But Itachi...

The smile on the man's face, along with his words, made Itachi feel a bone-chilling terror!

He demanded in horror, "You... what are you going to do to my mother...?!"

"What am I going to do... isn't that obvious?" Deva Path Pain stepped toward the bedroom door in the dark living room.

Itachi cried out in terror, "Mom, run!!!!!!"

"Huh!?" Mikoto Uchiha, who had been resting peacefully in the bedroom to the soothing sound of rain outside, was jolted awake by Itachi's shout.

Itachi... was he in danger?!

"Bang, bang, bang!!" Without even stopping to think, she grabbed the flashlight beside her on the tatami and rushed to the door.

By its light... she saw an unfamiliar man standing in the living room, with her beloved son Itachi helplessly standing behind him!

Gentle by nature, Mikoto displayed the fierce strength of a mother. "Who are you?! Why did you break into my home?!"

Itachi shouted, "Mom, run... he wants to harm Sasuke!!!"

"What!?" Mikoto's expression changed drastically as she stared fixedly at the man's face. "You... you... you know about the child in my womb. Are you Fugaku's enemy?"

Deva Path Pain said, "Who knows~."

Cold sweat ran down Mikoto's face.

Stay calm... He managed to breach Konoha's and the clan's layers of defenses and enter this house. That proves his strength is unfathomable. There's no way I can escape.

Besides... even if I did escape, what would happen to Itachi?

For her children's safety, Mikoto forced herself to calm down and tried to negotiate. "What do you want? I can cooperate with you! You can take me and the child in my belly as hostages! But I have one condition: let Itachi go!"

"Oh?" Deva Path Pain raised a brow. "You really are mother and son. Your son also wants to be my hostage in exchange for letting you go."

Mikoto dug her nails hard into her palm, using the pain to keep her mind clear. "How could that be? No matter how you look at it, a pregnant woman incapable of resisting is a better bargaining chip than an energetic child, isn't she?"

Seeing that he seemed hesitant, Mikoto hurriedly added, "And don't be fooled by Itachi being young... he's quite meticulous. If you take him with you, be careful he doesn't outwit you!"

As she spoke, Mikoto deliberately shone her flashlight toward the entryway, signaling Itachi to run...

Such a small scheme... naturally could not escape Deva Path Pain's eyes. He cast a cold glance at Itachi, watching to see how he would react.

But Itachi's expression, contrary to expectation... calmed down at that moment.

Belatedly, he realized something.

Just now... he cut my arm with a kunai, collected my blood in a container, then made me bandage the wound.

Was his purpose... not revenge?

When I first saw him, I assumed he had come to seek revenge against Father.

But now... that did not seem to be the case.

Something related to collecting blood... Could his goal be the Uchiha clan's Kekkei Genkai?

And the fact that he spared my life... meant I was still useful to him. At least, that was true for now!

A bold idea surfaced in Itachi's mind: perhaps... this was the only way to make him back down.

If the other party refused to yield, there was nothing he could do, because... he had no choice.

Itachi took a deep breath and forced his voice to remain strong. "You cannot hurt Sasuke!"

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Swish!" Itachi pressed a kunai to his own throat. "If you hurt Sasuke, I'll kill myself, making it impossible for you to achieve your unspeakable purpose through me!!!"

Mikoto's expression changed sharply. "Itachi!!!"

Oh, he saw through my intentions... That truly was not simple.

Seeing Deva Path Pain remain unmoved, Itachi drew the blade of the kunai across the skin of his neck, opening a thin cut. "Leave now, and you may still have a chance to get what you want in the future. But if I die now, that would cause you trouble, wouldn't it?!"

Heh... perhaps.

The Rinnegan of the Deva Path cast a cold sidelong glance at Itachi.

Nagato's cold thoughts flowed.

But Itachi... you are not my only option.

At worst, I can take your eyes and find someone suitable to awaken them in your place. It'll take some extra effort, but... that's still better than letting you threaten me with your death and ruin my mood!

"If you want to die, then go ahead and die."

Deva Path Pain indifferently raised his palm toward Mikoto.

"Whoosh!"

Before Itachi's horrified and Mikoto's terrified eyes, she was drawn toward Deva Path Pain by gravitational force!

"St-stop...!!!!!"

Ignoring Itachi's desperate cries, a Black Rod dropped from Deva Path Pain's sleeve and, with a crack, pierced Mikoto!

Blood... stained the tatami, and Itachi's pupils abruptly lost focus.

Deva Path Pain's cold words drifted toward him. "Once, just like this, my parents were killed by you Konoha shinobi."

"Itachi, you are already accustomed to the deaths of shinobi, aren't you? But is there anything different about watching a loved one get killed before your eyes?"

As Deva Path Pain spoke, he took out a blood collection vial, crouched down, and began gathering a sample.

The conversation between Nagato and Orochimaru from several days ago remained vivid in his mind.

"By the way... if the child is already in the mother's womb but has not yet been born, how should I collect it? Should I wait until the child is born?"

"Well... if the child is already in the mother's womb, directly collect a blood sample from the mother."

Mikoto's blood... would be enough to obtain Sasuke's blood sample.

Among the five potential targets, Sasuke's blood sample held vital importance.

Because... he was Indra's reincarnation.

Indra's power was an indispensable element for awakening the Rinnegan.

Although it was still unknown whether this blood sample contained enough of Indra's element to awaken the eyes, acquiring it first could never be wrong.

After collecting the sample, Deva Path Pain tucked the vial into his sleeve and stood up.

"Whoosh!" A piercing sound suddenly came from behind him!

With a sweep of his sleeve... the incoming kunai was knocked away and slammed into the wall!

Deva Path Pain turned around and saw Itachi behind him, tears in his eyes. Within each crimson eye was a gleaming One-Tomoe Sharingan...

Oh? He awakened his eyes at only four years old... a full four years earlier than when he awakened them at eight.

Well... that was another unexpected gain from this trip.

"Thud!"

Itachi fell to his knees on the tatami. "Huff... ah, huff, ah..." He panted heavily from the grief of losing a loved one and the helplessness of his current situation.

He was too weak right now. Even after awakening the Sharingan... he could not change anything.

Deva Path Pain pulled the Black Rod from Mikoto's "shoulder," walked past Itachi, and put on his shoes at the entryway.

Before opening the door and leaving, he said, "Itachi, hurry and stop your mother's bleeding. If... you still want to see your younger brother born safely..."

"!!!" Itachi suddenly raised his eyes and rushed to Mikoto's side, checking her vital signs and injuries.

He immediately moved Mikoto onto the tatami with all his strength, took out the household medical kit, and, with the Sharingan's aid, began dressing her wounds.

"The vital spots were avoided, and the wound was not deep... Why? Was it to provoke me into awakening the power of the Sharingan?"

"Itachi." Mikoto weakly opened her eyes and murmured his name.

Itachi knelt on the tatami, held Mikoto's hand, and placed it against his forehead. "It's... all right now, Mom..."

Outside Konoha, atop a mountain in the rain, Nagato sighed. "While the Deva Path was acting, the Naraka Path, Preta Path, and Asura Path were all taken out one after another. Konoha at this point in time is ridiculously strong..."

Nagato held two fingers upright before his chest.

"I finally got what I came for. Then, it's time to withdraw."