The ground trembled from the sheer pressure of the released chakra while Tsunade stood in the center of the ravine, the black marks of her seal spreading across her face.
"Itachi Uchiha," her voice was a low, controlled growl. "Don't you dare touch a ninja from my village."
A blur landed beside her, his white hair spiked and his expression having lost all its joviality.
"Tsunade!" Jiraiya's voice boomed. "I almost missed the whole party!"
Kisame got up from the rubble where Tsunade's blow had sent him, spitting a little bluish blood, and wiped his chin with the back of his hand.
"Well, well," he said as his sharp-toothed grin returned. "The Legendary Sannin. What an honor."
His eyes fell on Jiraiya and then Tsunade, as Kisame settled Samehada onto his shoulder. "And a new haircut, princess?"
Tsunade didn't spare him a glance.
"Jiraiya!"
"Yeah, Hime?"
"You handle the fish! The Uchiha is mine!"
"Got it!" Jiraiya slammed his fist into his palm. "Just what I wanted!"
Tsunade lunged, so the ground exploded beneath her feet, and she crossed the thirty meters separating her from Itachi in less than a fraction of a second, with her eyes still closed.
He's to your right, Tsunade-sama! Inoichi's voice sounded in her mind. He's going to use a Katon! Fast hand seals!
Tsunade didn't slow down and, at the last instant, she pivoted on her axis, twisting her body at a difficult angle.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
A massive fireball, much larger than Sasuke's, incinerated the air where she had been a fraction of a second ago.
She landed, planted her foot, and spun, unleashing a direct punch into the stone ground.
The entire ravine shook with tremendous force.
"What the hell?!" Asuma had to grab onto a rock to keep from falling.
The earth split open as a gigantic fissure ran across the ravine floor, and the section where Itachi was standing broke in two, while rocks and tons of dirt shot upward.
Itachi had to leap backward, landing nimbly on the edge of the new crack, to avoid being swallowed by the crater she had just created.
His face, normally impassive, showed a hint of analysis.
"Fighting blind," Itachi said, his voice calm. "You're relying on your sensors. That's smart."
Tsunade straightened up, breathing deeply, still not opening her eyes.
"I don't need my eyes to know where a stinking traitor is!" Tsunade yelled.
Keep talking, Tsunade-sama! Inoichi shouted. I'm triangulating his exact position with your voice and his! Get ready! He's moving! Quick, to your left!
Tsunade lunged to the left, her fist ready.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the crater, Jiraiya faced Kisame.
"I don't like being called 'fish,' Sannin," Kisame growled. "I have a name."
"Sure you do, 'Sharky,'" Jiraiya replied, adopting his combat stance. "But I don't have time to learn it!"
Jiraiya slammed both palms on the ground.
"Doton: Yomi Numa!"
The rocky ground beneath Kisame's feet lost all solidity. In an instant, the stone liquefied and turned into a deep, sticky swamp, so the Akatsuki member began to sink quickly, the thick mud rising up his shins.
"A dirty trick!" Kisame growled, fighting the suction. "But you're playing on my turf! Suiton: Goshokuzame!"
Kisame struck the surface of the mud.
"What?!" Jiraiya observed, surprised.
Five sharks made from the mud and moisture of Jiraiya's own jutsu erupted from the swamp, opened their muddy maws, and launched themselves at the Sannin.
Jiraiya didn't even flinch and his hands flew.
"Katon: Gamayudan!"
Jiraiya spat a thick, dark stream of toad oil that covered the mud sharks in mid-jump and, before they could touch him, he snapped his fingers.
"Ignite!"
A spark of fire chakra shot from his mouth and the swamp became an inferno. The oil ignited with an explosive WHOOM!, and the flames boiled the mud, while the sharks dissolved into steam and scorched earth.
Kisame had to leap out of the boiling mud, landing hard on solid ground, his Akatsuki cloak singed at the edges.
"Damn Sannin! Burning my own water jutsu!"
"It's not water if I mix it with mud and oil, you idiot!" Jiraiya laughed. "You should have paid attention in the academy!"
"Then swallow this!" Kisame inhaled deeply. "Suiton: Dai Bakusui Shōha!"
An absurd amount of water erupted from Kisame's mouth, forming a colossal wave that instantly extinguished the fiery swamp and rushed forward to flood the entire bottom of the ravine.
"Crap!" Asuma yelled from the edge.
