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"Is that boy also a Konoha ninja?"
Atop the mountain, four pairs of Rinnegan gazed at Itachi, who suddenly appeared before Shisui.
"He actually possesses this level of eye power?"
The man who first stood atop the giant bird spoke.
Like the other three men who appeared later, he had orange hair tied in a single ponytail, with bangs hanging down his right cheek.
Possessing the power of the Rinnegan, he could directly see through Itachi's chakra and eye power.
Therefore, he didn't underestimate the fact that Shisui's reinforcements appeared to be only a teenager.
"Including the two you knocked down earlier, that's six in total?"
Within Itachi's eyes, the three magatama that had been slowly spinning accelerated, linking together to form a Mangekyo pattern.
As his eye power intensified, Itachi, like Shisui before him, could see through the bodies of the four men before him.
All their chakra was channeled through black rods throughout their bodies.
So, while they appeared to possess consciousness, they were in reality puppets controlled by someone.
Although the four individuals before him appeared to possess the Rinnegan, their eyes were likely fake.
It's the same principle that allowed Itachi and Shisui to inject their own eye power into the crow's eye, temporarily forming the Sharingan pattern.
However, being able to simultaneously manipulate the eye power and chakra of six individuals was something Itachi could never have imagined.
While this might be a special ability unique to the Rinnegan, even so, this eye power far surpassed the power of the Mangekyo.
However, this didn't mean Itachi and Shisui had no chance of success against an opponent possessing the Rinnegan.
So-called eye techniques, like ninja tools, are weapons in the hands of a ninja.
The strength of a weapon is one thing, but the ultimate power exerted is determined by the ninja himself.
Clearly, if the person behind these puppets could unleash the true power of the Rinnegan, Shisui wouldn't have been able to hold out for as long as he did.
Even so, the enemy possessed the Rinnegan, and Itachi hadn't yet regained his peak strength, and Shisui had consumed a significant amount of chakra and eye power in the previous battle.
During his time in Akatsuki, Itachi had participated in the sealing of the tailed beasts and had experienced the terrifying chakra power of Pain.
The Pain Itachi knew had likely been defeated by Shisui in the recent battle.
"Mangekyo Sharingan?!"
Shisui and Pain exclaimed in shock as they sensed Itachi's renewed eye power and the patterns within his eyes.
"Shisui-senpai, facing such an opponent, we must give it our all to defeat him!"
Itachi declared.
In their current situation, he and Shisui could no longer wait for the Fourth Hokage's support, so defeating the enemy was the only option.
Therefore, he could no longer conceal any of his strength.
"Yes," Shisui nodded, standing beside Itachi, sword in hand.
Since the eye power he had previously depleted had not yet recovered, he could only use his three-magatama form for the time being.
"I didn't expect there were so many formidable individuals among the Uchiha clan in Konoha now," the ponytailed Pain muttered, a chilling murderous intent surging in his deep eyes.
His ultimate goal today was to eliminate Uchiha Shisui, a man of immense potential.
However, the young Uchiha who had arrived to reinforce Shisui appeared to possess far more formidable potential.
In Uchiha history, only a handful of individuals had ever managed to evolve their Sharingan to its Mangekyo form.
As for an Uchiha of Itachi's age, possessing it was unheard of.
Both Uchiha Shisui and this young man would become a formidable obstacle to their plans in the future.
Therefore, they naturally had to eliminate them before they could mature!
With this thought in mind, all four pairs of Rinnegan fixed their gazes on Shisui and Itachi below.
Swish!
The moment their eyes met, Shisui and Itachi's figures vanished into afterimages.
"What agility!"
The ponytailed Pain exclaimed, astonished at Itachi's agility!
Shisui and Itachi dashed in the same direction.
Although there were four opponents, they did not intend to deal with them separately, but to unite together and use the combined strength of two people to defeat them one by one.
The target they locked on was the man on the top of the mountain to the left of the position they had stood before, because judging from his appearance, he should be the heaviest of the four.
The speed of a ninja is actually closely related to his appearance.
Shisui and Itachi approached the target from the left and right sides of the mountain respectively.
