[Having escaped the Konoha crowd, Itachi Uchiha saw his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, again.]
[At this time, Sasuke had grown into a handsome young man, but there was an inexplicable blonde-haired, blue-eyed follower by his side.]
[Itachi Uchiha frowned, realizing things weren't simple. Following the principle that "an older brother is like a father," he had to stop his brother from starting a relationship too early.]
[Seeing that Sasuke's eyes hadn't yet evolved into the limited-edition Sharingan, Itachi felt a bit anxious, so he pushed Sasuke to quickly increase his strength, so that he could date freely.]
"I'm dating your NN legs."
Sasuke's face turned dark, clearly not pleased with the mocking video.
Blonde hair, blue eyes?
Isn't that Naruto, that idiot? How could I have any romantic feelings for him?
"Sasuke-kun, do you want to learn the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique? If you learn it, you can become a real woman. Then, you and Naruto Uzumaki…"
"Orochimaru, shut up."
If the situation were different, Sasuke really wanted to sew Orochimaru's mouth shut.
"I'm not like Jiraiya or Itachi Uchiha, so old-fashioned. I'm quite open-minded. If you really like Naruto Uzumaki…"
"Damn!"
Sasuke couldn't take it anymore and kicked Orochimaru with a whip kick.
Orochimaru reacted quickly, jumping back a little to perfectly avoid the kick.
"Hehe~ Sasuke-kun still needs to train. With this little power, you can't hit me."
Sasuke: (Damn it) >_<
[Itachi Uchiha came to Konoha on a public expense trip, naturally with a hidden agenda in mind.]
[The goals were roughly divided into these small targets: look at the little brother, beat up the little brother, and mess with the little brother.
[This is just the first point.]
[The second point: show off to the people in Danzo's faction.]
[The third point: roughly complete the tasks assigned by the Akatsuki organization.]
[The fourth point: send a warning to Konoha regarding the Nine-Tails.]
Clearly, Uchiha Itachi's intentions were achieved. However, due to his teammate Kisame's watchful eyes, he had no choice but to act.
Meanwhile, Sasuke, who was getting beaten up, also understood the difference in strength between them. If he wanted to avenge his clan by killing Itachi, with his current abilities, it was simply impossible.
After a performance from Itachi, the poor Sasuke was hammered like a little brother.
Itachi: He *is* the little brother.
Fortunately, just as Jiraiya arrived, Itachi found a reason to escape, using Amaterasu to break free from the giant toad summoned by Jiraiya and fled with Kisame.
On the screen, Jiraiya smugly boasted to Naruto, claiming that inside the toad's stomach, Itachi and Kisame could never escape.
But as he turned, Itachi had already used Amaterasu's black flames to create a hole in the toad's stomach.
During their escape, Kisame, confused, asked Itachi, "Why are we running? I saw you really enjoying beating up your little brother."
Itachi: "This kid is messing around with too many distractions and learning nothing good. Do you think I should beat him up? And that old pervert Jiraiya showed up; I was afraid I'd catch his *chakra* abilities, so I had to bail."
"That's not Itachi's exact words, right? It can't be his exact words!"
Jiraiya, the Fifth Hokage, twitched his eye at Itachi's words on the screen, visibly displeased.
Not only was he upset, but Sasuke was too.
Even Naruto quietly distanced himself from Sasuke, worried about Sakura misunderstanding.
"Wait, doesn't the toad's stomach even trap Itachi?"
After the complaints, serious thoughts followed. The toad's stomach was Jiraiya's most powerful barrier technique.
This barrier not only provides defense but also traps the opponent and slowly absorbs them.
In all of Jiraiya's years of battle, no one has ever escaped from it.
Seeing Itachi's Amaterasu black flames burn through a stomach wall to escape, Jiraiya was still quite surprised.
"This Amaterasu should be another of Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan techniques. It can even burn through the stomach wall of the giant toad. The power is truly terrifying. If I were to face it, I'd have to be extra cautious."
[After Itachi and Kisame left, Sasuke was left alone, confused and helpless in the wind.]
[It was because of this shocking experience that Sasuke's mindset started to change, setting the stage for his eventual defection.]
"Eh? Sasuke, are you planning to defect?"
At this moment, Naruto didn't care if Sakura misunderstood; he rushed back to Sasuke's side, his expression full of worry.
"Idiot, even Orochimaru has returned to Konoha. Do you think I still need to defect?"
Sasuke's brain was still sharp when it didn't involve Itachi.
After becoming Orochimaru's disciple and seeing the footage of the battle, Sasuke began to suspect what his role in the *Naruto* story might be.
Should he stay in the village, or defect to find Orochimaru? He figured he'd likely choose the latter.
The reason was simple—he wanted to kill Uchiha Itachi too much.
Staying in the village was far too slow. He had no idea how many years it would take to become strong enough to kill Itachi.
But going to Orochimaru was different.
After experiencing the benefits of the cursed seal, even knowing that Orochimaru had bad intentions for him, Sasuke would likely still seek Orochimaru's help to gain more power.
The words on the screen right now seemed to confirm Sasuke's suspicions.
But now that Orochimaru had returned to Konoha, Sasuke no longer had the intention to defect.
"That's good, I was really worried you might do something foolish and become a rogue ninja."
"Use your not-so-smart brain and think about it. I'm living well in the village, eating and sleeping well, and with Orochimaru helping me improve my strength. With such good conditions, why would I still defect?"
"Sasuke, you're so strange. Why are you asking me if you should defect or not?"
Looking at Naruto's clear yet foolish expression, Sasuke decided not to lower himself to his level.
"Just watch Light Screen and leave me alone."
"Got it!"
[Three years later, when Fifth Kazekage Gaara was captured by Deidara and Sasori, the Akatsuki organization, led by Pain, used the "Shapeshifting Technique" to delay Kakashi and Guy's rescue mission, allowing the One-Tail to be successfully extracted.]
"Wait, Gaara became the Kazekage?"
"And his One-Tail, Shukaku, was also extracted by the Akatsuki?"
This information was a bit overwhelming.
The Fifth Hokage Jiraiya, along with the Third Hokage and others, were watching the light screen and began discussing.
"Looking at the timeline, the 'three years later' mentioned in the light screen means two and a half years from now. It seems like the Akatsuki will start their tailed beast capture plan then."
"Two and a half years left? We still have plenty of time."
"Don't get careless, Jiraiya. The situation in the ninja world is not the same as what the light screen showed. We can't just follow the timeline blindly."
"I know."
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