White Snake Sage

As his senses spread out and he realized he had arrived somewhere unfamiliar, Itachi's tense nerves eased slightly.

"Is this Ryuchi Cave?"

Itachi could not help but marvel as he sensed the abundance of strange energy in the air and sighed softly.

It was as if his aching body had also felt much better in this place.

After resting for a moment, Itachi began forming hand seals.

He summoned a pitch-black crow. Unlike ordinary crows, this one had a human eye in its own eye...

There was an unusual pattern within the eyeball, giving it an eerie appearance.

The crow landed on Itachi's palm, where his eyes were hollow and bloodstained.

It affectionately pecked at his palm...

Itachi stroked the crow's feathers, then slowly reached toward its eye socket...

The crow did not try to evade him. It seemed as though it already knew its fate.

Itachi gently removed the Mangekyo Sharingan from the crow's eye, then placed it into his own socket...

A pale green glow appeared in his hand...

This was a healing technique, though its effects did not seem particularly obvious.

Tiny blood vessels slowly connected, and the pale green light gradually began healing them.

In less than half an hour, Itachi was nearly exhausted, and the pale green glow in his hand dimmed.

Fortunately, he could now barely see. He no longer needed to spread his senses over a vast area just to look at the blurry black-and-white world.

Looking at the crow lying in his palm, Itachi felt a pang of heartache.

After waiting for a while, pale green light appeared in his hand again to stop the crow's bleeding.

Now that the crow was blind, Itachi had no intention of sending it back. He simply placed it on his shoulder and let it grip him there.

Looking at the mist-filled world ahead, thick with poisonous miasma, Itachi found it difficult to put his feelings into words.

Still, he continued onward. Since he had arrived at Ryuchi Cave, he intended to see whether he could learn Sage Jutsu.

Within the dim, miasma-covered forest, a one-eyed youth walked with a sightless crow perched on his shoulder.

Together, they formed a somewhat mournful sight.

In truth, he had long expected to end up in this situation.

Ever since he had miscalculated the duration of the drug's effects and problems had arisen with his body.

But when it truly happened, he still found it hard to accept. This was his very first stop after arriving in the world of Naruto, and he had already ended up like this.

Though he usually liked taking it easy, his feelings for Akatsuki had been genuine.

There were many people here with remarkable charisma.

It was just a shame that he had been forced to leave so helplessly.

He could not help but reflect on whether he should start doing something.

Rather than simply muddling through each day...

That was right. What he had once considered cautious development had merely been an excuse to let himself waste his days without guilt.

But when he thought of that, Itachi felt a trace of fear.

A masked figure appeared in his mind, prying open his eyelids as a finger drew closer and closer...

"Then, Mr. Obito, are you ready to face my wrath?"

Itachi's indifferent voice echoed through the space.

Originally, Itachi had not particularly hated Obito for his schemes—killing his companion to awaken his Sharingan, plotting with Danzo to destroy the Uchiha Clan, and killing Izumi.

That was because he had only just transmigrated then. Although he had inherited some of the original owner's memories, he had watched the entire Naruto story and knew that Obito was merely a pitiful man who awakened too late, became the enemy of the world for a woman, and was manipulated by others. But now that Obito had taken one of his eyes and forced him to dig out and destroy the other...

A grudge had been formed.

No matter what, he had to make things difficult for Obito.

Even a clay Buddha had some anger, let alone a person.

Itachi had originally only wanted to experience this world properly and become a powerful slacker. He wanted to change Itachi's original fate, occasionally intervene, and alter the tragedies of certain people.

Then, like an outsider, like some reclusive master, he would watch the world shift and change as it moved down the path he had designated...

"You are Itachi Uchiha, aren't you?"

Just as Itachi was lost in thought, the figure of a woman floated over through the air.

She wore a white robe, with white cloth ribbons floating and circling behind her.

Itachi raised his head and looked at the person in the air.

One of his eyes was somewhat unfocused, while the other socket was empty, exposing gruesome flesh.

The eyeless crow on his shoulder also lifted its head toward the voice, tilting its sharp-beaked head slightly and revealing its vacant eye socket.

The newcomer froze slightly when she saw the strange appearance of the man and crow.

What strange people, this man and his crow...

Ichikishimahime silently gave them that assessment.

"The White Snake Sage wishes to see you..."

Ichikishimahime cast aside her strange feelings and spoke softly.

She was one of the White Snake Sage's trusted attendants. She could float through the air and become invisible at will, and could forcibly consume an opponent's chakra, devouring both their body and chakra.

"Alright."

After hearing the woman's words, Itachi tilted his left cheek slightly and used his still-blurry left eye to look at her.

Then he nodded gently in reply.

A rather handsome young man. What a pity he's missing an eye...

Ichikishimahime landed lightly and walked ahead to lead the way. Once she got closer and saw Itachi's face clearly, she sighed inwardly.

"The White Snake Sage is truly powerful. I had only just arrived at Ryuchi Cave, yet she already knew I was here..."

Noticing the silence, Itachi spoke with a soft sigh.

At the moment, he was a little nervous. His strength had yet to recover, and the snakes of Ryuchi Cave liked eating people. If he was eaten by accident, he would be finished...

That was why he took the initiative to speak, hoping to close the distance between them.

If the conversation went badly, perhaps he could still escape the snake's maw...

At that moment, he suddenly missed Orochimaru a little.

Once this matter was settled, he ought to visit Orochimaru's base.

Ichikishimahime had no intention of answering Itachi. To her, coming to guide him was already boring enough. If she also had to answer his questions, would that not make her a servant?

Before long, the two arrived before an ancient temple.

Above them sat a beautiful mature woman, with two young women standing at her side.

"Sage, I have brought the person you wanted to see..."

Ichikishimahime bowed slightly, then walked over to the White Snake Sage and stood behind her.

Itachi looked at the seated, beautiful White Snake Sage, who was completely different from the old woman in his memories.

Itachi's body was weak at the moment, so he could not see through this Sage Jutsu-type Genjutsu at all.

He could not even see through the forms of Tagitsuhime, Tagorihime, and Ichikishimahime standing behind the White Snake Sage.

"White Snake Sage..."

Itachi came back to his senses. Imitating Ichikishimahime, he bowed slightly toward the elder and offered his greeting.

"Child, you are quite good, though your current condition is rather terrible. Still, you will recover soon. I cannot help you with that either."

Seeing how polite Itachi was, the White Snake Sage's pleasant voice rang out, carrying waves of allure toward him...

Several rosy clouds quickly climbed onto Itachi's pale face, and he found himself somewhat unable to withstand it.

"Hehehehe..."

Seeing Itachi's embarrassed state, the White Snake Sage covered her mouth with her delicate hand and chuckled softly.

Itachi felt deeply awkward inside, thinking that he had made a fool of himself.

"Child, do not be so reserved. I only called you here this time because I wanted to see you. Is there anything you need help with?"

Seeming to sense Itachi's restraint, the White Snake Sage spoke gently as she looked at him with satisfaction.

This time, Ryuchi Cave would gain a perfect representative who could venture outside. That was undoubtedly something worth being happy about.