Sasuke finally agreed.
However, he felt a delicate surgery like an eye transplant should be performed by a true professional.
The Land of Waves was a small, remote region, the local medical ninja likely had questionable skills.
It would be far safer to seek help from Orochimaru or Tsunade.
"Then let's go see the Hokage," Itachi suggested, nodding in agreement.
Given the choice between the snake Sannin and the Hokage, he naturally chose Tsunade.
"Besides, your teammate Uzumaki Naruto has returned to Konoha. If there's any misunderstanding between you two, this would be a good opportunity to clear things up."
"Naruto... that idiot. All those things he did—that was just a ruse to help me awaken my Mangekyō, right?" Sasuke muttered.
He touched his aching Sharingan with one hand while unconsciously rubbing his sore ass with the other.
For a long, uncomfortable moment, Itachi and Kisame—who was still standing outside the window—couldn't tell which "eye" Sasuke was referring to.
"Sasuke, do you want to rest before we leave, or should we set out immediately?" Itachi asked, adjusting his Akatsuki cloak.
"Let's leave right away... Just give me a minute to use the restroom."
Sasuke turned to swing his legs out of bed, but a sudden, sharp soreness flared up from his ass, making his pale face flush.
"Kisame, I'm entrusting things here to you. I'm returning to Konoha with Sasuke." Itachi turned back to his brother, who was now fully dressed and walking with a slight, stiff limp.
He pointed toward a building down the street. "The public restroom is over there. Go ahead."
"Mm-hmm."
Sasuke pushed through the swinging doors of the public restroom and spotted a familiar figure buying a pack of tissues from a vending machine before heading deeper inside.
"Huh?" Sasuke murmured, blinking.
After a second of hesitation, he hurriedly backed out to check the blue sign hanging on the wall.
Confirming it was indeed the men's room, he let out a breath of relief.
Then Sasuke hesitated again.
Should he go back in?
After a brief internal conflict, he decided to proceed.
He couldn't hold it in much longer!
Besides, if it really was a girl, she'd surely notice the row of urinals and leave in a panic, right?
Even if she didn't, girls typically took longer, since they need to untangle all those layers of clothing.
'No time for hesitation.'
Hesitation would only make this awkward!
Sasuke strode back inside, his footsteps brisk and purposeful.
Spotting the graceful figure standing at the porcelain, he immediately called out, "Excuse me, you came to the wrong place. This is—"
"What?"
Drip... drip... drip.
Haku turned his head slightly, looking over his shoulder at Sasuke with genuine confusion.
????
Sasuke stared, frozen like a statue.
He could never have imagined that this beautiful person, whom he remembered so vividly from their mission on the bridge, wasn't actually a girl!
Under Sasuke's intense, traumatized gaze, Haku's pale face flushed crimson.
He quickly averted his eyes, finishing his business in a panicked rush.
He grabbed a tissue, cleaned up, and hurried past the Uchiha without another word.
Snapping out of his daze, Sasuke wordlessly drifted over to the urinal and began relieving himself, his mind blank.
After finally forcing his brain to accept the fact that Haku was a boy, Sasuke composed his expression, reinstated his usual edgy demeanor, and walked toward the exit.
"Ouch!"
A cute little girl with long purple hair collided directly with his legs, tumbling to the tiled floor.
"Are you alright?" Sasuke surprisingly knelt down and helped her up.
Then he suddenly froze, blurting out.
"Wait... this is the men's room. You..."
Sasuke forcefully swallowed the word "girl" before it could slip out.
"I'm so sorry! Ah, I'm in a hurry! Lord Raiga's ship is about to set sail. Excuse me, let me through!" Ranmaru frantically rushed past him and darted toward the urinals.
Sasuke stood frozen in the doorway.
He was intensely curious: could this child who just barged into the men's room actually be a boy as well?
Though Sasuke projected the aura of an aloof untouchable avenger, his inner thoughts were no different from any ordinary teenager's.
Just like Naruto, he used to spend hours wondering what Kakashi looked like beneath that mask, even imagining his sensei with buck teeth and comically thick lips.
