The next morning, sunlight poured in gently.
Yamato rubbed his sleepy eyes and stretched with effort.
He had slept very well that night. Ever since joining missions, he had never felt so relaxed.
Perhaps it was because he knew one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, was around, so he had let his guard down.
"Awake already?"
Jiraiya handed him a wooden bowl filled with breakfast. "Drink something first. Once they wake up, we'll get ready to leave."
"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Jiraiya!"
Yamato gratefully took the wooden bowl and sipped from it, closing his eyes in comfort.
At that moment, a sharp scream shattered the quiet.
"Ah—!"
The two downstairs immediately recognized the voice. It was Sakura.
"This isn't good!"
Sakura rushed down from the upper floor, her face full of guilt and fear. "Sasuke… Sasuke—she—"
At her words, Jiraiya and Yamato, who had been joking moments ago, turned pale.
"What happened? Calm down!" Yamato tried to soothe the terrified Sakura while asking for details.
Jiraiya, impatient by nature, dashed straight up to the second floor.
When he entered the room, he was shocked to see Sasuke sitting on the edge of the bed.
Blood streamed from her eyes, and in her crimson pupils glowed the Mangekyō Sharingan, resembling a six-pointed star.
"Sasuke… you've awakened it?" As one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya naturally knew the secrets of the Uchiha clan.
But something was strange. Just yesterday, Sasuke had not awakened her eyes. How could a single night's sleep trigger the Mangekyō Sharingan?
Suddenly, Jiraiya sensed something was very wrong.
Sasuke seemed to have lost her soul. She sat on the bed, her pupils unfocused, staring blankly as if in a trance.
"Sasuke? Sasuke!"
Jiraiya tried to wake Sasuke.
However, no matter how he shook her, Sasuke didn't respond at all, looking exactly like a puppet.
At that moment, Yamato was already carrying a crying Sakura upstairs.
Sakura wiped her tears and sobbed, "I…I had a nightmare last night. You were all gone, so I went downstairs to find you, but…blood handprints suddenly appeared all over the walls. I got so scared that I ran back to my room."
"And then?"
Jiraiya's mood darkened slightly as he continued to ask.
"Later, I tried to jump out of the window."
Sakura pointed at the window, her face extremely pale, recalling the horrifying scene from last night. Her voice trembled as she said, "Outside, the moon was blood-red. Someone covered my eyes with their hands, and when I turned back… I saw… a terrifying corpse!"
"A corpse? Did you recognize it?" Yamato asked, frowning.
"No… I didn't know it."
Sakura shook her head, biting her lip. "Then I fainted. When I woke up, I found Sasuke like this. No matter how I called her, she didn't respond."
"An illusion?"
As a member of the ANBU, Yamato immediately suspected that they had fallen under a genjutsu. He turned to Jiraiya. "Lord Jiraiya, what do you think?"
"Yamato, did you notice anything unusual while keeping watch last night?" Jiraiya furrowed his brow, staring at the vacant Sasuke with a hint of pain.
"Nothing unusual, Lord Jiraiya."
Yamato shook his head. He had been on duty the first half of the night and hadn't observed anything out of the ordinary.
"That's strange."
Jiraiya immediately felt the situation was tricky. He had been responsible for the latter half of the night and hadn't noticed anything abnormal either.
So then, how did the intruder get in?
And the target was very clear—it was Uchiha Sasuke.
"Lord Jiraiya, should we—"
Yamato hesitated, looking at Sasuke's state. "Perhaps we could temporarily abandon the mission and return to the village to treat Sasuke first?"
"No!"
Hearing this, Jiraiya shook his head decisively and said in a deep voice, "The enemy's target is Sasuke, but it's more likely they want to stop us from going to Otogakure to find Orochimaru."
Although he couldn't understand why Sasuke suddenly activated the Mangekyo Sharingan, he was certain that this matter had something to do with genjutsu.
Moreover, at this critical time, no matter what, they had to see Orochimaru.
"But… Sasuke's current state…" Sakura was worried about her safety, yet she didn't dare to argue.
"Orochimaru has done extensive research in ninjutsu."
Glancing at Sasuke, who seemed to have lost her soul, Jiraiya gritted his teeth and said firmly, "He should have a way to treat Sasuke's current condition, so we must reach Otogakure as soon as possible."
"Can Orochimaru really heal Sasuke?" Sakura wiped her tears and summoned her courage. "Lord Jiraiya, I'll carry Sasuke. Let's hurry to Otogakure."
"All right."
Jiraiya glanced at Yamato beside him, but in the end, he said nothing.
Soon, the group packed their things. Sakura carried Sasuke on her back, Yamato went ahead to clear the path, and Jiraiya stayed behind to watch over them.
The team moved toward Otogakure as fast as possible.
But as they advanced through the dense forest, Sakura suddenly noticed Yamato ahead—he vanished without a trace.
"Yamato?!"
Sakura hurriedly stopped, her eyes wide as she stared forward.
"What's wrong?" Jiraiya caught up from behind. Seeing her sudden pause, he looked puzzled. "We're almost at Otogakure. Keep going a little more."
"N-no, Lord Jiraiya…"
Sakura trembled as she pointed ahead, swallowing hard. "I… I saw Yamato suddenly disappear."
"Disappeared?"
Jiraiya followed her gaze and indeed saw that Yamato was gone.
But at that moment, Yamato, who had vanished, suddenly reappeared from the forest, as if he had turned back from the front.
"Lord Jiraiya, Sakura, why didn't you keep up?" Yamato called out from the branches ahead, his face full of confusion as he waved at them. "Hurry up! We're almost there!"
"Could I be seeing things?"
Sakura felt a bit uncertain, but seeing Yamato approaching made her breathe a sigh of relief. She was about to follow him when a voice stopped her.
"Wait. Don't go any further."
Suddenly, Jiraiya spoke, calling out to Sakura.
"What is it, Lord Jiraiya?"
Although puzzled, Sakura instinctively obeyed, stopping her steps.
"Come on~"
Yamato's cheerful smile remained as he continued waving at them.
Yet, Jiraiya stepped in front of Sakura, lowering his eyelids slightly. "I just remembered something. Yamato, come over here. I need to talk to you."
"Lord Jiraiya, Sakura, the Hidden Sound Village is just ahead," Yamato said.
But strangely, it was as if he hadn't heard. He kept waving and smiling at them.
"Lo-Lord Jiraiya?" Sakura's confusion deepened. The smile on Yamato's face, somehow, seemed… off.
"You don't want to come over. Let me guess."
Jiraiya's eyes sharpened as he stared at 'Yamato.' His voice dropped low. "You set a trap there, didn't you?"
Yamato's expression twisted into confusion. "Lord Jiraiya, what are you talking about? A trap? I don't understand."
"You're not really Yamato, are you?"
Jiraiya's gaze turned icy as he spoke each word deliberately. "Sasuke ending up like this… you're behind it."
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