Under the dark night, the pale moonlight illuminated the face of the one who had captured him—a member of the Uchiha clan.
Combined with his sinister smile, the scene appeared eerie, making the timid Senju Itama tremble uncontrollably.
His mouth was blocked by a foreign object, he could only produce muffled whimpers.
"Little brat from the Senju clan, if I were you, I'd eat it while I have the chance."
The Uchiha "demon" in front of him spoke as he rolled his dead-fish-like eyes at Itama.
Upon hearing this, Itama instinctively licked the thing in his mouth, and his tongue tasted something salty and fragrant.
He bit down and realized it was chewable.
After a few more bites, he discovered it was jerky stuffed into his mouth.
Having gone two days without food or water, Itama didn't care whether the enemy's food was poisoned or not and immediately began to devour the jerky.
In no time, he had swallowed a large chunk.
After finishing it, he licked his lips and shamelessly asked, "Is there more?"
Hearing this brazen request from his prisoner, Uchiha Gin's forehead bulged with a vein.
He then flicked the young Senju's head sharply.
"Brat, do you not understand the situation?"
"The Senju clan will never be slaves! If you have the guts, just kill me. My father and brother will avenge me." Itama responded with defiance.
Seeing the resolute expression on the kid's face, Gin, who had initially planned to toy with him, suddenly felt bored.
In his previous life, he had siblings too.
Boys Itama's age would probably be watching cartoons, eating snacks, and living carefree lives.
But in this era, children this young were already on the battlefield, killing or being killed.
"What a disgusting era."
Uchiha Gin sighed with a heavy heart.
After all, just a few days ago, he was a modern man with a normal worldview.
It was impossible to fully assimilate into this era immediately. Protagonists who adapt to new rules right after crossing over always seemed strange to him!
"What did you say? Let me tell you, no matter what, I won't reveal any information about my clan!" Itama, assuming he had been captured for interrogation, stubbornly declared, his small face showing a maturity beyond his years.
"You're such a self-important little brat."
Gin suddenly looked down at him, his eyes exuding a chilling aura.
The gaze made Itama's heart race in fear, but the pride of his Senju bloodline kept him stubbornly staring back at the Uchiha before him.
"You have good eyes. We won't kill you for now, but don't think about running away."
"…"
"And don't even think about suicide. Because if you die, we'll just capture your brother next."
"!!!"
Seeing the fury in the kid's eyes, Uchiha Gin crouched down, lowering his voice near Itama's ear.
"Brat, you don't want your brother to get caught because of you, do you?"
Like an devil god whispering, Gin's words threw Itama into inner turmoil. The resistance that had just risen in his heart crumbled away.
"Cooperate, and the Uchiha clan might even spare your life. We treat prisoners well." Gin continued to coax, despite his slip of the tongue.
"Can you guarantee that?" After a moment of silence, Itama raised his head, his young face full of determination.
"I swear on the honor of the Uchiha ancestors." Gin had no qualms swearing on the ancestors Indra, who were currently in Uchiha Madara's body anyway.
"Achoo!" A spiky-haired boy practicing skipping stones by the river suddenly felt a chill down his spine and sneezed violently.
Beside him, a mushroom-headed boy teaching him how to throw stones across the river asked with concern, "Are you okay? Don't worry if you can't throw it that far yet. You just need to find that upward pull…"
"It's your fault for standing behind me! I'm the type who can't even pee if someone's watching from behind!"
"Sorry!"
The mushroom-headed boy, scolded, sat down dejectedly.
[The tangled fates of two, and the era of ninjas unfolds.]
Senju Itama finally gave in.
His captors had his weakness, and being young, he couldn't analyze whether Uchiha Gin's words were true or false, unlike his shrewd older brother, Senju Tobirama.
Had Uchiha Gin said the same to Tobirama, Gin likely wouldn't have survived to see the next day.
Since Itama started cooperating, Gin removed the chains from his body.
Carrying the kid around with the chains, which weighed over ten kilos, was becoming a burden.
Storing them in his scroll lightened his load significantly.
He simply tied Itama's hands with a rope instead.
Gin didn't allow Itama to sleep in the tent.
Instead, he cleared a space behind the tent, drove a stake into the ground, and tied him to it, much like how Kakashi had tied up Naruto during the first test of Team 7.
After everything was settled, Gin felt exhausted and returned to his tent for rest.
As he stretched, he contemplated how to provoke Uchiha Taro into a "battle" tomorrow, so he could earn some Steel Heart and soul energy.
Just as he was about to enter the tent, he suddenly felt a strange stillness in the air, as if someone was watching him.
Gin instinctively turned to look at the stake where Itama had been tied. In the pitch-black night, a figure stood silently atop the stake, and Itama was nowhere to be seen.
"Enemy attack!"
Gin's pupils dilated. This mysterious person had entered the camp undetected, even avoiding Uchiha Fuka's three-tomoe Sharingan.
He wanted to shout for the others, but as moonlight fell on the figure, revealing their face, Gin's words caught in his throat.
The person before him left Gin, who had barely been surprised since crossing into this world, utterly shocked.
A chilling sensation ran from his feet to his head. As the moonlight fully illuminated the figure, Gin's dry lips finally managed to reveal the person's identity.
"Uchiha Itachi? This is impossible! You shouldn't exist in this era. Could it be… the Dragon Vein?"
A black-haired young man in a black cloak with red clouds stood there, eyes closed.
His pale, handsome face bore deep lines of age, and his forehead protector, from another time, had a clear slash across it.
From his years of watching Naruto, Gin instantly recognized the man before him as none other than Uchiha Itachi, the essential character in Sasuke's life.
Shocked, Gin began to speculate—had the Akatsuki discovered the Dragon Vein deep within Roran, and was Itachi sent back through time?
Seeing that Itachi wasn't speaking or making any moves, Gin was about to call out to Uchiha Fuka and the others.
At that moment, the young man atop the stake slowly opened his eyes. A faint light gleamed from his shuriken-like Sharingan.
An eerie scene unfolded around Gin.
The bright moon above vanished, replaced by a crimson one.
The entire space turned blood-red, and an oppressive atmosphere closed in on him.
In an instant, Gin felt himself being lifted high. When he blinked again, he was bound to a cross.
"A blood-red moon, a cross... Could this be…?"
Gin was speechless, his shock rendering him unable to speak. He had seen this all before in the story, but experiencing it firsthand was a different matter entirely.
[Tsukuyomi]
Gin looked around, only to see countless Uchiha Itachis materialize, each holding a katana. One expressionless Itachi spoke:
"In the world of Tsukuyomi, space, time, and matter are under my control. For the next seventy-two hours… I will repeatedly stab you."
With each thrust of a blade, the sound of metal piercing flesh echoed throughout the Tsukuyomi world, accompanied by Gin's helpless, agonized screams.
In his previous life, Gin had made a fuss over even minor injuries, but now he was on the verge of collapse.
Even though he knew it was an illusion, each stab felt painfully real. Every thrust made his body shudder with agony.
In the Tsukuyomi world, he couldn't lose consciousness from the pain. He could only watch as the wounds healed, only for the blade to pierce him again.
Gin cried pitifully, tears and snot mixing as he experienced this hell. He even lost control of his bodily functions.
After what felt like an eternity, when he thought it must be over, a ghostly voice whispered in his ear:
"There are still seventy-one hours left."
"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" Gin's wails of despair continued.