Chapter 425: Caught You
He was caught.
Uchiha Itachi's... clone tried to pull his arm back forcefully, but found that the girl's delicate small hand had surprisingly immense strength. Her slender fingers gripped his wrist firmly like iron pincers. No matter how much force he exerted, his arm remained motionless.
As expected of the brute force school? Itachi frowned tightly. This strength was a bit excessive, actually completely countering a technique-based fighter like him.
Having his hand caught was nothing.
More troublesome was—Itachi glanced at the location of the underground river and the vents—this room was surrounded by thick and hard ice walls on all sides, and the entrance and exit connecting to the outside world just now had also been sealed by ice full of chakra. To escape from here, one would either have to be proficient in Space-Time Ninjutsu, or drag the main body over to see if Susanoo could split this ice shell...
"It seems," Uchiha Itachi dispersed his condensed chakra and said calmly, "I have indeed been caught by you!"
"Hmph hmph."
Haruno Sakura watched with satisfaction as Itachi gave up resistance and released the hand clamping him.
"Now... you are mine."
She took a step back and looked him up and down. The previous few times she saw him were in fierce battles, with no time or mood to care about other people's appearance. Now she finally had the chance to observe carefully. He was indeed quite handsome, with very handsome features. No wonder his popularity remained high in her previous life.
Haruno Sakura had seen Uchiha Fugaku with her own eyes in the Ninja Academy several years ago. It was really hard to imagine how that passerby face gave birth to two such sons.
Uchiha Itachi couldn't be bothered with her. His gaze fell on the container holding the Sharingan on the table aside: "That is... Shisui's other Sharingan?"
"So, you killed Danzo Shimura?"
"You are currently in the form of a Shadow Clone," Haruno Sakura didn't answer him directly, but smiled instead, "So you want to pass intelligence to the main body? Sure. One question from you, one question from me. We must tell the truth. If you don't want to answer a question, you can switch. How about it?"
"Agreed."
Itachi nodded without hesitation.
"Very good." The girl stepped back a few steps, sat on the table, tapped the container with her crystal-clear fingernails, and answered, "I didn't kill him; Danzo is still alive."
"My turn to ask. Why did you leave a genjutsu inside my body? What does this have to do with Sasuke?"
"It's just an insurance. Kotoamatsukami's power can interfere with people's will and thoughts; it will stop Sasuke from doing wrong things, or turn the situation around after Sasuke makes a wrong choice." Itachi replied indifferently, with no fluctuation in his tone.
"Now it's my question: How do you plan to deal with Shisui's Sharingan, especially, how do you plan to use its Mangekyo secret technique—Kotoamatsukami?"
Haruno Sakura wrinkled her nose: "Those are two questions."
"You also asked two questions just now." Itachi reminded.
"Alright." Sakura raised her hand to admit her mistake, "To be honest, I don't have any special need for the Sharingan. Anyway, I won't transplant the Sharingan into myself, at least not into my main body."
She pointed to her own eyes and shrugged: "Change eye color overnight? I don't want to expose it."
"As for Kotoamatsukami... anyway, I won't use this jutsu on my companions."
"Even if Sasuke defects from Konoha?"
"That's the third question." Sakura dodged the question cunningly, "It's my turn to ask, Itachi."
"What genjutsu did you leave in Kotoamatsukami?"
"It's 'Protect Konoha'." Itachi said calmly, "Sasuke's character is sensitive and fragile, and easily goes down an extreme path. This is probably a common trait of our Uchiha clan."
"To prevent him from taking the wrong path in the future, I needed to leave an insurance."
"I ask you, Haruno Sakura. If Sasuke really defects from Konoha in the future, will you use the Sharingan in your hand to cast Kotoamatsukami on him?"
The girl stopped her leisurely tapping on the container.
She stared at Itachi steadily, pondered for a long time, and then said: "I won't let such a thing happen."
"Is that so?" The handsome man looked at her noncommittally.
The evasive answer seemed to have muddled through.
Haruno Sakura hurriedly asked: "I'm a little curious... You said at the beginning that it wasn't time for Kotoamatsukami to trigger yet. Then, what is the trigger condition for the genjutsu? And what is your plan?"
"That is a very long question."
Uchiha Itachi said lightly.
"Regrettably, my chakra is no longer enough to support my existence, and I can't answer your question. So, goodbye, Haruno Sakura."
His body gradually turned into black feathers, drifting in the air.
"Hey, wait, hold on, Uchiha Itachi!" Haruno Sakura jumped off the table hurriedly, rushed over and grabbed Itachi's hand, but unexpectedly, Itachi's hand suddenly turned into a cluster of feathers and scattered.
She opened her hand; apart from air, she only grabbed a few black feathers in her palm.
And Itachi's body was still constantly feathering. Hands, arms, legs, and then torso were all scattering uncontrollably; thus, Uchiha Itachi, becoming lighter and lighter, slowly rose upward amidst the countless black feathers dancing all over the sky.
Haruno Sakura looked up at Uchiha Itachi, who was getting farther and farther away from the ground and dissipating smaller and smaller, stunned for a moment, then suddenly shouted loudly—
"Uchiha Itachi! Since you want to use Kotoamatsukami as insurance to restrain Sasuke, why don't you use genjutsu on him personally, but instead leave Kotoamatsukami on me?!"
Itachi's dissipating figure seemed to pause for a moment.
Then, Haruno Sakura heard his final answer: "There is a deep enough bond between you and Sasuke... If Sasuke really goes down the wrong path of making an enemy of the village in the future, the only person who can make him change his mind is you."
"Because you treat him as a brother... you will definitely stop him from going down the wrong path."
In mid-air, Sakura saw the corners of Uchiha Itachi's mouth, who had dissipated to only shoulders and head remaining, curled up slightly, revealing an imperceptible smile.
"I am very happy that Sasuke has a friend like you... this way, I can rest assured."
"Farewell, Haruno Sakura."
Uchiha Itachi smiled faintly and completely dissipated into the air.
With a plop, Shisui's Sharingan eyeball fell from the air and landed in the girl's palm.
Shisui's second eye was obtained.
Haruno Sakura held the Sharingan, head held high, looking in the direction where Itachi disappeared, feeling subtle, silent for a long time.
A long while later.
She laughed: "You overthought it, Uchiha Itachi..."
"I won't let such a thing happen!"
Sasuke's mentality is very stable!
She shook her head, threw aside the superfluous thoughts, put the eyeball in her hand into the container full of yellow nutrient solution, and then took out another sealing scroll from her body.
With a poof, the scroll was unsealed, emitting a large amount of smoke; amidst the lingering smoke, a girl lying flat on the table, white as jade, was faintly visible.
"Although it's not good for the main body to switch to Sharingan..." The girl chuckled lightly.
"But, I can use a clone to experience the feeling of the Sharingan!"
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