The fight between Itachi and Sasuke quickly intensified, the Genjutsu battle stopped when Itachi realized that the power of Sasuke's eye could reverse the roles in terms of Genjutsu, so the battle went straight to the point of direct combat.
Still shrouded in mist, the pair engaged in combat, Sasuke wielding his katana while Itachi used a kunai. The duo initiated a direct taijutsu battle. Sasuke had spent years training with someone on Kimimaro's level in terms of taijutsu, so he was not at all behind Itachi in this aspect, in fact, he even had an advantage.
The problem was the experience.
While Sasuke trained in fierce battles, but not life-or-death ones, Itachi, on the other hand, killed more than he cared to remember.
In every battle fought with his life on the line, Sasuke's combat experience was undeniable, but life-or-death battles? In that regard, he was far behind.
Sasuke fought with a will to kill, while Itachi, on the other hand, fought with the wisdom of someone who could know how far each move could go before becoming fatal.
Sasuke began to lose ground because of this, nearly being pierced in the throat by Itachi's kunai. He stepped back, planting his katana in the ground and quickly sealing hands, the Chidori rapidly formed in his hand.
However, the Chidori didn't remain static, instead, it spread rapidly around him. - Chidori Nagashi!
Itachi jumped back, but as he moved away from Sasuke's movement, he didn't realize that Sasuke had already released the first stage of the curse, his left eye pulsed while Itachi still in the air. Itachi's eyes widened, he was the direct focus of Amaterasu.
Sasuke smiled, excited, but the next moment he frowned as red energy bones formed around Itachi, stopping Sasuke's Amaterasu.
Inside the Susanoo, Itachi suppressed the blood flowing from his mouth, his illness flaring up at that moment, and his Susanoo weakening briefly before recovering. Itachi leaped away from the flames as he deactivated the Susanoo, using this power came at a cost to his weakened body.
Itachi was giving it his all this time, not pretending to fight on equal terms like in their original fight. Sasuke had grown to the point where he had to take him completely seriously, which deeply relieved him, but made his decision to use Shisui's eye on Sasuke even clearer.
Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance, grabbing his sword again, lightning chakra covering it once more as he charged forward again.
//-//
The fight between Kisame and Suigetsu, on the other hand, had also reached another level. Suigetsu's guerrilla tactics irritated Kisame, causing him to decide to change sides. He ran away while dodging Suigetsu's wind blades.
However, Suigetsu didn't appear, instead, the mist grew thicker and thicker, which completely irritated Kisame.
-Do you want to play this game, Suigetsu?- Kisame smiled irritably. -Then let's see if you like it.
Kisame stopped, dodging a blade of air as he released Samehada and making hand seals rapidly.
The next moment, he opened his mouth and spat out a gigantic volume of water. - Suiton: Suirō Same Odori no Jutsu!
The water didn't spread out, instead, it transformed into a gigantic water prison around them. Suigetsu's eyes widened for a moment as he and his clones were engulfed in water.
Kisame, on the other hand, had already grabbed Samehada. The sword unfolded its white bandages, revealing its grotesque 'body' of serrated shark skin. It didn't stop there, the sword began to rapidly fuse with Kisame's body.
The moment everything stopped, Kisame had completely changed, assuming a hybrid form of man and shark, a toothy grin on his face revealing his ferocity.
Suigetsu was surprised, but not too much, unfortunately for Kisame, Suigetsu was not Killer B.
The water around him not only didn't affect him at all, instead, it made him even stronger.
Furthermore, in the next moment, Suigetsu fully unleashed his curse mark, his appearance assuming a hybrid human/fish form very similar to Kisame's, leaving Kisame slightly surprised.
His skin turned bluish, his eyes shrank, his teeth became sharper, and fins sprouted from his back and arms.
A gray shark and a bluish shark faced off against each other in the water.
Kisame chuckled playfully. -You're quite intriguing, brat Suigetsu. What's that form? Some experiment by Orochimaru?
-Who knows...- Suigetsu teased, smiling like Kisame, he too was excited about the fight.
-I understand, so let's find out who the most dangerous 'fish' is.- Kisame chuckled lightly, finding the situation increasingly amusing.
The next moment, the two advanced toward each other.