"He didn't kill them? what was this kid up to and why did it take him 2 weeks there?" Tsunade muttered but Katsuyu had no answer to that so she didn't say anything.
"Katsuyu you can go now. I have to talk with Jiraya about this." Tsunade said and Katsuyu vanished in a puff of smoke.
Tsunade then turned back and looked at Itachi whose breathing was getting stable now. "I know you heard everything. Don't pretend to be unconscious in front of me."
Itachi opened his eyes but didn't say anything for a few seconds and that's when he slightly frowned.
Tsunade noticed the immediate change in his expression and asked "What is it? That frown on your face tells me that you remembered something." She wasn't going to let go of this matter so easily.
Itachi took in a deep breath and said "I don't know if this is related or not but Yami might just be passing through Yugakure and had no intention of wasting time on the cultists. His aim might have been something different altogether."
"what do you mean? Is there anything worth visiting near Yugakure? And that too something of significance to the Uchiha clan?"Tsunade asked.
"The Chinoike Clan...When Yami was 3 years old mother read him a book that described all the kekkai genkai's related to Dojutsu. Yami was fascinated by the powers of the Chinoike clan." Itachi said.
"That clan? But haven't they been exiled to the valley of hell? I remember that Yugakure has declared the entire valley off limits for outsiders." Tsunade said. She had heard about the clan decades ago and never given it much thought.
"That is right but Yugakure is too weak to enforce such a declaration. And I don't think it is nearly enough to stop Yami. The powers those people hold are not something that can be dealt with easily. If Yami's purpose is meeting them then it might take the time that he has taken now." Itachi said.
Tsunade didn't say anything and just left the lab. Itachi gave a big sigh and said "Yami if I was in my best shape then I wouldn't have told her a single word so as to confirm the news myself but since I am in this state, I can only rely on her. Hope you aren't up to something you shouldn't be doing."
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Hidden sand
Back at the battle, Yami was easily dodging all of Hidan's blows but Hidan was also not one to give up. He kept at his attacks and even increased his speed. Yami could see the madness in the man's eyes. He was trying his best to not himself in anger.
"This kid...he is way stronger than it was mentioned in the bingo book" Sasori said as he looked at Yami easily evading all the attacks. Kakuzu who was now recovering at a fast pace also kept staring at Yami. For him, Yami looked like a lottery ticket. Someone who could earn him a ton of money.
After a few seconds, Yami kicked Hidan's chest pushing him back a little. Hidan didn't lose his footing and reduced the distance he was thrown back by stabbing his scythe into the ground and dragging it with him.
Yami created three shadow clones of himself and sent them rushing toward Hidan and that's what everyone saw. But behind the cover of those shadow clones, Yami pulled out a glass tube. He popped the cork of the tube and dipped his finger in it. By focusing his chakra on his fingertips he let his chakra mix in with the blood that was in the tube.
"This could very well create a problem of its own but what can I say, everything bows before power." Yami muttered and held the tube behind his back and started running behind the shadow clones. He kept changing his positions with the shadow clones due to which no one was able to tell which is the real one.
As Yami expected, Hidan didn't back out from the situation and started to attack all the clones. After a few seconds, he was able to cut through 2 of the 3 clones. All this time Yami hadn't landed a hit on Hidan. He knew that if Sasori and Kakuzu think that Yami is just toying with Hidan then they would also jump into the fight and Yami didn't want to create such a big mess.
Eventually, Hidan's stubbornness paid off and he was able to graze Yami's shoulder with his scythe. He didn't even think for one second that suddenly it became too easy to hit Yami. He just took the free win and quickly jumped back standing beside his two teammates.
"Finally...I got it." Hidan said with wide eyes and a big maniac smile on his face as he looked at the blood on his scythe. Yami didn't say anything and just stood still while holding the wound on his shoulder.
"Now I can take my revenge in my way...Yami Uchiha...you sent many of my people to their deaths and even Ji who was like a brother to me. There is no chance in hell that I am going to show you any mercy. I want to torture you till eternity but for now, I'll settle by just ripping you apart and tearing you to shreds." Hidan said. The sand shinobis along with the others were confused as to why Hidan was suddenly behaving so confidently just after getting one hit.
'It is good that Hidan is able to take off one big obstacle from the board or else Yami Uchiha would definitely slow down our mission to capture the Kazekage.' Sasori thought. He was worried that Yami's interference might prolong this fight and h and the other Akatsuki members might have to back off.
He swung his scythe around him creating a red circle with a star inside of it. This action confused everyone because they could see that the circle wasn't made of the blood that was on the scythe.
Hidan licked the blood that was on the scythe and smacked his tongue on his lips and ingested the blood. Only one lick would have been enough but Hidan's anger had already broken the boundaries. He licked the scythe once again but now with his entire tongue covered in blood.
"The Ritual is now complete." Hidan said and his entire body turned black and white. He looked at Yami's red eyes and said "I can play with you how much I want now."
Hidan then put the multi-bladed scythe on the top left of his chest and tore apart his chest diagonally. He saw the blood gushing out of Yami's chest. Yami's eyes widened as to why and how it happened. Kankuro and Baki ran toward Yami to see what had happened but then Hidan said "I've heard you Uchihas are very proud because of those eyes of yours." as he said this, he took out a kunai from his inside pocket and stabbed his own eye. Hidan's eye was unhurt by this but one of Yami's Sharingan started bleeding and his eyes burst to spill blood everywhere.
Yami put one hand on his bleeding eye in an effort to control the damage but then Hidan stabbed the other eye as well.
He heard Yami scream as his other eye started bleeding and burst like the other one. Yami with both his eye sockets empty fell to his knees.
"HAHA...this is what I wanted. Ji, I have taken your revenge at last." Hidan screamed happily but then he heard Kakuzu call him from the side.
"What the hell are you even doing? why isn't anything happening?" Kakuzu asked to which Hidan's smile froze as he looked in front of him and saw Yami standing without a scratch on him.
"What the hell just happened to me?" Hidan asked as he looked at the other 2 Akatsuki members.
"He is called the Genjutsu demon so it is obvious as to what he did." Kakuzu said as he chuckled at Hidan's foolish question.
Sasori interrupted their talks and said "It wasn't a simple genjutsu. Yami didn't stop you from hurting yourself in the genjutsu."
"What?" Hidan asked and looked at his body. Even though during the ritual he won't be injured at all, the slash that he made on his chest did tear his Akatsuki cloak diagonally.
"How is this possible? I completed the ritual successfully. Why aren't you affected?" Hidan asked. The fact that his body became black and white meant that his ritual was done successfully but the damage he inflicted on himself didn't reflect on Yami.
"I already knew about you before coming here. I didn't think I would need to deal with you this early. I must commend you that you in fact did complete the ritual but the victim was not me...or should I say victims." Yami smirked as he flaunted the empty test tube in front of Hidan. The tube still had traces of blood inside it. Hidan connected the dots and understood that he had been fooled and the blood belonged to someone else.
(Why did Yami go to Yugakure? What was so important there that it was his first stop? Ans to all your questions are posted in my P@treon)
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