Chapter 131: Opponents and Gambling, Brotherly Battle

"Mr. Itachi, what a coincidence, we run into your brother again."

Looking at Team 7 opposite them, Hoshigaki Kisame couldn't help but smile playfully. "This time there's no Wood Release user—should we leave them here?"

Uchiha Itachi didn't speak. He simply stared at Uchiha Sasuke, who was also activating his three-tomoe Sharingan, his brows slightly furrowed in surprise.

What's going on?

It's only been half a year since we last met… how has Sasuke's chakra become so strong?

What happened to him during this time?

"Sasuke, don't be impulsive. There are two S-rank rogue ninja in front of us."

Hatake Kakashi had already lifted his forehead protector, revealing the Sharingan in his left eye. He looked seriously at Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, cold sweat forming. "I'll buy you some time. You go find Naruto and get out of here."

"Right, Sasuke-kun, let's go find Naruto first," Haruno Sakura said anxiously, her face pale.

But Sasuke didn't seem to hear either of them.

He raised his hand and formed a blue energy sphere the size of a football, which contained two smaller spheres the size of ping-pong balls.

Seeing this, the expressions of Itachi, Kisame, Kakashi, and Sakura all changed drastically.

"Mr. Itachi, your little brother has already mastered Dust Release, right?" Kisame's teasing grin disappeared in an instant. He raised his hand toward Samehada behind him, ready to charge forward and absorb Sasuke's chakra before the jutsu was completed.

However, Sasuke's attack speed exceeded expectations.

The two smaller spheres quickly turned blue-white, then fused with the larger ball, forming a blinding light.

"Storm Release: Judgment!"

Sasuke hurled the orb forward. It instantly stretched into a massive laser beam that shot down the corridor toward Itachi and Kisame.

The hallway was narrow, and the beam was huge and extremely fast. Even Itachi, who could weave signs in the blink of an eye, didn't have time to react.

Samehada also couldn't absorb a fully formed Storm Release technique.

So, without hesitation, Itachi and Kisame shattered a nearby window and leapt out.

The laser beam struck the end of the corridor, erupting with a thunderous boom.

Though he missed, Sasuke immediately canceled the Storm Release and jumped out the window too.

"Sakura, follow Parker to find Naruto. Then get out of here and return to my shadow clone," Kakashi ordered before following Sasuke out.

However, the sound of the laser beam detonating had already drawn the attention of the mobile fortress.

"What's going on?" Hyde, who was entertaining Naruto inside, frowned.

"Master Hyde, I'll go check right away."

Timothy, his long golden hair flowing behind silver armor, looked like a knight. He stood up respectfully.

"I'll help too!" Naruto added.

"Then I'll trouble you, Naruto," Hyde said with a smile.

As the two departed, Hyde's smile faded. He pulled out a photo: a caravan escorted by Team 7.

But the main subject wasn't Team 7. It was an old man… with a ferret perched on his shoulder.

Staring at the photo, Hyde muttered, "A ferret... Could he be the descendant of that bloodline?"

A twisted smile appeared on Hyde's face. "Let the two bloodlines meet. Then we'll know. Timothy, don't disappoint me."

"Hmph. He looked like a good guy a moment ago, but now he shows his true face. What a two-faced bastard," muttered a nearby White Zetsu clone, who was hiding and eavesdropping.

He immediately relayed the information to the main Black and White Zetsu body.

Upon receiving the intel, Black and White Zetsu found Uchiha Obito.

"Itachi and Kisame encountered Kakashi and Sasuke. They're fighting now," White Zetsu reported.

"Aren't they supposed to be capturing the mobile fortress? Why'd they run into that loser Kakashi?" Obito asked.

"Team 7's mission accidentally brought Naruto into contact with one of the fortress leaders. They became acquainted after a fight. That guy brought Naruto to the fortress, and Kakashi and Sasuke followed them up… and, well, you get the picture."

"What a coincidence…"

Obito sighed, and his body twisted out of view, leaving behind a final line:

"Brother versus brother? Oh, Moses Roy, I'm going to enjoy this."

…

"You idiot! I told you not to act rashly, and now the ship's been blown up!"

"Hey hey, Brother Scorpion, don't blame me! Those armored guys weren't affected by your poison. And that flying bat-girl—if I didn't strike, she would've escaped!"

"Hmph. I already blocked the entrance with Magnet Release. Even if she had wings, she couldn't have flown away."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

Inside the steel ship buried in the desert, Scorpion and Deidara had already dealt with the armored soldiers.

Scorpion took out a large scroll and packed away the armored men's corpses and the ship's high-tech gadgets. Deidara, meanwhile, carried Camilla—bound and unconscious.

But just as they resurfaced, their faces darkened.

In front of them stood more than a dozen humanoid puppets, each impaled with black rods and no longer wearing Akatsuki robes. Instead, they wore the white garments of the Otsutsuki Clan.

"Brother Scorpion, are we being hunted by Brother Toneri?" Deidara scratched his head.

"Of course we are!" Scorpion responded from within his crimson puppet core, a strange excitement in his voice. "No one will interrupt us now. I can finally experience that guy's 'art.'"

