Boom!
Silver lightning streaked across the sky, the storm intensifying.
A torrential curtain of rain filled the mountain peak's crevices, streaming downward like winding waterways.
Two against six. Eight glowing chakra signatures pulsed in sync from afar.
Two Kage-level ninja faced off against one Kage, two elite Jonin, and three regular Jonin.
By ninja world logic, three well-coordinated Jonin could take on an elite Jonin, and three elite Jonin could barely hold their own against a Kage.
In theory, the peak's forces were equivalent to four Kage-level fighters—a perfect balance of power.
"Looks like they're not planning to leave," Kisame Hoshigaki said, tilting his face to feel the damp air. His eyes narrowed with delight, his mood visibly brightening.
For a Water Release specialist, this was already a prime battlefield.
"This is your turf. Orochimaru's yours to handle. I'll keep the sunglasses Root guy busy," Itachi Uchiha said calmly, laying out the battle plan.
"Got it," Kisame replied.
He was already wondering how he'd snag the Six Paths treasure from Orochimaru after killing him without Itachi noticing. Madara Uchiha's secret mission to retrieve it was his top priority, and Itachi's plan suited him perfectly.
Both teams sized up their opponents, the atmosphere growing heavy and tense.
Swish!
Kisame's deep blue fingers danced through hand signs, a massive surge of chakra roiling within him like crashing tides.
"Here it comes!" Cho shouted, alerting his teammates.
Arashi and Iwauma tensed instantly. A chainsaw-like gust of Wind Release coated Arashi's blade, while thick earthen armor formed over Iwauma's body.
As the weakest trio on the field, they were already on high alert.
Hairi's Byakugan scanned Kisame's chakra, a strange familiarity nagging at her. The deep blue torrent, vast as the ocean, reminded her of the Three-Tails, Isozume.
A tailless Tailed Beast?
Recalling the Three-Tails' flesh sealed in Bloodhound and eyeing Kisame's shark-like appearance and the massive Samehada blade on his back, Hairi sensed something off.
Human experimentation wasn't exclusive to Konoha or Orochimaru. The Cloud's Black Lightning techniques had used bloodline ninja for research.
If the Mist had their own experiments, Kisame's Tailed Beast-level chakra likely tied back to the Three-Tails.
Boom!
Thunder roared, lightning flashing. Kisame finished his flurry of hand signs, cheeks puffing as he unleashed a massive river.
Water Release: Great Waterfall Explosion!
The raging torrent swept up the sky's rain, a catastrophic wave like a breached dam surging across the peak.
Kisame opened with a killing blow.
"No way!" Arashi stammered, staring at the towering wave, over a hundred meters high, blotting out the sky. His Wind Release-coated blade, barely a meter long, felt pitiful in his grip. He stood frozen, overwhelmed.
He'd never faced a fight like this.
Normal ninja battles followed a pattern: probing with ninja tools, intense taijutsu exchanges, and a final clash of signature techniques to decide the victor.
But this?
A tsunami summoned on a mountaintop, an endless wall of water crashing down—how do you even counter that?
Cho and Iwauma's eyes filled with despair.
At this moment, attribute matchups or ninjutsu counters meant nothing. In the face of such overwhelming volume, their meager kunai were useless. Konoha's elite Jonin, standing near the ninja world's pinnacle, were no different from mortals facing a natural disaster.
This was the kind of ninja who could ignore numbers entirely.
Only such a ninja could claim the title of Kage in any village.
Brownish-yellow Earth Release chakra coated Hairi's pale owl mask. She braced to tank the hit.
There was nowhere to hide on the peak. The Water Release's power couldn't break her defenses, but Arashi and Cho, with no real protection, weren't her concern right now.
As a clone, her base strength was only elite Jonin-level.
Her all-around prowess could overwhelm regular elite Jonin, but against a Kage-level opponent like this, taijutsu was her only shot.
