I, Naruto Uzumaki, don't need your approval.

Itachi wanted to know a lot, such as who the leader of Uzushio Village was, why Shisui and the others joined Uzushio Village, and why Jiraiya voluntarily left Uzushio Village, among other questions.

Orochimaru didn't keep them in suspense any longer, and said in a sinister tone, "According to my investigation, the leader of Uzushio Village comes from Konoha, and is very likely a Konoha ninja. Konoha plans to turn Uzushio Country into an outpost for gathering surrounding forces."

"That's impossible! Your source of information is definitely questionable, or you might be lying to me."

Itachi frowned, staring intently at Orochimaru.

Uzushio Village couldn't possibly be an outpost of Konoha, and Uzumaki Menma couldn't possibly be a Konoha ninja. If that were the case, the village could have wiped out the Uchiha clan without deliberately letting some of them escape.

Chapter 143 Orochimaru's Choice

"My information comes from Konoha. If you don't trust me, you can go to Uzushio Village to investigate yourself. But whether the leader of Uzushio Village and the Uchiha clan will allow you to investigate is another matter."

Orochimaru ignored Itachi's gaze and looked at the latter with amusement, like a viper eyeing its prey.

As one of the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru was a master of the art of lying. He needed to provide enough truthful information to convince his enemies of his words.

For example, the fact that Uzushio Village was an outpost of Konoha was a guess he made after careful consideration.

After all, if Uzushio Village were truly an enemy of Konoha, Jiraiya and the Third Hokage would not have stood idly by, and Konoha would not have remained inactive. Even his old friend was deeply wary of this matter.

Seeing Orochimaru's confident assertion, Itachi began to doubt the veracity of the information, but he couldn't completely trust Orochimaru.

At this moment, Itachi seemed to remember something and asked Orochimaru, "Your information source is Konoha? This level of information is probably beyond the reach of ordinary people."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and said in a sinister tone, "Inquiring about the source of information is not within the scope of our transaction. We are all rogue ninjas, so we should all understand the importance of spies. You also left ninjas in the village."

When did I leave behind the ninjas?

Itachi was slightly taken aback, then thought of Sasuke, and his expression turned ugly. Orochimaru was using Sasuke to threaten him.

"You mean Sasuke, that good-for-nothing? He's not a spy left in the village. If he weren't so useless and posed no threat, I would have killed him that night."

Orochimaru didn't expose Itachi. He had no interest in the young Uchiha and simply shook his head and chuckled, "Itachi-kun, is there anything else you want to know? We can still make quite a few deals, such as working together to deal with the Uchiha of Uzushio Village."

"This is an internal matter of the Uchiha clan. I advise you not to meddle in other people's business."

Hearing this, Itachi frowned, then remembered something and said, "By the way, if you're planning to attack me, you'd better do it now, Kisame is far enough away."

"Itachi-kun really knows me well. How about we cooperate? Let me study the Kaleidoscope for a few days..."

Before he finished speaking, Orochimaru formed hand seals and set up the pre-prepared jutsu. The originally hard ground instantly transformed into countless venomous snakes, flicking their tongues and baring their fangs at the weasel.

Itachi stood motionless, letting the venomous snake slither into his body, and calmly watched Orochimaru.

Seeing that he had succeeded in his attack, Orochimaru slowly walked towards Itachi, chuckling as he said, "Itachi-kun, where are your genjutsu and fire release techniques? I thought we were going to have a fierce battle. Are you waiting for reinforcements?"

Itachi remained silent, continuing to gaze at Orochimaru with an eerily calm expression.

At this moment, Orochimaru realized something was wrong and immediately ordered the venomous snakes to attack. However, no matter how the snakes gnawed at it, Itachi's expression did not change at all. Only a fire appeared in the distant sky.

It's the middle of the night now; the sun couldn't possibly rise so quickly.

Orochimaru looked at Itachi with a serious expression and slowly asked, "When did you activate the genjutsu? Why didn't I sense the chakra intrusion just now?"

Itachi said expressionlessly, "From the very first moment we met, you were under a genjutsu."

Orochimaru nodded in sudden realization: "I see. However, my Manda Formation is set to activate at a specific time. I imagine you must be in a lot of trouble right now, being outside."

Before he finished speaking, Orochimaru broke free from the genjutsu's control, the burning flames and the summoning beasts interfering with the genjutsu's operation.

