Starting as the mastermind behind Naruto

Chapter 243 Uehara, this is Kabuto Yakushi, who has just joined the Eye of the Moon Project!

Within the encirclement of Amaterasu's black flames.

Itachi Uchiha could only choose this place to meet Naruto Uzumaki, because only in this way would no one notice what he had done. This was a backup plan he left for Sasuke Uchiha.

Originally, when Itachi saw how Sasuke treated his former friend, he had already decided to give up on letting Sasuke return to Konoha; however, Naruto's actions made Itachi believe that there was still hope for Sasuke's future.

As long as Sasuke's friends are still willing to accept him, Itachi Uchiha believes that it would be better for Sasuke to return to his hometown.

Since Naruto Uzumaki was so determined to get Sasuke back, Itachi Uchiha decided to put that insurance on Naruto.

Unfortunately, just as Itachi Uchiha had trapped him and Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto suddenly created two shadow clones, which quickly condensed into the ninjutsu he had just learned!

"Wind Release: Rasengan!"

"..."

Itachi Uchiha's expression changed.

This differential treatment is just too much!

Is there such a big difference in treatment between the older and younger brothers?

When Naruto Uzumaki met Sasuke, he only used a shadow clone and a Rasengan. When he saw Sasuke, he immediately used a Rasenshuriken!

Itachi Uchiha's expression was rather unpleasant as he stared intently at the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken in Naruto Uzumaki's hand. He feigned calmness and praised, "An extremely terrifying Wind Release ninjutsu. Even if I were hit by it, I would be in great danger."

"This is something I painstakingly researched and developed..."

Naruto Uzumaki smiled confidently and said earnestly, "This is a ninjutsu specially prepared for you Akatsuki members..."

"pity."

Itachi Uchiha shook his head, a red glint flashing in his eyes: "Then why didn't you use that ninjutsu to attack Sasuke just now? He was trying to kill you!"

"I consider Sasuke my brother."

Naruto's face immediately turned serious, and he said in a deep voice, "I'm not like you. No matter what, I will never hurt Sasuke..."

"Let's talk somewhere else then!"

Uchiha Itachi's expression also became serious. The three-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes had turned into the Mangekyou Sharingan. The Mangekyou Sharingan eye technique was activated!

Itachi Uchiha's voice gradually lowered: "Tsukuyomi..."

The next second, Naruto Uzumaki felt his surroundings suddenly change, and he inexplicably found himself in a blood-red world.

This is Itachi Uchiha's Tsukuyomi mental space!

"I already know you want to bring Sasuke back to Konoha."

Itachi Uchiha's figure floated in the air as he slowly asked, "Naruto Uzumaki, you just saw it. Sasuke tried to kill you. If he and Akatsuki were to attack Konoha in the future, what would you choose?"

Itachi Uchiha's voice seemed to bewitch, ethereal and unpredictable: "Between Konoha and Sasuke, would you choose? To protect Konoha, would you choose to kill Sasuke? As a ninja, sometimes you really have to face certain situations and make some cruel choices..."

"Ha, that's the choice? I wouldn't choose that!"

Naruto Uzumaki coldly sized up Itachi Uchiha, clenching his fists as he said, "I will protect Konoha, and I will not kill Sasuke!"

Uchiha Itachi slowly lowered his eyelids, sighed softly, and said, "Hmm? What a naive person..."

"Hello!"

Naruto Uzumaki suddenly interrupted Itachi Uchiha, grinned, fiddled with his ninja, and said loudly, "Actually, I've always really disliked the Akatsuki members, but last time I realized that Sasori of the Red Sand was right about one thing..."

Naruto stared intently and spoke each word carefully: "How can a ninja kill his comrades for the sake of the village? Isn't that forgetting the village's existence, and actually protecting his comrades?"

Naruto Uzumaki suddenly raised his fist and declared firmly, "Therefore, I will protect Konoha, and I will definitely rescue Sasuke from Akatsuki! I speak my mind and keep my word—that is my ninja way!"

"..."

Itachi Uchiha stared at Naruto Uzumaki with a look of utter shock.

