Bang!
Hoshigaki Jūzō brought Kubikiribōchō down in a vicious slash, striking Gen Hoshino squarely.
But at some point, the Gen Hoshino standing before him had already been replaced by a lump of earth lying on the ground!
“A mud clone?”
Hoshigaki Jūzō frowned.
He genuinely hadn’t noticed when the brat had used the technique.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
At that moment, countless senbon and kunai came hurtling toward him from every direction!
“Tch. Child’s play.”
Hoshigaki Jūzō snorted coldly.
In the next instant, Kubikiribōchō in his hands whirled into a dazzling barrage of sword arcs!
Accompanied by the sharp clanging of metal, he blocked every single senbon and kunai that came flying at him.
As one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, his swordsmanship alone was enough to deal with the vast majority of opponents!
And while deflecting the incoming projectiles, he had also pinpointed Gen Hoshino’s location.
“Found you, brat.”
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”
Gen showed no hesitation.
He immediately formed the necessary hand seals, and a massive fireball shot toward Hoshigaki Jūzō.
“Water Release: Water Formation Wall!”
Jūzō didn’t dare underestimate him.
A shinobi could never afford to be careless.
Even a jōnin facing a genin could be killed if they made a single mistake.
Besides, he was still somewhat concerned about the ANBU reinforcements Gen had mentioned.
Naturally, he wasn’t going to hold anything back!
Hissssss—
The raging fireball slammed into the surging Water Formation Wall, instantly producing an enormous cloud of steam.
In an instant, the scorching mist spread throughout the surrounding area, obscuring everyone’s vision!
Faced with this situation, Gen Hoshino appeared somewhat troubled.
He rapidly formed another series of hand seals.
“Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!”
As he completed the seals, several earthen walls suddenly rose from the ground, completely surrounding him and seemingly forming an effective defensive barrier.
“His hand-seal speed is pretty fast…”
Through the mist, Hoshigaki Jūzō watched everything clearly.
He had long since grown accustomed to the thick mist of the Land of Water.
A little fog like this was nothing to him.
Soon, however, he shook his head disdainfully before rapidly forming hand seals as well.
“What a fool. He actually thinks he can fight a Mist shinobi in water mist. Since that’s the case…”
“Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu!”
Jūzō’s chakra surged violently.
A massive creature raised its head and burst through the mist, a gigantic water dragon charging straight toward the earthen walls!
BOOM!
In an instant, the Water Dragon smashed Gen’s Earth-Style Walls to pieces, while the dragon itself scattered into countless droplets of water.
At almost exactly the same moment, Jūzō’s figure flashed forward.
His opponent’s defenses had been destroyed.
Naturally, he wasn’t going to let such a perfect opportunity slip away.
“Hm?”
A very strange chakra was continuously surging upward.
It gave even him an inexplicable feeling of danger.
“What… is this?”
He focused his eyes.
Amid the fragments of stone and countless water droplets, Gen Hoshino stood with his eyes tightly closed.
And covering his body was a strange purple lightning that Hoshigaki Jūzō had never seen before, radiating an ominous aura!
The eerie purple lightning flashed with dazzling electric arcs.
Within the mist, it was like neon light, refracting brilliant, multicolored rays.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
At that moment, Gen Hoshino suddenly opened his eyes and raised his head, a faint smile appearing on his face.
“And thanks for creating an even better environment for me.”
The moment he finished speaking, the purple arcs of electricity around Gen’s body suddenly erupted, surging forth with the fury of a breached dam!
Hoshigaki Jūzō’s face paled.
He could only watch helplessly as those electric arcs followed the countless water droplets through the air, roaring toward him…
…
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”
“Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!”
Elsewhere, the battle between Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi had also begun.
Uchiha Itachi’s hand-seal speed was astonishing.
Even Kakashi found himself under considerable pressure.
But that was only natural.
Strictly speaking, Uchiha Itachi was a complete prodigy.
Whether it was ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu, he was proficient in all of them, giving him an extremely versatile fighting style.
Kakashi also knew that this man’s combat intelligence was exceptionally high.
Regardless of whether his opponent was strong or weak, Itachi preferred to proceed cautiously, analyzing and dismantling the enemy’s techniques before using a counterattack.
