The scene on the battlefield was a bit strange.
The fight between Naruto Uzumaki and Itachi Uchiha was somewhat quiet. Both of them seemed to be trying their best to avoid a decisive battle, still just confronting each other.
Meanwhile, Tobirama Senju and Kisame Hoshigaki were already locked in a life-or-death struggle. Both were men who revered the ninja code and would never pass up a single chance to kill an enemy.
His brother's battle with Kakuzu, however, was different.
The black threads of Earth Grudge Fear gathered into a sharp weapon, stabbing continuously at Hashirama Senju under Kakuzu's control. Kakuzu spoke in a low voice, "Hashirama Senju, do you remember me?"
As the bundle of black threads moved in for the kill, the First Hokage nimbly dodged, looking at the gray-haired man with confusion. "Ha… have we met before?"
"Bastard!"
In Kakuzu's hands, the Earth Grudge Fear slowly grew into a huge monster and lunged toward Hashirama. "Sixty years ago, we fought," he continued in a deep voice. "I lost to you then and was abandoned by the leaders of the Village Hidden by a Waterfall..."
"Ahahaha..." Hashirama scratched his head and laughed awkwardly. "If I say I don't remember, will you hate me?"
"Bastard!"
The gray-haired old ninja was instantly enraged. Two strange masks appeared on his shoulders and opened their mouths wide. "Fire Style: Searing Migraine! Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
"Alright, alright, I was just kidding..." A large tree grew out of thin air beside Hashirama. Though it was just the most common application of a Wood Style secret jutsu, it easily blocked the combined ninjutsu of Wind and Fire.
Not only that, but Hashirama suddenly clapped his hands together, controlling a vine that pierced straight into Kakuzu's chest. Countless more vines then drilled out from within his body.
"Cough… ah!"
Kakuzu, the immortal ninja who claimed he would live as long as heaven and earth, fell powerlessly. The Earth Grudge Fear threads scattered on the ground, and the two masks on his shoulders seemed to slowly retract into his body as their master's life faded.
Hashirama glanced at the battlefield and said calmly, "When you mentioned the Village Hidden by a Waterfall, I remembered. A ninja from there did ambush my wood clone back then. He was seriously injured and fled..."
"..."
The movements of the Earth Grudge Fear stopped.
A scythe fell to the ground beside Kakuzu. A silver-haired young man was sent flying and crashed next to Kakuzu's corpse, cursing, "Hey, you bastard Kakuzu, is that the truth you were always bragging about? You, having fought the God of Shinobi?"
Hidan had been sent flying by Tsunade's punch once again. This opponent was not to his liking at all; Tsunade's taijutsu was too strong for him to even injure her.
Hidan needed to get his enemy's blood for a ritual. His Curse Technique, Death Controlling Possessed Blood, allowed him to inflict unavoidable, equal damage on his target by attacking his own body. As a Jashinist, Hidan was immortal, so this move was always successful. But now, he was having a hard time getting even a little of Tsunade's blood.
This woman protected herself too well. Even when he gave her openings to trade an injury for his life, she didn't care at all about the temptation to instantly finish him off. Instead, she desperately made sure she wouldn't get hurt.
"..."
Konan, who was closest to Kakuzu, heard Hidan's words and frowned. The Akatsuki's ambush seemed to have become a complete farce.
And she had been far too confident in herself. That Teacher Jiraiya, who had taught them ninjutsu and sparred with them… had he been toying with them all along?
"Konan, so you were also one of the people who wanted to attack us? You've grown into a very charming woman! Wild Lion's Mane!" Jiraiya looked at Konan with a smile. His white hair suddenly extended, tightly binding her. It seemed that because everything was under control, Jiraiya held back from launching a fatal attack.
Seeing that Konan didn't answer, the white-haired man continued, "During the Great Ninja War, I heard news that you died in the civil war in the Rain Village. I never expected you to join a rogue ninja organization..."
"..."
Konan closed her eyes and looked at the sky. Pieces of paper were quickly falling from her body as she prepared to break free from Jiraiya's restraint.
"Toad Oil!"
