dmims Page 222
Page 222
This guy has been chattering nonstop since earlier, it's driving him crazy.
Itachi suppressed his impatience and snapped, "You're too long-winded! Can't you say less?!"
Afei was clearly quite dissatisfied with the reprimand and immediately shouted, "Hmph, it's true that Obito told me to listen to you, but he didn't say I couldn't speak! You can't tell me what to do!"
The eagle's head was throbbing from the noise, and the veins on its forehead twitched slightly.
Now he finally understood what Obito meant by "talkative".
The thought of having to wear this noisy thing for a long time to come gave Itachi a headache.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
Even for Sasuke's sake, he had to live...
Since that's the case, then we have no choice but to put up with it!
Thinking of this, Itachi nodded almost imperceptibly and said in a low voice, "Let's go. Let's go back to Amegakure first."
As he spoke, he stood up to prepare to set off.
Upon hearing this, Kisame quickly drew his long sword Samehada, intending to travel with Itachi.
However, to everyone's surprise, as soon as Itachi turned around, his eyes locked onto a figure that suddenly appeared in the forest ahead.
The focus of Itachi's gaze tightened instantly, and his pupils contracted slightly!
The leader wore a wide, grayish-purple kimono robe, with a full head of black hair cascading down like a waterfall, and a few dark, snake-scale-like lines hanging down the sides of his pale, handsome face.
He narrowed his golden vertical pupils slightly, a sinister smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
The newcomer was none other than Orochimaru!
Half a step behind him was Yakushi Kabuto, who looked wary.
Orochimaru actually dared to come back?!
Itachi's gaze turned icy, and a flash of killing intent crossed his mind.
He didn't intend to utter a single waste of words. His eyes were bloodshot, and he immediately began his attack with zero frames—Tsukuyomi!
……
Just a little while earlier, in a dense forest in the Land of Rain.
Two disheveled figures darted through the damp treetops, leaving a trail of water droplets in their wake.
Orochimaru and Kabuto retreated at top speed until they could no longer sense any pursuers behind them, at which point they stopped running.
Both of them were slightly out of breath and looked quite disheveled.
Orochimaru's face was gloomy, his golden snake eyes filled with resentment and anger.
"Damn it..." he muttered through gritted teeth, his face extremely grim.
Unexpectedly, there was a master with the Mangekyou Sharingan hidden behind Itachi Uchiha.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Itachi was seriously ill and his strength was greatly reduced. He originally thought he was sure to win, but a strange Kaleidoscope appeared halfway and interfered, forcing him to retreat.
Seeing his prey slip away, Orochimaru was filled with resentment and anger.
"Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto, standing to the side, pushed up his glasses and cautiously inquired, "Why... did you leave so decisively?"
It was practically the same as fleeing in disarray.
Orochimaru frowned sharply upon hearing this, his gloomy gaze sweeping over Kabuto as he grumbled unhappily, "What do you know! That's the Mangekyou Sharingan! You can't be too careful!"
As he said this, he licked his lips with lingering fear.
He still vividly remembers the horror of the kaleidoscope!
He absolutely did not want to rashly face them a second time.
Seeing Orochimaru's terrified expression, Kabuto's eyes flashed with a strange light.
He lowered his eyelashes silently, thinking to himself: Lord Orochimaru's performance lately has been rather unsatisfactory.
The plan targeting Sasuke Uchiha failed; the attack on Konoha ended in a crushing defeat; and now, having finally seized the opportunity presented by Itachi Uchiha's serious illness, they were again scared away by him...
As he was lost in thought, Orochimaru suddenly frowned as if he had remembered something.
“That masked guy, with Zetsu by his side!” he said sinisterly. “He should also be a member of Akatsuki… Kabuto, do you know who he is?”
"Huh?" Kabuto was taken aback upon hearing this and carefully searched through the information he had on the Akatsuki members.
After a moment, he pushed up his glasses, shook his head somewhat ashamed, and said, "I'm sorry, Lord Orochimaru, I didn't know such a person existed."
Upon hearing this, Orochimaru frowned again, a look of doubt and contemplation flashing in his eyes.
He quickly went through the information on the known members of the Akatsuki organization in his mind, but he still had no clue about the identity of the mysterious masked man.
For a moment, the woods fell into a brief silence.
Suddenly, Orochimaru seemed to sense something, his vertical snake eyes lit up slightly, and a strange smile appeared on his lips: "They're gone."
