Seeing that Uchiha Sasuke seemed to have been fooled, Rorin let out a sigh of relief.
"So, what are you going to do next, Sasuke?" Uchiha Itachi asked gently.
After a series of flashy moves, Uchiha Sasuke sheathed the Kusanagi Sword and said solemnly,
"I'll use my own methods to verify whether what you said just now is true."
Hearing this, Uchiha Itachi looked at him with some concern and advised,
"Sasuke, it's better if you don't come into contact with Danzo too early. Back then, I also fell into his hands by accident."
Uchiha Sasuke let out a cold snort and said arrogantly,
"The current me has already surpassed the strength you had back then. Even if I'm still not your match now, Shimura Danzo is nothing more than a dying man."
As soon as he finished speaking, Uchiha Sasuke turned around gracefully and left the Uchiha clan grounds without looking back.
Watching Uchiha Sasuke's figure gradually fade into the distance, Rorin spoke calmly,
"Are you sure you're not going to help him deal with the Curse Mark?"
Uchiha Itachi nodded slightly and said, "For now, the Curse Mark does more good than harm for Sasuke. Of course, if Orochimaru becomes restless, I'll step in and seal him."
"By the way, Sasuke didn't pay attention to that matter at all. That's a bit surprising to me," Uchiha Itachi added with a faint smile.
Rorin smiled slightly and said, "Who knows? Maybe he just forgot for now."
...
On the other side, after leaving the Uchiha clan grounds, Uchiha Sasuke walked slowly. Suddenly, he stopped, turned his head back toward the clan grounds, and murmured to himself,
"I clearly remember aiming for the left chest back then… so why…?"
After thinking for a while without finding an answer, Uchiha Sasuke shook his head and decided not to dwell on it any further. After all, what had just happened was a bit embarrassing.
...
After Uchiha Sasuke had gone far away, Uchiha Itachi approached Rorin and said gratefully,
"Rorin, thank you for your help this time. I should also return to the organization to report. Speaking of which, I came to see you this time under Pain's orders to gather information about you, but I didn't expect so many things to happen."
Rorin frowned slightly and asked, "Has Pain taken notice of me?"
Uchiha Itachi smiled faintly and teased, "Hey, don't forget—you kidnapped one of our members."
Rorin scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward smile.
Uchiha Itachi turned slightly and said his farewell,
"Then, see you again, Rorin. As I said before, if you ever need help, you can contact me."
With that, Uchiha Itachi also left the Uchiha clan grounds. He had already understood what Rorin meant by his earlier request.
He guessed that Rorin had likely mastered some kind of technique capable of extracting Hidan's immortality and transplanting it into his own body.
Although he had figured out the key point, he decided to keep Rorin's secret and would not reveal it.
After seeing the brothers off, Rorin also left the Uchiha clan grounds and returned to the Hidden Leaf Village.
...
Uchiha Sasuke, traveling alone, returned once again to Orochimaru's base. He invited Suigetsu and Karin, forming Team Taka. But this time, his goal was no longer to seek revenge against Uchiha Itachi—it was to target Shimura Danzo instead.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Itachi received a summons from Pain, and the Akatsuki once again initiated a video conference.
During the meeting, Pain's projection looked at Uchiha Itachi and asked calmly,
"Itachi, how did this mission turn out? Have you figured out why that boy from the Kaguya clan attacked our organization's member?"
At the same time, Kakuzu's gaze also focused on Uchiha Itachi.
Uchiha Itachi nodded slightly, glanced around, and began speaking.
"Reporting to the leader, that person is named Kaguya Rorin and is indeed a member of the Kaguya clan. After some investigation, I learned that when he was young, everyone in the Kaguya clan except him was slaughtered by the higher-ups of the Village Hidden in the Mist."
"After that, he wandered the ninja world alone. At one point, he encountered a life-or-death crisis, and the ones who persecuted him were followers of the Jashin religion, just like Hidan. So later, after growing stronger, he learned that our organization had a Jashin follower and set his sights on Hidan."
Pain frowned slightly and asked, "Is it really that simple? How did you find out about this?"
Uchiha Itachi nodded faintly and said, "I extracted it through Tsukuyomi interrogation. Based on my judgment, it should be the case. Otherwise, it wouldn't explain why he only took Hidan last time and didn't kill Kakuzu."
Hearing this, everyone fell into thought, and Kakuzu also somewhat accepted this explanation.
Pain nodded slightly and said again,
"In that case, regardless of his true purpose, our objective remains unchanged. Next, we will proceed to capture the remaining tailed beast jinchūriki."
"Leader, since Deidara and the others failed twice to capture the One-Tail jinchūriki, then let us handle it this time," Uchiha Itachi volunteered.
Upon hearing that Uchiha Itachi wanted to take his mission, Deidara immediately became anxious.
"Leader, there were some accidents last time. This time, I guarantee we'll complete the mission. Hmm!"
Kisame Hoshigaki clicked his tongue and said with a grin,
"Didn't you say the same thing last time? And what happened? You only brought back an old woman's corpse."
Sasori's expression darkened as he stared at Kisame.
Deidara defended himself, "That was an accident—definitely an accident! It's all because of that Kaguya Rorin. If it weren't for him, we would've succeeded already. Hmm!"
Pain shook his head, then looked at Uchiha Itachi and said calmly,
"This time, the mission to capture the One-Tail jinchūriki will be entrusted to you, Itachi and Kisame."
"Yes!" Uchiha Itachi responded.
"As for the Eight-Tail jinchūriki in the Land of Lightning, Kakuzu and Tobi will handle it. Once that's done, we'll move on to the Nine-Tails jinchūriki. The rest of you may act freely for the time being," Pain said slowly.
After receiving their orders, the meeting was dismissed.
...
After the meeting ended, Deidara sulked and complained to Sasori,
"Why didn't you speak up just now?"
Sasori remained silent, quietly gazing at the sky.
...
Land of Rain.
Thinking back to Uchiha Itachi during the meeting, Pain turned to Konan beside him and asked,
"Do you feel that Uchiha Itachi was a bit off?"
Konan pondered for a moment and gently shook her head.
"Nothing seems out of place."
"Is that so? Hopefully I'm just overthinking it," Pain said, flicking his black cloak before walking out of the room.
Konan immediately followed behind him.