The battlefield was a wreck. Deep gouges in the earth, splintered trees, and the thick scent of blood filled the air. Kisame was down, his massive body slumped on the ground, wounds seeping. Mahoraga loomed over him, its imposing figure untouched, its sword gleaming with fresh blood.
He always thought that he was a monster, especially after getting his hands on Samehada. However, today he saw what a real monster looks like. It's not like there are not other people like him, the Elemental Nation had its fair share of monsters, but the one he was looking at right now felt like the real deal.
Nothing worked on him—not swordsmanship, not water, and no other chakra-based attack he knew. And that monstrous physical strength. That was beyond anything he had ever seen.
And if nothing worked on him, how the hell was he supposed to fight this monster? Kisame had no idea. And just then when he thought he has seen all of Mahoraga, things went bad for him.
All this time Samehada was healing him from all the injuries, however, suddenly he felt the the wounds now inflicted on him were not healing. He was at first confused and then completely dumbfounded until anohter, this time a very lethal attack crossed him almost bisecting him in half.
Mahoraga have clearly been adapting to Samehada healing and chakra absorbtion.
Shika kept his breathing steady, eyes locked onto Itachi. Their fight had reached a stalemate. Shika clearly was not as skilled as someone like Itachi, and since he wished to keep his real identity undercover, he was not using some of his techniques either.
Itachi was no different. Though he was overwhelming the masked man in front of him, he wasn't able to beat him. It almost felt like the man knew all of his attacks and strategies.
Not only did none of his Genjutsu work on Shika—aside from Tsukuyomi, which he didn't wish to use due to his already very damaged eyes—his other attacks too were completely seen through by the masked man.
Shika was able to do that since he had worked for long enough with Sasuke to learn how a typical Uchiha fighting style goes.
Of course, Itachi was keeping him on his toes all this while, even without going all out. Still, calling it an even fight was not right. While Shika had enough firepower currently to handle Itachi, he clearly lacked the skill needed to compete with him equally or think about beating him.
Itachi glanced at Kisame. The situation was slipping from their grasp. If it were just Shika, Itachi might have forced a victory, but that summon was a different problem altogether. Fighting a monster of a summon required too much effort—effort he couldn't afford to waste. His eye power was limited—he still had Sasuke to deal with.
Making his decision, Itachi's Sharingan spun. Flames, black as the void, erupted from his gaze, surging towards Shika with deadly speed. Amaterasu.
Shika's reaction was a fraction too slow. In fact, he didn't even know that Itachi could do that without hand signs. His body tensed as the cursed flames neared, heat radiating even before they touched him. He had already used the clone replacement from before, and thus that wasn't going to work. So he could only use the Rinnegan ability now.
He easily dodged using Temporal Revine ability. However, this ability cost too much chakra, and thus he tried not to use it often in a fight—especially when he was low on chakra.
However, what he was expecting didn't happen. Somehow, Itachi had planned on him avoiding that attack too. He was ready to manipulate the flames somehow. Shika had no idea how, since only Sasuke should have this ability.
Only if Shika had seen what Itachi did, then he would have realized—rather than manipulating the flames, Itachi actually used the strong winds of the Land of Stone to his favor. Intentionally not providing much support to those flames so they'd be picked up easily by the winds, directing them directly at Shika—or to be exact, where he thought Shika would be in case he dodged.
Shika's eyes widened. This was bad. Temporal Revine also has its own cooldown like Shinra Tensei. Having both Rinnegan in both eyes kind of negates that problem, but Shika only happens to have one currently.
In this case, one of the dangerous life-saving vows would activate, leaving him with far less power to work with, even if he survived. Shit...
However, just then, something shot out of his shadow.
Nue.
The beast, which had been waiting in his shadow all this time, burst forth without hesitation. It had no lightning, no real power left to fight. Shika was keeping him in his shadow for the time when they had to make a break for it and run away, but it still acted. The Shikigami threw itself between Shika and the incoming flames.
The Amaterasu engulfed Nue instantly. The beast didn't even let out a cry as its body turned to ashes in mere moments.
Shika's eyes widened, shock hitting him before he forced himself to move back. Nue was gone. Burned away without a chance to fight back.
Itachi watched, his expression unreadable. Then, he let out a slow breath. The fight was over. He had tried, and it hadn't worked.
"We'll meet again, Shadow," he said simply, looking at Shika with scrutiny before suddenly bursting out into crows.
With Kisame unconscious and Mahoraga standing unchallenged, there was no point in continuing. So Itachi decided to retreat—there was no way to win until Itachi was ready to waste the precious eye power he had left.
Just as Itachi disappeared, Kisame too was covered by crows, and the next moment his body was gone.
Shika didn't chase. He was too drained, and he knew Itachi wasn't someone to fight recklessly.
The battle had ended, but at a cost. Shika clenched his fists as he looked at the spot where Nue had been. He had won this round—but at what price?
xxx
Here is the goal for this Week.
1000+ Stones for the bonus chapter on Sunday or Monday bonus chapter
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patre on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond