"Can you release Tsukuyomi again?" Furen's voice fell into Itachi's ears, but Itachi showed no emotional fluctuation at all.
His Mangekyō Sharingan suddenly opened, and his figure disappeared. When he reappeared, he had already brought Kisame, who was trapped in an illusion, back from under Furen's feet.
Itachi lowered his head and rotated his left Mangekyō Sharingan towards Kisame.
"Tsukuyomi... it seems that Itachi's eyes are still functional."
Furen spoke up. In order to quickly break the illusion, Itachi used Tsukuyomi directly on Kisame to forcibly dispel it. At this moment, if things dragged on any longer, it would only become more disadvantageous for Itachi and Kisame.
Although Konoha was in a post-war weakened state, even the top of the hierarchy of Konoha wouldn't be able to compete against both Itachi and the forces of the Land of Water.
After forcibly breaking Furen's illusion, Kisame opened his eyes, filled with shock. He had no idea how he had fallen into Furen's illusion in the first place.
"You deal with the others. I'll handle him."
Itachi gave a deep order. Knowing that this was no time to drag things out, Kisame grabbed the Samehada beside him and began fighting with Gai and Asuma.
"Is this your bloodline limit illusion?" Itachi spoke slowly, his Mangekyō Sharingan fixing on Furen. As his gaze shifted, the scene transformed into a dark, gloomy sky all around.
Itachi had trapped Furen and himself within an illusion.
"When Kisame was using the Samehada to fight your beheading sword, that was your first contact with him..." In the dark space, Itachi's figure became increasingly blurred, turning into a flock of crows. But his voice continued to echo.
"Then, after Kisame cast his jutsu, you touched him again."
"So, your illusion requires two touches to activate." The scattered crows reassembled, and Itachi appeared in front of Furen.
"You truly are a genius of the Uchiha clan, Itachi Uchiha." Furen clapped his hands. In just one exchange, Itachi had already seen through how Furen had trapped Kisame in an illusion.
"But you miscalculated one thing..." Furen fixed his gaze on Itachi, who was still trapped in the illusion.
"My casting method is not limited to touch."
As Furen's voice fell, the gloomy sky transformed into a graveyard. The symbols on the tombstones around them all bore... the crest of the Uchiha clan.
Furen had disappeared, leaving only Itachi standing in front of the graves of his clan members.
Then... a series of Sharingan eyes appeared in the sky, turning the earth red. All these blood-red eyes belonged to the people Itachi had killed with his own hands, silently accusing him of his crimes.
Even Itachi, who was usually calm, couldn't help but look at his hands.
That night, his hands were stained with the blood of his clan members.
Countless eyes of the Uchiha clan, which he had gouged out and handed over to Danzo, stared at him.
In the real world, Furen opened his eyes first and looked at Itachi, who still had his eyes closed.
This time, the battle of illusions was Furen's victory.
"The Kurama clan's bloodline is indeed powerful," Furen praised. After obtaining the Kurama bloodline, Furen didn't need to use a paintbrush like Yakumo to draw in order to cast illusions.
Whenever Furen wished, he could use the five senses to trap others in his illusion.
To break free from Furen's illusion, one needed either stronger mental power or something that could counterbalance Furen's own mental strength.
Although Furen had trapped Itachi in his illusion, he still cautiously kept his guard up against him, as Itachi wasn't someone who could be easily defeated.
Based on what Furen knew, Itachi still had another Sharingan, the one that belonged to Uchiha Shisui, renowned for having the strongest illusion technique!
Sure enough, after about a minute, Itachi, who had kept his eyes closed, opened them.
Next, two streams of blood flowed down from Itachi's right eye.
"Amaterasu."
Suddenly, black flames erupted beneath both Itachi and Furen.
"Toad Oil Fireball!"
Jiraiya's figure suddenly appeared in front of Furen, his cheeks puffed as he spat out a stream of oil, which was immediately ignited by a Fire Style jutsu.
The fireball clashed with the Amaterasu flames, and the two attacks were deadlocked.
Seeing the Amaterasu, Furen immediately formed a hand seal with his eyes. "Ice Release: Mirror Land."
Unable to use Wood Release conveniently, Furen slapped the ground. Ice Release quickly transformed the ground into a mirror-like surface, and then ice began to grow, enveloping the Amaterasu and the toad oil fireball.
The toad oil fireball was instantly extinguished by the ice, but the black Amaterasu flames showed no signs of being put out, continuing to burn within the ice.
Utilizing the unextinguishable nature of Amaterasu, Furen manipulated the ice release, raising the Amaterasu-covered ice into the air and sending it back toward Itachi!
Jiraiya turned around and gave Furen a look of approval. "As expected of someone who was appointed as a special jōnin by the Third Hokage at such a young age." Jiraiya didn't stop forming hand seals and then slapped the ground: "Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld."
The previously smooth, mirror-like ice surface suddenly sank, and the ice, still intact, began to fluctuate as the earth from the Swamp of the Underworld churned.
Itachi and Kisame's feet immediately got stuck in the swamp, and ice continued to crawl up their legs, bringing with it chunks of ice enveloped in Amaterasu flames.
As the Amaterasu flames neared him, blood once again dripped from Itachi's right eye, and he activated his technique to absorb the Amaterasu flames.
"Retreat." Itachi threw several shuriken into the ice on the ground. Before the shuriken were completely swallowed up, he stepped on them, using them to escape the combined technique trap.
Upon hearing Itachi's order to retreat, Kisame had no intention of continuing the battle. He formed a hand seal and called out, "Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique!"
Ending his fight with Gai, a small chakra-infused shark appeared and wrapped around the weakened Itachi, leaping into the water.
Kisame then jumped into the nearby river himself.
"Summoning Technique!" Jiraiya slammed his blood-stained hand onto the ground, summoning a giant red-skinned toad holding a large steel rod, Gamaken, who landed on the water, trying to stop Kisame and his technique.
Seeing the massive toad, whose leg alone could reach the bottom of the river, Kisame spoke.
"Samehada: Human-Merger!"
The constantly grumbling Samehada on his back immediately merged with Kisame's body, and the shark-like Kisame fully transformed into a fish-man.
With the chakra shark still wrapped around Itachi, the merged Kisame plunged into the water, escaping toward the Land of Water at an extremely fast speed.
Even the appearance of Gamaken couldn't stop the merged Kisame in the water. On the contrary, Kisame absorbed some of Gamaken's chakra.
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T/N:
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