Kakashi habitually touched his left eye; ever since he had been critically injured and miraculously recovered last time, he had been able to use the Mangekyo at will.
He no longer faced the intense mental pain as before, nor did it consume his ocular power, which contradicted what he had previously understood.
After he returned, the Third Hokage learned that he had awakened the Mangekyo and laughed so hard he lost his composure, his old face almost twisting with joy. He then gave him a scroll containing detailed information about the Uchiha's Mangekyo.
According to this scroll, he learned that the ocular power of the Mangekyo is consumable and irreversible, eventually leading to blindness.
Uchiha Itachi's current state perfectly matched the description in the scroll.
Then what about himself? Why was he an exception, able to use his ocular power as much as he liked? Was it the protection of Obito's spirit from beyond?
"Are you here for Sasuke?" Kakashi was curious about Itachi's intent; surely he hadn't come for sightseeing.
At this moment, Itachi endured the sharp pain and stood up, his eyes reverting to the Three-Tomoe state.
"No, for the legacy of the Fourth Hokage."
Hearing this, Kurenai and Asuma, who were standing nearby with their eyes closed, were both stunned.
'Is it Naruto?' Kakashi recalled his previous conversation with Jiraiya.
While pursuing Orochimaru, Jiraiya discovered that Orochimaru had once joined an organization. This organization had only nine members, most of whom were S-rank wanted criminals, and their goal was likely the Tailed Beasts.
Thinking of this, Kakashi spoke up: "Is your goal the Nine-Tailed inside Naruto? I know more than just the two of you are acting. Is the organization called [Akatsuki]?"
Hearing this, Itachi's pupils constricted, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.
He hadn't even had time to give the intelligence on the Akatsuki Organization to the Third Hokage yet. He didn't expect the Village to already know; such intelligence capabilities were impressive.
"I didn't expect you to know so much. In that case, I can't let you go back alive."
Uchiha Itachi played along, passing on the organization's intelligence in the most plausible way, and then his eyes transformed back into the Mangekyo, staring intently at Kakashi.
Kakashi watched him warily, not daring to relax in the slightest. The Mangekyo Sharingan was not that simple; each eye had its own unique techniques. Just like his Kamui, Itachi must have techniques he hadn't used yet.
Suddenly, a cry of pain came from the distance.
The two turned their heads to look upon hearing the sound, only to see Kisame Hoshigaki kneeling on one knee, clutching the wound of his severed arm.
"Impossible."
Uchiha Itachi's pupils suddenly constricted, and a look of clear astonishment appeared on his face.
He stared fixedly at Kisame's bleeding stump, his fingertips trembling slightly. He clearly hadn't expected that the man nicknamed the "Tailed Beast without a Tail" would end up in such a state.
At this time, Aoki Yoru looked at Kisame, who only had his left arm left, and said mockingly: "Tailed Beast without a Tail? Now you're just a one-handed beast."
"Kid, don't get ahead of yourself. When I was slaughtering on the battlefield, you were still in your mother's womb."
Kisame was truly enraged by Aoki Yoru. The veins on his temples bulged, and violent Chakra swept across the field.
He fiercely forced his Chakra to seal off all the blood vessels at the stump of his arm, stopping the bleeding instantly. The veins on his remaining left arm twisted like snakes, and he became like a dying beast, exuding a lethal ferocity.
Kisame laughed out of extreme anger, and his remaining left arm slammed onto the ground, letting out a wild roar: "Water Release: Great Explosive Water Colliding Wave!"
A torrential sea of water spewed from his mouth, instantly submerging the entire mountain forest and turning it into a vast ocean.
This technique even affected Kakashi and the others. Everyone used their own means to stand on the water's surface, drifting with the current.
"Oh? One-handed seals? As expected of a Kage-level powerhouse, even with a severed arm, he still has means to deal with a crisis," Aoki Yoru remarked sincerely.
Immediately after, Kisame formed seals with one hand, his voice echoing across the water: "Water Release: Water Prison Shark Dance Technique!"
The entire body of water suddenly contracted, condensing into a giant water sphere that blotted out the sky, trapping Aoki Yoru, Kakashi, and the others firmly inside.
At this moment, Kakashi, Asuma, and the others immediately rushed toward the edge of the water sphere; staying here would mean suffocating to death before long.
Kisame didn't bother with them; he only wanted to kill the kid in front of him now.
Aoki Yoru didn't run either. He knew this water sphere could move with Kisame, so running was meaningless and would only waste physical strength.
"What a massive amount of Chakra!" Now he understood the meaning of 'Tailed Beast without a Tail'; even without the help of Samehada, his Chakra was immense.
In the original story, he had used this technique to nearly take down Killer Bee, but that was when he merged with Samehada. Does he still have that kind of deterrent power now?
At this time, Uchiha Itachi, who had already exited the water sphere, looked at Kisame with a frown. With such a massive technique, Konoha was going to be in an uproar.
He was right. All of Konoha saw the giant water sphere appearing in the suburbs, and the Ninjas showed shocked expressions.
This water sphere was clearly condensed from Chakra, but its scale had already exceeded everyone's imagination.
Upon seeing this, a large number of Ninjas rushed toward the direction of the water sphere.
Inside the water sphere, Kisame was staring fixedly at Aoki Yoru, his killing intent boiling, as Chakra erupted from his five fingers.
"Water Release: Five Eating Sharks!"
As the shout fell, five ferocious Chakra sharks surged from his fingertips, turning into a lethal killing move in the water, opening their bloody maws and lunging madly at Aoki Yoru!
"Lightning Release: Chidori Sharp Spear."
Looking at the five incoming sharks, lightning flashed violently in Aoki Yoru's hand as the Chidori suddenly extended. He swept his arm, the lightning blade cutting through the air, and the five giant sharks were instantly sliced in half, all crumbling into the water!
Seeing his Ninjutsu broken, Kisame wasn't surprised. He continued to condense Chakra in his left hand. Anyway, as long as Aoki Yoru stayed in the water sphere, he would suffocate sooner or later. The goal now was to pin him down and not let him escape.
Suddenly, the Chidori Sharp Spear in Aoki Yoru's hand extended rapidly, stabbing toward Kisame.
Kisame had no choice but to give up on performing Ninjutsu, dodging it by a hair's breadth.
Seeing that the sneak attack failed, Aoki Yoru wasn't surprised; instead, a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
The lightning in Aoki Yoru's palm surged, and the current from the Chidori Sharp Spear spread wildly along the water within the sphere!
Water is an excellent conductor, and the violent lightning instantly swept through the water around Kisame, like an invisible net of thunder, rushing toward him.
"I got him..."
The originally self-satisfied Aoki Yoru suddenly froze, his pupils constricting, and a look of disbelief appeared on his face.
He saw the lightning stop abruptly as it approached Kisame's body, spreading and flickering wildly around him.
At this moment, Kisame seemed to be in a vacuum, isolated from the lightning.
"Not bad!" Aoki Yoru exclaimed sincerely.
He could see it; at the critical moment, Kisame had used a water film to isolate himself from the water sphere, creating a layer of air around his body to block the conduction of lightning.
Thinking about it, if this move could be broken by Lightning Release alone, it would be too cheap. Why would Kisame go through the trouble of creating such a giant water sphere? To be a lightbulb?
"Ugh—"
A sense of suffocation hit him. Aoki Yoru knew he couldn't delay any longer.