Chapter 266: Akatsuki's Interception Squad
"Kakashi's holding Obito back."
In the darkness, a tall, blue-haired woman with a paper flower in her hair looked over at the gaunt, red-haired man beside her, his body encased in some strange mechanical apparatus.
"Not a problem. Nothing worth worrying about."
"As for Kakashi — have Kisame, Hiruko, and Sasori intercept the remaining three."
The low voice came from the man, as though discussing something entirely trivial.
"And... Itachi?"
"His own brother is with the Konoha squad this time."
Konan hesitated, then spoke up.
"He'll go on his own, without needing my order."
"More than Itachi, though — that teacher of ours is the one giving me a genuine headache..."
Pain, his whole form shrouded in shadow, seemed to smile faintly — a resigned, almost helpless expression.
"Nagato..."
"Maybe we should just let sensei go..."
A flicker of sorrow crossed Konan's eyes.
Those days spent together with Yahiko, with Nagato, with Jiraiya-sensei — those had, without question, been the most carefree days of her entire life.
She had no wish to become this teacher's enemy, unless there was truly no other way.
At Konan's words, the darkness around them fell into a heavier silence for a moment.
"You know his temperament better than I do."
"If he can be persuaded to leave on his own, so much the better."
At Pain's words, a soft sigh escaped Konan in the dark...
—
"How much farther to Lord Jiraiya?"
Braving the wind and rain, Mei Terumi's group of three pressed on at speed.
"Two kilometers."
"Wait. Someone's coming!"
"Three of them!"
"Their chakra is extremely strong — one of them is nearly on par with mine."
Karin, maintaining her Mind's Eye of the Kagura sensory technique the entire time, had been tracking Jiraiya's position — but her expression shifted suddenly, and she called out the warning.
Hearing Karin's report, Mei's expression turned grave.
Chakra nearly matching an Uzumaki who's awakened both the Mind's Eye of the Kagura and Body Restoration?
That could only mean...
A memory surfaced in Mei's mind — a man with a shark-like face.
That was—
"Well, well, well. It's been a while, hasn't it."
"Lady Mei."
A tall figure emerged through the rain, Samehada strapped to his back, wound in white bandages, his features unmistakably shark-like.
"Kisame?"
"So it really is you."
Seeing him, Mei's brow furrowed slightly.
She and Kisame had once both been Kirigakure shinobi — they knew each other reasonably well.
Which meant Mei knew, with certainty, that this man was going to be a genuine problem.
"An acquaintance?"
"To think Kisame here didn't finish her off, back when he defected from the village."
Another voice cut through the rain — cooler, more composed than Kisame's.
The speaker had red hair, wore the same black cloak with red clouds, and though not particularly tall, carried a strength that was every bit as formidable.
"Lady Mei possesses two kekkei genkai. She's no ordinary shinobi — you might not have been her equal either."
Kisame answered Sasori with a grotesque smile, then turned to Mei.
"Though I'll admit, it surprised me — that someone who loved Kirigakure as much as you would end up betraying it, in the end."
"When I first heard the news, I was genuinely stunned."
Mei's expression stayed calm, her tone unruffled as she replied to Kisame:
"My business is not something you need to comment on."
"Why all this chatter? Let's finish this and get back — I've got experiments waiting."
A third voice rang out from the rain, coming from behind Mei's group.
Three of them.
Mei glanced back at the short figure standing in the rain, brow furrowing slightly.
White hair. Crimson eyes. Small stature.
That would be Hiruko — the one intelligence had placed as joining Akatsuki three years ago.
Three against three.
Seemingly fair enough, on paper — but for Konoha's squad, this was an urgent, precarious position.
Deep inside Amegakure, there was no telling whether Akatsuki had more reinforcements waiting in the wings.
Which meant—
Resolve this fast.
"I'll take Kisame. Sasuke, you handle Hiruko. Karin, hold off Sasori."
"Karin, I'll come back you up the moment I finish with Kisame."
"If things turn bad, we withdraw."
Mei spoke, calm.
Infiltrating Amegakure to retrieve Jiraiya had always been a dangerous proposition to begin with. Since Kakashi had put her in charge as acting squad leader, her priority now was her subordinates' safety — if the mission couldn't be sustained, abandoning it was an acceptable choice.
There was no justification for letting more people die over the life of just one man.
