At this moment, Kakashi and the others stared with grim expressions at Kanon Uchiha, who stood blocking their path.
"Kanon... move! Gaara is in grave danger right now!" Kakashi shouted at her.
Seeing Kanon remain unmoved, Naruto and Sakura grew frantic. Saving Gaara was their absolute priority.
"Kanon, please move! If you don't, Gaara really is going to die!" Naruto pleaded, his voice sincere, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"Danger?" Hearing Naruto's words, Kanon burst into laughter.
The laughter was laced with mockery, piercing Naruto's heart like a blade. Her subsequent words were even more cold-blooded.
"Then he only has himself to blame for being weak, so weak he couldn't even protect himself."
"You!" Kakashi could no longer stand it. The three tomoe in his left Sharingan began to spin rapidly. He had resolved himself to kill the girl before him.
"So you're finally willing to kill me, Kakashi," Kanon sneered, her hands blurring into a series of hand signs.
Seeing her movements, the group instinctively recoiled. They recognized the seals for the Great Fireball Technique.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive torrent of flame erupted, but Kanon had aimed it in the opposite direction!
"What?!" Kakashi's gaze turned blank for a second before his pupils constricted in shock.
The others followed the trajectory of the massive fireball. At the point of impact, a figure emerged from the shadows.
"It's him!" Both Kakashi and Naruto recognized the man instantly.
"Who is it?" Sakura asked, bewildered.
"Itachi Uchiha."
At Naruto's words, Sakura froze, her eyes widening as she stared at the distant figure clad in the Akatsuki cloak.
"That's... Itachi Uchiha?"
"Yeah..."
Sure enough, Kanon's icy expression shifted into something bordering on mania. Itachi Uchiha had actually dared to approach her alone. Though she knew this wasn't his true body, she finally had the chance for a real confrontation.
Instantly, Kakashi's team was ignored. Kanon lunged directly at Itachi.
This battle between siblings shifted with lightning speed. The two clashed in a blur of taijutsu, their movements so intense that beads of cold sweat began to form on Itachi's brow. Kanon was actually holding her own against his clone using only a Shadow Clone of her own. Her hatred, Itachi had felt it long ago.
"Die, Itachi!" Kanon spun her Kusanagi Sword in mid-air, suddenly thrusting a Chidori-infused blade toward the space between Itachi's brows.
Itachi attempted to intervene with genjutsu, but Kanon's Sharingan was too well-developed; he couldn't distract her for even a second before his rhythm was broken.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Itachi exhaled a massive sphere of flame.
"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!" Kanon countered, unleashing a literal sea of fire.
As the saying goes, "When gods fight, mortals suffer." Naruto and the others were sent flying by the sheer pressure of the heat. Even Kakashi had to raise his arms to shield himself from the fallout.
"We have a mission. We need to go," Kakashi urged.
"But..." Naruto wanted to bring Kanon back, or at least help her take down Itachi.
"There will be another chance! The mission comes first!" Kakashi shouted.
Naruto looked toward the battlefield where flames and lightning clashed. Ultimately, he chose to follow Kakashi's lead. Before vanishing, he roared toward Kanon:
"Kanon! I swear I'll bring you and Sasuke back!"
Kanon's expression remained indifferent, but across from her, the corners of Itachi's mouth twitched into a faint smile.
"What are you smiling at?"
"Nothing. If you don't chase them, Kakashi and the others will get through," Itachi said calmly.
"Let them. No one is interfering in our fight. I'm finishing you here." Kanon's eyes were cold. "Even if this isn't your true body, your end is near."
"Oh? It seems you really have grown, Kanon."
"Don't you dare say my name! You monster!"
Hearing Itachi call her name just as he had in the past made her skin crawl with disgust.
Itachi looked at her with a calm exterior, but his heart was a tempest. Hearing such words from his beloved sister was a wound he had inflicted upon himself.
"Kanon... with your Mangekyo Sharingan, how much further can you see?" he asked softly.
"Through the infinite darkness, I see only your corpse!"
Deep within the Akatsuki hideout, the original Kanon sat cross-legged. Pink markings suddenly appeared around her eyes as a massive surge of Natural Energy was funneled into her Shadow Clone.
On the battlefield, the clone's eyes mirrored the change. The pink eyeshadow, the hallmark of Sage Mode, manifested.
Seeing her enter Sage Mode, Itachi felt a pang of internal conflict. Seeing how far she had come, he wondered: should Shisui's Kotoamatsukami be used on Sasuke, or on Kanon?
Ultimately, he steeled his heart. He would stick to the original plan. Those meant to die should be sent on by his hand... so that Sasuke could inherit the future.
His expression turned cold. "My corpse, you say?"
"Then show it to me."
Clang!
Kunai met Kusanagi. Itachi's kunai snapped instantly, and the terrifying force of the blow sent him reeling backward.
"You possess such strength?!" Itachi was genuinely shocked.
"I'm not done yet!" Behind Kanon, dozens of Shadow Clones appeared, each wielding a massive, swirling orb.
"Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan Multi-Series!"
"What?!" Itachi's face paled. This was the power of Sage Mode? He had never seen a Rasengan forged from Natural Energy possess such destructive pressure.
"Clone Great Explosion!"
A crow clone appeared before Itachi, charging toward the sky filled with Kanon's Sage Art Rasengans.
BOOM!
The entire area was utterly leveled by the barrage.
"Stop playing these boring games, will you?"
A cold voice rang out through the ruins. Suddenly, a lightning-charged Kusanagi Sword pierced straight through Itachi's heart.
The horizon seemed to crack and shatter. It had all been a genjutsu. In reality, Kanon stood with hollow, icy eyes, watching as Itachi, impaled through the chest, coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"Your clone only has 30% of your chakra; you can't use the Mangekyo. My clone can't either, but I have Sage Art. Every move you made was mapped by my sensory abilities long ago."
A cruel smirk played on her lips. "Itachi, does it hurt to be helpless?"
"Kanon... you..." Blood spilled from Itachi's lips.
"If your real body were here, perhaps I'd still be trapped in your illusions. But unfortunately, neither of us is real, so I can't truly kill you yet."
Kanon swung the blade upward, carving an arc through his chest and neck. With a spray of gore, his head was severed.
"This is only the beginning." Kanon wiped the blood from her blade and mask with her cloak, a glint of genuine pleasure in her eyes.
"Hahaha... Itachi... when that day comes, I'm going to carve the meat from your bones piece by piece. I'll grind you down and use your blood and marrow to water the soil of the Uchiha district!"
Her Sharingan was bloodshot. She had never felt so cold, yet so invigorated. The sight of Itachi's head hitting the ground brought her a rush of pure euphoria. Even knowing it was a clone, the sight of that lifeless face was enough.
She brought her boot down, crushing the face of the man who looked like Itachi.
"Is your hatred enough now?!"
With a poof of white smoke, she vanished.