The battlefield quieted down. The return of the Monster of the Hidden Mist; Kisame Hoshigaki and the rising star and wild card; Naruto Uzumaki shook things up. So all parties involved decided to regroup and figure out how to proceed.
On the side of the Akatsuki, Itachi Uchiha exhaled as he released his chakra avatar and turned to his slowly rising partner. Even without his Sharingan he would have been able to see the wounds covering his body.
Itachi was certain that the factor that would decide this battle wasn't Jiraiya and his devastating Sage Jutsu, or the two Sages atop his shoulders assisting him. No, it would in fact lay with Naruto's capabilities and whatever happened between himself and Kisame. Whatever occurred in their battle resulted in one of the most dangerous men in the world being laid out and Naruto looking fine. It would take a couple of minutes for Kisame's sword to get him back to his feet.
Orochimaru wasn't in top shape, the injuries from his battle with the Third Hokage has strained his coils to the point that most of his jutsu arsenal was out of reach. He would remain a chaotic factor for the Leaf Ninja, sliding in and out with devastating poisons and his blade, but he wasn't going to be a large factor in the head-to-head fighting.
As of now his own chakra reserves were holding up. He would need to be careful on how much he used the Mangekyou Sharingan, he didn't need to go blind too early less long laid plans go up in flames…
"Orochimaru." Itachi turned to his consternated comrade who was glaring at the young blond, "Listen closely…"
Across the battlefield Naruto and Jiraiya were catching their breath.
Naruto spoke lowly, "Right now I have it, but it takes enough focus that I need to constantly maintain it. Which means…"
Jiraiya nodded, "You can't use other jutsu." He said with a hum, "Still, they shouldn't have a way to get through it, so I'll support you as you blitz them."
"Have what down?" Asked the male toad calmly.
The female was more irate, "Why is a youngin in a battle like this Jiraiya?! These are the boogiemen of the Ninja world! Not something a child should be involved in!"
Naruto would be offended if he couldn't tell the much of her anger was based on worry.
Jiraiya groaned, "I don't have time to explain Ma, but Naruto is more than capable of holding his own! He fought Kisame himself earlier." He explained trying to placate her.
Ma's tongue shot out and whacked in him on the head, "He did what?!" She shouted.
"Now, now Ma no need to be angry at Jiraiya-boy. We should trust his judgement."
"Thanks Pa." Jiraiya said with a smile.
Naruto turned to them, "Done?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, "Because I don't think they plan on letting you three work this out." He said while gesturing to a now refreshed Kisame with Samehada attached to his back and a furious expression on his face as he built up a truly titanic amount of chakra.
"We can't let him go unchecked!" Shouted Naruto as he blasted forward, Jiraiya moving to follow. "Where is the old lady?" He asked, suddenly realizing that she wasn't even in the clearing.
"Shizune got her away, she has two toads guarding her if there are any more Sound Ninja in the area." Answered Jiraiya while looking towards the direction where Shizune went.
"Got it."
Orochimaru's sword extended right in front of Naruto moving to stab him right through the chest. Naruto let it hit Infinity and pushed past it without skipping a beat.
As he neared the snake, who's sword was already back to normal, he was accosted by both Itachi and Kisame on either side. Samehada was trying its darndest to saw through Infinity while Itachi was stabbing it with a kunai while his piercing Sharingan took in everything about his jutsu it was able to see.
Naruto ignored Kisame, who was then slammed into by Jiraiya and went to punch Itachi. He was vaguely aware of Orochimaru moving to assist Kisame.
As Naruto's fist moved towards Itachi, he took in the opponent he felt was the deadliest on the enemy side. The Genius of the Uchiha clan's Taijutsu was once described to be as majestic as a river. His movements so fluid and perfect that he was untouchable by any that weren't the very best of Jōnin.
Naruto's fist was parried at the wrist and redirected to the side; his other hand was back fisted towards Naruto's jaw the instant his attack was mitigated. However, as the attack was about to connect it was stopped in place.
'Odd.' Thought Naruto with a grimace.
Not even stopping to acknowledge it Itachi pulled back- made a single hand sign- then went to attack again, his fist covered in swirling chakra. Naruto's eyes noticed that the chakra swirling over his fist was fire in nature.
