Making Money

Naruto looked at the disaster scene before him and broke out in a cold sweat. What kind of monsters were these two people? Especially upon seeing Itachi's eyes, and after experiencing Uchiha Gen, Naruto felt completely unwell.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps running down the corridor.

"Naruto, what's going on?!"

"Huh?! Sasuke, don't come over!" Naruto hurriedly called out.

"Itachi?!"

Sasuke ran over, and seeing this scene, his mind instantly went blank with a buzz.

Anger and killing intent filled his mind, and his chest heaved violently. Unlike before, this time he was not blinded by rage and blindly rushing up to get beaten up.

Kakashi arrived a step ahead. Worried that Sasuke might charge in, Kakashi took out a kunai and blocked Sasuke's path, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that Sasuke was not acting rashly.

Itachi looked at Kakashi, then at Jiraiya. One... two. If he hadn't mistaken it earlier, was there another one?

Itachi looked coldly at Sasuke. "You're still as weak as ever, no different from back then." He didn't specify who, but everyone present except Naruto knew what the sentence meant.

"...I will kill you with my own hands!" Hearing these words, Sasuke instantly recalled how his parents were killed by Itachi. Extreme anger gradually threatened to devour his reason.

Jiraiya protected Naruto behind him. Having just exchanged jutsu clashes with Kisame, he looked at Itachi with extremely complex emotions. They had clearly suffered the Clan Massacre Night, yet the only remaining Uchiha in the world—he had run into all of them in a short span of time. Was he poking an Uchiha nest?

Seeing that Sasuke was provoked like this without charging straight in, Itachi figured he must have grown a lot, or perhaps his hatred for him wasn't deep enough yet? In that case...

"You still don't seem to understand my meaning..." As Itachi spoke, out of nowhere, he suddenly bypassed Kakashi, looked down at Sasuke from above, and kicked Sasuke squarely in the stomach, sending him flying backward.

"You're so weak that I don't even have the desire to kill you." His tone was like he was stating a fact.

Just as Itachi was about to lift Sasuke up, Kakashi finally snapped back to reality. "Sasuke!"

He threw several kunai at Itachi with a backhand motion, forcing Itachi to retreat, and followed up immediately with a Lightning Blade.

Did it hit?! Kakashi watched the Lightning Blade strike Itachi, yet it ultimately passed right through him. Itachi burst into a flock of crows—a genjutsu?!

Yet in reality, what Naruto and Jiraiya saw was that Itachi had already walked over to Sasuke, while Kakashi stood frozen in place for some reason. Suddenly, Kakashi unleashed a Lightning Blade and attacked a wall.

Uchiha Gen, hiding behind the wall, sensed that something was wrong and had already left that spot a step ahead. I'm fu— As expected, watching the show wasn't that easy.

After blasting a huge hole in the wall, Kakashi finally regained his senses. Looking at his own masterpiece, then glancing at Jiraiya and Naruto beside him, and Itachi standing next to Sasuke, he looked somewhat bewildered. "What is going on?"

Seeing this, Itachi frowned slightly. Did he fail to force the person hiding in the darkness out? Oh well, finish it quickly.

Just as Itachi hoisted Sasuke up to cast Tsukuyomi on him, a hand suddenly appeared and grabbed his wrist. It belonged to a person wearing a white-faced mask. His excessively long hair had already been tied into a bun at the back.

"It's useless," Uchiha Gen said. The way this kid awakened his Sharingan was different from Itachi and the others. Pain was certainly there, but what stimulated Sasuke's Sharingan evolution shouldn't be this kind of emotion.

If it were merely this kind of emotion, with the entire clan massacred and parents killed, at the very worst it would be the Three-Tomoe.

It was him? Itachi broke free and put Sasuke down.

The dropped Sasuke coughed a few times and slowly stood up. Just like before, he had zero ability to resist, but fortunately, thanks to his prior mental preparation, his mindset hadn't completely collapsed.

"Who are you?" Itachi asked. This person seemed to know what he was about to do, and judging by his appearance, he didn't seem to be from Akatsuki.

Right at that moment, Jiraiya suddenly slammed his hand onto the ground. Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Bind!

Seeing the flesh walls appear all around, Itachi realized there was no time left and said directly to Kisame, "Fall back!"

This time Kisame didn't hesitate. They didn't have the numerical advantage, and he had no idea what kind of strength this suddenly appearing fellow possessed. If they got trapped in someone else's territory, it would be bad.

Uchiha Gen could have intercepted them, but there was no need, and he didn't want to get trapped here either.

Watching the back of Uchiha Gen escaping together behind Itachi, Sasuke suddenly shouted, "Uchiha Gen?!"

Uchiha Gen didn't stop his pace, merely curving his lips into a slight arc beneath his mask.

Naruto hurriedly ran over to check on Sasuke's condition. Seeing that he was fine, he patted his chest. "Scared me to death. As long as you're okay."

"...Idiot."

"You actually called me an idiot? I was just caring about you, you know!" Hearing this, Naruto said indignantly.

"...

Thank you."

"...? What did you say? I didn't hear it, say it again." Reacting to this rare occurrence, Naruto pretended not to hear.

"..." Sasuke's eyelid twitched. As expected, he still couldn't be polite to Naruto.

Realizing they couldn't intercept them, Jiraiya sealed away the black flames that had ruptured the Iwayado throat. He would have to apologize to the Iwayado toad later. Finished tidying up, he walked over to Sasuke. "Did you just say that guy was Uchiha Gen? Uchiha Gen got away?"

Sasuke nodded. "Actually, I wasn't sure if that guy was him just now, I just subconsciously shouted it out."

Jiraiya pondered. How did that guy appear just now? Even he hadn't clearly seen or sensed it. Did Uchiha Gen possess that kind of strength?

Yet if it wasn't him, with his chakra sealed, hands bound, and unable to weave hand signs, how did he escape right under Kakashi and Sasuke's noses?

Should he really learn Naruto's binding method? He changed the binding method and the guy vanished; he had been just fine when he was wrapped up like a rice dumpling earlier.

Hiding in the distance, Uchiha Gen suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.

Seeing that Uchiha Gen had also escaped, Kisame ran off in a different direction from them. "This guy doesn't seem to be from Konoha either. So, did we just run into some freaks?"

"..." Itachi didn't answer, his mood heavy. The genjutsu he had just cast on that person—though not Tsukuyomi—had been completely useless against him.

Generally, the only ones who could cause this kind of situation were people who also possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan. Was it Uchiha Madara? No, could there be someone else who survived the Clan Massacre Night?! Whoever it was, thankfully he bore no malice toward Sasuke.

He would have White Zetsu investigate later...

Leaving that place, they ran to a distant village. Seeing this, Uchiha Gen used the Transformation Technique to change into the appearance of an ordinary passerby, intending to make 10 million ryō first.

His current appearance would probably be made public after Naruto and the others returned.

Uchiha Gen needed a new avatar. Anyway, Nagato had always been hiding behind the scenes and never came out, so using this skin shouldn't be a problem.

Thinking of this, Uchiha Gen stopped in his tracks, raised his head, and looked. He had reached his destination... Only to see the character for "gambling" hanging above this building.

And on this day, major gambling dens were scammed out of a tidy sum by some kid who popped up out of nowhere. Some suspected him of cheating and tried to teach him a lesson, but without exception, all of them were sent flying with a single blow.