Chapter 44

Itachi entered the threshold of the forest of death and continued to move forward, he knew that around morning many people were standing here on the threshold, but at the moment he was alone, but that was enough for him, he expected that Orochimaru would not be alone in this exam, he also knew that he should not underestimate his men, so he took his hiraishin kunai with him, But he took them mainly to get to the building where the third stage would take place and from the main points on the forest of death, where he would personally cancel the trees with his hiraishin mark, and he took the kunai for backup, because a possible fight would also happen.

Itachi's POV

I jumped the first tree, starting to look for Orochimaru's chakra, so I activated my sharingan, I'm sure it won't be hard for me, because I know what kind of chakra Orochimaru has, since I've encountered him many times, in the first timeline I was even able to seal his body with my Susanoo, while Sasuke was fighting, or rather succumbing to him.... By getting rid of Sasuke's cursed mark, I also got to know his power and chakra type, if at the end Naruto had used a rasen shuriken instead of a rasen-suriken on Sasuke, suddenly it would have ended in a draw, and the two would have been lying on the ground talking about many things and the possibility Sasuke would have become really kinder than he was, but on the other side Indra's essence would have continued to reincarnate, but they would have thought about that later, what would have been Naruto's fate, would he have become a Hokage, and would Sasuke have decided to be together with Sakura? or would Sasuke have been stupid enough to ignore his love and hurt her badly, sometimes I think that maybe Sasuke has his own soul unlike Indra, but it's not so different from Indra himself, and Sasuke was always selfish in his manner, he wanted to show that he was the strongest, that's why he attacked the five Kage, because he wanted to prove to them what he could do, with the excuse that he was looking for Danzo, but if he was really so sure of himself and that he was the strongest, then Sasuke would not have attacked the Kage council, but just knew how the world works and would have accepted it, but unfortunately he is not like that, so he is used to showing himself strong and will be like that until the end...

And if Indra's soul was in me, I would learn the sage mode, awaken a rinnegan or similar higher power, and then stab myself with my own totsuka sword of susanoo, cutting my soul along with Indra's, and then maybe use izanagi to restore my former form, while I was thinking about it I already felt a familiar chakra, About 100 meters away I can feel Orochimaru's chakra, it's a pity my sharingan isn't like a Byakugan, I could see them, but 100 meters away I can only catch a glimpse, but it's not time to complain, the main thing is that I can see them and even feel them...

All my thoughts were dismissed, now I was focused on Orochimaru, I was getting closer and closer to that spot, there I found three others, maybe they were fighting against him, once I got to that spot I see Naruto lying on the ground, and through the sharingan I found in him, Orochimaru's five pronged seal, maybe it would block his chakra from the nine-tailed mode, To remove it you would have to be another Sannin who knows the technique, although if you think about it I can remove it, because I know the technique as well as anyone on this planet, but it's not my destiny to remove Naruto's five prong seal, it has to be removed by Jiraiya, studying Naruto back in Akatsuki I learned a lot about their training, so I'm pretty sure of that.

Also I was watching Sakura, approaching Naruto, but can't wake him up yet, he probably overdid it in the battle against Orochimaru's snake, and Sasuke at that moment captured Orochimaru with his threads and used katon on him, and Orochimaru just smiled and calmly came out of those threads, Sasuke's katon didn't hurt him, just his skin, His skin is burned, although on the right side of his face, in the eye area, you can see the yellow eyes of the real Orochimaru, watching their conversation, I saw him introduce himself to Sasuke and Sakura, saying that he is Orochimaru, and is satisfied with this battle, and he added that Sasuke will join him someday, I was not surprised by this, because I knew it would happen.

I watch him point his snake head at Sasuke and bite his neck leaving a cursed seal, is that how he got the seal, through a bite? I'm disappointed that Orochimaru's methods of transmitting the cursed seal have become so twisted.... I thought he transmitted it by touching them with his chakra, like he did with Kimimaru, I read in the dossier that he also transmitted the quadruple sound seal that way, but the first person he bit was his student, Anko Mitarashi, after that he made a habit of biting some of them, and others he just basically gave them the seal, this seal of his which is now in the area of Sasuke's neck I'll take it off someday, I see that Orochimaru stopped biting him and then Sasuke fell to the ground, Orochimaru put his long snake neck back into his body and Sakura grabbed Naruto and started to carry him, she was heading towards Sasuke, she put Naruto down and checked Sasuke's pulse, when she found out that he was alive, the pink-haired girl inhaled... Orochimaru turned to Orochimaru and pulled out kunai and wanted to fight, but I decided to intervene, running towards Sakura, I was next to her with lightning speed, Orochimaru took off his burned skin, looking at me with clenched teeth, because I'm not exactly what he expected to see, I look at him coldly, I know what to expect from him, I'm preparing for everything, I turn around and see a slightly scared Sakura who was holding her kunai shaking her hands a little, but when she saw my cloak and my face she sighed and smiled lightly.