Like before Itachi's attack was halted by Infinity while Naruto moved to attack. Itachi weaved around Naruto's punch and the follow up kick, eyes glowing an eerie red. His arms blurred and from them a dozen shuriken flew through the air towards Naruto who sighed and let the shuriken impact his barrier.
The instant the shuriken touched his Infinity he was blasted in the back by a double drop kick from Itachi, the force of it not getting through Infinity but Naruto's eyes widened at losing sight of Itachi and feeling the hit through his barrier.
'I think…' Naruto wondered as Itachi sped back away from him as he moved to reengage. 'Itachi may in fact be faster than me…he is certainly slippery. I'll have to be smart; my eyes won't lose him again!'
Itachi flashed through hand signs and in an instant released a roaring Fire Dragon that super-heated the air around them so much that steam rose into the air from the small droplets left over from Kisame's jutsu's.
The massive Fire Dragon crossed the half dozen meters between them, lighting and turning the grass beneath it to ash instantly. Naruto could tell that even a glancing blow from this jutsu would kill a normal Ninja. He raised a single hand sign and let the Fire Dragon impact his Infinity with a frown.
As expected, the jutsu was halted in place and the parts of the jutsu that were too large and didn't come into contact with his infinity blew right past him igniting the rest of the area on fire. Naruto closed his eyes and with a grimace weaved the three hand signs to warp to the other side of the clearing to get away from the epicenter of the jutsu.
As soon as he landed from the warp, he was stabbed through the chest from behind be Orochimaru.
Naruto coughed a glob of blood and turn to glare at the now smirking snake.
"So it was a clone chasing Jiraiya, it did look odd to me, that nature chakra is strange." Commented Naruto while glaring down at the sword emerging from his chest. Luckily, he wasn't hit anywhere vital, likely the goal was to be hit by the sword for the paralytic poison rather than to kill him.
Itachi moved towards them slowly, eyes still glowing as he dissected Naruto.
"Now Naruto, I believe I'll be taking those eyes." Orochimaru hissed with a gleeful look on his face. "Tell me, how does it feel to lose so spectacularly after feeling so confident."
Naruto grinned with a trail of blood falling from his mouth, "Oh I'll be alright, I think I understand what Itachi was going for. This will be the last battle it works." Naruto explained with a grin that didn't hide the fury in his eyes as he stared directly at Itachi.
"So you've realized your weakness?" Itachi asked rhetorically, "I will admit I was wary of this strange barrier around you. But I believe I have two ways to overcome it. No jutsu is perfect, everything has a weakness, Naruto."
The blond merely rolled his eyes at Itachi then looked over his shoulder to Orochimaru, "Thanks for the breather, I'm ready to get going again." He said with an easy-going smile.
The snake glared, "What do you…"
Itachi's mind and eyes worked in a flash and moved to rush forward with a frown. However Naruto was too fast, with his neck muscles straining and his teeth clenched Naruto closed both his fists and then quickly swiped them outward with his hands open.
To the naked eye, no visible chakra was seen to explain what was happening. To Itachi, who with the Sharingan was able to see chakra, he was able to glimpse at the jutsu Naruto used and felt the hairs on his neck stand up.
In the next instant both Orochimaru and Itachi were sent flying in opposite directions as if they were being yanked by the strongest magnet in the world. Both were sent tumbling towards the edges of the clearing, while Naruto moved to heal himself, he was unable to remove the poison completely, but he wasn't in any danger of locking up anymore.
Naruto looked down at his hands with a relived smile, that was a gamble made on assumptions and theories in the heat of the moment. His math was done too quickly to be perfect, and he had never really done that before, but it was technically easier than his normal application of that jutsu.
'Blue is a strange jutsu. The deadliest application is through hyper condensing negative chakra in a single point of space to create a negative-space zone that reality will immediately rush to fill thereby causing a condensing collapse of space like a miniaturized black hole. However at its base level it is influencing space through vectors. With my Warp Jutsu, I can remove the space between two things: myself and another point in space. Something so difficult it takes ME hand-signs to do. At an easier level of this jutsu, I can move things through space by using the initial target as point 1 and removing the distance between another point or myself as point 2.'
