"Be careful."
Pain said calmly, then looked at Kisame and Itachi. "Ready?"
"The area is safe enough."
Itachi nodded.
"Alright, begin."
Pain formed hand seals. "Shapeshifting Technique!"
Sacrifices prepared in advance were immediately infused with the Chakra of Itachi and Kisame.
And the consciousness of the two men descended upon these two sacrifices across the vast distance.
Although they only had thirty percent of their original strength, with the power of these two, stalling for time was not a problem.
"Wait!"
Kakashi suddenly sensed something and dodged back.
Bang!
The bandaged greatsword struck the ground. The person holding the sword was unmistakably Kisame.
"Oh, it's you this time. What about that oddball from your village?"
Kisame joked.
"Enough talk. Let's finish them quickly."
Itachi walked out from behind him, his gaze cold.
"Uchiha Itachi!"
Sasuke's gaze was instantly drawn to Itachi, as if Itachi had a powerful magnet on him. "Finally, I've found you!"
His eyes instantly transformed into the Mangekyo, and disregarding everything, he charged forward.
"Now is not the time, my foolish little brother."
Seeing his Mangekyo, a flash of relief passed through Itachi's eyes.
But Sasuke, immersed in hatred, completely failed to notice.
He only wanted to kill Itachi now, to avenge the clan.
"Wait! Sasuke!"
Kakashi was a bit too slow and couldn't stop Sasuke. He had no choice but to follow.
He couldn't let Sasuke face both Itachi and Kisame alone.
"Wait for me!"
Naruto also wanted to charge, but suddenly froze in place.
He stood dazedly still, the light fading from his eyes.
He had obviously fallen under a Genjutsu.
Unnoticed, Itachi had cast a Genjutsu on him.
"Quick, help him!"
Chiyo immediately told Sakura, then ran to Naruto's side, preparing to use her own Chakra to break the Genjutsu.
"Okay!"
Sakura, with her rich theoretical knowledge, also knew what to do. She responded flusteredly and also ran to Naruto's side.
Baki had no choice but to grit his teeth and follow Kakashi, charging towards the seemingly more threatening Kisame.
As for Itachi, he would leave him to Kakashi, who also possessed the Sharingan.
"Let me show you my power!"
Sasuke directly activated his Susano'o. However, his current chakra reserves were still insufficient to maintain the high-level state of Susano'o for long.
He could only maintain the Complete Body for a few seconds.
And a few seconds, even in his crazed state, Sasuke knew it was impossible to defeat Itachi within seconds.
So he chose the more stable half-body Susano'o with muscles.
"Is this all you've got?"
Itachi glanced at him calmly, and Susano'o also emerged from his body.
Like Sasuke, it was the upper body, but it possessed armor.
Because he only had thirty percent of his original strength, and due to the Chakra Consumption from the Nine Phantom Dragons,
Being able to use a half-body Susano'o was already the limit of this body he was currently controlling.
"It's better to avoid this kind of fight."
Kisame leaped far away, simultaneously drawing Kakashi and Baki further away.
The situation now became deadlocked.
The Guy Team was entangled by the clones and couldn't break free for the Moment.
Naruto was under genjutsu, with Sakura and Chiyo helping to release it.
Kakashi and Baki were drawn away by Kisame. Sasuke was consumed by hatred, completely ignoring their objective for coming here.
However, Sasuke had proven one thing.
He had crossed that sealing array, but no clone of his was created.
But without external intervention, the battlefield fell into a stalemate.
At this moment, someone urgently needed to break the deadlock.
"Damn it..."
Guy had now opened the Fourth Gate, but the opposing clone had also opened the Fourth Gate.
Their figures were fast as ghosts, hard to track.
He stole a glance at the situation of the others. This momentary lapse was immediately seized by the opponent, who instantly appeared before him.
A punch landed heavily on his abdomen, sending him flying far away, breaking several trees.
"Guy-sensei!"
Lee shouted back, but immediately followed in Guy's footsteps, being sent flying.
