Defeated

The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, with its One-Tail Beast, was being repeatedly extracted from Gaara's body. Gaara was unable to resist and let out painful groans.

The fireball instantly engulfed Kakashi, and with a deafening roar, a huge crater was blasted into the ground, Kakkō soared into the sky, and smoke and dust billowed everywhere.

"Hmm," Itachi seemed to sense something and looked up, only to see Kakashi appear above him at some point, his eyepatch removed to reveal the Three-Tomoe Sharingan inside.

Kakashi dodged the fireball, using the smoke and dust to conceal his body, and jumped above Itachi. Seeing Itachi look up, he knew Itachi had spotted him, but Kakashi didn't care, because he had already completed the hand seals, Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique," which instantly engulfed Uchiha Itachi below.

A huge crater was blasted into the ground, Kakkō shot into the sky, and smoke and dust billowed everywhere, engulfing the area where Uchiha Itachi was. Kakashi landed outside the smoke and dust, watching what lay ahead.

Suddenly, several Shuriken flew out from the dust, perfectly surrounding Kakashi. Then, a figure rushed out. Kakashi's eyes narrowed; it was none other than the unharmed Uchiha Itachi.

Kakashi brandished his Kunai, deflecting the Shuriken one. Then, he launched Kunai with his right hand to distract the Uchiha while simultaneously stepping back. Uchiha Itachi took a step forward almost at the same time, avoiding the Kunai.

Kakashi Hand Seals, then let his right hand hang down to his right, gathering a high-intensity current. "Lightning Blade Release: Lightning Release!" Countless bolts of lightning flashed as Kakashi charged towards Uchiha Itachi, the ground being blasted into a long trench by the lightning.

Kakashi roared and slammed his right hand at Uchiha Itachi Uchiha Itachi, with his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, saw Kakashi's movements clearly and stepped back, landing outside Kakashi's attack range. Bang! Kakashi blasted a large crater in the ground, and dust billowed up everywhere.

At that moment, taking advantage of Uchiha Itachi's attention being drawn by Kakashi's Lightning Blade, Naruto rushed out from behind Uchiha Itachi, wielding Rasengan in his right hand, and hurled it at Uchiha Itachi's eyes remained unmoved as he watched Naruto's attack, letting Naruto smash the Rasengan into him. Bang! A large crater appeared in the ground, and Uchiha Itachi vanished into smoke.

Naruto angrily exclaimed, "Damn it, another clone..." Taking advantage of the smoke, Naruto landed and immediately rushed into the nearby bushes to conceal his presence.

Uchiha Itachi stood beside the crater. At that moment, Kakashi shot out several Shuriken his hand. Uchiha Itachi rushed over and shot out Shuriken his right hand, blocking all the Shuriken with a clang.

Then, he rushed in front of Kakashi and Teuchi Kakashi with his right hand. Kakashi quickly reached out his left hand and grabbed the arm that was attacking him, but it was clear that this was not Uchiha Itachi's purpose. The two locked eyes.

On the other side, Might Guy didn't even look into Uchiha Itachi's eyes, using Taijutsu to rapidly attack Uchiha Itachi Shadow Clone. For a time, he forced Uchiha Itachi to retreat continuously.

Sakura, Naruto, and Chiyo hid behind a tree trunk, while Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee hid behind another tree trunk. The six of them kept quiet, watching the battle between Might Guy, Kakashi, and Uchiha Itachi, waiting for Itachi to show an opening before unleashing a thunderous Uchiha Itachi to defeat him.

Just then, Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi locked eyes and stopped moving. Sakura panicked and said, "Oh no! Kakashi's been caught in their Genjutsu! We have to go save him!" She then tried to rush out.

Naruto seemed to have noticed something and stopped Sakura, saying, "Wait a minute, as expected of Kakashi-sensei, he didn't fail."

Sakura said, "But..."

Chiyo also noticed something amiss and said, "Naruto is right, Kakashi didn't lose."

Meanwhile, Uchiha Itachi was casting Genjutsu on Kakashi, but he quickly realized something was wrong. Kakashi seemed unaffected by his Ninjutsu. Uchiha Itachi said, "As expected of Kakashi, this is just a Shadow Clone. No wonder he wasn't affected by my Genjutsu." Kakashi's Shadow Clone didn't speak, but simply held onto Uchiha Itachi tightly.

With a bang, Kakashi burst out from the ground and shouted, "Naruto, attack him! Attack him along with my Shadow Clone!"

Naruto seemed to have seen through Kakashi's plan. "Big Ball Rasengan!" Boom! Two Naruto descended from the sky, rushing towards Uchiha Itachi. Uchiha Itachi realized that the Chakra of this body was almost exhausted, so he did not resist and let Naruto's Big Ball Rasengan hit him. A smile appeared on his face. Bang! The ground exploded, creating a large crater, and smoke and dust shot into the sky.

Naruto's expression turned serious as he thought to himself, "What was with Uchiha Itachi's smile just now?" Unable to figure it out, Naruto immediately put it out of his mind.

On the other side, Uchiha Itachi's Shadow Clone also dissipated. Might Guy walked over, and the group gathered around the large pit, looking at the corpses inside.

The body didn't resemble Uchiha Itachi at all. If it weren't for the scars still visible on it, they would never have been able to confirm that this was the Uchiha Itachi had just fought them.

Rock Lee said, "This guy... could he be using Transformation Technique?"

Naruto exclaimed in a loud voice, "What on earth is going on?"

Sakura asked doubtfully, "Did we all fall under a genjutsu just now?"

Neji activated his Byakugan but didn't see anything. He asked seriously, "What's going on?"

Might Guy said, "I don't know either."

Chiyo examined the corpse carefully, pondered for a moment, and then said, "This is Yura, a ninja from our Sunagakure?" Chiyo wondered to herself when the Sunagakure had ever had Sharingan.

Chiyo continued, "This guy disappeared after Gaara disappeared."

Upon hearing this, everyone except Kakashi gasped in surprise. After all, the person they had just fought was Uchiha Itachi, and no one could mistake his iconic Sharingan.

Kakashi said solemnly, "This is the Shapeshifting Technique."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Kakashi. Kakashi pondered for a moment and then explained the Shapeshifting Technique.

Everyone looked serious; they hadn't expected such Ninjutsu to exist.

At that moment, Uzumaki Hane arrived. Looking at the unfamiliar corpse lying on the ground, Uzumaki Hane said, "It seems you've dealt with the enemy as well."

Kakashi said, "They're just here to buy us time. We need to hurry, otherwise, Gaara might be in danger."

Naruto murmured, "Gaara..." as if recalling Gaara, and then rushed forward quickly.

Kakashi said, "Let's go too." The others followed.