They were indeed moving very fast, but at this time, Pain, who was standing on the top of the opposite mountain with a ponytail, made seals with his hands.
Cry!
The giant bird that had been hovering over the mountains flapped its wings and cried loudly, and then rushed toward the mountain where Shisui and Itachi were.
"Is he controlling the summoning beast?"
Although they had locked onto their primary target, Itachi and Shisui didn't forget to monitor the other three.
Itachi saw the ponytailed Pain forming hand seals to control the giant bird.
Combined with the two Pains Shisui had previously defeated, they could finally draw a conclusion: each Pain could only use a unique ability.
"So what's the ability of this one?"
Itachi had already approached the mountain, but the giant bird was already charging toward him.
At this moment, he quickly formed hand seals with both hands.
Boom!
Shisui was even faster than him.
As Itachi formed his hand seals, Shisui's attack was unleashed, sending several flaming shuriken raining down.
Ah, ah!
Immediately, Itachi's hand seals completed, and a dozen crows appeared around him.
Boom!
The next moment, the giant bird crashed into the mountain where the two men stood, causing another violent tremor.
Amidst the billowing dust, Itachi and Shisui flashed out, both leaving their positions the moment the giant bird struck.
Shisui stared intently into the dust, his Sharingan piercing the smoke, but he didn't see the flaming shuriken he'd sent land on his target, Pain.
The Pain dodged every flaming shuriken he slashed at and leaped into the air.
At that moment, Itachi, in another location, formed a hand seal with one hand, slightly changing the technique.
The dozen or so crows he summoned attacked from angles undetectable to his target, Pain.
Swish!
However, as the crows swooped in, it was as if another eye had grown behind the target, and he shifted his movements, dodging the attack from a blind spot.
Itachi frowned, awestruck.
"Even if I had the ability to sense things, I couldn't have dodged an attack from behind so accurately, right?!"
...
"But this isn't over yet."
Though Itachi was surprised that his target, Pain, had dodged his blind-spot attack, his offensive wasn't over yet.
The seals in his hand suddenly shifted.
A dozen crows behind his target, Pain, quickly linked together, then solidified into Itachi's figure in mid-air.
"Explosive Clone Technique!"
Buzz!
Dense cracks rapidly appeared on the crow clones, from which blazing flames continuously flowed.
Bang!
The explosion expanded, and the spreading flames directly engulfed the target, Pain.
"One," Itachi muttered.
It seemed that while the six Pains each possessed different abilities, their strength levels were not equal.
At least the one he had just dealt with was vastly inferior to the two Pains that attacked Shisui's team.
Swish!
Shisui, on another side of the mountain, took advantage of the explosion and darted out again, charging toward the next Pain.
He almost reached the same conclusion as Itachi.
If the remaining three Pains were comparable in strength to the one just destroyed by the clone's massive explosion, they wouldn't be too formidable a foe.
Furthermore, Pain, capable of using special summoning techniques, was limited in this terrain.
The massive summoned beast could only slow Itachi and Shisui's speed, but couldn't play a crucial role.
Suddenly, the situation seemed to ease.
As Shisui charged forward, a shadow seemed to descend from the sky above him.
A gigantic panda puppet, its body slightly cracked, descended from the sky.
With Shisui's speed, the panda puppet certainly couldn't hit him.
Meanwhile, Itachi also leaped down from the shattered mountain.
Behind him, the giant bird that had crashed through the mountaintop circled back and swooped down.
Itachi landed on the ground, and just as he was about to take the narrow mountain path to avoid the summoned beast's attack, the explosion caused by his clone, which had still not subsided, revealed the previous Pain unscathed.
At that distance, even Itachi himself wasn't sure he could withstand the explosion without being affected.
"How could this happen?"
Itachi's face trembled with shock.
At that moment, Pain, mid-air, flicked his sleeves, and several black rods shot out, aiming toward him.
Under attack from both sides, Itachi had no choice but to retreat.
Without fully understanding his opponent's abilities, Itachi didn't want to use his Mangekyo dojutsu, Tsukuyomi, or Amaterasu.
Both abilities would consume a significant amount of his eye power and chakra, significantly impacting his combat effectiveness.
