In the crimson-tinted genjutsu space, Uchiha Itachi and Tsunade stood facing each other in an otherworldly environment that defied all natural laws.
Tsunade looked around with genuine curiosity, observing the surreal landscape that bore no resemblance to reality whatsoever. She couldn't help but marvel at the incredible power of Uchiha Itachi's genjutsu abilities.
"This is one of the eye techniques of my Mangekyou Sharingan, called Tsukuyomi," Itachi explained with complete honesty. "Its specific function is..."
As Uchiha Itachi continued his detailed explanation, Tsunade became increasingly amazed and somewhat frightened by what she was hearing!
This genjutsu ability truly exceeded anything she had previously imagined possible.
But when she considered how powerful her grandfather Senju Hashirama had been, and yet he had still fought as equals with his greatest rival Uchiha Madara, it demonstrated just how formidable the Sharingan's capabilities could become.
Therefore, although the Mangekyou Sharingan's eye techniques seemed almost impossibly powerful, they were still within Tsunade's range of acceptance.
After all, she had witnessed Uchiha Madara's abilities with her own eyes during her youth. After seeing someone of that caliber in action, it was extremely difficult to be shocked when observing other powerful ninja.
Uchiha Itachi finished explaining his Tsukuyomi ability, and without waiting for Tsunade to ask follow-up questions, he continued: "The organization I've joined is called Akatsuki, and these black cloaks embroidered with red clouds, along with the bamboo hats, are its most distinctive identifying features."
"There aren't many members in Akatsuki, but they are all notorious rogue ninja from their respective hidden villages."
"For example, there's Deidara, who was a student of the Tsuchikage from Iwagakure, and Sasori of the Red Sand, who is the grandson of Sunagakure's respected elders Chiyo and Ebizo..."
"Most of Akatsuki's operational bases are located throughout the Land of Rain. Their leaders are Pain, who possesses the legendary Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths, and a female ninja named Konan..."
Tsunade's heart was racing as she absorbed the intelligence that Uchiha Itachi was sharing with her. Although she had hoped to gather some information from him, she truly hadn't expected to receive such an enormous amount of extremely sensitive intelligence.
When she noticed that Uchiha Itachi had paused in his explanation, Tsunade quickly asked, "So what is Akatsuki's ultimate purpose in gathering so many powerful rogue ninja?"
"Akatsuki's goal is to capture all nine tailed beasts in the ninja world!"
"All of the tailed beasts?"
"Yes, every single one!"
Tsunade was stunned, then deeply puzzled by this revelation.
If Akatsuki's target were a specific tailed beast, that would be understandable from a strategic perspective.
But Uchiha Itachi had just said that Akatsuki wanted to capture all the tailed beasts. Wasn't this essentially equivalent to declaring war against the entire ninja world?
Was Akatsuki really confident that it could take on every major hidden village simultaneously?
Hidden Depths
In truth, Uchiha Itachi hadn't revealed all the information he possessed. He had always suspected that Pain and Konan were merely the public faces of the Akatsuki organization, while the real leader was actually "Uchiha Madara"!
Of course, the main reason for this incomplete disclosure was that Itachi still wasn't clear about Uchiha Obito's true identity at this point in time.
So he had always believed that the masked man was genuinely Uchiha Madara!
Uchiha Itachi was convinced that all of these events were Uchiha Madara's orchestration, and that everyone else was simply a pawn in his grand scheme.
In one sense, Uchiha Itachi had guessed Obito's identity incorrectly.
But remarkably, he had correctly deduced that the person truly pulling the strings behind the scenes was indeed Uchiha Madara, and that Nagato, Konan, and Obito were all pawns in Madara's elaborate game.
However, even Uchiha Madara was ultimately just another pawn of Black Zetsu!
Black Zetsu, who sought to free his mother Kaguya Otsutsuki, was the true mastermind behind everything that had transpired!
Uchiha Itachi shared most of the intelligence he possessed with Tsunade, then gave her some time to process and digest the overwhelming information.
He understood that what he had revealed was already more than enough for any person to struggle with accepting.
