Chapter 91: A Plan Executed Under Demands
"Benefits..." Facing Itachi's sharp questioning, Menma's voice carried an elusive leisurely tone. "...Who knows. Perhaps it was long premeditated, or maybe just a momentary whim."
This ambiguous, almost mocking attitude made Itachi feel more uneasy and angry than direct denial would have.
"But the biggest reason is probably 'displeasure.'"
Night wind blew past, stirring up fallen leaves stained with bloody scent.
"Simply due to disappointment in a few individuals, you'd drag hundreds of completely unrelated innocent lives into the underworld..." Menma's voice was filled with undisguised mockery.
"And self-righteously believing this is the only 'correct' choice, a necessary sacrifice..."
"Your arrogance is utterly nauseating, Uchiha Itachi."
"Are you going to lecture me about this?!" Itachi's voice rose slightly from agitation. "But the one who 'eliminated' the Uchiha clan was you, Ember! We had an agreement!"
When she heard Menma speak of "innocent lives," her heart filled with confusion, even absurdity. She had witnessed it herself—the "corpses" scattered throughout the compound, the thick bloody stench—everything proved the massacre was complete.
She even suspected Menma was deliberately deceiving her, but what she "saw" was undeniable.
Itachi didn't know those realistic deaths were merely indistinguishable biological forgeries.
However, Itachi no longer had the mind for endless debate and entanglement with Menma.
'No time...'
In her calculations, Satsuki should almost reach where her parents lay unconscious!
If Satsuki discovered her parents weren't dead... if the hatred wasn't deep enough... if she didn't awaken Sharingan...
Then wouldn't all the sacrifices, all the sins, lose their meaning?!
Panic gripped her heart—she absolutely couldn't let the plan fail at the final moment!
"My demand is simple. Don't touch the Uchiha clan head and his wife."
Itachi's pupils trembled slightly, but before she could process this command, Menma's next words struck her like lightning.
"Also, that child... called Satsuki, right?" When mentioning this name, the voice beneath the mask seemed to carry extremely subtle, barely perceptible change. "She was arbitrarily dragged into this cruel plan by you... I forbid you from doing anything 'unnecessary' to her."
If earlier was just confusion, then now Itachi's heart was instantly filled with shock and suspicion, even a sense of absurdity.
'The Ember leader... cares about Satsuki?! How could he know Satsuki? And why would he specifically protect her?'
'What exactly is his purpose?!'
This completely exceeded her expectations and calculations. A mysterious organization leader who scared the entire Shinobi world with terrifying power and unclear intentions was actually showing what seemed like... protective concern for her sister?
"That Mangekyō Sharingan dōjutsu is called Tsukuyomi, right."
The plain statement nearly froze Itachi's blood.
"What?! How do you know?!" She cried out in shock—she'd never told outsiders the name or effects.
"That's not for you to consider." Menma interrupted her. "Besides not touching Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto, I'll say it again—don't use that Tsukuyomi dōjutsu on Satsuki..."
He paused slightly, the surrounding air freezing and dropping in temperature from his next words.
"...When I decide to do something, I can be very, very obsessive."
Ice-cold killing intent spread like substance, tightly coiling around Itachi, making her breathing hitch.
"If you dare do either of those things..." Menma's voice lowered. "Next time, that jutsu... won't just fall on uninhabited wilderness outside Konoha."
Cold sweat instantly slid from Itachi's temples, mixing with blood tears.
Dai Rasenshuriken
That terrifying jutsu that could reduce earth to nothingness with a single strike, possessing power to destroy all of Konoha! This threat was too heavy for her to bear.
"Uchiha Itachi," Menma said finally, "my demands surely aren't worth... dragging all of Konoha to burial with you?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Itachi's vision blurred as Menma's figure dissolved silently like a phantom.
Only leaving Uchiha Itachi standing alone in cold moonlight and bloody air.
She clenched her fists tightly, bringing sharp pain. However, all anger, unwillingness and struggle finally dissolved into powerless exhaustion. Her fists slowly opened, falling limply at her sides.