Shisui, taking the initiative, circumvented the panda and rushed toward the mountaintop's ponytailed Pain, the one who could control summoned beasts.
Swish!
Just as Shisui was about to approach, another long-haired Pain appeared beside him, both armed with black rods, and charged forward.
The long-haired Pain took the initiative, attacking Shisui with notable agility, his black rod piercing toward Shisui's heart.
Shisui swung his sword, its blade shimmering with flames, and slashed at the black rods.
Clang!
Shisui's pupils narrowed as the two clashed.
His sword, forged from a special material and enhanced with fire-attributed chakra, was unable to cut the black rod.
As the long-haired Pain's attack collided with Shisui's, the ponytailed Pain launched a flank attack, perfectly timed to coincide with the long-haired Pain's attack.
"Are all these puppets really controlled by one person?"
Shisui pondered.
He had dealt with the puppeteers of the Sand Village before.
Puppeteers' ranks were determined by the number of puppets they controlled, but the more puppets they controlled, the stronger they became.
As the number of puppets increased, the puppeteer had to divide their energy, reducing their control over the other puppets.
And yet, the person controlling these Pains managed to engage both Shisui and Itachi simultaneously.
If Shisui hadn't been caught in the middle of the battle, he would have found it hard to believe.
The ponytailed Pain's black rod stabbed toward Shisui's temple from the side.
Shisui tilted his head to make room, and the attack met his face.
Almost simultaneously, the long-haired Pain suddenly extended his other, unprepared hand toward Shisui.
He grabbed a random spot, not a vital one.
Chi!
Shisui was startled, and then, with three magatama spinning in his eyes, he could faintly see a thin layer of chakra gathered around the hand reaching out toward him.
However, within this layer of chakra, Shisui vaguely sensed an unusual ripple.
This ripple sent a soul-stirring tremor through him, instantly coursing through his entire body.
Swish!
And so, just as the two Pains before him were about to launch another combined attack against Shisui, the latter transformed into a black afterimage, rapidly performing the Body Flicker Technique to retreat.
The two Pains, of course, wouldn't give up and followed closely.
On the mountain path where Shisui retreated, Itachi, having dodged the combined attacks of the summoned beast and the slightly portly Pain, switched to the offensive.
Swish, swish, swish!
He launched a dozen shuriken, blocking his target, Pain's movements.
Pain could only wield his black rod to block.
Itachi's figure had long vanished from sight.
Suddenly, he appeared behind Pain, instantly executing several hand seals.
Itachi waited until he reached his position to concentrate his ninjutsu, obscuring any perceptive enemy's ability to react.
He stood behind his target, out of his sight.
However, at that moment, the ponytailed Pain, one of the two Pains chasing Shisui, suddenly fixed his gaze on Itachi, standing behind the slightly portly Pain.
Although Shisui had temporarily avoided the attack, his opponent's momentary distraction had caught his eye.
He paused his retreat and switched to the offensive.
Boom!
A straight line of flame erupted from Itachi's mouth, shooting toward the slightly portly Pain from behind.
As the flames spread, Pain suddenly raised an arm, meeting Itachi's flames with his palm.
Buzz!
A transparent membrane suddenly formed in front of his palm.
The chakra-generated flames collided with the membrane, but without the destructive force they should have.
Instead, the membrane rippled slightly like water, absorbing Itachi's ninjutsu.
After unleashing his ninjutsu, Itachi's eyes fixed on the enemy before him.
"How could such a thing happen? The ninjutsu was absorbed?"
Even with Itachi's knowledge and experience, he had never heard of such an ability.
However, this also resolved Itachi's doubts.
The reason why his target, Pain, had not been harmed by the clone's explosion was because of this ability.
"So, physical attacks are the only option?"
Although Itachi was a little surprised by the absorption of his ninjutsu, this was also the purpose of his previous attack.
He had grasped the capabilities of the Pain before him.
Just as he was about to speak to Shisui, who was fighting with two other Pains nearby, the latter's voice arrived first.
"Itachi, the reason these guys are able to avoid attacks from blind spots is because their vision is interconnected!"
.....
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