Chapter 253: Itachi: Forgive Me, Sasuke
The campus, which should have been quiet, was now brightly lit.
Iruka-sensei was organizing the students with several colleagues for a nighttime emergency evacuation drill.
The children, sleepy-eyed, with confusion and a hint of unease on their faces, lined up under the teacher’s guidance.
“Keep formation! No pushing!” Iruka’s voice echoed in the night sky, trying to maintain order, but his heart was already uneasy.
This sudden drill made him feel inexplicable, as if he had returned to that terrifying Night of the Nine-Tails.
Just then—
Boom!!!
A deafening explosion came from the direction of the Uchiha Clan Territory, followed by even denser explosions and faint shouts of slaughter.
The ground shook violently, and the school windows rattled.
“Ah!”
“What happened?”
“Teacher, I’m scared!”
The students immediately fell into panic, and several young children burst into tears.
Iruka’s heart tightened suddenly; this ominous premonition had come true.
“Calm down! Everyone, don’t panic!” Iruka forced himself to stay composed, but his voice trembled involuntarily.
A dark shadow appeared at the edge of the playground with Body Flicker; it was an Anbu Ninja wearing an animal mask.
“Iruka-sensei!” The Anbu’s voice was urgent and cold: “Hokage-sama’s emergency order! Unknown forces are attacking the village! Immediately lead all students to the first shelter below Hokage Rock!”
Iruka’s face turned pale instantly: “Attack? From which direction?”
The Anbu was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice: “Mainly the Uchiha Clan Territory, but there is chaos elsewhere too. Hurry!”
Iruka immediately realized the severity, turned and shouted: “Everyone! Change route! Destination is the first shelter! Run!”
The Konoha Ninja Academy was already in the village’s core area, not far from Hokage Rock. Soon, the huge underground bunker was crowded with frightened students, and more and more villagers pouring into the shelter.
The flickering light of oil lamps cast uneasy shadows on people’s faces, and the air was filled with suppressed crying and whispers.
“Choji, why are you still eating? Aren’t you scared?” Naruto looked at Choji beside him, who was still crunching on potato chips, and couldn’t help asking.
He himself was so nervous that his palms were sweaty, and something inside his body seemed to be stirring, making him even more uneasy.
Shikamaru beside him had already lost his usual lazy demeanor.
His brows were furrowed, hands in his pockets, gaze sharply fixed on the firelight outside the vent: ‘That direction… is the Uchiha Clan Territory. Such a big commotion, probably not an ordinary riot.’
Hinata Hyuga timidly hid in the crowd, her small hand tightly clutching the hem of Menma’s clothes beside her.
Of course, it was just a shadow clone; his real body had already left.
Feeling Hinata’s fear, Menma gently squeezed her small hand back, comforting her.
“Huh? Where’s Sasuke?” Ino suddenly noticed someone was missing.
“Yeah, where’s Sasuke-kun?” Sakura also reacted, worry on her face.
Shikamaru felt a chill in his heart, thinking it was bad.
With Sasuke’s personality and his regard for the family, hearing the commotion from the Uchiha Clan Territory direction, probably…
Menma’s shadow clone also frowned slightly.
Take this opportunity to take Sasuke and Naruto away?
The thought flashed through his mind.
But after deep thought, he gave up the idea.
The Nine-Tails inside Naruto and the Indra chakra on Sasuke—these two powers were too dangerous.
During the last trip to the moon, he had Otsutsuki Hamura pass a message to the Sage of Six Paths, but it had sunk like a stone in the sea.
This meant Hagoromo either didn’t think well of him or had deeper schemes.
If he forcibly took these two away but couldn’t resolve the millennia-entangled chakra influence deep in their souls, it could bring huge trouble to the Land of Stars.
For example, under the Sage of Six Paths’ bewitchment, ‘to prevent the ninja world from destruction,’ pulling a Kaguya-style Earth Bursting Star on him—that would be fun.
So before advancing to Six Paths Level, better to be cautious.
Menma also thought of Kaguya Otsutsuki creating the White Zetsu army’s madness, and the vast number of souls in the Sage of Six Paths’ Pure Land—the water behind this was too deep.
After weighing for a moment, Menma made a decision.
Through the engraving on the back of his hand, he quietly contacted another shadow clone monitoring further out: ‘Find Uchiha Sasuke, ensure his safety, take him away from the battlefield if necessary, but no need to force bringing him back.’