At that moment, Itachi Uchiha found himself involuntarily wanting to believe him.

This brat named Naruto Uzumaki is really something else. Sasuke is so lucky to have met such a friend.

In the sky above the Tsukuyomi space, countless crows began to take flight, and Itachi Uchiha's voice gradually became more and more hollow, yet it seemed to be omnipresent.

"I will share my power with you, as a guarantee that one day you will not kill each other. I hope this power will never be used!"

The next moment, Naruto's eyes narrowed, because a crow had somehow entered his mouth and was even swallowed by him!

What the hell is this thing?!

Unfortunately, being inside the Tsukuyomi space, Naruto Uzumaki was powerless to resist and could only let Itachi Uchiha stuff the crow into his mouth.

After doing all this, Itachi Uchiha actually had a faint smile on his face. The blood-red color in the sky gradually began to dissipate, and the Tsukuyomi space collapsed in the blink of an eye.

After the Tsukuyomi ended.

Naruto involuntarily knelt on the ground, trying to spit out the crow he had swallowed: "What on earth is going on?"

"Hey, Naruto, are you alright?"

Kakashi Hatake, having finally absorbed all of Amaterasu's flames into the Kamui dimension using his Kamui Sharingan, rushed over with some concern.

Kakashi Hatake lowered his head and stroked Naruto Uzumaki's forehead, saying in a deep voice, "Itachi Uchiha, did you use your Mangekyou Sharingan on Naruto?"

"Okay, that's settled then."

Itachi Uchiha slowly closed his eyes, seemingly not caring about Kakashi Hatake at all, and transformed into countless crows that flew away.

at the same time.

Kisame Hoshigaki also witnessed this scene. He withdrew from the battlefield and called out, "Itachi-san, let's retreat now!"

"Can."

Itachi Uchiha nodded.

After Kisame Hoshigaki confirmed the retreat, he stroked his ring and whispered, "Lord Pain, Kakuzu and the others have probably reached the safe zone by now, right? Can our covering force retreat now?"

Payne had not yet answered.

Instead, Deidara, controlling the Elephant Puppet, responded, "You guys retreat! Leave the pursuit by the Konoha ninja to me! I'll show you what true art is!"

"Can."

Payne nodded and then ordered in a deep voice, "Then you two can retreat. The remaining task of halting the pursuit will be handled by Deidara and Sasori!"

This battle has now come to an end.

The Akatsuki organization expended a lot of the power of the Transformation Puppet, and the six members finally managed to retreat back to the Land of Rain. It seems that everyone with their own agenda achieved their goals in this battle.

After Deidara's Elephant Puppet self-destructed, it directly blocked Konoha's chance to pursue Akatsuki; Kaguya Kimimaro's Elephant Puppet was defeated by Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga's combined attack; Haku's puppet also dissipated due to exhaustion of chakra.

On the battlefield of Konoha.

Kakashi and Might Guy stared at the strange corpses, their expressions turning grim. It seemed they had been tricked by the Akatsuki!

"Captain Kakashi!"

Just then, Sai arrived with urgent information, his voice urgent: "Lord Jiraiya and the others have been intercepted and have been unable to reach the battlefield!"

"Intercept?"

"Yes."

Sai leaped off the flying bird, his face tense, and said, "The Third Hokage and the Fourth Hokage have stopped Jiraiya's team; the Second Hokage and the Second Mizukage have stopped the Fifth Hokage's team!"

"Impure World Reincarnation?"

Kakashi Hatake immediately realized what was happening.

Sai nodded, then said in a deep voice, "Yes, perhaps it's Orochimaru's doing. Jiraiya is still holding on, but Tsunade's team... they're almost on the verge of collapse!"

Sai's report was correct.

Jiraiya and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were able to hold on only because the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, simply used Sage Mode. Otherwise, Minato Namikaze in Nine-Tails Mode would not have been someone they could have easily delayed.

Well known.

Minato Namikaze's battles are never delayed.

After all, he is the fastest man in the ninja world.

