Mizuki glanced back. Itachi and Kisame were closing in fast, their Body Flicker Technique a blur of speed. Konan had activated the Dance of the Shikigami, wings sprouting from her back as she flew after him.
By comparison, Mizuki — who hadn't even learned the Body Flicker Technique — could only leap through the forest like a slow-moving old monkey.
"Will you ever give up?" He stopped, turned to face them, and closed his eyes tightly, "I've already told you I have no interest in joining the Akatsuki. Why are you so persistent?"
The three stopped as well.
Itachi said, "I am a missing-nin from Konohagakure, and I bear extreme hatred toward the village. You are a ninja of Konoha. If you don't join the Akatsuki, you are my enemy, and I will kill you. Your corpse will be turned into a puppet and continue to serve the Akatsuki."
Mizuki smiled, "I have the Body Swap Technique. Even if I can't win, I can retreat at any time. Kill me? Ha!"
Itachi's face remained expressionless as he issued his final ultimatum, "I'll ask you one more time — are you joining the Akatsuki or not?"
Although Mizuki's eyes were closed, Itachi's expression appeared clearly in his mind.
"Itachi Uchiha, I admire you greatly. However, since you want to kill me, I won't hold back either."
As his words fell, three explosive tags ignited. The Body Swap activated, and Mizuki and Itachi's positions instantly switched.
Boom!
The explosion echoed through the forest. Itachi was at the center with no time to escape.
But the next moment, as the flames dispersed, a flock of crows flew out. They gathered to the side, swaying and wobbling, before reassembling into Itachi's body.
Mizuki had no time to marvel at the technique. At that moment, he heard a hissing sound behind him.
What a cunning Uchiha — he actually set up explosive tags in advance!
The next moment, an explosion erupted behind Mizuki. He used Body Swap again, switching positions with Kisame.
To prevent Kisame from using the same trick, Mizuki immediately used Body Swap on a rock five meters away.
In less than half a second, Mizuki used Body Swap three times. The first to attack, the second to escape, the third to avoid danger.
When he stopped, a stinging pain spread across his back. Despite his quick reaction, Itachi's explosive tags had still caught him — his clothing was blown to shreds, his skin extensively burned.
If he had been even a fraction of a second slower, Mizuki would have been severely injured or killed outright.
"How ruthless!"
Mizuki marveled at Itachi's combat intelligence and ruthless decisiveness. Any contempt he'd felt completely vanished.
Meanwhile, Kisame — who Mizuki had swapped positions with — was engulfed in the explosion's flames, letting out a shrill scream. But when the flames dispersed, his body turned into water and pooled on the ground.
"Water Clone!" Mizuki's mouth twitched.
He had taken the initiative to attack and used Body Swap three times in succession, yet Itachi and Kisame hadn't lost a single hair. Meanwhile, he was injured.
So I'm the clown?
His previously invincible Body Swap tactics had hit a wall.
This was the consequence of having his intelligence leaked. Once the enemy knew about the Body Swap Technique, as long as they weren't stupid, they'd think of countermeasures.
There is no invincible technique!
Overconfidence leads to capsizing in the gutter.
"My Echolocation isn't precise enough, and there's delay. It's fine for sensing enemy movements, but for actual combat, it's too unreliable."
He hadn't noticed when Itachi formed hand seals for the Crow Clone Technique, or when Kisame formed seals for the Water Clone. If his eyes had been open, their movements would never have escaped his observation.
Unfortunately, fearing Itachi's genjutsu, Mizuki could only fight with his eyes closed.
'Damn it, this is too passive. If I keep fighting, I'll be played to death.' Mizuki felt stifled but helpless.
In one exchange, he'd suffered a major loss and been injured. Since his transmigration, he'd never taken such a hit.
Time to leave.
"Worthy of being Itachi Uchiha — I admit defeat. You're impressive. I'm no match for you, so I'm leaving!" He spoke frankly, then leaped to the treetops.
Itachi said, "You can't escape. The Body Swap Technique may be flexible, but it consumes Chakra. How much longer can yours hold out? Today, either join the Akatsuki or die."
Mizuki smiled, "Who says the Body Swap Technique is all I have?"
As his words fell, after a few flickers, he'd already moved beyond their line of sight. Then Chakra erupted from the soles of his feet — the Sky Walk Technique activated. He didn't fly high, but instead hugged the forest canopy, flying low at maximum speed and rapidly retreating into the distance.
