Konan waking up brought a slight sense of relief to Itachi.
His mind, however, was flooded with countless thoughts.
The one that dominated his mind was:
Did Orochimaru trick me?
Yet, when he thought back on their interactions, he couldn't quite believe it.
But then, why didn't Orochimaru warn him about how severe the side effects of this thing were?
If something like this happened during a fight, just as he was about to unleash his full strength...
Wouldn't that be like handing his opponent an easy victory on a silver platter?
Meanwhile, Orochimaru was in a laboratory, surrounded by dim lighting.
The area around him, however, was brilliantly lit.
On the table before him were various experimental instruments and equipment.
Dressed in protective gear, goggles, and a mask, Orochimaru worked carefully. On his head, a large shadowless lamp illuminated his workspace with precision.
Just as he was meticulously handling some tools, a sudden sensation came over him. Orochimaru quickly and gently placed the instrument in his hand back onto the table and took a step back.
"Ah-choo!"
The sneeze left him feeling oddly refreshed.
"Who's thinking about me this late? Or could it be that I'm catching a cold?"
Orochimaru removed his mask, inhaling the sharp scents of alcohol and disinfectant that filled the air.
"Maybe the disinfectant smell is just too strong..."
He stood there for a moment, lost in thought.
"Ah-choo! Ah-choo!"
As he was about to put his mask back on, two more sneezes came in quick succession.
At that moment, an image of Itachi popped into Orochimaru's mind.
"Heh heh, Itachi-kun, by now you've probably received the serum. Perhaps you'll come looking for me soon. When that happens, we'll finally get the chance to work together. There's no future for you in that organization..."
As Orochimaru thought of Itachi, a glint of calculation flashed in his eyes. His lips curled into a smirk, and his tongue lightly licked his dry lips.
It seemed that everything happening to Itachi was somehow connected to Orochimaru.
Or perhaps, Orochimaru had discreetly planted some plans of his own in Itachi's body.
The night passed in silence.
Konan occasionally glanced curiously at Itachi.
"Incredible. You stayed awake the entire night..."
As the first rays of dawn broke, the branches Itachi had collected were fed into the fire by Konan, burning completely to ashes.
When the final flicker of flames died out, it felt as though their mission had been accomplished.
Hearing Konan's words, Itachi felt utterly defeated.
His body alternated between feeling cold and hot. His eyes ached with overwhelming fatigue.
His legs were numb, accompanied by sharp pains.
His waist and back throbbed with an unbearable soreness.
Konan took small, deliberate steps toward Itachi. Seeing his pale face filled her with unease.
"What exactly did you inject yourself with? Are you still unable to move?"
The sun had already risen, and if Itachi had been training or using something manageable, he should have recovered by now.
But with no signs of improvement, she couldn't make sense of the situation.
Surely Itachi wouldn't deliberately harm himself, injecting strange substances into his body for no reason... right?
"Did we miscalculate the timing? Or should we wait a little longer?"
Itachi couldn't respond to himself, so Konan had to make the decision on her own.
If she put herself in his shoes, she certainly wouldn't inject random substances into her body without caution. So, Itachi definitely wouldn't do that either. She convinced herself that everything was still under control.
...
But as the sun climbed higher in the sky, blazing brightly, Itachi remained motionless. This left Konan, who initially wanted to grab something to eat, completely out of the mood.
At that moment, Itachi's gaze became hollow, unfocused, as if his eyes couldn't concentrate on anything.
He felt an intense heat in his eyes, as if the energy from the substance was finally manifesting there, altering the most crucial part of his body.
Konan naturally noticed Itachi's condition. She hurried to his side, her slender hand emerging from her robe to grab his wrist.
A wave of heat and a faint, weak pulse greeted her touch, putting her slightly at ease.
Just moments ago, she thought Itachi might have passed away. His sudden change in expression had startled her greatly.
Having taken on a mission after such a long time, running into someone like Itachi made her feel annoyed and frustrated.
She even began questioning whether she was cursed, as terrible things always seemed to happen to her.
...
But no matter her thoughts, she quickly summoned a pair of paper wings behind her.
Without hesitation, she lifted Itachi into her arms—a princess carry—and prepared to take him back to Amegakure to get him checked at the hospital.
At that moment, Itachi felt his body lifted into the air, but his vision had already gone completely dark. He could no longer see anything.
Inside his body, it felt like a battlefield, with two armies fiercely clashing.
His central nervous system had long since shut down, leaving him unable to control his body.
The invaders, using his arm as their base, were rapidly consuming resources, generating new cells, and transforming them into powerful warriors. They were advancing aggressively.
Meanwhile, his body's natural forces were fighting back with full force, resisting the silent yet monumental invasion.
If Itachi knew what was happening inside him right now, he might actually feel relieved. If this had happened after the Hashirama cells were fully integrated, it would have been much worse.
Konan glanced at the increasingly pale Itachi in her arms, her heart aching.
Unbidden, memories she didn't want to confront resurfaced in her mind.
At that moment, she felt a pang of guilt. She should have acted decisively when she noticed something was wrong and taken Itachi for treatment instead of waiting.
...
A few hours later, Konan finally returned to Amegakure with Itachi in her arms.
Her appearance immediately caught the hospital's attention.
The medical team quickly assembled the best doctors to diagnose Itachi.
However, when they used their sensory techniques, they were dumbfounded.
They couldn't sense anything.
Left with no other option, they resorted to slower methods—drawing blood and using equipment to run tests.
Now, Itachi lay on a hospital bed, surrounded by numerous IV drips delivering nutrients and energy to his body.
This, however, only intensified the internal battle within Itachi's body.
Originally, neither side had reinforcements, but now both were being supplied with nutrients, fueling their fight even more fiercely.
...
"How is he?"
Konan asked the doctor anxiously as he approached.
"Lady Angel, this patient's condition... we've never seen anything like it," the doctor hesitated, his tone awkward.
The results showed that Itachi's cells were fighting against each other. The battle was intense, yet no foreign cells were involved. Both sides seemed to originate from Itachi himself.
The doctor was at a loss for words.
"What exactly is going on?"
Konan's eyes turned sharp, her tone icy, her presence intimidating.
"Th-this may be some kind of bloodline-related illness. This gentleman's body appears to have split into two factions... that are fighting each other," the doctor stammered, clearly intimidated by Konan's tone and aura.
...
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