Satsuki only felt her legs go weak, trembling, as she slowly straightened up. But she instinctively shielded Naruto behind her once more.
Her gaze flickered frantically between the two: on one side was Naruto, tense all over, his blue eyes gleaming with an unprecedented vigilance, the fresh bloodstain on his face so glaring it made her heart pound.
On the other side was her sister, whom she had once admired and relied on most, but who now exuded an unfamiliar chill that threatened to freeze her blood.
Just now… did her sister really… attack her?
"Sister… what… are you doing?" Her voice was tearful and utterly confused.
Naruto's tension and wariness were not feigned. Naruto knew that Itachi wouldn't truly kill them—but it was limited to "wouldn't kill them."
Recalling what Uchiha Itachi did in the original story to "motivate" his younger brother, beating Sasuke black and blue, then using Tsukuyomi to make him repeatedly experience the nightmare of his parents' death for a full seventy-two hours… behind that "not killing," was a ruthless "tempering" that was extreme enough to completely destroy a person.
He had already warned her this time… she shouldn't do such a thing again, right?
"Sister… please…!" Satsuki's voice was filled with desperate anguish, still pleading, begging for this to be just a cruel joke, for her sister to suddenly return to her old self.
However, her plea abruptly stopped.
All sounds were caught in her throat.
Because she saw it—Uchiha Itachi, expressionless, slowly drew the short blade from behind her back.
The faint sound of the blade unsheathing was particularly jarring on the now silent street. "My foolish little sister… have you still not recognized reality?"
That palpable killing intent surged like a tide, yet even at this point, looking at the gleaming blade pointed at her, looking at the bottomless darkness in her sister's eyes…
A faint, absurd hope, refusing to be extinguished, still lingered in Satsuki's heart. She shook her head, tears finally overflowing. "It's a lie, isn't it… Sister."
"Everything I have done was to test my own capacity." Uchiha Itachi's voice rang out calmly, without a hint of emotional fluctuation.
"Eve…rything?"
Satsuki murmured the word, looking at the incredibly familiar face before her, trying to find the slightest trace of a joke or coercion, but ultimately seeing only bottomless indifference. She still couldn't fully equate the person before her with "the murderer who slaughtered the entire clan."
Looking at her sister's pained eyes, still mixed with confusion and disbelief, Itachi's mood was heavy. Her original plan was by no means this gentle, but Menma's warning was like cold shackles, firmly binding her actions—no Tsukuyomi for Satsuki.
Then… at least use this.
The next moment, crimson color suddenly surged in Uchiha Itachi's black eyes! Three tomoe appeared out of nowhere and began to spin rapidly.
The genjutsu had been activated the moment their gazes met!
Naruto had been intently watching Itachi's movements, and the instant he saw the Sharingan appear, his heart leaped into his throat. He immediately saw Satsuki's figure stiffen sharply, the expression of sadness and disbelief on her face instantly freezing, as if a pause button had been pressed.
Immediately after, a new, more primal emotion, like ink dripping into clear water, quickly stained her pale little face—it was bone-chilling terror.
Her pupils trembled violently. In Satsuki's consciousness, she was witnessing a terrifying scene like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
"Satsuki!"
Naruto unhesitatingly pressed his hand firmly on Satsuki's cold shoulder, while his other hand quickly formed the "Un" seal, injecting his Chakra into Satsuki's body, forcibly breaking through the shackles of the foreign genjutsu.
"Release!"
Accompanied by Naruto's shout, the genjutsu shackles binding Satsuki's mind shattered!
"Ugh ah… Ah ah ah! Why?!!!"
Satsuki, breaking free from the genjutsu, seemed to have finally had her last line of self-deception torn away, and an inexpressible pain and despair instantly burst forth.
She suddenly clutched her head tightly with both hands, tears like broken pearls, rolling down in large drops, hitting the ground.
She finally understood the cruel, undeniable reality—all of this was truly done by her only sister… This was the reality Itachi wanted Satsuki to see.
Naruto looked at Satsuki, who was only crying hysterically but hadn't fainted as he knew from the "original story," and felt a little relieved. It seemed Itachi had indeed only released a relatively ordinary genjutsu to forcibly instill the cruel reality, rather than the eye technique that could completely devastate one's mind for seventy-two hours.
And Uchiha Itachi, at this moment, silently gazed at her sister's tear-filled eyes, full of pain and fear, yet not showing the crimson color she had hoped for, and her heart sank slightly.
Sure enough… is this level of stimulation still far from enough?
"Just… just for this reason… you killed Mom and Dad?!"
The pent-up grief and despair were finally ignited by boundless rage. Satsuki cried out hoarsely, suddenly standing up from the ground.
She glared intensely at Uchiha Itachi's face. The reason was infuriatingly trivial, forming an incredibly cruel irony with the deep-seated hatred before her.
"What a joke!!"
Emotion completely overwhelmed reason. Satsuki let out a mournful roar of fury, clenching her small fists, and recklessly charged towards Uchiha Itachi! Her movements were chaotic, completely dominated by surging emotions.
"Satsuki!"
The disparity in strength was a desperate chasm.
Facing her sister's hateful but powerless charge, Itachi didn't even move a single step. She simply, expressionlessly and with extreme ease, raised a hand and precisely caught Satsuki's swinging wrist.
All of Satsuki's momentum came to an abrupt halt.
Before she could react, an utterly irresistible force suddenly came from her neck! Itachi's other hand, like an iron vice, gripped her throat, effortlessly lifting her entirely off the ground.
"Ugh ah!"
The sensation of suffocation instantly surged, Satsuki's feet kicked weakly in the air, her small face rapidly turning red. She futilely tried to pry Itachi's fingers with both hands, but those fingers didn't budge.
So uncomfortable… I can't breathe…
Itachi gazed at her sister struggling in pain in her hand. A fleeting, almost imperceptible trace of reluctance and sting flashed deep within her Sharingan, but in the next second, it was completely covered by the resolute determination named "necessity."
For that distant future, this trial had to continue.
She once again drew her short blade, aiming it at Satsuki's shoulder, a non-fatal spot, but one that would bring pain and fear.
Barely opening her tear-blurred eyes, Satsuki saw the sharp blade, so close, aimed at her. Immense fear and a sense of betrayal pierced her heart like an ice pick.
She… is she really going to kill me?
"No… stop it…" She squeezed out a faint plea from deep in her throat, tears flowing even more profusely.
"Let her go!"
Naruto, his nerves constantly taut, could no longer stand by. Among the choices he could make as "Uzumaki Naruto," he unhesitatingly used his strongest trump card.
Adamantine Sealing Chains!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
Several dazzling golden chains shot out from behind Naruto, piercing the air! The moment before the short blade in Itachi's hand was about to touch Satsuki—
Clang!
The golden chains, as if alive, instantly coiled around her! One firmly bound Itachi's sword-wielding arm and wrist, the powerful force stopping the blade dead in mid-air. The other chains wrapped like lightning around her waist and abdomen and her other arm, completely locking down her movements!
The sudden restraint and the heart-stopping suppressive power emanating from the chains completely exceeded Itachi's expectations. Her body constrained by this immense force, the hand gripping Satsuki's neck subconsciously loosened its grip.
"Cough! Cough cough cough…"
Satsuki fell heavily to the ground, clutching her throat and coughing violently, gasping for cold air.
Itachi slowly looked towards the blond youth who had been standing behind Satsuki, whom she had ignored.
Naruto, meanwhile, glared intently at the temporarily restrained Uchiha Itachi.
"If you dare touch Satsuki again… I'll kill you!"