As for the team consisting of Tsunade, Mei Terumi, Gaara, and Naraku Uehara, they were genuinely unable to hold on because Naraku Uehara was personally controlling the Second Hokage in the battle!

This puts them in an awkward position regarding their battle situation.

Especially in the current situation, the Second Hokage is almost single-handedly toying with their team, while the Second Mizukage only needs to provide support by unleashing a few Water Gun Techniques from the sidelines.

Gaara stood atop the sand mat, frantically channeling his chakra, manipulating the ground to turn into yellow sand that swept towards the Second Hokage's location: "Flowing Sand Waterfall!"

However, what awaited Gaara was merely a ninjutsu released by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, with a few casual hand seals: "Water Release: Exploding Water Wave!"

In the blink of an eye, countless grains of yellow sand were washed away by the waves!

If Uehara Naraku hadn't released a water barrier to block the attack, all four of them would have been swept away by the waves.

While Uehara Naraku was having a great time, he received news from other places that, after confirmation by Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Itachi had used Tsukuyomi on Uzumaki Naruto, but Uzumaki Naruto seemed to be in pretty good condition.

Perhaps Itachi Uchiha handed over the crow that Kotoamatsukami possessed?

After pondering for a while, Uehara Naraku raised his finger, signaling the ninjas under his control to prepare for a full retreat, thus ending this grand drama that had been staged over a crow.

As for what to do next, it's about testing Itachi Uchiha.

Several resurrected Hokage retreated, and Tsunade and Jiraiya finally reunited, also learning of the losses from this battle.

Because they were inexplicably intercepted by the reanimated puppets, the Konoha ninjas who deserved the most credit were actually Might Guy and Kakashi's teams. Their greatest achievement was taking down several Akatsuki puppets.

Since they failed to capture any Akatsuki members, Uehara Naraku, Terumi Mei, and Gaara did not linger and quickly left the Land of Fire.

Tsunade was about to explode with anger!

This time, she lost face badly among the Allied nations.

"Find Orochimaru's whereabouts immediately!"

Upon returning to Konoha, Tsunade unleashed a furious rage on the Konoha Anbu: "If he's alive, I want to see him; if he's dead, I want to see his corpse!"

"What if we find it?"

Jiraiya rubbed his forehead and asked, "Orochimaru might be controlling more than five Kage-level characters in Edo Tensei form. Are we capable of taking him down? Besides, why would he help Akatsuki?"

"We need to at least find out about him first!"

Tsunade clenched her fists and said coldly, "We must gather all the information on Orochimaru and Akatsuki as soon as possible."

"All right…"

Jiraiya sighed and said, "Seeing Minato this time wasn't all bad news. I also discovered a new approach to training Naruto. We must let Naruto learn Sage Mode and also let him slowly try to communicate with Kurama."

Minato Namikaze has been using Sage Mode in battle, but he has stated that he deactivated Nine-Tails Mode because its power was too great.

This gave Jiraiya a new perspective.

Naruto Uzumaki, this disciple, might just be Konoha's new hope.

"Um."

Tsunade glanced at Jiraiya and said in a low voice, "If we want to destroy Akatsuki, our strength alone is not enough. In addition to having the younger generation in the village strengthen their training, we may also need to find a way to win over some other helpers."

"What kind of helper?"

"Hanzo the Salamander".

Tsunade clasped her hands together and said in a deep voice, "If we encounter Akatsuki's intelligence again, we must gather all the forces we can to have a chance to wipe them out in one fell swoop. Originally, I didn't want to rely on that old man's power..."

"That Hanzo guy..."

Jiraiya recalled how they nearly lost their lives when they encountered Hanzo in their youth, and couldn't help but sigh, "That guy was indeed very strong. If he could join forces with us to participate in a siege against Akatsuki, it would definitely add a powerful force to the fight against Akatsuki."

"The problem is that Hanzo refuses to come out..."

Tsunade pressed her temples, her head aching, and explained softly, "Before that brat Uehara Naraku left, I had him make this request to Hanzo of the Salamander. That brat only said he would report it to Hanzo, but the outcome is uncertain."