That exact same burning curiosity gnawed at him right now!
But Sasuke wouldn't actually turn around to confirm his suspicions.
Staring at Haku earlier had already been a social disaster.
He could at least excuse that by claiming shock. If he walked back in there now to check on a child if they have a dick or not, he'd look like a literal predator.
After washing his hands, Sasuke silently left the building, stepped into the alleyway, and covered his right eye with his hand.
'Mangekyo, Heavenly Fox, activate!' (Bro still want to confirm it lmao!)
It seemed like Sasuke's two Mangekyo abilities were redundant, but that wasn't the case.
Just as different shinobi tools serve different purposes, his visual jutsu had distinct tactical applications.
Take this exact situation, for example.
He needed the Heavenly Fox's invisible clairvoyance.
If he used his Void Sight to print a physical photograph right now, wouldn't he be creating hard incriminating evidence of his own crimes?
"As expected."
Sasuke lowered his hand from his eye, his expression hollow.
He had obtained the terrifying answer he sought!
'...Uh.'
Before Sasuke could even begin to grieve for his shattered worldview, he spotted another familiar face walking down the street.
He remembered seeing her in the Sound Village.
Rumor had it that Orochimaru sent her to the Land of Water to gather specific crystalline materials.
'What was her name again? Guren, right?'
Guren glanced warily at Sasuke, who was now awkwardly standing near the women's restroom door.
She immediately went on high alert.
'Could Sasuke be like Kakashi? Cool and edgy on the surface, but a massive degenerate deep down?' she wondered, narrowing her eyes.
'Is he seriously squatting here to peep at the women's room? That's far too creepy!'
'Why doesn't he just follow Jiraiya's example and sneak into the hot springs instead?'
Guren shook off her disgust and marched into the women's restroom.
Sasuke exhaled a long sigh of relief.
Finally, An actual, normal woman. If another gender-bending dude showed up, he felt his fragile psyche might snap!
"Guren-neechan, lend me a coin! I need to buy tissues," a soft, feminine voice called out from the doorway.
"Here."
Guren tossed a coin back out.
The "girl" with long greenish hair caught it, smiled brightly, and darted straight into the men's restroom right behind Sasuke.
Sasuke: "..."
Refusing to accept this escalating absurdity, he covered his right eye and activated the Heavenly Fox jutsu a second time.
...
Despair.
Sasuke was psychologically scarred!
From now on, if any girl appeared before him, as long as she was wearing pants, he'd refuse to believe she was actually female.
'Hmm? Wait a minute.'
Sasuke suddenly remembered the only female member of Team Seven!
'Is Sakura.... actually a girl?'
Sasuke began to seriously doubt reality itself.
Sakura's personality was so aggressive and physically dominant that some of the boys in the academy secretly called her "Saku-bro."
'Could it be that someone had discovered the secret about her gender?'
Sasuke shivered violently.
This world is far too dangerous!
No wonder that lazy Nara genius always said his dream was to marry a woman who was neither beautiful nor ugly.
The real genius of that statement wasn't about her looks, the operative word was woman!
You had to lower your standards just to ensure you were actually marrying a female!
'So this is what the true Shinobi World is like? An endless battlefield of deception.'
'No wonder so many legendary, powerful ninjas like the Second Hokage chose to live and die in strict solitude.'
"Um. You're Itachi's partner, right?"
Sasuke slowly approached the towering swordsman outside the inn.
"Yeah," Kisame replied, resting Samehada on his shoulder.
"Do you... like women?"
"?"
Genuine confusion flickered in Kisame's eyes.
'Could it be?' Kisame thought.
'Has Itachi's little brother finally realized his own orientation after his traumatizing encounter with the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki?'
'Is he planning to confess to the blonde boy, but fears societal judgment, and is now seeking out other men like me for guidance?'
'Why else would he ask me such a deeply personal question out of the blue?'
---
Damn Sasuke if that's happen to me, i'll be confused too!
On another note Madara suffering will began in 30 chapter from now!