Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 91 Xiao's Target

"It's not over yet!"

Upon seeing Itachi, the memories buried beneath his peaceful life resurfaced, constantly reminding him that his revenge was not yet complete. He was indeed among the best of his peers, but before Itachi, he was still so weak. His ultimate move was easily neutralized; he could already imagine the outcome of a physical duel before the fight even began, but he didn't want to stop. The lives of his clan were too heavy a burden; the duel of fate had to be fought today, and whether it meant life or death, he wanted a swift and decisive result.

But someone stopped him; that warm, familiar embrace made him hesitate as he faced death.

"Calm down, Sasuke! Shouldn't you stay calm before facing an enemy, analyze their abilities, and then figure out a way to defeat them?"

Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke, finally subduing him. At the same time, Kisame's Samehada slashed down, the intense sensation of being taken from Naruto making him extremely uncomfortable. Unsurprisingly, the tail was torn off and became Samehada's meal. Sasuke, seeing Naruto get his comeuppance for the first time, finally stopped focusing solely on Itachi. He actually took a few steps back using the force of the blow, turning around and blocking Naruto's path.

"Such powerful chakra~ Such a lively Jinchuriki is hard to control, let's cut off one of his arms." Kisame's malice was palpable. "But what about your brother, Itachi-san?"

Itachi fell silent, his emotions churning, clearly struggling with how to respond. Fortunately, someone arrived at just the right time and made a dazzling entrance, carrying a woman.

"You all know me too little." Jiraiya appeared amidst the smoke, striking what he thought was a cool pose. "A real man like Jiraiya won't be tempted by women; on the contrary, he's better at charming them with sweet words."

"I will absolutely not be tempted by a woman!"

...Then why repeat it twice at such a crucial moment? You were clearly tempted!

"You got lured away by another flirtatious glance, didn't you, you lecherous sage?" Naruto wasn't going to give him any face.

"I told you not to call me that in front of others." Jiraiya scratched his head sheepishly in response to his disciple's accusation.

"You must be the legendary Sannin, Lord Jiraiya." Kisame was surprisingly polite. "Although I knew you were a womanizer, I didn't expect to attract you so easily. It seems you've already broken the genjutsu on that woman."

Jiraiya glanced at Itachi, who was half-asleep, and gently put the woman off his shoulder. Once his frivolous ways faded, he was quite reliable. "Using hypnotic eyes to cast genjutsu on this woman to distract me from Naruto is not a manly tactic."

"Your target is indeed Naruto."

Sasuke was startled. What did this mean? This guy wasn't here to kill him? Instead… he was after Naruto?! No, this can't be! Naruto will be dead!

While Sasuke was extremely tense, his brother Itachi breathed a sigh of relief. The message he wanted to convey had been delivered. He hadn't expected that Jiraiya-sama had discovered the anomaly before Akatsuki's operation, so he didn't have to rack his brains to complete the task.

"No wonder Kakashi knew about this; it turns out the source of the information was you. Taking Naruto away was the Akatsuki's top order."

Jiraiya said in a deep voice, "I will not hand Naruto over to you."

Itachi retorted, "That's hard to say."

This was a normal exchange of threats, but it triggered Sasuke's nerves after a series of blows. He actually broke free from Naruto's restraints, clenched his fists, and charged forward.

"You won't... take my family away again!"

Naruto was stunned by the title he'd never heard before, and this brief moment of distraction caused him to miss his chance to grab the person, instinctively rushing forward instead. Jiraiya was having a terrible headache; the two kids were disobedient and incredibly stubborn! He could only hope that Naruto, who had mastered the first stage of the Flying Thunder God Technique, could catch Sasuke, while he himself took advantage of the two rogue ninjas' distraction to use the Summoning Jutsu.

Naruto easily dodged Kisame's heavy sword, but this made him a step too slow, and he still couldn't stop the two brothers from clashing.

The difference in size and speed was insurmountable. In just one exchange, Sasuke was struck twice in the chest and abdomen, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Go away!"

Naruto was unusually enraged. The Seventh Hokage wasn't devoid of killing intent, but the enemies he faced were far too powerful to be intimidated by mere aura. The unintentional burst of power he released in his rage made Kisame, whose eyes were fixed on him by golden pupils, feel a chill run down his spine, and his Samehada instinctively shifted into a blocking stance.

This decision was correct, because he was knocked back several steps by the punch and crashed headfirst into a soft wall... wait, a soft wall?

The flesh and blood of living beings quickly filled the corridor, making it resemble the intestines of some creature. The fleshy walls gently dispersed upon touching a human body and then quickly gathered again, attempting to envelop them. Driven by his beastly instincts, Kisame swiftly broke free of the fleshy walls and returned to Itachi's side, while Naruto, after throwing a punch, intervened in his brothers' battle, feinting a shot at Sasuke before running back to Jiraiya's side.

He didn't want to hurt Itachi, nor did he want Sasuke to get injured, so he could only compromise by separating them.

This was indeed the intestines of some creature. Mount Myōboku was home to many wondrous toads, some of them exceptionally large. It would be troublesome for ordinary ninjas to fall here, but Naruto knew they could escape and didn't intend to stop them. So, he calmly crouched down beside Sasuke, firmly holding him and giving him no chance to break free. Fortunately, Sasuke, having recovered from his internal injuries, was no longer angry, but rather depressed and remained silent.

...Kisame was sticking close, and Itachi hadn't tried to use genjutsu directly on Shisui. Was he only going to wait until a battle? But Shisui was completely immune to genjutsu! It seemed they needed to let Shisui encounter him a few more times to test Itachi's strength and arouse his suspicion. This couldn't go on; both sides were suffering terribly!

"Shisui-kun! Get to Tanabata Street right now! Itachi has appeared!" Naruto, being a man of action, summoned his men at lightning speed.

"Really?! I'm coming right away!" Shisui was a man of action, and when he said "right away," he meant "right away." About a minute later, Shisui's chakra reaction appeared within his perception range.

Yes, that's it. Hurry up and stall Itachi so they don't "bump into" him again!

With his senses guiding him, Shisui found the person easily, embarking on his quest for serendipitous encounters with his pack. Perhaps because his senses were more open, Naruto suddenly discovered something strange about observing Amaterasu's flames from a different angle. He realized that this fire exhibited spatial fluctuations; rather than burning objects, it seemed to shatter them into their smallest possible form and then transport them to unknown locations through minute spatial rifts. Since the energy sustaining the combustion came from these spatial rifts, could it be that it wouldn't extinguish until it was completely burned?

Highly concentrated chakra can open spatial rifts, which is completely different from the Flying Thunder God technique's approach of following the laws of space... Perhaps we could take a look at that?