body exploded under a Kirin he summoned from the heavens, she returned, regenerated, reformed by a forbidden, supernatural power from outside this world.
*She doesn't function on chakra,* Sasuke thought, gasping. *Her powers are of a different type. She even negates my black flames… and not absorbed like the Otsutsuki.*
He was bleeding from his left eye. The Rinnegan was overheating.
Makima, still standing in the storm, advanced.
"You're tiring, Sasuke Uchiha. Your chakra is running low."
"I don't need eyes to defeat you," he replied.
She burst into laughter, brief.
"You can't kill me, Sasuke. Even if you cut me into a thousand pieces,"
Sasuke already suspected this, and his goal was to uncover most of her abilities. To warn Konoha.
*Indra no Ya (Indra's Arrow)*
Merging the Rinnegan's chakra, the Mangekyō's, and his infernal flames.
Sasuke activated the complete Susanoo, the gigantic energy armor surrounding his body. He fired a colossal arrow, A celestial bolt, black and purple, formed and aimed at Makima.
Makima raised her eyes, with a wide smile.
The explosion razed the mountain, melted snow for kilometers, shook the entire dimension.
Makima, kneeling, her skin charred.
"You're dangerous."
"I could say the same about you."
Makima rose, slowly this time. Even she had been hurt.
But Sasuke… faltered.
His left eye bled profusely. He fell to one knee. His breathing was ragged.
"I see…" she whispered. "You've reached your limit."
Sasuke clenched his teeth. He could no longer use Amenotejikara. The Rinnegan pulsed with pain.
Makima advanced slowly.
"Last chance. Either you obey me… or I'll break you."