In the forest, Itachi said, "He won't get far. We'll continue pursuing."
From the brief exchange, he'd gained a clearer assessment of Mizuki's strength.
'He doesn't just have Body Swap — he's also mastered sensory ninjutsu. Even with his eyes closed, he can sense the exact positions of objects around him. Beyond that, he's learned the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan and improved it by adding Wind Release chakra nature transformation. Its power has increased dramatically — the destructive force rivals a Tailed Beast Ball.'
In Itachi's mind, Mizuki's threat level had risen to S-Rank.
'The Third Hokage already dislikes him. With three ANBU members dead, the Hokage will seize this opportunity when Mizuki returns. Mizuki will resist, triggering a major battle. Either way, Konoha will suffer tremendous losses.'
Itachi was deeply worried. He had one thought: catch Mizuki and kill him. He couldn't let him return to Konoha and cause destruction.
But Mizuki had already flown far away — how could they catch up?
The Body Flicker Technique consumed chakra too. They couldn't use it indefinitely.
After pursuing for two or three kilometers with no trace of Mizuki, Itachi grew anxious.
"We can't catch him. Give up." Konan said flatly, "Either his speed is faster than ours, or he changed direction. We've lost him."
Itachi's heart filled with regret, "If I had known, I should have used Amaterasu earlier and burned him to death."
Unfortunately, regret was useless.
'The only thing I can do is find an opportunity to pass Mizuki's information back to Konoha. They need to prepare a proper response and minimize the losses.'
In five minutes, Mizuki flew approximately 25 kilometers, consuming 3 Ka units of chakra.
His chakra had hit rock bottom. He'd used Body Swap many times, consuming large amounts of chakra, plus the Sky Walk Technique.
He had only 1 Ka unit left. This last bit couldn't be consumed — he needed to keep it for unexpected incidents.
He flew to high altitude and looked around, "At this distance, I'm safe. Even if Itachi and the others don't give up, they can't catch me. There's a small town ahead. I should treat the injuries on my back."
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Entering the town, Mizuki found an inn and bathed using high-efficiency body-strengthening medicine. The medicine worked as powerfully as always. By the next morning, the injuries on his back had mostly healed.
Recalling yesterday's battle, he still felt lingering fear. He'd almost been done for.
"I was too arrogant, thinking Body Swap made me invincible. Itachi wanted to kill me, but he also taught me a lesson."
A person's strength isn't determined by chakra or ninjutsu alone. Those are external factors. The internal factors — combat intelligence and experience — matter more.
In yesterday's battle, Mizuki never anticipated that Itachi would set explosive tags in advance. If he had, he wouldn't have been caught in the blast. This was a failure of combat intelligence.
Simply put, Itachi had crushed him with superior tactics.
The realization was both frustrating and humbling.
"Since obtaining Body Swap, I've only focused on attacking and killing enemies. I never carefully considered the technique's weaknesses. Itachi exploited that and nearly killed me."
As the saying goes: Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.
{T/N: The Art of War, Sun Tzu.}
Mizuki hadn't even achieved self-knowledge — hence yesterday's defeat.
Understanding this, he felt his thinking clear, as if breaking through a mental barrier.
"If I want to stop fearing Itachi, I must solve the genjutsu problem."
Until he resolved this, every encounter with Itachi would leave him at a disadvantage.
He had two options: improve Echolocation's precision to match Dynamic Vision, allowing him to "see" every enemy movement clearly. Or strengthen his mental power until his spirit could resist genjutsu control.
"No matter how much I improve Echolocation, it will always have flaws. I won't consider that first."
Sound travels fast, but there's still delay.
Sound moves through air at 340 m/s. At 30 meters apart, the echo would take roughly 0.1 seconds to reach his ears. From the moment an opponent moved to when he "saw" it, there'd be a 0.1-second delay.
In battles between masters, 0.1 seconds could decide the outcome. Echolocation was unsuitable for combat.
"So there's only one path: enhancing mental power."
The Yamanaka and Nara families likely had medicines or methods to directly enhance mental power.
But Mizuki couldn't access those secret medicines. His only option was the system.
"I'll get some mind-refreshing medicine later. Sasuke and Sakura each have one grant-and-return opportunity left. When I return to the village, I'll give them the medicine… Time to go back. I wonder what the Third Hokage has prepared to welcome me."
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