With a long roar, the ink tiger created by Sai pounced forward, grabbing a bandit in its maw and biting through his neck with a sickening crunch.
"What the hell is that?!"
Seeing the living ink beast, the surrounding bandits panicked. They had long heard rumors about the terrifying power of shinobi, but this was the first time they'd witnessed such a deadly jutsu with their own eyes.
When Sasuke saw Sai make his move, he immediately lost interest in toying with the bandits.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
A massive fireball erupted from Sasuke's mouth, engulfing the remaining bandits in front of him in a blazing inferno. The searing flames turned them into blackened husks. The ones who weren't consumed by the fire were quickly slaughtered by Sai's ink tiger. Soon, only the bandit leader—whom Sasuke had kicked into the distance earlier—remained alive.
The leader had crashed into a rock wall and was now shakily rising to his feet, clutching his ribs. After witnessing Sasuke's abilities, his first instinct was to flee.
But there was no chance. With two rapid shunshin steps, Sasuke appeared directly in front of him.
"Please… all you ninja, please spare me!" the bandit leader cried out, dropping to his knees and kowtowing. "I swear, I've never done anything that bad! I only turned to banditry to survive! Just… just pretend you never saw me and let me go!"
Tears streamed down his dirt-streaked face as he pleaded.
"Have you ever done something truly unforgivable?" Sasuke asked, his voice icy cold. "Let your own words reveal the truth."
Beside them, the three tomoe of Itachi's Sharingan slowly swirled into view. As soon as the bandit leader locked eyes with Itachi, his movements ceased, and his expression turned vacant.
Sai, standing nearby, immediately averted his eyes, careful not to meet Itachi's gaze.
Itachi noted his reaction but made no comment.
Under the influence of the Sharingan's Genjutsu, the bandit leader began to speak, his tone flat and mechanical.
"I became a bandit after I gambled away all my family's money. Before I left, I robbed my neighbor's home and killed the entire family so no one could report me."
"I joined a group of thugs based in Xiaotang Mountain. I was ruthless and efficient, so I was promoted by the boss—Black Iron—to squad leader. I led raids on merchant convoys, stole valuables, and killed anyone who resisted."
"We've already ambushed three caravans passing through this area."
"What did you do with the merchants after the robberies?" Itachi asked quietly.
"We killed the men. The women… we imprisoned them in the mountain stronghold for the others to use as they pleased."
A cold gleam flashed in Sasuke's eyes. No matter how many of these kinds of people he killed, it would never be enough to cleanse the filth from the world.
"How many are there in your group? Any shinobi among them?" Itachi asked again.
"There are about one hundred. No shinobi. The boss is just a regular guy."
Once the interrogation was over, the bandit leader suddenly clutched his head, groaning as his neck twisted grotesquely under his own hands. With a sharp snap, he collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
"Dying like that is too merciful," Sasuke muttered coldly.
"They're still holding hostages. The sooner we act, the better their chances of survival. There's no point wasting time on human garbage," Itachi replied.
Having extracted all the information he needed, Itachi deactivated his Sharingan and pulled out the mission scroll's attached map.
"They're holed up in this mountain fortress. You two will carry out the assault and eliminate all the bandits. I'll be stationed at the base to intercept any who try to flee. But if any make it past me, it'll mean your mission failed—and Sasuke, you'll have to return to the Academy and start over."
He looked pointedly at his younger brother. "Also, rescue all the hostages. Every single one. Understood?"
He pointed at a marked location on the map as he addressed both Sai and Sasuke.
Only then did Sai dare to look back. Seeing that Itachi's eyes had returned to normal, he let out a subtle breath of relief.
"Understood!" Sasuke and Sai responded in unison.
They immediately dashed toward Xiaotang Mountain, following the map's route.
But... that was only what Sai thought was happening.
From Itachi and Sasuke's perspective, Sai was running in confused circles with his hands awkwardly behind his back.
Sasuke nearly laughed out loud at the sight but restrained himself. He now had firsthand experience with the terrifying power of high-level Genjutsu.
In reality, Sai had already fallen into a low-level Genjutsu before Itachi had even activated his Sharingan. That subtle illusion had distorted his spatial orientation slightly. When Itachi began his interrogation, Sai believed he had turned away to avoid the Sharingan—but he had, in fact, looked directly into Itachi's eyes, sealing his fate.
He was now fully under Itachi's illusion.
"Leave him here, nii-san. I'll take care of the bandits myself. If he tags along, he'll only get in the way."
Sasuke adjusted the grip on his Zanpakutō—the sword forged through a special fusion of chakra and steel—and spoke calmly to Itachi.
Itachi nodded, then summoned a crow with a puff of chakra smoke.
"Take one of my summoning crows. If anything goes wrong, I can reach you immediately through it."
The crow flapped its wings and perched in a circle above Sasuke's head.
"But if you fail this mission," Itachi added with a smirk, "I will send you back to the Academy."
Sasuke smirked back.
"Not gonna happen."
With that, Sasuke disappeared into the trees, the crow soaring after him.
Itachi stood silently for a moment, observing Sai, who was still aimlessly circling.
He knew Sai was part of Root—Danzo's elite black-ops—and likely embedded with psychological conditioning. But sometimes, he thought, feeding the enemy the wrong information could be more dangerous than revealing the truth...
---
Using Shunshin no Jutsu, Sasuke quickly arrived at Xiaotang Mountain. From a ridge, he saw the bandit hideout: a cluster of crude buildings surrounded by a makeshift wooden fence. Two bandits stood guard at the gate.
"Henge no Jutsu."
Sasuke performed a quick set of seals and transformed into the appearance of the bandit leader he had just seen perish.
Striding confidently toward the entrance, he chose subtlety over brute force—for now, at least. With hostages still inside, he couldn't risk drawing unnecessary attention.
He considered using his Kagami Utsuri (Reflecting Light Technique), but it would impair his mobility. Transformation would be more practical.
"Hey, Boss!" one of the guards called out, lowering his weapon as he spotted Sasuke's disguise.
"Yeah," Sasuke replied, nodding as he walked through the gate without hesitation.
"Where are the others?" the second guard asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We hit a fat caravan. The others are still hauling the loot. I came back ahead—urgent business," Sasuke replied in a gravelly voice.
"Ohh, got it. Off to the holding cells, huh?" the guard said with a crude smirk.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes but forced a nod.
"Something like that."
And with that, he stepped deeper into the enemy's den, his blade hidden beneath the disguise, and his Sharingan ready to ignite at the first sign of danger.