407. Congratulations

It was genjutsu!

Once he realized this, the masked mysterious man immediately disrupted the chakra flow within his body to break free from the illusion.

As it turned out, his choice was correct.

After disrupting his chakra, the blood-red moon hanging in the sky vanished.

The scene before him returned to the familiar battlefield.

The only thing that felt out of place was the wire tightly wrapped around his body...

That’s right.

The moment he fell into the genjutsu, Uchiha Itachi, with his exceptional shuriken skills, had used wire to bind him securely.

Now, the masked man was like prey caught in a spider’s web, awaiting nothing but death!

"Wait, hold on!!"

Feeling the threat of death, the mysterious man who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere finally panicked.

But Itachi and Chino, consumed by rage, had no intention of listening to his pleas.

To Itachi, Kabuto was his comrade, the only person he truly acknowledged at the ninja academy!

To Chino, Kabuto was her senior brother, someone who might scold her but was still her beloved elder brother!

Now, with Kabuto dead, they had no interest in explanations or justifications.

The only thing left to do was to kill the enemy!!

With this in mind, a ferocious blood dragon rose from the ground.

Under Chino’s crimson gaze, it devoured the enemy without hesitation!

Once it was over, Chino collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

The crimson in her eyes faded, replaced by tears that streamed down her face.

"Senior brother, you died so tragically..."

"Waaahhh..." Chino’s cries were heart-wrenching.

Her heart was filled with regret and guilt.

If she hadn’t insisted on experiencing the battlefield, her senior brother might not have died.

Thinking of this, her grief deepened, and she cried even louder.

"I’m so sorry, senior brother!"

Hearing Chino’s wails, Itachi’s nose also tingled with emotion.

But soon, he clenched his fists, the crimson in his eyes intensifying as he said coldly,
"Don’t worry, Kabuto. I’ll carry on with your share!"

Just as he finished speaking, a white pigeon suddenly descended from the sky.

To their astonishment, the pigeon opened its mouth, and a familiar voice emerged in an eerily strange manner.

"Kabuto?"
"Senior brother?"

Kabuto, now covered in sticky fluid and looking utterly exhausted, appeared before them.

He wiped the fluid off his face with a look of disgust and said with a grimace,
"I didn’t expect you two to actually..."

Before Kabuto could finish, a small figure slammed into him.

Chino wrapped her arms tightly around Kabuto, sniffling as she said,
"I’m so glad you’re okay, senior brother."

Kabuto instinctively wanted to push her away, but seeing how heartbroken she was, he decided against it.

"Alright, alright, I’m alive and well, aren’t I?"
He comforted her with a hint of helplessness.

When he looked down, he realized the little girl had already fallen asleep.

"She must be exhausted after everything that’s happened," Itachi said, sitting down on the ground.

Although less than a day had passed since they arrived at the military zone, the events had been so intense that it felt like an eternity...

"Also, if I’m not mistaken, Chino awakened her Blood Dragon Eye, right?"

Itachi had heard about the Blood Dragon Eye kekkei genkai from Shisui.

Combined with the genjutsu and blood manipulation Chino had displayed, his sharp mind quickly connected the dots.

"That’s right. Chino is a descendant of the Blood Pool Clan," Kabuto confirmed as he gently picked up Chino.

He wasn’t worried about the consequences of revealing the existence of the Blood Pool Clan.

After all, Konoha was no longer the same Konoha.

They no longer had to fear the Cloud Village using this as an excuse to cause trouble.

If anything, it was the Cloud Village that should be worried now.

After hearing the answer, Itachi nodded slightly and then asked,
"By the way, how did you survive that attack earlier?"

"Was it because of that... pigeon?"
He gestured toward the pigeon pecking at the grass roots, his face full of curiosity.

"Oh, that?" Kabuto replied.

"That’s a new jutsu I developed by combining the Snake Replacement Technique taught by my teacher with Lord Jiraiya's toad-style ninjutsu—Pigeon Replacement Technique."

"Simply put, it involves hiding my real body inside the pigeon’s stomach."

Kabuto didn’t hesitate to share his technique, which was quite risky in the world of ninja, where information was key.

But the fact that he did so showed, in a way, his trust and recognition of Itachi as a friend.

Hearing the explanation, Itachi nodded.

As for how the pigeon’s stomach could fit a full-grown person, that likely involved some space-time ninjutsu...

This discovery gave Itachi a new appreciation for the breadth of Kabuto’s knowledge.

Not only was he skilled in medical ninjutsu and sage techniques, but he also had some understanding of space-time ninjutsu.

It seemed he had been hiding quite a bit of his true abilities...

With this in mind, Itachi posed another question.

"So, this whole fake death act was also your plan?"

He stared intently into Kabuto’s eyes, his gaze as sharp as a holy sword, ready to pierce through any lies.

Faced with such a penetrating look, Kabuto could only smile awkwardly and explain,
"Actually, if you two hadn’t come back, I was planning to use this as a way to escape and return to the village for reinforcements."

"But since you came back, I had to adapt and pretend to be killed, hoping to push you and Chino to achieve breakthroughs you wouldn’t normally reach."

"After all, both of you have immense power hidden within you. If we couldn’t awaken it, we probably wouldn’t have made it out alive."

Kabuto’s smile was tinged with bitterness.

Clearly, he hadn’t wanted to resort to such a risky plan, but it was the only option he could think of in that critical moment.

Hearing this, Itachi took a deep breath, his lips twitching slightly as he said,
"You’re something else..."

The young leader of the Uchiha clan rarely showed such a look of reproach.

But soon, his attention was drawn to a sudden voice.

"Congratulations, you’ve passed the test."