-Don't worry Sakura, you're safe now, he won't hurt you anymore-" I smile lightly and comfort her.

-Itachi-san, I don't think he's human, he changes his skin like a snake, while very strong he scares me-" she said fearfully.

-His name is Orochimaru, he is a rank-S criminal, also a former student of the third Hokage, but don't worry about him and his power, he is just a man who can be hurt, and raza can be hurt as well as killed- After finishing the speech I took out a kunai looking at Orochimaru, I was also able to calm Sakura down a bit.

-Hahaha, you think it's so easy to kill one of the legendary Sannin, try to catch up!", Orochimaru started to run away.

I didn't follow him right away, I know he won't run away, I looked at Sakura who was so excited, when I saw her long hair I knew that her beautiful long pink hair would be cut off in this exam, when I was in Akatsuki I saw that she changed after the second stage of the Chuunin exam, the Chuunin exam, it's still not clear to me what will happen, but I know that soon this hair will soon be cut, now I made a worried face and took a strand of her long hair in my hand for the last time, she was also a little sad that she was not useful to her team, and I continued to run my hand through her hair strands, then lowered my hands and added:

-Sakura, now that Orochimaru won't interfere with you I'm sure you will successfully continue your exams, for I know that Naruto and Sasuke will be lost without you, for you are the most useful-" I began with a slight smile.

-Thank you for your help Itachi-san, I don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't come-" making sad eyes she replied looking at me.

-He wouldn't do anything to you anyway, his main target was Sasuke," I continued to smile and touched her soft pink hair again.

-Itachi-san, why are you looking at me like you're seeing me for the last time?" she answered me with a sly smile.

-Not really, I just thought you could use shorter hair. Heh... - When I finished, I took my hands out of her hair and added, "Take care of Naruto and Sasuke, I think they'll come to their senses soon, but for now they need you because you're the most useful." I looked at her with a smile and noticed the joy in her eyes, as if it was the first time someone had said she was the most useful, I turned around and was about to go after Orochimaru, but Sakura's voice stopped me.

-Itachi-san, you still have my pendant - I gave her a slight smile and she smiled and continued - it's a special pendant that brings good luck, it always brought me positive and good mood, it was the best gift from my father, I think it will protect you too Itachi-san, good luck - she finished with a smile, I nodded and started to pursue my goal.

For a moment turning around I saw Sakura taking Naruto and Sasuke's bodies, carrying them to safety, knowing how she thinks maybe she'll take them to a cave to wait it out for a while, I'm sure they'll wake up in a day, unless something unforeseen happens, something that will make Sakura's hair shorter....

I activated my sharingan and started chasing the snake sannin, Orochimaru started running towards the river and small rocks, my speed was faster so I was catching up with him, then I could see his trail, the way he was running, coming out of the trees it looked like I came out of the forest of death itself, but that was the opposite of its real center, Orochimaru jumped from his tree and landed on the nearest small rock, he started running towards a log, Orochimaru looked at me with a smile and licked his tongue, he must have lured me here, he always had a hard time fighting in dense trees, looking from the other side of the cliff he started:

-Itachi-kun, what do you know about eternal life?" he asked curiously waiting for my answer.

-That the body can't be eternal, unlike the soul..... I think you should have believed in the soul or the next life yourself, since the edo-tensei technique exists," I replied disappointed.

-I'm not only interested in immortality, but also in eternal knowledge and incredible power, so I can become a perfect Shinobi like the Sage of the Six Paths," he licked his lips with his long tongue and continued speaking, "for that I need a body with incredible kekkei genkai power, like a sharingan or a rinnegan, and you will be my next vessel.

