In the woods, Itachi and Kabuto faced each other with swords in hand, their bodies tense, ready to attack as soon as Nagase said start.
Nagase observed the two people's condition, confirmed that there was no problem, stepped back a little, and quickly shouted: "Start!"
As if there was an invisible tacit understanding, the two of them rushed out almost at the same time and slashed at each other.
Clang! The two fast-moving knives collided with each other, splashing sparks.
But what happened next was beyond Itachi's expectations, suddenly Kabuto's sword burst out with a terrifying cold air, which instantly froze Itachi's sword, and the cold air continued to spread towards Itachi. Itachi decisively abandoned the sword and retreated, avoiding the fate of being frozen along with the sword.
"As expected of you, I thought I could end the fight while you were unaware." Kabuto said with some regret as he threw the frozen knife to the ground.
"Have you successfully developed the Ice Release?" Itachi asked with a slight breath. Just now, because he opened the Three-magatama Sharingan, his observation ability was greatly enhanced. Otherwise, with the speed at which Kabuto froze just now, the best outcome would be that one of his arms would be frozen.
Before this, Kabuto had consciously developed ice escape techniques and studied the fusion of wind-attribute chakra property changes and water-attribute chakra property changes, and created some combined ninjutsu.
"Ice escape? That's true, but it's not just as simple as ice escape." Kabuto smiled and moved towards Itachi.
Itachi, who had no weapon in his hand, naturally did not want to engage in close combat with Kabuto, so he quickly took out four shuriken from his ninja tool bag and shot them at an extremely tricky angle. Itachi took the opportunity to distance himself and used the Shadow Clone Technique to create five shadow clones.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The three Uchiha Itachis performed Great Fireball Jutsu at the same time. A big ball carried two small balls and flew rapidly towards Kabuto who was continuing to approach.
Kabuto's ice breath burst out, the ice fruit was activated, and the cold air condensed at the blade. Without dodging or evading, he froze the fireball shot by Itachi with one blow.
Itachi shrank slightly, then forced himself to calm down, and continued to fight with Kabuto, releasing large-scale ninjutsu in succession to confuse the vision.
And Kabuto also pressed forward step by step, not giving Itachi, his very good friend, any chance at all. His attacks were very fierce, and every blow of his sword was aimed at Itachi's vitals. Without knowing it, you would have thought that the two were fighting a life-and-death battle.
Soon, the four shadow clones on the field were killed by Kabuto, and some frost appeared on Itachi's body.
At this moment, Itachi suddenly threw a large number of shurikens at Kabuto again. Kabuto dodged slightly and continued to chase Itachi.
But this time Itachi did not retreat again, but fought with Kabuto with a kunai.
Cool!
Suddenly, Kabuto sensed danger coming from behind and directly transformed his body into element. The next moment, a sharp sword pierced Kabuto's shoulder, but because Kabuto had already transformed into element, he was not injured.
"You've become more cunning." Kabuto sighed.
As early as the beginning, when Itachi created five shadow clones, one of them had been hiding in the dark. Finally, when Itachi released ninjutsu to block the view, it used transformation technique to turn into a shuriken and was let out by Itachi. The frozen knife over there was also melted by the shadow clone Itachi's fireball before.
Even in this process, in the last step, Itachi deliberately controlled a subtle distance so that he felt he could catch up with Itachi immediately, and the shurikens he threw also left many positions for quick dodge.
"But it's no use." Itachi sighed softly. He couldn't understand the current Kabuto.
The sharp blade that pierced through Kabuto not only did not hurt Kabuto or force Kabuto to dodge, but instead the cold air flowed along the blade and instantly froze the shadow clone.
Itachi was a little confused. In just three minutes of fighting, Kabuto showed a lot of extraordinary things.
Ice escape, new breathing method, and the secret technique to dodge attacks.
On the contrary, he, apart from the Three-magatama Sharingan, seemed to have only been constantly improving his Sun Breathing, but had nothing else.
Itachi took a deep breath, and burst out with all his strength using the Sun Breathing, circulating his chakra to its maximum, and then a rapidly spinning red fireball appeared in his hand.
During such a long time, Itachi did not gain nothing. He developed the fire-attributed chakra property changes of the Rasengan and combined it with the Sun Breathing. The power that exploded in an instant was terrifying.
"I can't control the power of this next move, so you have to be careful." Itachi warned before making the move.
