Chapter 301: He Cried

Chapter 301: Chapter 301: He Cried

At the other end of the forest.

Two figures, one in front and one behind, raced beneath the star-speckled night sky.

Bathed in the cool moonlight, they leaped from tree to tree through the dense forest, moving with such ghostly speed that even an ordinary jōnin would probably have been unable to match them.

After a long while, the figure in front finally stopped.

He stood quietly on the branch of a large tree, holding a restless five- or six-year-old child in one hand. Breathing slightly heavily, he watched the prey that had pursued him all the way here.

There was no doubt about it.

This man was Orochimaru, who had abducted Uchiha Sasuke from the Uchiha clan compound.

Only a few breaths later, the second figure arrived as well.

He landed atop the crown of a large tree and stared down at Orochimaru, who was holding Sasuke hostage.

Naturally, the one who had pursued him all this way was Uchiha Itachi.

The treetop where Itachi stood was already considerably higher than the branch Orochimaru stood upon. And with the bright, full moon hanging directly behind Itachi, his silhouette seemed to overlap with the moon itself.

From Orochimaru’s perspective, it was as though Itachi were standing within the brilliant moon, giving him an air of nobility that seemed utterly untouchable.

Orochimaru subconsciously furrowed his brow.

That feeling greatly irritated Orochimaru.

However, he currently held the advantage. The practically perfect body before him would soon be his, so he forcibly suppressed his displeasure and smiled.

"You certainly have courage, I’ll give you that. You actually dared to chase after me all by yourself. Do you really think you can defeat me?"

Itachi drew a kunai and held it horizontally before him.

"I’m going to try!"

Orochimaru grabbed Sasuke by the neck, his long fingernails digging viciously into the flesh. Only then did he lick his lips and say with a half-smile, "My condition is very simple. As long as you’re willing to hand over Uchiha En, I can even let both you brothers go."

"Hmph. All you want is En-senpai’s Mangekyō Sharingan!"

Itachi snorted disdainfully in his mind.

Itachi possessed the same arrogance shared by the other Uchiha. It was simply hidden much deeper.

He had helped the village wipe out the entire Uchiha clan when they attempted to rebel. Although it had been a choice forced upon him by circumstances, in doing so, he had unconsciously placed himself in the position of a judge—using his own values as the standard by which he passed judgment upon the clansmen who disagreed with him.

And that, without question, was also a form of arrogance.

An arrogance uniquely his own.

Orochimaru’s snake-like vertical pupils suddenly contracted!

That brief flicker of emotion from Itachi had revealed an important piece of information to Orochimaru.

Itachi actually knew this person called ’Uchiha En.’

Or rather, there truly was a genius girl within the Uchiha clan named ’Uchiha En.’

Orochimaru immediately hardened his tone.

"Trade Uchiha En for him! Otherwise, your beloved little brother will end up as nothing more than a pile of rotten meat in a snake’s belly!"

As he spoke, Orochimaru’s hand around Sasuke’s neck slowly began to tighten.

"Urgh..."

Very quickly, Sasuke began struggling painfully as he was deprived of air. He desperately pounded at the hand Orochimaru had wrapped around his neck, but it had no effect whatsoever.

Watching Sasuke’s face turn crimson, his legs kicking wildly as his struggles grew weaker and weaker...

Itachi felt as though the hand around Sasuke’s neck was actually choking him.

His heart pounded violently in his chest, thump, thump, as his entire being sank into an indescribable state.

To Itachi, his family and friends were his untouchable reverse scale.

And his little brother Sasuke was the vulnerable spot hidden beneath that reverse scale—the one place he protected above all else.

Not only could no one touch it, he wouldn’t even allow others to see it!

If Hyuga Kagami had been here, he definitely would have mocked Orochimaru for seeking death.

Orochimaru clearly sensed that something was wrong as well.

But before he could react, Itachi vanished with the Body Flicker Technique and appeared directly in front of him!

Orochimaru’s expression tightened, and he immediately moved to retreat.

He had already tested the limits of Itachi’s speed earlier, so he was certain that Itachi was absolutely not this fast.

There was only one explanation.

His perception had been affected by genjutsu.

Whoosh...

Orochimaru was one of the Legendary Sannin, after all. Although Itachi’s genjutsu had interfered with his senses for an instant, he still reacted in time, using the Body Flicker Technique to retreat onto another large tree.

"Your visual prowess is actually this strong?"

At this moment, Orochimaru finally put away his earlier composure, his expression turning solemn.

Not long ago, he had been subdued by Hiruko’s genjutsu, so he understood perfectly well that as long as the Sharingan’s visual prowess was powerful enough, even a mere three-tomoe Sharingan could leave him struggling to resist.

Orochimaru was by no means mediocre.

By now, he had already realized that the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique caused his own soul to become increasingly complex and impure, which in turn weakened his resistance to genjutsu.

And that was precisely why he had gone to such lengths to obtain a body possessing Uchiha blood.

If he could obtain the Sharingan as well, his resistance to genjutsu would increase considerably.

At that point, this weakness would hardly be a weakness at all.

Just then, however, Itachi didn’t even look at him. Instead, he turned toward a large tree behind him and shouted, "Sasuke, hurry and run! I’ll hold him off!"

"Mm..."

A young child’s voice came from behind the distant tree.

Orochimaru frowned and looked down at the Sasuke he was holding in his hand.

Caw, caw, caw...

But the instant his gaze fell upon him, the Sasuke in his grasp suddenly transformed into countless crows and scattered into the air!

"Substitution Technique!?"

Orochimaru froze for a moment before his expression turned ugly.

"To think you managed to complete a substitution right under my nose... Itachi, you’ve made me even more interested in you!"

......

Meanwhile, Sasuke was running with his head down as fast as he could.

Earlier, he had been so overwhelmed by fear and nervousness while in Orochimaru’s grasp that he hadn’t paid any attention to which direction they were traveling. By now, he was completely disoriented and had no idea which way led back to the village.

All he could do was grit his teeth and keep running, trying to put as much distance between himself and Orochimaru as possible.

Thud...

While sprinting through the forest, Sasuke suddenly crashed into something and fell flat onto his butt.

"Huh? So it’s you, you stuck-up jerk!"

Rubbing his forehead, Sasuke was just about to look up and see what he had run into when a familiar voice reached his ears.

"It’s you! What are you doing here?"

The person Sasuke had crashed into was naturally Naruto, who had just been rescued by Shisui.

With both hands clasped behind his head, Naruto casually replied, "I don’t know either. Someone just brought me here somehow."

Then he looked at Sasuke and asked, "Oh, right. Why are you crying? Did someone bully you?"

Sasuke jolted in horror!

As though he had been electrocuted, he immediately spun around and frantically wiped at his tear-streaked face, stubbornly protesting, "N-Nonsense! I wasn’t crying at all! It’s too dark, so you saw wrong!"

Naruto walked around in front of Sasuke, squatted down, and carefully stared at his face.

"But you obviously cried!"

Sasuke’s face immediately turned red.

"D-Don’t... don’t tell anyone..."