"**Susanoo!**"
Seeing this, Itachi Uchiha immediately activated his Susanoo. The crimson chakra skeleton protected both Sakura and Biwa Juzo.
**KABOOM!**
The shockwave from the Tailed Beast Ball explosion completely flattened the nearby ground. The epicenter was left with a massive crater.
As the smoke and dust from the explosion gradually dispersed, it became clear that Susanoo's first form had taken cracks across its surface after blocking half of the Tailed Beast Ball directly, but at least it had held up in the end.
"Cough, cough!"
Itachi Uchiha covered his mouth while coughing several times. A thin stream of blood slid down from the corner of his lips, and his eyes were filled with bloodshot veins.
"Big Brother Itachi, you're *so* frustrating!"
Sakura facepalmed, clearly exasperated as she brushed dust off her clothes. "You didn't even warn me beforehand! I ended up having to take a Tailed Beast Ball head-on!"
"I'm sorry. I thought you could redirect the Tailed Beast Ball," Itachi Uchiha smiled somewhat awkwardly. "I didn't expect you'd just take it straight like that!"
"Please—opening a Spatial Passage requires coordinates too, you know!" Sakura shot back. "Right now only Snow Country and Konoha have them! Without proper spatial coordinates, who knows where exactly I might end up?"
To accurately perform spatial teleportation operations, one must have a coordinate system. Without proper spatial coordinates, she wouldn't even know where the other side of the spatial passage would appear. If that happened, things might randomly send a Tailed Beast Ball to one of the hidden villages.
"I didn't think things through adequately," Itachi Uchiha gasped for breath a few times before pointing toward Biwa Juzo behind him. "Also, could you please heal him?"
"No problem!"
Sakura glanced at Biwa Juzo. He didn't seem like a good guy at first glance, but deep down, he wasn't all bad.
[REVERSE TIME]
A green rune began rotating around Biwa Juzo's body. The blade lodged in his waist slowly withdrew itself. In moments, Biwa Juzo had returned to his uninjured state.
"I'm completely healed already?"
Biwa Juzo stared down at his abdomen in shock. His wound had vanished, even his clothing had returned to normal. Without his memories, he'd have thought that whole thing was just an illusion.
"Big Brother Itachi, this fellow now knows our secrets. Should we call Big Brother Shisui to cast Kotoamatsukami on him?" Sakura whispered cautiously.
"No need. I trust him," Itachi Uchiha refused firmly.
**GRRR...**
At this moment, a fierce growl reminded them all that tailed-form Yagura still stood right beside them.
"Big Brother Itachi, use Amaterasu!" Thinking back to nearly getting killed by the Tailed Beast Ball earlier, Sakura clenched her fists in anger. "Burn him until he's too weak to resist, then I'll remove the genjutsu from him!"
"Alright."
Itachi Uchiha glared with his eyes wide open, instantly engulfing tailed-form Yagura in black flames.
"Do you need help? Using your Sharingan nonstop must be killing your body!"
Biwa Juzo approached holding half of the Cleaver Sword in his hand, his tone somewhat concerned.
"It's nothing serious, just a bit of ocular power depletion!" Itachi Uchiha shrugged it off. When he saw Yagura struggling and roaring nearby, he immediately unleashed another Amaterasu.
Two consecutive blasts of Amaterasu sent Yagura to his knees. The Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak surrounding his body quickly faded away, and the childlike form of Yagura collapsed onto the ground, covered in wounds.
"Alright, now let's help him remove the genjutsu!"
Sakura stepped forward and placed her hand on Yagura's head, activating the Mind Stone.
"Remove the genjutsu? What do you mean?" Both Itachi Uchiha and Biwa Juzo looked confused—they hadn't cast any genjutsu on Yagura.
"There's a genjutsu placed within Yagura's body. In other words, he hadn't been acting on his own will at all!" A sudden wave of sympathy washed over Sakura. From a certain angle, the Mist Village had been caught in the crossfire—first manipulated by Madara Uchiha into causing Rin Nohara's death, then later controlled by Obito after losing his lover, nearly leading to the village's destruction.
"The most important thing is, if we use conventional methods to remove the genjutsu, Yagura won't live much longer."
In the original story, Yagura died shortly after having the genjutsu removed. However, since Sakura used the Mind Stone to directly break the genjutsu on him, this issue was no longer a concern.
Soon, Yagura lying on the ground came to. At first, his eyes showed confusion; memories from the years he had spent under control instantly surfaced, prompting him to clench his fists tightly.
Chapter 83: Pinning All the Blame on the Akatsuki Organization
"Thank you for helping me break free from that genjutsu!"
Thinking about those years of being controlled and committing various acts, Yagura wished he could drag out whoever was responsible and beat them to death.
"You don't have to thank me—thank Captain Itachi instead," replied Sakura casually. "If he hadn't sent me here in the first place, I wouldn't have had the chance to save you! And I didn't save you purely out of kindness—I still need your help with something."
"Just tell me what it is. If I can help, I definitely will!"
Yagura spoke while his cheek twitched repeatedly—it hurt like hell after being scorched all over by Amaterasu.
"I want you to give up the Mizukage position!"
Seeing Yagura's expression change, Sakura smiled and continued, "Hear me out first. Actually, what I mean is—I want you to fake giving up your role as Mizukage!"
"Faking? Faking what exactly?" Yagura asked, frowning.
"You should know how you were controlled, right?" Sakura countered with a question.
"That masked bastard!" Anger caused Yagura's entire body to tremble. Look at what he'd done to the once-peaceful Kiri Village—it was completely ruined because of him.
"So it really was him?!" Itachi Uchiha frowned too. As soon as Yagura mentioned the masked figure, Itachi immediately thought of the man who claimed himself to be Madara Uchiha.
"Do you know him?" Yagura turned to Itachi Uchiha, his expression full of wariness.
"I don't know his true identity, but he called himself Madara Uchiha."
"Itachi Uchiha didn't care about Yagura's expression. Makes sense, then. He also possesses the Sharingan, and it's highly possible he's the one who cast the [Genjutsu] controlling you!"
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