"Then there's nothing we can do."

Jiraiya waved his hand and chuckled, "Rather than believing in that Hanzo guy, it's better to believe that Naruto will create a miracle! I'll take Naruto to Mount Myōboku first!"

The villagers of Konoha were somewhat disappointed.

It was quite lively on Xiao's side.

Uehara Naraku believed that since Yakushi Kabuto had already stepped in to help, he should take this opportunity to show himself and accept Black Zetsu's offer to join the Akatsuki organization and the Eye of the Moon team.

Therefore, when Uehara Naraku returned to the Akatsuki base, Black Zetsu eagerly introduced him to Kabuto Yakushi: "This is Kabuto Yakushi, a newcomer who joined our Eye of the Moon Project. Uehara, you should know him, right?"

"We've met before."

Uehara Naraku stretched out his palm towards Yakushi Kabuto, coldly staring at him and saying, "I never thought I'd see you here one day... Orochimaru's lackey."

At this moment, he seemed to have a deep-seated hatred for Kabuto Yakushi.

Just as Black Zetsu was about to speak up to mediate, Uehara Naraku looked at Yakushi Kabuto and continued to warn him: "Yakushi Kabuto, since Zetsu-senpai invited you to join the Eye of the Moon Project, I hope you will live up to Zetsu-senpai's expectations."

"I just want to see how interesting Project Eye of the Moon will be."

Yakushi Kabuto curled the corners of his mouth, slowly pushed up his glasses, and stared intently at Uehara Naraku like a snake.

"Hehehehe... This is going to be very interesting. This is the Eye of the Moon Project, which can bring hope of peace to the entire ninja world. Your arrival makes us even stronger!"

After Black Zetsu chuckled sinisterly a few times, he was satisfied with Uehara Naraku's performance and said softly, "From now on, Kabuto, you will act according to Uehara's will within Akatsuki. He is now in charge of our Eye of the Moon Project."

"Yes."

Kabuto nodded modestly.

As for Kabuto Yakushi, he began to ponder how Black Zetsu was formed. This creature's intelligence was questionable, probably similar to White Zetsu.

Before the entire Eye of the Moon Project, only three people remained: Black Zetsu, Uehara Naraku, and Kisame Hoshigaki, both of whom were undercover agents.

The newly joined pharmacist Kabuto…

He is still an undercover agent of Uehara Naraku.

The Eye of the Month project has become an absolute sieve, with Uehara Naraku completely controlling every aspect, from progress to other matters.

How could Black Zetsu possibly laugh out loud?

Damn idiot!

Black Zetsu was unaware that Kabuto Yakushi was questioning its intelligence.

Black Zetsu was genuinely happy, as it sincerely longed for Kabuto Yakushi to join it, which would allow it to subtly inquire about the progress of reviving Madara Uchiha.

Unfortunately, Kabuto Yakushi was an old spy.

Faced with Black Zetsu's indirect questioning, Kabuto Yakushi responded with the professionalism of a scientist: "Based on my judgment, if Madara Uchiha were to be resurrected now, he would be far from his prime. To resurrect him now would be a waste of the remains of this ninja world's Asura!"

"it is good."

Black Zetsu nodded and said in a deep voice, "If you need any help or materials, you can come to me directly."

"OK."

The pharmacist curled the corner of his mouth slightly.

After Black Zetsu disappeared underground and left.

Kabuto bowed his head respectfully to Naraku Uehara and said, "Lord Naraku, preparations for Madara Uchiha's resurrection are complete."

"Wait for my notification!"

Uehara Naraku raised an eyebrow and, leading Yakushi Kabuto, headed towards Akatsuki's base, asking, "Do you know where Hozuki Suigetsu is? Bring him along too!"

"Yes."

The pharmacist nodded.

Uehara Naraku narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the wooden torii gate at the entrance of the Akatsuki base: "Then let the Hozuki brothers, Mangetsu and Suigetsu, set an example for the Uchiha brothers before they clash!"

5:30 pm, the usual time

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(End of this chapter)