73. Old People are Shameless

(I guess... This is it)

His gaze then shifted to Naruto, noting the red eyes and the ominous chakra surrounding his teammate. At that moment, Sasuke pieced together what had transpired, and his killing intent doubled.

"I will kill you," Sasuke repeated, his voice now low and filled with a cold fury that belied his young age. The intensity of his words was palpable, causing even the S-rank criminals to take notice.

Kisame, seemingly amused by the turn of events, turned to Itachi. "Hey, didn't you say you had a baby brother? I thought you killed the entire Uchiha clan by yourself."

Itachi's eyes momentarily darkened at Kisame's words, but he remained silent, his gaze fixed on Sasuke.

Sasuke, ignoring Kisame's comment, locked eyes with Naruto. No words were needed between them; they understood each other perfectly at that moment. With a shared nod, they prepared to attack.

Sasuke rushed at Itachi, his Chidori crackling with power. Simultaneously, Naruto, now cloaked in the Nine-Tails' chakra, charged at Kisame.

Kisame, grinning widely, intercepted Naruto's attack. As soon as Naruto came within range, Samehada began to absorb the Nine-Tails' chakra, causing Naruto to stumble back in surprise.

Undeterred, Naruto quickly formed his signature hand sign. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted, and dozens of clones appeared, each wreathed in the Nine-Tails' chakra.

The clones swarmed Kisame, using the Body Flicker technique to attack from all angles and explode. Their intention was clear – to overwhelm the shark-like ninja with sheer numbers and explosive force. 

Kisame resorted to using a defensive Water Jutsu.

Meanwhile, Sasuke's Chidori-charged attack raced towards Itachi. However, the elder Uchiha easily avoided the strike, crouching low to allow the Chidori to pass harmlessly overhead and smash into the ground.

As Sasuke's attack missed, a small water projectile suddenly shot towards Itachi from an unexpected angle. It was Sora, who despite his injuries, had managed to muster enough strength for one last attempt to help.

The close range of the attack forced Itachi to release his hold on Sasuke's arm to dodge. Seizing the opportunity, Sasuke grabbed Sora and used the Body Flicker technique to put some distance between them and Itachi.

As the battle raged on, with Naruto's clones detonating around Kisame and Sasuke regrouping with an injured Sora, the dire nature of their situation became increasingly apparent. They were fighting with everything they had, but against such powerful opponents, it seemed like a losing battle.

Just when it seemed like they might be overwhelmed, a booming voice cut through the chaos.

"A woman's charm is indeed powerful, but it can't stop me for long!"

All eyes turned to see Jiraiya standing atop a nearby building, his arms crossed and had a goofy expression on his face.

Everyone present looked at him. It was quite ironic as Kisame and Itachi looked at him calmly while the people who were supposed to be on Jiraiya's side, were the ones releasing killing intent.

Jiraiya noticed that Naruto was in Kyubi mode, The Uchiha for some reason had his eyes redder than ever and three tomoes furiously spinning like no tomorrow.

He noticed Sora and pieced all things together, his expression uncharacteristically serious as he surveyed the scene before him.

The arrival of the Sannin marked a turning point in the confrontation. As Jiraiya prepared to enter the fray, the young ninja felt a glimmer of hope. But they knew the night was far from over, and the real battle was just beginning.

As Jiraiya arrived on the scene, the atmosphere shifted palpably. The Sannin's presence seemed to fill the area, his power evident even before he made a move.

"Well, well," Jiraiya said, his usual jovial tone replaced by a steely edge. "I step away for a moment, and look what crawls out of the woodwork."

Kisame grinned, his sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight. "If it isn't the great Jiraiya of the Sannin. This just got interesting."

Itachi, ever calm, addressed Kisame without taking his eyes off Jiraiya. "We're retreating. Our mission is compromised."

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. "Not so fast. I know about your organization, Akatsuki. And I know why you're after Naruto."

This revelation caused Sora's eyes to widen in surprise. Despite the pain from his injuries, his mind raced with questions. What did these men want with Naruto? And what was this Akatsuki organization?

Itachi, seemingly unperturbed, replied coolly, "Your intel is impressive, Jiraiya-sama. It seems you were the one who informed Kakashi as well."

Sasuke, who had been tending to Sora's wounds as best he could, looked up sharply at the mention of his sensei's name. His eyes burned with questions and barely contained rage.

Itachi continued, his gaze shifting to Naruto. "We're after Naruto Uzumaki and we will come back again."

Naruto was the only one who didn't know why they were after him, Sora also didn't know.

