Evil Uchiha Itsuki

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The sound of footsteps echoed.

In the Hidden Rain Village, inside the hall where the Ten-Tails' husk was kept, the members of the Akatsuki had gathered once again.

Pain opened his eyes, his Rinnegan gazing at the group. Only after everyone lowered their heads did he calmly speak, "Everyone, the plan has now reached its second half."

"The capture of the One-Tail has been completed."

"The Two-Tails… Itsuki has sent over a massive amount of chakra, enough to substitute for the beast."

"The Three-Tails, captured."

"The Four-Tails… we'll start sealing it soon."

"The Seven-Tails… we'll begin sealing it shortly as well."

"We now have five of the nine Tailed Beasts in our possession."

Itsuki smiled at the side, "It won't be long before I bring you the Nine-Tails as well."

After all, it was only half of the Nine-Tails—no big deal.

Just like with Gaara, he could send the body of the Nine-Tails here while leaving its chakra inside Naruto to protect him. If necessary, he could even go after the half of the Nine-Tails sealed inside Minato.

Itsuki was curious.

He had weakened Kaguya's power, led Sasuke astray so he wouldn't awaken the Mangekyo, and split the Nine-Tails inside Naruto. Everything was completely different from the original story.

Where would things head from here?

Pain formed a hand seal.

"Poof!"

Two figures appeared before everyone.

It was none other than the Jinchuriki of the Four-Tails and the Seven-Tails.

Even now, Roshi of the Four-Tails had a defiant look, glaring fiercely at the Akatsuki members. Fū, the Jinchuriki of the Seven-Tails, looked around with wide, confused eyes, seemingly not fully understanding what was happening.

Looking at the "poor" girl, Itsuki sighed helplessly.

She wasn't bad-looking, and there was a certain exotic charm to her.

But, alas! She was too poor.

Itsuki wanted to help but didn't know where to start.

Pain shot him a glance, as if guessing what he was thinking, and said irritably, "Let's begin."

"Alright!" Deidara frowned. "We're sealing two Tailed Beasts at once?"

"Mm-hmm." Pain looked over at Itsuki, "This guy wasn't around before, but now that he's here, he can join in."

"Oh, I see." Deidara chuckled.

During the sealing process, the real body couldn't move and had to continuously release chakra. It usually took at least two to three days to seal just one Tailed Beast, and the experience was unpleasant.

Itsuki rolled his eyes, unfazed.

If worse came to worst, he could just teleport away with Flying Raijin and leave a clone behind.

Sealing a Tailed Beast? A clone was enough for that.

"Let's get started!"

"Boom!!!"

Everyone released their power, using the rings as the medium to begin sealing the Tailed Beasts.

"Ahh!"

Roshi of the Four-Tails and Fū of the Seven-Tails couldn't help but scream in agony as the process began.

Itsuki understood.

The Tailed Beasts had merged with their bodies to a certain degree. Pulling them out was like forcibly removing a part of their bodies—pain was inevitable.

With that in mind, Itsuki snapped his fingers.

"Snap!"

With that soft sound, Fū immediately fainted.

Pain glanced at him but said nothing.

Itsuki shrugged, "You guys have no sense of compassion. How could you let such a small girl suffer? It's better if she just passes out."

"Little girl?" Hidan's annoyed voice chimed in, "Uchiha, you talk a big game, but this 'little girl' caused me and Kakuzu no small amount of trouble. Kakuzu almost got killed by her."

Kakuzu frowned, "Shut up, Hidan!"

"Is that so?" Itsuki glanced over casually. "I wouldn't know. The One-Tail, Two-Tails, Three-Tails, even the Eight-Tails... I had no trouble dealing with them. Piece of cake."

Hidan: "..."

Akatsuki members: "..."

What a showoff!

They wanted to punch him.

Chakra continued to flow, and the Tailed Beasts were slowly being extracted from their Jinchuriki.

Meanwhile, the Akatsuki members had to remain vigilant.

None of them were short on enemies. If they got distracted during the sealing and someone killed their real body, that would be a disaster.

Only Hidan seemed unbothered, even mocking the others.

Itsuki glanced at him and said casually, "If I were your enemy, I'd dismember you, bury each piece hundreds of kilometers apart, and I'd love to see if you still wouldn't die. Oh, and if you really didn't die, that'd be even better."

Hidan was momentarily speechless, glaring at Itsuki with fury.

Itsuki merely shrugged again, unconcerned.