Naruto grinned at the slowly rising Uchiha and Snake, 'I can essentially move them through space, not really offensive unless I smash them into something. But it is really disorientating!'
The Six Eyes flared menacingly, Naruto pointed his open hand towards Itachi then pulled it back and clenched his fist. Pulling Itachi off his feet back to him at high speeds. Itachi pulled up his guard and absorbed Naruto's downward fist that distorted the air around them. The Uchiha grimaced and Naruto grinned ferally feeling the cracking of bones.
Orochimaru made himself known once again and his sword was stopped by a now reactivated Infinity. And was then punched into the ground causing Orochimaru to immediately vomit a new body that was coughing blood. Naruto went to stomp his skull in but noticed Itachi returning with bright flaming orange chakra swirling around him and jumped away.
'Something is off about that chakra, it's the same as that avatar from before…' Naruto thought warily.
Naruto moved his arm to stop the incoming attack from Itachi with a frown, the instant Itachi's fist came into contact with Infinity there was a moment before his fist broke through impacting against Naruto's forearm block.
"The chakra of the Yata Mirror, my second method Naruto." Itachi said with his Mangekyou Sharingan blazing red.
Naruto pointed a palm at Itachi blasting him off his feet.
'I see… earlier he managed to take advantage of my inexperience with Infinity and attack right after I blocked something and was focusing on that while the opposite side was subconsciously weakened…Now this Yata Mirror chakra, something from that avatar he can coat his hands in. It seems to somehow possess the amazing ability to nullify any type of chakra that it comes into contact with.' Naruto felt a bead of sweat fall down his forehead before he smirked. 'But like me with Infinity, he can use that chakra or his regular jutsu not both and unlike Infinity his is much more obvious when he's using it.'
Naruto got into a stance and dissected Itachi with his Six Eyes. Itachi on the other end of the clearing with was taking slow breaths while reigniting the orange chakra of the Yata Mirror.
Neither of them acknowledging Orochimaru slithering away.
Jiraiya stomped on the ground and made a snake hand sign causing a large wall of solid stone to rise from the earth to block the tidal wave of water. He jumped to the top of the wall to see Kisame blasting across the water, sword in hand with a menacing smile.
"He's relentless!" Shouted Ma in disbelief, Jiraiya just got done pounding him into the ground!
Jiraiya weaved two hand signs and the ground beneath the water exploded with so much force all the water was blasted into the air and over the forest creating a mock downpour for a few moments. Not breaking a sweat, Jiraiya weaved four more and extended both palms towards a falling Kisame, from his hands two bright blue bolts of lightning cut through the air towards the shark.
Kisame managed to slap one with Samehada but took the other causing him to scream in pain. Samehada was working overtime to convert the chakra into healing energy but the chakra being used by Jiraiya was slowing the sword down.
Right as he reoriented himself from the shock Kisame looked up to see a massive Rasengan coming down on him. It took every ounce of will power and strength to jump and speed out of range. Even then the explosion of force from the jutsu hitting the ground took him off his feet sending him flying into a tree uprooting it.
Jiraiya noticed Kisame was sent into the forest and sighed, "His blade is very slow to convert Sage Chakra into usable energy to heal him."
Pa rubbed his goatee, "I'm shocked he can do that much. Suppose who ever made that sword really knew their way around sealing jutsu and chakra mechanics."
"We need to go back up Naruto! He's fighting those two on his own, can't you sense it!" Shouted Ma worriedly.
"Orochimaru isn't in top condition, so he's more of an annoyance right now. Itachi and Kisame are the problems." Jiraiya said seriously, "Ma, Pa, can you sense Tsunade? She must be out of range for me."
Pa hummed, "You need to come finish your training Jiraiya-boy. She's four hundred meters east, with Shizune-girl and those troublesome twins."
"Good. I was worried about leaving them on their own."
Three massive water drills blasted into the air cutting through the distance towards Jiraiya. He didn't recognize the exact jutsu being used but the pressure and density would rend metal effortlessly, needless to say he should probably do something about those.
Jiraiya of the Sannin, The Sage from the Mountains, The Wandering Toad, The Super Pervert from the Leaf. Many names, many legends, strangely it was rarely his power jutsu that got him his accolades.