"Two idiots!"
Neji said through gritted teeth. With his Byakugan active, he didn't need to turn his head to know their situation.
But he was also locked in a difficult battle.
Among his peers, no one surpassed him in Byakugan prowess.
Therefore, apart from sparring with his elders, he had never experienced being suppressed by the Byakugan.
Today, he finally understood what Hinata had always felt when facing him.
Impenetrable defense, attacks that exploited every opening.
Revealing no flaws at all.
For a moment, even Neji himself found it hard to find his own weaknesses.
Actually, he knew where his weaknesses were.
It was the blind spot in the branch family's Byakugan field of view.
But he couldn't find an opportunity to attack the opponent's blind spot; His clone simply wouldn't give him the chance.
Tenten was in a ranged weapon duel with her clone, unrolling scroll after scroll.
The ground was covered with all kinds of weapons.
As expected of someone from a ninja tool shop; otherwise, an ordinary Shinobi couldn't consume weapons like this.
"Idiot."
A sigh reached her ears.
Then she felt a tap on her head, and a figure ran in front of her.
Layers of white cloth immediately wrapped around Tenten's clone, binding it tightly.
"Sealing Technique: Cloth Binding Technique!"
Tenten's clone was immediately sealed. The large seal character on the white cloth meant it couldn't be undone by human strength.
"Since the opponent's strength and movements are exactly the same as yours, couldn't you use that against them?"
Takumi's somewhat sighing voice reached Tenten's ears, making her cheeks flush red.
"But I don't know any sealing techniques yet..." Tenten said, her face red.
But Takumi had already rushed over and slapped Lee on the head.
This time was nothing like the gentle tap he gave Tenten.
One slap sent Lee directly to the ground, embedding him deeply into it.
Tenten watched Takumi's figure, her gaze becoming somewhat mesmerized.
All along, Takumi had many girls around him.
Like Sakura, Ino, and so on.
She had never had a chance to get close to Takumi.
But she had always admired him in her heart.
Or rather, in all of Konoha, girls of Takumi's age, or even a few years older and not yet married, definitely admired him immensely.
Hoping to be the one destined for him.
But they also knew this was just their wishful thinking.
Tenten was one of them.
This was the first time Takumi had been this close to her.
She could even smell his pleasant scent.
This first close encounter made her involuntarily immersed.
When she came to, she realized Takumi had already sealed all the clones they had struggled against.
"I won't say much. Reflect on yourselves when you get back."
Takumi's face was full of helplessness. He hadn't expected such a simple trick to put them in such a difficult battle. "Especially you, Guy-senpai. I didn't expect that with you here, you'd still end up in this situation."
"It was my lapse."
Guy's face was full of shame.
Neji and Lee looked gravely at the sealed clones.
The clones possessed all their abilities, combat styles, and techniques.
Yet Takumi came over and dealt with them in a few moves.
Didn't that mean dealing with them would be just as easy?
Although they knew there was a gap between them and Takumi, they never imagined it would be this large.
"Alright, enough talk. Where is Gaara?"
Takumi looked at Neji. "And where are Kakashi-senpai and the others?"
"In that direction."
Neji raised his hand and pointed into the distance.
Because of the fighting, they had been moved far away.
This place was already on the border of the Land of Wind, adjacent to the Land of Rivers.
The surroundings were lush and green, completely different from the scenery of the Land of Wind.
Originally, Takumi should have encountered Kakashi and the others first.
But on the way, he noticed the traces of Guy Team's battle.
Assuming they had already engaged the Akatsuki, he turned and rushed over.
Unexpectedly, it was just a delaying tactic by the Akatsuki.
"Let's go back immediately!"
Takumi immediately rushed out at top speed.
"We should hurry too."
Guy said gravely, "The enemy's strength is formidable. We absolutely cannot be careless again."
"Yes!"
Lee responded energetically.
Tenten and Neji said nothing, but their grave expressions said it all.
They all followed.