Konoha: Start from untying the caged bird

Page 158

When was the last time we all had dinner together, chatting and laughing?

Fugaku tried hard to recall.

Was it...last month?

I can't remember...

It must have been a few years ago.

what...

I've almost forgotten what Itachi looks like when he smiles.

And Sasuke...

I feel so sorry for him...

He turned his head blankly and looked around. Seeing that Uchiha Shisui was also frozen in place in the distance, he lowered his eyes and revealed a complicated smile.

"I'm sorry... Itachi... I..."

"It seems... I went... the wrong way..."

"I'm sorry... I forgot many, most important things... Itachi, I'm sorry..."

His mind was already somewhat hazy. He collapsed weakly to the ground, turned his head, stared at Uchiha Itachi, and then looked at Mikoto and Sasuke running from a distance. He mustered his last bit of strength and spoke a little louder, but still sounded very weak.

Even...without me...you are still family...please...never...forget...this...

He reached out his hand, and Itachi, powerless, knelt down as well, his trembling hands tightly gripping his: "I'm sorry, Father, I'm so sorry..."

"Why...why did this happen?!"

Sasuke Uchiha roared in disbelief and punched Itachi Uchiha hard in the cheek. He had never imagined that he would attack his own brother, but at this moment, his mind went completely blank.

"Sasuke..."

Sasuke instinctively turned his head to look at Fugaku Uchiha's voice.

He cried loudly, clutching his father's chest tightly: "I'm going to find a doctor, Dad, no! I don't want to..."

"Last time...in the study...I scolded you...I'm really...so sorry..."

Together with Itachi, take good care of... Mom.

Please...

Don't end up like me...

They were blinded by those false things...

"I can't see...the most important...thing..."

As the last words fell, an angry shout came from afar.

"What are you waiting for?! Why haven't you wiped out these traitors who murdered the clan chief?!"

Elder Uchiha arrived late, staring in disbelief at Fugaku Uchiha, who was now on the verge of death, or rather, practically dead. He roared in fury.

Fugaku Uchiha's breathing gradually weakened until it disappeared, and a strange, hoarse sound came from his throat. But even at this moment, he turned his head and looked at the elder Uchiha, En Uchiha, in the distance.

The instant his eyes met the other's, Fugaku Uchiha's kaleidoscope-shaped pupils began to spin violently, a tremendous surge of ocular power erupting within him, and he instantly activated the technique.

Uchiha En's angry and incredulous shouts stopped abruptly. The next moment, he raised his hand expressionlessly, as if he had turned into a robot: "Stop!"

The other Uchiha members were still somewhat confused, but the next moment, Uchiha En suddenly sprang into action, his aged body transforming into that of a wild beast as he raised his butcher's knife high towards his clansmen who had previously obeyed him.

"Eliminate...the radicals...protect...the Uchiha...protect...Fugaku's family..."

He muttered to himself, without any emotional fluctuation, as he began to kill his own people.

The Uchiha clan members went completely mad.

They had absolutely no idea how to handle the situation—the clan chief was dead, and the elder, who had previously been a strong leader and practically the de facto leader of the radical faction, had gone mad and attacked his own people. What were they supposed to do now?

what to do!?

Die, all of you!

Die!

Blood gushed forth; this place was hell.

And in hell.

Mikoto Uchiha ran frantically from the battlefield, and the Uchiha people passing by instinctively avoided her, allowing her to reach Fugaku Uchiha's side and tightly embrace his now lifeless body.

Fugaku Uchiha slowly raised his hand, reached for his eyes, and with a forceful pull, removed both eyeballs.

Amidst the astonished gazes of everyone watching him, his face was etched with two empty holes, two lines of bloody tears slowly flowing down his cheeks. A self-mocking and helpless apologetic smile appeared on his lips. His face, devoid of eyes, 'looked' in the direction of Mikoto, who was running towards him in tears and sobbing, his lips moving.

"Itachi..."