Just then, after Iruka-sensei counted the numbers and found only Uchiha Sasuke missing, his face turned deathly pale.
“Mizuki-sensei, you’re in charge here! I must go find Sasuke!” Iruka said to the colleague beside him, his tone anxious.
Mizuki grabbed him: “Hey! Iruka! It’s too dangerous outside! From the sounds, it’s no smaller than the Nine-Tails Attack! We’re just chunin; going out is suicide!”
“But I’m his teacher!” Iruka broke free from Mizuki’s hand, eyes resolute: “I can’t abandon any student!”
With that, he rushed out of the shelter without looking back.
Mizuki watched his back, eyes complex, ultimately turning into a sigh.
Naka Riverbank.
Uchiha Sasuke ran desperately toward the Uchiha Clan Territory along the familiar road.
His heart pounded wildly, an ominous premonition wrapping around him.
The distant explosions, soaring firelight, and faint terrifying chakra fluctuations all made him frantic.
The closer to the clan territory, the heavier the blood scent in the air.
Sasuke’s heart sank to the bottom; the ominous premonition grew stronger.
When he finally passed through the woods and reached the Naka River bank, the scene before him struck him like lightning, freezing him in place!
From the clan territory direction, three colossal, heaven-piercing colored giants emitting suffocating pressure were fighting madly!
A green Susanoo wielded a massive chakra spiral sword, a dark red Susanoo swung a burning great sword, and a blue Susanoo flickered faintly in the distance.
Every clash shook the earth, roars echoing through the clouds.
“That… what is that?!” Sasuke’s pupils contracted, mind blank.
The scene completely exceeded his cognition, but a deep bloodline sense told him these terrifying existences were related to the Uchiha.
Just then, a familiar figure slowly walked toward him from the smoke and chaos ahead.
“Bro… Brother?” Sasuke recognized him, his tense heart relaxing slightly.
He rushed forward: “Brother! What’s happening in the clan territory?! What are those huge things?! Father and Mother?!”
Itachi Uchiha’s face was smeared with blood and soot, his expression an ice-cold exhaustion Sasuke had never seen.
Especially those eyes, blood tears streaking his pale cheeks, strikingly demonic.
Itachi didn’t answer Sasuke’s barrage of questions; he just slowly raised his hand, two fingers gently rubbing Sasuke’s forehead as usual.
His action even carried a strange tenderness.
“Forgive me, Sasuke…” Itachi’s voice was low and hoarse, carrying indescribable pain and resolve.
Before the words finished, Itachi’s Mangekyo Sharingan spun wildly!
“Tsukuyomi!”
Sasuke felt the world spin instantly; all sights and sounds rapidly faded and distorted!
The next moment, he found himself dragged into an endless darkness with only a blood moon hanging in the sky!
In this world, time lost meaning.
He watched helplessly, again and again, as his most revered brother Itachi Uchiha turned into a cold executioner, wielding a blood-dripping ninja sword, expressionlessly slaughtering familiar clan members one after another!
He saw the neighbor uncle fall in a pool of blood, training companions die with eyes wide open, uncles and aunts who watched him grow die horribly under the blade…
Finally, the scene froze in the familiar home, his father Uchiha Fugaku and mother Uchiha Mikoto fallen in blood, while Itachi’s blade was withdrawing from Mother’s chest…
“No… don’t!” Sasuke’s spirit screamed heart-wrenchingly in the Tsukuyomi space; immense pain and despair swallowed him instantly!
In reality, his body stiffened suddenly, eyes losing focus, falling straight backward.
Itachi caught his fainted brother, carefully laying him flat on the riverside grass.
Looking at Sasuke’s pale, pained face, a complex emotion flashed in Itachi’s eyes, but it was soon covered by coldness.
“Forgive me, Sasuke…” Itachi murmured softly, almost inaudible: “Only this way… only this way can you gain enough power…”
Just then—
“Let him go! Itachi Uchiha!”
An angry shout came from the side!
Iruka-sensei arrived panting; he had clearly witnessed Itachi casting illusion on Sasuke.
Though unclear on details, Itachi’s bleeding eyes and Sasuke’s coma were enough to judge great danger!
“Iruka-sensei…” Itachi slowly stood, facing this mere chunin teacher daring to confront him, tone flat: “You shouldn’t have come.”
