A new arrival and it's about Itachi God. So, do give it a go.
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***
The only path Ao and the others had to take was a narrow path through a dense forest.
Shibi's bugs had attached themselves to a certain Kirigakure ninja, so whether they took the narrow path or crossed the forest, they could not escape Itachi and his team's pursuit.
Shisui, Deidara, whom he controlled with his eye power, and Kakashi and Itachi, who had transformed into Deidara's teammates, lay in ambush at the path their target had to take.
About ten minutes later...
"Swish!"
A noise echoed through the forest.
"They're coming!"
Itachi and the others heard it almost simultaneously and went on the alert.
About five meters away from Deidara, Shisui, hiding behind a large tree, formed hand seals.
Deidara reached into his ninja tool pouch and created several explosives.
He casually flicked the explosives, throwing them out.
The small, spider-like clay explosives burrowed into the grass and moved forward silently.
Swish!
Directly ahead of the path Itachi and his companions were on, several ninjas dressed in Kirigakure attire were approaching.
One of them wore a black eyepatch over his right eye.
This was Ao, the target of Konohagakure's mission, the jĆnin of KirigakureâAo.
Besides him, Ao was accompanied by two Kirigakure ninjas.
Judging by their attire, they were two chƫnin.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Suddenly, a clay explosive hidden in the bushes directly in front of the three of them exploded.
Flames spread toward Ao and his companions.
"What!?"
Ao and his companions were startled, but the explosion was small, so it didn't affect them.
"Who!"
Ao frowned and shouted softly, raising his hands to form hand seals.
He possessed the Byakugan, which allowed him to easily discern anything within a kilometer radius.
Swish!
Before he could complete the hand seals, three figures suddenly emerged from the nearby woods.
They were Deidara, Itachi, and Kakashi.
They had deliberately revealed themselves so that Ao's Byakugan would not immediately spot Shisui, who was hiding nearby.
"You guys."
Ao temporarily gave up his hand seals and looked at Deidara and the other two.
Judging by their attire and forehead protectors, he determined they were candidates from Iwagakure.
"It's too boring to end the Chƫnin Exams like this."
Before he could say anything, Deidara spoke first, sizing Ao up with a meaningful smile.
"I want to see the abilities of Kirigakure's jĆnin."
"What?"
Ao was momentarily puzzled by Deidara's behavior.
He didn't know that back in Iwagakure, under the care of the Third Tsuchikage, Deidara had challenged countless Iwagakure jĆnin.
Given the nature of his clay-exploding jutsu, even Deidara, barely nine years old now, was not someone a typical jĆnin would dare to mess with.
Itachi was planning to exploit Deidara's erratic personality.
As long as he controlled the situation and didn't injure Ao and the other two Kirigakure ninjas, even if the Mizukage found out, it wouldn't matter.
Before Ao could even say a word, Deidara had already thrown another explosive.
This time a clay bird about the size of a fist.
"Bang!"
Deidara formed a hand seal, and the clay bird flying towards Ao and the other two suddenly expanded to the size of a human head.
"Oh no! Get out of the way!"
Ao warned immediately.
"Boom boom!"
Immediately afterwards, another explosion engulfed the area.
Due to the explosion, Ao and his two companions were forced to temporarily separate.
"This crazy kid actually dared to attack the Kirigakure ninja directly!"
Ao's temper was flaring, and his face immediately flushed with anger.
He dodged the fire again, but his vision was completely obscured.
He was about to use his Byakugan to observe Deidara's whereabouts.
Whoosh!
However, Deidara's speed and agility were like ghosts.
He appeared before Ao before he could make a move.
Then, he threw another explosive.
Another explosion occurred, forcing Ao to retreat.
"What a speed!"
Ao was shocked by Deidara's speed.
Before he knew it, he had already put some distance between him and his companions.
At this time, Kakashi and Itachi, who had transformed into Deidara's other two teammates, also quickly took action and stopped the two chƫnin from Kirigakure.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Under the pressure of the explosion, Ao could only dodge temporarily.
Every time he tried to form a hand seal to counterattack, Deidara would seize the opportunity and interrupt him.
This was natural, as Deidara's reactions at this moment were Shisui's.