The battle of the Sannin vs Hanzo of the Salamanders was where he and his teammates attained their titles and shortly after was dubbed S-Class by the world. But it was on his battles won, never on some unwinnable jutsu. He wasn't Minato with two perfect jutsu making him fearless across the world, or the Third who knew practically everything.
No. Jiraiya of the Sannin's power came from his experience in battle and his lack of care in being flashy, despite his personality, when it was time to work, he was focused and got the job done.
As the three water drills descended onto Jiraiya he waited to the last moment before rocketing off the rock wall he was standing on and closing distance to Kisame who was already focusing chakra for the next jutsu.
The two toads shot bullets of water and wind at the drills to dissipate them while Jiraiya focused on the shark. Kisame slapped the water he and Jiraiya were standing on and hundreds of sharks were created from the depths and rushed to shred the three toad sages.
Three hand signs, a flare of chakra- Kisame noticed it was the strange thick chakra that Samehada was having trouble filtering- beneath nearly ten meters of dense water the earth erupted in a massive explosion.
'Sage Art: Land Devastation' Thought Jiraiya. Not a jutsu he typically used, but Kisame wasn't an opponent that was going to be taken down subtly.
The water was blasted into east and west creating a thick mist in the air in the entire clearing. The earth rattling explosion was muted beneath the large pool of water but everyone in attendance felt their bones shake from the force. The ground beneath them was a massive, jagged crater that looked as if a hundred paper bombs detonated at once. Both Kisame and Jiraiya found themselves falling nearly twenty meters, however only one of them was caught unawares.
Jiraiya held a single tiger hand sign and blasted a large flame bullet at Kisame who screamed in pain until he crashed onto the ground. Samehada a few feet away was wiggling to reconnect to its master to begin healing him.
Another four hand signs and a ring of light shown from the ground around Kisame before exploding in a small bubble of fire.
'He won't be out from that, but he won't get up too soon. The aftereffects of the earth and water will hit Naruto's battlefield for sure, hopefully Shizune and Tsunade were far away enough.'
Right at Jiraiya was about to move to finish off Kisame he felt at the very edge of his sage senses a malevolent presence rapidly approaching Tsunade and Shizune. It only took him a moment to deduce that it was Orochimaru, his chakra was twisted and warped but he could still recognize him.
"We have to go." Muttered Jiraiya getting strange looks from the toads before they stretched their senses and nodded.
Before rushing away Jiraiya slapped the ground during the ruined earth into a hyper dense bog that was slowly working to swallow Kisame. If anything it would slow him down even more.
Jiraiya sped through the forests, each step destroying the branches beneath his feet as he moved to gain more and more speed.
"Hurry Jiraiya-boy, he's been on them for over two minutes!" Shouted Pa with a worried expression.
Jiraiya's face soured and he felt he was about to be on them as he smashed through a tree with a powerful punch and landed upon the three ninjas, his eyes widening in horror.
Orochimaru was standing over a grimacing Tsunade who had his blade through her gut. Shizune, clearly in distress was working to heal Orochimaru with the weasel Kabuto assisting with his smug grin. He felt a twisted satisfaction at seeing the dried blood on Kabuto's face and shirt from where Naruto smashed him.
"Ah Jiraiya right on time!" Orochimaru said with his nasty smirk. "Young Shizune has learned so very much from Tsunade! I was under the impression only Tsunade would be able to heal me but alas the student was enough, marvelous isn't it!" He wiggled his sword getting a groan from Tsunade, "Don't get too close, they're doing a delicate procedure and I wouldn't want to hurt our dear teammate anymore."
Jiraiya glared, "Let me guess, this was the plan from the start? Kisame and Itachi to stretch Naruto and I thin, your lacky and his soldiers to spread us out? All to get to Tsunade when we were busy with the other two."
"So there is a brain in there, very good!" Orochimaru said with a chuckle, "Yes that was my plan, Itachi and Kisame are here to confirm my intel on Naruto. My colleagues are going to need a lot of intel to retrieve the Nine Tails from him after all."
"You really went crawling back to the Akatsuki?" Jiraiya asked with no small amount of surprise.
