Chapter 65: The Gravely Ill Itachi Uchiha

Itachi Uchiha was stunned.

Although he had hoped for Sasuke to become stronger and possess the strength to protect himself, the current situation had exceeded his expectations.

Even he, who was called a genius, was not half as strong as the other party at Sasuke's age.

Elite Jonin.

He made a judgment in his heart; whether it was combat awareness or the ability to release special black flames, the other party was no longer an ordinary ninja who could be dealt with casually.

If I had known you had this kind of strength, I wouldn't have come.

This was what Itachi Uchiha was thinking at this moment.

"This is truly unexpected."

However, one must commit to the act completely.

Itachi Uchiha steadied his stance, looked over with an expressionless face, and released his most proficient Genjutsu.

"Is this the only strength you have, you who killed the entire clan to obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

Seeing Itachi Uchiha injured, Sasuke felt exhilarated, and his killing intent surged violently.

With the enhancement of his Purple Quality jewelry, he did not fear Genjutsu at all, and he raised his long sword and charged straight ahead.

Water Shark Bullet Technique!

Thick streams of water rose up, the pond began to boil, and they blocked Sasuke's offensive.

Hoshigaki Kisame formed seals with both hands, skillfully controlling several water pillars, wanting to push Sasuke into the pond.

Shuriken.

Itachi Uchiha no longer held back and began to display the Shuriken manipulation techniques that even Orochimaru had once marveled at.

Countless Shuriken left his hands, as dense as falling rain.

They collided with each other, shooting toward Sasuke, who was intercepted in mid-air by the Water Shark Bullet Technique, at extremely tricky angles.

Curse Flame.

Sasuke rotated his body, swinging his long sword in a full moon arc.

The black flames drew a long, narrow circle of fire, sweeping away all the incoming Shuriken while simultaneously splitting the water pillars.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

The water in the pond evaporated, causing the entire plaza of Naka Shrine to become shrouded in mist.

"I am very curious, where exactly did you obtain this ability?"

Itachi Uchiha frowned deeply, keenly sensing the Weirdness in the Ninjutsu Sasuke released.

Although there was a consumption of chakra, it was to enhance the power.

This strange black flame required no chakra to drive it at all, but rather another very special energy fluctuation.

Sage Art?

Even Itachi Uchiha had never seen Sage Art, but the Uchiha clan had a long heritage, so he naturally knew of this thing that had once been mastered by the Fourth Hokage.

But it was different.

Although he was gratified by Sasuke's growth, the situation had developed beyond his control, and there might be people or events lurking behind the scenes that could not be managed.

He must not let Sasuke go astray.

"Being able to kill you is enough!"

Sasuke laughed crazily, and seeing Itachi Uchiha retreating repeatedly from his offensive, he continued to charge forward.

Very good, I will kill you just like this!

You, whose hands are stained with the blood of our clansmen, do not deserve to live in this world!

Boom!

Just as Sasuke launched a surprise attack at close range and the blade was about to fall.

Orange-yellow chakra energy erupted, condensing into a skeleton's ribcage, which deflected the long sword in Sasuke's hand.

A skeletal arm swung nimbly, striking Sasuke directly and swatting him away.

Susanoo.

A high-level ocular technique of the Mangekyo Sharingan, judged by the game as a high-level skill of Purple Quality.

At the critical moment, Itachi Uchiha activated this technique to block Sasuke.

"Sasuke, you still cannot kill me now!"

Itachi Uchiha's gaze was cold, and the slight trembling of his sick body caused by the massive consumption of chakra was well hidden by him.

Sasuke, who was sent flying backward, was knocked into a building, and even the building collapsed by more than half.

"Itachi-san."

Hoshigaki Kisame looked at him with concern.

He did not understand.

Although Sasuke was very strong, Itachi-san did not need to activate Susanoo, a Ninjutsu that caused great damage to the body, to defeat him.

Itachi Uchiha returned a look to him, signaling that he was fine.

He released Susanoo to remind Sasuke of the huge gap in strength between the two, wanting Sasuke to settle down and not become arrogant just because he had mastered some power.

He knew his younger brother's temperament too well.

He would want to go out and play the moment the sky cleared, only to end up drenched like a drowned rat every time.

Every time his Ninjutsu made a little progress, he would start to become proud; he could not stay by his side for long, so he had to correct his bad habits properly this time.

"Damn it!"

Sasuke felt as if all the bones in his body were broken as he struggled to crawl out of the ruins.

The long sword in his hand, forged from precious Flame Iron Ore and certified as a Lanse Wupin at the cost of 5000 Reward Points, was now covered in fine cracks.

He looked at the Susanoo, his eyes revealing unwillingness, knowing that he could not kill Itachi Uchiha for the time being.

When he had just joined the Samsara Game, he had already experienced the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan and knew the terror of the Susanoo.

"If I could verify all the Purple sets from the game into reality, even the Susanoo would be something I could break!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth.

His Sword Curse Black Flame was also a Purple Skill, by no means weaker than the Susanoo, but it was hindered by the massive consumption of Blue Potential, making him unable to release it at all right now.

"I will spare you; keep those eyes well, and then continue to live on with your hatred for me."

Itachi Uchiha's expression was cold; he glanced at Sasuke, who had collapsed to the ground with no combat power left, and after withdrawing the Susanoo, he slowly left with Kisame.

With the tacit approval of the Third Hokage, the Uchiha compound was also very remote.

Even though such a great commotion had been made, no Anbu ninja came forward to stop the two, allowing them to leave Konoha smoothly.

Just after leaving Konoha,

Puchi.

Itachi Uchiha's body suddenly went limp, and he spat out blood from his mouth.

Hoshigaki Kisame hurriedly supported him and complained, "Itachi-san, you played that way too far; should I go find a doctor for you?"

He knew clearly that Itachi suffered from a very serious illness; once it lacked the nourishment of chakra, it would flare up if too much was consumed during battle.

It seemed that Itachi-san placed great importance on his own younger brother.

This made Hoshigaki Kisame respect Itachi more and more in his heart.

Although he did not know Itachi Uchiha's past, he only knew that the other party had defected after killing all of his own clansmen.

At the very beginning, Hoshigaki Kisame was very disdainful of Itachi; although he had taken the initiative to apply to the Leader to team up with Itachi Uchiha, a person who had the same experience of killing his own comrades as himself, he had never acknowledged the other party in his heart, and they had nearly come into conflict several times while executing missions.

But as they gradually interacted, Hoshigaki Kisame seemed to be able to feel a little of Itachi-san's emotions, always so lonely and sad.

Itachi-san's words were often able to make the confused Kisame become optimistic, giving him the motivation to keep moving forward; he was very curious why a man like Itachi, who clearly possessed even more profound thoughts, would commit the same act of killing his comrades as he did.

"Just find a place to rest for a while."

Itachi Uchiha forced himself to straighten his body, squeezing the energy within his cells to refine chakra.

Even students at the Ninja Academy knew the disadvantages of over-refining chakra, with the exception of Uzumaki Naruto.

But he did not care at all about his own riddled body, as if he had some kind of mission, waiting to die calmly once the mission was over.

"If you don't mind, you can go into the Samsara Game to rest for a moment."

A gentle voice sounded, very polite.

But it was abrupt.

Brothers, the saved drafts have already been written to a key plot point; brothers, cast a vote, do you still want Konoha to live? Or just join the group to study together; this will affect the subsequent plot. PS: Recommending a book, "Full-Time Mage: Mo Fan Returning from Warhammer".

(End of this chapter)