How Could You Let Yourself Become a Pile of Rotten Flesh

Uchiha Itachi immediately understood what the other meant.

The village's strongest clan had been destroyed overnight. That clan had possessed hundreds of elite shinobi; for any shinobi village, it was an enormous loss, one that was almost impossible to bear.

Even for a great village like Konoha, it was the same.

But if that village possessed a genius Hokage who had invented countless forbidden techniques, and one of those techniques could make the dead rise and fight again—completely under the caster's control—then the destruction of a single clan might not count as a loss. It might even truly be called an enhancement.

Not only would it resolve an internal threat, it would also add a group of tireless...

Puppets...

That technique was practically a genius creation. Yet Orochimaru had somehow learned it. Where had Orochimaru learned that Ninjutsu?

Though he greatly disliked that disgusting-looking fellow, even Uchiha Itachi had to admit that Orochimaru was absolutely a genius who could stand alongside him, perhaps even surpass him.

But even a genius could not learn such a technique out of thin air, unless Orochimaru was also a descendant of the Uchiha Clan and could learn it after seeing someone use it just once.

Yet aside from Orochimaru, the only person capable of using that technique was the Second Hokage himself. Even with the Sharingan, the age at which Orochimaru awakened his eyes could probably rival Itachi's own.

Although Orochimaru had disappointed the Third Hokage's expectations and failed to become a qualified successor, becoming a rogue shinobi instead...

When I left Konoha, I had intended to trade the slaughter of my clan for the village's peace—and for my younger brother's life.

"I definitely know this technique." Itachi still did not explain his reasoning.

It was something that could neither be proven nor refuted.