Orochimaru nodded, "Indeed. I am unfortunately not enough to deal will all my enemies on my own. Something I learned in my invasion. I was set to deal with Sensei, as strong as he turned out to still be, till Naruto decided to ruin things. Not to mention the goals of the Akatsuki and their leader are truly fascinating!"
"Any chance you'd tell your former teammate what those are?" Jiraiya asked with a flat expression.
Orochimaru chuckled, "Why would I do that?"
Jiraiya shrugged with a smile, "Worth a shot." Right as he said that a spear of earth shot from the ground separating Orochimaru from Tsunade and Shizune and blitzed to cross the distance and stand between them.
Kabuto stood at the side of Orochimaru and scanned his body, "While not a full recovery you are far better off. We can certainly treat you from here without them."
"Good, then let us deal with Jiraiya!" Orochimaru said with killing intent rolling off him.
Jiraiya took a deep breath, "I'm going to need you here, Tsunade. You're more than capable of healing from that wound and helping me out here. It won't be long before Kisame joins us, and I can't deal with both of them and protect you." He said lowly.
Right on cue Kisame blasts into the clearing shredding through a tree with Samehada.
"You're going to die you old wart!" He shouted, his chakra was visible as it covered his body in a blue aura and weighed down on everyone in the clearing with its' sheer size. Jiraiya was able to finally confirm that Kisame truly was a tailless tailed beast.
"Jiraiya-boy, we should retreat if Tsunade-girl can't fight." Said Pa seriously.
Right as things were going to get bad for Jiraiya a massive orange chakra avatar was blasted through the tree line, shaking the earth under the force and weight. Itachi in the center of the avatar coughed roughly as he stood to his feet. A blood-soaked Naruto stood atop a tree breathing heavily as he stared down at Itachi and took in the scene around him.
Naruto sped over to Jiraiya, "Itachi is a handful, he's got ways around Infinity." As he spoke Naruto began to slowly heal himself, Itachi was receiving aid from Kabuto on the other side as well.
"What?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.
"He has a jutsu unique to his Mangekyou Sharingan that seals the chakra of Infinity to let him hit me." Naruto said with a petulant frown.
Jiraiya shook his head, "Well no jutsu is perfect-"
"I'm aware!" Shouted Naruto, the steam from his injuries tapered off as he finished healing.
Jiraiya eyeballed the now closed wounds with a critical eye. "Are you healing yourself?"
Shizune gaped at Naruto, having been silently gathering herself after Orochimaru's sudden appearance then Jiraiya then the rest of them. Naruto showing up covered in wounds then healing himself somehow wasn't that surprising anymore. Unseen was the twitch of Tsunade's fingers.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah! See I was watching Tsunade heal herself that night, then Kisame and Samehada's healing method. I decided to copy them and add my own flare!"
Tsunade's twitch became stronger.
"I heal with yin chakra which has been enhanced by positive natured chakra! It's like super healing!" Naruto shouted with a massive grin on his face.
"…idiot." A small voice muttered getting the three ninja's attention.
Naruto turned to a now awake and deadpanned Tsunade who was looking at him like he was an enormous moron. His face turned comically disgusted.
"Huh? I can't hear you down there?" Naruto shouted.
Tsunade's eyebrow twitched as she sat up right to glare at Naruto's face.
"You're an idiot for using that combination of chakra to heal yourself." Tsunade explained haughtily. "If you think you're the only one to look into positive natured chakra you're a fool. If you keep doing it, then you're going to fry your chakra coils and possibly your brain."
"Why should I trust the word of a weak defenseless old woman that needs us to protect her?" Naruto asked with a laugh as he smirked down at her. Jiraiya next to them was watching with a hopeful and amused expression while both toads and Shizune gaped at the exchange.
Tsunade's temper: something that in her fifties she usually had a good lid on, except it would seem- when concerning Naruto. In her anger at the young blonde's lack of respect she shot to her feet and headbutted him causing him to sway back. So shocked at what happened he didn't even raise Infinity.
Naruto blinked a few times as Tsunade glared down at him. "I know more about healing and the human body than anyone alive, especially not some up jumped twerp who won the genetic lottery!"