"Jiraiya, look out!" Shikaku yelled.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Jiraiya bit his thumb and slammed the ground just as the wave reached him.
A burst of smoke and Gamabunta appeared in all his glory, with Jiraiya on his head, just above the flash flood, as the water filled the ravine.
"Jiraiya! What the hell is going on?!" the giant toad roared. "I was in the middle of a nap!"
"Sorry, Bunta! We've got Akatsuki trouble!"
"Akatsuki!" Kisame grinned, standing on the surface of the water he had created. "Now this is my battlefield! Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu!"
Kisame gestured with his hand, and ten sharks of solid water rose from the lake and shot directly toward Gamabunta.
"Annoying!" Jiraiya yelled. "Bunta, get ready!"
"Don't give me orders!"
Jiraiya's white hair extended, becoming sharp and spiky.
"Hari Jizō!"
His hair enveloped him and Bunta's head in an impenetrable dome of spikes, and the water sharks impacted and shattered against the defense.
"My turn!" Jiraiya yelled. His hair shot forward, separating into dozens of sharp strands. "Ranjishigami no Jutsu!"
The strands of hair submerged into the water, moving in a serpentine way.
"Hair in the water?!" Kisame laughed. "How disgusting!"
"Laugh at this!"
The hair caught Kisame by the ankles, arms, and torso, anchoring him in place on the water.
"Got you!"
"You think this will stop me?!" Kisame struggled, and Samehada began to vibrate, ready to devour the chakra from the hair.
"No! But it will distract you!"
Back with Tsunade, the battle was one of brute force versus flawless evasion.
He's moving again! Inoichi's voice was tense. He's trying to get around you! Hit the ground! Now!
Tsunade slammed her heel into the ground.
The shockwave traveled through the stone, so Itachi, in the middle of a movement, felt the ground crumble beneath his feet and had to jump to another rock platform.
"It's useless!" Tsunade yelled, tracking the sound of his landing. "You can't run forever!"
She continued to destroy the battlefield, filling it with craters and jagged rock pillars. Each blow altered the terrain, forcing Itachi to jump from rock to rock, unable to plant his feet for a complex jutsu or genjutsu.
"You are destroying the barrier zone," Itachi said calmly. "At this rate, you will bring it down yourself."
"Not before I crush you!"
Tsunade-sama, be careful! Inoichi's voice was filled with panic. Something is happening with his eye! The chakra... is incredible! I can't read his seals, it's an ocular technique! It's the black flames Jiraiya-sama warned us about!
"Not if he has nowhere to stand!"
Tsunade took a deep breath, focusing all her power into her legs.
He's gathering chakra in his left eye!
"Too slow!"
Tsunade vanished. She moved so fast that even Itachi was surprised and she appeared directly in front of him, her fist pulled back.
Itachi, seeing that his taijutsu and genjutsu were useless against an opponent who wasn't looking at him and was destroying everything she touched, resorted to his last defense, as there was no time for Amaterasu.
"Don't underestimate me!"
Just as Tsunade's fist was centimeters from his face, a ribcage of red, ghostly chakra formed around him.
"Susanoo!"
Tsunade's fist, a blow that would have pulverized the mountain behind Itachi, struck the energy skeleton.
A deafening roar filled the air. The shockwave was so brutal that the water from Kisame's lake rose in a thirty-meter wave, and Guy and Asuma had to shield their faces.
The Susanoo held, but it cracked.
A thin fracture line ran along the rib where Tsunade had struck.
"Dammit!" Tsunade leaped back, landing on a rock, and she shook her hand as her broken knuckles healed instantly. "It's the shield!"
Blood dripped from Itachi's left eye, which meant the Susanoo had held, but barely.
Tsunade gritted her teeth, understanding that brute force wouldn't work on its own.
"Jiraiya!" she yelled to the other Sannin, who was still struggling to keep Kisame bound with his hair. "Cover me! I need a second!"
"I'm a little busy, Hime!"
"Just do it!"
Tsunade bit her thumb, ignoring Itachi, and unrolled a massive summoning scroll she carried on her back, spreading it over the rock.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
She slammed her bloody palm onto the scroll.
A massive burst of smoke, much larger than Gamabunta's, covered the battlefield.
Kisame and Jiraiya paused their fight, staring at the cloud of smoke, while Itachi narrowed his eyes, his Susanoo still active.