At least, as far as Mei was concerned, Jiraiya's life wasn't worth the cost of her entire squad.
Even if she were held accountable for it later by that pink-haired Hokage, she was prepared to accept that.
She believed this was the right call.
"Tch. Quite the mouth on this woman."
Hiruko advanced through the rain step by step, utterly indifferent to the downpour, closing steadily on the Konoha squad ahead.
"Well, much as I hate to admit it, Lady Mei genuinely does have the strength to back that up."
Kisame, like Hiruko, closed the distance step by step.
"Mei."
Karin glanced at Mei.
"Don't worry. I've got this."
Mei glanced back at Karin, her voice gentle.
At that moment, Kisame had already closed the remaining distance!
"Lady Mei, you haven't changed a bit!"
A savage gust of wind crashed down alongside Kisame's words!
In an instant, Mei dissolved into a puddle of water, vanishing on the spot.
A water clone? Since when—
Kisame was still puzzling over it when an explosive impact suddenly erupted out of nowhere!
Just before that, some instinct had already made Kisame raise Samehada in front of himself!
A blindingly fast water whip lashed across Samehada's body, snapping through the white bandages instantly!
Several of the sword's jagged, barbed protrusions shattered under the force!
Samehada let out a trembling shriek of pain, thin streaks of blood trickling down its surface.
"As expected of you, Lady Mei. This spot's a bit cramped for the two of us."
"Care to move somewhere else?"
Kisame glanced around, offering Mei a genuinely horrifying smile.
Only those who knew Kisame well understood — this was simply his ordinary expression. He didn't mean to smile this terrifyingly; it was just how his face worked.
"Fine."
Mei considered it briefly, then agreed.
Staying in the same battlefield as Karin and Sasuke would only hamper her own movements, if anything.
If it came to it, Mei would even be willing to try holding off all three enemies single-handedly herself, leveraging her Hiding in Mist Technique's wide-area, indiscriminate attack potential.
With that, both Mei and Kisame vanished from the spot.
"Well then, off they go."
"Suits me fine, though — Uzumaki material is genuinely precious."
Hiruko, small and slight, fixed his gaze intently on Karin.
"Don't talk nonsense. This particular Uzumaki is mine."
Sasori, silent until now, spoke up, and with a puff of white smoke beside him, a tall puppet materialized at his side.
That was—
The Fourth Raikage.
"Every single one of you keeps looking down on me, somehow."
Karin gave a resigned little laugh, pulling a white hair-tie from her pouch, gathering her distinctive red hair into a crisp ponytail.
Then she reached up and removed the red-framed glasses perched on her nose, revealing a pair of ruby-red eyes underneath.
Nearsighted?
Not anymore. Not even close.
Sakura had already cured Karin's vision with Yang Release ages ago.
The glasses Karin still wore now were simple non-prescription frames.
Why keep wearing glasses after her eyesight had been fixed?
Habit, probably.
"Sasuke. That Sasori's yours."
Karin glanced back at her teammate.
"Mm. Wait for me."
The black-haired boy standing in the rain answered curtly, wasting no further words, simply undoing the fastenings of his black raincoat.
In full view of everyone, the raincoat dropped, landing on the rain-soaked ground.
At that moment, Sasuke moved.
Vanished instantly!
!!!
What — that fast!
Hiruko's pupils contracted sharply, a sudden, dangerous premonition washing over him.
SHRRIIIK!
Chidori sang out in a thousand chirping birds!
Lightning flared to life through the hazy curtain of rain!
With a thunderous boom, Hiruko's small frame was sent flying backward, slamming directly into a distant wall!
The sheer force of the blow left a crater even in solid steel!
But—
Aside from looking somewhat disheveled, Hiruko was entirely uninjured!
Six white bone spikes had erupted from his body, tearing through his white restraint garment, blocking Sasuke's sudden Chidori strike!
That was—
Shikotsumyaku!
Pulling himself free from the crumpled steel wall, Hiruko gave an unbothered laugh.
Three years ago, when he'd gone with a few Akatsuki members to settle a score with Orochimaru, he'd not only recovered the Kyūkon Ring, but also stumbled upon a dying young man of the Kaguya clan inside Orochimaru's base — someone Orochimaru had discarded as a sacrificial pawn to intercept Hiruko's group.
