Kisame's grotesque sword, Samehada, devoured all the chakra within the Wood Style, turning the living trees into dead wood.
Of course, this was only because Genya's own strength was insufficient. If it had been Hashirama's Wood Style, a contest of absorption would be a different story. Before Samehada could even begin to drain its chakra, Hashirama's wood would have already dealt with Kisame. Without a master, wouldn't the sword have to obediently spit the chakra back out?
As the two leaped back, Itachi's left hand flicked out three shuriken, while his right hand quietly formed a one-handed seal.
The moment they landed on the river, the water around them suddenly twisted into drills, shooting towards them. Amaru quickly unleashed the Tailed Beast's chakra tentacles to block Itachi's jutsu.
But before the river could calm, Kisame had already used a Water Body Flicker, appearing before them with a savage grin. He swung Samehada down. Amaru controlled the chakra tentacles to block, but in the next second—
"My chakra?!"
With one greedy swipe, Samehada completely consumed Amaru's chakra cloak. Amaru stared in shock at her own body. How did my chakra just disappear? Her experience was too limited; she had never encountered such a situation.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Kisame used Samehada to block the shots from Genya's handgun at close range. Genya then pulled Amaru back, creating distance. When facing an unknown enemy, the correct choice was always to pull back and probe for intelligence first.
Samehada writhed in pain, its great tongue lolling out as it conveyed its displeasure to Kisame.
"Huh? You don't like her chakra? Tastes bad? Alright, alright, I won't use you to block bullets next time," Kisame said with a sigh.
Amaru's chakra came from the negative energy of the Zero-Tails. Of course it tasted awful, completely different from the nine great Tailed Beasts. To Samehada, it was like eating mud—not only indigestible, but it had to be spat back out.
If Samehada could consume negative energy chakra, then Uchiha Nagi could just reanimate a corpse for it, and it would have an endless meal.
Just as Genya and Amaru landed from their retreat, a water clone appeared silently behind them. It was Uchiha Itachi. He had cast a no-hand-seal jutsu at some point, creating a clone that appeared behind them.
A kunai was plunged ruthlessly into Genya's heart. Genya's eyes widened in disbelief. He had been taken down in just a few moves.
"Genya!" Amaru cried out in grief. Before she could react, Itachi kicked her away, and Kisame's attack was upon her again.
Samehada was a sword, but not quite. It didn't kill by cutting, but by shredding. Kisame grinned savagely as he swung Samehada at Amaru. It looked as if she too was about to die on the spot—
"Dance, Dance of the Seedling Fern!"
RUMBLE!
Suddenly, several massive white bones erupted from the earth, blocking Kisame's killing blow. A forest of giant bones intercepted the swing aimed at Amaru, enveloping her completely in a circle of absolute defense.
Kisame's face changed, and he leaped back quickly as the ground began to erupt with a dense forest of razor-sharp bone spikes. One hit, and he would be skewered like a kebab.
Although his nickname was the "Tailed Beast Without a Tail," his body, regrettably, was not as durable as the Raikage's, who could ignore almost any physical attack.
Wave after wave of bone spikes spread out, reaching all the way to Itachi's position and covering the entire forest.
Finally, while leaping in mid-air, Kisame quickly formed hand seals and spat out a massive Water Style jutsu. "Itachi-san!"
Itachi's reply was swift. "Understood."
He leaped high into the air and, along with Kisame, stood on the massive wave, dodging the forest of bones that now covered the ground.
Kisame was shocked. "Tsk, tsk, are you kidding me? The sheer area of effect... it's incredible."
On the ground, the once lush forest had vanished. The nearby river was now filled with a forest of bone. For miles in every direction, except for the spot where Genya and Amaru stood, everything had turned into a ghastly white landscape, a truly terrifying sight.
At their position, two figures had appeared. One, with white clothes, white hair, and white pupils, was Kimimaro, his adjustment period for his new Byakugan having just ended.
The other was Uchiha Nagi, who had used the Flying Thunder God to arrive after receiving their distress signal.
When Genya had been stabbed in the heart, he had infused his chakra into the Flying Thunder God kunai Nagi had given them for emergencies. Sensing his student was in danger, Nagi had instantly teleported over with Kimimaro.
