Actually, I Got Lost

Uchiha Obito's miserable state proved one thing: no matter the era or the world, useful information was important. It could easily change a person's fate.

If not for a certain black-feathered, black-hearted crow that knew everything about the Kamui dimension, along with a tiny, insignificant theory about space-time ninjutsu, he would have been turned into crow soup.

No wonder the ninjas of the Five Great Nations would rather die than let information slip through their fingers... Even without systematic ninja training, Uchiha Itachi understood the importance of intelligence.

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

As for finding where he was, that was fairly simple. After the Nine-Tails incident, Kitahara had secretly placed a Flying Thunder God mark on Uchiha Itachi.

Flying Thunder God Technique!

Kitahara instantly tracked his location through the Flying Thunder God mark left on Itachi... But this destination... The crow appeared above Uchiha Itachi's head and silently looked down at its own chick.

"...Caw..."

"Kitahara!"

Uchiha Itachi looked delighted by his companion's sudden appearance. A string of little children trailed behind him... Kitahara was utterly dumbfounded. Why did this chick... like collecting children?

Holding his little brother in Konoha was barely tolerable, but had he unleashed his true nature after coming out? He had rounded up a whole bunch of children in the middle of the night. Was he planning to open an orphanage...

"Caw!"

The crow gave him a sidelong look. Explain.

They were currently in a dark tunnel. Its crimson eyes looked a little frightening in the dim candlelight, and several timid children immediately pouted and burst into tears...

Uchiha Itachi hurried forward to comfort them, as gently as if soothing a little girl with a doll. "...Don't cry, don't cry. It's my friend. It came to save us..."

Kitahara: "..."

He was surprisingly good at comforting children!

Tonight had been entirely accidental. Uchiha Itachi had secretly asked the innkeeper about the town and learned that someone had been abducting children in secret, so he had kept watch from the inn roof...

Based on Itachi's guess, since a six-year-old child had come to town, the mastermind surely would not let him go. At a time like this, he remembered that he was still a child!

At night, after Jiraiya went out, two furtive men sneaked into the inn and headed straight for Itachi's room... Naturally, they found nothing...

Uchiha Itachi quietly followed them and found this dark place. It seemed to have only just been built. The little boy had easily slipped inside and rescued a group of little children along the way.

There was no more specific information...

"...Caw?"

The crow glanced deeper into the tunnel. What was this place? Besides those two kidnappers, were there others here? After all, this did not look like something ordinary people could have built.

"I searched all through the inside. Apart from them, there wasn't anyone else..." Uchiha Itachi shook his head and frowned. "And there are fresh excavation marks in many places..."

"Caw!"

Kitahara wanted to take a look...

Uchiha Itachi hurriedly grabbed its wing. "I've already put everything into sealing scrolls. Other than some strange things, there were only coins inside..."

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

The little boy patted his bulging ninja pouch, pulled out a sealing scroll, and called softly:

"Seal Release!"

Clatter! Clang! Crash!

A series of metal tubes and glass items fell out. Judging from their shapes, they resembled microscopes and culture dishes used in modern biology. This obviously could not have been a hospital.

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

The crow's normally blunt nerves instantly tensed! It remembered what Jiraiya had gone out to do! If that old man was not happily playing around in Sake Town, then he must have found Orochimaru's trail!

This was Orochimaru's experimental base!

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

"Yes, this is Orochimaru's experimental base..." The little boy seemed to have known already and pulled something out of his ninja pouch.

It was a framed photograph of the Three Legendary Sannin of Konoha in their youth: the mature Orochimaru, the confident Tsunade... and Jiraiya being held in a neck lock by the Third Hokage.

"..."

The crow felt terrible all over. Orochimaru had defected from Konoha, and after all that effort, he had wanted to keep a photo as a memento. Why had you taken it away?

"There was something else behind the frame..." Uchiha Itachi pointed at the seal on the frame. Perhaps because its owner had opened it often, the brown paint on the edges had begun to peel.

Click!

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

"Caw!"

If it was Orochimaru's experimental notebook, even one from this period, then this little boy's adventure had truly... paid off handsomely!

What could it be... Cloning technology? Cell transplantation technology? Records of Impure World Reincarnation research? Or... genetic modification technology? No matter which it was, it would not be much use to Itachi or Kitahara...

Better than nothing... If it was a record of Orochimaru's ninjutsu research, that would be quite valuable!

Kitahara called out to Itachi. "Caw!"

Read it out loud!

The little boy nodded and opened the notebook.

"Two companions have appeared in my future life. Senju Tsunade, the First Hokage's direct granddaughter, ranks first in taijutsu at the Ninja Academy. Her strength is exceptional, and she is proficient in medical ninjutsu..."

"Jiraiya, the bottom-ranked student at the Ninja Academy. Perhaps this team was formed to maintain balance. I cannot trust him in the future and must do my best to protect his safety..."

"..."

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

"Loaned Tsunade twelve thousand ryo. Women are exceptionally good at spending money..."

"Loaned Jiraiya five thousand ryo to compensate for damage caused during missions."

"..."

"Following Jiraiya's hero-saves-the-beauty plan, I was injured by Tsunade tonight. Medical bandages were ineffective. Preliminary judgment: three bones inside my body are broken..."

"..."

Kitahara was not feeling very well... It was all mundane daily records. The notebook's owner had written them adorably, but the crow was completely bewildered listening to them.

Uchiha Itachi quickly flipped to the end and read the final page. "Death always comes swiftly to life. Every bond formed alongside it is incomparably fragile. I cannot accept death. People must seek eternal life. Only through immortality can everything that happens in life have meaning."

"Caw?"

That was it? Kitahara felt rather disappointed... It had learned plenty of embarrassing details about the Three Legendary Sannin of Konoha in their youth, but none of it was useful!

Still, it fit the facts... This base had been built recently, which meant Orochimaru had not put it into use yet.

Furthermore, throughout the ninja world, whether uniquely developed ninjutsu or biological science and technology, all such things were immensely valuable. Orochimaru surely kept them on his person...

"Caw..."

Kitahara dejectedly landed on Itachi's head and urged him to leave first... It seemed that aside from gaining some travel funds, they had found nothing else this trip...

"Kitahara, actually... I got lost..."

The little boy scratched the back of his head with a red face, looking especially embarrassed.

It hasn't been edited, so just make do with it. I'm going to watch the match first and edit it tomorrow.