64. Heavy Equipment! Explosion! The Battle Restarts!
"Let's go!"
Uchiha Itachi blinked, and the pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan disappeared, transforming into the Three Tomoe Sharingan before his eyes returned to normal.
"Crack!"
Hoshigaki Kisame, whose injuries had completely recovered, smiled, placed his sword Samehada on his back, and followed Uchiha Itachi.
"What a shame. Samehada is very dissatisfied. Although it doesn't like Shihouin Naraku's chakra, it would've been nice to replenish a little."
Despite his dissatisfaction, Hoshigaki Kisame still followed Uchiha Itachi away.
"He'll find us!"
Uchiha Itachi glanced at Hoshigaki Kisame with certainty.
The meaning was clear: if you want revenge, there will still be a chance.
"I see. That's truly a dangerous enemy."
The recent battle had been frustrating. Many of Hoshigaki Kisame's abilities hadn't been utilized, and he'd been overwhelmed by Shihouin Naraku, which left him displeased.
In the beginning, Hoshigaki Kisame stepped forward to help Uchiha Itachi block the powerful slash, but Shihouin Naraku seized the opportunity and attacked him relentlessly, catching him off guard. By the time he reacted, he was already injured and completely suppressed.
Many of his techniques had proven useless, so Hoshigaki Kisame felt very dissatisfied.
"So, Itachi-san, what intel can you share about Shihouin Naraku? All I knew before was that he was an excellent medical ninja, but now it seems there's something fatally wrong with that information!"
Uchiha Itachi thought deeply for a moment but shook his head and said, "I am not familiar with Shihouin Naraku. Besides knowing that he's a student of Tsunade, one of the Sannin, and has become a high-ranking official in Konohagakure, I only know him as a medical ninja!"
Uchiha Itachi wasn't lying about this.
His previous understanding consisted only of commonly known information.
During the period when Shihouin Naraku's power had skyrocketed, Uchiha Itachi wasn't in Konohagakure at all, so he had no idea what changes had occurred in Shihouin Naraku.
The only Akatsuki members who knew something was unusual about Shihouin Naraku's strength were Zetsu and Uchiha Obito!
But Uchiha Obito was now half dead and relying on the Gedo Statue for survival, while Zetsu was busy cleaning up the aftermath of Obito's actions. He had no time to report information about Shihouin Naraku.
Of course, even without these circumstances, Zetsu and Uchiha Obito wouldn't easily reveal information about Shihouin Naraku.
Therefore, Akatsuki's understanding of Shihouin Naraku matched that of most people in the ninja world.
A top medical ninja, a high-ranking official in Konohagakure, and a student of Tsunade, one of the Sannin!
These were the labels attached to Shihouin Naraku. As for his completion of other missions, since Anbu wore masks during operations, no one knew these activities had anything to do with him.
Hoshigaki Kisame heard Uchiha Itachi's answer without doubt. Judging from Shihouin Naraku's attitude earlier, he was definitely trying to kill both him and Uchiha Itachi, so there was nothing to question.
"Looks like we need to prepare the bait and wait for Shihouin Naraku to take it!"
...
"This is your customized weight-bearing equipment. Please examine it and see if you're satisfied."
Granny Cat handed over a scroll containing weight-bearing equipment stored using space-time ninjutsu. It could be retrieved by simply performing a Summoning Jutsu.
Shihouin Naraku raised his finger, opened the scroll, and directly removed a pair of wrist guards.
They were black wristbands with complex, beautiful patterns carved into them, appearing quite eye-catching.
When Shihouin Naraku extended his hands to grasp the black wrist guards, he felt his hands suddenly grow heavy. Caught off guard, he almost dropped them to the ground.
"Customer, please be careful. This is custom-made equipment and cannot be returned."
Granny Cat looked at Shihouin Naraku with a smile. This business deal was substantial, and the Ninja Cat Clan benefited greatly from it.
"It's fine. I just wasn't prepared."
The jet-black wristbands felt cool to the touch as if made from some special alloy. Yet when worn, they didn't feel uncomfortable—instead, they felt soft and fit perfectly.
This time, Shihouin Naraku had customized weight-bearing equipment: a pair of wrist guards, a pair of leg guards, a waist protector, and a vest, all specially made.
The wrist guards and leg guards came in pairs, with each pair weighing two thousand pounds, or one ton!
Two pairs meant two tons!
The waist protector weighed 800 kilograms!
The vest weighed one thousand pounds!
This meant that if Shihouin Naraku wore all this equipment, he would carry a direct load of 2.9 tons!
Of course, Shihouin Naraku wouldn't put on all the weights at the beginning. He needed to adapt gradually, as he had never trained this way before.
Carrying nearly three tons on his body was extremely heavy, and Shihouin Naraku didn't want to be crushed to death by the weight.
"Very good. I'm quite satisfied. Here's the rest of the payment."
"Hehehe... As long as the customer is satisfied."
Granny Cat took the payment and watched as Shihouin Naraku stored the scroll and turned to leave. She seemed hesitant to speak for a long time but in the end, merely sighed and said nothing.
Given her relationship with the Uchiha clan, she certainly couldn't bear seeing that only a pair of brothers remained from such a prominent family, and they were enemies. Granny Cat didn't know that Obito was still alive.
When Shihouin Naraku left, it was obvious he intended to pursue Uchiha Itachi.
But Granny Cat couldn't say anything more. After all, Uchiha Itachi's current identity was that of a rogue ninja from Konohagakure.
As a high-ranking official in Konohagakure, it was only natural for Shihouin Naraku to hunt down rogue ninjas.
As for why Shihouin Naraku had stopped fighting earlier, it was due to their pleasant business transactions in the past. Additionally, the abandoned area was Ninja Cat Clan territory, so he hadn't continued his attack.
But now, there was no reason to hold back!
Ninjas needed no reason to fight each other!
...
Observation Haki, Expand!
Shihouin Naraku 'heard' numerous voices and instantly detected traces of Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame.
"Let me see... are these traps set in advance?"
After finding his enemies' trail, Shihouin Naraku rushed toward Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame without triggering any traps.
"The traps didn't activate?"
Uchiha Itachi frowned. If Shihouin Naraku had discovered one or two traps and, therefore, avoided them, that would be understandable. But how had he discovered all of them?
"Here he comes!"
Uchiha Itachi, leaping through the forest, let out a low warning. Hoshigaki Kisame revealed a ferocious smile on his face. He turned in mid-air, quickly formed hand signs, puffed his cheeks, and prepared to release a powerful Water Style jutsu.
"Water Style: Explosive Water—"
"Fire Fist!"
Before he could complete his highly skilled Water Style jutsu, a giant flaming fist that seemed to pierce the sky and earth came crashing down.
The blazing flames ignited the forest instantly, and the terrifyingly high temperature turned the sky red.
The attack moved with extreme speed and covered a wide area.
The giant flaming fist carried a devastating impact, completely engulfing Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame in an instant before exploding with a thunderous boom!
The rising smoke and flames formed a mushroom cloud in the air, a spectacularly beautiful yet deadly sight!
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