Actually, I'm Lost

Uchiha Obito's tragic fate proved one thing: in any era, in any world, effective intelligence and information are crucial; they can easily alter a person's destiny.

If it weren't for a certain black-hearted crow that knew all the intel on the Kamui dimension, plus a negligible guess about space-time ninjutsu, it would have ended up as crow soup.

It's no wonder the ninja of the Five Great Nations would rather die than omit information... Uchiha Itachi, even without systematic ninja training, understood the importance of intelligence.

So, he slipped out to gather information too...

As for finding out where he was, that was a simple matter. Ever since the Nine-Tails' attack, Beiyuan had secretly placed a Flying Thunder God Mark on Uchiha Itachi.

Flying Thunder God Technique!

Beiyuan instantly tracked Itachi's location based on the Flying Thunder God Mark left on him... but this destination... A crow appeared above Uchiha Itachi's head, silently watching its young charge.

"...Caw..."

"Beiyuan!"

Uchiha Itachi looked at his companion's sudden appearance with surprise. A string of little radishes followed behind him... Beiyuan was stunned. Why did this little kid... like bringing children along?

He could barely tolerate holding his younger brother in Konoha, but after coming out here, he'd let his true nature run wild? In the middle of the night, he'd gathered a whole bunch of kids, planning to open an orphanage...

"Caw!"

The crow glanced sideways, demanding an explanation.

They were currently in a dark passageway. The scarlet eyes were a bit frightening in the dim candlelight. A few of the braver children immediately whimpered and started crying...

Uchiha Itachi quickly stepped forward to comfort them, cooing like he was soothing a doll: "...Don't cry, don't cry. He's my friend, he's here to save us..."

Beiyuan: "..."

He was quite skilled at comforting children!

Tonight was pure coincidence. Uchiha Itachi had secretly inquired with the innkeeper about the town's news. Upon learning that someone was privately abducting children, he had staked out the inn's rooftop...

According to Itachi's guess, a six-year-old child had come to town, and the mastermind wouldn't let him go... At this moment, he remembered that he was still a child himself!

That night, after Jiraiya went out, two shifty-looking men sneaked into the inn and headed straight for Itachi's room... Naturally, they found it empty...

Uchiha Itachi quietly followed them, found this dark place, which seemed to be under construction. The young boy easily slipped in and, along with it, rescued a group of little radishes.

There was no more specific information...

"...Caw?"

The crow glanced into the depths of the passageway. What was this place? Besides those two kidnappers, were there any other people? After all, this place didn't look like something ordinary people could have made.

"I've searched inside. Besides them, there's no one else," Uchiha Itachi shook his head, frowning. "And there are many signs of recent digging..."

"Caw!"

Beiyuan wanted to take a look...

Uchiha Itachi quickly grabbed its wing. "I've already packed everything into a Sealing Scroll. Besides some strange items, there were only coins inside..."

"...Caw?" The crow fell silent. Had they found treasure? But what could be stranger than you!

The young boy patted his bulging ninja bag and took out a Sealing Scroll, then whispered:

"Sealing Release!"

Swish! Clang! Ting!

A string of metal tubes and glass products fell out. Judging by their outlines, they resembled modern biological tools like microscopes and petri dishes. Clearly, this environment couldn't be a hospital.

It was probably some kind of biological research base...

The crow's thick nerves instantly tensed! It remembered what Jiraiya had gone out to do! If that old man wasn't happily playing in Machi, he must have found Orochimaru's trail!

This was Orochimaru's research base!

Beiyuan mechanically lowered its head and looked at Uchiha Itachi. "Caw!"

"Yes, this is Orochimaru's research base..." The young boy seemed to have known this for a while. He took out an item from his ninja bag.

It was a photo frame, containing a group photo of the Konoha Sannin in their youth: a precocious Orochimaru, a confident Tsunade... and Jiraiya, with his neck gripped by the Third Hokage.

"..."

The crow felt completely awful. Orochimaru had defected from Konoha. He'd finally kept a photo as a memento, and you took it away?

"There's something else behind the photo frame..." Uchiha Itachi pointed to the seal on the photo frame. Perhaps because the owner often opened it, the brown paint on the frame had peeled off a bit.

Crack!

Itachi pulled out a thin notebook from a hidden compartment...

"Caw!"

If this was Orochimaru's research notes, even from this period, then this little boy's adventure was truly... a huge success!

What could it be... cloning technology? Cell transplantation technology? Impure World Reincarnation research records? Or... gene modification technology? Regardless of which it was, it wouldn't be of much use to Itachi and Beiyuan...

It's better than nothing... If it were Orochimaru's ninjutsu research records, that would be quite substantial!

Beiyuan called out to Itachi: "Caw!"

Read it out loud!

The little boy nodded and opened the notebook:

"In my future life, I have two more companions: Tsunade, the direct granddaughter of the First Hokage's descendant, ranked first in taijutsu at the Ninja Academy, exceptionally powerful, and skilled in Medical Ninjutsu..."

"Jiraiya, the dead last of the Ninja Academy. Perhaps this team assignment is for balance. I cannot trust him in the future and need to protect his safety as much as possible..."

"..."

"Jiraiya likes to fool around and can easily die on the battlefield..."

"Loan Tsunade twelve thousand Ryo. Women spend money exceptionally quickly..."

"Loan Jiraiya five thousand Ryo to compensate for losses incurred during a mission."

"..."

"According to Jiraiya's heroic rescue plan, he was injured by Tsunade tonight. The medical bandages are useless. Preliminary judgment indicates three broken bones inside his body..."

"..."

Beiyuan wasn't feeling great... it was all just a messy record. The notebook's owner wrote in a cute way, and the crow sounded confused.

Uchiha Itachi quickly flipped through, reading to the last page: "Death in life always comes quickly, and any bonds formed are incredibly fragile. I cannot accept death. Humans need to seek eternal life; only with immortality does everything that happens in life have meaning."

"Caw?"

That's it? Beiyuan was a bit disappointed... Although he learned about many of the Konoha Sannin's embarrassing (cute) moments when they were young, it was utterly useless!

However, it did align with the facts... This base was newly built, meaning Orochimaru hadn't utilized it yet.

Furthermore, looking across the ninja world, both uniquely developed ninjutsu and biological scientific technology were extremely valuable. Orochimaru would surely carry them with him...

"Caw..."

Beiyuan dejectedly landed on Itachi's head, urging him to leave. It seemed this trip, apart from gaining some travel funds, yielded no other rewards...

"Beiyuan, actually... I'm lost..."

The little boy blushed and scratched the back of his head, looking particularly embarrassed.

Not edited, please bear with it. I'm watching the match first, will edit tomorrow.