“Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation…” Just as a furious Madara was about to unleash the Fire Style to blast Ishikawa, a pure white light suddenly burst from his body, slowly growing brighter.
This white light seemed to be draining his chakra and his dojutsu power.
Suddenly losing his strength, Madara’s Susanoo, formed by his dojutsu, began to weaken and finally disappeared.
He leaped a few times and landed on the ground, instinctively raising his hand to look at the white light on his body.
Did something happen to the caster?
Madara thought this, and then, realizing he couldn’t quickly use ninjutsu for the moment, he could only glare fiercely in Ishikawa’s direction.
But Ishikawa wasn’t even looking at Madara.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh—!
On other battlefields, countless light spots also began to brighten, then turned into light pillars and burst forth.
These represented souls returning to the Pure Land, one after another.
Ishikawa looked up at the beams of light in the night sky, which were especially bright.
He understood that Uchiha Itachi and his brother Sasuke had gone to him.
Then he turned to look at Madara, who had fallen to the ground and was also emitting beams of light.
The surrounding Five Kage, seeing the light beams on Madara and the paper scraps fluttering around him, also breathed a sigh of relief.
Onoki floated up.
His white hair had been blown about by the previous attacks.
He stared intently at Madara, who was emitting light beams, and said: “The Susanoo is gone, and… the remnants of the Edo Tensei are scattering.” His expression became less grim and serious.
Onoki seemed to finally have a chance to relax: “There’s no doubt about it, the Edo Tensei has been released!” Raikage Ay seemed surprised, his light brown mustache perked up, and his deep voice exclaimed in astonishment: “What?!” Tsunade also climbed out of the ruins.
After standing up, she recovered from her injuries.
She seemed disbelieving and asked doubtfully, frowning: “Kabuto’s whereabouts haven’t even been determined yet.
This is too fast.
If it was just finding him, that would be one thing.” Tsunade’s pupils trembled slightly, perhaps due to the high cost of recovering from her injuries during the battle.
She continued: “But he actually managed to stop this jutsu.
Who could it be…” What exactly had happened in the meantime?
— Just now.
Inside a dark, damp, stalactite cave.
Sasuke listened to Kabuto’s explanation and turned to look at Itachi, who was standing at the cave entrance.
His hand was already on the hilt of his Kusanagi sword behind him: “Then why are you, who was reanimated by the Edo Tensei, here?” Itachi didn’t look at his brother.
He had been staring at Kabuto the whole time to prevent him from escaping.
When he heard his brother’s question, he replied calmly: “The reason is simple, I wasn’t controlled by this guy.” Sasuke’s mouth opened slightly, and he looked at Itachi in disbelief.
Seeing that his brother said nothing more, he turned his gaze back to Kabuto.
Kabuto then admitted: “That’s right, as expected of Uchiha Itachi, to be able to use your own genjutsu to override the Edo Tensei.” Kabuto could clearly sense the killing intent from Itachi.
He paused and then turned to Sasuke: “Sasuke, you want to defeat Itachi, your clan’s enemy, again, because I’m the one who brought him back to this world.” “So, for both Sasuke and me, Itachi is currently an obstacle.
Is that correct?” Kabuto squatted on the ground.
Although Itachi wouldn’t dare kill him now, he had plenty of ways to force him to stop the Edo Tensei.
And for his plan to continue, he had to eliminate Itachi first.
Kabuto pondered and then tried to trick Sasuke: “How about we temporarily join forces and take down Itachi?” The white-scaled snake behind Kabuto poked its head out, flicking its blood-red tongue.
Its yellow snake eyes stared coldly at the unmoving Uchiha Itachi, while Kabuto continued: “We have the same snake power and the same teacher…” At this moment, Sasuke suddenly interrupted Kabuto.
But this seemed to be within Kabuto’s expectations.
Beneath his hood, he maintained a strange smile.
Sasuke shouted: “I don’t intend to treat him as a teacher!
Besides, it seems you don’t know anything.
I came here to get some answers from Itachi.” Kabuto’s expression finally changed slightly.
The corners of his mouth, which had been raised, slowly drooped.
He looked towards Sasuke’s voice with some surprise, seemingly not expecting Sasuke to answer like that, and asked: “Then who are you on the side of now?” Sasuke didn’t speak.
Instead, he proved his stance with actions.
He casually pulled out a few shuriken from behind him and threw them directly towards Kabuto!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Clink!
Ping!
Clang!
Itachi, who had been standing silently beside him, also threw several shuriken, blocking Sasuke’s attack for Kabuto.
Seeing Itachi block his attack, Sasuke was very confused.
He turned to look at his brother, his three-tomoe eyes trembling slightly, and was about to question him: “Why?!
This guy is just like Orochimaru, so he’s my enemy!
Don’t you think he’s your enemy too right now?!” Itachi remained in the pose of throwing shuriken, motionless.
Listening to Sasuke’s questioning, perhaps because he had died once, Itachi felt his current body wanted to remain in one pose and just stop.
After Sasuke finished speaking, Itachi slowly spoke, explaining to Sasuke in an ordinary tone: “I understand.
We’ll talk about our matters later.” Itachi slightly tilted his head, looking at Sasuke for the first time.
The brothers exchanged a glance, and Itachi continued: “Let’s defeat this guy together first, but don’t kill him.” Sasuke looked confused but didn’t voice it.
He quietly listened to Itachi’s explanation: “Once the caster of the Edo Tensei is killed, the jutsu can never be undone.” While Itachi was speaking, Kabuto slowly stood up from the ground, still facing the brothers sideways, and said nothing.
Itachi’s voice echoed in the somewhat cramped cave: “I will first use my Tsukuyomi on him to learn how to stop the jutsu.
Then, while maintaining the Tsukuyomi state, I will control him and release the Edo Tensei myself.” Kabuto also finally turned around, revealing the face hidden under his hood.
For the first time, he faced the Uchiha brothers directly, a smile on his face, and said to Itachi with great confidence: “You’re quite eloquent in explaining how to defeat me.
I hope it’s as easy to carry out as you say.” Then he put on a sorrowful expression, and the snake behind him swayed its head back and forth: “It’s a pity, I just said that this jutsu has no weakness and no risk…” Itachi stood in place and suddenly interrupted Kabuto: “Every ninjutsu has its weaknesses.” Kabuto’s smiling face became somewhat confused.
He lowered the corners of his mouth and looked at Itachi through his glasses.
The three-tomoe in Itachi’s eyes were slowly merging together, forming a Uchiha symbol.
“And the weakness and risk of this jutsu…” “…is me.”