A real fight was naturally different from their usual sparring. If they wanted to fool this group of experienced Akatsuki members, the battle had to look convincing.
Understanding Jie's intentions, Itachi immediately made the first move.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
His hands blurred through a series of seals, and in the next instant, a huge fireball roared toward Jie. 'Starting with the Great Fireball again? Is this some kind of Uchiha tradition?'
Facing the incoming flames, Jie remained completely calm. He casually drew the Kusanagi Sword and swung once.
Slash.
The massive fireball split apart instantly and scattered into the air.
Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly.
'Five years… and Brother has become even stronger.'
'Good. The stronger he is, the better his chances against Pain.'
After sensing Jie's true strength, Itachi stopped holding back. Whether it was techniques he had learned himself or jutsu Jie had once taught him, he unleashed them one after another without hesitation.
The terrifying shockwaves from the battle caused the surrounding Akatsuki members to grow serious.
Itachi truly deserved his reputation as a genius of the Uchiha Clan. The power of his ninjutsu alone was enough to make people's scalps go numb.
Even Kisame felt that if he were in Jie's position, surviving Itachi's first wave of attacks would already be difficult.
But no matter how fierce the attacks became, Jie dismantled every single jutsu with ease. From beginning to end, he never even tried to dodge.
With nothing but the Kusanagi sword in hand, he casually cut apart every incoming technique with a single slash.
As someone who also specialized in swordsmanship, Kisame could clearly feel the enormous gap between himself and Jie.
They weren't on the same level at all.
'Damn it… how did Itachi get even stronger?'
Watching Itachi unleash technique after technique, Deidara gritted his teeth in frustration. The growing gap between their strength filled him with a deep sense of helplessness.
At this rate, when would he ever get revenge?
Meanwhile, down in the arena, Sasuke watched the battle above with his Sharingan active, his expression constantly changing.
'Why are Big Brother and Itachi actually fighting?'
'Did Big Brother really betray us?'
But after carefully observing Jie's movements, Sasuke gradually hesitated. It didn't feel like a real battle.
Instead, it looked more like Jie was intentionally guiding Itachi's attacks, almost as if he were sparring with him.
Sasuke hadn't seen Jie seriously fight in a very long time. In fact, he had never truly witnessed Jie go all out.
But one thing he knew for certain... If Jie were genuinely trying to kill someone, the battle would probably end instantly.
Thinking that, Sasuke slowly calmed down and chose to keep watching instead of rushing onto the platform.
After cycling through his normal ninjutsu, Itachi decided it was time to move the performance into its next stage.
"Rasengan."
A bright blue sphere of chakra rapidly spun into existence in Itachi's palm.
With Itachi's talent, mastering the Rasengan after obtaining its training method was naturally not difficult. And Jie just happened to possess the complete training process for the technique.
The jutsu once created by Minato Namikaze once again displayed its terrifying power. This time, however, Jie had no intention of simply slashing the attack apart again.
It wasn't that he couldn't destroy the Rasengan with the Kusanagi sword. Repeating the same move over and over was just boring.
Also, if he kept holding back like this, how was he supposed to convince the Akatsuki that he was taking the fight seriously?
More importantly, Jie's attacks were simply too destructive.
After years of training in the Lightning Release Body Enhancement technique, his physical strength had reached an absurd level. Even with his precise chakra control, holding back against someone weaker than himself was still difficult.
After all, crushing an ant by accident was far easier than carefully avoiding it.
To avoid seriously injuring Itachi, Jie temporarily sheathed the Kusanagi Sword. "My foolish little brother… let me see how much you've improved with the Rasengan."
As Itachi rapidly closed in, Jie calmly raised one hand. A light-blue Rasengan instantly formed in his palm at a speed several times faster than Itachi's.
But he didn't stop there.
As more chakra poured into it, the Rasengan rapidly transformed. Four blades of chakra extended from the sphere, forming the shape of a giant shuriken while emitting a sharp, ear-piercing screech.
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!"
The moment Itachi saw the technique, a powerful sense of danger exploded in his mind.
'That jutsu is deadly.'
'If this were a real fight, I'd already be dead.'
Without hesitation, Itachi immediately leapt backward to retreat. But since it was called the Rasenshuriken...it was naturally meant to be thrown.
Jie quickly glanced at the positions of Itachi and the surrounding Akatsuki members. In less than a second, he calculated the perfect angle.
"My foolish little brother…"
"Let your elder brother show you what a true Rasengan looks like!"
The moment his words fell, the Rasenshuriken shot forward, screaming through the air toward Itachi Uchiha.
Itachi's expression immediately changed.
'Wait… what's going on? Is Brother actually trying to kill me?'
For a brief instant, Itachi almost activated Susanoo on reflex. He wasn't even sure whether Susanoo could block that attack.
But in the end, he still chose to trust that Jie had everything under control.
He pretended he couldn't dodge in time and watched helplessly as the giant spinning shuriken closed in on him.
The surrounding Akatsuki members also assumed Itachi was about to die beneath the terrifying jutsu.
But just before impact... the Rasenshuriken suddenly curved in midair.
"Manipulated Shuriken Technique."
A faint smile appeared on Jie's face. After all, the Rasenshuriken was still technically a shuriken.
So wasn't it perfectly reasonable for it to change direction under his control?
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