Chapter 94: Methods
"Is... is anyone there?! Someone come quickly!!!"
After Satsuki stumbled out of that compound area completely shrouded in bloody death, she ran desperately while crying out with all her strength.
Tears blurring her vision made the nighttime road even more difficult to navigate. How she longed to hear a response right now, how she hoped the next second she'd see familiar uniformed figures of Konoha patrol shinobi rushing out from street corner shadows, stopping her and asking what happened.
However, only her own hollow echoes answered her, along with distant sounds of wind rustling through leaves.
The Uchiha clan's residential area, due to so-called "isolation" and "surveillance," was placed at the village's outermost edge. This area at night had almost no other villagers living there besides Uchiha clan members, much less frequently patrolling shinobi.
Everything she'd just experienced replayed frantically in her mind like the most vicious, most insane nightmare fragments, over and over again.
Not long ago, her entire world had still been complete and warm. There was Mother's gentle, loving smile, Father's gaze that though stern always showed care in the details, and that sister she'd always chased after, worshipped and trusted immensely—a strong and reliable presence in her heart...
However, on this very night, all of this was completely, cruelly crushed before her eyes.
Her gentle mother, caring father... had fallen in pools of blood. And the one who gave the killing order, even personally acted, was actually her most trusted sister.
Her world had collapsed.
An unprecedented, bone-chillingly cold emptiness spread wildly from the deepest part of her heart, rapidly invading her limbs and penetrating her very core.
She'd lost almost everything, but... Naruto! Absolutely... absolutely couldn't let her kill Naruto!
This thought was like a final lifeline, giving Satsuki, who was nearly collapsing, a thread of strength to continue. She gritted her teeth, letting tears flow wildly while quickening her pace again, using her last bit of strength to run toward the village center where there theoretically might be people.
However, the next moment, Satsuki's running steps froze rigidly in place.
Ice-cold despair instantly seized her heart.
Because that nightmare-like figure—Uchiha Itachi—stood there silently in the middle of the road ahead, completely blocking all her escape routes.
What made Satsuki feel like all the blood in her body would freeze was—in Itachi's hand, she was carrying Naruto like a limp object with dangling limbs! The golden-haired youth's eyes were tightly closed, his face still bearing traces of pain.
"Naruto..."
Satsuki's voice trembled almost beyond recognition. Yes... how could Satsuki have forgotten—the strength gap was an insurmountable chasm.
But...
But seeing Naruto held in Itachi's hand like an object, an emotion far more intense than fear suddenly rushed to Satsuki's head! Even though her body trembled violently from fear, even though tears blurred her vision making her barely able to see ahead, Satsuki still took action!
"Let... let go of Naruto!"
She almost screamed out instinctively while suddenly grabbing at her waist's weapon pouch, pulling out two shuriken. With sobbing and completely unrefined anger, she threw them viciously toward Uchiha Itachi's neck!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
However, facing this hate-filled yet extremely childish attack, Uchiha Itachi didn't even blink. She merely casually raised the tantō in her hand.
Clang! Clang!
Two crisp sounds of metal clashing rang out almost simultaneously as those two shuriken were easily deflected, clattering to the ground.
The frustration of having her attack easily neutralized and greater fear struck, but Satsuki didn't give up. Her hands quickly began forming seals, trying to mobilize the chakra within her body.
"Katon: Gōka...?!"
But she'd only completed half the seals, hadn't even finished shouting the jutsu name—
The figure before her suddenly vanished like a phantom!
The next instant, suffocating pressure had enveloped her from directly ahead! Uchiha Itachi had already appeared instantly before her.
The hand that had been holding Naruto released him, and Naruto's body fell to the ground nearby. That freed hand once again gripped Satsuki's slender neck tightly, forcibly strangling her unformed jutsu in her throat!
Intense suffocation surged up again as Satsuki's feet left the ground, struggling futilely while her hands desperately tried to pry open that hand.
Uchiha Itachi's crimson Sharingan coldly observed her sister struggling painfully in her grasp, eyes filled with fear and pleading. Just then, that fox-masked man's warning echoed again in her mind—don't do unnecessary things to Satsuki.
The next second, the force gripping her throat suddenly vanished.
"Cough! Cough cough cough..."
Satsuki crashed to the cold ground once more, violently coughing and dry heaving, greedily breathing the cold air. However, this time, the physical pain was far less than the complete collapse of her inner defenses.
Being easily subdued like an infant twice in a row, utterly powerless to resist, unable to even harm her opponent in the slightest... the despairing strength gap completely crushed and extinguished the tiny bit of fighting spirit and courage that had just ignited in her heart.
She looked up at her sister looming above her, looking at those blood-red eyes deep as pools, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
That little bit of courage from before had long since vanished, leaving only the most instinctual fear of death.
"Don't... don't kill me..."
Uchiha Itachi quietly gazed at her sister who had fallen to the ground, trembling from fear. To make those eyes take on the blood color of hatred, only one method remained.
Her thoughts involuntarily drifted back to those peaceful times just years ago. At home, after training ended, at the dinner table, even during bedtime chats—her sister's mouth repeatedly mentioned one name with impressively high frequency: Naruto.
"Today I won another taijutsu match against that guy Naruto. Though he's still pretty clumsy, he seems a bit stronger than before..."
"Sister, sister, do you know? Naruto's favorite shop is Ichiraku Ramen. He took me there to eat, it tasted pretty good. Let's go together next time."
"Naruto he..."
From trivial daily matters to subtle expressions and movements, everything about that golden-haired youth could become Satsuki's topic of conversation. That was the first and only time Itachi had seen Satsuki develop such intense attention, dependence, even a kind of clumsy yet pure admiration she herself hadn't realized, for someone outside the family.
To get the plan back on the "correct" track, to force those eyes to awaken, this is the only way...' Itachi thought silently, completely freezing that final trace of reluctance.
Itachi spoke: "My foolish little sister, someone like you doesn't even have the value of being killed by me."
Finishing her words, Uchiha Itachi slowly raised the tantō in her hand. This time, the blade didn't aim at Satsuki, but steadily, precisely—pointed at the collapsed Naruto!
The blade's position was expertly controlled to miss the heart by several inches, enough to cause seemingly horrific serious injury, but definitely not fatal.
However, all this precise calculation was impossible for the already collapsed Satsuki to distinguish.
In her field of vision, she could only confirm one extremely clear and terrifying thing—Uchiha Itachi was going to completely destroy the last remaining, most important light in her life, right before her eyes!
Satsuki's breathing completely stopped instantly, pupils dilated to the extreme. "...NO!!"
A scream almost inhuman erupted from her throat. She suddenly lunged forward but couldn't move an inch due to fear and powerlessness, only able to futilely extend her trembling hand.
"I understand! I understand everything! Please! Spare Naruto! Don't hurt him!!"
"Kill me instead! Trade my life for his! Please... sister... don't touch Naruto... please..."