"Huff... Ugh... cough cough, it's quite strong."
"That's how it is the first time."
"By the way, why did you start smoking? It's not a good habit."
"I don't know. I just thought it looked cool back then. But I'm part of the reformist faction, so I smoke modern cigarettes, not the traditional pipe like my dad."
"Oh? There are factions in smoking?"
"Yeah, the reformists and the traditionalists are different. Sadly, the old man can't handle cigarettes. He's a stubborn traditionalist."
"Your father is the Sandaime Hokage, right?"
"Huh? How did you know that?"
"Aren't you Asuma? The one with a 30 million bounty on the black market?"
---
Meanwhile, after releasing the Magatama, Itachi clutched his eyes in pain, forgetting to check the result.
'If nothing unexpected happen, with such a large explosion, that young man probably couldn't dodge it.'
But the thought of his dear younger brother dying before him filled Itachi with grief.
If he could do it over, he would never have left Sasuke to suffer in Konoha.
'Sasuke, my dear Sasuke!'
'This world is a fake. I will create a world where only Sasuke exists!'
Itachi seemed to have made up his mind, lifting his head to see the outcome.
However, when he saw two Susanoo rising, Itachi was completely stunned.
'Oh no, I must have overused my Sharingan. Now I'm seeing hallucinations.'
---
In a corner of the battlefield, a peeping tom was watching everything unfold.
'Red, purple, blue...'
"Is this the Sharingan? This is the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan... Hehehehe, it's too powerful."
"By the way, Kabuto, what do you think would happen if I could get my hands on a pair of Mangekyo?"
Kabuto wiped his sweat, "Orochimaru-sama, those three don't seem easy to deal with."
"It's all because of that damn Jiraiya, messing up my plans and schemes."
"Huh? Who's talking bad about me?"
Orochimaru and Kabuto turned to see a white-haired oddball crouching in the bushes nearby.
Jiraiya merely glanced at Orochimaru and then...
"Fair lady, may I extend a sincere invitation to you?"
"The lights of Konoha at night shine as brightly as the moon, and you, my lady, surpass even the moon in beauty. Would you care to join me for a drink tonight?"
Seeing Jiraiya's fawning expression, Orochimaru felt reassured.
"Hehe, is that so?"
"So, you agree?"
"Get lost!"
As he said that, Orochimaru slapped Jiraiya hard across the face, then took Kabuto to another spot to continue observing.
Jiraiya, who was slapped for no apparent reason, looked utterly baffled, 'If you don't want to go, just say so... Why so violent? Just like Tsunade.'
After calming down a bit, Jiraiya's rational mind regained control over his impulses.
'But compared to Tsunade, that person really does resemble that damn snake.'
---
Back at the main battlefield, Itachi was utterly confused. He couldn't understand why there were two Susanoo here.
But soon, it became clear to him that these two Susanoo were independent of each other, not a result of his blurry eyes playing tricks on him.
Itachi had a suspicion and tentatively called out, "Sasuke?"
However, when Sasuke heard Itachi call his name, he immediately roared, "Don't call my name! Itachi! You despicable scum! I will definitely kill you!"
Hearing this familiar tirade, Itachi's face now showed a look of happiness.
'Yes, it's Sasuke scolding me, what a relief.'
'But if Sasuke is fine, what happened to Kakashi?'
There was no time for Itachi to ponder further, 'Now that the misunderstanding was cleared up, we should...'
Itachi quickly pulled Kisame away under the cover of a Genjutsu.
"Let's go!"
At this time, Kisame, who was unprepared for this, was about to take the third cigarette handed to him by Asuma.
Suddenly, he felt a strong pull and reached out to grab the cigarette.
But he didn't know why the sickly Itachi could suddenly burst with such strength and speed.
"My cigarette! My cigarette!"
"Forget the cigarette! Let's move!"
---
On the way back to Amegakure, when crossing a river, Itachi found the boatman too slow, so he carried the boat and ran to the other side.
Only when they were near the base in Amegakure did Itachi finally relax.
"This mission failed because of faulty intelligence! Cough, so, next time we need to gather more information before acting."
Kisame nodded in confusion, "Itachi-san, do they sell cigarettes in the village?"
Itachi glanced at Kisame speechlessly.
He still couldn't understand where Kakashi got the double Mangekyo.
'And the other one... I couldn't have mistaken him, and the way he cursed was exactly like Sasuke, even the content was spot on. He's definitely Sasuke."
"I didn't expect Itachi-san's brother to be so powerful, opening eyes like yours at such a young age."
"Yeah, yeah."
Itachi quickly brushed it off, "Don't mention this to the leader later, I'll buy you cigarettes."
---
Seeing Itachi suddenly disappear, Sasuke and Kakashi both breathed a sigh of relief. Facing Itachi, a veteran Mangekyo user, was indeed stressful for newbies like them.
"Hmph, he got away. If only I were stronger..."
But recalling the power he just felt, Sasuke was once again mesmerized.
Kakashi exhaled. After Yuto used the Universal Repair Kit, not only did his Mangekyo Sharingan restored, but it also automatically enhanced his connection with the Sharingan.
So in this battle, he surprisingly held up well.
In fact, he had a lot of Chakra, but he didn't expect that after this battle, the amount he consumed was less than what he usually spent on a mission.
Kakashi smiled and said, "I remember Manager has added a new batch of goods. I remember there are some very useful proficiency books in it... and I'm almost saving enough points. I think I should go back to redeem them."
It has been a while since the start of the ranking season.
It was already the second season.
Kakashi had exchanged for three items in total...
Without exception, they are all Chakra Proficiency Books.
No other reason, as he just understood the pain of being 'out of Chakra' all too well.
Sasuke nodded, as he also saw that there was still a significant gap between him and Itachi.
"Alright, let's leave it at that for now. Next, let's head to the shop. Naruto just said he wanted to spar with me..."
---
In fact, Sasuke wasn't initially at the shop. He had heard from someone that Itachi had come to Konoha to capture the Nine-Tails.
So up to this point, Sasuke had been searching for Naruto, just like in that episode in the anime.
However, in the anime, Sasuke searched for an entire episode, but here... Sasuke just went to the shop, called out to Naruto, and noticed Naruto curled up in a corner playing games.
So he felt relieved and came to look for Itachi according to the location he heard... and then, it was the story of him descending from above with Chidori to stab the Susanoo.