Orochimaru returned to his secret stronghold. Just as he began to relax, a sharp pain shot through his hands.
"Ah - ah - ah! Damn it! Naruto!" Orochimaru was in such pain that he exuded a murderous aura. At this moment, anyone who dared to approach Orochimaru would surely die.
"Kimimaro!" Orochimaru had lost Kabuto. Now, the most capable person by his side was Kimimaro.
Kimimaro was extremely loyal to Orochimaru. As soon as he entered the room and saw Orochimaru in such pain, he wished he could take all the pain upon himself.
"Lord Orochimaru... Is there anything I can do for you?" Kimimaro said excitedly. "I hope you can take whatever remaining value this broken body of mine has without hesitation."
"Sasuke! Sasuke! It's Sasuke! I want Sasuke!" Orochimaru repeated Sasuke's name several times in one breath.
Kimimaro was a bit envious of Sasuke. He thought Sasuke must be the happiest person in the world.
"Bring Sasuke to me." Orochimaru was in so much pain that he could hardly stand. He leaned against the table with difficulty and said, "Kimimaro, take the other four and go to Konoha to bring Sasuke... to me."
"Yes!" Kimimaro quickly left Orochimaru's room.
At this time, in Konoha Hospital, Naruto was getting cozy with Hinata. Beside them, Sasuke was lying unconscious on the hospital bed.
Hinata had absolute faith in Naruto. So now, she believed that she was under [Genjutsu], and Sasuke was not stabbed by Naruto at all.
"Hinata, when I'm unconscious..." Naruto jumped onto another hospital bed and lay flat with his limbs spread out. "A beautiful princess has to kiss me to wake me up. What would you do?"
"Huh?" Hinata didn't understand at first.
"I'm unconscious..." Naruto was acting, totally ignoring Sasuke who was resting beside him.
Naruto pouted his lips, fantasizing about a beautiful princess waking him up, the sleeping prince.
Suddenly, Naruto felt a sharp pain in his chest. The pain made him sit up immediately. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was Sakura, holding a huge fist.
Naruto yelled, "What the hell? Why are you hitting me!"
Sakura angrily said, "Don't disturb Sasuke's rest. Sasuke is so badly injured, and you're still fooling around?"
"Damn woman, I regret it." Naruto thought to himself, "I might as well play Cupid and let Sasuke fall for some other girl..."
"Don't talk. Keep your voice down." Sakura stopped Naruto from talking and then looked at Sasuke with concern.
Naruto took Hinata away. Sakura was stunned when she saw Naruto holding Hinata's hand.
At night, Naruto brought Hinata back to Konoha Hospital and quietly slipped into Sasuke's room.
Since it was night, Sakura had already left. Only a bunch of flowers that Sakura had brought were still on the windowsill.
Naruto pushed open the door of Sasuke's room and was immediately stunned. Hinata also sensed something was wrong.
Naruto saw a very handsome man standing in front of Sasuke's hospital bed.
This man was wearing a black robe embroidered with auspicious clouds and a [Forehead Protector] of Konoha on his forehead. There was a deep scratch across the middle of the protector, which meant betrayal.
"Yo, I knew you'd definitely come." Naruto walked into the hospital ward openly and said, "Itachi Uchiha!"
"Why do you want to kill Sasuke?" Itachi stared at Naruto coldly.
"What?" Hinata, who was beside them, was stunned for a moment.
Naruto pulled down the forehead protector covering his right eye and directly used Genjutsu[b]Genjutsu[/b] on Hinata.
After being hit by Naruto's Genjutsu[b]Genjutsu[/b], Hinata immediately slumped onto Naruto.
At this moment, Hinata was in the virtual image of the Genjutsu[b]Genjutsu[/b]. It was as if she was in the cold winter of the twelfth lunar month. Goose - feather snow was falling in the night sky, and the biting cold wind made her shiver.
Hinata saw a glimmer of light in front of her. When she walked closer, she saw a hot spring.
Unable to resist the temptation of the hot spring, Hinata took off her clothes and soaked in it.
After Hinata sat in the hot spring, a wooden tray floated in front of her. There was a bottle of warm milk on the tray.
Hinata picked up the warm milk in the wooden tray, on which there was even a picture of Naruto's head.
Hinata gulped down the milk and felt extremely comfortable all over. Suddenly, she found a lot of toys in the hot spring.
Hinata picked up one of the toys. It was a little yellow duck toy used for bathing, but this little yellow duck toy looked a bit like Naruto.
After being hit by Naruto's Genjutsu[b]Genjutsu[/b], Hinata encountered all sorts of strange and hard - to - interpret phenomena in the Genjutsu[b]Genjutsu[/b].
Naruto supported the unconscious Hinata and said to Itachi with a smile, "With my ability, if I wanted to kill Sasuke, do you think Sasuke would still be alive until now?"
"Then what's your purpose?"
"I want to become the Hokage[b]Hokage[/b]."
"This...?" Itachi frowned and asked strangely, "What does your becoming the Hokage[b]Hokage[/b] have to do with me?"
"I'll become the Hokage[b]Hokage[/b], and you'll head Root[b]Root[/b]." Naruto said, "As the Hokage[b]Hokage[/b], I naturally need capable people to assist me. You, Itachi, are the person I've chosen to assist the Hokage[b]Hokage[/b]."
Itachi Uchiha remained silent for a long time.
"Tanzo is dead, and the Root[b]Root[/b] organization lacks a leader." Naruto continued, "I've already made arrangements for you to return to Konoha[b]Konoha[/b]."
"Why should I believe you?"
"Just rely on my ability to pull the wool over the world's eyes and rewrite history with a master - stroke scheme." Naruto said, "Sasuke thinks it was you who killed the entire Uchiha clan[b]Uchiha clan[/b], but I can help you rewrite this history."
"But I really did kill the entire Uchiha clan[b]Uchiha clan[/b]."
"That doesn't matter." Naruto said, "What matters is whether you want to live happily with Sasuke in Konoha Village[b]Konoha Village[/b]."
"Tanzo is dead. We can shift all the blame onto Tanzo, and you can be completely cleared of suspicion. The real culprit who killed the entire Uchiha clan[b]Uchiha clan[/b] will be pinned on Tanzo."
Naruto mused: In fact, Tanzo was truly the mastermind behind the Uchiha clan[b]Uchiha clan[/b] massacre, as it was Tanzo who ordered Itachi to do so. Yet Itachi was so obstinate that he actually carried it out.
"Why are you doing all these things?" Itachi said in confusion, "You seem to know a lot about my past."
"Tanzo told me everything. After Tanzo told me these things, I came up with this strategy."
Naruto thought to himself: Seriously, every damned thing can be blamed on Tanzo...
Naruto said, "Don't miss this opportunity. You were willing to massacre your clan members. Your goal was to let Sasuke live in Konoha, wasn't it?"
"Between Konoha and your clan, you chose Konoha. You recognized the value of Konoha. You just hoped that Sasuke could grow up in Konoha."
"Now, I've arranged a chance for you to return to Konoha and continue living with Sasuke in Konoha."
"Naruto Uzumaki," Itachi activated his Sharingan[b]Sharingan[/b] right then. He simply couldn't fathom Naruto. Naruto was just a kid, yet he was completely inscrutable.
Itachi stared at Naruto with his red - eyed pupils and said, "I came here to capture you."
"Itachi Uchiha, stop joking. Your acting tricks won't work on me." Naruto also showed his Sharingan[b]Sharingan[/b] and said, "The other eye of Shisui Uchiha should be with you. Hand it over to me, and our deal can be made."
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