And as it happened, the Steel Release blood-inheritance jutsu originally meant for Hiruko had already been given to Obito instead — so, weighing the tradeoffs, Hiruko had given up on Steel Release and chosen the equally strong-defense, more flexible Shikotsumyaku instead.
Naturally, he'd never mentioned any of this to Obito.
Bones...
Sasuke glanced at the white bone spikes slowly retracting back into Hiruko's body, then drew his blade and pressed forward.
"Heh. You're Itachi Uchiha's little brother, aren't you..."
"In that case, I'll be taking that Mangekyō Sharingan of yours off your hands!"
Sasuke's possession of the Mangekyō wasn't exactly secret information — Obito, who'd personally witnessed him awaken it, and Sasori, who'd previously infiltrated Konoha alongside Itachi, both already knew this detail.
Facing Hiruko's words, the black-haired boy's expression stayed cold, offering no reply at all, simply flipping his blade from a forward to a reverse grip.
Thunder Tiger Annihilation!
Ferocious lightning surged out from Sasuke's body!
The lightning stood out, savage and unmistakable, against the rain-soaked backdrop!
And in that instant—
Sasuke hadn't even noticed it happening — three spinning tomoe had already appeared in Hiruko's eyes!
The Sharingan!
The exceptional dynamic vision the Sharingan granted allowed Hiruko to track Sasuke's movement perfectly.
At the same moment, three white bone spikes extended from his forearm, blocking the strike in front of his palm — a palm bearing a mark shaped like two overlapping diamonds.
Sasuke's Thunder Tiger Annihilation, delivered elbow-first with the blade, was intercepted by the bone spikes braced in front of Hiruko's palm, the raging lightning transforming into pure, refined chakra that flowed straight into his hand.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly at that.
At the same moment, a playful smile crossed Hiruko's lips, and he spoke:
"Underworld Release — Underworld Path Breaker."
All the chakra Hiruko had absorbed through his Underworld Release erupted outward all at once, condensing into a pure surge of chakra that blasted Sasuke away instantly!
But—
Poof.
The Sasuke sent flying dissolved into a puff of white smoke, scattering apart entirely.
A shadow clone!
Since when?!
"Seems you're just like that Obito, aren't you."
"Five kekkei genkai."
A cool voice rang out from above, and Hiruko looked up.
Perched atop the massive steel pipe connecting the surrounding towers stood a composed young man in Konoha jōnin gear, a long blade at his hip, his handsome features carrying a cold, distant expression, silhouetted against the grim, overcast sky.
He looked, in that moment... unmistakably arrogant.
"When — when exactly did you use a clone?"
"There was no opportunity for you to use one, not in front of these eyes!"
Hiruko glared up at the boy above him, his expression darkening.
But Sasuke, seemingly deaf to Hiruko's protest, simply continued speaking to himself:
"Sharingan. Shikotsumyaku. Underworld Release."
"That's three. What are the other two?"
The cool, composed boy spoke as though no one else existed, and Hiruko's eyes turned utterly cold.
He'd defected from Konoha in the first place precisely because he couldn't stand living in the shadow of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru's suppression.
He'd wanted to prove — to prove that even an ordinary commoner shinobi could rise to greatness someday.
So he'd thrown himself into researching kekkei genkai, and succeeded.
But all of it had been driven forward, relentlessly, by one particular force.
What was that force?
Pride.
An intensely powerful sense of pride.
And right now, Sasuke's dismissive, indifferent attitude landed with perfect, devastating precision on that same pitiful yet fiercely powerful pride buried in Hiruko's heart.
He now carried five kekkei genkai. He'd personally forged a monster like Obito.
No one had the right to disregard him, to ignore his words like this!
"You've genuinely angered me."
"Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant you your wish!"
His expression icy, Hiruko raised a single hand, aiming it directly at the Uchiha boy standing above him.
At that, a visible plume of white breath escaped Hiruko's mouth.
Sasuke's expression shifted slightly at that.
Mist?
No, that's not right.
That was—
Cold. Bitter cold, carrying the promise of freezing everything solid.
A face from memory surfaced in Sasuke's mind.
A boy from the time after he, Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi had first left Konoha — the very first enemy Sasuke had ever killed with his own hands.
That boy named Haku.
"Ice Release — Crystal Ice Shatter!"
Centered on Hiruko, the earth rapidly whitened, froze solid, and spread outward, sweeping straight toward the young man perched high above.
(End of chapter)
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