A new arrival and it's about Itachi God. So, do give it a go.
And, If you're enjoying the story, please consider giving it a power stone!
Your support helps the book grow and lets me know you're excited for the next chapter.
Thank you for readingđ
***
"Boom!"
The ground crumbled, sending rubble flying.
Minato's backhand caught the handle of the Flying Thunder God kunai he had just thrown.
The Rasengan struck the Masked Man's back, sending chakra swirling violently, tearing a portion of his black robe.
Beneath the ripped robe, the Masked Man's body seemed to be covered in a white shell.
The Rasengan's force quickly shredded this shell.
"Ugh!"
The Masked Man groaned, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth beneath his mask.
The swirling chakra beneath Minato's palm vanished, contacting the white shell, instantly imprinting a layer of distinctive black lines on it.
These were the coordinates he needed for Space-Time Ninjutsu movement.
Then, the sensation in Minato's palm suddenly vanished, and his hand passed through the Masked Man's body.
With a swish, the Masked Man leaped up and backed away, landing on the only remaining intact stone in the shattered area.
The scarlet eyes glared at Minato, saying, "Although you didn't take the direct impact of the Rasengan, you still sustained internal injuries."
At this moment, the white shell covering his body began to unfurl from his face, rapidly detaching from his body.
"Just now, it seems he left his chakra on me," said the Masked Man.
As soon as he finished speaking, the white shell, which had detached from the Masked Man, transformed into liquid, rapidly melting into the earth beneath his feet.
"What was that?"
Minato's eyes narrowed slightly at the sight.
He immediately sensed the mark he had placed on the Masked Man's back, detaching from his body and sinking into the ground.
The next moment, the chakra wave that had penetrated the ground vanished from Minato's perception at an incredible speed.
"Disappeared!?"
Minato's eyes trembled.
He raised his eyes to look at the Masked Man, who had now revealed his original brown mask.
A look of fear filled his gaze.
"What on earth is this?"
He sensed that the Masked Man's chakra aura, while somewhat distorted, hadn't decreased significantly.
The Rasengan and Flying Thunder God Mark had been absorbed by something attached to his body.
Assessing the situation, Minato's eyes drooped, a solemn expression forming.
"The previous attack didn't seriously injure him, so it'll be difficult to exploit his weakness again."
Minato launched a surprise attack using the second stage of Flying Thunder God, hoping to inflict heavy damage on the Masked Man and thereby weaken his control over the village's Wood Golem.
However, the situation was far more complicated than he anticipated.
After all, Minato's knowledge of the enemy before him was too limited.
"As expected of the Fourth Hokage, you're capable of this!"
The Masked Man stared at Minato with a heavy sigh, his crimson eyes growing increasingly frantic.
"But you still can't save Konoha today!"
After the previous battle, the Masked Man knew he was no match for Minato.
But if he could use his special abilities to hold the Fourth Hokage, the only one capable of dealing with the Wood Golem, back here, Konoha would still be destroyed!
The Masked Man's eyes flashed with sternness as he charged at Minato again.
"This guy!"
Minato's eyes were filled with murderous intent.
But just as the Masked Man had anticipated, Minato was completely defenseless against the latter's ability to penetrate physical attacks unless he attacked first!
He sensed the intense chakra fluctuations emanating from the village, and his usually calm demeanor gradually turned to anxiety.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The sounds of violent collisions and powerful Ninjutsu clashing continuously echoed throughout Konoha.
A clash of this magnitude would inevitably impact the village.
The Third Hokage, wielding the Adamantine Staff: KongĆ Nyoi transformed by the Enma, clashed head-on with the Wooden man's massive hand while simultaneously creating clones and unleashing Ninjutsu comparable to the Wooden man's to neutralize his attacks.
Jiraiya and his summoned Gamabunta assisted, creating gaps and breathing space for the Third Hokage, while also maintaining a constant defense to protect the civilians who might be caught in the Wooden man's attacks.
However, the Third Hokage was old, and the combination of continuously using such large-scale Ninjutsu and maintaining the summoning of the Monkey King gradually weakened his stamina.
Another massive Wooden man hand descended, and the Third Hokage, momentarily exhausted, could only watch helplessly as the attack descended from above.
The hand crashed down, its massive shadow casting a shadow over the Third Hokage.
At that moment, a figure suddenly blocked his path.
"Asshole!"
With a furious shout, the two vastly different fists collided.
Bang!
