The moment Tobi's words fell,
The entire venue instantly fell into dead silence!
Except for Kyo, almost everyone's pupils contracted, shocked.
They first looked at Itachi's two blood-red Sharingan, confirming his identity, and then immediately found it hard to comprehend.
'Huh...'
'This Uchiha Itachi guy looks only about thirteen or fourteen years old, right?'
'And he personally annihilated his own Uchiha Clan?'
'That's way too ruthless...'
'What kind of reason could drive someone to do such a thing?'
Obviously,
This question wasn't appropriate to ask at the moment.
So, after a moment of silence, the scientist Orochimaru was the first to speak.
A sinister smile appeared on his face as he said:
"Yo... Uchiha Itachi, long time no see."
Hearing this,
Itachi immediately looked over, and the moment he saw this face, he was slightly startled and subconsciously said:
"...Orochimaru?"
As the words fell, Tobi beside him immediately made a gesture of sudden realization and said:
"Eh, that's right!"
"Come to think of it, Itachi-san and Orochimaru-senpai seem to be from the same place, what a nostalgic reunion~"
"..."
However, Orochimaru didn't pay attention to these words, just continued looking at Itachi with a light smile and said:
"Just as I expected,"
"Itachi-kun, you were born to be a person from 'this side'."
Hearing this, Itachi's gaze slightly lifted, and he repeated in surprise: "'This side'?"
"That's right."
Orochimaru sinisterly raised his hand and then explained:
"Able to put aside the village, comrades, and family, viewing them as burdens… this side is the best destination for such Shinobi."
"Welcome to Akatsuki, Uchiha Itachi."
"..."
As the words fell,
No one spoke this time.
Pain then leaped down from the high ground beside him, slowly walking towards Itachi, speaking flatly as he walked.
Once again, he uttered his very famous recruitment line—
"Akatsuki's goal is the 'true peace' of the Shinobi World, for Akatsuki to dominate the world in place of the Five Great Nations."
"To achieve this, we gather outstanding Shinobi, regardless of their background or experiences."
"Using our assembled power to change the Shinobi World!"
"Now then—"
"Itachi of Konoha, welcome to Akatsuki."
As he spoke,
Pain flatly raised his hand and handed over a kunai.
Seeing this, Itachi was slightly startled.
But just a moment later, he immediately reacted.
He silently took the kunai from Pain's hand, then slowly removed the Konoha's forehead protector he had worn for many years.
Looking down at the forehead protector, a complex emotion quickly flashed in Itachi's eyes.
But it was concealed in just an instant.
Then, he raised the kunai and forcefully scratched it across the forehead protector.
The Konoha's emblem was instantly defaced by this horizontal scratch.
This was—
The mark of a Missing-nin.
Itachi slightly lowered his eyes and exhaled imperceptibly.
He knew.
From this moment on, he was no longer a Shinobi of Konoha.
He was about to embrace a brand new identity.
Just then,
Pain also handed the red ring with the character 'Vermilion' to Itachi, saying flatly:
"From today onwards, you are Itachi of Akatsuki."
"Together with us, counterattack Konoha even more fiercely!"
...
'What a ritualistic joining ceremony.'
Kyo watched the entire process with a light smile, increasingly sensing a cult-like aura emanating from Pain.
'It's a pity it was used on the wrong person, though.'
Just then,
A discordant low voice suddenly rang out.
"Hey hey,"
"I've been wanting to say this for a while now—"
"Uchiha Itachi from Konoha, you seem to be carrying... not a light injury on you, right?"
"What's the story?"
The one who spoke was Kakuzu, who had remained silent until now.
At this moment, there was a hint of doubt in his eyes.
As these words fell,
Everyone's gaze once again focused on Itachi.
No one had noticed until it was mentioned.
Now that it was brought up, it did seem true.
From his weak appearance, one could vaguely perceive that he should have suffered some kind of not insignificant injury...
Seeing this, Orochimaru beside him immediately narrowed his eyes and said with a sinister smile:
"Oh? This is really strange..."
"According to my intelligence, the genius Uchiha Itachi never seems to have been this seriously injured before..."
"I can't help but start wondering who exactly could have achieved this?"
"Could it be..."
"This trainee of yours?"
As he spoke, Orochimaru suddenly looked at the masked man.
At this moment,
The masked man immediately put on a very flustered and nervous act, quickly waving his hands to explain:
"Waaah, how could that be?!"
"Orochimaru-senpai, don't misunderstand!"
"I'm just a small trainee in the organization, how could I possibly beat Itachi-san?!"
"Actually, I know—"
"Because, the person who slashed Itachi-san, I've even brought him here!"
"???"
As these words fell, in an instant,
Not only Orochimaru, but all the other members around were also completely stunned.
'Huh???'
'What's going on?!'
'You've actually brought the person who injured Itachi directly here???'
'Where...?!'