Chapter 95: Awakening
Facing Satsuki's crying pleas willing to trade her own life for Naruto's safety, both people present endured tremendous inner torment.
Beneath Uchiha Itachi's mask-like coldness, forcing her only sister to make such a desperate choice brought waves of suffocating pain to her heart. But the plan had to be executed—this blood-stained path offered no return.
She could only bury this pain deeper, armoring herself with an even colder demeanor.
Yet at this moment, the one whose heart was even more turbulent, even feeling intense anguish, was Naruto—who seemed to have lost consciousness and be at anyone's mercy.
'Though I'm about to be stabbed... hearing Satsuki say such things... feels worse than taking the blade! This idiot!'
Intense guilt wrapped around Naruto's spirit, constricting until he could barely breathe. Hearing Satsuki's tearful pleas, he regretted his "self-sacrifice scheme" decision more deeply than ever before.
To awaken those damned Sharingan, Satsuki had to endure such tremendous pain and fear, even making her say such things... he was a complete bastard!
'Damn it! Why must Uchiha power awaken through such cruel means?!'
Just as Naruto was drowning in surging guilt and regret, Itachi's cruel voice rang out again.
"Remember this powerless weakness. If you want to kill me... then despise me, hate me, and... live on uglily, clinging to life."
"No... please... stop!"
The next moment—squelch!
A sharp, profound pain completely beyond expectation suddenly exploded from Naruto's body! Cold metal penetrated his muscle and tissue without obstruction, bringing a terrifying tearing sensation.
'Urgh—! So painful! This bastard! She's playing for real?! She's way too ruthless!'
The intense pain nearly made Naruto unable to maintain his feigned unconscious state. He frantically mobilized all willpower and chakra control techniques, forcibly suppressing his body's instinctive spasms and resistance.
He worked to maintain stable chakra for all the Menma shadow clones, absolutely couldn't let severe injury cause all clones to disperse collectively.
He had to continue "playing" an unconscious "hostage" being cruelly harmed.
However, all this internal roaring and endured agony appeared completely different to another person—Uchiha Satsuki.
She only saw the gleaming tantō unhesitatingly, precisely stabbed deep into Naruto's body!
Warm, crimson blood instantly gushed from the wound, quickly staining Naruto's shirt.
All surrounding sounds were instantly drained away, even her heart's frantic pounding... all these things she didn't want to hear, didn't want to know, transformed into the sharpest awls, forcibly hammering her eardrums, brutally pouring into her already overwhelmed brain.
Something extremely dark, extremely violent was expanding wildly in her chest, crashing about, roaring to break free!
Rage.
Grief.
Hatred.
Love.
Extreme emotions surged wildly within, violently impacting her final rational defenses, pushing her shattered psyche toward some abyss—
Hum—!
Searing pain that seemed to melt her eyeballs suddenly exploded from deep in both eyes!
The next moment, her black eyes thoroughly soaked with tears suddenly took on an ominous crimson color formed from blood and curses under extreme emotional catalysis.
The power reflecting the soul's eye—Sharingan.
Uchiha Itachi stared fixedly at that crimson she'd longed for, finally manifested.
In Satsuki's world, everything was different.
Her vision became unprecedentedly clear, even capturing minute dust particles in the air and distant leaf textures, yet the entire world was tinted with a blood-colored filter.
All confusion, fear, and pleading were completely incinerated in this moment, leaving only one crystal-clear, utterly firm thought branded deep into her soul like red-hot iron—
'I know what must be done.'
'I absolutely must kill Uchiha Itachi.'
'Must kill, must kill, must kill her dead! Must completely crush her, burn away every cell composing her body with flame, must completely erase the existence called "Uchiha Itachi" from this world!'
'Without doing this... I cannot avenge parents and clan members, cannot repay the death Naruto suffered, cannot quell this hatred in my heart capable of burning everything!'
Her thinking was completely stained by viscous, pitch-black hatred.
'After killing that bastard—this filthy body of mine that's carried too much pain and sin should die too.'
Insane killing intent intertwined with self-destructive tendencies as consciousness became unstable under extreme load, harsh static beginning to mix into thought circuits.
In those ominous crimson eyes, three pitch-black tomoe spun frantically, faster and faster, nearly becoming three blurred black shadows.
Surging hatred like invisible whips forced them to break through some limit, metamorphosing toward deeper, more powerful forms!
'Spin! Spin more!' Nearly tearing the three tomoe completely apart, fusing them, sketching the prototype of some more complex, more dangerous pattern—
However, just as that pattern was about to take shape in the final instant!
"——!"
Her body issued the strongest protest! Violent convulsions instantly spread throughout, every cell wailing and collapsing! Uchiha Satsuki's still tender body and immature chakra simply couldn't bear this suddenly awakened power from deep in her bloodline trying to further run amok.
Her vision suddenly went black as all power receded like tide, intense dizziness and weakness instantly swallowing her.
In the second before consciousness completely sank into darkness, her Sharingan—gradually blurring from power backlash—caught one final image:
On that cold, twisted face she'd sworn to kill at any cost, at the corner of Uchiha Itachi's eyes... something crystal clear seemed to be quietly sliding down.
This was the last thing Satsuki saw before losing consciousness—something incomprehensible.