Having a strong enemy like Namikaze Minato escape left Pain quite displeased, and he immediately pressed both hands down.
"Shinra Tensei!"
A tremendous pressure once again descended from the sky. The grievously wounded Akimichi Chōza barely held on for a moment before crashing to the ground and dying on the spot.
And without Akimichi Chōza's protection, the other ninja were simply no match; in an instant, they were annihilated to the last.
Only after all the Konohagakure ninja had died did Uchiha Yasuo come over grinning, exaggeratingly waving both arms.
"Yo!"
"Leader, I've come to defect to you!"
Suspended high in midair, Pain looked down with a hostile gaze at the chief culprit who had caused his plan to lie low and bide his time to fail completely.
Uchiha Yasuo, however, acted as if he had seen nothing at all, still smiling as he continued his self-introduction.
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm that beast who was valued by the clan but, in order to consolidate the power of the politicians of Konohagakure, personally slaughtered the entire clan—men, women, young, and old—Uchiha Itachi!"
Hearing this "self-introduction," everyone could not help shifting their eyes toward the real Uchiha Itachi over there.
White Zetsu even covered his mouth, laughing so hard his whole body twisted like a rope.
"Hehehe… Itachi, this guy seems to have a grudge against you!"
Uchiha Itachi still wore an expressionless face and said lightly: "Perhaps when I was killing, I missed him."
"Whatever."
"The so-called clansmen and such are all fellows without any capacity."
"Using their lives to measure my capacity is nothing more than the most normal thing."
Upon hearing Uchiha Itachi's discourse on capacity, the killing intent in Uchiha Yasuo's heart boiled even hotter.
"Haha…" He covered his forehead with one hand and burst into loud laughter.
"Well said!"
"Itachi, you spoke really well!"
"You truly have such capacity!"
"Come, come, come—since you like using your clansmen's lives to measure capacity so much, then let me come measure your capacity again!"
After saying this, Uchiha Yasuo reached into his bosom and took out a sealing scroll; after unrolling it, he formed hand seals and released the thing inside.
It was a black wooden box, with traces of dripping blood along the edges.
Uchiha Yasuo tilted his head, smiling as he held the box in his hand.
"Hey, Itachi, take a guess—what's inside this box?"
Seemingly not noticing the malice hidden in Uchiha Yasuo's smile, Uchiha Itachi still kept a cold face and said calmly: "My capacity is not something you can fathom, nor does my capacity need you to measure it."
"Is that so? Hehehe…" Uchiha Yasuo let out a strange laugh, reached out to flip open the lid, took out a human head from within, and turned its face toward Uchiha Itachi to show him.
"Hey, Itachi, look carefully—does this person look familiar?"
"Ding, ding, ding, ding!"
"That's right, this is your most beloved little brother!"
"O-hahaha…"
This time Uchiha Itachi's expression couldn't hold. His eyes widened as he stared in shock at that familiar head, and he cried out: "Sasuke!"
"How is this possible!"
"It's fake—this must be fake. You used an illusion technique on me!"
His Sharingan spun wildly, rapidly turning into the Mangekyō Sharingan—but what is real is real and can never be faked.
Yet he simply could not accept such a thing. The veins on his forehead bulged as he glared with blood-red eyes, roaring madly.
"Impossible!"
"You must have used the Transformation Technique!"
"That must be fake!"
Seeing Uchiha Itachi in this crazed state, Uchiha Yasuo felt indescribably delighted in his heart, feeling that all the hardships along the way had been worth it.
"Jiejiejie…"
He let out a few strange laughs, gave his hand a shake, and tossed Uchiha Sasuke's head toward Uchiha Itachi.
"Hey, since you say this was made by the Transformation Technique, then why don't you personally give it a good inspection!"
Uchiha Itachi stretched out a trembling hand to catch that head, but a Kubikiribōchō suddenly extended out of thin air from the side and blocked it.
"Hey, Itachi, losing your cool like this won't do!"
"Since it's the enemy, maybe they tampered with this fake head!"
