Path Of War-Chapter 392: Tell Me!

Itachi moved silently through the trees while following the trail left behind by Kaito. His Sharingan eyes were sharpened as he looked above to see Konan pointing in the direction she last saw the perpetrator.

When Itachi finally arrived at the spot that Konan indicated, there was no sign of Kaito whatsoever.

Itachi’s Sharingan looked carefully by scanning for any clues. But there truly hadn’t been anything present. If Kaito escaped this easily, it meant he was more dangerous than they had thought.

Itachi stayed still for a moment with his senses on high alert.

It wasn’t long before the others emerged from the trees.

"I take it he got away?" Kakuzu asked.

"He did," Itachi said as if unsurprised.

"That was one slippery snake," Hidan joked.

Sasori looked at the empty clearing and then at the others. His mind had already come to terms with the fact that Kaito was the enemy. The betrayal hadn’t hit him that hard, but what did annoy him greatly was that this was his second partner to turn on the Akatsuki.

The first being Orochimaru. Now, with Kaito gone, Sasori felt the sting of disloyalty again.

Konan softly touched down. She looked tired but composed.

The last thing she wanted was for the group’s mood to stay sour.

"Meet back at the village," she calmly said. "We need to regroup and plan our next move."

Without wasting time, the group set off, with each ninja moving quickly through the forest. They reached the Hidden Rain Village in record time and made it back safely into the meeting chamber where Pain was waiting.

The room was both quiet and tense.

"Since he’s not with you," Pain declared, "you failed to capture him..."

Konan responded, "Yes. Sad to say that we lost him."

"Hey," Hidan wondered, "Why didn’t you join us?"

"Quiet!" Kakuzu snapped. "It’s obvious that if we failed to capture one person, it shows we’re not as strong as we thought."

"That’s a bit harsh," Kisame chuckled.

Clearly not everyone had given it their all in that chase. And Pain was in the right state of mind to have believed that Kaito would have been captured by not two but several Akatsuki members.

The mood in the room had quickly become heavy. They had lost another member—another betrayal. Yet that didn’t mean their plans would change.

When Pain saw Itachi looking elsewhere, a strange act of behaviour, Pain spoke up, "Itachi, you seem to have something on your mind."

Itachi looked at him and said, "During our fight, Kaito used a Kekkei Genkai that resembled Arthur Bennett’s."

Zetsu tilted his head to ask, "What kind of Kekkei Genkai?"

"Enhanced visual acuity," Itachi answered. "When Kisame and I first crossed Arthur, he also used a special Kekkei Genkai that allowed him to see things without looking. Kaito demonstrated similar traits."

"He had that all along?!" Hidan scowled.

"You’re too loud," Kakuzu berated.

Konan looked at another member and asked, "Did you know about this, Sasori?"

Sasori’s voice was measured as he answered, "His visual skills were beyond ordinary while we were out on the mission, but he’d never openly used this Kekkei Genkai. Still, the signs are there. I just never bothered to notice."

Now, some of the members wanted to try Sasori for not knowing his partner’s capabilities. Yet the same couldn’t be said for everyone since they only knew half or even less of what their own partners could muster in battle.

Instead of chastising Sasori, their attention immediately returned to Arthur.

"Come to think of it," Kisame added, "Itachi and I lost Arthur in a similar way to how we lost Kaito."

"Who’s to say those two aren’t connected?" Zetsu announced.

Sasori frowned and asked, "Are you suggesting Kaito might have been a Shadow Clone in disguise this whole time?"

"Impossible," Konan answered. "Even if his chakra was great, he wouldn’t have ever been able to keep a Shadow Clone up for so long without any of us noticing."

"A real possibility," Pain added, "was that he was a double agent working for Arthur."

That made everyone stiffen.

Arthur having trained Kaito to act as a double agent that could relay information back and turn on the Akatsuki when the moment called for it? The idea was unsettling but very much believable.

Even Itachi, who was also a double agent, seemed uneasy.

They had let someone into their ranks, someone they thought they could trust would meet their goals. Something like this should have been seen the moment Arthur had recommended Kaito into the organization, only after killing their former member, Deidara, the same day.

"Great," Hidan muttered. "Just what we needed."

"Arthur is more dangerous than we thought," White Zetsu laughed. "If Kaito is working for him, then we’re in bigger trouble."

It’s then that Itachi finally voiced his opinion on a certain matter.

"You mentioned that Arthur revived the Uchiha clan," he said. "I want to see them."

"No," Pain quickly answered. "That’s far too risky. Interacting with them without more information is walking into a trap."

"Besides," Konan added, "we already agreed to eliminate them." Little did Itachi know, Obito had also heard about the Uchiha’s revival and refrained from teleporting into their village. "You understand, right, Itachi? We can’t afford to have you compromised."

"I see..."

The meeting would eventually come to a close as each member prepared for the next phase of their plans to stop Arthur’s influence. They had lost Kaito, but their resolve was stronger, and they were by all means going to wage war.

Once the group dispersed, Itachi lingered for a moment. Out of every Akatsuki member, he had more knowledge of the current event than he wanted to admit. Especially after linking Kaito to Arthur.

Itachi eventually turned away, already planning his next move. Outside, his partner, Kisame, awaited him.