---
Cold night wind scraped across Satsuki's cheeks, carrying nauseating thick bloody scent. She gripped Naruto's hand desperately, almost dragging him forward on pure instinct.
Surrounding scenes flashed past like nightmare fragments—familiar streets, familiar clan symbols, yet fallen "clan members" with split necks and hollow eye sockets.
'Don't look... can't look...'
She forced herself to look away, staring only ahead—toward home. Only there remained the last thread of faint hope.
Finally, having nearly exhausted all strength with lungs burning like fire, two familiar figures appeared prone on the ground in her field of vision—
Dark Uchiha clan clothing, Mother's scattered black hair, Father's broad back that now held no vitality...
"...That is...?!"
Satsuki's steps abruptly halted. The sudden stop from violent running made her dizzy.
Breathing instantly became rapid, each inhalation carrying uncontrollable trembling. Her hand gripping Naruto's tightened like iron clamps.
Cold sweat beading on her forehead gathered into drops, sliding down her pale cheeks to drip on cold stone pavement.
Fear once again flooded over her like the coldest tide in an instant.
She stood there, legs leaden, unable to move forward another step. She was afraid—afraid to go over and personally confirm that unbearable result.
'Move... move quickly!'
She screamed frantically in her mind, commanding her useless body. But extreme terror made her entire body tremble violently beyond control, every cell shrieking in resistance against facing that potentially devastating reality.
She was afraid.
Afraid of seeing the same as those fallen clan members on the path here... parents who had lost all signs of life, cold, never again able to respond to her.
"Father... Mother..."
Suddenly, an especially cold wind swept across the deathly quiet street without warning. Satsuki instinctively closed her eyes against the wind.
When she tremblingly opened them again, her pupils began shaking.
Not far ahead, a figure stood silently, positioned exactly in front of where her parents' bodies lay.
Satsuki's heart instantly leaped to her throat, violent beating nearly shattering her ribs. 'The killer! This figure... was most likely the culprit who created this hell!'
Her body reacted before thought, legs uncontrollably staggering back two steps.
Yet the next instant, instinct she herself hadn't realized drove her—using her still tender, small frame to desperately shield Naruto behind her.
The figure moved.
Slowly, step by step, emerging from those thick shadows. Cold moonlight gradually illuminated the newcomer's features.
First entering Satsuki's vision was familiar attire, then black hair falling to shoulders, and finally...
That face she knew intimately, one that could even bring security now—her sister Uchiha Itachi's countenance.
"Sis... Sister...?"
Satsuki almost sobbed out the address. Her highly strung nerves snapped like a bowstring, her heart suddenly relaxing as massive grievance and panic flooded forth like a burst dam, nearly making her collapse.
She frantically sought answers, completely overlooking that those eyes—usually gentle or stern—now brimmed with ice-cold she'd never seen, cold enough to freeze blood.
"Sister!... Father and Mother... and everyone... what happened..."
Her question cut off abruptly.
"Look out!"
Naruto's alarmed shout rang in her ears! Almost simultaneously, tremendous force roughly tackled her aside!
Swoosh—!
A cold gleam whistled past her ear.
Thud—both crashed onto the cold, hard ground. Satsuki looked up dazedly to see Naruto braced above her, a strand of golden hair severed and slowly falling.
Near his ear, a thin cut clearly appeared on his cheek, bright red blood quickly seeping out to form a striking stream flowing down his tense jawline.
"...Eh?"
Satsuki's mind went blank, pupils unfocused as she stared at that crimson wound on Naruto's face, unable to comprehend what it was. That warm red representing harm and betrayal was like a cold key, suddenly prying open her fear-sealed perception.
She stiffly, inch by inch, turned her head, gaze moving past Naruto's shoulder to again look at the figure she called sister.
In moonlight, Uchiha Itachi still stood quietly there. Her expression showed no fluctuation, calm as an unfathomably deep, cold pool, containing none of past warmth—only the ultimate coldness of viewing dead objects.