"Old man, I understand what you're saying. What I mean is, after two and a half years, the Three-Tails should be revived. That's when the Akatsuki organization will start to implement their plan."
After a pause, the Fifth Hokage Jiraiya continued, "Two and a half years is enough time for us to gather intelligence on all the members of the Akatsuki organization."
"You're right. No matter how the situation develops, the Akatsuki won't make a big move as long as the Three-Tails hasn't been revived. If their plan to capture the Tailed Beasts is discovered, they won't just face the hostility of one or two ninja villages, but the entire ninja world."
Apart from the Seven-Tails from Takigakure, the other eight Tailed Beasts are all in the Five Great Shinobi Countries.
If Akatsuki wants to capture the Tailed Beasts, they will inevitably clash with the Five Great Shinobi Countries.
Especially with the barbarians from the Cloud Village.
These barbarians eat anything, but they will never tolerate being taken advantage of.
If Akatsuki wants to capture the Tailed Beasts, they will be targeting Killer B's life—Killer B, the younger brother of the Fourth Raikage.
Given A's personality, can he just let this slide?
So, the Akatsuki will have to wait for the Three-Tails to be revived, and then move quickly to capture all the Tailed Beasts.
Once they gather all nine Tailed Beasts, Akatsuki will have to deal with the entire ninja world hunting them down, but I'm sure they will have some countermeasures in place.
That's not something the Third Hokage and the others need to worry about.
[The Shapeshifting Technique was used on Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki.]
[The ability of this jutsu is roughly to use one's chakra to control a clone with a third of the user's strength to carry out a mission.]
[So, Itachi, in the form of a clone, once again fought against his former superior in the Anbu, Kakashi, and Naruto Uzumaki, who was following him.]
[Old Kakashi knew that the One-Tail was a protective beast of the Sand Village and needed to be rescued quickly. Last time, after being caught in Tsukuyomi, the food at the hospital wasn't great. So, careful as ever, Kakashi didn't accept Uchiha Itachi's VR Tsukuyomi gift this time.]
[On the other hand, Naruto had fun in Itachi's Genjutsu, especially since he could see blue-skinned Sasuke.]
"Is this me? How did I get so ugly?"
Sasuke, in his second stage of the Cursed Seal, was really that ugly.
His hair had turned blue, his chest exposed, not wearing clothes—those weren't the worst parts. The ugliest part was the pair of things on his back that looked more like goose feet than wings.
Even Sasuke couldn't help but comment on how ugly his own appearance was.
"This should be what you look like when you activate the second stage of the Cursed Seal."
"Cursed Seal Stage Two?"
Hearing Orochimaru mention the cursed seal, Sasuke subconsciously touched his neck.
"Yes, the cursed seal I've been researching actually has two forms. The first form is what you saw during the Chūnin Exams, where the seal's symbols spread all over the body. The second form has a bigger transformation. It allows the user to change their appearance and may even cause them to grow organs that ordinary people don't have."
"Like what?"
"Like how you grew a pair of large, hand-shaped wings in the screen image. Kimimaro grew a tail, and Jūgo could even turn his hands into axes."
Sasuke had met Kimimaro and Jūgo the day after he became Orochimaru's disciple.
However, Kimimaro was always bedridden, covered in tubes, and didn't have the energy or will to talk to Sasuke.
Jūgo, on the other hand, had a good relationship with Sasuke, and they would often talk.
"Sasuke-kun, would you like me to help you awaken the second stage of the cursed seal?"
"Let me think about it."
If it were in the past, Sasuke would have agreed without hesitation. After all, he wanted to become stronger quickly to kill Itachi. But now, knowing so many things, he wasn't in a hurry to kill Itachi anymore.
With that in mind, there didn't seem to be a need to make himself look so hideous just to gain a little bit of power.
"Sasuke, you look really ugly in the screen image."
See? Even Naruto, with his fox whiskers, was mocking his appearance.
"However, Sasuke, I think you should accept Orochimaru's offer."
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
Both Sasuke and Orochimaru were surprised, wondering why Naruto would say that.
"Sasuke, you see, even though you look uglier after awakening the second stage of cursed seal, you've gained more power. More importantly, with your ugliness, Sakura will definitely be disgusted by you, and that will give me a chance, right?"
"I'm such an idiot, seriously. I knew you weren't that smart, but I didn't expect you to be so scheming."
"Heh, you flatter me. You're making me embarrassed."
"I wasn't flattering you!" (╬◣д◢)
[After a fierce battle, the clone of the White Zetsu, which possessed one-third of Itachi Uchiha's strength, was defeated by a large round ball that Naruto made.]
[Itachi Uchiha looked at his younger brother's follower and was surprised to find that the boy also had the identity of a dumpling maker, able to create such a perfectly round ball.]
[Thinking about how Sasuke probably wouldn't starve with Naruto around, Itachi smiled with a fatherly expression.]
[Naruto noticed this and secretly felt pleased.]
[It had been a while since Naruto last saw Itachi. On his journey to find Sasuke, he had encountered Itachi again.]
"Hey? What happened to Gaara in the end? Why isn't the video showing it?"
Seeing the scene change in the screen, skipping over the captured Gaara, Naruto immediately complained.
"Shut up. If you want to know Gaara's situation, just wait for the screen to get to him," Sasuke replied.
Naruto pouted and muttered, "I just want to know what happened to Gaara. Do you have to be so harsh, Sasuke?"
"I'm sorry for being so harsh," Sasuke said.
"Hahaha, it's okay, Sasuke, I forgive you!" Naruto grinned.
Sasuke: "..."
[Itachi Uchiha cast a genjutsu on Naruto and asked if Naruto really wanted to bring Sasuke home, not just back to the village.]
[Upon confirming Naruto's determination to bring Sasuke back, Itachi decided to entrust his brother to Naruto. He also placed a crow containing Shisui's left eye inside Naruto's body.]
[Itachi had already planned ahead, knowing that if Sasuke ever killed him and became corrupted, seeking even greater power, he would definitely try to implant the Mangekyō Sharingan.]
[When Sasuke attempts to take revenge on Konoha, he would have to fight Naruto.]
[At that time, the crow would appear and use the Genjutsu "Kotoamatsukami" to forcibly alter Sasuke's will.]
[Having done all he could, Itachi silently waited for his death.]
"Bang~"
Seeing this, Sasuke slammed his palm onto the armrest of the chair, smashing it with a look of fury. "How dare he!!!"
Sasuke never expected that Itachi, who always talked about how much he loved him and how much he had sacrificed for him, would use Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan to change his will.
If his will was changed, would he still be the same Sasuke?
*********
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