But Biwa Jūzō was purely overthinking it this time. Ordinary Explosive Tag traps or poison wouldn't be able to kill Uchiha Itachi.
The newly obtained Rinkaichū could indeed pose a threat to Uchiha Itachi, but that thing was uncontrollable, distinguished neither friend nor foe, and its spread was too fast; it would also damage Sasuke's head—gains not worth the losses.
So Uchiha Yasuo simply hadn't done such a superfluous thing.
"Hmph, meddlesome!"
Uchiha Yasuo glared viciously at Biwa Jūzō, then looked at Uchiha Itachi with a cold smile.
If he could not kill, striking at the heart would do just as well!
Biwa Jūzō carefully inspected for a while but found no hidden danger, then turned his head and handed Uchiha Sasuke's head to Uchiha Itachi.
Itachi took Sasuke's head with trembling hands, his fingertips quivering uncontrollably, his knuckles whitening from the excessive force.
He stared fixedly at Sasuke's pale face; those eyes that had once brimmed with life were now hollow and vacant, never again to meet his with that gaze of admiration.
He activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes to its utmost limit, examining it over and over again for a long time, but no matter how he checked, the conclusion he reached was always the same.
This was indeed the severed head of the younger brother he loved most, Uchiha Sasuke.
In an instant, Itachi felt the world spinning and collapsing, as if the entire world were overturning, and that icy heart of his seemed to stop beating altogether.
His brother's adorable face appeared again before his eyes, memories surging like a tide.
The sight of Sasuke stubbornly getting up by himself after falling while learning to walk; his proud expression the first time he mastered the Substitution Technique; those eyes filled with confusion and grievance when he was repeatedly rejected by him...
Every fragment of their life together flowed into his heart, and the heart-rending pain spread through him bit by bit, as though tens of thousands of steel needles were stabbing into his heart at once, making even breathing painful.
Itachi's breathing became rapid and irregular, each inhalation carrying the taste of blood.
He felt some warm liquid slide down from his eye sockets, leaving a glaring trace across Sasuke's cold cheek.
Itachi's lips trembled as he pressed his forehead against his brother's icy one, forcing out a hoarse whisper from his throat, the sound broken beyond recognition.
"Why… did it come to this…"
"The Third clearly promised me that he would protect you well…"
"Haha…" Uchiha Yasuo laughed so hard at the side that he was nearly hopping. "The Third promised you, but Danzō never promised you, did he?"
"Since it was an extermination, of course the entire clan had to be wiped out. What would be the point of leaving a surviving brat behind?"
"What, were they supposed to wait until he grew up, learned the truth, and came back to take revenge on the village?"
"What?"
"Did you really think that a dignified Elder of the village, after killing an evil Uchiha, would be blamed by Hiruzen for it?"
"Ah, maybe he would. Lock him up for a few days or something, down three cups as punishment, and that would be that!"
"So what?"
"Could it be you still plan to have a dignified Elder of the village pay with his life for the sake of a surviving brat of the Uchiha?"
"Haha… you really are a clown, Itachi!"
"Someone who isn't even loyal to his own clan—how could he possibly be loyal to the village?"
"If Hiruzen truly trusted you, he should have taken you as his disciple and designated you as an alternate for the next Hokage!"
"As long as there had been even a little appeasement, instead of constant suppression, the Uchiha clan would not have been forced to this point…"
"Shut up!" Uchiha Itachi's eyes were blood-red as he roared hoarsely. "With your measure, how could you possibly understand how many would die if a civil war broke out in the village!"
"Ah, right, right, right—my measure is small, yours is great!" Uchiha Yasuo shouted back even louder. "Danzō knew your measure was great, so he took one stroke and chopped off your little brother's head!"
"With such great measure, you won't make a rift with the village over something this small, will you?"
"Look at me—I'm different!"
"I knew your measure was great, so I specially brought your little brother to you!"
"Come on, let me see whether your magnanimity is really as great as you brag!"
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