“What did you do to Sasuke?!” Iruka demanded sharply, kunai pointed at Itachi: “Put him down!”
“Just a small illusion… to make him see reality.” Itachi said indifferently, three-tomoe instantly appearing and spinning in his eyes!
“Demonic Illusion: Shackles of the Hang!”
Iruka had no time to react; his vision blurred, surroundings shifting instantly!
He was back in that nightmarish night.
The Nine-Tails rampaged in the village, huge claws smashing houses, and his parents… died before his eyes…
“No… don’t…” Iruka screamed, clutching his head and kneeling, body trembling violently.
Endless pain and despair drowned him again; he was completely trapped in the infinite looping pain illusion Itachi wove for him.
Having easily dealt with Iruka, Itachi’s gaze returned to Sasuke.
He took a deep breath, preparing for the next step.
However, just then—
Clap clap clap…
Clear, slow applause suddenly came from the shadow of a nearby big tree.
Itachi’s body stiffened, whipping his head around!
Sharingan instantly locked the sound source!
He hadn’t detected anyone there at all!
Under moonlight and distant battlefield firelight, a figure wearing a white three-eyed fox mask and black robe slowly stepped out from the shadows.
His posture leisurely, as if not on a bloody battlefield edge, but strolling in his own backyard garden.
“Brilliant… truly a splendid performance, Itachi Uchiha.”
The voice from under the mask carried playful, cold appreciation, clearly reaching Itachi’s ears.
“Personally burying a clan, then implanting endless hatred and pain into your dear brother’s heart, all to forge his future power… such resolve, such ‘capacity’, truly… utterly ugly!” Shura tilted his head slightly, the white three-eyed fox mask flickering eerily in the distant battlefield’s intermittent firelight.
The newcomer tilted his head slightly, gaze seeming to pierce the mask, falling on Itachi’s bleeding eyes.
“This theater called ‘Uchiha Massacre Itachi’… this ‘script’ I prepared for you… are you satisfied?” he asked softly, as if chatting with an old friend.
“Shura…” Itachi’s voice was ice-cold, kunai poised in his hand.
Mangekyo Sharingan contracted sharply, spinning wildly, trying to see through this mysterious person’s reality.
But he was shocked to find his eye power sank like a clay ox into the sea, unable to penetrate the mask, not even sensing the opponent’s chakra!
In the distance, the three Susanoo’s roars and slaughter sounds from the clan territory played like background music to this standoff.
Itachi’s mind raced, assessing the situation.
The opponent approached silently and saw through his deepest secret intent; strength unfathomable, far beyond what Itachi could match in his current chakra-depleted, exhausted state.
He must be extremely cautious.
To not expose his near-obsessive protection of Sasuke deep in his heart, Itachi forced himself to relax, even deliberately adding casual mockery to his tone, trying to divert attention: “Shura of the Land of Stars… impressive means. Intervening in the chaos to reap the remnants. You want the Uchiha Clan to serve you? Congratulations, seems you’ve achieved it.”
His gaze swept the distant three giants, implying Fugaku, Shisui, and the entire Uchiha Clan had fallen to the opponent.
Menma shook his head slowly at this.
His gaze lowered to the unconscious Uchiha Sasuke on the grass.
This subtle action made Itachi’s heart clench, almost losing control of his impulse to strike, but he suppressed it with astonishing willpower.
“Utilize? Serve?” Menma’s voice came through the mask, carrying a detached scrutiny: “Itachi Uchiha, the one who toys with fate will ultimately be backlashed by fate. The bloodstained path you chose, all these sacrifices… are they really worth it?”
Worth it?
These three words stabbed like a poisoned kunai into Itachi’s most vulnerable spot.
Visions flashed: clan members falling, Shisui’s disappointed resolute gaze, Father’s complex disappointed eyes.
He knew what Shura was asking, especially after learning of Shimura Danzo’s repulsive acts in his brief fierce clash with Shisui.
Sneaking attacks on fellow villagers, stealing bloodlines, full of lies.
The “justice” he executed personally had its foundation long eroded by corruption.
But he couldn’t regret; regret would render all sacrifices meaningless, plunging him into abyss.
He could only blame it on fate, on everyone’s inescapable destiny.
“Everyone has their own path and choices; no matter if worth it or not.” Itachi’s voice was low and hoarse, deliberately evading the core, trying to maintain surface calm.