Laughing to himself he got to his feet and smiled at her, "I like the energy but let's focus on them huh." Naruto said as he pointed to the three Akatsuki members that were moving to attack.
Kisame roared and blasted a massive tidal wave in their direction. Shizune's small gasp was ignored as Naruto and Jiraiya tilted their heads to figure out the best course to deal with the incoming attack.
The massive wave of water loomed over them, easily fifteen meters tall. The force and size of the jutsu would easily be considered A-Rank. Naruto smiled in amusement, it would seem that while being fellow Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist, Kisame was leagues beyond Zabuza.
"Oh give me a break!" Shouted Tsunade as she shot forward, her arms were glowing with flaming green chakra.
As the massive tidal wave started to crest over them casting an ominous shadow over the ground of Leaf Ninja. Tsunade arrived at the base of the tidal wave, reared back and sent forth a devastating punch.
Naruto Six Eyes glowed as his face split into a massive grin before laughing wildly. Jiraiya rubbed his head with a chuckle. Shizune's eyes were awed by the display of her master, the two toad sages gaped at her monstrous strength.
The massive tidal wave, that would wipe out a village under the force of its size and volume. Was obliterated by a single punch, first a massive hole through the point of contact, then the shockwave from the punch blasted the rest of the water away.
Orochimaru's form emerged from the mist, his sword missing as he weaved through hand signs. From around him a hurricane force gale windstorm erupted into life shredding through ground and closing distance in a blink.
Naruto snorted at the attack, he quickly grabbed Shizune and Jiraiya and landed next to Tsunade before flexing Infinities shell into a dome around the four of them- plus two toads.
"What in the-" Muttered Shizune as they were completely safe from Orochimaru's jutsu while the entire clearing was torn to shreds.
It was barely a blur of motion that the Six Eyes caught of Itachi appearing in front of the barrier of Infinity. Right as the orange chakra was to impact his perfect shield, he released the jutsu and met Itachi's attack with a glowing fist of his own. Their mutual impact sent a small shockwave through the immediate area.
Jiraiya slapped the ground causing dozens of stone spikes to rise from the ground targeting Orochimaru, Itachi, Kisame and Kabuto. All four of them were forced to jump away rapidly to avoid being impaled repeatedly.
"I'll take Itachi!" Naruto said with a smile. Tsunade and Shizune whipped their head towards him in alarm, "Oh don't give me that, none of you can deal with the Genjutsu he can cast."
"Take care of the old bat and Shizune!" Naruto shouted to Jiraiya getting an uneasy laugh from him as the two women glared at him. Three hand signs and he warped away to where Itachi was recentering himself from the onslaught of earth spears.
Itachi lowered himself and reactivated his Mangekyou Sharingan. Naruto smiled and mimicked his stance.
Two Ninja hailing from the same Village. Coming from prestigious great clans. Wielding Ocular Jutsu of immense power. Hailed as Genius's with untold potential. Neither, since coming into their own, had truly been pushed. Now as Sharingan and Six Eyes stared at each other for a moment, then both let out a grin.
Naruto shot forward and Itachi matched, they met in a flurry of punches and kicks.
They had found a rival.
Itachi jumped up a shadow clone emerging from behind him both weaving hand signs at dizzying speeds. Naruto's eyes deciphered that it was a combo of wind and fire coming. Two streams of the respective element shot from Itachi and his clone's mouth, the streams swirled and combined into a white-hot beam of fire that superheated the environment.
Naruto activated Infinity and let the attack dissipate with a sigh. Itachi blurred behind him at the exact opposite end of where the jutsu impacted and went to stab it with a kunai. Naruto knew, unfortunately from experience, that the kunai would be able to break through.
Right as the kunai touched the barrier, he released it and spun around with a Rasengan in hand. Itachi couldn't avoid the spiraling sphere and the swirling blue chakra attack smashed into his chest. Naruto smirked and jumped straight into the air as the Rasengan destroyed the clone and the real Itachi smashed into the ground where he was standing.
Itachi was forced to block a punch and parry a kick, then counter punched Naruto who swayed around the hit. Naruto jumped back while flicking his hand towards Itachi who encased himself in his chakra avatar to take the hit from Blue.