Although Deidara couldn't match Shisui's speed and movements due to his eye technique,
Deidara was fortunately not weak in his own right, and Shisui's Sharingan could easily see through Ao's intentions.
Ao had no chance of resistance.
After a few minutes, Shisui had forced Deidara back nearly a hundred meters in the dense forest.
So, he stopped controlling Deidara and using the explosive clay.
Deidara's continuous movements paused, which surprised Ao, who had been dodging.
He immediately planned to seize this opportunity and switch from defense to offense.
Swish!
However, just as Ao was about to make a move, Shisui, who was within five meters of him and Deidara, appeared and shot towards him like a bolt of black lightning.
"What on earth is this?"
When Ao realized what was happening, he could only vaguely see a dark figure appear behind him.
Shisui suddenly struck out, slashing his hand across Ao's neck, knocking him unconscious.
After this, he first approached Deidara.
He locked eyes with Deidara and activated his Sharingan's hypnotic genjutsu.
Shisui couldn't activate both Kotoamatsukami in his left and right eyes simultaneously, so before using his eye technique on Ao, he had to trap Deidara in another genjutsu.
Then, Shisui approached Ao again.
He extended his hand and injected a few strands of chakra into Ao, using the same method Itachi had used to awaken Mitsumi Inoue and Ken Ishida last night.
Ao's chakra was stimulated, and he slowly opened his eyes.
"Chi!"
Before he could fully react, a pair of blood-red pupils with four-cornered pinwheel-like patterns filled his eyes.
"Kotoamatsukami!"
The lines in Shisui's left eye trembled, and blood flowed down the corner of his eye.
It is not easy to fundamentally rewrite the thoughts of others.
Every time Shisui uses the power of his left eye, he will suffer a certain backlash, which is a shortening of his lifespan.
He stared at Ao for several seconds.
When the staring ended, the kaleidoscope lines in Shisui's left eye immediately dispersed, turning into the shape of three tomoe, and then completely returned to its original shape.
"Huff, huff!"
Shisui gasped violently, and his left eyeball was now filled with blood.
The whole eye looked as if it was bleeding, and he looked a little miserable.
However, Shisui's tired face was now full of smiles.
Because he had successfully used the Kotoamatsukami in his left eye to rewrite Ao's thoughts.
...
"Huff!"
Shisui took a short break, swallowed a pill, and after catching his breath, looked over to Deidara.
All he had to do now was shake off Ao and return Deidara to the scene of his previous battle with Itachi.
While using Kotoamatsukami to manipulate Ao's mind, Shisui had also set up a small illusion that would dissolve in two minutes.
Shisui once again stood before Deidara, his right eye still in its MangekyĆ form.
"Kotoamatsukami: Light!"
After manipulating Deidara's mind with another illusion, Ao's illusion was almost over.
"Stop!"
Ao shouted as he regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was Deidara standing some distance away.
He still hadn't noticed Shisui hiding nearby.
"Boom boom!"
Upon seeing Deidara, Ao immediately detonated the clay he had prepared.
The explosion blocked Ao's path.
"The jĆnin from Kirigakure is nothing more than that."
From the other side of the explosion, Deidara's chuckle rang out.
As the flames faded, Deidara and Shisui were nowhere to be seen.
With his Byakugan, Ao could have spotted Deidara through his perceptive gaze, but his mind naturally chose not to do so.
This was Shisui's pre-emptive move.
Seeing that he could no longer catch up to Deidara, Ao simply gave up.
After all, they weren't mortal enemies.
He retraced his steps, searching for his teammates.
Even a straight line of a hundred meters through the dense forest would take only a dozen seconds at a ninja's average speed.
Ao found his teammates, but by then, Itachi and Kakashi had already escaped.
"These brats from Iwagakure are simply incomprehensible!"
A Kirigakure chƫnin remarked with some displeasure.
However, Kakashi and Itachi were merely harassing them, so the exchange wasn't much of a fight.
But for newcomers like them, the fact that Deidara and the others had managed to escape from their grasp, especially from Ao's very presence, was truly incredible.
"Stop talking! Let's return to the village first. If we exceed the time limit set by Mizukage-sama, no one can bear the consequences," Ao said.
"Yes!" the two Kirigakure ninjas immediately replied.
