The Matter Was Settled

"I need to use the bathroom first."

Looking at Orochimaru's expectant expression, as if he wanted him to perform the needle-in-the-eye trick on the spot.

Itachi spoke softly.

"Fine..."

Hearing Itachi's words, how could Orochimaru not understand that Itachi simply did not want to show him any special tricks...

But thinking of the cells that were about to fall into his hands, Orochimaru's heart burned with excitement. Unable to help himself, he stuck out that long, pointed tongue of his, like a snake's forked tongue and a woman's treasure, and licked his lips.

Feeling Orochimaru's gaze, Itachi quickened his pace.

This guy was no good. Thinking of his bug-like methods of abducting children, Itachi was even a little afraid of getting caught by him if he was not careful.

After reaching the bathroom, Itachi used chakra to block the senses around him and solemnly took out the scroll he had kept close to his body.

To be honest, he could obtain a pair of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan right now, but he did not want to do that.

The main reason was that his ocular technique was Genjutsu, while Fugaku's Mangekyo Sharingan was of an unknown nature.

And Shisui's Kotoamatsukami was also Genjutsu-based.

Once the genes were altered, the result would definitely be far more than one plus one.

It was now known that his Tsukuyomi worked on Kakashi, who lacked Uchiha blood yet possessed one Mangekyo Sharingan. But he truly had no confidence against Obito. After all, Obito had Hashirama Cells. Moreover, their eyes were of the same level.

As for Nagato's Sage eyes, their sheer powerful ocular strength alone made him balk.

Tsukuyomi also had a fatal flaw: the target needed to see his eyes.

In the original story, when Kabuto activated Sage Mode and covered his eyes, Itachi's Genjutsu became useless.

In that emergency, he had used a forbidden technique and sacrificed one eye before swiftly pulling Kabuto back onto the right path.

As Itachi pondered, he took out a needle and aimed it at his old man's eye.

He silently felt that he had miscalculated. He should have gotten some Three Tomoe Sharingan as backups. Those two forbidden techniques were truly powerful.

After drawing some cells, Itachi hurriedly dripped in the medicine Orochimaru had given him. It would be troublesome if he damaged it...

Seeing the needle wound in the treated eye rapidly heal, Itachi let out a sigh of relief.

After all, sticking a needle into an eyeball looked far too horrifying.

After sealing the container once more and storing it close to his body, Itachi quietly walked out of the bathroom.

He tucked the syringe into his sleeve. Otherwise, things would be troublesome if someone saw it.

After Itachi handed the syringe to Orochimaru, Orochimaru carefully accepted it at once. He then used several containers that Itachi could not understand to preserve the needle.

"Do you still have any of Shisui's cells? Hair or skin tissue will do. I can find his DNA and analyze it to create the medicine."

After putting away the syringe, Orochimaru spoke seriously.

One thing was one thing. Since this was a transaction, it had to be carried out properly.

Besides, he had never done this before, and he was quite interested in researching it.

If he had worked on this sort of thing before, he really would not have had much motivation to do it.

After hearing Orochimaru, Itachi took out a scroll from his person.

When the scroll was opened, it contained some of Shisui's belongings...

These had been kept by the original owner of this body. Itachi had not found Shisui's corpse, so he could only go to Shisui's home and search for some belongings. He had originally planned to make Shisui a cenotaph, but for some reason, the original owner had never acted on it, so the items had remained on him all this time...

"You two were really close..."

Watching Itachi search through Shisui's clothing for strands of hair, Orochimaru spoke softly.

Perhaps luck was on his side, because Itachi really did find several short hairs.

"More or less..."

Itachi handed the hair to Orochimaru and replied softly.

"Hehe, Itachi, you really are someone who values relationships."

Orochimaru casually put them into a small bottle, then swallowed it in one gulp...

"About how long will it take to succeed?"

Itachi did not remind Orochimaru to screen the DNA during extraction, lest he end up obtaining someone else's DNA.

After all, there could very well have been someone else's loose hairs stuck to those strands.

Professional matters should be left to professionals. An amateur like him should not meddle and only needed to quietly wait for the results.

"Itachi, you've already signed Ryuchi Cave's summoning scroll. When the time comes, we can use snakes to exchange messages."

Orochimaru smiled faintly as he answered Itachi, carrying a hint of seductive charm...

That fleeting display of allure made Itachi deeply uncomfortable...

"I'll be going first. Keep in touch when you have time."

Looking at Orochimaru's face, Itachi spoke somewhat awkwardly.

He hurriedly got to his feet, preparing to slip away.

Orochimaru watched Itachi's departing back with a slightly dazed look.

"Youth really is wonderful..."

Orochimaru sat for a while longer, finished the wine in his cup, and got up to leave.

"Sir, please pay for the wine..."

Just as Orochimaru was about to leave, a tavern attendant stood before him and spoke nervously.

Orochimaru's vertical pupils, along with the killing intent he casually exuded, made the attendant, an ordinary person, feel his scalp tingle...

"Hm? Didn't my companion settle the bill?"

Orochimaru was somewhat puzzled by the attendant's words.

"N-No. He said you would pay..."

Orochimaru licked his lips with his tongue. Remembering the way Itachi had pulled such a stunt, the corners of his mouth rose slightly.

"What an interesting person..."

At that moment, Itachi was walking back to where he was staying. He had actually intended to pay the bill earlier.

He had originally thought that since he had arranged the drinking session, he should be the one to pay. But then he remembered that he had left his money pouch by his pillow and forgotten to bring it.

That was why he had slipped away early and committed such a shameless act...

After all, it really was rather inconsiderate.

Still, thinking about how he had given this Snake Uncle a small taste of his own medicine, he felt a faint sense of accomplishment.

Putting the facts aside, Orochimaru really was quite a charismatic person.

Knock, knock, knock.

Just as Itachi returned to his lodgings and sat down with a cup of tea.

A knock came from outside the door.

It left Itachi somewhat bewildered.

"Could Orochimaru have tracked me down to collect the wine money?"

Thoughts aside, Itachi still decided not to keep the visitor waiting and opened the door first...

When Itachi opened the door, Juzo's distinctive face appeared before him.

"Juzo? What are you here for..."

Itachi stepped aside to make room for Juzo. As he let Juzo enter, he asked in confusion.

"How did your discussion go?"

The moment Juzo saw Itachi close the door, he immediately asked eagerly.

"It went fine. Everything went smoothly. I really didn't expect this fellow countryman of mine to be such a decent guy."

In response to Juzo's question, Itachi walked to the table, sat down, poured Juzo a cup of tea, and replied.

Juzo accepted the tea Itachi handed him and drank more than half of it in one gulp.

"It's good that it went smoothly. I came over to ask whether things had gone well. If they hadn't, I would've helped you beat him up..."

After hearing Itachi's answer, Juzo looked every bit the hired muscle...

"Hehe, then thank you, Juzo..."

Hearing Juzo's words, Itachi smiled.

In truth, as time passed, Itachi also wanted to preserve Juzo's life.

Itachi estimated that he and Juzo would investigate the Three-Tails in the Land of Water within the next year or two, so he wanted to give Orochimaru something to occupy himself with.

He wanted Orochimaru to leave the organization sooner.

When the organization was short on people, Obito would probably send Kisame in early to replace Orochimaru and partner him with Sasori.

Juzo's tragedy should then never happen.

And once this butterfly effect began, Deidara, who was not even twelve yet, might not suffer persecution either. He could properly become Tsuchikage and marry his junior sister.

Of course, all of this depended on Orochimaru's current thoughts. Still, there was a high chance things would proceed according to Itachi's plan.