"What? More brats?" Kisame growled, seeing who had appeared as the smoke cleared.
Naruto landed in a crouch, eyes gleaming with excitement. "Whoa! This is some party! And everyone's here!"
Sakura landed beside him, her eyes immediately searching for Sasuke, but then they widened in horror upon seeing Kakashi and Kurenai on the ground. "Kakashi-sensei! Kurenai-sensei!"
Hinata landed softly. "Byakugan!" she said as her eyes activated instantly. "So many... chakras..."
Karin Uzumaki was the last, landing awkwardly and almost falling.
"Where...?! Where is he?!" she yelled as her eyes immediately fixed on Itachi.
"That's him!" Karin screamed, pointing at the red skeleton.
Itachi looked at the newcomers: he saw Naruto, the Jinchūriki; he saw the two girls; and he saw Karin.
"Naruto, Sakura, Hinata!" Tsunade shouted, her Hokage voice echoing. "Protect the fallen Jōnin! Karin, with me!"
"Karin! That red thing! I need you to take it down!"
"Me?!" Karin trembled. "I can't! That thing... it's blocking everything! I can't feel anything past it!"
Tsunade saw the hesitation in Itachi, who was assessing the threat, and she turned to Naruto.
"Naruto, now! Forget the Jōnin! Plan B! Get over here!"
Naruto didn't hesitate. He ran and stood next to Karin.
"What do I do, Grandma?!"
"I need the power! Give her your chakra! Now!"
"My...?! Oh, got it!" Naruto slammed his palm onto Karin's back. "Take as much as you want! Uzumaki Atonement!"
"Atonement... what?!" Karin yelled.
A torrent of red, bubbling chakra flowed from Naruto into Karin, and the Kyubi's power, filtered and amplified by Karin's own Uzumaki chakra, flooded her.
Karin screamed, a cry of pure, overwhelming power, as her red hair rose, whipping through the air.
"It's... it's too much!"
"Control it, Karin!" Tsunade shouted. "Use it! The chains!"
Karin raised both hands toward Itachi.
"ADAMANTINE SEALING CHAINS!"
Dozens of bright golden chains erupted from the ground around Itachi. It wasn't the few chains she had used before, but many more.
They coiled around the Susanoo, squeezing.
"Grrrraaaaah!" Itachi growled, feeling the pressure as the red chakra flickered.
"It's not enough!" Karin shouted, sweating profusely. "It's resisting!"
"Stronger!" Naruto yelled, pushing more chakra. "You can do it!"
"I will!" Karin screamed.
The chains became sharper and, instead of just squeezing, they shot forward, piercing the red chakra.
Itachi stared, his eyes wide with surprise as the golden chains pierced his ultimate defense, wrapping around his body inside the Susanoo.
"Impossible!" Itachi coughed. "Kushina's... Fūinjutsu! They're...!"
The chains glowed with a white light.
"They're... sealing my Mangekyō!"
The red Susanoo flickered, shattered, and disappeared.
Itachi fell to his knees, the chakra from the chains suppressing his eyes, so he was exposed.
"Now, Tsunade-sama!" Inoichi shouted.
Tsunade smiled. "Well done, brats."
Kisame saw his partner was in trouble. Jiraiya's hair had loosened from the Susanoo's shockwave and Kisame was free, but the battle was lost. It was time to retreat, but not without causing some damage first.
"ITACHI-SAN!"
Kisame gathered all his remaining chakra, ignoring Jiraiya, who was preparing to attack him again.
"I won't let them interfere!"
"Bunta, now!" Jiraiya yelled.
"Suiton: Teppōdama!" The toad spat a giant water bullet.
But Kisame was faster.
"Suiton: Daikōdan no Jutsu!"
A giant shark made of compressed water and pure chakra formed and shot forward.
It headed toward the most vulnerable target, the one who had just sealed Itachi: Karin.
"It's coming for me!" Karin screamed, panicking.
"Naruto, protect her!" Sakura yelled.
Naruto moved in front of her, preparing a Rasengan, but he was too slow.
Karin, in her panic, tried to launch more chains to block it.
"No! Go away!"
Her control failed under the pressure and the golden chains, still charged with the Kyubi's chakra, shot out wildly.
Itachi, still kneeling, saw the uncontrolled chains coming for him and used his last strength to dodge with a fluid movement.
Kisame was mid-jutsu, immobile. "What?!"
The chains missed their main target and the water shark passed by, dissipating without hitting anything.