However, forcibly breaking free from the illusion did not come without a price. Most of Orochimaru's body was burned, and his body was riddled with holes, suffering fatal injuries in many places.

Too many of the venomous snakes within the Ten Thousand Snake Formation were burned to death by fire-escape techniques, and the air was filled with the smell of burning.

Seeing this, Orochimaru sighed helplessly: "I never thought that you, who were just a little kid a few years ago, would have power comparable to the Five Kage. The Uchiha bloodline is truly enviable."

Itachi stood on the treetop, looking down at Orochimaru, and said calmly, "Stop talking nonsense, use whatever other tricks you have up your sleeve."

Orochimaru didn't waste any words. He slammed his palm on the ground and summoned Manda.

The moment the massive Manda appeared, it alerted Itachi, but Orochimaru chose to flee, his body transforming into a black shadow as he disappeared into the distance.

Itachi frowned, and Amaterasu's flames ignited on Orochimaru's body, quickly engulfing him completely.

After losing its psychic, Manda also vanished in a puff of smoke.

Continuing his pursuit of Orochimaru, Itachi soon stopped. A charred corpse lay on the ground ahead, and fragments of the Fire Cloud Robe seemed to confirm that it was Orochimaru's body.

At this moment, Kisame, who had arrived, also discovered the corpse and said with some emotion, "I never thought that Orochimaru, who dominated the ninja world, would die in this nameless place. I didn't even have a chance to exchange a few blows with him."

Uchiha Itachi shook his head slightly: "Orochimaru is not so easy to kill. He must have escaped in some way."

Kisame looked surprised, then said, "I see. But being able to repel Orochimaru means your strength surpasses Orochimaru's; otherwise, he wouldn't have retreated on his own."

"However, Orochimaru has suffered a great loss this time. Not only was he injured by you, but he also violated the organization's rules. From now on, he will have no place in either the Five Great Ninja Villages or Akatsuki."

Upon hearing this, Itachi Uchiha frowned, feeling that Orochimaru's actions this time were rather strange.

After all, his genjutsu is very strong, but Orochimaru's genjutsu skills are also quite high. He once used genjutsu to force the former Eight-Tails Jinchuriki to go berserk, so it is impossible for him to be easily controlled by genjutsu.

Furthermore, after breaking free from the illusion's control, Orochimaru should have focused all his efforts on defeating him instead of choosing to run away.

Orochimaru's actions suggest that he had long planned to leave the Akatsuki organization, but he deliberately met with me before leaving to see if he could steal my Mangekyou Sharingan.

But if these speculations are true, then wouldn't the information Orochimaru just revealed also be...?

Thinking about this, Itachi felt his head was in a mess, unable to sort out any specific thoughts, and even thought of Danzo, the man who led him into darkness and taught him by example.

It was clearly Danzo who provided Orochimaru with the information, after all, Orochimaru was once a high-ranking member of Root.

Even after his defection, he still maintained close ties with Danzo. For example, he and the Third Hokage had secretly reached an agreement where he would provide information about the Akatsuki organization in exchange for the Third Hokage's guarantee of Sasuke's safety.

……

Hundreds of kilometers away.

After fleeing for several hours, Orochimaru emerged from a narrow crevice in the rocks.

The charred flesh has regrowed with tender white skin, leaving only tattered clothes as proof of a major battle.

Orochimaru looked down at his own body and began to mutter to himself.

"The number of cell divisions has decreased by five. It seems that the lifespan of this body is not long. It's time to consider transplanting a new body. Who should we transplant this time? Kimimaro or another backup body?"

"Kimimaro is a good choice, but the bloodline disease cannot be resolved for the time being..."

"It seems the only option is to transplant another spare body. It's a real shame we couldn't subdue Itachi Uchiha. But after attacking Itachi, we can't stay in the Akatsuki. Where should we go?"

After much thought, Orochimaru came up with two solutions.

One option is to choose one of the many small countries in the ninja world to establish a ninja village. The other option is to join other major ninja villages besides Konoha and Kumogakure, exchanging information for a place to stay. The newly created Uzushiogakure is also a good choice.

After a moment's thought, Orochimaru decided to have both: to establish a new ninja village and to join other forces.

However, Orochimaru is once again struggling with choices when it comes to joining other factions. It is clearly unrealistic for him to want them all this time.

