"Screee!"
A piercing bird cry sent ripples through the sky.
Phoenix beat his wings and rose, leaving a striking red streak in the air that looked dazzlingly brilliant.
Boom, boom, boom...
Fireballs the size of meteors rained down from the sky!
The instant the fireballs struck the ground, they exploded, sending turbulent air blasting in every direction.
Paper scraps, ninjutsu, Wood Release-Konan and the other two dodged the fireballs falling from the sky while warily watching Shihōin Naraku in the distance.
By now, they looked rather bedraggled. Phoenix turned into a streak of rainbow light, darting back and forth across the sky and unleashing bombardments like a meteor volcano from time to time.
All three wanted to immediately take down Phoenix as he flapped his wings high overhead, but with their speed and abilities, they could not hurt him at all.
After several attempts, Konan and the other two could only dodge wherever they could.
Fortunately, Shihōin Naraku had not acted. Though they could not understand why, he had indeed remained in the distance without any intention of approaching.
It should be about time.
Naraku held Kurikara with its tip resting against a broken stone by his feet. His attention was not actually on the fight between Phoenix and Konan's trio; instead, his Observation Haki had been monitoring the situation with Uchiha Itachi and Naruto all along!
He had no intention of keeping this up indefinitely. The Akatsuki members were stalling for time, and he planned to do the same.
In any case, Naraku did not intend to head to the Akatsuki's base until Shukaku, the One-Tail, had been successfully sealed.
With a sweep of his Observation Haki, Naraku "saw with his own eyes" as Uchiha Itachi attacked, gave Naruto and the others some trouble, and then pretended to