"Hahaha…"

Deidara laughed, mounted his white clay bird, and shouted toward the human puppets in the distance:

"Brother Toneri! Let's have an art duel!"

Explosions and puppet armies quickly lit up the desert.

Far away, a White Zetsu clone watched this scene unfold and muttered, "These two morons… They're being targeted by Toneri and still don't summon the Six Paths of Pain. Are they asking to die?"

He immediately transmitted the intel to Black and White Zetsu.

Black and White Zetsu converted the report into a coded scroll and handed it to Nagato.

Nagato studied the contents and frowned.

"So he's noticed us after all? That means he's had his eye—or his clone—on the Akatsuki this whole time."

"But… it looks like his eye can't detect that special energy. Otherwise, he wouldn't only be hunting Scorpion and Deidara."

"What exactly is this energy? Why does it feel like… Wood Release chakra?"

Nagato recalled that moment—the energy fluctuation he had sensed the other night.

If not for his restored body and Hashirama cells, he might not have sensed it at all.

That energy, he now believed, was caused by the mobile fortress embedding itself in the mountain.

"Grayl Stone… what is it really? Looks like I'll need to act personally."

He closed the scroll, formed a ring and a carved wooden tag using Wood and Yin-Yang Release, and called softly:

"Ze."

A White Zetsu clone emerged.

Nagato handed him the ring and tag, and with a wave, the clone sank back into the ground.

At the same time, a Wood Clone monitoring Nagato transmitted the entire event to Izayoi in real time.

The two Rinnegan users had now fully entered a game of intelligence and strategy.

For the first time, Izayoi felt real pressure. He realized that ninja battles were battles of information.

He had always been undefeated because he had knowledge of the original timeline.

But now, that advantage was gone.

Worse still, his enemy knew about his Rinnegan and was planning around it.

He had no way of knowing Nagato's next move.

But the challenge thrilled him.

So this is what it feels like to have a true rival?

Oh, Moses Roy!

While casually chatting with Temari and leaving reconnaissance to Hinata and Shino, Izayoi quietly made his next move.

Nagato had White Zetsu.

He had Wood Clones.

One spied from the shadows.

The other watched from above.

Each with their own advantage.

…

"Fire Style: Great Fire Destruction!"

Back at Team 7's battle, Sasuke dashed down the mountainside, hands forming seals, then spat out a massive, meteor-shaped fireball toward Itachi and Kisame.

"What a powerful Fire Style!" Kisame exclaimed, surprised again.

But before acting, he glanced at Itachi. "You want to take this one? Or should I?"

"Kisame, hold off Senior Kakashi for me."

Itachi responded, then inhaled and spat out a fireball of his own:

"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"

The two massive fireballs collided in midair, exploding into a sea of flame.

Sasuke, his entire body crackling with blue-white lightning, burst through the fire with his Kusanagi Sword drawn like a lightning lance.

"What a fast body flicker," Kisame muttered. He was now treating Sasuke as a real threat, no longer a brat.

Itachi threw several shuriken at Sasuke, then dispersed into a flock of crows that reformed on the ground.

His signature Crow Substitution Jutsu.

Kisame followed up by covering himself in water, transforming into a shark-like figure, and diving down.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Sasuke batted aside the shuriken, formed a one-handed seal, and summoned a shadow clone that vanished instantly.

Before Itachi or Kisame could react—

Sasuke descended, Kusanagi now transformed into a spear of light, stabbing through Itachi's body.

But the figure dissolved into crows once again.

Another substitution.

"Three-tomoe Sharingan… Mastery of Fire, Lightning, and even Water-style manipulation. It's like he's a completely different person. This level of growth is terrifying," Kisame said.

He grew excited, putting away Samehada and smiling at Kakashi.

"Let's just sit back and watch this brotherly duel."

"Why are you Akatsuki even here?" Kakashi asked warily, Sharingan trained on Kisame.

Though Nagato was now seen as a hero in the new ninja world, Akatsuki was still regarded with suspicion—especially by the Five Great Nations.

"Sorry. No comment," Kisame grinned.

"It's for Naruto, isn't it? Akatsuki's target is the tailed beasts."

Kakashi didn't hesitate to expose the truth.

Kisame looked surprised and chuckled. "You Konoha really do know a lot. As expected of the strongest village."

"But… you're wrong this time. We're not here for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."

He looked up as Naruto descended, carrying an unconscious Timsi.

"Seems like we won't be able to enjoy this battle quietly."

He formed seals.

"Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"

A torrent burst from Kisame's mouth, flooding the mountain range.

Sasuke and Itachi were forced to shift their battlefield.

Sasuke landed on the water, immediately launching a sneak attack.

He drew his Kusanagi with one hand, while his other arm wriggled—then sprouted thick vines that quickly formed into a tree, casting a shadow over Itachi.

A Wood Release Jutsu.

Itachi's face finally changed.

So that's it…

You really transplanted Hashirama—or even Izayoi's—cells?

Just to kill me?

I understand now.

But Sasuke… your hatred still isn't enough.

His Sharingan evolved—three tomoe connected into a shuriken pattern.

He was now dead serious.