But Karin's chains found a new target, and six of them pierced Kisame's chest, impaling him and anchoring him to the rock floor.
The water of the lake he had created began to recede, absorbed by the cracked earth.
Kisame looked down and saw the golden chains piercing him, as blue blood gushed from the wounds.
"Heh..." he coughed. "What an... ironic end..."
Tsunade didn't waste the opportunity and landed in front of Kisame, who was still pinned to the ground.
"IT'S OVER!"
"Wait, Hime!" Jiraiya yelled. "We need him alive! For interrogation!"
Tsunade hesitated, her fist stopped centimeters from Kisame's face, because he was right.
Jiraiya landed beside her as his hair retracted. "Hari Jigoku!"
Needles of hardened hair shot up from the ground, creating a cage around Kisame, reinforcing the chains.
"It's over, Akatsuki," Jiraiya said, his voice grim.
Kisame laughed, a wet, bubbling laugh.
"Interrogate me...? You...? No..."
He looked at Itachi, who was struggling to stand, still tangled in the sealing chains.
"Itachi-san... looks like... we failed..."
"Kisame..." Itachi whispered.
"Shut up!" Asuma yelled, landing nearby with Guy. "You're finished!"
Kisame grinned, showing all his teeth.
"An Akatsuki ninja... never betrays the organization. Not even in death!"
He bit his own thumb hard, drawing blood.
"No!" Jiraiya yelled, realizing. "He's trying to...!"
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
The blood seal activated and the remaining water at his feet churned violently.
Three enormous sharks emerged from the water and lunged at their own summoner.
"No!" Guy yelled.
Their jaws snapped shut, so Tsunade and Jiraiya leaped back instinctively. The chains from Karin shattered as their target was devoured and Jiraiya's hair cage was destroyed.
It was brutal and fast, as the sharks tore Kisame apart in seconds, in front of everyone.
"He's...!" Sakura covered her mouth, horrified. "He's eating himself!"
"No," Shikaku said from the edge, his voice somber. "He's destroying his own body. So we can't get any information from him."
The sharks dove back into the water and disappeared with a pop of reverse-summoning.
All that remained was silence, blue blood staining the rocks, and the massive sword Samehada, which lay on the ground, vibrating softly.
The distraction was total, and everyone, from the Jōnin to the Sannin and the genin, was paralyzed by the act of suicidal loyalty.
Everyone except one.
"Amaterasu."
Itachi's voice was barely a whisper. Karin's chains, weakened by her panic and Kisame's death, flickered, and the seal on his Mangekyō broke.
Black flames erupted against the wall of the purple sealing barrier, at a point already damaged by Chōza's and Kisame's blows.
"No!" Jiraiya yelled, spinning around. "The barrier!"
The barrier, designed to stop chakra, melted quickly under the unquenchable flames and a hole opened.
"He's escaping!" Guy yelled.
Itachi stood up as blood dripped from both his eyes. He looked at Naruto for a fraction of a second and then looked at Kisame's remains.
Without a word, his body dissolved into a flock of black crows that flew out at full speed through the newly created hole.
"Dammit! After him!" Asuma yelled.
But it was too late, because the crows scattered in the sky and he was gone.
The purple sealing barrier flickered one last time and vanished, which meant the jutsu was broken.
Silence fell over the shattered ravine.
Inoichi! Shikaku thought. Are you all right?! Report!
I'm... I'm all right... Inoichi's voice was trembling. Kakashi... Kurenai... they're alive. But they're in bad shape.
Tsunade was already running toward them, her hands glowing with green healing chakra.
"Sakura! Get over here! I need your help!"
"Yes, Tsunade-shishō!"
Jiraiya walked slowly toward where Kisame had died. All that remained was Samehada, so the sword moved and slithered to Jiraiya's feet, rubbing against his leg.
"Well..." Jiraiya said, looking at the living sword. "Looks like you're without an owner."
Naruto helped Karin sit up, who was trembling from exhaustion. Hinata was at her side, keeping watch.
"We... we did it..." Naruto said, looking at the battlefield.
Shikaku Nara landed next to Jiraiya, staring at the burned hole in the barrier. He sighed, a long, tired sound.
"How troublesome."
"What is it, Shikaku?" Asuma asked, walking over.
Shikaku rubbed the back of his neck.
"We survived. We defeated one. But the main target... just escaped."
***
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