"Of course not, how could I be close to someone like that?"
"Brother, you don't think I'm friendly with everyone, do you?"
Sasuke frowned slightly in disgust. Uchiha Itachi always seemed to treat him like a child.
He was no longer a child who came to Uchiha Itachi for power. He was capable enough to take on his own responsibilities.
Frankly speaking, he had already seen and suppressed Nine Tails inside Naruto. Sasuke felt he was good enough.
The battles with Naruto and Orochimaru showed Sasuke his own strength.
Simply put, he pretty much felt like he could do it.
Although Uchiha Itachi had the Mangekyo Sharingan, his three-tomoe Sharingan wasn't that much worse, right?
That's how Sasuke felt.
It wasn't that Uchiha Itachi looked down on his little brother, but only those who had unlocked the Mangekyo could understand the difference between the two.
"After all, you guys talk a lot... and Hidan too."
Uchiha Itachi paused and said slowly, a faint smile appearing on the corner of his lips hidden behind the high collar.
The white tassels hanging from the hat parted his face, and the bells hanging on the hat jingled softly.
In a way, Uchiha Itachi was indeed acting as Sasuke's guardian.
But saying "guardian" in the Akatsuki organization had a subtly funny meaning.
"That's not true. To be precise, it's because you don't talk enough, Brother."
Sasuke pouted unhappily and muttered a few words under his breath.
Every time they had a meeting, if Sasuke didn't see Uchiha Itachi with his eyes open, he would have thought the guy had skipped the meeting altogether.
Besides Hidan, the chatterbox, everyone in the Akatsuki organization had normal language skills.
Even Hoshigaki Kisame, the human-shaped shark, would occasionally chime in with a cold joke or two.
But Uchiha Itachi always seemed isolated. He wouldn't say more than a few words unless Pain called his name to assign tasks.
Sasuke was already hesitant to show too much closeness in front of outsiders because of their relationship.
During meetings, he would constantly glance at Uchiha Itachi, wanting to say something but unable to.
Deidara had complained about Sasuke before.
"Is it that bad? We're just having a meeting remotely, do you want to kill Itachi now? Hmm."
Although that wasn't the case, Sasuke just snorted and turned his head away.
"I'm listening too."
"But you guys were chatting so enthusiastically, I didn't want to interrupt."
Although he didn't talk much, he was listening to them.
Uchiha Itachi said in a soft voice, taking out a scroll with a map from his clothes and unfolding it little by little.
Frankly speaking, he didn't really care about the Akatsuki organization.
The people inside were a bunch of lunatics, and there weren't many he could talk to. Uchiha Itachi didn't want to open up to them.
Sasuke was just childish, anyway, he was bored, so he might as well chat.
Uchiha Itachi was a silent tool before Sasuke came, and he hadn't changed much after Sasuke came.
He just started attending meetings more actively.
Before, he didn't care if these people lived or died. Sometimes, in special situations, he wouldn't even use the Illusionary Dragon Nine Consumption Technique to attend meetings.
But since Sasuke came, his attendance rate had increased sharply.
There was no other reason. After separating from Sasuke, he relied on this to check if Sasuke was still alive.
He was the type who didn't talk much anyway. It wouldn't be appropriate to be too affectionate with Sasuke all of a sudden.
And in some situations, he could control his emotions, but Sasuke might start acting spoiled and calling him "Brother, Brother."
To be safe, Uchiha Itachi had directly assigned himself the role of a silent tool.
Anyway, Sasuke's missions didn't have much to do with him. Except for tricky situations like the Orochimaru mission, where he would secretly help him out.
The rest was up to fate.
"Brother is always like this. You were like this when we were little, and you're still like this now. Stuffy, mysterious, pretentious."
Sasuke pouted and stuck his tongue out at Uchiha Itachi, making a face.
Unlike Uchiha Itachi, who wanted to bury himself in his clothes.
Sasuke held his hat in his hand, and the bells jingled non-stop as he swung it.
Compared to the Akatsuki organization, which was known for its mystery, he didn't have that kind of air at all.
Sasuke let down the collar of his clothes, exposing his face without any intention of hiding.
Although he was a missing-nin, he didn't feel like he had anything to hide.
Although to outsiders, their personalities might have some subtle similarities, they were completely different in private.
After making a face, Sasuke looked down at the map in Uchiha Itachi's hand.
The map was a bit complicated, and the terrain had many problems. There were rock caves everywhere.
Unlike the terrain near Konoha, which often had forests, this place was full of rocks and looked barren.
Uchiha Itachi raised his eyebrows slightly, a smile appearing on his relaxed face.
He looked at Sasuke, who was leaning over to look, with a gentle expression and reached out to gently poke him on the forehead.
"Okay, stop complaining, we still have a mission."
Sasuke immediately raised his head, covering his forehead, and pouted at Uchiha Itachi.
Iwagakure Village was easy to defend and hard to attack, which also made it difficult for people in the area to communicate with the outside world.
Capturing a Tailed Beast was neither difficult nor easy.
But because of the terrain, there were places everywhere where ambushes could be set up.
The Sharingan wasn't the best at scouting, but it was passable.
This map wasn't a regular map, it had many markings and symbols.
These were recorded when Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame came here before. These markings indicated places where enemies might appear.
They had also marked the Jinchuriki's activity range.
In short, whether it was attracting enemies or any other action, it was all to lure out the Jinchuriki in the area.
"Nothing special, just be careful not to fall into an ambush."
"This place is full of rocks. Once they collapse, you and I, who aren't familiar with the surrounding terrain, will definitely be in trouble."
Uchiha Itachi followed the messy lines of the map, pointed out a clear route, and looked at the silent rocky land while telling Sasuke.
"Okay, I got it."
"I won't fall for traps or anything like that."
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