Kakashi had expected the enemy to take Gaara and escape immediately, but seeing the situation unfold differently made him breathe a sigh of relief.
Now—he just had to take down the opponent in front of him.
Kakashi refocused on Itachi.
At that moment, Sasuke clashed with Itachi again, their second exchange. Naruto, holding a Rasengan, moved in to assist.
Using his shadow clones as cover, Naruto launched a direct attack—but the moment his Rasengan connected, Itachi's body scattered into countless crows, dissolving into the air.
"A crow clone!"
Kakashi's eyes narrowed.
"A combination of illusion and a clone technique..."
That had to be it.
Kakashi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
A surge of pupil power dispelled Itachi's genjutsu instantly.
Itachi took note.
"A Mangekyō Sharingan!?"
For a brief moment, he was genuinely surprised.
He knew how difficult it was to awaken the Mangekyō, and yet Kakashi—someone who had received his Sharingan through transplantation—had developed it to that level.
Still—by now, the chakra in Itachi's body was nearly depleted.
Even if Kakashi had the Mangekyō, all it did was accelerate the collapse of Itachi's clone.
Without hesitation, Itachi moved. In an instant, he landed a precise strike, knocking Sasuke out of his Lightning Chakra Mode.
"Sasuke!"
Naruto caught him before he hit the ground.
Kakashi's eyes sharpened.
This must be the real Itachi!
He immediately focused his Mangekyō Sharingan—
"Don't bother."
Itachi's voice was calm.
"My clone has run out of chakra."
Kakashi and the others froze.
"Clone?!"
The next moment, Itachi's body began to decay and break apart.
Before disappearing completely, Itachi turned his gaze to Sasuke.
"Foolish little brother… I hope you won't be this weak the next time we meet." His voice was cold. "Hurry and grow stronger. I can't wait to kill you."
Sasuke clenched his fists.
"Don't worry. I will kill you, bastard!"
Itachi smirked slightly.
"We'll see."
And with that, his body disintegrated—revealing an unfamiliar corpse left behind in his place.
---
On the other side—
The battlefield between Kisame and Team Guy had turned into a vast expanse of water.
Meanwhile, Sasori had positioned himself on the outskirts of the fight, blocking Chiyo's group.
By this time, he had already summoned his masterpiece—the human puppet of the Third Kazekage—and was engaged in battle with Chiyo and her team.
Asuma Sarutobi and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio fought alongside the ten-man squad led by Chiyo, managing to hold their ground against Sasori.
Others, like Tsuchiya, could only offer support from a distance, throwing shuriken whenever an opening appeared.
Before long, Kakashi arrived to back up Chiyo's group.
While controlling her puppets, Chiyo glanced at him.
"Weren't you supposed to stop that flying ninja?"
Kakashi nodded.
"I didn't stop him, but Gaara should be fine."
"Hmm?"
Chiyo was confused.
Kakashi smiled.
"Did you not notice that someone is missing from our group? The one person who stands out the most, the one no one could possibly ignore?"
Chiyo's eyes widened in realization.
"Her?"
---
Up in the sky—
Deidara soared through the air, flying on his clay bird with Gaara unconscious at his feet.
Bored, he sighed.
"Man, I should just turn around and drop some bombs. That would liven things up."
He glanced down at Gaara and gave him a nudge with his foot.
"You're such a drag. If it weren't for you slowing things down, my explosions would've left them all in awe by now."
Then, on instinct, he glanced behind him—
And nearly jumped out of his skin.
A girl was standing at the very edge of his clay bird.
Sakiya.
Her arms were outstretched, eyes closed, letting the wind rush past her as her hair danced through the air.
She looked completely at ease, as if she belonged there.
But to Deidara, it was infuriating.
"Hey! You! When the hell did you get up here?!"
It was no surprise he hadn't noticed her before—
The way she moved, the way she existed, was unsettling. It was as if the wind itself didn't touch her, as if she wasn't even there.
Sakiya slowly turned her head toward him.
"Do you want to know who I am?"
Deidara's eye twitched.
"I wanna know how the hell you got up here, you freak!"
Sakiya ignored him, her expression turning unnervingly serious. She raised one hand over her eyes in a dramatic pose, then pointed a claw-like finger at him.
"Then I will graciously tell you… my name!"
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR NAME!"
But she wasn't listening.
With unwavering conviction, she continued.
"I am the Deathwalker of the Infinite Realm! The Guardian of Worlds! The Founder of the Infinite Order of the Eternal Abyss! The One Who Holds the Eye of—"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"
Unfazed, she pressed on.
"But you, a mere ignorant mortal, do not need to remember all of that. You only need to know my code name!"
She flourished her hands in a series of exaggerated motions—like a cat swiping at the air—before striking a final pose, hands raised dramatically.
"BEHOLD! I AM… THE EYE OF DEATH!!!"
Silence.
For a full five seconds, nothing happened.
Deidara stared, his mind short-circuiting from the sheer absurdity of what he had just witnessed.
Finally, his brain rebooted.
"WHAT?! I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND A SINGLE WORD OF THAT! AND YOU STILL DIDN'T TELL ME HOW YOU GOT UP HERE, DAMMIT!"
Sakiya sighed, lowering her hands.
"Hmph. Of course, a mere mortal like you wouldn't understand the depth of my existence."
Then, she glanced down at her feet—
And her expression shifted.
"...Oh. No wonder you mortals can't sense the power of my Eye of Death. The magic circle hasn't been activated yet."
Without missing a beat, she reached into her waist pouch and pulled out a paintbrush, completely unfazed by the situation.
She was drawing a magic circle on the bird.
Deidara watched the girl's actions, his fists clenching as he trembled with anger.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Sakiya calmly retracted her brush.
A small magic circle had now appeared on the back of the clay bird.
Standing within it, she cleared her throat and addressed Deidara.
"I had to set up the magic circle properly. The last attempt didn't count since it wasn't activated."
Deidara twitched as he listened to her explanation, his patience wearing thin.
The next moment, the glowing magic circle beneath Sakiya's feet flared to life, casting a halo of light around her.
She raised her hands dramatically.
"I am the Deathwalker of Infinite Dimensions! The Guardian of the World—"
Before she could finish, Deidara silently formed a hand seal and pressed his palm against the bird's back.
The clay bird shifted.
Its wings condensed inward, and a section of its back separated entirely—
The very section where Sakiya was standing.
Her expression froze as she suddenly found herself standing on thin air.
Gravity took over.
At the same time, Sakiya plummeted through the air, her voice trailing off into the wind.
But it wasn't a scream.
Deidara could still catch bits and pieces of what she was saying—something about dimensions, something about the "Eye of Death."
Annoyed, he silently formed another hand seal.
Then—
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted in the sky.
Sakiya's voice was gone.
Deidara exhaled, murmuring to himself, "Where did that weirdo even come from?"
Of course, he hadn't just been humoring her for no reason. While stalling, he had secretly prepared to alter the clay bird and separate its sections.
Sharing the same platform as an opponent made it difficult to use his signature explosive techniques. Now, that problem was gone.
Satisfied, Deidara turned—
And froze.
There, standing on the head of his clay bird, was a girl.
Her back was to him, arms spread wide, embracing the wind.
The exact same posture as before.
Deidara's eyes widened in disbelief.
Déjà vu.
___________________
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