When faced with a disaster-level, wide-range ninjutsu like this, all she could do was duck and run.
Luckily, Hairi wasn't alone.
The wave eclipsed the sky, its crushing force bearing down. Orochimaru stepped forward, his silhouette reassuring.
He slammed his hands to the ground.
Summoning Jutsu: Triple Rashomon!
The earth quaked as three monstrous gates, each with snarling, fanged faces, rose like mountains, radiating safety. Their height matched the towering tsunami.
Crash!
The wave slammed into the steel gates, the deafening impact nearly bursting Cho's eardrums. Lightning flashed, but the thunder was drowned out.
Boom!
The relentless tide battered the gates. The first collapsed quickly, followed by the second.
After smashing through two gates, the wave's momentum faltered, finally stopping at the third.
Whoosh!
Water gushed around the gates, forming two raging rivers. The group stood on the flooded surface, the once-dry peak now a swampy wasteland.
"I'm starting to regret agreeing to this," Ryoma said, adjusting his sunglasses as countless parasitic bugs crawled across his face.
"Keep Uchiha Itachi busy, and I'll let you have the Sharingan," Orochimaru replied, upping the stakes.
He knew Itachi's strength but hadn't expected the shark-faced guy to be this terrifying. Expecting Ryoma to risk his life for the original deal was unrealistic. If he didn't sweeten the pot, Ryoma might bolt.
Ryoma paused, then nodded slightly.
As they spoke, Hairi glanced up at the towering Rashomon gates. Her Byakugan pierced through, spotting two figures riding the wave's crest.
"Here they come again!" Cho's warning rang out.
Thud, thud, thud!
Two figures, one on each side, hands behind their backs, charged down the massive gates toward the group.
"I'll take left, you take right!" Orochimaru shouted, spotting the crimson Sharingan on the right. He splashed through the water toward Kisame on the left.
Ryoma signaled to attack.
Whoosh!
Arashi, Cho, and Iwauma formed a triangular formation, charging through the water toward Itachi's approaching figure. As long as they avoided the blue-skinned monster, facing Itachi seemed manageable.
Even if they died, at least it wouldn't be so humiliating.
"Don't go," Ryoma said, stopping Hairi as she moved toward Itachi.
"Leave this to us. Go left and keep an eye on Orochimaru. His character's not trustworthy. Watch for Reverse Summoning Jutsu—don't let him sell us out."
Hairi's eyes flickered, catching his drift.
Itachi was Konoha's double agent, and as Root's second-in-command, Ryoma likely knew it.
He, Arashi, and Iwauma could handle a holding-back Itachi. Adding Hairi wouldn't change the outcome. But if Orochimaru pulled a Reverse Summoning and bailed, they'd be left facing two Kage-level opponents, banking on Itachi's betrayal to survive.
No wonder he was Danzo's right-hand man—always thinking ahead.
"Got it," Hairi said.
Zzt!
Her body flashed into a bolt of lightning, darting toward Orochimaru and Kisame's battlefield.
Watching her small figure vanish, Ryoma thrust his hands forward, unleashing a sky-filling swarm of bugs toward Arashi, Cho, and Iwauma, who were already clashing with Itachi, forming an encircling net.
The black swarm blanketed the sky like a storm cloud.
Itachi and the trio's figures blurred, swallowed by the bugs.
Ryoma pushed his slipping sunglasses back, usually relying on ranged harassment and bug attacks. This time, he broke habit, hands behind his back, charging into the swarm.
Darkness Veil Jutsu!
Cho's roar echoed through the bug swarm.
The sky turned pitch-black, an endless curtain. Itachi's Sharingan scanned the darkness, finding no trace of light.
Buzz!
A sound—wind release or bug hums—whirred in his ears.
His Sharingan morphed into the dazzling Mangekyo, a shuriken-like black mark spinning in his eyes.
Genjutsu: Mirror Heaven and Earth Turn!