Since the distance wasn't too great—only about a hundred miles—the teleportation hadn't been a significant drain on Nagi's chakra.
Upon their arrival, Kimimaro, seeing his comrades in danger, had immediately used his Shikotsumyaku's ultimate technique. Without a single hand seal, he had unleashed a massive bone forest that had nearly skewered both Itachi and Kisame.
Unfortunately, while neither of them could fly, their combat experience was immense. They had countered by releasing a massive Water Style jutsu towards the ground, allowing them to ride the resulting wave to safety.
"Genjutsu: Release!" Nagi stood before Genya, instantly dispelling the illusion, then pulled the kunai Itachi had plunged into his heart from his back.
"Your opponent is a genjutsu master of the Uchiha clan. When fighting him, you have to be careful not only of his eyes, but also of his hands and his tools, because he doesn't just cast genjutsu with his eyes."
"You saw his hands just now, and you stared at the shuriken he threw. You were already caught in his genjutsu. That's how he was able to silently create a clone behind you and stab you."
"I'm sorry, Sensei. I..." Genya lowered his head in shame. After the kunai was removed, his body began to heal rapidly.
In the distance, Itachi saw this and frowned. "He's fine even after being stabbed through the heart? Another ninja with a modified body?"
Ninja who couldn't be killed by a strike to a vital point were incredibly rare in the shinobi world, but in the Akatsuki, there was a whole slew of them...
The Six Paths of Pain, Konan, Obito, Kakuzu, Hidan, and arguably Sasori, as well as the rogue Orochimaru...
Uchiha Nagi looked at Itachi and smiled faintly. "It's been a while, Uchiha Itachi."
The two creases on Itachi's face seemed to deepen. He had thought he might run into Nagi in the Land of Iron, which was why he had gone to the daimyo's capital instead of the Swordsmith Village, hoping to find a chance to capture the Three-Tails. But the unexpected had still happened. His opponent's Flying Thunder God was exceptionally powerful.
Unconsciously, Uchiha Itachi had already activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. Across from him, Uchiha Nagi had done the same.
"Itachi-san, it seems your kinsman wants to have a reunion with you. I'll take care of the small fry then, shall I?" Kisame grinned, showing his sharp teeth, his eyes fixed on the boy with the Byakugan.
"I hear the Hyuga clan's Byakugan is a fine thing. Anyone can transplant it without much rejection. It seems to be true. I'll take that kid's Byakugan. I wonder if I'd be more handsome with a pair of white eyes, hehe..."
Nagi turned to his three students. "Uchiha Itachi is mine. Kimimaro, you take the shark-faced one. Be careful of the sword in his hands. You should have heard of it, Kimimaro. It's the Samehada, the head of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen's blades."
Kimimaro nodded. "No problem. Leave him to me, Sensei."
Kisame grinned savagely. "Such big words. Then allow me to start the show."
He took a deep breath, and his hands flew through seals. A massive amount of chakra, comparable to a Tailed Beast's, gathered in his hands. He then roared.
"Water Style: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
RUMBLE!
It was less a Water Style jutsu and more a Sea Style one. Kisame's nickname, the "Tailed Beast Without a Tail," wasn't just because his chakra reserves were as large as the One-Tails'. He couldn't compare to the Nine-Tails, of course, but there was no doubt he had more chakra than the One- and Two-Tails.
"Hmph. Don't think you're the only one who can use big moves! Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" Genya, still furious at being tricked by Itachi, unleashed his own wide-area jutsu in response to Kisame's.
The massive sea of water crashed into the bone forest, creating a ghostly white tsunami. The waves, filled with giant bones, slammed into the forest Genya was creating. The two forces collided, creating a massive tidal wave.
A thunderous roar filled the air, like gods at war. In the distant capital city, people could clearly see the white tsunami and the giant, growing forest in the sky.
Countless leaves and branches were torn apart by the force of the tsunami, and Kimimaro's bone forest was caught in the maelstrom. The two forces wrestled with each other before finally canceling each other out.
Uchiha Nagi had already used his Magnet Style to fly into the sky. He then unleashed his favorite move.
"Multiple Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!"
A single kunai multiplied into countless blades, flying towards Itachi and Kisame. The two quickly leaped apart, successfully separating them.
