Mission Failure

Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyou spun slowly in his eyes before gradually reverting to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, though the bloodshot veins in his eyes did not fade so quickly.

"Not fighting anymore?" Houka sat comfortably atop the clay eagle Deidara had created, watching Uchiha Itachi with slight wariness.

"There is no need."

Uchiha Itachi stared at the black-and-red pentagram pattern in Houka's eyes, his thoughts racing.

After the test of Tsukuyomi, he had confirmed that Houka's Mangekyou ocular power had completely recovered!

So the question was, how exactly had his ocular power recovered?

'He has kept Deidara by his side all this time. Could it be Deidara?'

'Or perhaps... it could be that Sacred Tree in Takigakure.'

Uchiha Itachi composed himself, deciding that he needed to find time to return to the Uchiha Clan's Ancestral Land and examine the contents of the stone tablet again.

"Until we meet again."

With that, Uchiha Itachi's body suddenly transformed into more than a dozen crows. Cawing as they scattered in all directions, they vanished from Houka's sight in an instant.

"That's it?" Deidara looked displeased as he complained, "You Uchiha Clan people fight in such a strange way. You glare at me, I glare at you. Are you playing house or something, hmm?"

Houka deactivated his Mangekyou, returning his Sharingan to ordinary black eyes, and smiled. "Deidara, your explosive art is indeed outstanding, but your weakness is also obvious!"

"Nonsense! My art has absolutely no weaknesses, hmm!" Deidara said proudly.

Houka smiled. "The weakness I mean isn't your art itself. It's you."

"What do you mean?" Deidara looked half-understanding.

"It means..." Houka lifted his eyelids, and his Three-Tomoe Sharingan instantly activated.

Demonic Illusion: Binding Technique!

Deidara blinked twice, then suddenly found himself nailed in place by more than a dozen thick iron spikes. Intense pain