"Hey, Naruto, are you alright?"
Hatake Kakashi finally used the Kamui Sharingan to absorb all the flames of Amaterasu into the Kamui Space and rushed over with some concern.
Hatake Kakashi lowered his head to touch Uzumaki Naruto's forehead, and said in a deep voice: "Uchiha Itachi, did you use your Mangekyo Dojutsu on Naruto?"
"Hmm, alright, that's enough."
Uchiha Itachi slowly closed his eyes, seemingly indifferent to Hatake Kakashi, as his entire being transformed into countless flying crows.
At the same time.
Hoshigaki Kisame also saw this scene, withdrew from the battlefield, and shouted: "Itachi-san, let's retreat now!"
"We can."
Uchiha Itachi nodded.
After ensuring the retreat message reached Uehara Naraku, Hoshigaki Kisame touched his ring and said softly: "Pain-sama, Kakuzu and the others should have retreated to a safe area by now, right? Can our cover unit also retreat?"
Pain had not begun to respond.
Instead, Deidara, controlling the Form Transformation Puppet, replied: "You guys go ahead and retreat! Leave the pursuit by Konoha Ninjas to me! I'll show you what true art is!"
"Alright."
After Pain nodded, he instructed in a deep voice: "Then you two retreat, leave the task of blocking the pursuit to Deidara and Sasori!"
Thus, this battle was declared over.
The Akatsuki expended a lot of Form Transformation Puppets' power, and six members finally managed to retreat within the boundaries of the Land of Rain. It seemed as though everyone with their own intentions managed to achieve their goals in this battle.
After Deidara's Form Transformation Puppet self-destructed, it directly blocked Konoha's pursuit of Akatsuki; Kaguya Kimimaro's Form Transformation Puppet was defeated by Rock Lee and Hyuga Neji's joint attack; Haku's puppet also dissipated due to chakra exhaustion.
On Konoha's battlefield.
Kakashi and Might Guy looked at the strange corpses scattered around, their expressions somewhat grim; it seemed they had been played by Akatsuki!
"Captain Kakashi!"
At that moment, Sai arrived to deliver urgent information, his voice hurried as he began: "Jiraiya-sama and his team were intercepted and couldn't reach the battlefield!"
"Intercepted?"
"Yes."
Sai leapt down from his flying bird, his face tense as he spoke: "The Third Hokage and Fourth Hokage intercepted Jiraiya-sama's team; the Second Hokage and Second Mizukage intercepted the Fifth Hokage's team!"
"Reanimation?"
Hatake Kakashi immediately caught on.
After Sai nodded, he said in a deep voice: "Yes, it might be Orochimaru's handiwork. Jiraiya-sama is still holding on, but Tsunade-sama's team... they are on the verge of collapse!"
Sai's report was not wrong.
Jiraiya and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio could still hold on, purely because the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, only used the Immortal Technique; otherwise, if Namikaze Minato had activated Nine-Tails Mode, they wouldn't have been able to delay him easily.
It was well known.
Namikaze Minato's battles never dragged on.
After all, he was the fastest man in the Ninja World.
As for Tsunade, Terumi Mei, Gaara, and Uehara Naraku's team, they truly couldn't hold out because Uehara Naraku personally controlled the Second Hokage in battle!
This made their situation very awkward.
Especially under the current circumstances, where the Second Hokage was almost single-handedly toying with their team, while the Second Mizukage only provided occasional support using Water Iron Cannon Jutsu.
Standing on a sand cushion, Gaara frantically channeled the chakra within, transforming the ground into yellow sand, and sweeping it towards the Second Hokage: "Sand Waterfall Stream!"
But all that met Gaara was the ninjutsu casually released by the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama, after forming a few hand seals: "Water Release: Bursting Water Wave!"
In an instant, countless grains of sand were scattered by the water surge!
If not for Uehara Naraku releasing a Water Wall to block the attack, the four of them would have been swept away by the waves.
While Uehara Naraku was having fun, he received messages from other locations. After confirmation from Uchiha Obito, it was found that Uchiha Itachi used Tsukuyomi on Uzumaki Naruto, but Naruto's condition seemed alright.
Perhaps Uchiha Itachi handed over that Kotoamatsukami crow?
After thinking for a moment, Uehara Naraku raised his finger, ordering the ninja under his control to prepare for a full retreat, concluding this grand play for a single crow.
As for the next steps, a little probing of Uchiha Itachi was needed.
Several of the reanimated Hokages retreated one after another, allowing Tsunade and Jiraiya to finally regroup and assess the losses from this battle.
Due to the unexpected interception by the reanimated beings, the Konoha Ninjas' greatest contributors ended up being Might Guy and Kakashi's two squads, whose most significant achievement was taking down a few of Akatsuki's puppets.
Since they failed to capture any of Akatsuki's members, Uehara Naraku, Terumi Mei, and Gaara did not linger and soon left the Land of Fire.
Tsunade was nearly exploding with anger!
This time, she had lost considerable face among the allied nations.
"Find Orochimaru's whereabouts immediately!"
Upon returning to Konoha, Tsunade lashed out at the Konoha Anbu: "If he's alive, I want to see him; if he's dead, I want to see his corpse!"
"What if we find him?"
Jiraiya, rubbing his forehead, inquired: "Orochimaru might control reanimated bodies of more than five Kage-level figures; can we eliminate him? Moreover, why would he help Akatsuki?"