The change in the nature of the fire-attributed chakra of the Rasengan is already a move that is extremely difficult to control and extremely powerful. Coupled with the enhancement of the Sun Breathing, its power is even more unimaginable.
"Ice Breathing, Ice Age!" Hearing Itachi's words, Kabuto did not dare to underestimate it. He burst out with his chakra breathing method and pushed the ability of the ice fruit to the extreme. Waves of terrifying cold air emerged from Kabuto's body, freezing the surrounding land.
The huge block of ice kept swallowing up every inch of land between Itachi and Kabuto, but Itachi was not afraid at all. He held a huge fireball of the scorching sun and smashed it towards Kabuto. The terrifying heat quickly melted the ice that was trying to swallow him.
Hiss! A large amount of ice evaporated, causing thick white mist to fall, adding a touch of mystery to the forest.
Finally, the white mist dissipated, and the huge pieces of ice on the ground seemed to be lifting the winner.
"I still lost." Itachi said with a wry smile. At this time, the fireball in his hand had gone out and half of his body was frozen.
"You have already surprised me. The Uchiha's Sharingan is indeed worthy of its reputation. Even with less time for training, I can't surpass you by much." Kabuto smiled and touched the ice on Itachi's body.
Although he still had some tricks up his sleeve in this battle, Itachi hadn't eaten Nagase's devil fruit yet, and Kabuto felt that it would be difficult for him to maintain his strength beyond Itachi.
"What was that secret technique you used just now? It's a bit like the Water Transformation Technique of the Hidden Mist, but I feel that yours is stronger." Itachi asked.
In the battle just now, it was Kabuto who ignored the stab, causing most of Itachi's arrangements to fail and he immediately fell into a disadvantage.
"Actually, it's not a secret technique, it's more of an ability, the ability you gain after eating a devil fruit." Kabuto said, and then showed Itachi the elementalization again.
"What about your ice escape?" Itachi looked at Kabuto in surprise, remembering Zuosuke's fire fist before they set out.
"Sasuke also ate that devil fruit?"
Kabuto nodded and said, "Yes, Sasuke also ate a devil fruit. He ate the Flame-Flame Fruit, which gave him the power to emit flames."
"No wonder." Itachi finally understood why Zuosuke said it was simple.
In his eyes, Zuo Zhu performed an unmarked ninjutsu, while in Zuo Zhu's eyes, he just threw a punch in an ordinary way.
At this time, Nagase came out and introduced a wave of devil fruits in detail.
"It's really amazing, but why have I never heard of it?" Itachi asked with some confusion. He had traveled all over the Land of Fire and had never heard of such a magical thing.
"Why should I have heard of it? Isn't it good enough for it to exist?" Nagaze replied with a smile.
As he spoke, Nagase took out the Magma Fruit and handed it to Itachi, saying, "This is a devil fruit for you. It's called the Magma Fruit. It's a powerful devil fruit that's as powerful as the Ice Fruit on Kabuto."
Nagase has basically exchanged all the points he has accumulated over the past year for devil fruits. Top-level devil fruits are really not cheap.
He exchanged the Ice Fruit for Kabuto, the Flame-Flame Fruit for Sasuke, the Operation Fruit for Orochimaru, the Gravity Fruit for Obito, and the Transparent Fruit for Kakashi. The Magma Fruit was something he specially left for Itachi.
Nagase thought that when Itachi activated Susa Noh in the future, the magma sun calling Susa with his hand would definitely be very oppressive.
Itachi took the fruit and looked at it curiously. He felt that this magical fruit called Devil Fruit not only had magical functions, but also looked unique.
"Just eat it directly. Remember to eat it all without leaving any." Dou, the best friend, reminded with a smile.
Dou still remembers the taste of the devil fruit. He was very puzzled that there could be such a disgusting thing in the world.
So after seeing Itachi obtain the Devil Fruit, Kabuto did not hesitate to give him a kind reminder. This unforgettable taste must of course be remembered.
Itachi nodded and took a bite of the devil fruit with a calm face. However, this bite broke Itachi's power and he could not maintain his expressionless face. He showed an expression that was three parts surprise, three parts discomfort, three parts helplessness and a hint of disbelief.
"It tastes a bit unpalatable." Itachi said with a frown.
Dou smiled without saying anything, but was quietly happy in his heart.
Even he could not stand the taste, but because of what Kabuto said, Itachi still gritted his teeth and reluctantly finished eating the magma fruit quickly.
