Flicking its tongue, the little snake slithered across the scorched earth. A shuriken soon pierced it, and after writhing for a while, it went still.
Itachi stood on a ruined wall nearby. Only after surveying the surroundings for a long time did he vanish in a puff of smoke.
To guard against any remaining Orochimaru Remnants, Itachi had deliberately left a Shadow Clone behind to kill this little messenger snake.
Yet shortly after Itachi's Shadow Clone disappeared, the dead snake opened its eyes again. A distinctly human look appeared in them as it murmured, "What a lively Uchiha."
With that, an even smaller snake emerged from its corpse and slipped like a phantom into a nearby body. The corpse stood straight up and departed in the opposite direction.
Elsewhere, after receiving his Shadow Clone's memories, Itachi quickened his pace. He swiftly overtook the Root Squad Captain, leaving the captain briefly stunned as he realized that Itachi was stronger than he was.
By nightfall, the two reached the outskirts of the village, where Kage Rock was already faintly visible.
A full day of travel had left Itachi and the captain somewhat exhausted. They were still unsettled by what had happened that day. Why had such a terrifying trap been set in Orochimaru's base?
Just then, Itachi abruptly stopped. Standing on a treetop, he looked down at a figure in the clearing below. The stranger was staring at him and the captain, seemingly having waited there for quite some time.
They were less than ten kilometers from the village, but it would still take the ninja there a considerable amount of time to send reinforcements.
Without the slightest hesitation, Itachi took out a signal flare, lit it, and launched it skyward with a whistle. Before it could reach the sky, however,