As the myriad kunai flew towards Uchiha Itachi, a figure appeared instantly behind him. A Nichirin Blade, glowing with light, unleashed the ultimate sword style from the world of Demon Slayers.
"Sun Breathing, Thirteenth Form: Round Dance, Twenty-Fold!"
In an instant, over two hundred slashes covered Itachi's entire body. After being shredded to pieces, he dissolved into a puff of smoke and a pile of wood.
The shuriken Itachi had thrown in the heat of the moment were all cut down by Nagi.
Nearby, the real Itachi, having just used a Substitution Jutsu, was shocked. Not only had Uchiha Nagi seen through his substitution, but he had also attacked his real body directly.
Fast, too fast!
Fortunately, in that critical moment, Itachi had managed to block with his half-body Susanoo.
After landing, Itachi realized that in that brief exchange, his opponent had been fighting with his eyes closed. He was still doing so now.
Itachi frowned. He's activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, but he's not using it to fight me. Is he afraid of my genjutsu? But a Mangekyo's resistance to genjutsu is very high.
To abandon his greatest advantage just to counter my genjutsu... it doesn't make sense.
"Hahahaha! Are you curious why I'm fighting you without my Sharingan?" Uchiha Nagi laughed. "This is a realm you will never be able to touch. The Transparent World."
"Uchiha Itachi, the Sharingan made the Uchiha clan, but it also limited them. That is your greatest tragedy. Without these eyes, you are nothing."
Nagi laughed again. "And I have prepared a special gift for you..."
He clapped his hands together. Edo Tensei. After the battle in Konoha, aside from the half of the Uchiha clan that had been sealed, the other half remained. Nagi had never let them return to the Pure Land.
Nearly fifty coffins were summoned. From within the dark coffins, pair after pair of red eyes lit up.
"This is..." Uchiha Itachi's pupils shrank. Scenes from the past flashed through his mind—the one memory he wanted to forget most.
The night of the massacre. The night he had killed his own clansmen with his own hands. Of course, while he didn't like to remember it, he had been more than happy to make his little brother relive it.
"Hehe, Uchiha Itachi? Finally, I see you. You traitor. That night... I still remember you plunging your sword into my heart," a middle-aged man with a three-tomoe Sharingan said, his face contorted with rage the moment he emerged.
"Itachi-kun..."
A soft voice pulled Itachi back to reality. A girl with delicate features was looking at him with a sad expression.
"Izumi..." Itachi was in a daze. The girl, Izumi, was his childhood friend from the Uchiha clan.
Although they had never had an official relationship, she had always sought him out. Anyone could see that she probably liked him.
But on the night of the massacre, she had run into Obito. On the verge of death, she had seen Itachi and called out to her childhood friend for help.
But Itachi had watched coldly as Obito killed her, without a flicker of emotion, letting her die with a question on her lips.
If there was one person other than his parents that Itachi never wanted to see again, it was Izumi...
But what he feared most had come to pass. Two more figures emerged, and the eternal ice of Uchiha Itachi's face finally cracked.
"Father... Mother..."
"Itachi..."
"My son..."
Clap, clap, clap!
Uchiha Nagi applauded, a faint smile on his face. "A family should be together. Uchiha Itachi, what do you think of this welcome gift I've prepared for you?"
"You—why are you toying with the souls of the dead?" Uchiha Itachi demanded angrily.
"Toying with them?" Nagi shook his head. "Have you ever heard of the Endless Hell?"
"Those who suffer in the Endless Hell will never die. Their torment will last for an eternity, as long as the great kalpa of heaven and earth."
"Your foolish actions—killing your father, your mother, your kin—all for your own stupid ideals. Have you ever once thought about how they felt?"
"Since you enjoy slaughtering your own family and parents so much, then enjoy it to your heart's content. I'll let you kill them until you've had your fill."
"Uchiha Itachi, this is what I have prepared especially for you—The Endless Hell."
With a hand seal from Nagi, the legion of reanimated dead charged. At the very front were Uchiha Fugaku and his wife.
Though their faces were filled with sorrow, their bodies moved uncontrollably, attacking their son.
Unlike the first and second Hokage, Uchiha Fugaku's soul was not strong enough to break free from Nagi's control.