Black Zetsu clearly hadn't expected Itachi to burst out with such terrifying power. Seeing Hanabi nailed to the ground without mercy, her life or death unknown, his expression changed.
Without another moment of hesitation, he reached out and dug into Hanabi's eye socket, forcibly pulling out one of her eyes.
At the same time, Black Zetsu's body suddenly burst with countless flashes of lightning. They twisted like silver snakes, instantly weaving together into a dense electric net.
This was the Storm Release ninjutsu he had used, Thundercloud Chamber Wave.
The other Sharingan in Black Zetsu's eye also began spinning rapidly.
As a powerful wave of eye power spread out, he activated another pupil technique.
Hell Sea!
In an instant, the lightning already raging inside the Thundercloud Chamber Wave seemed to gain endless power and grew several times stronger.
Thick bolts of lightning as large as giant pythons shot out at incredible speed, striking straight toward Itachi (Rengoku).
The powerful current instantly ran through Itachi's (Rengoku's) body, leaving him numb from head to toe.
His eyes flickered. Although the Eight Gates could resist this effect, he still pretended to be paralyzed.
Obito's situation was no better.
Not only was he being suppressed by Itachi's eye power, but he had also been badly injured by Itachi's (Rengoku's) fierce taijutsu and suffered a violent mental shock.
Both his body and his will had taken heavy damage. He had already lost any desire to keep fighting.
Taking advantage of Itachi's paralysis, Obito grabbed Black Zetsu beside him. With a flash, the two disappeared into the Kamui space.
By the time the battle here came to an end and the dust slowly settled, Sasuke still had not arrived.
That alone showed just how fast the life-and-death fight had been.
Only then did Sasuke finally rush over and land beside Itachi (Rengoku).
His face was full of anger over Obito's escape, and he couldn't help muttering, "Damn Obito! He actually got away!"
Even so, Sasuke remained calm.
After taking a deep breath and steadying himself, he bowed to Rengoku and said softly, "Shishou."
At this time, Itachi was still lying in Orochimaru's underground lab, so he naturally knew who the person before him was.
With a muffled poof, the Transformation Jutsu on Rengoku disappeared, revealing his original appearance.
He patted Sasuke on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. You'll have another chance."
Sasuke nodded firmly. Then the two of them crouched down together to check Hanabi's condition.
Hanabi's small body lay on the ground. Bright red blood kept flowing from the wound in her thigh where Rengoku had pierced her, staining the surrounding earth.
The weapon's handle had pinned her firmly to the ground.
Her eyes had been cruelly taken by Black Zetsu, leaving only two bloody holes. The sight was terrible.
Seeing the girl who always called him "Sasuke-nii" in such a state made Sasuke hate Obito even more.
Rengoku took out a bottle of Water of Life and handed it to Sasuke.
"I'll deal with the wound on her leg first. Feed her a little Water of Life, then wrap her eyes with some simple bandages. Be gentle."
"Yes, Shishou," Sasuke answered immediately.
He carefully took the bottle, gently removed the cap, and slowly tilted a small amount of the Water of Life toward Hanabi's pale lips.
Although Hanabi had already fallen unconscious from her injuries, Sasuke still gently held her jaw to help her swallow the life-saving medicine.
Then Sasuke quickly searched through his ninja pouch and found a clean roll of bandages.
He carefully unfolded the bandages with both hands and wrapped them around Hanabi's injured eyes as securely as possible without causing her more pain.
Only after finishing did he let out a small sigh of relief.
Rengoku swung a sharp hand strike.
With a crisp crack, the hard weapon handle snapped in two.
He immediately grabbed the weapon that had pierced Hanabi's thigh and struck it with force, driving the entire thing into the ground.
At the same time, a bright glow appeared on his palm as he began treating Hanabi with the Mystical Palm Technique.
As the light continuously flowed into Hanabi's body, the wound on her leg began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Just then, footsteps began coming from not far away, showing that many people were approaching.
Hinata and Naruto were the first to arrive.
When Hinata saw Hanabi with bandages covering both eyes, her eyes turned red with worry.
"Sasuke, how is Hanabi?"
Sasuke's expression was grim. He had been so close, yet Hanabi had still been hurt so badly. He couldn't help feeling guilty.
"Hanabi's eyes..."
"They're injured," Rengoku interrupted before Sasuke could tell the truth.
Although Sasuke didn't know why Rengoku did that, he kept quiet and nodded.
"Yes, they're injured."
Rengoku continued, "Don't worry. Orochimaru is here. These injuries will recover soon. There's no need to worry."
"Call off the alert. I'll take Hanabi to Orochimaru for treatment first."
"We'll talk about everything else later."
Before more people arrived, he picked Hanabi up and disappeared.
Hinata looked at Naruto as if she wanted to say something.
She had arrived first. Although Hanabi's eyes were covered with bandages, there had been a lot of blood. She felt as though Hanabi's Byakugan had been taken.
But Hinata knew better than to speak without being certain, so she said nothing.
At this point, Moegi and Hiroyuki finally arrived.
Seeing so many teachers gathered here, with Hinata among them, Moegi and Hiroyuki quickly came over and asked,
"Hinata-nii, how is Hanabi?"
Hinata steadied herself.
"Hanabi is fine. She was only injured a little. She's been taken to the hospital."
"You don't need to worry."
Only then did Moegi and Hiroyuki finally relax.
More and more people continued gathering here. They were all proctors from the Forest of Death. Some had been nearby, while others had been farther away.
But after seeing the signal flare, they had all come.
Anko was explaining things over there.
"Everyone, go back and check on the examinees in your assigned areas. The exam will continue as normal."
Seeing that everything here had already been settled and the alert had been canceled, everyone dispersed and returned to the areas they were responsible for.
Anko walked over to Moegi and Hiroyuki.
"Because you ran into a special situation, you don't need to continue this Chunin Exam."
Moegi and Hiroyuki looked disappointed. After all, they had prepared for it for quite a while.
But Anko wasn't finished.
"The two of you will automatically be promoted to Chunin in three months."
"Thank you, Anko-sensei!"
The two of them froze for a moment before quickly thanking her.
Anko had already reviewed their results and their performance along the way. Both of them had done very well.
The three-month delay was only to avoid any unnecessary issues.
Their strength was more than enough for promotion to Chunin.