In that respect, the two of them were actually quite similar…
I need to find a way to make him expose an opening.
Only then can I go reinforce Gen.
Kakashi rapidly considered his options.
But in that brief moment of distraction, Uchiha Itachi had already appeared behind him!
“Kakashi, you shouldn’t let yourself get distracted during a battle.”
Uchiha Itachi’s voice was exceptionally indifferent, and the kunai in his hand had already plunged into Kakashi’s back!
“As expected of you, Itachi.”
Kakashi slightly turned his head, and electric arcs suddenly erupted from his body.
“But it seems you’ve mistaken me for someone else!”
Crackle!
Crackle!
Crackle!
The Kakashi stabbed by Itachi instantly transformed into crackling electrical energy.
The current spread onto Uchiha Itachi’s body, leaving him unable to move.
At that very moment, the real Kakashi suddenly burst out of the ground, Chidori’s lightning blazing in his hand!
“Is that so?”
Yet Uchiha Itachi’s expression remained as indifferent as ever, his voice utterly calm.
“What about you, Kakashi?”
“Hm?”
Kakashi’s expression changed.
He immediately realized that the Itachi before him was a shadow clone.
More importantly, the chakra within that shadow clone was circulating in an abnormal pattern!
BOOM!
With a deafening explosion, the shadow clone detonated!
Kakashi reacted with lightning speed.
Almost immediately, he put distance between himself and the explosion, narrowly avoiding the full force of the blast at such close range.
Although the explosion still left him looking somewhat battered, at least he hadn’t been injured.
This guy… he’s too dangerous…
The Sharingan in Kakashi’s left eye slowly rotated as he searched for Uchiha Itachi’s position.
At the same time, he couldn’t help worrying about Gen Hoshino’s situation.
The explosions and bursts of chakra coming from that direction were making him increasingly restless, but with Uchiha Itachi keeping him occupied, he had no chance to go over there.
“Kakashi, that eye still doesn’t seem particularly suited to you.”
At that moment, Uchiha Itachi had already walked calmly out of the smoke and stood directly before Kakashi.
“Your chakra seems to be running low.”
“That’s true.”
Kakashi shook his head.
He naturally knew his own condition.
“But all I need to do is keep you occupied. Once the ANBU arrive as reinforcements, none of you will be able to escape.”
“Is that so?”
Uchiha Itachi answered indifferently.
He continued thinking rapidly for a moment before speaking in a low voice.
“But you’ve made one mistake. You don’t truly know how to use the Sharingan, and you can’t draw out its full power. Today…”
As he spoke, he slowly closed both eyes.
Then, in the next instant, he opened them again.
His eyes had transformed into the Mangekyō Sharingan!
“Today, I’ll let you witness the true power of the Sharingan!”
In an instant, a strange chakra erupted from those eyes.
This is bad!
Kakashi felt his breathing seize up.
The entire world seemed to twist and distort around him.
When he could see clearly again, the entire world had become a strange mixture of black and white, and he was already bound to a cross!
“This is the world of Tsukuyomi. In this world, space, time, and even mass are all under my control.”
Uchiha Itachi approached him slowly, a sword in hand.
The blade instantly left its sheath and plunged viciously into Kakashi’s abdomen.
The intense pain made his eyes widen!
“And don’t think this is merely an illusion. The pain you experience here is no different from the pain outside. For the next seventy-two hours, I’ll keep stabbing you with this sword.”
Schk!
Schk!
Two more piercing sounds rang out.
That unbearable agony once again tore through Kakashi’s nerves!
“This genjutsu…”
Kakashi gritted his teeth and endured.
But at this moment, Uchiha Itachi’s figure seemed endless.
Countless swords gleaming with terrifying cold light once again came stabbing toward him!
Kakashi’s eyes were bloodshot.
He tried to break free from the genjutsu, but discovered that he couldn’t do anything at all.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. We have plenty of time.”
Uchiha Itachi’s voice echoed once more, layered upon itself until it sent chills through the heart.
“Now then, let’s continue…”
He raised his sword again.
But at that moment, his figure suddenly froze.
Even Kakashi noticed the unexpected change.
And within this world of genjutsu, he seemed to catch sight of a strange flash of purple light…