Under the dim daylight.
The two quickly passed through the forest, completely leaving Konoha behind.
However,
While leaping forward, Itachi's mind was also pondering carefully.
In fact,
He certainly didn't retreat because he was afraid of Jiraiya.
With his current Mangekyo Sharingan configuration of "Amaterasu" + "Tsukuyomi",
He was confident that even if he couldn't quickly defeat Jiraiya, as long as he coordinated with Kisame's abilities, he could also temporarily suppress him.
Even, truly capturing Uzumaki Naruto was just a matter of time.
After all, he could also defeat Jiraiya by torturing him in the Genjutsu World with Tsukuyomi...
However,
Itachi had not considered any of these methods.
Because, his purpose in coming this time was itself to interrupt Akatsuki's Tailed Beast Capture Plan,
And incidentally find a way to leak Akatsuki's intelligence to Konoha.
And now,
His purpose had basically been achieved.
There was naturally no need to stay there and fight Jiraiya.
Just after meeting Jiraiya,
In just a few exchanges,
Itachi very cleverly revealed the information that "Akatsuki wants to capture the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki of each country" to Jiraiya.
Even,
He very implicitly hinted to him that Akatsuki's base was in Amegakure.
If Kisame wasn't beside him, he would have wanted to leak even more.
Unfortunately, he couldn't.
Itachi wasn't stupid either.
He naturally noticed Kisame's strangeness.
As soon as this guy joined Akatsuki, he was directly placed by his side. It was impossible for him not to detect that Kisame was there to monitor him.
Therefore, he had been acting cautiously.
Even this intelligence leak was especially careful, afraid of being discovered.
Luckily now,
Everything seemed to be handled properly.
Next,
He needed to find a way to quickly confirm if Sasuke was still safe.
Itachi's gaze flickered.
This trip to Konoha,
The biggest surprise for him was Sasuke's situation.
He had originally wanted to take this opportunity to again motivate Sasuke.
But now,
Let alone motivating him, he couldn't even find him...
"Itachi-san."
Just as Itachi was thinking,
Kisame's voice suddenly appeared, interrupting his thoughts.
"Hmm?"
Itachi looked over, his expression indifferent, and said:
"What's wrong?"
As his words fell,
Kisame slightly curled his lips, his gaze fixed on Itachi, and chuckled:
"It seems there's something..."
"Itachi-san hasn't confessed to me yet, right?"
"...?"
As his words fell, Itachi's heart shook.
Wh...at?!
Could it be...
Did this guy find something?!
A slight chill ran down Itachi's back, but he still pretended calm, raised his eyes, and said indifferently:
"What are you referring to?"
As his words fell,
Kisame raised an eyebrow and smiled:
"Earlier,"
"In that ramen shop, I heard a strange name..."
"It seemed to be called 'Uchiha Sasuke', right?"
"Can you tell me about it?"
"--?!"
At these words, Itachi's breath caught slightly.
After a moment,
He immediately frowned and said coldly:
"This has nothing to do with our mission this time."
Hearing this,
Kisame seemed not to notice his tone, still speaking in his own self-absorbed manner, grinning:
"Hehe, just simply curious."
"After all, Itachi-san,"
"I remember the legend says you killed the entire Uchiha clan..."
"Then, this Uchiha Sasuke that popped up, is he just a fake using the name?"
"Or..."
"Was he a fish that slipped through the net back then?"
"..."
As his words fell, Itachi's heart sank.
He didn't expect,
Kisame actually remembered this and specifically brought it up to get to the bottom of it...
After pausing for a moment,
Itachi lowered his eyes, pretended to be cold, and said flatly:
"...Just a fish that slipped through the net."
"I only just discovered that someone actually survived."
"...?"
Hearing Itachi's brief answer, Kisame's heart stirred.
However, after just a moment, he turned his head back, looked into the distance, and said mysteriously:
"I see... is that so?"
"Understood."
