Chapter 65: Inducing Surrender
Might Guy heard another ninja join the battlefield and subconsciously turned his head to search for the figure of a Konoha ninja, "Is it... support from the village?"
He had opened the sixth of the Eight Inner Gates, the Gate of Joy, to persistently chase Fuguki Suikazan. His body and mind had long reached their limits. It was only after scanning around and around that he saw the Konoha headband on the short Uchiha Itachi's head.
That familiar swirl shape…
Might Guy's body finally relaxed completely, and he collapsed to the ground, falling into a deep sleep. He simply didn't have the energy left to judge whether Uchiha Itachi had the ability to take over the battlefield.
Fuguki Suikazan didn't care if the support that arrived was a newly graduated brat from Konoha or that damn old man, the Third Hokage... Uchiha Itachi's appearance indicated that Konoha had already discovered their escape route. If they didn't continue to flee, being surrounded was only a matter of time.
"Kisame Hoshigaki, stop them!"
Fuguki Suikazan quickly fled into the distance, shouting an order to Kisame Hoshigaki to continue carrying out his command before leaving. The promising shark-faced youth was thus abandoned as a scapegoat!
Kisame Hoshigaki subconsciously rushed forward, making a feint with the ninja sword in his hand, blocking Uchiha Itachi's path.
The little boy glanced at the departing Fuguki Suikazan and politely greeted, "He escaped by himself. It looks like you've been abandoned by your comrade, Mr. Kisame Hoshigaki."
"Little fellow, between us..." Kisame Hoshigaki's words were interrupted by the crow's caw. Both he and Uchiha Itachi could understand the meaning of the crow's call.
"Caw!"
Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon!
Its crimson eyes gradually lit up. Kitahara fixed its gaze on Fuguki Suikazan and the Samehada greatsword on his back. Dozens of feathers on its body suddenly shot out!
Not far away, the tall, sturdy running figure instantly fell...
Fuguki Suikazan was covered in gleaming feather hidden weapons... At the same time, the Samehada on his back slowly moved, using the chakra it absorbed to heal his wounds.
This kind of injury wasn't fatal in the face of Samehada's healing ability. Fuguki Suikazan rolled over, got up, and continued to flee without hesitation.
"Caw!"
Kitahara's gaze grew colder. It used Body Flicker to disappear from Itachi's shoulder, flew alongside Fuguki Suikazan, and at close range, shot out the Tailed Beast Bomb condensed in its beak!
Boom!
"Bastard..."
The current ANBU captain of the Hidden Mist Village quickly became the former captain. Fuguki Suikazan only had time to curse once before all sound from his mouth and nose ceased...
The severely damaged Samehada greatsword trembled...
After Kitahara hooked it with its claw, its blade instantly stiffened, extremely obediently letting the crow carry it back... It didn't dare to move, didn't dare to move.
After Kitahara had killed Fuguki Suikazan on its own and returned, Uchiha Itachi looked at Kisame Hoshigaki and said politely, "I thought you would go to rescue your comrade!"
Kisame Hoshigaki was silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled lightly before answering, "That kind of thing has no meaning."
The mission the Hidden Mist Village had given him was complete, and his life was likely to end here... Thinking back to when he killed those members of the Cipher Division, their curses and pleas for mercy were still ringing in his ears.
Only... that female ninja who had been very friendly to him had hoped that his life wouldn't have to be so hard anymore, because every mission he received in the Hidden Mist Village was about killing... almost either killing his enemies or killing his own comrades.
From being unaccustomed at the beginning, to being numb now.
As long as one was in the Village of the Bloody Mist, one would never see hope.
"As ninjas, we have long foreseen the day we would reach the end of our lives!" Kisame Hoshigaki looked at the crow flying over, then glanced at Itachi, "I just didn't expect that I had only just begun to see the vastness of the ninja world..."
Whether it was this crow or Uchiha Itachi, they had given him his first glimpse of the true power of the ninja world. Dying at their hands wasn't a humiliation, but to die here like this, he was unwilling...
"Caw!"
Kitahara suddenly descended like a whirlwind, dropping the greatsword Samehada in front of Kisame Hoshigaki. Help us monitor for the appearance of a Sharingan rogue ninja in the Mist Village. The price is this sword and your life!
Kisame Hoshigaki grinned, shaking his head with a sneer, "Hmph! Are you trying to get me to defect to Konoha!"
The crow's eyes held a certain malicious glee, "Caw..."
Aren't you curious why from the Third Mizukage to the Fourth Mizukage, generation after generation of you Mist ninjas have tried to change the Village of the Bloody Mist, yet find no hope in life? That's because a traitor from the Uchiha, for the sake of revenge, has been controlling the Mist ninjas!
The shark-faced Kisame's expression gradually became conflicted. He didn't know whether he should believe the crow or refuse further communication to avoid leaking the village's intelligence.
Finally, he shook his head, "I don't understand what you're talking about..."
The crow was about to continue its persuasion, but Uchiha Itachi suddenly interrupted, dismantling its platform. The little boy was very curious, "Kitahara, I remember our clan has never had a rogue ninja?"
Kitahara was about to go crazy... Cub, just shut up for a second!
"No, there was one person, but that person should have died long ago, right?" Uchiha Itachi didn't shut up, pondering the clan's historical records he had seen, which did indeed have a record of that rogue ninja.
"Caw..."
The crow listlessly landed on Uchiha Itachi's shoulder and pecked at his hair.
Some people feign death to escape the world's attention; some feign being heroes to hide in an endless hell of pain; some borrow another's name to become the mastermind behind the dawn.
Kisame Hoshigaki's brow twitched violently, "That crow... Speak human language!"
"Caw!"
Kitahara was furious. I, the great Crow Sage, can't I have some style when speaking of the ninja world's secrets? You shark-face, still want to poke at my sore spot?
"I understand."
Uchiha Itachi had gotten some information and explained gravely, "That person who feigned death is Uchiha Madara from our clan, right! After leaving the clan, he captured the Nine-Tails and was killed in a battle with the First Hokage at the Valley of the End..."
"The problem is, even if Uchiha Madara didn't die in battle back then, given his age, he couldn't possibly still be alive in this era, right?"
"According to what Kitahara said, it should be someone using Uchiha Madara's reputation... or using his Sharingan to control the Hidden Mist Village, right?"
Uchiha Itachi understood all the principles of the Sharingan, and Fugaku had never stopped him from learning about the Mangekyo Sharingan. The Mangekyo Sharingan could be taken and used by others.
"And this person should be a hero..." The little boy's train of thought reached its end. After experiencing multiple Shinobi World Wars, many heroes were buried under the Memorial Stone, and across the Five Great Nations, there were countless more.
Kisame Hoshigaki barely managed to take in Uchiha Itachi's words. Clearly just a brat, yet he gave off an inexplicable sense of reliability. He interjected, "Someone who can be considered a hero by this crow must have a very famous reputation, right!"
"...That's right!" Uchiha Itachi's eyes lit up!
Kitahara gradually became dazed. The shark-faced man's one sentence had successfully led Uchiha Itachi astray! That guy Obito really didn't have any reputation at all... Right now, probably only Kakashi Hatake still remembered him!
(End of this chapter)