“This is just necessary cost.”
He quickly shifted topic, pointing at the opponent’s strongest force: “Rather, you, Shura. You seem very interested in Uchiha power. Uchiha Hikari’s power is indeed astonishing, able to confront many Konoha elites at once… but she’s far from the legendary Uchiha Madara.”
“Whether her or Shisui, their Mangekyo Sharingan are ultimately mortal goods, with fatal flaws. While Uchiha Madara’s power long surpassed ordinary Mangekyo.”
He stared tightly at the masked man, trying to find a hint of desire or curiosity for “stronger power” on him.
This was the bait he threw, trying to seize a bit of conversational initiative.
However, the response was a contemptuous chuckle from under the mask.
“Heh.” Menma seemed to hear something utterly ridiculous.
“Should I play along, feigning surprise: ‘Oh? Stronger Mangekyo? What is that? Related to you massacring your whole clan, leaving only your brother?'”
Itachi’s pupils contracted sharply!
Menma’s voice suddenly turned cold, with undisguised mockery: “Save it, Itachi Uchiha. Don’t treat everyone as blinded fools. You think ‘Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan’ is some top secret? Even that stone tablet under the Naka River Shrine, guarded by your Uchiha Clan for generations as a treasure, recording the so-called ‘ultimate secret’…”
He paused deliberately, appreciating Itachi’s finally crumbling calm expression, slowly uttering words to shatter his cognition:
“…is nothing but something long ago tampered with by some guy, deliberately guiding your Uchiha Clan toward hatred and paranoia, mutual slaughter—a bait.”
“What?!”
Like thunder exploding in his mind, Itachi’s maintained icy mask shattered instantly!
Blood drained from his face, filled with incredulous shock.
The stone tablet under Naka River Shrine!
That was an absolute secret known only to a very few Uchiha high-level officials!
Even Mangekyo Sharingan couldn’t read its full content!
How could an outsider know?!
And…
Tampered?
Bait?
He originally thought the other just coveted Uchiha power or bore grudge against Konoha, never expecting such subversive words about the clan’s core secret from him!
“You… who exactly are you?!” Itachi’s voice carried a faint tremble for the first time, gripping the kunai tighter, Sharingan spinning wildly, trying to see through the white mask, but feeling the opponent’s figure like a bottomless abyss.
“How do you know about the stone tablet?! What do you mean tampered?!”
If even the stone tablet’s content, even Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan’s awakening was modified by someone…
Then the entire Uchiha Clan had been toyed with for centuries?!
Menma stood quietly, like an eternal iceberg, unmoved by Itachi’s shock and questions.
The white three-eyed fox mask, in the distant battlefield’s flickering light, emitted an even more eerie, unfathomable aura.
“The ninja world holds no secrets from me.” Menma’s voice was calm, yet carrying a heart-palpitating oppression.
“For example, the one who ordered the clan massacre was Shimura Danzo; and the person you sought for help… who was that?”
Another bombshell dropped!
Itachi’s body swayed imperceptibly.
This was his impromptu decision, details known only to those two involved; even Danzo didn’t know…
“What exactly are you trying to say?!” Itachi shouted sharply, trying to mask inner turmoil with momentum.
His Sharingan locked on Shura, chakra fluctuating violently, clearly on the verge of eruption.
Every word from the opponent assaulted his beliefs and cognition; he felt standing on the edge of a huge conspiracy, with a bottomless abyss below.
Menma seemed to feel the groundwork sufficient; he stepped slightly forward.
This minor step made Uchiha Itachi react like facing a great enemy, instantly crossing kunai before him in perfect defense-strike stance.
“I mean,” Menma’s voice still flat, but with final judgment tone: “The ‘righteousness’ you thought, from the root, was guided and distorted. The ‘sins’ you committed perhaps satisfied some deeper schemes. And the path of ‘brother’s revenge’ you pin hopes on for the future…”
His gaze swept the comatose Sasuke again.
“…from the start, might be an arranged dead end leading to deeper despair.”
“Shut up!” Itachi finally couldn’t stay calm!
The massive info shock and the opponent’s “curse” on Sasuke’s fate pushed his taut nerves to the limit!
He couldn’t allow anyone to tarnish his “plan” for which he sacrificed everything, let alone threaten Sasuke!