"Looks like things are finally getting interesting," Kisame cackled.

"Indeed," Itachi said in a composed tone.

The two then moved through the quiet corridors of the hideout. Since war was about to commence, they each had their duties given to them by the leaders.

But Itachi also had other plans in mind.

As they approached the exit, he slowed and said, "Kisame... There’s something important I have to do first."

"Oh," Kisame said, raising an eyebrow.

"I’ll catch up with you later..."

Without needing any validation, Itachi turned and headed out, leaving Kisame alone.

"I wonder what’s going on in his head," Kisame said to himself.

As soon as Itachi understood he wasn’t being followed, his expression hardened. Inside, he was troubled and was unable to truly think for himself till now.

The act of how Arthur had managed to revive the Uchiha clan was simply unfathomable. No. To Itachi, it was impossible. No technique, no forbidden jutsu, nothing he knew could do that.

The idea of resurrecting an entire clan, bringing back the dead like they were mere puppets,was beyond anything anyone had ever seen or heard of.

It had to be a trick, perhaps even an elaborate technique like the Reanimation technique, meaning even if they were brought back, they were just walking corpses that could be re-sealed.

But how had Arthur done it? That question haunted Itachi greatly.

The Uchiha clan, after all, was wiped out by his own hand, along with Obito’s.

Itachi refused to accept this as fact. No, he wouldn’t let anyone stand in his way of finding out the truth—not even Obito, who he knew wasn’t Madara Uchiha, thanks to Jada’s foreknowledge.

At the thought of Jada, Itachi understood just what he had to do first. So when he arrived at a secluded area, he reached into his pouch and pulled out an empty scroll. He then unfurled it and performed several hand signs.

"Scroll of communication jutsu..."

As he wrote in black ink, his handwriting was precise and hurried but also controlled.

’Jada, there’s been a drastic event unfolding in a new village. You may not believe this, but trust me when I say members of our clan have been revived and are now walking on the earth. I don’t have much detail, so please don’t take any action until I know more.’

Finished with the message, the words faded into nothingness to signify that it had been sent.

Itachi didn’t wait long before suddenly seeing a ripple in the air. It was Jada who had appeared beside him via the Flying raijin. He remained stoic, though inside, he was already preparing for her questions.

"What do you mean the Uchiha’s been revived?!" she demanded, expecting answers.

Itachi looked around, making sure her voice didn’t go too far out. It would be troubling if someone like Zetsu was eavesdropping. That was the last thing he needed: his relationship with Jada, a member of the Leaf Village, leaking out prematurely.

"I don’t have all the details," he carefully said. "But it’s best you not know."

Jada stomped on the ground and said, "You have to tell me everything. Now, Itachi!"

"I told you," Itachi calmly repeated, "I don’t have all the details. What I do know is that this is beyond anything we’ve faced before."

"After we just took down Orochimaru, too!" Jada said after stomping on the floor again.

"You took down Orochimaru?" Itachi asked in surprise.

She nodded quickly. "Yeah. We thought he was involved with the revivals, so we tracked him down. Jasper fought him, and... well, we got him."

Itachi was already familiar with Jasper since Jada had explained her team’s members to him—powerful ninjas, each with their own skills.

Orochimaru’s death was supposed to be the end of the story, yet now, apparently, he had not been involved with the resurrection. But then something quickly registered in Itachi’s mind: Jada said "revivals" as if more shinobi had been resurrected.

"Who else was revived?" he asked.

"There was..." Her voice trailed. "I don’t want to say too much! Not until you tell me what’s going on first!"

Itachi felt a tad ashamed. He didn’t want to alarm her more than necessary. And if more fallen shinobi had also been revived apart from the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans, then it just proved how much more troubling Arthur was.

If Jada got involved, she’d be in the middle of a war she might not be ready for—so Itachi believed.

"You don’t need to know everything right now," Itachi relayed. "Just trust me. This is bigger than it looks. But I’ll keep you updated as long as you promise me something."

"What is it?"

"Don’t come looking for me with the Flying raijin paper you gave," he said. "I’ll keep it on me for as long as I can, so long as I know you won’t teleport or listen to what the Akatsuki are planning."

"Why are you keeping me in the dark?" she demanded.

"Because," he coolly answered, "I don’t want you risking your life over this."

She pouted at the answer but reluctantly yielded.

"Fine. I promise. Just... don’t expect me not to get involved if we find out who’s behind all of this."

Itachi gave a faint smile that she wasn’t aware that it was Arthur’s doing. Little did he know, Arthur and she had multiple confrontations.

With that, she activated the Flying raijin before disappearing.

Now came a more important task: preparing for war.

From what Pain instructed to Itachi and Kisame, they were to inform the shinobi of the Rain Village that they were to collect all of their weapons and resources for an impending battle against the Light Village.

While the Rain Village was indeed the Akatsuki’s headquarters, many had forgotten that it was still a shinobi village, meaning it housed ninjas who weren’t part of the organization.

These fodder ninja were comprised of spies, mercenaries, and bounty hunters. They were also quite obedient to Pain’s commands.

When Itachi and Kisame would relay this message to them, they would be more than eager for blood. To say the Akatsuki wasn’t always ready for war was a great understatement.

This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