Chapter 50: Itachi Uchiha's Verbal Dagger
Boom!
Behind a Kumogakure Chunin, the pangolin erupted from the earth. Distracted mid-sign, the ninja could only watch as the creature's claws tore through his chest.
The remaining enemies were struck with terror, cold sweat drenching their backs.
Swoosh!
Another ninja was pierced through the chest by a kunai.
By the time the rest reacted and retreated, their eyes locked onto a single spot. A figure emerged slowly, dragging a fresh corpse, followed closely by the clay pangolin.
"Lord Kawasuke!" The Cloud ninjas gasped in horror at the body in Tonbo's hand.
Kawasuke, a man who had performed countless feats for Kumogakure, had been reduced to a corpse. The will to fight evaporated instantly, replaced by a desperate urge to flee.
Seeing Tonbo, Itachi and Anko finally let out sighs of relief.
Taking advantage of the moment the Cloud ninjas focused their gaze, Tonbo wove his signs.
"Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!"
Rustle!
Massive trees sprouted behind the four remaining survivors, their branches coiling tightly around their limbs. Terror flooded their faces.
This illusion allowed the victims to maintain their sanity; they knew perfectly well they were trapped in a Genjutsu. However, given Tonbo's current mastery and the fact that they were exhausted from battle, they found it impossible to break.
"Dammit... not enough chakra to trigger the Lightning Body Surge..." The four struggled violently, trying to use brute strength to snap the illusory bonds.
Tonbo shook his head. The essence of this illusion was that the victim's own mind bound their body. Without a proper dispel, even a taijutsu master like Guy couldn't break free through raw strength alone.
He scanned the nearby battlefield—the environment was ravaged by shuriken, kunai, and ninjutsu. Instinctively, he used his knowledge of mathematics and geography to reconstruct the flow of the fight in his mind. Then, he looked at his two teammates and grinned.
"Yo, not bad. You two didn't just take down enemies, you held out until now. Truly worthy of being my teammates."
With the danger passed, Itachi and Anko finally sat on the ground to rest. Hearing Tonbo's comment, Anko rolled her eyes. "Save the sarcasm. If you were any later, we'd be finished."
Huff! Huff! She was utterly spent.
Itachi looked at Tonbo, then at the four paralyzed enemies. Konoha's traditional Genjutsu, the Binding Death? he analyzed.
His respect for Tonbo rose another level. He doesn't just have his own Will of Fire; he's already putting it into action.
Itachi recalled Tonbo's words: that if one possessed the power of the First Hokage or Great-Grandfather Uchiha, they could protect both village and family. Tonbo possesses his current strength because he upholds that Will of Fire, right? Can I do the same?
Itachi inwardly shook his head. Even the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha had to negotiate with other nations. Where was this "absolute strength" to protect everything? Didn't they both die in battle?
Neither the legends of Konoha nor the Uchiha records mentioned the two founders dying of old age. That meant they died in combat. This realization hardened Itachi's resolve. He felt more in tune with what Shisui had said: only the determination to sacrifice everything could buy peace for Konoha. Having seen the battlefield at such a young age, he knew how fragile peace was.
Tonbo, unaware of the boy's dark thoughts, approached the four terrified enemies. After weaving a sign, he placed his right hand over the temple of the first one—the area densest with nerves and closest to the brain.
Illusion.
Space-time tunnel.
The long-awaited Mind Reading images appeared. He moved through the ninja's life as both an observer and a first-person participant. After sifting through the noise, he finally found the core: the enemy's mission.
"Stop! What are you doing to him?" a nearby Cloud ninja screamed.
"Dammit, Konoha bastard! Captain Saimatsu will kill you!"
"If you're a man, give us a quick death!"
"You son of a... just kill me already!"
The other three realized something was wrong and tried to provoke Tonbo into killing them.
"Don't be in such a hurry. It's almost your turn," Tonbo smiled thinly and began reading the second person. Cheap taunts think they can shake my iron will?
As for their "Captain Saimatsu," Tonbo had already sensed that Hayama had slain him and was on his way here.
One, two, three, four.
No matter how they struggled, their memories were stripped away by Tonbo. He even took the time to read the head of the Jonin corpse at his feet.
Anko, watching him touch the heads of the enemies one by one from her spot on the ground, muttered, "Does he have some weird fetish? He likes touching people's heads?"
Itachi replied, " Anko-nee-san, Tonbo-nii-san is likely using a Mind Reading technique to extract enemy intelligence. He mentioned it during his introduction, remember?"
Anko felt a surge of joy hearing Itachi call her "sister." But the following words made her flush with embarrassment. Making a mistake regarding teammate intel was indeed a blunder. Her face grew redder the more she thought about it.
So embarrassing... To have her mistake pointed out by an eight-year-old was mortifying. It's Tonbo's fault! His introduction wasn't memorable enough! Yeah, that's it—it's all his fault.
Itachi watched her face cycle through various emotions and thought to himself: Female ninjas are terrifying. I can't grasp even a hint of her current thoughts. He had thought his study of psychology was well-applied, yet he couldn't see through this "older sister" at all.
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!
Tonbo killed the four ninjas with his kunai. He then piled all the enemy corpses together and pulled a scroll from his waist pouch. He spread it on the ground, performed a set of signs, and pressed his palm onto the blank space. Runes surged from the scroll, wrapping around the bodies. One by one, they transformed into bands of light and were sealed into the center of the scroll, where the kanji for "Corpse" appeared.
"Hey, why are you collecting the bodies too?" Anko asked, confused.
Itachi looked even more puzzled. " Anko-nee-san, corpses are a vital source of intelligence. Whether it's to find ways to counter enemy ninjutsu, read their memories, or perform other experiments... I remember this was covered in the second-year Intelligence course at the Academy. The Corpse Processing Team of the Medical Department was established specifically for this."
Red.
Bright red.
Steam was practically rising from Anko's head.
Every word Itachi said made her more ashamed. She was a Chunin, yet she kept forgetting basic common sense...
"That's right, Anko. Weren't you a student of Lord Orochimaru? I heard he defected precisely for his experiments; he should have taught you various ways to handle corpses," Tonbo added with a smirk, twisting the knife.
"You bastard! I only forgot because Orochimaru sealed my memories! That's right, that's why! Why are you acting so superior? Who do you think you are? Acting like you're the Captain..."
Rant, rant, rant. Having found an outlet for her frustration, Anko didn't scream at the eight-year-old Itachi. Instead, she unleashed a torrent of rage at Tonbo, her animated gestures suggesting she had a lot more "feedback" to give.
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