"My eyes...don't waste them...this is...a request..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he completely lost his breath. His hands, which were holding his two eyeballs, fell to the ground, and his palms were outstretched towards Uchiha Itachi, who stood there dumbfounded.

Uchiha Itachi remained motionless in the position where he had been knocked down by Sasuke's punch, tears mixed with blood still streaming from his eyes.

Sasuke Uchiha was completely dumbfounded. He never imagined that he was with Naruto and Hinata, helping villagers find their cats with Kakashi-sensei this morning.

As usual, I lived a simple yet comforting daily life.

When I got home that night, I was met with such a tragedy.

The older brother killed their father with his own hands.

Meanwhile, the Uchiha clan members are killing each other.

Shisui, who was far away, was also forced into the battlefield. He was clear about his choice. Now, this group of crazy Uchiha people could never go back to the way things were before.

Shisui and the elder Uchiha, who was controlled by Kotoamatsukami, were engaged in a fierce battle with the ninjas.

Some Uchiha had already given up the fight. They watched all this in despair, knowing full well that the Uchiha's ambition had come to an end. Some chose to draw their kunai and commit suicide, some chose to give up resistance and stay where they were, as if resigned to their fate, and some went completely mad.

One of the most crazed Uchiha Jonin roared in despair, "Why did it have to end here?! Why?!"

He roared furiously, suddenly forming hand seals. A gigantic, almost supernatural fire dragon appeared in the air. This attack drained all of his chakra; it was a suicidal attack.

The target of this attack was none other than Itachi, Sasuke, and Mikoto, who were weeping and surrounding Fugaku's body.

Uchiha Shisui suddenly teleported, arriving in front of the three of them with a muffled groan as he suppressed the pain.

The next moment, a huge green giant appeared out of thin air, including Shisui and Itachi Uchiha. In the instant it appeared, it punched several radical Uchiha who were still stubbornly resisting to death.

Uchiha Shisui stood within Susanoo, tears that had been held back for so long finally streaming down his face as the Uchiha people in front of him gave up their resistance.

Elder Yuzhi stopped what he was doing and said, still somewhat numbly and mechanically, "The radicals have been eliminated. Those who remain mentally unstable should be primarily educated and reformed."

Without clan members, we cannot protect the Uchiha.

He lowered his head, his body swaying, but his eyes remained vacant. After a while, he returned to normal. However, even with his eyes clear, he could no longer see the madness he had shown before. He simply watched the tragic state of his family with a helpless and silent demeanor.

Looking at the corpses strewn across the clan's territory and the devastated buildings, Uchiha Shisui helplessly dispelled his Susanoo state.

Turning his head, Uchiha Shisui only saw Uchiha Mikoto tightly holding Uchiha Fugaku's body, her other hand tightly holding Sasuke, while Itachi stood aside like an outsider, only tears had washed away the bloodstains and slid down the bloodstains on his face.

His tear tracks seemed to deepen at that moment. After the battle ended, he slowly stood up, as if he wanted to reach out and touch his younger brother and mother, but hesitated for a moment, withdrew his hand, picked up the two eyeballs from Uchiha Fugaku's hand, and took a step to leave.

At that moment, Mikoto Uchiha raised her head: "Itachi... don't go..."

Uchiha Itachi remained silent, his tightly pursed lips almost crushing a piece of his lip with his teeth.

"Mother..."

His hoarse voice hadn't even had a chance to say anything.

"Itachi... I'm sorry... Itachi... It's my fault, it's my fault..."

Uchiha Mikoto cried as she reached out to grab Uchiha Itachi's clothes. Itachi stood there, bewildered, letting Mikoto hold onto his clothes tightly.

Sasuke could only cry helplessly and blankly at that moment.

The two-tomoe Sharingan in his eye sockets slowly rotated and then disappeared, but Sasuke had no mind to think about what changes had occurred to his eyes.

At that moment, he felt his mind was still a complete blank.

Itachi... Dad... Mom... Family... Village...