The Darkness Veil shattered instantly, rebounding toward its caster. The sky didn't brighten—the dense bug swarm blocked all light.
A grating chainsaw screech came from the left, while a silent earthen fist snuck from the right.
Whoosh!
Itachi's black cloak swirled, his Mangekyo scanning both sides.
The shuriken spun faster, slowing Arashi and Iwauma's movements.
Reading their attacks perfectly, Itachi twisted, dodging Arashi's sluggish blade while using Iwauma's incoming fist as leverage. He spun, delivering a vicious roundhouse kick.
Bang!
The kick caught Arashi square in the chest. Blood spilled from his mouth as he flew backward.
Iwauma's eyes narrowed. He grabbed Itachi's leg, still on his arm, and hardened his elbow into rock, smashing it toward Itachi's shin.
Crack!
The leg snapped—but instead of a bloody break, a flock of flapping crows burst out.
Whoosh!
Itachi's figure twisted, dissolving into countless red-eyed crows that scattered.
"Release!" a voice called.
A hand pressed against Iwauma's back, familiar chakra flooding in, disrupting his manipulated chakra flow.
The crows remained, but Itachi, unharmed, stood before him, staring coldly.
Cho, arms raised, fumbled blindly nearby. Arashi, clutching his chest, staggered up, his trembling blade showing his injury's severity.
"Fall back!" Ryoma ordered, pulling his hand from Iwauma's back.
Terrified, Iwauma retreated behind Ryoma, helping Arashi up before moving to Cho, injecting chakra to disrupt his chakra flow.
Cho snapped out of it.
The trio stared at Itachi, standing still as if he'd never moved. They swallowed hard, avoiding his terrifying Sharingan.
Too strong.
He was on a completely different level from the Uchiha they'd killed at the clan grounds. Without Ryoma, they'd already be dead.
"Too many monsters lately," Cho muttered bitterly.
He'd thought Hairi, immune to genjutsu and lethal in taijutsu, was a freak. Now here was Itachi, countering genjutsu and wiping them out in seconds.
Sometimes, he wondered if specializing in genjutsu was a mistake.
Boom!
The sound of cascading water came from the left, the water level rising visibly. Colorful, venomous snakes slithered beneath the surface.
"Pfft! That side's even worse," Arashi spat, blood flecking his lips, eyes red.
Not daring to look at Itachi, he tracked his movements through the water's reflection.
"True," Iwauma, usually silent, agreed. Compared to their dangerous fight, Hairi, Orochimaru, and the blue-skinned monster's battle was even more intense.
Even through the bug swarm, he could sense the chaos over there.
This wasn't a fight they were meant to handle.
As the trio whispered, they didn't notice Itachi and Ryoma's bodies freeze, caught in a trance.
In an illusory, boundless dark space, a crimson blood moon cast an eerie glow, illuminating Itachi and Ryoma floating midair.
Ryoma glanced down at the pitch-black void, then fixed his gaze on the black-and-red-cloaked teen.
"Where are we?"
"My world," Itachi said, stepping through the void. A winding path appeared, connecting their feet. "Time, space—everything bends to my will."
The sky, earth, oceans, and seasons shifted rapidly under the moon's light, then reverted to empty darkness.
"Impressive," Ryoma said, marveling at the Mangekyo Sharingan's godlike power. No wonder Danzo was obsessed with it.
"Time here doesn't sync with the outside. Feel free to observe," Itachi offered.
"No thanks, business first," Ryoma replied, stepping along the void path toward Itachi. "Tell me everything about the Akatsuki."
"Fine," Itachi said, a cold smile curling his lips. "But first, tell me what you know."
Ryoma nodded, pulling a stack of photos from his clothes.
The tangible feel made this place seem less like a genjutsu and more like a real world.
"Lord Danzo told me you'd want updates on your brother. These are recent photos. As promised, he's doing well."
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