Chapter 144 Nagato and the Land of Rain

At the Akatsuki organization meeting a few days later.

Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki organization, announced two things: first, Itachi and Kisame's mission had failed; and second, Orochimaru had attacked Itachi and had now defected from the organization.

The former hasn't attracted much attention yet; it's just a poor, small country.

However, the news of Orochimaru's defection still caught the attention of the Akatsuki members, and they began to discuss it.

Orochimaru was, after all, one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha, and the target of his attack was Itachi Uchiha, who was also a Konoha rogue ninja. It's hard not to speculate that Orochimaru was after Itachi's Sharingan.

At this moment, the newcomer, Tobi, raised his hand and spoke up: "First, the investigation into Kirigakure failed, and now we've been attacked by Orochimaru. The organization's recent failures all seem to be related to Itachi. It's really strange..."

Upon hearing this, Itachi and Kisame glanced at Obito, who quickly shrank back, saying, "I was wrong, seniors. I didn't mean to tease you, but it really is very strange."

Ignoring Obito's superb acting, Pain slowly said, "Orochimaru betrayed the organization and deserves to be punished. Is there anyone willing to kill Orochimaru and uphold Akatsuki's rules?"

Sasori stepped forward and said, "Leave Orochimaru to me. I have a grudge against him that I haven't settled yet."

Pain glanced at the members present, his expression becoming somewhat solemn. It wasn't because not many people were willing to hunt down Orochimaru, but because the organization had far too few members.

Especially after Orochimaru's defection, the organization couldn't even muster five squads, so how were they going to collect the tailed beasts in the future?

After the Akatsuki organization meeting concluded.

Obito found Pain and Konan, and under their gaze, he mentioned the problem of insufficient organization members. As the executor of the Eye of the Moon Project, he was actually more concerned about Akatsuki's progress in collecting the Tailed Beasts than the two of them.

With the current strength of Akatsuki, they can manage to deal with one ninja village if they concentrate their forces, but they will be powerless against any more than one.

After a brief discussion, the three decided to keep an eye out for recent defections from the five great ninja villages and see if they could find new rogue ninjas to fill the vacancies in Akatsuki.

After Obito left, Pain and Konan exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with disgust for Obito.

Obito's recent actions have all failed. Not only did he manipulate Gato to provoke Uzushio Village, but his actions against Uzushio Village also failed, causing Akatsuki to provoke this major enemy for no reason.

After a moment of contemplation, Konan asked Pain, "Nagato, what should we do next?"

After arranging his words, Pain said, "Go and find some rogue ninja with the masked man to fill the vacancies in the Akatsuki. I'll take this time to go out and hunt down Orochimaru."

"Nagato, are you going to split up with me?"

"What's wrong? Are you worried about the village's safety? Don't worry, outside ninjas don't dare to set foot in Amegakure easily. This is the territory of a 'demigod'. You won't be in any trouble if you leave for a while."

Xiao Nan shook her head and stared at Payne, saying, "I'm worried about you. You have difficulty walking. What if the masked man takes the opportunity to attack you?"

Payne remained expressionless, but his tone softened considerably:

“I am the god of Amegakure. No matter how powerful the masked man’s Sharingan is, he can’t possibly be a match for the Rinnegan. Besides, it’s not that I can’t leave my wheelchair, it’s just that I have some difficulty moving around.”

"Orochimaru betrayed the organization. If he is not punished, the others will follow suit."

"Besides, no one but me can control the Rinnegan, otherwise the masked man would have made his move long ago."

Konan sighed softly, but still agreed to Nagato's decision to go out. Although to her, Nagato was not an omnipotent god, but still the Nagato who needed protection among the original trio.

……

After making the decision, Nagato summoned the Six Paths of Pain on the spot, and under their guidance, left Amegakure.

Walking on the muddy roads of the Land of Rain, Nagato gazed absently at the distant Amegakure, a forest of steel and iron.

After subduing Orochimaru, this was the first time he had left the Land of Rain, and his purpose was to punish Orochimaru, the traitor.

The Land of Rain was where he was born and raised, and where his parents and comrades died. It felt more like his hometown than the Land of Whirlpools overseas, and the continuous rain made him feel at peace.

Soon, Nagato arrived at a village in the Land of Rain.