As soon as the avatar appear Naruto smirk and concentrated on forming a dense Red. Itachi had his Susanoo raised his second sacred treasure Totsuka Blade and swiped it down towards Naruto.
Naruto's forehead dripped with sweat as he charged a fist sized Red and shot it towards the avatar hoping that like last time it would be enough. The shockwave from the jutsu impacted against the ethereal blade dissipating it and smashing into the chest of the avatar. Itachi roared and increased the armor of his guardian and held his ground.
As the shockwave hit the Susanoo Naruto moved to get to its flank and create a truly massive Rasengan. Easily double the size of Naruto himself and smash it into the unprotected and unfocused side of the massive orange chakra avatar.
Unlike red that was like a straight line of pure force the impact of a Rasengan was like a bomb and a drill combined together. One of this size detonating was enough for the entire side of the Susanoo to crack and shatter open while everything in over a hundred meters was blasted away and the ground tremored under them.
Itachi's eyes bled from the effort as he spun to Naruto who managed to break into his perfect invincible defense. Something that should be impossible!
Naruto didn't stop by breaking in him pulled Itachi towards him with a gesture then smashed him in the fast with a devastating left. Itachi's brain rattled as he suffered from the attack. Then…
Rivals don't just push someone to get stronger. Rivals can also be inspiration!
Itachi mind cleared and the concussion left him in a second as he grabbed Naruto, spun him and threw him away. Steam rose from his body and his glassy eyes resharpened.
Having seen it several times…is it any question that the genius Itachi…
Naruto wiped blood from his mouth and grinned, "You bastard, you copied my healing!" He said with a laugh.
Renewed the two shot back at one another Naruto flicked his finger and Itachi was forced to jump from where a Sinister Spiraling Sphere impacted the ground. Naruto jumped to meet him and punched him right in the kidney, Itachi responded by grabbing the fist and slamming a knee into Naruto's face sending them both plummeting to the ground.
Unlike Naruto who preferred fighting alone. Tsunade, Jiraiya and Shizune stayed in the clearing together.
"Sharky is mine." Jiraiya said before stomping on the ground causing dozens of stone fists to fly at Kisame who gleefully smashed them one by one with his sword.
Orochimaru regurgitate his sword and moved to kill Tsunade. Said woman just looked at him blankly. The swipe of the poison blade was ducked under then grabbed by her, she didn't even flinch at the poison or the blood as she pulled Orochimaru closer.
With immense reluctance Orochimaru let go of his prized sword.
Tsunade chucked then with all her power threw the sword towards the horizon. She then kicked off the ground to close distance with the Snake. Orochimaru hissed as he moved to meet her in hand to hand.
While Orochimaru has been an active combatant while Tsunade was retired…
Orochimaru slithered around Tsunade's opening combo and moved to counter with a knife hand to her throat. Tsunade grabbed his wrist then hammed fisted him into the earth causing the ground the shake from the force.
Tsunade was regarded as a goddess of the fist and time had not dulled her edge.
Orochimaru coughed blood as he was smashed by three punches. She kneed him in the gut then kicked him away. The snake instantly regurgitated himself to heal some of his shattered bones. He was running low on snake shells to heal himself so he would need to let the others know it was a mission accomplished.
Turning to the side, he noticed that Kisame was sans-sword and just took a Rasengan to the stomach.
Right as he was about to get moving Tsunade came falling from the sky with a raised Leg for one of her signature attacks.
Orochimaru knew what was coming and moved as fast as he possibly could. He shot a snake out that he used like a rope to pull himself out of the way of the epicenter, but he was still sent tumbling away.
He didn't give himself a second to recover and shot up to attack his former teammate, foregoing hand to hand he shot a dozen snakes towards her. Not even pausing to watch the fallout he weaved through a half dozen hand signs and chopped the air in a downward motion.
Tsunade just finished killing the last snake when her senses screamed to move, she managed to avoid her head being hit but a blade of wing shredded through her shoulder severing her right arm. Without a scream of pain she held a hand sign and released the seal on her forehead causing a swirling line of black chakra to cover her forehead and body. She reattached her arm and all her injuries were healed in an instant.
