Itachi's Desperate Counterattack
"Good eye, but this shouldn't be happening to you right now!" Tianqi swung his right hand, and the wooden vine lashed out, striking Itachi directly.
With just one strike, Itachi's clothes were torn open, and red vine marks were deeply imprinted on his body.
Although it hurt a lot, Itachi gritted his teeth and persevered, refusing to give up.
"There's no point in persisting!" Seeing that Itachi was still stubbornly holding on, Tianqi controlled the vines and kept whipping him, as if to say, "If you don't give in, I'll beat you to death."
Itachi's shirt was quickly torn to shreds, and his upper body was covered with vine marks.
The onlookers were also unable to bear watching this scene, especially Tsunade, whose hands were clenched tightly in tension. At this moment, she also felt that Tianqi had gone too far.
"Hoo hoo hoo, Grandpa's level isn't enough at all, go a little harder!" As he spoke, Itachi's Three-Tomoe eyes twitched slightly.
At this Tianqi also felt a strange sensation in his body. He looked at Itachi and narrowed his eyes slightly. "So you've used Genjutsu on me? I didn't expect you to still be thinking about counterattacking at this point. Itachi, Itachi, is returning to Konoha going to make you so persistent? In that case, I'll give you a weakness."
Thinking of this, Tianqi took advantage of Itachi's lack of awareness and left behind a clone to depart from his current location.
"Still dare to talk back!" Tianqi's clone immediately tried to control the vines to continue lashing at Itachi.
However, at that moment, a flaw suddenly appeared in Itachi's eyes, and without any hesitation, Itachi immediately took action.
"Grandpa, you were careless! My chance has come!" A Kunai appeared in Itachi's sleeve and Kunai unleashed his power, severing the Wood Release that bound his limbs. After landing, Itachi pushed off with both legs and rushed towards Tianqi, quickly Hand Seals with one hand.
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Technique!" A fire dragon tens of meters long suddenly appeared and attacked Tianqi, while Itachi charged after the fire dragon.
"Hmph, boring Ninjutsu!" Tianqi's clone shook his head speechlessly, Six Paths Black Rods appeared in his hand, and he threw them directly at the fire dragon.
The half-meter-long Black Rods extinguished the fire dragon and rushed towards Itachi behind it, piercing Itachi's heart with a soft thud.
But just as the Black Rods pierced Itachi, Itachi instantly transformed into dozens of crows and vanished.
"Oh, it's a combination of Genjutsu and clone, the Crow Clone. That's quite interesting!" Tianqi watched with great interest as Itachi transformed into a crow and disappeared.
After the weasel disappeared in the form of a crow, five more weasels, each wielding Kunai, rushed out from the nearby woods. Upon seeing this, Tianqi released Chidori with his right hand, which extended and transformed into a Chidori Sharp Spear, and began his attack.
The Chidori Sharp Spear swept through the area, quickly eliminating the several weasels. However, after the weasels transformed into crows and disappeared, five new weasels rushed out again, only to be swiftly defeated by Tianqi once more. This cycle repeated itself endlessly, and even Tianqi's clone was getting annoyed. If it weren't for his main body wanting to give his grandson a way out, he would have already broken through this annoying Genjutsu. But now, he could only deal with it slowly.
"Damn it, this is so annoying!" Tormented by Itachi's Genjutsu, the clone Tianqi got impatient and immediately clasped his hands together and gently patted them.
"Wood Release: Wood Release: Advent of a World of Trees!" Countless tree trunks rose from the ground and attacked Itachi, who kept coming out. The tree trunks attacked Itachi as soon as he appeared, and this continued to repeat.
Tianqi's main body, who had withdrawn from the battlefield, watched the fight below with a smile, nodding in satisfaction and saying, "Not bad, not bad at all. This kind of Genjutsu technique that simultaneously affects both oneself and the enemy is really good. The constant torment of the enemy's mind between reality and illusion is why the clone is a bit impatient. Itachi, I've given you a chance. Whether you can seize it or not depends entirely on yourself!"
Itachi, hiding in the shadows, maintained the Dark Crow Genjutsu with his Sharingan while observing his grandfather's condition. Seeing his grandfather's anxiety, he smiled.
"Excellent! Grandpa's mentality is starting to crumble. It won't be long before I can seize that one and only chance to defeat him!"
While Itachi was happy, the audience, including Sen, were completely bewildered.
"Father, what's wrong with the former Clan Head? Why did he..." Kong didn't say it explicitly, but the meaning was clear: with Tianqi's strength, he shouldn't be so impatient.
"Itachi's move is quite clever. On one hand, it can slow down Tianqi's pace, and on the other hand, the continuous appearance of clones is also constantly consuming the Lord's spirit and patience. However, given Tianqi's mental endurance, this shouldn't be the case. What is going on..." Zhan was also puzzled by Tianqi's anxious appearance.
"Don't judge a book by its cover. The truth may not be what you see!" Karura said slowly. She had seen through all of Tianqi's actions through her Tenseigan. The one fighting Itachi now was just a clone.
"Oh, we don't know why you say that, Karura. Please enlighten us!" Since learning about Karura's origins and strength, Zhan and the others have become even more respectful towards her.
"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Tianqi may seem like the cicada, but he's only fighting an avatar. In the end, Itachi can't outmaneuver the experienced Tianqi!"
After hearing Karura's words, everyone immediately understood. It turned out that the Tianqi fighting Tianqi was just a small clone. They had thought that Tianqi was getting old and his strength was declining, but it turned out they were overthinking it.
Tsunade, on the other hand, said angrily, "Tianqi is too wicked! He only uses clones to fight. If Itachi finds out, how much of a blow will that be to him? It's outrageous!"
Tsunade doesn't care about Tianqi; she's only worried about her eldest grandson, Itachi. She knows Tianqi's strength all too well, and she cares more about Itachi than Tianqi.
On the battlefield, as the clones' patience and spirit were nearly exhausted, Itachi knew his chance had come. His Chakra was almost depleted; this was his last chance.
While the clone Tianqi was using Wood Release to attack Itachi's Genjutsu clones, Itachi seized the opportunity and used a Body Flicker Technique to sneak up behind Tianqi.
"They're finally going to make their move! I'm about to lose my temper!" Sensing Itachi's touch behind him, the clone Tianqi smiled.
Itachi burst out of the woods in an instant, his Kunai pressed against Tianqi's back. Then, with a faint smile, he said, "Grandpa, you were careless. I've won this test!"
Seeing this, the clone Tianqi also withdrew the Wood Release: Advent of a World of Trees and said calmly, "Very good, very good, very good indeed. You managed to stay clear-headed and find opportunities to turn the tide even in dire straits. You did a great job, Itachi!"