Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu."

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu."

Itachi, plummeting rapidly from the iron tower, twisted his body in mid-air and completed his hand seals at lightning speed. Just as he unleashed his technique, Sasuke, who had leaped down from above, completed his own jutsu.

Boom.

Two massive fireballs collided mid-air, creating a powerful explosion that sent flames scattering across the iron tower, melting parts of the structure. The intensity of their Great Fireball Jutsu far surpassed that of ordinary ninjas.

After launching the fireball, Sasuke quickly swung his right hand upward. The seemingly ordinary ring on his finger shot out an almost invisible wire, which he used to swing himself to the left, avoiding the fiery collision zone. Then, using the wall of the iron tower as a foothold, he continued his chase downward.

"Lightning Style: Earth Walk." Sasuke, spotting Itachi below him and using wires to brace himself against the iron tower, quickly formed hand seals and pressed his hand onto the tower wall. A surge of lightning instantly raced down the structure toward Itachi, forcing him to release his wire and continue his descent.

The Uchiha clan had always excelled in the use of ninja tools. Their skill with shuriken and mastery of wire techniques were well-known, and even at Itachi and Sasuke's current skill level, the wires remained useful for maneuvering. The wires allowed Sasuke to change his direction and dodge the fiery collision, while Itachi used them to land more safely.

"Lightning Style: Chidori Senbon." Sasuke launched a barrage of hundreds of lightning-infused needles toward Itachi, who deftly parried several with a kunai.

"It seems he's taught you well," Itachi remarked as they both landed on the iron tower's plaza. He looked at Sasuke with a mixture of worry and resignation.

Itachi had always been concerned about Sasuke's fate under Daniel's influence, a stark contrast to the original timeline where he had kept a close eye on Sasuke's progress with Orochimaru. During that time, Itachi had even monitored Sasuke's mental battle with Orochimaru, which allowed him to know that Orochimaru hadn't completely died. He later used the Totsuka Blade to seal away the part of Orochimaru's consciousness lurking within Sasuke.

But ever since Daniel took Sasuke away, Itachi had lost track of him, worried about how he might be used by Daniel. In the ninja world, people often assumed the worst intentions of others, so Itachi had always suspected that Daniel's kindness toward Sasuke concealed ulterior motives.

"More than you'd imagine," Sasuke replied coolly, forming hand seals again. "Enough talk. Today, I will kill you."

Itachi hesitated for a moment, surprised at the jutsu Sasuke was preparing. Suddenly, sharp wooden spikes shot up from the ground, impaling Itachi's body—Wood Style: Piercing Spikes.

The Wood Style jutsu, modeled after Earth Style's Earth Flow Spears, summoned numerous wooden spikes from the ground to skewer the target. Sasuke had developed this version of the jutsu by combining the Earth Style technique with his studies under Daniel and his knowledge of Wood Style from Yamato.

Strictly speaking, there was no such thing as an "ordinary" jutsu in the ninja world. A jutsu's power depended on the user's skill level; an elite could turn a simple jutsu into something fearsome, while a novice might weaken even the most powerful techniques.

For instance, Yamato's Wood Pillar Wall was a far weaker version of Hashirama's Wood Release techniques. Similarly, while Hashirama and Madara could summon entire forests, Yamato could only produce a grove.

If Daniel were to use Piercing Spikes at full strength, he could achieve something comparable to Kimimaro's Dance of the Seedling Fern, covering a vast area with deadly spikes. While Sasuke's approach mirrored Hashirama's, Daniel had adapted Wood Style to include his mastery of Yin-Yang Release, resulting in a very different manifestation.

Sasuke's face remained stoic as he looked at Itachi's impaled form. Given Itachi's strength, such a simple move couldn't possibly be fatal.

Sure enough, moments later, the Itachi impaled by the wooden spikes dissipated in a puff of smoke, transforming into a black crow. This wasn't an illusion or a shadow clone, but a Crow Clone.