Meanwhile, on the husk of the Ten-Tails, two eyes were slowly beginning to open.

Itsuki thought for a moment, then formed another seal while continuing the process of sealing the Tailed Beasts.

"Uchiha Itsuki!" Pain's cold voice rang out. "Stop doing unnecessary things."

"I just think Takigakure is interesting." Itsuki smiled. "I recall they have a special resource there, something called the Hero Water. I should visit someday."

"Have you ever wondered, Pain, what would happen if you got your hands on the Hero Water?"

"Hero Water? What's that?" Several Akatsuki members looked confused.

"Never heard of it."

"Well, you can ask Kakuzu about it," Itsuki said, turning to him. "All I know is that it seems to boost chakra."

Kakuzu was silent for a moment before speaking slowly, "Indeed, Takigakure has Hero Water, a sacred liquid drawn once every hundred years from beneath the village's giant tree."

"Drinking Hero Water increases chakra tenfold."

"Holy crap!" Deidara couldn't help but curse.

Several other Akatsuki members looked intrigued as well.

Seeing this, Kakuzu smirked, "But Hero Water has a price. It consumes the user's life force in exchange for the chakra boost."

"That's why it was sealed away, guarded by the leaders of Takigakure."

That was why Kakuzu hadn't bothered with it when he had stolen the Earth Grudge Fear technique long ago.

For ordinary people, it would shorten their lifespan. For an immortal like him? Who knew what other consequences it might have.

Sasori let out a cold chuckle, "So-called power is just a momentary bloom."

"Life force?" Deidara shrugged, "I knew there was a catch."

"Obviously!" Itsuki laughed. "If it were that easy, Takigakure would have conquered the ninja world ages ago. What's Hashirama or Madara? They'd have been knocked out of the picture."

Zetsu couldn't help but glance at Itsuki.

"What are you looking at? Just because you're black and white doesn't mean I'm afraid to hit you. You might look like crap, but you're not actually crap," Itsuki quipped.

Zetsu's eye twitched.

So arrogant!

Too arrogant!

Once Madara was revived, this guy would get what was coming to him. No, he'd beat him every day!

"Enough. Let's finish the sealing," Pain said, glancing coldly at Zetsu.

The masked man and Zetsu were clearly working together.

The masked man hadn't shown up lately, definitely planning something. And Zetsu would be the key to breaking through.

Pain was already considering making a move.

More chakra poured out.

Itsuki only now realized that the sealing process wasn't just trapping the chakra and Tailed Beasts. It was also transferring them into the Ten-Tails' body.

No wonder the Ten-Tails was so strong the moment it revived.

Not only did it have all nine Tailed Beasts, but it was also absorbing their power during the sealing process.

It had double the strength of the nine Tailed Beasts.

This made Itsuki frown deeply.

"This is bad!"

"Really bad!"

"The Ten-Tails can't be allowed to get too powerful!"

And so…

Itsuki slowly opened his eyes.

"Huh?"

The Akatsuki members froze.

They realized that Itsuki had stopped releasing chakra, yet the sealing process hadn't slowed down at all. In fact, it had sped up.

The sealing was proceeding more smoothly.

What was going on?

Everyone turned to Itsuki.

His eyes had already transformed into the Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Genjutsu?"

Pain was the first to react, frowning, "Uchiha Itsuki, what are you doing?"

"Nothing much!"

Itsuki casually replied, "Aren't we sealing the tailed beasts? I can do it this way too. It's easier for everyone, right?"

That was true!

Pain frowned but said no more.

Normally, when sealing, they used their chakra to forcibly drag the tailed beasts and seal them into the Ten-Tails' vessel.

Itsuki, however, chose to use genjutsu to confuse the tailed beasts, making them enter the Ten-Tails' vessel on their own.

It wasn't that they hadn't thought of this method before.

But the conditions for using genjutsu were too high.

At that moment, there was too much chakra in the area, and it was all unstable, wildly thrashing and colliding!

In this situation, genjutsu wouldn't work at all.

Even if it did succeed, the tailed beast would soon snap out of it due to the clash of chakras.

The reason Itsuki still used genjutsu was that he kept casting it repeatedly.

The tailed beasts, under the influence of genjutsu, voluntarily entered the Ten-Tails' vessel. During this process, they were bound to wake up.

Once they woke up, Itsuki would cast the genjutsu again.

You wake up once, and I'll pull you into the genjutsu again.

