The two of them let the endless rain hit their faces, not daring to relax. Currently, they were in the northeastern part of the Land of Rain. If they wanted to return to the Land of Fire, they would have to head southeast.
However, considering that there might still be Amegakure's Ninja chasing them from behind, they had no choice but to continue forward for now and consider detouring back to the Konoha Village depending on the situation.
Logan leaped into the air, and when he was halfway down, a shuriken shot out from the shadow of the woods with a cold light.
Logan had been on edge the whole time, so he could deal with this attack calmly. He blocked it with a kunai in his right hand, but the force of the impact forced him to halt his forward momentum, causing him to land on a tree.
The feeling of being ambushed by shuriken from this angle felt familiar to Logan, who instantly realized who the assailant was.
'Stubborn bastard.' Logan frowned and threw a kunai with an Explosive Tag attached towards the direction of the attacker. In the explosion, a figure jumped out.
Wearing the distinctive red clouds with black background cloak of the Akatsuki, and the obvious shark face, he is unmistakably Hoshigaki Kisame.
Itachi also stopped at this time and looked at Kisame, who emerged alone, with vigilance.
"Shark Face, do you really want to die that much?" Logan looked at Kisame and said with a cold tone. After living in the ruthless Ninja World, environment where the strong eats the weaker, for a while, Logan is definitely not a good-tempered person.
Regardless of who they are in the original story, if Logan had planned to kill them before, under certain conditions, he would definitely carry it out.
"Haha, with just you?" Kisame faced Logan's hostility with calmness. As a seasoned bounty hunter, he had a strong immunity to such threats.
'Only one...' Although Logan was angry, he remained calm internally. He sensed his surroundings and found that surprisingly there were no other pursuing Ninja.
Through the ring that every member of Akatsuki wore, Kisame received Pain's orders. At this moment, he looked at Logan with a strange expression, 'Pulling this person into the Akatsuki? Then from now on, wouldn't I become teammates with the targets I had once hunted? If that were the case, we definitely couldn't be on the same team. Otherwise, we might end up fighting each other at any moment.'
Since the objective of the mission had changed, the Amegakure's Ninjas, who were tagging along, are naturally unnecessary.
Logan felt somewhat puzzled, not understanding why there was only one person coming over. After exchanging a glance with Itachi and confirming that there were no other Amegakure's Ninjas around, he became eager to give it a try.
'Why not just kill Kisame here?'
Although both Logan and Itachi were not at full strength, especially Logan, who was injured, he believed that Kisame had also expended some energy in the previous battle. In two against one situation, even if they couldn't kill him, they would at least make him suffer a bit.
But just as Logan was about to make a move, the space next to Kisame distorted, and another Akatsuki's member, wearing the same red clouds with black background cloak, appeared.
Such a light and elusive way of appearing immediately raised Itachi's sense of danger. His three tomoe spun rapidly, as if facing a formidable enemy.
As soon as Logan saw the vortex mask on the face of the newcomer, his heart sank.
'Are you kidding me? How could it be Obito...' Logan's mouth twitched, 'Isn't it too early to fight the final boss now?'
It's already hard enough to deal with one Kisame, but if Obito, with his intangibility and Kamui, is added, it's simply impossible for them to fight this battle.
Obito nodded politely towards Kisame as a greeting, then turned to Logan and Itachi, pondering how to approach the situation.
'Should I just issue a warning directly, or should I start with a fight?'
"Well..." Obito had just begun to speak when several shuriken forced him to swallow his words.
Itachi immediately took action and used Uchiha's unique shurikenjutsu. Seeing Obito wearing the red clouds with black background cloak, there was no need to ask who the other party is. Since they are enemies, there was no need for idle chatter.
Kunai and shuriken intersected in mid-air like dancing butterflies. In the blink of an eye, Itachi had thrown away most of the weapons from his pouch. Over a dozen lethal blades changed trajectory midway, causing both Obito and Kisame to scramble.
A kunai narrowly missed Tobi, and a faint glint of silver, almost invisible to the naked eye, reflected for a moment.
Obito's pupils shrank and he was about to make a move, but it was too late. He saw the kunai that he had just dodged turned sharply towards his back.
Whoosh… there was no dull sound of piercing through an object, only the whistling of the kunai cutting through the air, then it plunged straight into a large tree.
The man in the vortex mask is unharmed.
Seeing this, Itachi's expression changed, 'I missed? How is that possible…'
Taking advantage of Itachi's momentary distraction, Obito closed in.
Ding!
The clash of weapons snapped Itachi back to his senses.
"What was that just now?" Itachi asked uncertainly. Only a hole for an eye was exposed on the other person's masked face, but he doesn't know if it was due to the light or something, but Itachi couldn't see the other party's eye, there's only darkness.
Obito obviously wouldn't answer Itachi's question. The two began to fight in close combat and attack each other with Fire Release.
Itachi had already expended a lot of stamina and Chakra earlier, and it stands to reason that he would not be able to last for too long. However, Obito's attacks were neither hurried nor slow, looking more like a test over time.
Logan rushed forward to engage Kisame after Itachi threw the kunai. Initially, Kisame was restrained by the unpredictable trajectory of the kunai, but after Itachi was entangled by Obito, Kisame immediately gained freedom.
Logan's left hand was injured, so he fought with great difficulty relying solely on his right hand.
'This won't do.' Logan became anxious. Kisame is not an ordinary opponent. His strength and Chakra are stronger than Logan's. If he is dragged into a war of attrition, his opponent will catch his flaw sooner or later.
Because of that, Logan didn't hesitate to use the tactic of exchanging injury for injury. However, Kisame showed no urgency at all, displaying an experienced and calm demeanor, as if saying: 'I will exhaust you to death, what can you do about it.'
'Am I going to die here?' felt extremely unwilling, but this thought still arose uncomfortably.
'There were still many things I had to do...'
Countless things suddenly surged into his mind all at once, and a burst of strength erupted from deep within him, causing him to grip the kunai in his hand tightly. Most of the beautiful and warm things belonged to the other world, his high school youth that should have gone on peacefully.
'I must find out the truth and have a normal life.'
Electric light bloomed once again and burst forth uncontrollably, spreading through the air with a burnt smell. Kisame's expression changed, and just as he was about to retreat—
Boom!
With the sound of solid physical impact, Logan, who had left behind a trail of vacuum in the rain, appeared in front of Kisame in the blink of an eye, and then punched him, sending him flying.
"What..." Kisame was surprised.
Madly mobilizing the chakra in his body, stimulating his cells with Lightning Release. Logan, who was fighting for his life in this desperate situation, surpassed any amount of stimulation he had ever been able to muster before.
Although the increased chakra output caused some Lightning Attribute Chakra to burn his skin, he also gained speed and strength surpassing that of ordinary people.
There are several thresholds to master Lightning Release Nintaijutsu. The first is controlling chakra to stimulate cells. The second is being able to control it freely under the stimulation of Lightning Release. And the third is being able to use this technique without concern for self-inflicted injuries, so that being able to control of the limits and use this technique however they want. Logan was extremely lucky and achieved a breakthrough.
To master Lightning Release Chakra to such an extent, even in the entire Ninja World, the people who could do so could be counted with one hand.
In this way, the Jutsu that Logan had once thought about became more than just a fantasy.