A smile curled at the corner of Kisame's mouth.
He didn't speak further.
...
Two days later.
In Amegakure, inside the Akatsuki's base.
All members assembled.
A very surprised voice instantly appeared.
"Ha?!!"
"What did you say?! The mission to capture the Kyubi Jinchuriki failed???!"
The person making this sound,
Was the always lively Deidara.
And at this moment, he was crossing his arms, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Itachi ahead, very unhappily saying:
"Hey hey hey!! What's going on?!"
"Wasn't it you who voluntarily said you wanted to participate in this Kyubi capture mission back then?"
"I remember, at that time, you seemed to list a whole bunch of reasons, right?!"
"And now..."
"Instead, the mission completely failed! Huh!?"
Deidara said loudly.
And hearing this,
Itachi just slightly lowered his eyes and did not respond.
He had long expected this and didn't plan to argue or confront anyone.
And at this moment,
Kisame beside him looked at Deidara and said:
"Ho..."
"Watch your speaking attitude, Deidara."
"Itachi-san is still your senior, right? Isn't this too impolite of you...?"
"Tch."
Deidara curled his lip and said self-absorbedly:
"I only know that this senior talked big and didn't deliver."
"Unlike us over here, our mission was completed very easily."
Deidara said as he spoke.
And across from him,
Zetsu immediately thought to himself, speechless.
Easily?
Easy, my ass...
If that Kyo hadn't come to the rescue, you might have been killed by Hidan by now, right?
"..."
The meeting hall fell silent.
Even Pain and Konan beside him,
After listening to the reports from Itachi and Kisame just now, also fell silent in unison.
Then, after a moment, Pain said indifferently:
"So you're saying..."
"Because Jiraiya was personally protecting the Kyubi Jinchuriki, so... you temporarily chose to retreat, is that right?"
"That's correct."
This time, it wasn't Itachi who answered, but Kisame.
His gaze was calm, speaking methodically:
"We briefly exchanged blows,"
"Then Itachi-san immediately judged the disadvantage of this battle, and that it would highly likely alert the enemy and attract Konoha's attention."
"To avoid interfering with future plans to capture other Tailed Beasts,"
"We could only choose this option."
Kisame said calmly.
His words weren't covering for Itachi, but because he really agreed with this view.
And hearing this, Kakuzu on the other side immediately squinted and said:
"Is that guy named Jiraiya really that formidable?"
"Although I've seen the so-called Legendary Sannin on bounty posters before, it shouldn't be to the point where he can suppress both of you at the same time, right?"
Kakuzu said full of doubt.
For people who could join Akatsuki, he naturally wouldn't underestimate them.
It could even be said,
Except for that Zetsu and Hidan, almost everyone here had the strength to serve as a village's Kage.
Itachi and Kisame were naturally no exception.
And now,
Two Kage-level powerhouses were actually suppressed by a single Jiraiya from Konoha?
Kakuzu was naturally full of doubt about this.
However,
What he didn't know was,
After hearing this, Pain and Konan's expressions on the contrary relaxed slightly.
Then a moment later.
Pain suddenly raised his eyes and looked over, saying flatly:
"This time, Itachi's choice..."
"Is understandable."
"I know that Jiraiya."
"His all-around strength is indeed very strong."
"It was also very wise of you not to rashly choose to fight him then, avoiding blowing things out of proportion."
"..."
As Pain's words fell,
Kakuzu, Deidara, and others were momentarily stunned.
Because,
He was quite literally directly concluding the outcome of this mission.
That was --
Losing to Jiraiya is not disgraceful.
What the hell...???
Deidara's expression was strange, and he was preparing to continue speaking.
And at this moment,
Pain raised his eyes and swept his gaze over, his look focused, and said indifferently:
"In that case..."
"This Tailed Beast Capture Plan will be temporarily put on hold for now."
"Let me consider it and then decide on future actions."
"Meeting adjourned."
"???"