-Don't be so sure, I can see from your eye that you haven't found your true self yet, because your greed has always prevented you from recognizing this world as it is, I wouldn't be surprised if you still don't understand me.... - I answered coldly, and then pulled out a vakizashi from the scroll I had at my side.

He smiled and pulled his weapon out of his mouth, and his weapon was a wind sword, he started to run towards the logs, I in turn also ran there, when our weapons met there was a small spark of iron strikes, he started to swing his sword, but I easily dodged his attacks and answered him with a wakizashi, hitting him right in the chest, but he dodged back even though it was too late, I was able to tear his shirt, in the chest area, he decided to jump down towards the river and I followed him, when he landed in the river he charged his feet with chakra to walk on them and moved to the right to a free path, maybe he realized that I was stronger in taijutsu than him, even without sharingan I was almost able to critically wound him with the first strike, assuming that he went towards the path to use genjutsu or ninjutsu, my theory was true when he started to fold the seals, When I got out of the river and got to the path I saw him open one eye with his finger creating a fear genjutsu, looking at me I quickly removed it with my sharingan, of course I could have removed it without it but I didn't want to mess with him, Orochimaru gritted his teeth a little that it didn't work so he created some clones that were made of mud earth, four of his clones were coming towards me, I jumped and landed in the middle of the clones, I landed in the middle of the clones, I did a single swing hitting all of them and four of his clones turned into mud and crumbled to the ground, I was close to Orochimaru and he finished folding the seals and fell to the ground, about a hundred snakes started to appear from his mouth, I stepped back a little bit, started folding the seals and used katon, my flames turned blue and there was no trace of the snakes, even their skins were burned.

-You never cease to amaze me Itachi-kun, any of my attacks are just child's play for you," he folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes, opening them he added, "I'm sure when I take possession of Sasuke-kun's body I'll be able to surprise you with his power, which I'd rather use.

-Orochimaru... You can use any of your techniques, but those eyes, they anticipate everything - after I said that, he became a little lost, then clenched his teeth, and I felt de-ja-vision, as if I was reliving the moment when he tried to kill me back in Akatsuki in the first time line, defeating him with a single blow I said the same words to him.

Orochimaru realized that he couldn't handle me, I could see the uncertainty in his eyes, I noticed that he smiled as he folded another seal and a slashing wind appeared, it was coming towards me, I quickly jumped back and when I threw a couple of shurikens at him he turned into a log, now I think I understood his plan, He was just trying to distract me with his wind technique so he could escape, he managed to fold a couple of seals while I was dodging his strongest attack, with my sharingan I saw him running away but decided not to pursue him, now I was convinced that the second timeline was almost no different from the first, maybe I even interfered for nothing but it was worth it, I saw that joyful Sakura again, her smile always lifted my spirits, I'm sure if she had a sharingan she would use it better than Sasuke, her blood was always strong, even if she had a child with Sasuke, the child would be more like her, though it's too early to think about the order and peace of Shinobi, I'll have to think about how to save the world, I'll have to be alone in the castle-kikyo, because according to the chronology only I can calculate everything, even Kisame or the third Hokage can't help me even knowing everything, because they were not in that chronology and are not strong in calculations or astronomy, it's mostly my load, I'll save the world in the end...

After finishing my thoughts, I immediately jumped into the log, I also made sure it was sturdy, during my battle with Orochimaru it was not damaged, and from below I saw a few goldfish playing in the river, I even smiled seeing such a wonderful nature, with a smile I decided to go home to reflect on the time in the castle-kikyo, or to be more precise my favorite place, Heh....

The end of Itachi's POV

Itachi quickly left the forest of death, because before he left he left a lot of marks on the trees, it made his way to Konoha faster, so he got to the village in 5 minutes, after leaving the forest of death he went home and had a normal day, then he took a walk, went to ichiraku, on his way to the castle-kikyo he bought one stick of dango, when he got to the castle he sat on the porch and put on his cloak that he had taken off at home and started to think, First he thought about the fact that Sakura would have short hair, he would probably find out the reason why when he asked her in person, he also decided that he would return to the forest of death when he watched the others participate in the exam, he knew that team-7 would find both the scrolls of heaven and earth, he just had to wait for 4 days, but for now he was enjoying the stars, there was even the largest white star visible, he realized that this was the paradise his soul was in...