Even if you're only under the genjutsu for a few breaths.

Meanwhile, the other members of the Akatsuki were using less chakra but were mentally more exhausted.

Because the tailed beasts would be under genjutsu one moment, cooperating with the sealing, then break free and struggle violently the next.

They had to be careful.

One mistake, and the tailed beast might escape the seal.

Overall, it wasn't all good or bad.

The Akatsuki members, seeing how powerful Itsuki was, didn't say much.

Pain was the same.

As long as he got results, he didn't care about the process.

Itsuki, on the other hand, was quite pleased.

He realized that by doing this, not only was he saving his own chakra, but he was also helping others save some as well.

After sealing the Four-Tails, the Ten-Tails should have gained the power of two Four-Tails.

But!

Thanks to Itsuki's interference, it only amounted to about one and a half.

Good, good!

He'd weakened the Ten-Tails' power a bit more.

Of course, it was limited!

Because the chakra they sealed into the Ten-Tails was consumable.

Once the Ten-Tails was revived, it would likely use it right away.

Additionally, there was an unexpected bonus.

Some of Itsuki's genjutsu was sealed inside the Ten-Tails' body.

He wasn't sure if it would be useful in the future.

Considering the massive size of the Ten-Tails and its enormous chakra, it was likely to be useless.

"Doing something pointless!"

Itsuki yawned, but he was still quite interested in continuing.

He noticed someone's expression had changed.

Zetsu, watching Itsuki's actions, was twitching with unease in his eyes.

This bastard, what has he done now?

Turning chakra into genjutsu was unsettling.

Couldn't he just behave?

No way!

Obito couldn't hesitate anymore.

If he waited any longer, who knows what this bastard might do next?

Even with a Mangekyō Sharingan, using genjutsu continuously like this wasn't easy.

Zetsu couldn't hold it in anymore.

Uchiha Itsuki, this little... bastard, was torturing them.

Especially when...

Look!

That bastard even winked at them.

Provocation!

This was blatant provocation!

Zetsu gritted his teeth in secret.

Who knows how much time had passed...

"Seal!"

With a loud shout, the two tailed beasts were both sealed inside the Ten-Tails' vessel.

The Ten-Tails fully opened its cold eyes, filled with the beast's cruel indifference, showing no emotion.

Itsuki looked up, silently observing.

The Ten-Tails!

The Ten-Tails' vessel!

Ōtsutsuki!

Kaguya!

...

"Magnificent, isn't it?"

All the other members of the Akatsuki had left.

Even Zetsu had burrowed underground.

At that moment, Pain approached Itsuki, standing beside him, silently watching the Ten-Tails' vessel.

"It's like a wild beast! No emotions, just pure animal instinct!"

Itsuki bluntly commented.

"Easier to control!"

"Hmph!"

Itsuki chuckled softly, "Some of the Akatsuki members have pinned their hopes on it. Tell me, Nagato, are you one of them?"

Without waiting for a response, Itsuki turned and left.

As he departed, he took Fū with him.

The former Jinchūriki of the Seven-Tails.

Pain watched his back, sneering, muttering to himself, "The savior? No, I'm the savior. Everyone else is just a tool."

"Itsuki!"

Outside, Konan was already waiting.

When she saw Fū in Itsuki's hands, a strange expression appeared on her delicate face.

"What are you thinking about?"

Itsuki grumbled, "This little girl seems pitiful. From now on, she's your responsibility. Consider her your student."

Every Jinchūriki had exceptional potential.

They all had the ability to become Kage.

Even Naruto wasn't an exception.

In the original story, his achievements weren't just due to luck.

In reality, how could the child of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki lack talent?

Fū definitely had what it took to be Konan's disciple.

Whether she would accept or not...

"She's not dead?"

Konan checked on Fū, surprised. "When the tailed beast is extracted from a Jinchūriki, don't they die?"

"I left some of the Seven-Tails' chakra in her, along with a seal."

Itsuki explained, "The chakra will protect her life. From now on, she's just an ordinary ninja."

At the same time, the Ten-Tails would permanently be missing a portion of the Seven-Tails' chakra!

Thinking about it, the Ten-Tails had it rough.

Every tailed beast had been 'sheared' by Itsuki. The One-Tail, Seven-Tails, and Nine-Tails all had some of their chakra drained.

The Two-Tails had it even worse—Itsuki took a portion of its chakra, and its body as well.

It couldn't even revive properly.

(End of chapter)