A full minute passed before Naruto finished altering Itachi's will to his satisfaction.
He had changed Itachi's loyalty to Konoha into loyalty to Naruto himself!
"Naruto-kun." Itachi opened his eyes and addressed Naruto with utmost respect.
"Hahaha!" Naruto laughed smugly, then told Itachi:
"Your body is already on its last legs. Treating you would take me a long time, and right now, I don't have that kind of time."
"Then please don't trouble yourself," Itachi said quickly.
"No, I mean I have a way to heal you quickly," Naruto explained. "Come to Konoha with me in a little while."
"All right, Naruto-kun." Itachi nodded.
"Wait!" Sasuke suddenly cut in.
He stared hard at Naruto. "What did you do to Itachi?"
After seeing Itachi's behavior, Sasuke immediately grew suspicious. Perhaps Naruto had used something like Genjutsu on Itachi while treating him.
(Naruto's body had blocked his view, so he hadn't seen Shisui's Mangekyou Sharingan in Naruto's left eye.)
Naruto raised an eyebrow, looking helpless. He stepped closer to Sasuke and whispered in his ear:
"I'm just trying to coax him into getting treatment. The way he acted earlier, he clearly wanted to die. Don't you want him to live?"
Sasuke still wasn't sure whether to believe Naruto. In the end, though, he wanted Itachi to survive, and the mysterious, powerful Naruto might be the only one who could save him completely.
Meanwhile, Zetsu, who had been watching from afar, quietly sank underground and sped toward Obito. He had to tell him about this shocking turn of events.
Naruto glanced in the direction Zetsu had gone but made no move to stop him.
While Itachi and Sasuke had been fighting, battles had also been raging in three other places.
In one, the Konoha ninjas were still being toyed with by Obito.
Even