Chapter 206: Sasuke's Secret...

"His technique involves drawing a ritual circle with blood. Once he obtains his opponent's blood and stands inside the circle, any harm he inflicts on himself is inflicted simultaneously on the target."

Link explained "Mr. D's" special abilities quite naturally.

"He's physically pretty tough, and decent at taijutsu. But he's not the sharpest tool in the shed."

"Grr… mrr! Mrr!"

Hidan spat saliva at the glass in front of him, mouthful after mouthful. To be fair, his 'immortality' wasn't without drawbacks—his regeneration was indeed fast, so fast that you could actually see a good portion of his tongue growing back. Some of his teeth were also regrowing.

And this was after they'd knocked out his teeth three times and cut off his tongue twice in the past month. What's more, as a taijutsu-focused ninja (body 9, power 8, in game-like terms), even with just half a tongue and a mouth, Hidan could hurl his spittle against the glass hard enough to make loud thudding sounds. If you got too close, you really did need to watch out.

"Lord Jashin will curse you… I'll bite every one of you to death with my teeth—!"

Hidan mumbled indignantly.

Ignoring him, Link went on about what he'd discovered in his research: "His body parts stay biologically active, and even if you separate them, they retain some sort of strange connection."

Shizune listened carefully, taking notes, both of them looking extremely professional. Being disregarded like that infuriated Hidan—denying him amounted to denying the Jashin faith!

"Mrr! Mrr!"

Out of saliva, he didn't hesitate to bite into his own mouth and spit blood everywhere to disgust them.

Thud!

One of Link's shadows slipped into the lab, stood up, and punched him, knocking him half-conscious. Then it clamped his mouth shut so he couldn't open it at all.

"I see. So he's a valuable experimental subject indeed." Shizune nodded in agreement.

After all, Hidan was apparently the only successful result of the Jashin Cult's forbidden experiments—and probably their last, given that cult's vile doctrine of "killing everyone around you," which extended to followers killing each other. They hardly needed an outside force to wipe them out; they were doing it to themselves. Any chance of replicating his immortality technique was extremely slim.

Link was quite curious as to how such a cult with that kind of belief had ever cooperated to produce "immortality" in the first place, but he left "Mr. D" to Shizune, whose passion for research was evident. After warning her about the dangers and leaving Hidan's fragments behind, he took his newly acquired medicine and left the medical unit.

He had a shadow bring the medicine back to his home while he headed off with some token gifts—sealed in a scroll—to visit his mentor, Nara Shikaku, and also dropped by to see his teacher, Nara Ensui, on the way.

His mentor was the same as ever, living an easygoing life. Although Shikaku was nominally the head jōnin, he seldom got involved in daily tasks—his position carried weight, so unless it was a serious matter, it didn't require his direct input. There simply weren't that many high-level missions or big village- or nation-level matters to attend to.

Ensui, on the other hand…

"You've gone back on active duty?" Link asked, somewhat surprised.

Nara Ensui tapped his forehead protector and laughed. "Yes, I just can't sit still. Aside from being a ninja, I'm not really good at anything else."

Don't be so modest—you're quite adept at slacking off, Link thought to himself. But before he could speak, Ensui went on cheerfully, "You haven't met up with Iris and Ami yet, right? They both made chūnin.

"And those two who used to hang around with you—Kakashi's students from Team 7—they've been promoted to chūnin as well..."

So everyone got promoted, huh?

Listening to his teacher rattle off recent updates, Link was pleased. At least my efforts in training them weren't in vain. Given how strong Iris and the others were, they were already beyond normal chūnin standards. Their future now depended on themselves.

Nara Ensui rested his hand on Link's shoulder, gazing at this familiar student who also seemed changed in ways he couldn't quite name. "Tonight, let's go out for some barbecue together."

Link paused for the briefest moment before smiling. "Sure."

"I need to go see the Third Hokage. We'll meet for barbecue tonight, okay?" With that, he left without delay.

As Ensui watched Link's retreating figure—so reminiscent of the solitude he had once shown—complicated thoughts swirled in his mind. Eventually, he only let out a silent sigh.

He had no idea what his student had been through or what he was trying to achieve. But the way it looked like Link was bearing it all alone bothered him deeply.

False tears may hurt others, but a false smile only hurts yourself.

…

Leaving Ensui's place, Link stopped by the Hokage's office. The Third Hokage, apparently with free time on his hands, was standing on the terrace scanning the village through a telescope—particularly the hot springs and bathhouses—to guard against any perverts spying on the women's side.

The two advisors weren't there, presumably busy with other tasks. There weren't many people in the jōnin office either, as the village's mission workload was on the rise again and most people were off on assignments.

Link chatted casually with the Third Hokage for a bit before saying his goodbyes and heading straight to Training Ground 7.

