"If you hadn't betrayed the village, I might have enjoyed a real conversation with you," Kakashi said evenly, his single visible eye narrowing. "Unfortunately, let's not waste time on Madara's childish ambitions. The moment you murdered your own father, mother, and wife, our ideals were destined to clash."
Naraku's crimson Mangekyō spun slowly in the gloom, but he offered no reply.
Kakashi gave the slightest shake of his head, as though lamenting the inevitability of this fight. He slid his blade back into its scabbard, inhaled, and allowed his chakra to surge. Blue lightning and glowing runes crawled across his body like living veins of stormlight. His aura flared so fiercely that even the air seemed to vibrate.
"Hatake swordsmanship—Lightning Flash: Super Speed."
The words were barely out of his mouth when his eye snapped open, now blazing with a storm's fury. Kakashi vanished into a streak of blue-white light, faster than even a Mangekyō Sharingan could fully follow. To anyone watching, he was a blur—an afterimage burned into the battlefield.
A single spark split the night.
The blade sliced across the chest of Naraku's towering, scarlet Susanoo. A dry snap echoed as Kakashi calmly slid the demon sword Muramasa back into its sheath.
Hairline cracks raced across the mighty skeletal armor. A heartbeat later, the entire chest of the scarlet Susanoo shattered like fragile glass.
Blood burst from Naraku's side as the protective ribs collapsed. Though the Susanoo's first stage lacked the impenetrable strength of a perfect form, few would have believed such a defense could be cleaved with one strike.
So this is the legendary demon blade Muramasa, Kakashi thought. Truly a weapon worthy of its name. To fell a Susanoo in a single stroke… soon the Hatake sword style will be spoken of across every hidden village.
Behind him, Naraku's body twisted, muscles knitting and chakra surging as he regenerated. As expected, the wound was already closing. Three… four minutes had passed, and still the strange Mangekyō technique lingered. Kakashi frowned. How long can this "invincibility" last?
He exhaled and shook his head, forcing a wry smile. "Haha. So this is the divine power you spoke of? Hardly impressive."
If Naraku could not be harmed until the time limit ended, Kakashi would stall for as long as possible. The enemy's offense was formidable, but his attacks were oddly sparse. Words could buy precious seconds.
But the Uchiha was not finished.
Naraku's right eye began to spin violently, a crimson whirlpool of hatred and chakra. The air itself seemed to shiver. Darkness condensed in his hand—a spear so black it devoured the surrounding light, wavering between the tangible and the ethereal.
When Naraku leveled the spear at Shisui, the temperature seemed to plummet. Shisui's breath caught as a terrible premonition gripped him. For the first time, he felt utterly powerless, as though he stood before a god. No dodge, no counter. There was no escape.
Instinct roared in his mind. He focused his left eye, ready to unleash the forbidden genjutsu—Kotoamatsukami, the "Distinguished Heavenly Gods," his ultimate defense.
Too late.
The spear slipped from Naraku's fingers without a sound. The instant it moved, Shisui's world froze. His body stiffened as if time itself had shackled him.
"Shisui!" Kakashi's shout split the air.
The black weapon ignored the emerald barrier of Shisui's Susanoo, piercing straight into his chest. There was no flight path, no blur of motion—only sudden impact. Yet, shockingly, no blood welled from the wound, and his Susanoo did not fade. Shisui remained standing, seemingly unhurt… and utterly still, like a stone statue.
Kakashi flashed forward, placing himself protectively before his immobilized ally. His mind raced. Sealed? Not killed…
"Water Style: Water Wave!"
Rin seized the moment, hands weaving through a rapid sequence of seals. From the earth erupted a spiraling column of water, twisting upward into a colossal tornado. The vortex wrapped Naraku's crimson Susanoo, spinning faster and faster under Rin's precise control. Rather than spilling downward into a river, the water formed a massive whirlpool suspended in midair.
Hundreds of razor-edged water blades churned within the vortex, slicing with relentless force, a colossal meat grinder grinding at the Uchiha's defense. The attack carried not only Rin's skill but the borrowed might of her tailed beast's chakra.
Cracks spidered across Naraku's Susanoo before it finally splintered and collapsed.
For a fleeting second, triumph glimmered—then the scarlet armor re-formed around him, whole again.
Rin's eyes narrowed. She had expected as much and maintained the raging cyclone, its endless turbines gnawing at the crimson behemoth. If destruction required persistence, she would simply drown him in unyielding force.
High above, Jiraiya sensed the shift in momentum. The time for caution had passed. He clapped his hands together and summoned the two toad sages, Fukasaku and Shima, their tiny forms appearing with twin puffs of smoke. Natural energy began to gather as he prepared to enter Sage Mode.
Meanwhile, Kakashi advanced, demon blade drawn. He edged toward the dark spear, its strange aura distorting the air. Carefully, he thrust Muramasa at the weapon's shaft.
The sword passed through as though the spear were nothing but mist.
His heart skipped a beat. Untouchable? A weapon that exists yet does not—an illusion with lethal power.
A mad laugh rang through the roaring waters. "Hahahaha! Foolish mortals, tremble before the might of the Amanuma Spear—the weapon of the gods themselves!"
The voice echoed, cold and exultant. "Do you understand now? The power of a god… and you, mere mortals, dare to challenge me?"
In Naraku's eyes, Kakashi's feat—shattering a Susanoo with a single strike—had lifted him barely above the rabble, but he remained mortal. The others, weaker still, were ants beneath divine feet. And Naraku… Naraku believed himself something more.
"Amanonuhoko?" Kakashi murmured, his gaze never leaving the dark spear. "The legendary weapon said to belong to the Sage of Six Paths? Interesting story. But forgive me—I don't believe fairy tales so easily."
Though his words were calm, his mind worked furiously. He needed every scrap of information about this mysterious eye technique. Shisui was neither dead nor bleeding; it was a seal of some kind, not annihilation. If Naraku could imprison a person's very being, how long would the effect last? Could it hold only one victim at a time?
Naraku sneered, his Sharingan flaring. "Humph. A mortal dares question the power of gods?"
He knew well that his spear was not truly the divine Amanonuhoko of legend, the mythical "Sword of the Heart," said to unleash infinite power through an indomitable will. His weapon was a twisted reflection—a creation of his own Mangekyō, formidable yet imperfect.
But it is still enough, he told himself, feeding his own delusion. Enough to show them despair.
Again Rin's raging waters battered his Susanoo. This time the crimson armor cracked wide and failed to regenerate. Naraku's brow creased. The technique's time limit was almost up.
Not good… Panic flickered beneath his arrogance. Kakashi's steady gaze and quiet words were goading him, forcing him to prove his so-called divinity. Rage churned hotter, and he formed rapid seals, slamming his palms against the earth.
"Wood Style—Wooden Wall!"
Massive trees erupted from the ground, bending and interlocking into a thick arch that blunted the slicing water and shielded him within a wooden fortress.
Kakashi's eye sharpened. The invincibility is ending.
He studied Shisui's motionless form. The young Uchiha looked preserved rather than dead—sealed, yes, but alive. The spear hadn't struck the rest of them, which hinted at limitations. Perhaps it could trap only one target at a time.
If I can't break the seal directly, the only way is to force Naraku to release it himself—or end him and take his Mangekyō.
Kakashi tightened his grip on Muramasa. Sparks of lightning danced along the blade.
The battle was far from over, but the rhythm had shifted. The god Naraku imagined himself to be was running out of borrowed time.
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