Meanwhile, on the other side.
While Kyo was at the Amegakure's Shinobi Academy,
Itachi sat alone on a large boulder by a river in Amegakure, staring at the water surface ahead.
Only on Sundays,
Did Amegakure have such rare clear weather.
Therefore, as long as he wasn't on a mission, Itachi would often come here.
Just sitting quietly.
No one knew what he was contemplating.
And he himself,
Actually didn't know either.
Perhaps he was simply enjoying this rare moment of peace.
And just at that moment,
Suddenly, a somewhat strange voice came from behind him.
Along with it came the sound of approaching footsteps.
"It seems..."
"From today onwards, we two will be partners, Uchiha Itachi-san."
"..."
As the words faded,
Itachi slightly raised his gaze but did not move.
He had heard this voice before, during the meeting.
It was the newly joined member,
Hoshigaki Kisame.
Therefore, Itachi ignored him.
He wasn't familiar with him.
At this moment, the footsteps behind him drew closer, and the voice continued speaking matter-of-factly:
"It seems we lack a formal introduction between us."
"Well then..."
"I am Hoshigaki Kisame from the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Pleased to meet you, Itachi-san."
"..."
The words faded, and Itachi still did not speak.
His mind stirred slightly.
For some reason, he suddenly recalled that,
Not long ago, he himself had been a newly joined member. Now, unexpectedly, he was considered an old member.
Although Itachi was not a person bound by emotions, calm to the extreme,
That didn't mean he was without feelings.
Situations that stir emotions,
He naturally experienced them as well.
At this moment,
Kisame behind him, seeing that he still did not respond, was not angered either.
Instead, he continued to pace forward, then stopped about a meter behind him, slightly grinning and chuckling lightly:
"Even without an introduction, I know about you, Itachi-san."
"I heard that before you left Konoha, you slaughtered the entire Uchiha Clan, leaving none alive, right...?"
"That's precisely why I agreed to partner with you."
"After all,"
"The feeling of killing one's comrades is truly 'indescribable'."
"Don't you agree... Itachi-san?"
Kisame's lips curled slightly, slowing his speech, staring at Itachi's back as he spoke.
The reason for saying this was, naturally, to pique Itachi's attention.
Sure enough,
Upon hearing these words, Itachi slightly raised his head and spoke blandly.
"You might think you know me well."
"But what about yourself?"
"Wandering and lost in the mist, ultimately ending up here, you are merely someone who cannot even determine their own direction, are you not?"
"Could it be... you are trying to find direction in Akatsuki?"
Having said this, Itachi slowly stood up, then turned back to look at him, speaking with utmost indifference:
"The people here are almost all outcasts from the world, unable to return to their roots. Here, there is no such thing as direction."
As his words faded, Itachi lowered his eyes slightly and prepared to leave directly.
But at that moment,
Kisame suddenly spoke again:
"Hehe... what an interesting argument, Itachi-san."
"You say 'outcasts from the world'?"
"But how is it that I think... Akatsuki's goal is the true direction of the world?"
"..."
As soon as these words were spoken, Itachi's footsteps involuntarily halted.
'Hmm...?'
'Akatsuki is the true direction of the world?'
Itachi slightly lowered his eyes.
He could not agree.
After all, escalated war only brings suffering, nothing more.
However,
Just as he was about to speak again, suddenly, a change occurred nearby.
A plant-like creature, resembling a pitcher plant, suddenly rose from the ground and then spoke to the two in a low, hoarse voice:
"Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame."
"An emergency situation has arisen. You two... have a mission."
"...?"
As the words came out, Itachi and Kisame were both momentarily stunned.
'What's going on?'
'I had only joined that morning, and now in the afternoon, there was already an emergency mission?'
'What a coincidence...?'
Thinking this, Kisame slightly grinned and said with a laugh:
"What perfect timing."
"I actually get the chance to witness the power of the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan."
"Interesting..."
Hearing this,
Itachi remained calm, looked at Zetsu, and said blandly:
"What kind of emergency?"
As his words faded, Zetsu instantly emitted a completely different, strange voice and said:
"It seems some mercenary Shinobi organization from a small country has investigated our Amegakure and the existence of Akatsuki..."