In high-level battles between Kage-level shinobi, using Shadow Clones recklessly was dangerous, as splitting chakra reduced one's strength. Even Madara only used Shadow Clones during the Fourth Great Ninja War because he was under the effects of Edo Tensei. In his final battle with Hashirama, neither used clones.

"Wood Style?" Itachi emerged from the shadows, his expression a mix of surprise and confusion. Seeing the legendary Wood Style, a hallmark of the First Hokage, in his younger brother's arsenal stirred complex emotions within him.

"That's right. Wood Style." Sasuke replied with pride. Konoha had plenty of records about the First Hokage, glorifying his feats in the Academy's history lessons, so Sasuke was well aware of the significance of wielding Hashirama's power.

"This... this is a power he gave you, isn't it?" Itachi looked troubled.

"Yes. And not just that. He taught me many things—about the Mangekyo Sharingan, and how, if two brothers each awaken it, they can fuse their Mangekyo eyes to create the Eternal Mangekyo, which eliminates the Mangekyo's debilitating side effects. Uchiha Madara only avoided blindness by taking his brother's eyes."

Sasuke's expression turned grim, his voice rising. "You didn't spare me out of mercy. You needed me alive so I could awaken the Mangekyo, and you could steal my eyes."

Itachi's face faltered momentarily before his expression twisted with fury. "You're right. I wanted the power Madara possessed. But you were too weak. I killed them all to push you, yet even then, you remained pitifully frail, still unable to awaken it."

With his face distorted, Itachi truly looked the part of a villain, his voice laced with madness.

"You bastard!" Sasuke's fury erupted as he drew his Kusanagi blade, channeling lightning chakra through his body and lunging at Itachi.

"Amaterasu." In response, Itachi's right eye spun, activating the Mangekyo Sharingan and summoning a strange black fire in Sasuke's path.

Sasuke quickly sidestepped the flames, but the black fire followed him relentlessly. Forced to retreat, Sasuke found that his speed barely outpaced the deadly flames.

"What are those two doing?" Daniel's clone, hiding nearby, shook his head in exasperation as he listened to their exchange.

"Keep an eye on Sasuke. Make sure nothing happens to him," Daniel's original voice came through the earpiece. "There's a new force arriving to aid Kumogakure."

"Understood."

Daniel's Shadow Clones couldn't share vision directly like Pain's Six Paths but relied on communication devices synced between his clones and the original.

In Kumogakure, a small contingent of ninjas remained at the command post. Upon learning of the battlefront's state, all but the sensory ninja moved to provide support. Among them were members of the sealing team with expertise in sealing techniques.

"Brother, Tailed Beast Tornado!" Killer B, entangled by the iron and gold sand manipulations of the Third and Fourth Kazekage, could no longer support his brother, the Fourth Raikage. Enraged, B's eight massive tails broke free of the sand, coiling around him as he began to spin rapidly, forming a vortex of water and wind that forced the Kazekages back.

With the swirling currents and powerful gusts generated by the spinning tails, the Kazekages were unable to stop B's approach toward his brother.

"B!"

"Brother!"

As B neared his brother, they exchanged a brief acknowledgment. B's spinning tails discharged massive amounts of ink.

"Sealing Technique: Ink Clone Binding." Although B himself couldn't perform sealing techniques, the Eight-Tails could. The spilled ink coalesced into twelve shadowy clones of B, each taking aim at the Kazekages and the Third Raikage.

The Fourth Raikage seized the moment to launch a thunderous punch at the Fourth Kazekage, who reflexively summoned a wall of gold sand to shield himself. The impact shattered the sand shield, forcing the Fourth Kazekage to retreat.

Rasa attempted to control his gold sand to counterattack, only to find it blackened and immobilized by the ink. Three of B's ink clones seized him, paralyzing his movements.

Once contaminated by the ink, movement became impossible, as the paralysis lasted long enough for permanent sealing.

The Third Kazekage soon found himself similarly immobilized. Finally, with the Third Raikage bound by B's massive tails, only the arrival of sealing team members remained to fully secure them.