One after another, a series of perplexing and confusing thoughts surged through him. The immense fluctuation of his ocular power upon opening his eyes, coupled with Sasuke's overwhelming grief, caused him to sway and faint.

Within the Uchiha clan, the sounds of battle gradually ceased.

But the sound of crying gradually rose up.

Many Uchiha clan members, who had been too afraid to approach due to the aftermath of the battle, dared to get closer now to see what had happened.

However, as soon as the tribesmen approached, they saw corpses and blood all over the ground.

For a time, the screams and cries of grief for loved ones filled the air. In this blood-red night, the curtain of ambition had just been raised when it hastily and suddenly came to a tragic end.

Uchiha Itachi stared blankly at his surroundings for a long time. After a while, he lowered his eyes, opened them again, swayed his body, and took a firm step forward.

"Don't go... Itachi..." Mikoto's sobs had become hoarse, but Itachi remained standing, turning his face away, not daring to look at her, and whispered, "After what happened... I must report the details to the Hokage as soon as possible, and I must also provide an explanation on behalf of the Uchiha clan."

The Uchiha clan also needs someone to appease them...

Itachi calmly surveyed his surroundings, finally fixing his gaze on Shisui, who stood battered and bruised in the distance, silently staring at him.

A gentle evening breeze blew by, causing their black hair to sway softly. The tender moonlight illuminated the two people covered in blood, and the two pairs of Mangekyou Sharingan eyes, unable to be concealed due to their intense emotions, reflected each other's figures.

The night breeze, which used to be filled with the scent of earth, now carried only a nauseating, heavy stench of blood. Behind Shisui lay the corpses of Uchiha clansmen strewn across the ground, while behind Itachi lay the lifeless body of Uchiha Fugaku.

Everyone was covered in the blood of their loved ones.

Itachi and Shisui stared at each other in silence.

Neither of them spoke or made any move, but their two weary and silent eyes lowered simultaneously, each filled with a sense of bewilderment and pain, as if they had no one to confide in.

This world is always so cruel, subjecting the gentle to harsh trials.

Perhaps if I had told Yuzuru all this sooner, perhaps I could have made a decision sooner, perhaps...

but...

Itachi quietly watched everything that was happening around him. His hands and feet, which had been numb and cold, gradually regained sensation over time.

He took a small step and broke free from his mother's fingers.

The Uchiha clan has gone down the wrong path.

Someone has to personally correct all of this.

And I...

It is our duty.

Itachi didn't dare look at his mother's face, and only repeated in a low, hoarse voice, "I'm sorry, Mom."

He walked out with faltering steps.

Shisui belatedly started moving, subconsciously speeding up, but his body, now at its limit, stumbled and nearly tripped over a corpse that had been knocked there by someone.

He stepped over the corpse, not wanting to look into its unseeing eyes, and simply uttered a hasty, low apology before chasing after Uchiha Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi, however, simply said in a voice so calm that Shisui could not comprehend it, "The people of the Uchiha clan are your responsibility to appease."

With Elder Yan here, this matter won't be too difficult.

please. "

Shisui nodded subconsciously and stopped walking. He was lost in thought and wanted to say something, but when he actually opened his mouth, he realized that Itachi had already walked far away.

His figure disappeared behind the walls of the family compound, and the night swallowed his silhouette.

With a blank expression, Shisui worked alongside Elder Uchiha En, who was handling the 'aftermath' in an orderly manner within the clan. Seeing the other's calm and composed demeanor, he once again deeply felt the power of his own eyes.

If only it had been earlier...

If only I had been more decisive...

If they had ambushed Chief Fugaku with Kotoamatsukami before he discovered it, instead of clinging to wishful thinking and trying to persuade him to change his mind at the last minute...

Perhaps, Itachi wouldn't have had to do all these things, and I could have borne all the sins alone...

Shisui clenched her fists, and tears involuntarily streamed down her face. Under the incomprehensible gazes of those around her, she turned her back, covered her face with one hand, and slammed the other hand against the wall in pain and anger, suddenly bursting into tears.

I'm sorry... Itachi...