They were all terrified of the Fourth Mizukage's methods, and no one dared to disobey.
With a swish, Ao and his team set off on the road back to the village.
His brows gradually furrowed, as his thoughts were already being rewritten.
"The Fourth Mizukage?"
Therefore, the mention of the Mizukage filled him with deep doubts.
Recalling the various anomalies that had occurred since the Fourth Mizukage took office, his questions multiplied.
Shisui and Deidara quickly headed towards the scene of their previous fight with Itachi.
When they arrived, Itachi was already waiting there.
"Shisui-senpai, are you alright?"
Itachi glanced at Shisui, who was perched on the tree trunk behind Deidara.
He looked unwell.
"It's alright, I'm releasing the dĆjutsu."
Shisui shook his head, manipulating Deidara back to his previous form during his clash with Itachi, releasing the dĆjutsu.
The Kotoamatsukami in his right eye could manipulate someone's movements without their awareness, so when the technique was released, all memories of the period under control were lost.
Swish!
The moment Deidara regained consciousness, Shisui executed the Body Flicker Technique and fled.
"Finally, you're not running away?"
Deidara's hand was still reaching into his ninja tool pouch, preparing new explosives.
Seeing this, Itachi curled his lips slightly.
He knew Deidara's character well.
If he didn't defeat him once more, this battle would definitely not be stopped.
But a crushing defeat like last time would easily drive Deidara to extremes.
"Bang!"
So, when Deidara detonated the clay explosive again, Itachi feigned a reluctance to dodge, then engaged him in a fierce struggle.
The two engaged in a fierce battle for several minutes.
Finally, Itachi's kunai lodged at Deidara's throat.
"I won."
Itachi took a few deep breaths and said to Deidara in front of him.
There was no fear in Deidara's eyes.
Instead, he looked at Itachi excitedly and said, "Next time, I will definitely beat you!"
Although he was a little reckless and willful, he was not stupid.
Deidara knew very well that his six months of hard training was not enough to defeat Itachi.
But the gap between the two, in his eyes, was no longer as vast as it had been before.
"So, is this battle over?"
Itachi said nonchalantly, withdrawing the kunai pressed against Deidara's throat.
The two sides ceased fighting and returned to their previous encounter.
Meanwhile, Izumi and Shibi, now transformed, were still engaging Deidara's teammates.
The arrival of these two brought a halt to the already meaningless battle.
"We have something else to attend to. Goodbye."
Under the watchful eyes of Deidara and his companions, Itachi and the other two disappeared into the dense forest.
After gaining some distance from Deidara and his companions, Izumi and Shibi returned to their original forms.
Shortly afterwards, Itachi and the other five reunited.
"Since our plan has been successful, we should return to Kirigakure. I'm sure Shikaku-sensei and the others are already in trouble," Itachi said, glancing at Izumi.
Inside Kirigakure, the masked man and the Akatsuki members would never dare attack Itachi, as that would expose them to the Five Great Ninja Nations.
While they desperately wanted Itachi's life, the masked man had hidden plans to pursue, so he would never do so.
"Then we'll follow in secret and escort you to the vicinity of Kirigakure before leaving," Shisui said, his face now extremely pale.
Although Itachi wanted Kakashi to immediately take him and Shibi back to Konohagakure to recover, Shisui insisted, and Itachi had no choice but to agree.
After all, the situation in the Land of Water was complicated, and Itachi was caught in this dangerous vortex, so he couldn't afford to be careless.
After the duel, Itachi and Izumi spent some time tracking down Mitsumi Inoue and Ken Ishida near Konohagakure.
Izumi's two teammates were naturally incredulous that Itachi had successfully rescued Izumi.
At Izumi and Itachi's request, they promised to keep their encounter with Orochimaru a secret.
Along the way, Mitsumi Inoue and Ken Ishida kept observing Itachi.
Whereas before, Itachi had been considered a genius far superior to themselves, he now seemed shrouded in mystery.
Kakashi, Shisui, and Shibi followed in secret until they reached Kirigakure.
After the attack, Kirigakure was already on high alert.
So, just as Itachi and his group of five reached the foot of the mountain, a ninja from Kirigakure suddenly appeared before them.
....
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