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!"
Fire erupted, rapidly expanding, instantly engulfing the spot where Itachi and his four companions had been standing.
Fortunately, Itachi had recognized Deidara's detonating clay, so the explosion's aftermath didn't reach them.
Beside Itachi, the client, Kuroishi Lei, observed the scene, his face filled with horror.
Before him, the representatives sent by the Land of Stone had perished in the explosion caused by the Iwagakure ninja.
Shikaku and his two companions formed a protective circle and landed in front of Itachi and Kuroishi Lei.
"Is this what they call detonating clay?"
Shikaku narrowed his eyes as he observed the explosion ahead, then tilted his head slightly to glance at Itachi from the corner of his eye.
The young man's eyes had turned blood-red, the Sharingan activated.
"Did he see through it with his Sharingan?" Shikaku muttered to himself.
While the four members of the team knew Deidara possessed information about his detonating clay, none had seen it in action before.
Itachi reacted faster than him, likely due to the Sharingan's ability to perceive chakra.
"How many enemies are there?"
Shikaku asked, turning to Aoki Yui beside him.
Aoki Yui frowned slightly and replied,
"Three."
Shikaku nodded, his voice firm.
"Prepare for battle!"
Outside the valley, beneath the cliffs:
"Deidara, it seems your ninjutsu was seen through by the Konoha ninja," a young man in a tan vest said to Deidara.
He appeared to be in his early twenties, with a sallow complexion but a handsome face.
His dark eyes exuded a calm confidence.
His name was Haitsu, a jĆnin from Iwagakure.
"It's all Deidara's fault for causing trouble everywhere, letting the Konoha ninja learn about his ninjutsu," a black haired girl said, pouting at Deidara.
"Shut up!"
Deidara snapped, glaring at her.
His ninjutsu had never failed before, and this was a first.
"Let's try again," he said, reaching into the ninja tool pouch at his waist.
"A surprise attack won't work anymore. We'll have to face them head-on," Haitsu said, looking at the two younger ninja beside him.
"Our primary objective is to eliminate the targets from the Land of Stone. Avoid getting entangled with the Konoha ninja if possible."
"There are four of them, and they don't seem weak."
"Once you've killed the target, retreat immediately. Don't linger in combat!"
"Got it!"
Deidara waved his hand impatiently.
The black-haired girl nodded.
"Kurotsuchi, don't slow me down later," Deidara said, glancing at the younger girl as he pulled his hand from the pouch.
In his palm were several pseudo-lifeforms made of explosive clay.
"Who's slowing who down is the real question."
Kurotsuchi retorted, her face brimming with pride.
At such a young age, she was already a chĆ«nin of Iwagakure and the granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage, Ćnoki.
"Move!" Haitsu ordered.
Deidara and Kurotsuchi, who had been bickering, instantly regained focus.
Though young, they had completed numerous missions.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been chosen by the Third Tsuchikage for an assassination mission, let alone one involving potential confrontations with ninja from other villages.
Swish!
Deidara and Kurotsuchi leaped, their feet grazing the mountain wall as they sprinted upward.
Suddenly, Haitsu's figure began to levitate, soaring into the sky.
"They're coming!"
Aoki Yui announced atop the cliff, sensing the chakra signatures of Deidara, Kurotsuchi, and Haitsu.
"Up!" she added, suddenly looking skyward.
Swish!
Haitsu descended from mid-air toward the group.
"So, someone can fly?"
Shikaku observed the approaching figure, his eyes narrowing.
The so-called flight technique utilized Earth Release to reduce one's mass, achieving the effect of levitation.
Few ninja in Iwagakure had mastered this weight-reducing jutsu to the point of true flight.
In the sky, Haitsu formed hand seals as he approached.
He opened his mouth, and a mass of rock spewed forth, solidifying into a multi-meter-wide boulder in mid-air.
"What's going on?" Izumi exclaimed.
Given its size, the boulder should have fallen immediately.
In the sky, Haitsu severed the chakra connection between his mouth and the boulder.
He placed one hand beneath it, lifting it upward.
Swish!
Haitsu, carrying the boulder, flew toward Shikaku and the others.
"The other two are in that direction!"
Aoki Yui, fulfilling her role as a sensory ninja, quickly locked onto Deidara and Kurotsuchi's positions.
Izumi and Itachi turned to where Aoki Yui pointed.
Two short figures had scaled the cliff and were charging toward them.
Protected by the group, Kuroishi Lei stared at Deidara and Kurotsuchi, a flicker of surprise in his terrified eyes.
He had assumed the Hokage had sent a mere child to protect him, but the assassins from Iwagakure included two ninja even younger than Itachi and Izumi?
This upended Kuroishi Lei's understanding of ninja.
Izumi was briefly stunned when she saw Kurotsuchi.
Intelligence had indicated Deidara was a boy younger than her and Itachi, but the black-haired girl beside him seemed even younger.
"Don't underestimate them! They're not weak!"
Itachi warned, his gaze lingering on Deidara before shifting to Kurotsuchi.
Recognizing Kurotsuchi's Iwagakure vest, he deduced her identity.
There could only be one other chĆ«nin younger than Deidara, and a girl at thatâthe granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage.
Using his Sharingan, Itachi could see the chakra within Kurotsuchi, a force rivaling that of an adult ninja, likely due to her Tsuchikage lineage.
"I know!"
Izumi nodded, her clear eyes turning blood-red as a black magatama spun within her Sharingan.
Shikaku focused entirely on Haitsu in the air.
As Haitsu drew dangerously close, he hurled the massive, yet seemingly weightless, boulder downward.
As it left his grasp, Haitsu formed hand seals again.
