A True Warrior

With Pain's silence, the matter was set in stone.

"Juzo, leave. From now on, live in seclusion in the mountains."

After taking a few more steps, Itachi stopped and spoke softly.

"What do you mean?" Juzo came back to his senses, somewhat baffled by Itachi's words.

"I mean, hand over the ring to me, then get lost."

Itachi looked coldly at Juzo as he spoke.

"What are you trying to do? If I give you the ring, wouldn't that mean betraying the organization? No way! I won't betray anyone ever again in this life!"

Although Juzo found Itachi's words rather absurd, he still answered firmly.

Seeing Juzo like this, Itachi fell silent.

The Village Hidden in the Bloody Mist had not yet been liberated and was still under Obito's control.

That left him in a dilemma. He truly did not know how to tell Juzo about this.

"I heard that a Rogue Ninja organization has appeared in Mist Village. They seem to want to restore Mist Village to the light."

Itachi calmed himself and spoke softly.

He also realized that he had been thrown into disarray by his concern.

Without giving him a reason, Juzo would only listen if something had gone wrong with his head.

"So what? That rotten village has been beyond saving for a long time."

Hearing Itachi's words, Juzo scoffed softly and spoke with mockery.

"How do you know it's beyond saving without trying? What if they succeed?"

Itachi smiled faintly and said casually.

"Kid, why don't you go save your own village? Your love for your village is no less than mine. Konoha is sickly now too, isn't it?"

Juzo found Itachi's unusual behavior interesting.

He could not understand what medicine Itachi had taken to make him act so strangely.

He was urging him to betray the organization for no reason at all. Juzo even wondered whether Orochimaru's defection had also been Itachi's doing.

Judging from what Itachi had said today, that seemed highly possible.

Could Itachi be some little angel of justice, planning to dismantle the evil organization Akatsuki from within...

Juzo thought to himself.

"I've realized that you really won't respond to either kindness or force. Tell me, what would it take for you to leave the organization?"

Itachi looked at Juzo, who was studying him, and spoke seriously.

At close range, Juzo looked through the thin veil of his conical hat at Itachi's earnest, profound eyes and froze slightly.

"What if I said I would never betray Akatsuki? What would you do then?"

Juzo answered just as seriously.

For someone who had been displaced and homeless, Akatsuki was his second home. How could he possibly leave it so easily?

Once he left Akatsuki, he truly would not know what he could do.

And after leaving Akatsuki, he would never see this annoying little brat in front of him again.

"Then the conversation is over. What else can I do?"

Not understanding what Juzo was thinking, Itachi could only answer nonchalantly.

He had done what he should have done and said what he should have said. He had even crossed the line by doing and saying what he should not have.

The rest could only be left to fate.

There were many things that would not turn out the way he wanted them to.

Or perhaps Juzo's life had already been wonderful enough. If he kept living, all that awaited him was endless confusion and Akatsuki's control. It would be better to die at his brightest, leaving behind one brilliant stroke.

At that moment, Itachi seemed to understand a little of what Orochimaru had thought when he killed his teacher...

"All right, kid, did you sneak some alcohol? The things you're saying are a little confusing."

Seeing Itachi return to his usual unserious self, Juzo spoke with a slight sense of relief.

"Some time ago, I had a dream. I dreamed that we accepted a mission to Mist Village, and you died. That's why I'm so uneasy about this mission. I wanted to find a way out for you."

Itachi looked seriously at Juzo's distinctive face and spoke seriously.

Each glance was one less glance. He just had not expected it to happen so soon...

"Heh, kid, don't you know that dreams are always the opposite?"

Hearing Itachi's words, Juzo burst out laughing, as though amused by Itachi's childish idea.

"I used to have a cat. I dreamed that it died, and a few days later, it really did die."

Seeing that Juzo was completely unmoved, Itachi made up a lie to cover the previous one...

Seeing Itachi's serious expression, Juzo felt warmth in his heart.

"Kid, I actually have a bad feeling about this too. They say people have a premonition before they die. And your words have only made me more certain of it... But even so, as a man, I can't back down."

Juzo gently patted Itachi's conical hat, as if stroking Itachi's hair through it.

This was the first time he had made physical contact with Itachi.

Seeing Juzo look at him with a hint of reluctance, Itachi's heart clenched.

This was his first friend in this world, his first bond...

"Even if you die, you don't care?"

Itachi asked the man before him in confusion.

"I don't. Perhaps I already died on the day I fled the village all those years ago. It's time to put an end to it..."

Juzo spoke softly, with a rare gentleness.

"But isn't life supposed to be the most precious thing?"

Itachi only felt unbearable pain in his heart, as though he could barely breathe.

"For a man, many things are more important than life. If I die this time, don't be sad... Eat less sweets and more proper meals. Grow taller. When you're alone, or around people you don't know well, don't drink so much. Don't sleep so deeply in front of people you've only just met, even if they're comrades... Do you understand...?"

Juzo spoke softly, as though saying goodbye...

With every sentence, an image came to mind.

Those were Juzo's precious things. Every sentence formed a memory in his mind, forming countless different images of Itachi.

Hearing Juzo's words, Itachi's eyes reddened...

"But I don't want you to die... Can you not die?"

For Juzo, it was merely an ominous premonition. For Itachi, it was a fact he had witnessed with his own eyes...

Itachi spoke softly, his voice carrying a rare note of pleading.

"Kid, don't look so dejected. You should be happy for me. At last, I can leave this filthy world..."

Juzo lifted Itachi's conical hat and clearly saw how red his eyes had become.

He comforted him gently.

"Oh, right. I have a gift for you. I'm afraid I might die too quickly then and not have time to give it to you, or to leave these last words. So I might as well say everything at once now. That way, if things get urgent later, you won't be put in danger."

Juzo said as he gently pinched Itachi's cheek.

"Don't you think this is embarrassing? What if you don't die then? Would you still have the nerve to keep living afterward...?"

With Juzo pinching his cheek, Itachi spoke somewhat indistinctly in annoyance.

"Annoying kid... All right, then. There aren't many last words anyway..."

Juzo froze slightly at Itachi's words, then the corners of his mouth rose.

As Itachi looked at the carefree man before him, it felt as though there was something more to him.

Perhaps it was just as Lu Xun had said: "A true warrior dares to face the bleakness of life and confront the dripping blood. What kind of mourners and happy people are these? Yet fate often designs things for mediocre people, using the passage of time to wash away old traces, leaving only pale red bloodstains and faint sorrow. Within that pale red blood and faint sorrow, people are granted a brief reprieve, sustaining this world that is neither human nor inhuman. I do not know when such a world will come to an end!"

And perhaps Juzo had once been cowardly, but in Itachi's heart, he was a true warrior!