Sasuke could piece together and realized that this organization was probably after Nine-Tails inside Naruto, He had known about that secret of Nine-Tails even before the chunin exams from Naruto's mouth, Sakura was the only one in the dark among Team 7.

Before anyone could react further, Itachi and Kisame began to retreat. "This isn't over," Kisame called back, his grin never faltering. "We'll be seeing you again,"

As the Akatsuki members disappeared into the night, Jiraiya quickly moved to check on the boys. "Are you all alright?" he asked, his eyes scanning over their injuries with concern.

Naruto nodded numbly, still processing what happened, Sasuke grunted an affirmative, though his eyes never left the spot where Itachi had been standing. Sora, however, was in clear distress.

Sora formed the cross-shaped seal and formed a Shadow clone which summoned a medical kit from his bracers and started tending to the wounds.

"Dynamic Entry!"

A green blur shot towards Jiraiya, who got sent flying.. The blur resolved into the form of Might Guy, his foot extended in his signature flying kick.

"Guy!" Jiraiya exclaimed, clearly surprised, said out loud before getting hit, "What are you doing here?"

Guy, realizing his mistake, quickly apologized. "Ah, Jiraiya-sama! I'm so sorry! I forgot my hand mirror and had to use my headband to see behind the wall. I thought you might be an enemy!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Naruto couldn't help but let out a small snort of laughter at the ridiculousness of Guy's explanation.

Guy, noticing the state of the young ninja, quickly sobered. "What happened here? And young Sora, you're injured!"

As Jiraiya gave a quick rundown of the situation, Sasuke spoke up. "We need to go after them. Itachi, he-"

"Not now, Sasuke," Jiraiya cut him off firmly. "Sora needs medical attention which he is clearly giving, plus we don't really have manpower to deal with two S-ranks just after the invasion."

Naruto then throwing a tantrum that He would beat those guys as they are after him, Jiraiya shuts him and saying that he is weak.

Guy nodded in agreement. "Indeed. And speaking of medical attention, if only Lady Tsunade were here. Not only could she help Sora, but she might be able to help Lee and Kakashi as well..."

Jiraiya's eyes lit up at the mention of his old teammate. "That's it! We were already on a mission to find Tsunade. This just makes it all the more urgent."

"Wait what happened to Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked

Guy then told about how Kakashi got comatose, Making this mission urgent.

Sasuke then says "Why don't I also tag along with you?" 

"Kid, do you even have all the things required for travelling?" Jiraiya asks

Sasuke shows a standard Uchiha smirk "I carry all my stuff in bracers only"

Jiraiya facepalms muttering "Is it a new trend that I am not aware of?"

Meanwhile, Naruto asks Guy how Lee got so strong, and Guy gives him a green spandex. Everyone present sweatdropped at this scene except for the people involved. Naruto was giddy about it.

Soon, Guy went back to the village, and Sora was ready to move "It would probably heal in a few hours", Jiraiya was doubtful about that but he didn't protest.

With this, a perverted old man along with his disciples and a Uchiha made his way to the next town, in search of Tsunade.

Meanwhile, the Inn owner was trying to find the culprit behind what happened to the wall, to get his compensation.

The squad purposely had left quickly to avoid paying up.

***

Important

Well, It has been exactly 30 days since I started this fic, We have a cumulative of 1.2K Powerstones until now, 9th Position in the Last 30 Days Section and 112th Position in the all-time section for last month. If we look at the collections in the last month, We are at 66th Position, with total collections of 2K!

Now that is crazy! I never thought that This fic would get this much recognition, I was planning to drop this after like one week or something, but The support I got made me continue this till now...

However, Like every good thing, this has to end as well...

On that note, I announce that the update schedule is changing from 7 chapters per week to 4 chapters per week...

Lol

Anyway, let's see this week's stats we have 414 Powerstones, which is a bit lower than last week, and in all-time ranking, we are at 114th Position, which is a downgrade as well... 

Next Week's schedule, Based on Just before the next reset:-

The chapter schedule which is 4 chapters for this week, could be changed for the following week, will change to:-

Top 100= 5ch

Top 80= 6 ch

Top 60= 7ch

Top 40 and lower = I don't think we will reach this, but let's talk about it if we actually reach this.

Lastly, Join my discord, You could get exclusive tags like Second Member, Third Member, up to 10th Position. The first Member tag is already taken, So, hurry! You would be able to gloat when discord gains more members. You could also help me direct the story by giving me recommendations. 

SO JOIN!