What a familiar jutsu.
Uchiha Itachi stared at the lightning speeding toward him, closing in within a blink, his face calm as he thought to himself.
It really does have Kakashi's style. Chidori is the only jutsu Kakashi created himself.
He'd seen Kakashi use this move many times back in the Anbu days, and now here it was again—his little brother using the same technique.
It's like they're just playing with something we left behind.
Itachi and Kakashi rarely sparred back then, but he definitely knows the weakness and mechanics of Chidori.
Without Sharingan in the village, did Sasuke really have no choice but to learn from Kakashi how to use it?
Itachi didn't think Kakashi was a bad teacher. In fact, letting Kakashi teach Sasuke was probably the best choice the village could make.
But if this is supposed to be his trump card, then he's way off.
"Boom!!!"
With a deafening blast, a cloud of dust exploded around everyone, wrapping them in smoke.
Next to Sasuke, the attack didn't just slice the inn wall—it blew a massive hole through it.
The entire wall collapsed like it had been bombed, rubble crashing down in pieces.
Even from inside, they could hear the terrified screams from the street outside.
Cold wind rushed through the hallway in an instant.
The dust blew in with the wind, slowly fading away.
Naruto and Sasuke both widened their eyes—this was a Chidori meant to kill.
A move strong enough to break Gaara's ultimate defense and even faster than Lee's speed.
And yet Itachi brushed it aside with ease. He didn't even use any extra effort to counter.
He just calmly grabbed Sasuke's wrist and redirected the attack into the wall.
"How… how is that possible?!"
Sasuke couldn't help but cry out.
He had thought this move might miss Itachi, but Itachi didn't dodge or move—he just grabbed his wrist and let the strike hit nothing.
The shock and frustration hit hard.
All that hard training, and this is all it amounts to?!
"You're far from ready, Sasuke."
"With your current strength, you don't stand a chance against me."
The gap between us is like heaven and earth.
Itachi lowered his eyes and stared at Sasuke coldly.
Was it really the right choice to let him stay in the village?
Itachi felt a trace of doubt. The village didn't have the right person to truly guide Sasuke.
After all this time, his big move is still just Chidori.
And the way he used it was reckless. Chidori, because of Kakashi's unique chakra nature, is normally saved as a finishing move—a one-hit kill.
But Sasuke just charged in and threw it at Itachi right away. From his stance earlier, he was dead serious—probably wanted to show off in front of him.
They taught him the Chidori, but didn't teach him anything about real battle.
"Tch…!"
The excitement of seeing his brother was long gone. Instead, shame and anger boiled inside him.
This was just too humiliating.
"Sharingan can see through everything."
"You think I wouldn't stop a straight-line attack like that?"
He misjudged his enemy, trusted too much in his Sharingan. If he uses a move like that carelessly, it's bound to be caught and turned against him.
Sasuke yanked his leg free from Uchiha Itachi's grip and twisted his body, kicking out with full force.
Itachi leaned back slightly, blocked the kick with both hands, and then grabbed Sasuke's ankle in one swift move, lifting him upside down like a rag doll.
Hanging there, Sasuke's leg muscles tightened sharply. He swung forward, trying to ram his head into Itachi's stomach.
But before he could hit, a punch landed squarely on his back and sent him flying.
"Ugh!"
Sasuke tumbled across the ground, rolling twice before crashing against a wall and barely managing to stop.
Itachi stood where he was, his scarlet Sharingan eyes staring coldly at Sasuke.
Compared to before, Sasuke had indeed improved a lot.
But even with that progress, he was still far from being able to defend himself.
Itachi gave a faint, almost invisible shake of the head and let out a quiet sigh.
So in a village without the clan, there was really no one who could properly teach Sasuke?
It wasn't that Itachi expected his brother to achieve anything great, but judging from his current state, he didn't even have the ability to protect himself.
That was honestly too disappointing.
Even knowing this whole thing was just an act for everyone watching, Sasuke still couldn't stop his pride from being crushed.
This was humiliating.
Whether in Taijutsu or Ninjutsu—
Even though he trained hard every day, Sasuke had already realized since the fight with Gaara that Naruto was slowly starting to surpass him.
And now, after only a few brief exchanges with Itachi, Sasuke saw even more clearly just how weak and lacking he really was.
Everyone praised him as a genius, placing high hopes on him as the last of the Uchiha.
But now Sasuke was starting to realize—maybe he wasn't a genius at all. Maybe he wasn't even better than Naruto, the so-called dead last.
"Sasuke!"
Naruto, not realizing that Sasuke also considered him a rival to chase, shouted his name in a panic.
Sasuke was the best in Taijutsu among them, yet he had just been knocked away by a single punch. That was shocking.
Their target was only Naruto, but Itachi, the one who had slaughtered the clan, might actually kill Sasuke right here.
After all, the only reason Sasuke had survived the massacre back then was because he happened to be at school with him.
I can't just stand here waiting for Sasuke to get up. I have to do something too!
Naruto formed hand signs, and behind him, the Nine-Tails' chakra suddenly flared to life.
A whirl of crimson chakra spun up around his feet, so dense it was visible to the naked eye.
The moment it appeared, both Kisame and Itachi instantly felt its abnormal, crushing presence.
"So this is the Nine-Tails' chakra, huh?"
Kisame looked at Naruto with great interest. To think this kid could actually draw out the Nine-Tails' chakra—his training wasn't bad at all.
The chakra swelling around Naruto exploded outward. He bit his thumb, preparing to summon.
But before he could finish the hand signs, Kisame swung the giant blade from his back and slashed straight into the swirling chakra around Naruto.
"Your signs and chakra control are way too slow."
"Huh!?"
Naruto staggered back a step, the red chakra around him vanishing instantly.
The gap between them was too great—he had been completely crushed.
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