Naruto: Tobirama Reborn, Invincible in the Ninja World

"Sasori? What are you doing here?"

Itachi furrowed his brow slightly as he looked at the hunched old man wearing a black mask standing at his door. He had just returned to the Akatsuki's base in Amegakure after completing a grueling mission with Kisame and intended to rest.

"Itachi," the elder addressed him in a raspy, emotionless voice, "the leader has sent me to find you. There's a new mission—eliminating the organization's traitor, Orochimaru."

Itachi's frown deepened. Hunting Orochimaru had always been Deidara and Sasori's assignment. Why was he needed now?

"Has the organization pinpointed Orochimaru's location? Even so, shouldn't Kisame and I handle this together?"

"Kisame has another task," Sasori replied coldly, his tone leaving no room for debate. "We've discovered Orochimaru's whereabouts. He's gravely injured after a clash with Tobirama Senju. This is our best chance to kill him. Besides," his voice grew faintly sinister, "I need a powerful corpse for my next puppet. Orochimaru will do nicely."

"Pack your gear. I'll wait for you outside."

With that, Sasori's hunched figure, supported by his puppet Hiruko, disappeared into the shadows.

Everything about Sasori's behavior seemed normal, even to Itachi's perceptive eyes. But the mission's timing and the unusual request left Itachi uneasy. Still, an order from the Akatsuki leader was not something he could ignore.

After gathering a few ninja tools, Itachi swiftly caught up with Sasori, and the two sped toward the Land of Fields.

As they ventured deeper into the country, the journey remained oddly peaceful. Yet, a growing sense of unease gnawed at Itachi.

Hiruko's puppet steadily moved forward, but Itachi's unease only deepened. His Sharingan spun subtly as he scrutinized Sasori's chakra flow. Everything seemed calm—too calm.

Sometimes, the absence of abnormalities is the greatest anomaly.

Silently, Itachi heightened his guard, his body ready for combat.

When they reached a massive waterfall, Itachi abruptly stopped.

"Wait."

Sasori turned, his rasping voice hollow as ever. "What is it?"

"I need to contact the leader to confirm the mission details," Itachi said, staring intently into Hiruko's lifeless eyes.

"You can, but make it quick. I despise waiting," Sasori replied, his tone and even his habitual disdain unchanged.

But Sasori's composure made Itachi's suspicion spike. If Sasori was confident enough to let him verify with the leader, did that mean the leader himself was complicit in this trap?

Itachi's mind raced, weighing his options. If the leader, Pain, was involved, then there might be no way out of this ambush. And if other Akatsuki members were in on it…

He masked his unease, pretending to perform the communication technique. While outwardly calm, his mind spun with strategies to escape if his fears were confirmed.

Moments later, he acted as though he'd received a satisfactory response. Relaxing his posture, he looked at Sasori and nodded.

"All clear. Let's proceed."

"Good."

Sasori's tone remained as emotionless as ever. But this time, he didn't take the lead. Instead, he stood still, waiting for Itachi to move forward.

The two seemed to harbor mutual suspicions but chose to feign cooperation. The deafening roar of the waterfall filled the oppressive silence between them.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters.

Five meters.

As Itachi neared Sasori, he stopped abruptly.

In an instant, his hands flew to his pouch. His Sharingan spun furiously, and his fingers moved like a blur, grabbing, weaving, and hurling weapons.

A rain of kunai and shuriken filled the air, their numbers multiplying mid-flight.

Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!

The storm of projectiles was dense enough to overwhelm most jonin. Even Sasori should have struggled to counter such an attack—if he had been unprepared.

But Sasori was no ordinary shinobi. A prodigy from Sunagakure, he had already anticipated this moment.

As the weapons closed in, Hiruko's iron tail swept forward, deflecting the projectiles with metallic clinks. The sharp sound echoed through the canyon, and the tail whirled back with deadly precision, aiming straight for Itachi's heart.

Before Itachi could counter, eight figures burst from the waterfall. They launched their attacks in unison, leaving him no time to breathe.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

"Universal Pull!"

"Ninja Art: Paper Shuriken!"

Itachi found himself surrounded. Sasori's iron tail struck from the front, while Pain's Deva Path manipulated gravity to pull him into the attack. Behind him, two massive snakes snapped their jaws, ready to crush him. From above, a flurry of paper shuriken descended like a deadly rain.

For most shinobi, such a trap would spell certain death.

But Itachi remained calm.

As Pain's gravitational pull dragged him toward Hiruko's poison-coated tail, Itachi's fingers formed a hand sign.

"Ninja Art: Exploding Shadow Clone!"

The clone erupted in a blinding explosion. Fire and force surged outward, centered on Hiruko, engulfing Sasori's puppet in flames.

The deafening blast shattered the tense silence, and the shockwave rippled across the waterfall, consuming everything in its path.

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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