But then, the giant Wooden man hand was sent careening away.
"Tsunade, you..."
The Third Hokage breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at Tsunade before him.
He noticed that her clenched fists were still trembling.
Ever since her death, she had developed a fear of blood, and the air in the battle zone where the Third Hokage was standing was thick with the scent of blood.
The attack by the Wooden man, the first time the Wooden man appeared in the village, had claimed the lives of many civilians and ninja.
Tsunade temporarily repelled the Wooden figure's hand and moved behind the Third Hokage.
A soft green light shone from her palm as she began to heal him.
"If you fall, Jiraiya alone won't be able to handle it."
She frowned, clearly struggling to suppress her fear.
While helping the Third Hokage recover, Tsunade looked in the other direction and shouted, "Jiraiya, where's Minato?"
But Jiraiya didn't have time to answer her question.
The Third Hokage was exhausted, and most of the Wooden man's attacks were directed at him.
"Has Minato been entangled by that guy?"
Although he hadn't seen what happened on the other side, Jiraiya could guess that Minato must have been entangled by the black-clad man who had attacked Kushina earlier.
"Boom!"
"Clang!"
"Chichi!"
At this moment, the five mouths on the wooden figure's forehead once again condensed the power of the five elements, heading towards the civilian gathering area.
Evacuation efforts had already begun, but civilians' mobility was very limited, so even now, a large number of them had not yet entered the village's shelter.
Seeing this, the Third Hokage's several clones, who had been targeting the Wooden man with Ninjutsu attacks and were stationed in different parts of the village, immediately moved, forming hand seals.
Both sides unleashed the same Ninjutsu almost simultaneously, and then collided in mid-air.
"Boom!"
However, the Third Hokage's Ninjutsu was clearly at a disadvantage.
Even with Tsunade's help, his main body couldn't recover chakra in such a short time.
At this time, Itachi, holding Sasuke in his arms, was led by several village ninjas to the shelter.
Itachi suddenly raised his head, watching the violent clash of Ninjutsu in the air above the village, his expression changed with shock.
"Oh no, the Third Hokage can't hold on!"
As soon as he finished speaking, in the clash of water-based Ninjutsu, the Third Hokage's clone finally gave up and vanished with a "bang."
Because using water-based Ninjutsu out of thin air consumes the most chakra.
"Crash!"
Immediately afterwards, a massive torrent of water covered everything in an instant, making a sound like the roar of a wild beast!
...
"Crash!"
A torrent of Water Release, without the resistance of Hiruzen Sarutobi's clone ninjutsu, descended, directly destroying countless houses.
The torrent swept through the wreckage, still surging forward, swiftly roaring towards the gathering of civilians heading for the shelter, as if chasing them.
A Water Release of this magnitude would be impossible for even ordinary ninjas to withstand, even if they were assembled.
The roaring torrent sent many civilians gazing back, their eyes filled with despair.
Suddenly, a man appeared before the torrent, his hands shifting their hand seals, ultimately landing on the "Tiger" seal.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
From his mouth, a torrent of flames erupted, expanding rapidly with a force no less powerful than the Water Release before him.
"Sizzle!"
The ninjutsu of both fire and water collided, instantly producing a vast expanse of white steam.
The man's form began to blur within the steam, but this did not prevent him from being identified.
"He's the head of the Uchiha clan!"
"Fugaku-sama!"
Even within the Uchiha clan, the only one capable of performing a Fire Release of this magnitude was the clan leader, Fugaku Uchiha.
"Take advantage of this opportunity, everyone, and leave!"
A Konoha ninja tasked with evacuating civilians said, looking at Fugaku with a hint of surprise.
Just as Fugaku had blocked the wooden figure's Fire Release, Hiruzen's other clones in the village began to collapse.
"Boom!"
Horrifying flames descended, more powerful than Water Release, capable of instantly claiming many lives.
"Boom!"
The earth crumbled before the flames, and massive earthen walls, as vast as city walls, rose up.
Immediately afterwards, flames struck the walls, burning them ablaze.
Jiraiya's face was solemn, his eyes sharply fixed on another spot, where pillars of lightning were falling at astonishing speed.
"Cri, ri, ri!"
A piercing sound like the Chidori suddenly echoed beneath the lightning column.
Kakashi Hatake, clad in ANBU attire, appeared directly beneath the thunderbolt.
The lightning in his palm grew ever deeper.
The sound of the Lightning Release ninjutsu within his palm grew fainter.