"I'll make them pay for this," the Fourth Raikage vowed, seeing his incapacitated predecessor.

"I made a mistake I should never have made." Just as the Kazekages and Third Raikage were restrained by the ink clones, a foreign voice echoed through the air.

Killer B and the Fourth Raikage turned to see a stranger approaching, alongside the freed Third Kazekage.

The newcomer was, of course, Daniel. While the Ink Clone Binding technique was powerful, it was relatively easy to break by striking the ink-covered body parts.

"Be careful; he may be the one controlling these reanimated shinobi," warned the elder Raikage, "so don't underestimate him."

The Fourth Raikage glared at Daniel, lightning chakra intensifying around him. Without hesitation, he surged forward with lightning speed, aiming a powerful punch directly at Daniel's head.

"You've mastered Lightning Style Taijutsu well," Daniel noted, observing the Raikage's incredible speed as he moved to dodge. In the ninja world, taijutsu users with such speed were rare. Even Might Guy, if he didn't open the Eight Gates, might struggle against the Raikage in pure speed.

With a swift sidestep, Daniel avoided the Raikage's strike, letting his opponent's momentum carry him past. But the Raikage's reflexes were quick; he turned and launched a barrage of lightning-infused punches, each powerful enough to shatter stone.

The Fourth Raikage's relentless strikes forced Daniel to remain evasive, each movement calculated to avoid the lethal impact. However, Daniel didn't retaliate right away, analyzing the Raikage's techniques and waiting for the right moment.

Noticing the lack of counterattacks, the Raikage shouted, "Do you think you can toy with us?! I won't let anyone harm my village or my comrades!"

"Your sense of duty is commendable," Daniel replied calmly. "But your power alone won't stop me. I came prepared to handle even the strongest shinobi."

At that, Daniel's form shifted, his body radiating energy as he activated a subtle defensive technique that enhanced his reflexes. As the Raikage launched another lightning-fast blow, Daniel parried it with precision, redirecting the energy and leaving the Raikage off-balance.

The brief exchange left the Raikage momentarily stunned. Killer B, watching from a distance, sensed the shift in the battle's intensity. Realizing the danger, he prepared another technique, drawing on the Eight-Tails' chakra to increase his own power.

"Yo, big bro, let me lend you some flow!" Killer B rapped as he channeled the Eight-Tails, his form partially transformed with chakra cloaks that amplified his physical power and speed.

Now facing both brothers, Daniel knew that his strategy would need to be precise. He remained focused, calculating each of their moves and countering with a mixture of evasion and deflective maneuvers, his goal not to overpower but to weaken their stance.

"Why hold back?" the Raikage shouted in frustration. "If you have power, show it!"

In response, Daniel released a burst of energy that pushed both the Raikage and Killer B back several feet. "If you're this eager to see it," Daniel remarked, "then don't blink."

With a speed that matched the Raikage's, Daniel's form seemed to split as he created several afterimages, surrounding the Raikage and Killer B from all sides. The brothers found themselves encircled, unable to predict which of the images was real.

The Raikage roared, his lightning armor intensifying, while Killer B channeled more of the Eight-Tails' chakra, both preparing to break through the illusion. At that moment, Daniel struck, his actual form emerging from an unexpected angle. His attack was precise, aiming not for lethal damage but for critical pressure points, forcing both the Raikage and Killer B to stagger.

Seizing the opportunity, Daniel used a sealing technique, temporarily binding their chakra flow to disrupt their techniques. As the energy restraints settled around them, both brothers felt their chakra dampened, realizing they had been outmaneuvered.

"Now, stay put," Daniel said as he stepped back, eyeing the ink-bound Kazekages and the restrained Raikage and Killer B. With them immobilized, the arriving sealing squad would be able to finish the job.

"I'll make you pay," the Fourth Raikage managed, straining against the seals, his determination undiminished.

Daniel simply nodded. "We'll see who pays when the dust settles."

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