As the battle between Orochimaru and Pain officially began, the Aizen clone finally made his move against Sarutobi Asuma.
There was no rush in taking Chiriku's techniques.
He remained at the Fire Temple, so Sarutobi Asuma would be dealt with first.
While hurrying along the road, Sarutobi Asuma stopped the moment he saw the Aizen clone.
He was certain of one thing.
The other man had come specifically for him.
"So someone finally couldn't hold back any longer?"
Sarutobi Asuma had long known that his journey back to Konoha would not be peaceful.
He himself did not care much about being the son of the Third Hokage.
But plenty of other people cared.
In truth, Chiriku and the other Guardian Ninja had wanted to escort Sarutobi Asuma all the way back to Konoha before returning to the Fire Temple.
Sarutobi Asuma had refused.
To him, this was a perfect opportunity to sharpen himself and take another step forward.
As for dying?
Impossible.
If he couldn't win, couldn't he just run?
Unless the enemy was someone comparable to the Five Kage, then even if he lost, escaping should still be possible.
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique."
Sarutobi Asuma rapidly formed hand seals.
For someone to dare come alone, they either had real ability or were simply overconfident.
Sarutobi Asuma was a jonin.
And not a weak jonin either.
Many people acted as though jonin were nothing special, but in truth, even among secret technique clans and bloodline clans, not everyone could reach the jonin level.
Forget the other villages.
Even in Konohagakure, if one counted special jonin as well, it was hard to say whether the total number of jonin-level ninja in the entire village even reached five hundred.
That was why the losses at the border had hurt the Konoha F4 so badly.
Those had been jonin from their own clans.
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique."
The Aizen clone answered with the exact same ninjutsu.
He specialized in genjutsu, but that did not mean his ninjutsu was weak.
The two Wind Release techniques were completely identical.
Even their power was the same.
When they collided, they canceled each other out and vanished, leaving the air strangely calm.
"So he's skilled with Wind Release too?"
Sarutobi Asuma thought to himself.
Then he charged straight at the Aizen clone.
Unless a ninja had especially large chakra reserves, they would not keep throwing ninjutsu endlessly.
For most ninja, taijutsu was the core of battle, with ninjutsu serving as support.
The Aizen clone's taijutsu was not particularly strong.
After blocking a few moves, he was sent flying with a kick.
In truth, taijutsu was the weakness of all the clones, as well as the original body.
Their real age was only eight.
How strong could their taijutsu really be?
In another two years, things would improve.
After all, they now had the Eight Gates Technique.
In fact, with the help of Absolute Control, Uchiha Fujie had opened two gates on the very first day he practiced the Eight Gates.
Because Absolute Control granted perfect mastery over his own body, opening the gates became much easier.
What both the original body and the clones needed now was to keep strengthening their physiques.
At that rate, opening six gates in two years would not be difficult.
Even the Seventh Gate was not out of the question.
"Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning."
Naturally, Sarutobi Asuma understood the principle of pressing the advantage.
He quickly formed hand seals and spat out a cloud of high-temperature ash.
Once the ash landed, it would burn the enemy with intense heat, then explode after a short delay.
Seeing the Aizen clone take the attack head-on, Sarutobi Asuma felt the battle was already decided.
"That was too easy. I thought this would at least take some effort. Something's wrong. Even against a fairly strong chunin, it shouldn't have ended this quickly."
As the thick smoke cleared, Sarutobi Asuma saw the Aizen clone lying dead on the ground.
Yet the unease in his heart only deepened.
"Genjutsu: Release!"
A surge of chakra burst from Sarutobi Asuma's body, so dense it was almost tangible.
At last, he understood what had felt wrong.
He had been caught in a genjutsu.
But when?
The moment Sarutobi Asuma broke free, he saw the Aizen clone shooting straight toward him, a kunai aimed directly at his heart.
He dodged immediately.
Slash!
The tip of the kunai left a wound across Sarutobi Asuma's right arm.
It had been dangerously close.
If he had reacted even a few seconds later, Sarutobi Asuma felt certain he would have died.
Even a jonin like Sarutobi Asuma could not escape the fact that human bodies were fragile.
A kunai could still kill him.
A point-blank explosion tag would still leave him heavily wounded.
After evading, Sarutobi Asuma retreated repeatedly, widening the distance between himself and the Aizen clone.
"When did you cast the genjutsu?"
Even now, Sarutobi Asuma could not understand how he had fallen for it.
The Aizen clone let out a soft laugh.
"Why are you so sure you've escaped my genjutsu? How do you know you aren't still inside it right now?"
Sarutobi Asuma's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly forced himself to calm down.
He could not let the enemy drag him around by the nose.
As he rushed toward the clone, Sarutobi Asuma gathered Wind Release chakra into his hand and then threw a punch.
This was Wind Release: Whirlwind Fist.
It looked simple, but it was not easy to master.
It was a B-rank ninjutsu.
Sarutobi Asuma did not truly expect the attack to land.
It was only a feint.
Suddenly, the Aizen clone transformed into a woman with red pupils.
The moment the condensed Wind Release struck, she coughed up blood and collapsed.
"Kurenai… No, that's wrong. It's genjutsu. Damn it, when exactly was it cast? I never saw him form seals. Don't tell me he can use every genjutsu without hand seals? This level of skill far surpasses Kurenai Yuhi's."
When Sarutobi Asuma saw Kurenai Yuhi's corpse, his eyes instantly turned red.
He knew it was false.
But it still tore at him.
He had been struck by Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique.
That technique forced its victim to see the thing they feared most in their heart.
"Genjutsu: Release!"
Sarutobi Asuma broke the illusion once more, killing intent boiling inside him.
The moment the illusion dispersed, the Aizen clone appeared directly in front of him and said calmly,
"Are you truly certain you've dispelled my genjutsu?"
A thought flashed through Sarutobi Asuma's mind.
What if this wasn't a visual genjutsu at all?
What if it was auditory?
"Genjutsu: Release!"
Sarutobi Asuma shut his eyes, dispelled the illusion again, and immediately unleashed a wide-area Fire Release technique.
"It worked!"
He had heard footsteps.
This time, the enemy had not taken the ninjutsu head-on.
So now, Sarutobi Asuma was absolutely certain he was no longer trapped in illusion.
He opened his eyes—
And saw a massive fireball shooting straight at him.
He dodged at once.
"I've already seen through your tricks."
A trace of pride surfaced on Sarutobi Asuma's face.
The enemy was clearly a genjutsu specialist, but his taijutsu was weak.
As long as he stayed careful and avoided falling into another illusion, this battle would be over soon.
And so, Sarutobi Asuma continued fighting an evenly matched battle against the "Aizen clone."
In reality, the Aizen clone was simply standing right in front of him.
"It seems I overestimated you. Perhaps the future version of you might be able to escape my genjutsu. But the current you is not much stronger than Sarutobi Makoto. At most… one and a half Sarutobi Makotos."
That was right.
Aside from the opening exchange, every battle afterward had been nothing but genjutsu.
Even now, Sarutobi Asuma was still trapped inside it.
At first, they had clashed with Wind Release.
Then they had exchanged taijutsu.
And the instant Sarutobi Asuma kicked the Aizen clone away, the illusion had begun.
Genjutsu could generally be divided into visual, auditory, and tactile types.
The Aizen clone was proficient in all three.
The moment he was kicked away, he activated a tactile genjutsu.
After that came a visual genjutsu.
Layer upon layer of illusion had fallen over Sarutobi Asuma.
Every time Sarutobi Asuma believed he had broken free, he was only stepping into a new illusion.