Naruto glanced at the crow's left eye. It was a Mangekyo Sharingan, but the pattern was different from Itachi's Mangekyo pattern. He knew whose it was.
Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan.
It contained the strongest genjutsu—Kotoamatsukami!
Kotoamatsukami could rewrite a person's will without them noticing.
"A Mangekyo?"
Naruto took a blank sealing scroll from his ninja tool pouch and unfolded it. Then he formed a few hand seals for a Fuinjutsu, and sealed the crow into the scroll.
After the crow was absorbed into the scroll, it transformed into a patch of runes printed on the paper. Naruto rolled up the scroll and put it back into his ninja tool pouch.
After doing all this, he raised his head and found Itachi looking toward the battlefield where Kisame and Jiraiya were fighting.
At this moment, the water level of the artificial lake created by Kisame had been lowered by more than half, and Gamabunta's blade was cutting through the final wave of sharks from the Thousand Feeding Sharks.
"Thank you for thinking of Sasuke. He is very lucky to have a friend like you." Itachi withdrew his gaze from the battlefield and looked at Naruto.
Naruto waved his hand at Itachi.
Itachi nodded and jumped toward Kisame. With a few leaps, he cleared the forest and arrived at the lakeside.
The moment his figure appeared at the edge of the battlefield, Kisame immediately withdrew the two water sharks that were entangled with Gamabunta.
"Kisame, we are leaving."
"Huh? Itachi-san, are we not fighting anymore? I haven't fed Samehada enough yet."
Although he said that, Kisame's movements had completely stopped.
Itachi stated the current situation, "The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is very strange, he can be immune to my genjutsu. Plus, with Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, by his side, the longer this battle drags on, the more disadvantageous it is for us."
"Konoha's reinforcements could arrive at any time, we don't have enough time to waste here with them."
Kisame nodded. "Okay, Itachi-san."
He formed hand seals with both hands:
Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique!
Two sharks formed from water leaped out of the water simultaneously, opening their mouths to swallow Kisame and Itachi respectively.
With a powerful flick of their tails, the two sharks accelerated across the lake's surface, dragging two white wakes behind them as they fled rapidly toward the fast-flowing river outside the forest.
"Stop right there! Don't run!"
Jiraiya stood atop Gamabunta's head and roared in the direction the two had vanished.
But the two water sharks were simply too fast. Especially on this artificial lake created by Kisame's Water Release, a shark-shaped pursuit Ninjutsu in this environment was the ultimate home-court advantage.
The two water sharks quickly disappeared at the edge of the forest.
Naruto leaped from the woods onto a boulder, staring in the direction Itachi had departed.
In his past life, the character of Itachi had caused endless debate among countless Naruto fans.
Some believed he was the greatest older brother in the Ninja World, while others argued that no matter how noble the motive, the reality of slaughtering his own clan could never be whitewashed.
Naruto himself stood on the blurry dividing line between these two perspectives. He understood Itachi's plight and the despair of being forced to choose back then, but he also knew that some things could never be washed clean, no matter what.
But none of that mattered anymore. Itachi's body could not hold out much longer, and the time he had left to appear before Sasuke was already running out.
All Naruto could do was ensure that on the day Itachi collapsed, Sasuke would not be crushed by the truth.
"Let's go, Pervy Sage. If we delay any longer, we won't make it to Adofu Street before dark." Naruto said.
Jiraiya released the Summoning Technique and leaped down next to Naruto.
"That guy's Chakra reserves are ridiculously massive. He left bite marks on several places of my skin." Gamabunta complained before departing.
"Sorry for the trouble, Gamabunta." Jiraiya said.
Gamabunta turned into white smoke and returned to Mount Myōboku.
Jiraiya stood in front of Naruto and sized him up with a serious expression.
Earlier, while he was locked in combat with Kisame, he had kept a portion of his attention on Naruto and Itachi's battle, fearing that something might happen to Naruto.
He had seen the two clash at high speeds in the woods, seen Itachi subject Naruto to more than one round of genjutsu, and in the end, Itachi had even unleashed a type of black fire.
"Naruto, don't you think you owe me an explanation?"
"Hmm? An explanation for what?" Naruto asked.
"Why do you possess such powerful sensory abilities?"
"We walked for so long and I didn't even notice those two guys, yet you sensed their location from across an entire forest."
Jiraiya's brow furrowed slightly, a hint of worry creeping into his tone. "And what were you and Itachi talking about just now?"
"I may have been fighting Kisame, but I'm not blind. After you two stopped fighting over there, you chatted for at least several minutes."
"That man is Uchiha Itachi, Konoha's S-rank rogue ninja, and he even possesses the Mangekyo Sharingan which can suppress Tailed Beasts. He is not the type of character who would stop to have a casual chat with someone."
"Are you sure he didn't cast some special genjutsu on you? Or say something strange to you?"
Naruto chuckled. "Pervy Sage, it's getting dark. It's still a bit of a walk from here to Adofu Street. Let's head there first, find a place to stay, and chat over dinner. Discussing matters on an empty stomach doesn't align with my ninja way."
"Since when did you have a ninja way like that?" Jiraiya's eyebrow twitched.
He glanced at the sunset glow already spreading across the horizon, then at Naruto, and let out a sigh.
"Fine. Once we get to Adofu Street, you will explain everything to me, down to the last detail. Miss a single word, and I'll cross your name off the Hokage candidate list."
Naruto nodded and took the lead, walking ahead.
Jiraiya followed behind, mentally reviewing everything that had happened today as they walked.