Itachi received the message relayed by his clone and confirmed Sasuke's situation in Konoha, which eased his mind slightly.
After eating the last dango ball, he said to Kisame, "We can go now. As for the Four-Tails, we'll have to head to the Land of Earth, though it seems like we might be a bit late."
In front of them were Asuma and Kurenai. Behind them stood Kakashi, carrying a box of cakes, the cakes were meant as an offering for Obito, purchased by Kakashi.
It was Kakashi who had discovered the two Akatsuki members while waiting for Sasuke at the dango shop, and Asuma and Kurenai had just been on a date when they ran into the situation and were pulled in as backup.
The street had already been cleared.
Looks like we were being watched by Kakashi since the dango shop, Itachi thought.
"Well, it's been a long time, Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi."
He discarded his wind-chime hat, revealing his cold face.
"Itachi... and Kisame." Asuma partially shielded Kurenai with his body. According to the intel from his father on Akatsuki, Kurenai couldn't even withstand a glance from Itachi.
Kakashi tossed the cakes to the base of a tree, one hand resting on the tool pouch at his lower back.
"So I'm that famous, huh? Pleased to meet you all," Kisame said, taking off his hat to reveal his shark-like face.
"You two... right now, you're—" Before Asuma could finish his tough talk, the sound of lightning rang out.
Sasuke suddenly appeared, charging straight at Itachi with lightning in hand.
He had originally been scheduled to train with Kakashi. They were supposed to meet at the dango shop, but Kakashi had stood him up. Looking for Kakashi, he ended up here instead.
Who would've thought, today was the day to slay his greatest enemy.
He poured maximum chakra into his attack. But the Chidori was caught, barehanded.
What? Sasuke was shocked to his core.
Caught up in his anger, he clearly forgot just how much the Sharingan enhanced dynamic vision. A straight-line attack with no variation was too easy to predict in the face of a Mangekyō Sharingan.
Itachi's Mangekyō was spinning, his cold gaze fixed on his younger brother: "Pathetic."
With a powerful knee strike, Sasuke was sent flying, crashing into a tree in the distance. Clearly, he was no longer able to fight.
"How heartless. That's your brother, right?" Kisame commented on his teammate's coldness, lifting his blade to block a chakra-infused kunai.
Itachi said nothing. He flung a shuriken with one hand while making hand signs with the other.
Kakashi's kunai collided with Itachi's shuriken!
What followed was a battle between elite ninja and S-rank missing-nin!
The battlefield split, with each side finding their own opponent.
---
"Kisame isn't so tough."
With Kurenai's precise coordination, Asuma managed to gain the upper hand against Kisame in his normal form. A Flying Swallow even slashed across Kisame's face.
They had a bit of an edge. Seeing this, he smirked slightly and threw out a barrage of taunts. "Is this all you've got? You became a missing-nin because you couldn't cut it in Kiri, right? Ranked S-class just from riding the hype of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?"
It was a tactic. If trash talk could break an opponent's focus and open them up to attacks, then it was a major win. If not, no harm done. But that only worked when the power difference wasn't too great. If there was a gap, this could just provoke a boss-level rage.
Kisame, in particular, was prideful. Hearing Asuma's insults, he was instantly pissed.
In his base form, he couldn't easily defeat someone like Asuma in a blade clash. No longer holding back, he prepared to transform and show them his true strength.
And don't forget Kurenai lurking on the edge. While she would be completely outmatched by Itachi's genjutsu, she could still pose a threat to Kisame.
"Let's change the battlefield first," he said, forming hand seals rapidly.
In an instant, a torrent of water burst from his mouth, flooding the entire street. What had once been a dry battlefield was now a vast sea. To be able to reshape the terrain with Water Release technique in a waterless environment, Kisame truly lived up to his reputation as the second strongest Water Release user.
The violent surge of chakra also disrupted any ongoing genjutsu.
He dove into the water and continued forming seals.
Within the water, Kisame transformed into a shark-man form. His body merged with Samehada, becoming a half-man, half-shark hybrid. His speed, power, and chakra-absorbing abilities all experienced a dramatic boost. Now that the battlefield was flooded, he was fighting in his element.
The real battle had only just begun.
---
Meanwhile, things weren't looking good on Kakashi's side.
When facing Itachi, his clone managed to hold its own briefly by exchanging ninjutsu. But the moment Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan began spinning wildly, he was instantly overwhelmed. Before he could react, he was hit head-on by a Tsukuyomi, dragged into an endless illusion.
In the real world, his body simply collapsed, instantly unconscious.
Kakashi was down.
Sasuke stared in stunned disbelief from the sidelines. Were you just talking big this whole time? All that stuff about being an equal, about being his former subordinate, was it all bluffing?
Itachi slowly walked up to Sasuke, towering over him with cold eyes. "You're too weak, Sasuke. Your hatred isn't deep enough. Hate me more. Only with enough hatred can you awaken eyes like mine."
Before the words had even fully faded, his Mangekyō Sharingan began spinning again, Tsukuyomi was unleashed once more. Sasuke had no power to resist and was instantly pulled into the genjutsu world.
It's over.
"Aaaahhhh—!!"
In pain and despair, Sasuke lost consciousness, collapsing beside Kakashi.
At that critical moment, a green figure sliced into the battlefield like a bolt of lightning!
A hot-blooded man stood between Itachi and the unconscious Sasuke. Itachi retreated slightly in response.
"Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey has arrived!" Guy roared, his iconic thick eyebrows and tight green jumpsuit making him the center of attention.
He glanced at the fallen Kakashi and Sasuke, frowning deeply, then locked eyes on Itachi's feet as he shifted into a battle stance.
"From here on out, I'll be your opponent!"
---
Back at the Hokage's office, when Hiruzen received the news, he was numb.
Kakashi had alerted a few jonin to capture the S-rank rogue duo, and had sent Guy to inform the ANBU.
Guy, after relaying the message, rushed straight to support Kakashi.
The ANBU mobilized as soon as they got the message, forming a team and then reporting to the Hokage.
By the time he got the news, the fight was already underway.
The whole thing felt like… meeting an undercover agent on the rooftop, only to walk downstairs and find that the agent had already been arrested by military police for not having ID.
Unbelievable.
He was speechless. He changed into his battle gear and led a squad of ANBU straight to the battlefield.