"Could it be Orochimaru's group?"
Itachi quickly gave up guessing, not letting his thoughts wander, because he didn't have much time for free movement now. If he couldn't pass on the intelligence as soon as possible, his risky outing this time would be meaningless.
Therefore, he had no time to analyze what this squad had encountered before.
Itachi swept his gaze over the few people, finally resting on Sasuke.
Currently, the only one who dared to look him in the eye was Sasuke. Although Sasuke's gaze looked somewhat evasive and erratic, Sasuke was the most convenient for passing messages.
It was just that Sasuke was too hostile towards him, so transmitting intelligence directly would probably cause some unnecessary trouble. Thus, he decided to subdue Sasuke first, and then leave the intelligence secretly on Sasuke.
He believed that the person who released his 'Tsukuyomi' last time should be able to discover the intelligence he left on Sasuke this time.
With a thought, Itachi took a step forward, attacking Sasuke.
"I'm not a pushover!"
Feeling very annoyed that Itachi picked him to attack, Sasuke immediately met him head-on.
Seeing Sasuke fall for the bait with just a little provocation, Itachi hurriedly started forming hand seals.
"Snake, Ram, Monkey... is Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique! Hmph, too slow, I won't let you activate it..."
Recognizing the seals Itachi was forming, Sasuke formed only one seal and activated 'Chidori'. Then, he stimulated chakra, turning the 'Chidori' in his hand into 'Chidori Sharp Spear', stabbing from a distance towards the oncoming Itachi.
However, just at the moment Sasuke's 'Chidori Sharp Spear' was about to hit Itachi, a red phantom projected from Itachi's body, causing Sasuke's 'Chidori Sharp Spear' to deviate slightly. Subsequently, a huge red skeletal arm reached out and grabbed Sasuke.
It turned out Itachi forming seals was just to attract Sasuke's attention. He had already prepared 'Susanoo', waiting for Sasuke to get closer to strike immediately.
Everything was as he expected. Although Sasuke's 'Chidori Sharp Spear' pierced through his 'Susanoo's skeletal arm, it didn't prevent him from capturing Sasuke with 'Susanoo's skeletal arm.
"Let go of me!"
The memory of being crushed into meat paste by Itachi's 'Susanoo' before flooded Sasuke's mind instantly, making him instinctively feel tremors.
Thus, he struggled desperately regardless of everything.
And as he relaxed the restriction on the 'Cursed Seal', the power of the Cursed Seal rapidly eroded his whole body, even entering his pupils.
Itachi secretly said: "Not good!"
Sasuke's desperate struggle made his own Cursed Seal transformation increasingly severe.
If this continued, Sasuke would either turn into those completely unconscious monsters in Orochimaru's laboratory or be petrified due to absorbing excessive natural energy.
So Itachi couldn't care too much and directly used 'Tsukuyomi' on Sasuke.
In just an instant, Sasuke quieted down, then his head tilted, passing out.
At this time, Itachi urged 'Susanoo's skeletal arm to throw away the unconscious Sasuke, then used the skeletal arm to block the incoming 'Wood Release' and sand, subsequently leveraging the force to fly back, disappearing from everyone's vision.
Kurotsuchi in the air was somewhat incredulous: "He fled?"
Yakumo observed carefully with 'Ketsuryugan', then nodded slightly: "Mhm, indeed fled!"
Gaara opened the sand ball, walked out from inside, looking puzzled: "Returning and leaving hastily, what exactly does he want to do?"
Yakumo shook her head.
Honestly, she had more doubts in her heart than anyone else right now. Just realized the weirdness of Itachi in the previous battle, Itachi appeared again.
And before engaging in combat, Itachi suddenly left again.
Itachi's various behaviors completely confused her.
Kurotsuchi landed from the air at this time, coming to Sasuke's side.
Yakumo asked: "Is he okay?"
Kurotsuchi checked: "Looks fine."
Yakumo shifted her gaze to Darui lying on the ground not far away, sighing faintly.
This time, from Itachi's appearance to departure, the whole process only took a short one or two minutes.
As a result, in just these short one or two minutes, he easily knocked down Darui and Sasuke successively and left calmly. This was really hard to accept.
So right now Yakumo had no energy to analyze why Itachi was so weird, because if Itachi appeared again, their elite squad might really be wiped out here.
Considering this, Yakumo immediately said to everyone: "It's too dangerous here, we must leave immediately!"
"Mhm!"
Whether Gaara and Kurotsuchi who still had combat power, or Ryuzetsu and Chino who had lost combat power, all nodded in unison.
In the previous battle, their squad had already lost the ability to annihilate 'Upper Rank One'. Now Itachi returned and knocked down Darui and Sasuke. If they didn't retreat at this time, whether encountering 'Upper Rank One' or Akatsuki members including Itachi, they would be in a very dangerous situation.
Soon, the squad finished packing.
Darui was only hit by ordinary Genjutsu, so Yakumo easily woke him up.
Sasuke's situation was troublesome. He was hit by the same Mangekyo pupil technique as Kakashi, suffering a certain degree of damage to his consciousness. So even if Yakumo released the Genjutsu for him, he didn't wake up and remained in a deep coma.
So in the squad, there were four heavily injured members unable to move: Kakashi, Guy, Chiriku, Sasuke, and two injured members barely able to move but basically losing combat ability: Ryuzetsu, Chino.
Thus among the remaining four, Yakumo became the temporary captain, Gaara was responsible for transporting the wounded with sand, Kurotsuchi was responsible for high-altitude reconnaissance, and Darui was responsible for clearing the way.
The few proceeded cautiously all the way, finally finding a temporary camp of the Ninja Village Alliance. While using the Communications Division in the camp to report the encounter in the Land of Earth to the headquarters, they also borrowed some ninjas from the camp to escort the squad back to the headquarters.
Because whether Kakashi and Sasuke hit by 'Tsukuyomi', or Guy, Chiriku, Ryuzetsu, and Chino burned by 'Amaterasu', all urgently needed treatment from top medical ninjas. And looking at the Ninja World, Tsunade in the headquarters was undoubtedly the number one medical ninja in the Ninja World.
Land of Rain, Ninja Village Alliance Headquarters.
The Five Kage were still anxiously waiting for the situation of the elite squad encircling 'Upper Rank One'. Unexpectedly, the elite squad sent back such a battle report.
Terumi Mei's face was full of surprise: "Itachi Uchiha defeated the entire elite squad alone?"
The Fourth Raikage was also full of disbelief: "This is impossible!"
Tsunade frowned: "We'll know when Kakashi and the others return."
What she worried about was not Itachi Uchiha's combat power, but why Itachi Uchiha attacked the elite squad, and whether Itachi Uchiha was still credible!