It didn't take long for Itachi, who had a strong control over his body, to notice the changes in his body.
Itachi's mind moved slightly, and in an instant his right arm of flesh and blood turned into boiling magma burning with flames.
Although his arm turned into magma, Itachi discovered that controlling the magma was actually more flexible and convenient than controlling his flesh and blood arm.
Itachi aimed at the seven or eight meter high ice block created by Kabuto and hit out a piece of magma. The boiling magma quickly melted the ice block, and soon there was only water on the ground, and the ice block was gone.
"This ability seems to restrain my fruit ability." Kabuto discovered a problem.
“There is no such thing as attribute restraint. As long as your ice is strong enough, it’s not the magma that melts the ice, but you who freeze the magma.” Nagaze said.
"I will remember this defeat, and I will defeat you in five months." Itachi issued a challenge to Kabuto.
During these five months, he will have to practice twice as hard to make up for what he missed before, and then develop the ability of the fruit.
"I will continue my victory." Kabuto said with undiminished momentum, not timidly comparing Itachi to the one who ate the magma fruit.
In order to maintain his status as the winner, Kabuto ate something and hurried to practice, vowing not to stop until he killed Itachi.
Although Itachi was eager to develop new abilities in his fight to defeat Kabuto, he still had things to talk about during his journey.
Nagase brought Itachi to a small meadow and listened to Itachi telling about what he had seen and heard along the way, as well as the doubts that arose during the journey.
"Why did a fabricated rumor develop to such an extent that even I was almost affected by it? Wouldn't the person who spread it in the first place check it out? Why do those nobles who obviously have such favorable conditions enjoy torturing the country folk..."
"Because most people just want to have fun, they don't care whether the news is true or not, they only care about whether they can have fun. Not everyone is a ninja. Plus, the person in the rumor did have bad conduct and handled the situation improperly, so the situation got worse and worse..." Nagase answered one by one.
"But I think you actually understand it quite well." Nagaze said with a smile.
"Humans are really too complicated." Itachi shook his head, feeling that he still didn't know enough.
There are idealists who are willing to do anything for their lofty ideals, and there are also pure evil people who like to do things that harm others and benefit themselves. There are so many different kinds of people.
"That's good to know. However, it's not that difficult to achieve world peace. Perhaps it won't be long before peace can enter the next stage." Nagase said leisurely.
Currently, the ninja world is at peace, but it is a peace dominated by the five major ninja villages.
… …
After reaching an in-depth cooperation with Chakra Technology, a satisfied Nagato released Sugiyama Minato. After all, he was just a small character who could be killed in one move. Nagato didn't really care about him, and also, Chakra Technology gave him too much.
Nagato doesn't care about Sugiyama Minato, but Sugiyama Minato cares about Nagato very much. After returning to the Kara organization, he immediately reported all the information about Nagato to Isshiki in detail.
These include Nagato's appearance, his performance when using his power, and so on.
When Sugiyama Minato mentioned Nagato's eyes, a hint of surprise flashed across Isshiki's calm face.
He didn't expect that the leader of this Light Ninja Village actually had the Rinnegan, although it was only the lowest level purple Rinnegan.
This kind of Rinnegan will not appear in an orthodox Otsutsuki, only the next level of bloodline may appear this kind of eyes.
However, this also made Isshiki feel pity. Even the lowest level of Samsara Eye showed that he inherited the power of the Otsutsuki bloodline and had extraordinary talent, and was very likely able to carry his wedge.
But now Nagato's strength is obviously not something that can be easily controlled by Isshiki with his seriously injured body, unless Isshiki is willing to release his own power, but that would be suicide.
"Yahiko from the Hikari Village has big ambitions. I'm afraid that not only the Hikari Village and the Frost Village, but also the small ninja villages that have seen unusual movements in the past two years are all related to him." Sugiyama Minato said in a deep voice.
And Yishiki still maintained a calm expression.
"It's a good thing to have ambition. Maybe we can use him to help us accomplish something." Yishi said calmly while shaking a glass of red wine.
He doesn't care what kind of ambitions Nagato has, he's just an inferior descendant of Otsutsuki.
Just then, Darcy, who was undercover in the Light Ninja Village, brought them good news.
Although Sugiyama Minato was discovered in the Hikari Village, he only met Darcy at the beginning and it was extremely secretive, so Darcy was not exposed. It was Sugiyama Minato himself who was caught by Nagato.