"Naruto? Naruto!"
Hearing no answer, Jiraiya immediately looked down and found that Naruto's eyes had lost their spark, his face blank.
It was genjutsu!
Jiraiya immediately thought of Itachi's greatest specialty.
What he had not expected was that Itachi would target Naruto directly rather than him.
That meant Itachi was determined to take Naruto!
This was trouble.
Jiraiya immediately tried to release Naruto from the genjutsu, but before he could act, a dark figure appeared in front of him.
Bang!
The massive Samehada slammed into the ground with tremendous force. Jiraiya hastily retreated to dodge, but flying stones struck him, sending jolts of pain through his body.
"Take the Jinchūriki and go. Leave Mr. Mad Ogre here to me. I've wanted to fight the so-called Konoha Sannin for a long time. Once I finish him off, I'll come find you."
Kisame's face was full of savage grins and excitement. Even among all the members of the Akatsuki, his thirst for battle ranked near the top.
Now that he had finally encountered an opponent who excited him, how could he hold himself back?
Itachi glanced at Kisame with a slight frown, then sighed inwardly. "Fine. Be careful. He's different from the enemies you've faced before. I don't want to have to collect your corpse."
"Relax. Even if I can't beat him, I'm confident I can escape. He can't keep me here."
Kisame looked utterly confident.
Seeing this, Itachi said no more and walked straight over to Naruto, who stood motionless.
Jiraiya immediately used the Wild Lion's Mane Technique to try to snatch Naruto back, but Kisame stopped him.
Jiraiya's hair failed to reach Naruto and instead wrapped around the great blade Samehada.
Jiraiya immediately gave it a powerful tug,
trying to seize his opponent's weapon first.
But his opponent's strength exceeded