As her former teacher, Jiraiya knew all of her weaknesses. The nemesis of Konan's paper ninjutsu was sticky oil. Once stuck, the paper lost its agility.
A ball of flaming oil shot from Jiraiya's mouth, making it impossible for the paper on Konan's body to separate and escape. His face gradually became serious. "What on earth happened? Are Yahiko and Nagato still alive? Did they also join this organization?"
As if touched by the two names, or perhaps because she couldn't escape Jiraiya's hold, Konan slowly opened her eyes. A misty fog appeared in them. "Teacher Jiraiya, what's the point of saying all this now?"
"I should at least know what happened to my students!" Jiraiya clapped his hands together and asked stubbornly. "Konan, with your personality, you would never join such an evil organization..."
"You guessed wrong, Teacher Jiraiya."
The blue-haired woman's eyes suddenly sharpened as she said in a deep voice, "What I am carrying out now… is the will of a god!"
"Don't be so arrogant, Konan." Jiraiya's eyes narrowed slightly. He had a faint guess in his heart. In this era, how many people could be called a god?
The First Hokage, the God of Shinobi.
Hanzo of the Salamander, the Demigod of Shinobi.
Jiraiya felt that he had instantly guessed the truth, and his voice became cold. "So you've submitted to someone called a god… The mastermind behind this organization is Hanzo of the Salamander, right?"
"..."
Konan's mind slowly calmed down. She didn't dare to answer further, lest Jiraiya extract more information from her.
Even after so many years, facing a seasoned ninja like her former teacher, Konan once again felt like a clueless ninja student. Still… being played with.
Konan glanced across the entire battlefield. Besides Itachi, who was still in a standoff with the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, most of the others were at a disadvantage or had already been defeated.
Their battle hadn't even been going on for long. By the time Itachi made a move to capture the jinchuriki, all of them would probably be dead.
"Everyone, retreat!" Konan commanded in a deep voice. She secretly cut her finger with her nail, desperately forming hand seals as she whispered, "Ninjutsu: Summoning Technique..."
Poof!
A figure appeared beside Konan, instantly breaking the restraint of the Wild Lion's Mane Technique. A palm stretched out fiercely. "Almighty Push!"
Caught off guard, Jiraiya was sent flying by the repulsive force.
Not only that, but the suddenly appearing enemy quickly appeared in various corners of the battlefield, successively forcing back the Konoha shinobi with lightning speed.
Who would have thought that Konan could summon such a powerful enemy to the battlefield?
After the orange-haired figure appeared, the members of the Akatsuki all breathed a sigh of relief. Kakuzu, who had been playing dead on the ground, also got up.
Hidan immediately let out a crazed laugh. "Hahahahaha… The leader is here too? There's no need to retreat at all! Shouldn't we take advantage of the situation—"
The next moment, Hidan's words came to an abrupt halt.
A giant golden chakra hand rose out of thin air, and then that hand punched out, smashing the orange-haired figure straight into the ground.
An even more arrogant figure dropped into everyone's view.
Naruto was cloaked in golden chakra. Just feeling its intensity gave off an aura of ferocious power. His actions seemed to be a declaration to the Akatsuki: the Nine-Tails jinchuriki was not someone they could covet.
Defeating the orange-haired man was just something he did on the side, because Naruto was still dealing with an even more troublesome enemy… Itachi Uchiha.
This man had yet to make a move.
Even though Itachi was just standing there, he had a deterrent force that no one dared to underestimate. Naruto knew very clearly that if he was even slightly careless, Itachi would pull him into a genjutsu.
-----
Bonus Scene:
If this battle were a game, and the Akatsuki lost.
Kisame: I'll take some of the blame. I got suppressed by Tobirama Senju.
Konan: I was suppressed too. Can't be helped, the opponent was a star mid-laner.
Kakuzu: I couldn't do anything either. The jungler never came to help...
Hidan: You couldn't do jack shit! You went in and fed! Before the fight, you were even bragging you could go 50/50 with Hashirama!
Itachi: How was I supposed to help? Naruto Uzumaki was in my jungle the whole time. How could I gank?