"Chi!"
Three magatama twirled violently within his left crimson eye.
Just before the lightning struck, he thrust out the ninjutsu.
The deep lightning collided with the lightning, creating a slicing motion that gradually cleaved it apart.
"It actually cleaved through the lightning?!"
A Konoha ninja nearby watched this scene, their faces horrified.
However, even though Fugaku, Jiraiya, and Kakashi each managed to block the three ninjutsu's attacks in time, the other two still rained down upon the village's civilian gatherings.
"Whoosh!"
The massive Wind Release ninjutsu roared, slicing through everything it passed through.
The jutsu landed not far from Itachi Uchiha and Izumi Uchiha.
They were almost at the shelter.
The wind blades struck with such speed that the civilians at the rear had no time to react.
"Ah!!"
The moment they were caught in the Wind Release ninjutsu, they screamed in agony.
Their bodies were cut apart like tofu, blood splattering.
The Konoha ninjas responsible for the rearguard reacted.
Some of them didn't have time to cast jutsu, but without hesitation, they stood in front of the civilians, using their bodies to resist.
As their bodies were torn apart, their companions behind them quickly followed suit, finally unleashing jutsu, temporarily blocking the oncoming Wind Release ninjutsu.
However, their level of skill couldn't hold out for long.
The jutsu was once again shattered by the wind blades, and their bodies were torn apart.
Then, more Konoha ninjas followed.
"Run!"
The Konoha ninjas, struggling to hold on, turned their gazes and roared in the direction of Itachi and the others.
When Izumi saw this scene, her pupils instantly dilated and she froze in place.
She didn't know whether it was because of fear or sadness, but tears immediately flowed down her face.
Not only her, most of the civilians had a similar reaction when they saw this scene, and they froze in place.
These Konoha ninjas sacrificed their lives one after another, buying time for the civilians to escape.
So at this moment, any delay on their part would only waste the opportunity that the Konoha ninjas had exchanged for their lives.
"Run!"
"Do you want them to die in vain?"
Itachi suddenly roared, his heavy voice startling everyone.
His eyes trembled as he grabbed Izumi's arm and quickly ran in the opposite direction of the Konoha ninjas.
Following Itachi's actions, the other civilians also reacted and followed suit, fleeing for their lives.
"Wah!"
Sasuke Uchiha, swaddled in Itachi's arms, began to cry loudly.
The cries gradually faded under the constant efforts of the Konoha ninjas.
Whoosh!
But just as the Wind Release ninjutsu was about to dissipate, a residual wave of energy still managed to penetrate the Konoha ninja defenses.
It landed directly in the direction of Itachi and Izumi.
Though facing away from the jutsu, Itachi could hear the sound of the Wind Release ninjutsu scraping against the air.
He glanced sharply to the side, then shoved Izumi away from him.
"Chi!"
At that moment, Itachi's eyes turned blood red.
He glanced sharply at Sasuke in his arms, his arms tightening around him, his back bent, and his body curled up, completely protecting Sasuke.
Then Itachi rolled onto his side.
The wind blade passed by Itachi's body, striking the wall beside him and leaving a deep gash.
Itachi's clothing on his left shoulder was ripped, and a less deep scratch also appeared on the side of his face.
A small amount of blood trickled down.
After dodging the aftermath, the Wind Release ninjutsu almost completely dissipated.
Itachi lowered his eyes to glance at Sasuke in his arms.
After confirming that he was alright, he slowly turned his head with a stiff neck.
At this moment, Izumi, who had been pushed away by Itachi, sat up from the ground.
Horrified, tears streamed down her face as she took in the scene before her.
She felt nauseous, and retched.
The Wind Release ninjutsu's devastation left buildings in ruins, and the streets were severely damaged.
The road where the civilians had fled was littered with dismembered bodies, staining the ground red with blood.
Further away, bones lay shredded, their flesh pulverized and stained with blood.
Itachi reached out and covered Sasuke's eyes, his bloodshot eyes fixed on everything before him.
"Huff, huff!"
His body trembled, his breathing grew heavier, his chest heaving violently.
The horrific scene was reflected in Itachi's eyes, bloodshot.
His delicate, tender face revealed an extremely ferocious expression.
Unconsciously, Itachi's swollen eye sockets, the moment tears began to flow and overflowed from the corners of his eyes, had turned a bright red.
.....
By the way, don't forget to throw power stones and leave a review to motivate me :)