Dou paused, then asked, "Who left?"
Orochimaru chuckled sinisterly: "Heh, Zetsu and that masked man have already left!"
"What?!" Kabuto looked surprised upon hearing this.
Orochimaru nodded slightly and said in a deep voice, "Of course I can't let Uchiha Itachi off so easily."
Orochimaru chuckled smugly: "Heh, before I left, I left a summoning beast to keep an eye on things... The intelligence that just came in indicates that the guy's presence has completely disappeared."
At this point, a sudden, excited, and frenzied light flashed in his golden eyes: "Hmph, without that guy protecting us, all that's left in the ravine now is a terminally ill Itachi and Kisame. This time, we absolutely cannot let him go again!"
His long, narrow tongue licked his lips, his voice revealing undisguised greed and murderous intent: "Go! Go back!"
Kabuto, seeing Orochimaru's almost manic expression, felt a slight tremor in his heart, but a glint of excitement flashed in his eyes.
"Yes!"
He nodded quickly in agreement, pushed up his glasses, and a hint of eagerness appeared on his lips.
The two turned around and sped back the way they came.
In the mountain valley, the rain grew even thicker.
At this moment, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame were walking one after the other along the path by the stream.
Rainwater trickled down the thin, white spikes around his neck, splashing muddy spots on the ground.
Itachi's expression was cold and stern. He stared intently at the uninvited guest, his dark red pupils flashing with murderous intent.
Orochimaru was also taken aback.
He never expected that in just over ten minutes, Uchiha Itachi would undergo such a huge change!
At this moment, Itachi was covered in a strange white carapace, and his whole aura was cold. There was no trace of the weakness of the dying patient he had been before.
"This guy……"
Orochimaru's pupils contracted slightly, and amidst his astonishment, an ominous premonition grew rapidly in his heart.
However, before he could figure out the details, he looked up and met Itachi's eyes, which were filled with resentment and murderous intent!
It wasn't jet-black pupils, nor was it the Sharingan with its three tomoe.
Instead, they were a pair of kaleidoscopes emitting eerie red light with strange patterns!
Orochimaru's expression suddenly changed drastically: "Oh no..."
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly froze!
Orochimaru felt dizzy and the scene before him suddenly twisted and stretched.
The next second, his consciousness seemed to be pulled into an endless abyss of darkness, and all his senses were taken away.
……
After an unknown amount of time, Orochimaru gradually regained consciousness.
He suddenly opened his eyes and found himself in a dimly lit tent.
The lanterns hanging from the top of the tent emitted a soft, orange glow, and the flickering flames illuminated the simple furnishings inside.
A sand table filled with maps and flags lay across Orochimaru's front, and he was sitting cross-legged beside it.
"Where is this..." Orochimaru looked around warily, his pupils shrinking slightly.
On the sand table, a simple topographical map of the border area between the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass was drawn. Small flags representing ninja forces were stuck on the map, marking the distribution of troops in various places, making it look like a combat command post.
Orochimaru was taken aback: This scene... why does it look so familiar?
He muttered to himself, "Is this Itachi's illusion?"
Memories flooded back into my mind in an instant.
He recalled the strange changes that had occurred to Itachi earlier.
His life force, which had been almost completely depleted, was instantly restored to its peak, and he even unleashed an even more powerful eye technique!
What exactly did that masked guy do to Itachi Uchiha?
How could he be transformed and restored to his peak strength in such a short time?!
"Lord Orochimaru!" Just as he was filled with doubt, an urgent shout came from outside the tent flap, "The reconnaissance team has sent over some important new intelligence!"
Orochimaru frowned slightly upon hearing the sound.
That voice... sounds somewhat familiar.
After a moment's thought, he regained his composure and calmly said, "Come in."
As soon as he finished speaking, the tent flap was suddenly pulled open.
A young ninja with red paint on his cheeks strode in.
Orochimaru took a closer look and saw that the boy was only eleven or twelve years old, thin, with a somewhat childish face, but he was wearing a Konoha Village headband on his forehead.
At his feet followed a small ninja dog with pale yellow fur, wagging its tail and following closely into the tent.
Orochimaru stared at the boy and the ninja dog for two seconds, then his pupils suddenly dilated as if he had seen something incredible, and a brief look of astonishment flashed across his face.
"Inuzuka Jaw?!"