"Time for you to die, Orochimaru. We've borne your disgrace long enough." She declared as her body glowed with chakra, and she shot forward to finish the traitorous snake once and for all.
As her fist blasted through his chest his body turned into mud. She looked around the clearing and noticed that Orochimaru was harassing Jiraiya enough that Kisame was able to heal enough to run away. In her expert opinion Kisame was going to need weeks of rehabilitation even with a skilled medic helping him.
Jiraiya groaned as he smashed yet another mud clone revealing that the real Orochimaru was gone, "How'd they get away?" He asked with a shake of his head, both the toad sages dismissed themselves when the fighting was finished.
Tsunade walked up to him with a tired sigh, "Orochimaru has always been a slippery one. I'll be sure to send the Alpha Squad after him when I'm in office."
Jiraiya turned to her with a curious expression. "So you're coming back?" He asked as they walked over to where Shizune was taking shelter.
"I feel like I have no other choice." She said with a snort, "You're hopeless without me and the brat is going to kill himself using complex chakra mechanics on his body, on top of being a little disrespectful brat."
Jiraiya let out a full belly laugh. "That's Naruto alright!"
Tsunade glared at him, "Don't laugh! There's a strong possibility that he causes a war with that attitude. We need to have a firm hand with him!" She argued. While Jiraiya raised his arms in surrender.
Shizune moved to Tsunade's side with a relieved smile. She looked at the two of them for a moment before frowning, "Where is Naruto?"
Naruto's face rippled from the force of Itachi's orange chakra cladded fist. He responded with a kick to Itachi's knee that destabilized his stance allowing for Naruto grab Itachi's arm then spin throw him away.
Itachi sent a massive fire ball at him without a single hand sign. Naruto pointed a palm at the incoming jutsu then a spark of blue chakra sparked across his hand, the force of jutsu destroyed the center of the fireball that caused the rest of it to dissipate. He weaved three hand signs in a blink to warp behind Itachi.
With a pulling motion Itachi was yanked off his feet into a kick from Naruto. Itachi coughed from the kick then threw a handful of shuriken from his sleeve that Naruto was forced to block with Infinity.
Orange chakra swirling to life Itachi moved to engage the blond through Infinity. Itachi punched through the chakra shield smashing into Naruto's solar plexus.
Both of them engaged in a flurry of punches and kicks, while Itachi was the far better combatant Naruto was able to bridge some of the distance between them with applications of Blue and Rasengan variations.
Itachi sighed before throwing dozens of smoke bombs on the ground.
Naruto blinked a few times and rapidly looked around, his Six Eyes working overtime to decipher what Itachi's next move was. He readied himself to summon a Red if the avatar was about to return in full glory.
After a fully two minutes Naruto stood up with a frown, "What the…did he fucking run!?" Naruto shouted in disbelief.
"No. They accomplished their mission." Came the shout of Jiraiya in the distance as he and the two women walked into the ruined clearing.
Naruto popped up in front of them from a warp, "Well I guess all that's left is to knock the old bat out and drag her home. Shizune you can walk if you behave."
"…behave?" Shizune muttered as she glared at him.
While Tsunade rolled her eyes. "I'm going home, brat." She said after a deep breath, "It's time I move on, and make sure a fool like you doesn't kill themselves or cause another war."
Naruto looked at her with a disgusted expression, "I'm not going to start a war."
"You will if you keep with your fundamental irreverence to everyone around you."
"I respect plenty of people!"
"If you say Jiraiya I'm going to throw up."
"Hey!"
As the curtain closed on what will be known as the battle of Tanzuka Hills. Several people, hidden under seals and hidden jutsu made their way home to report to their superiors.
END CHAPTER
WOOOOOOOOO
I fucking finally finished this chapter, it's terrible I know I don't care don't laugh at me it's finished, and I was about to lose it.
So Itachi and Naruto are rivals I like their line up as Itachi is one of the very few with the tools to respond to roughly everything Naruto has right now. Yata Mirror is a perfect counter to Infinity and if you don't like that Itachi can use a piece of his Susanoo on its own, go suck a lemon.
Next, we're back in the Leaf, and we get to catch back up to the rest of the world!
Please let me know what you think of the chapter, what you liked or hated!