Iris and Ami were nowhere in sight, but Sasuke was there as usual, training. He hadn't donned the iconic chūnin vest. When he spotted Link's arrival, he stood up, breathing heavily, and slowly broke into a smile. "Welcome back."

Link smiled in return and said nothing. In a flash, he closed in on Sasuke.

Smack!

Sasuke managed to block the attack; his progress was remarkable. Even though he'd only used the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique a fraction of the times Link had, and consumed far fewer forbidden pills, he was only a little weaker now. His three-tomoe Sharingan was even more of a cheat, massively boosting his speed and chakra the moment it activated—more than any drug could do.

Ah, the gap between geniuses and ordinary people really is huge, Link thought.

Bam!

Sasuke responded with a spinning kick, and they sparred using only taijutsu, just like old times, inside the practice field.

"Hah…"

In the end, Link won by a slim margin. Sasuke lay back on a rock, catching his breath for a while before speaking:

"I want to go look for Itachi."

"No." Link immediately vetoed the idea. "You're still nowhere near ready."

With three tomoe in theory, Sasuke might be able to fight Uchiha Itachi—but this was the Itachi who wasn't yet the half-blind invalid from Shippuden. Moreover, Sasuke didn't harbor the right kind of hatred to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, which threw Itachi's original plan off track.

Who knew if he might face Shisui's Kotoamatsukami on the spot if he rushed in recklessly?

That was also why Link hadn't put Uchiha Itachi on his "hit list." The man's strongest genjutsu was notoriously terrifying, his tactical intelligence above average, and he had the extra life of Izanagi plus the nasty mind-twister Izanami. There were just too many unknowns in a fight with him.

Better to wait it out. At most, another two years—everyone was still young, and there was time to develop further. If that wasn't enough by Shippuden's timeline, Link could seek out the Three-Tails' respawn location and kill it again. There were plenty of ways to stall; no need to be hasty.

Sasuke went quiet for a moment, not replying.

He'd been keeping one secret from everyone—friends, family, anyone. During his brief genjutsu confrontation with Itachi, the latter had explained that to awaken the strongest Mangekyō Sharingan required a special method.

He had verified it.

Because frequent use of the Mangekyō leads to blindness, Itachi intended to help Sasuke open his Mangekyō and then transplant another pair of Mangekyō for further use, forcing Sasuke to sever his deepest bond in order to gain the determination needed to awaken it. In that genjutsu realm, no matter how furious Sasuke got—no matter how he demanded answers or roared in rage—he was only met with Itachi's dead, indifferent gaze.

No matter if you take my eyes, or what you once did to the clan and the village… This part alone is unforgivable…

The three tomoe in Sasuke's eyes appeared as his emotions fluctuated, the red pupils becoming more intense.

"What's wrong?" Link asked, noticing the sudden disturbance of chakra.

Sasuke calmed himself, deactivating the Sharingan, then turned to look at Link. Meeting his friend's eyes, he couldn't help but smile—half real, half forced. "It's nothing. I just thought of Itachi."

[This fight with him… I must handle it alone. I can't let Link put himself in danger. Besides, he won't kill me outright because he wants my eyes…]

Beneath that smile was a turbulent storm of emotions. Torn between his brother and the destruction of their clan, he refused to let anything else that mattered to him be taken away.

It wasn't only about hatred; there were also certain things he had to protect.

No matter what—no matter what—

I will kill you.

…

Somewhere in the Land of Fire, in a hidden Uchiha base.

A dimly lit hall…

"Cough, cough…"

Drip…

Uchiha Itachi leaned back in a chair, pressing his hand to his mouth as blood trickled between his fingers onto the floor. For a while, he swallowed some medicine, then straightened up, staring at the empty hall with a gaze that seemed neither sad nor happy.

Flap, flap…

A raven flew in through the corridor and landed on the armrest of his chair, grooming its feathers.

Itachi stroked the raven, various pieces of collected intel surfacing in his mind. After sitting there for a bit longer, he finally stood.

It's about time. Link is growing too fast. He even managed to capture the Six-Tails jinchūriki, as well as Kakuzu and Hidan…

He mulled it over.

Sasuke has also nearly reached the threshold, thanks in large part to Link's jutsu… But just training the body isn't enough to close the gap with the Mangekyō.

And then there's 'Madara,' who seems poised to take further action. I need Sasuke to unlock the Mangekyō first, whether it's for protecting the village or for surviving…

He didn't believe that if Link kept growing, he'd actually be able to defeat "Madara." Even Sasori's Reverse Summoning Technique had left Link helpless. Madara's powers were even more formidable, and Itachi himself couldn't say for sure if he could kill him.

Tap… tap… tap…

Step by step, Itachi walked out of the hall. His sluggish body gradually returned to normal under the medicine's effects. Emerging from the shadows into the sunlight, he narrowed his eyes slightly and vanished with a Body Flicker.

Are you ready?

Sasuke.

~~~

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