Escape

To evade Sasuke's attack, Itachi and Kisame were forced farther apart.

Kakashi and Sakura seized the opportunity to attack Kisame at the same time, forcing him back even farther and giving the Uchiha brothers a chance to fight one-on-one.

Sasuke didn't look at the spot being scorched by Amaterasu. He turned and fixed his gaze on a nearby tree. "You think the Substitution Technique can fool my eyes? Come out now, or I'll come over there."

Itachi silently emerged from behind the tree. He no longer looked as composed as he had at the beginning.

"Susanoo isn't something only you can use."

The pinwheel patterns in Itachi's eyes spun faster, and the blood vessels in the whites became increasingly pronounced. Soon, tears of blood ran down his cheeks. Orange-red chakra surged into view, enveloped his body, and took shape as a humanoid figure more than ten meters tall, holding a shield in its left hand and a sword in its right. "This is what Susanoo is supposed to look like, not that tiny thing of yours."

With that, Itachi controlled Susanoo to swing its sword, slashing at Sasuke with a sweep that could cut down a thousand soldiers.

"You don't actually think my Susanoo is this small because I don't have enough chakra, do you?"

Sasuke spoke with a hint of amusement. He raised his left hand and used the chakra armor on its back to block Itachi's greatsword.

The orange-red blade struck with tremendous force. The moment it was blocked, the impact cracked the ground and sent dirt and stones flying, yet it couldn't budge the purple armor in the slightest.

"!?"

For the first time, a hint of surprise appeared on Itachi's face.

"The stronger your chakra, the bigger your Susanoo can be. But it doesn't have to be bigger."

Sasuke stared at Itachi through Susanoo. "If you don't even understand that much, then your grasp of this technique is nothing special."

Only then did Itachi realize that the blurry outline around Sasuke's Susanoo wasn't chakra radiating off it. It was a double image caused by his rapidly deteriorating eyesight. "Your Susanoo has already reached this level of power..."

"I don't know. It's looked like this ever since I mastered the technique."

Sasuke asked, "Anything else you want to say?"

"No. Nothing."

Itachi seemed to smile. Tears of blood streamed from his eyes again, and the orange-red Susanoo grew more solid.

Sasuke said nothing more. A black blade formed in Susanoo's other hand as it flew toward Itachi at greater speed, both blades swinging in tandem.

Itachi thrust forward the shield in Susanoo's left hand. The black blade couldn't damage it.

"This feeling... It's not defense, but negation?"

Sasuke speculated. He dispelled the black blade in his right hand and formed his hand into a blade. Blue lightning burst forth. "Lightning Release: Chidori."

His lightning-wreathed hand blade struck the orange-red shield, but still had no effect.

"It was negated too."

Sasuke looked at the orange-red shield. "Looks like the shield in your Susanoo's hand can nullify ninjutsu."

"The Yata Mirror can change its properties to match an attack and render that attack ineffective."

Itachi explained without being asked. "If you want to defeat me, you'll have to either wait until I run out of chakra or break through this shield with brute force."

"Doesn't sound that hard."

Sasuke's voice held a hint of delight. The blades in Susanoo's hands disappeared, and it clenched both fists and began pounding the orange-red shield. The brothers' fight settled into a stalemate.

Kisame Hoshigaki's response to Kakashi and Sakura was simple: he pulled the club-like weapon from his back and swung it down.

Kakashi promptly dodged, but Sakura chose to charge straight in, punching the weapon in Kisame's hand.

Seeing Sakura come at him with a punch instead of dodging, Kisame couldn't help but feel pleased. "Idiot. You actually dare hit Samehada? I'll chop your right hand off!"

Thud!

Kisame felt a tearing pain in his hand. Samehada flew right out of his grip.

Kisame realized he'd underestimated her.

Sakura's second punch struck Kisame squarely in the chin.

Her strength was completely at odds with her slender build, and nearly knocked Kisame's consciousness away.

He tumbled across the ground for more than ten meters before managing to hold on to a sliver of awareness. With his chin struck, he couldn't stand up for the moment, so he lay on the ground and began forming Hand Seals.

Kakashi had been a little slower to act than Sakura, so he stayed back instead of engaging at close range. Keeping his Sharingan fixed on Kisame, he stood ready to provide cover with ninjutsu. When he saw Kisame forming Hand Seals, he judged he wouldn't be able to stop him in time, so he chose a ninjutsu that could counter him and began forming Hand Seals as well.

Kisame finished first. "Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"

He opened his mouth and spewed out a massive amount of water, like a small lake pouring down.

Kakashi pressed both hands to the ground. "Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"

Sturdy earthen walls rose all around them, trapping the water Kisame had spewed out and turning the area into a giant pool.

"What an astonishing volume of water! Kisame Hoshigaki's chakra must be almost as great as Naruto's!"

Kakashi poured chakra into the technique with all his strength, feeling a little relieved as he did. "If Naruto hadn't given me this Forehead Protector, I'd probably have barely any chakra left after using this Earth Release."

"Kakashi-sensei, after all that commotion, people from the village should be here soon."

Sakura walked over, her brows furrowed. "Where did that guy go?"

"..."

Kakashi silently pulled up his Forehead Protector and used his Sharingan to check Kisame Hoshigaki's chakra. He saw that Kisame had already gotten far away. "That was careless. He got away."

"What about Sasuke?"

Sakura looked around. "I just saw him and Itachi nearby."

"He got away too."

Sasuke flew over the pool and landed, dispelling Susanoo just as his feet touched the ground. "I managed to suppress him earlier, but I didn't realize he was leading me toward the shark-face guy's position. Using that ridiculous Water Release as cover, the shark-face guy ambushed me and escaped with Itachi."

Kakashi said, "Given Susanoo's defensive power, even if they ambushed you, they shouldn't have been able to get away."

"That shark-face guy's weapon is strange."

Sasuke said, "Part of my Susanoo was 'shaved off.'"

"Ah, I forgot to tell you."

Kakashi belatedly supplied the information. "That shark-face guy's name is Kisame Hoshigaki. He's one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. The sword he's carrying is called Samehada. It's a rather unusual ninja tool that can directly 'shave off' chakra and absorb it, too."

"No wonder it could shave off Susanoo."

Sasuke looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, I hope you can share such important information before the fight starts next time."

"It's not too late yet."

Kakashi looked in the direction where Itachi and Kisame had retreated. "Should we chase them?"

"No need."

Sasuke suddenly plopped down on the ground. "Maintaining Susanoo in battle used more chakra than I expected."

"Then..."

Kakashi was about to say something when Naruto suddenly appeared. He looked at the pool that had appeared beside them, then at the others. "Who were you fighting just now?"

"My brother, Itachi Uchiha."

Sasuke said, "He and a missing-nin from Kirigakure sneaked in during Sunagakure's attack. They were hiding nearby, planning to capture you. But then they saw you use the Flying Thunder God Technique, and gave away a little of their presence."

"I see."

"By the way, Itachi just said you were the Fourth Hokage's legacy. He also said you look a lot like the Fourth Hokage."

Sakura asked Naruto, "Could you be the Fourth Hokage's son?"

"Yeah."

Naruto scratched his head. "Didn't I tell you?"