When Tsunade had barely begun to absorb the implications of this intelligence, Uchiha Itachi continued: "The Akatsuki organization still holds many core secrets that I haven't been able to discover yet."
"The people within Akatsuki don't trust me. Most of my companions who are assigned to missions with me are actually there to monitor my activities."
"So it's extremely difficult for me to collect more sensitive intelligence!"
"But you can feel secure for now, Lady Tsunade. My condition for joining Akatsuki was that the organization cannot launch any attacks against Konoha Village!"
"So as long as I remain alive, Konoha Village won't be targeted by Akatsuki."
Uchiha Itachi was well aware that Akatsuki would never fully trust him, especially since his identity as a spy had been exposed from the very beginning.
However, he didn't realize that Nagato and Obito didn't trust each other either, which meant that Nagato was constantly suspicious of Uchiha Itachi, whom Obito had recruited into the organization.
The Impossible Return
Tsunade neither completely believed nor entirely dismissed all the information that Uchiha Itachi had shared with her.
After reluctantly accepting this intelligence, Tsunade asked tentatively, "So, since Akatsuki doesn't trust you anyway, couldn't you simply return to Konoha?"
"Shimura Danzo is dead, and the tragedy of the Uchiha clan's destruction has been attributed entirely to his manipulation. So if you wanted to come back, I could handle all the remaining political complications."
"I can guarantee that there wouldn't be any other problems."
Return home?
Uchiha Itachi stood there in stunned silence, unable to reply for a long time.
Did he want to come back to Konoha?
Of course he wanted to return!
But could he actually come back?
No, he couldn't!
Even if all the blame could be transferred to the deceased Shimura Danzo, Uchiha Itachi couldn't pretend that his actions had never happened.
The sin of murdering his own clan members would never fade away or be forgiven!
Uchiha Itachi raised his hands and stared at them, lost in tortured contemplation. These seemingly clean palms were actually stained with blood that would never wash away!
He could almost smell the metallic scent of blood that clung to his body, and hear the wailing voices of his slain relatives that echoed constantly around him.
All of this meant that there was no path back for him.
The ninja named Uchiha Itachi would carry this sin for the rest of his life, forever!
"No! I will not return!"
Uchiha Itachi lowered his hands and his expression returned to its normal composed state, as if the emotional moment had never occurred.
Tsunade wasn't surprised by his refusal. After returning to the village, she had specifically researched the intelligence files from that period regarding the tragic destruction of the Uchiha clan.
Although some records lacked detailed information, Tsunade could understand how incredibly troublesome and complex the tragedy had been.
It wouldn't be possible to easily erase such events simply by blaming everything on the already deceased Shimura Danzo.
A Brother's Request
Tsunade refocused her attention and continued, "Do you need me to relay any message to Sasuke? That boy is completely focused on getting revenge against you and has been training obsessively for that purpose!"
Uchiha Itachi declined immediately. "There's nothing for you to tell him. I will communicate certain things to him personally."
"So I was wondering if Lady Tsunade could do me a favor..."
"What kind of favor?"
"I need some private time alone with Sasuke!"
Tsunade frowned with concern. "That request would be easy enough to arrange, but I want to understand what you're planning to do. Uchiha Sasuke is a Genin of Konoha Village. As the Fifth Hokage, it's my responsibility to ensure his safety!"
Uchiha Itachi smiled genuinely for the first time during their conversation. He was extremely satisfied with Tsunade's sense of responsibility toward her ninja. With such a dedicated Hokage protecting him, Itachi believed that Sasuke would be safe even after his own eventual death.
"I need to teach Sasuke some of the secret techniques of the Uchiha family. No one else is qualified to instruct him in these abilities!"
"Very well, I understand!"
After studying Uchiha Itachi's expression carefully, Tsunade agreed to grant this seemingly modest request.
In a flash of transition, both of them returned to the real world.
Tsunade looked around quickly, confirming that in reality, very little time appeared to have passed. It seemed as if only a single moment had elapsed.
Uchiha Itachi bowed respectfully to Tsunade, then turned and vanished into the concealing fog.
Tsunade chose not to pursue him, but instead sighed deeply as she reflected on all the disturbing information that Uchiha Itachi had revealed to her.
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