"Leader has decided to send you two to carry out an annihilation strike against these hidden enemies."
"?"
As soon as these words were spoken,
Both their eyes flickered slightly.
However,
Before Kisame beside him could speak, Itachi immediately frowned and asked in surprise:
"Wait, annihilate Akatsuki's enemies?"
"Haven't missions of this type... always been carried out by Kyo-senpai?"
Itachi asked confusedly.
Over this long past period,
All kinds of enemies of Akatsuki had indeed been solely handled by Kyo alone.
And every mission he had executed, without exception, was completed perfectly, undefeated.
That was precisely why Itachi found it strange.
Why was this mission, which sounded like it should have been Kyo's responsibility, suddenly transferred to them...?
However, just as he was pondering this,
Zetsu emitted a low, light chuckle, then said:
"Tsk,"
"Truly keen insight."
"Well... there's no harm in telling you."
"To be honest, Kyo-san currently has another mission and is temporarily unsuitable to carry out this one."
"Therefore, Leader decided to hand it over to you for now."
"Since Kisame is a newcomer, isn't this also a good opportunity to let your new partnership become familiar through this mission?"
"..."
As these words faded, Itachi's mind stirred again.
'Kyo was still in Amegakure, yet he had another mission...?'
'So mysterious?'
Itachi was even more puzzled.
Due to his instinctive suspicion of Kyo, he was, of course, very concerned about this.
However,
Before he could continue questioning, Zetsu dropped a sentence and slipped away.
"Well then, you two prepare to go to the base."
"Leader will explain the detailed mission target location."
The moment the words faded, his body had already sunk completely into the ground, finally disappearing entirely.
Itachi narrowed his eyes slightly, his blood-red gaze flickering.
Kisame, seeing this, couldn't help but shift his expression slightly.
Regarding this mission,
He hadn't cared much about it initially, after all, he had prepared for this kind of thing before coming.
But now, he wondered what was with this expression on Itachi's face.
'Why did he seem so attentive towards that member named "Kyo"?'
Come to think of it,
Before joining Akatsuki, the masked man had indeed given him a dossier on the formal members of Akatsuki.
And in this member data,
The most special one happened to be this person named Kyo.
His file had almost nothing written on it.
It only mentioned that he had a pair of blazing golden eyes called the "True Eye of the King", a powerful Kekkei Genkai Dojutsu with a full range of functions.
Possessing the ability to release seal-less Ninjutsu, as well as special abilities suspected to manipulate gravity and Genjutsu, very mysterious and powerful.
With this power, he once alone intimidated an entire Shinobi Village.
But strangely,
Regarding his past background, it was completely blank.
No country, no Shinobi Village.
Even his first appearance was in the boundless wilderness desert of the Land of Wind.
When he first saw the information,
Kisame had been puzzled, thinking the masked man's information was incomplete or mistaken.
Unexpectedly,
The masked man helplessly said he knew nothing about it either.
Kisame could only let it go.
But he never imagined that at this moment, another strange incident involving that Kyo would arise.
Just as Kisame was pondering this,
Suddenly.
Itachi moved.
His expression returned to normal, and then he stepped forward towards a direction on the left, walking and saying:
"Let's go, Kisame."
Seeing the direction he was heading, Kisame raised his eyes slightly and said:
"Hey hey, you're going the wrong way, Itachi-san?"
"If you're going to Leader's base, you're heading in completely the opposite direction..."
Hearing this,
Itachi did not turn back nor stop walking, simply walking forward and saying blandly:
"Before going to the leader, I'll go find Kyo-senpai first."
"There are some things I need to confirm with him."
"If you don't plan to follow, you can go to the base yourself first."
Having said that,
Ignoring Kisame's reaction, he walked off on his own into the distance.
"...?"
And at this moment, hearing this, Kisame slightly grinned, revealing a strange smile.
'Tsk tsk...'
'Just as I suspected.'
'This Uchiha Itachi certainly has a very peculiar attitude towards that Golden Eye Kyo...'
'Interesting.'
'Then... I'll follow along for now and see.'
'Perhaps this time,'
'I can help Uchiha Madara-sama obtain intelligence on both strange individuals at once...'
Kisame pondered as he followed.