"Boom!"
In that instant, the boulder regained its full mass.
Its overwhelming weight caused it to plummet rapidly, the sheer force making the air rumble.
...
"Boom!"
As the boulder fell, Kurotsuchi and Deidara pressed forward from the front.
Kurotsuchi formed hand seals with her hands.
"Earth Release: Rising Earth Spear!"
She crouched down, and the mountain before her palms bulged, sprouting massive stone spikes that surged toward Itachi and the others.
"Lightning Release: Thunderbolt!"
However, Itachi completed his hand seals even faster.
He pressed his palms to the ground, and a burst of dark lightning flashed from his hands, spreading wildly into the mountain ahead.
"Sizzle!"
The stone spikes were shattered as they emerged in the area covered by the lightning.
Chakra has five basic elements: fire, wind, earth, water, and lightning, each counteracting another.
Lightning Release ninjutsu is the nemesis of Earth Release ninjutsu.
Itachi's chakra did not naturally align with lightning, but he had learned basic Lightning Release techniques.
Though Kurotsuchi was gifted, her youth limited her ability to fully unleash her Earth Release techniques.
Thus, even with Itachi's less-practiced Lightning Release, he could counter her.
At that moment, the shadow of the boulder descended over Itachi and the others.
"Whoa!"
The shadow beneath Shikaku's feet expanded, splitting into dozens of slender tendrils that rose from the ground, steadily catching the boulder.
Beside Itachi, Izumi completed her hand seals.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"
A dense stream of flame erupted from her mouth in a straight line.
Izumi's upper body swung, sweeping the flames across the stone spikes and toward Deidara and Kurotsuchi.
Seeing this, their eyes shifted slightly, and they quickly retreated.
Shikaku manipulated his Shadow Possession Technique, swinging the tentacle-like shadows to fling the boulder sideways into the valley.
The boulder rolled a few times before lodging in the narrow valley.
Shikaku looked up at Haitsu, floating in the air, who glanced back at him.
Shadows surrounded Shikaku, and Haitsu, noticing this, showed slight surprise.
With a faint smile, he said, "So it's Nara Shikaku-senpai."
His tone was respectful, as Konoha and Iwagakure were no longer enemies, merely engaged in conflicting missions.
During the Third Shinobi World War, besides the renowned Yellow Flash of Konoha, several ninja from Minato's era were famed across the world.
Shikaku was one of them.
"You've mastered flight with Earth Release techniques. You must be a disciple of the Third Tsuchikage, Haitsu?" Shikaku asked.
He had heard of Ćnoki's disciples, and the most prominent in recent years was the young man before him.
Their eyes narrowed as they met, recognizing each other as formidable opponents from their brief exchange.
But Haitsu seemed in no hurry to attack.
He remained in mid-air, making no further moves.
Shikaku frowned, then said to Aoki Yui, "Carefully sense the nearby chakra!"
Kurotsuchi and Deidara were forced back by Izumi's Fire Release, but neither showed panic.
Deidara's lips curled into a faint smile.
He raised his right hand, as if to detonate something.
At that moment, Itachi's Sharingan locked onto a spot beside him.
He drew a kunai adorned with explosive tags from his ninja tool pouch and flung it.
As the kunai flew, Itachi detonated the tags.
"Chichi!"
The flaming explosive tags landed on a thumb-sized white spider made of detonating clay.
Nearby, several identical spiders flanked it.
The clay spiders' small size and subtle chakra fluctuations made them hard to detect as they crept along the uneven mountain path.
Even Aoki Yui, a sensory ninja, failed to notice them immediately.
"Bang!"
The explosive tag detonated, triggering several clay spiders simultaneously.
The explosion spread but was too far to affect Itachi and the others.
Deidara's expression darkened as his spiders were destroyed prematurely.
Anger flashed across his face.
He raised his eyes, the flames before him having dissipated.
"Damn you, ruining my perfect art!"
Deidara shouted, glaring at Itachi's Sharingan.
"Both have Sharinganâthey're Uchiha!"
Kurotsuchi exclaimed, noticing Itachi and Izumi's eyes.
But for Deidara, this didn't matter.
Itachi gazed at the young Deidara, as calm as ever.
The distance between them was too great for Itachi's genjutsu to take effect.
"Deidara-nii, don't look into their eyes!"
Kurotsuchi warned, noticing Deidara's reckless expression.
The Uchiha clan was renowned in the ninja world, and the Third Tsuchikage, Ćnoki, had taught his granddaughter and disciples how to counter the Sharingan.
Deidara, uninterested in such lessons, hadn't learned them.
"Seeing through it so quickly!"
Kurotsuchi muttered, her eyes narrowing.
Shikaku's order to Aoki Yui to sense the surroundings showed he had anticipated their plan.
But she hadn't expected the Uchiha youth to spot the clay spiders before the sensory ninja.
Such sharp tactical thinking.
Yet Deidara remained defiant.
"It's not over!"
He sneered inwardly.
Itachi, as if reading Deidara's thoughts, gazed calmly at the blond ninja and said, "It's useless. My eyes see through all your tricks."
Itachi drew another kunai with an explosive tag.
"Behind!"
Aoki Yui shouted, sensing chakra and turning to look back.
Swish!
Itachi's kunai flew as she spoke, piercing a white insect made of explosive clay.
Its size and faint chakra made it even harder to detect than the spider.
The explosive tag detonated, prematurely triggering Deidara's jutsu.
Before Itachi, Deidara's face burned with rage.
He clenched his fists, glaring at Itachi's Sharingan, murderous intent in his eyes.
....
By the way, don't forget to throw power stones and leave a review to motivate me :)