Chapter 106: One Who Knows Anger Should Also Know Sorrow
The slaughter within the Uchiha clan grounds had ceased, but the slaughter outside was just beginning.
And this time, the targets of the massacre were the Root ninja, who usually wielded the butcher's knife.
"Guar— Ah!!"
These dozens of elite ninja from Root, before Menma, were like frail children waving small wooden sticks.
Their ninjutsu and secret techniques couldn't touch Menma in the slightest, nor could they even discern where the silent attacks came from.
And whenever a light breeze blew past,
Swish swish swish!!
Several Root ninjas' heads would again fall to the ground, like weeds being harvested, falling section by section.
The thick scent of blood drifted through this forest with the wind.
Too terrifying!
That masked man just stood there, just quietly standing there watching them.
The heads of their comrades beside them fell neatly from their necks like ripe fruit.
They couldn't even see where the attacks came from, even feeling as if they were in a genjutsu.
It was like... like...
"Like there's a Grim Reaper holding a scythe!!"
The slight breeze at their necks was like the Grim Reaper's scythe, with no telling when it would fall.
Faced with this unknown fear of death, even the well-trained Root ninja felt an uncontrollable panic rise within them!
"Monster! Monster! Ah!!"
"Lord Danzō, I... I've failed you!"
With the first Root ninja breaking rank and fleeing, the remaining few ANBU whose spirits were on the verge of collapse completely broke down.
Knowing that fleeing midway might lead to execution by cursed seal, the few remaining Root ninja still ran into the distance, faces full of terror.
Menma stood his ground, watching them flee wretchedly with his own eyes.
Actually... actually not pursuing?!
Realizing the terrifying masked man behind them hadn't given chase, the few Root ninja couldn't help but show joy on their faces.
Their steps rushing into the distance quickened considerably, the hope in their eyes growing stronger, almost bursting forth.
But they clearly hadn't realized they had already become prey in the hunter's eyes.
In the next moment.
"Heh, witness the despair after hope is shattered."
Menma, standing in place, sneered coldly.
The few Root ninja who had already fled a hundred meters away only felt the scene before their eyes twist and change.
Instantly, they abruptly found themselves back before that devil.
No, perhaps... that was just their wishful thinking.
They had never left their original spot from the very beginning.
"Genjutsu?! Since when..."
Unfortunately, no one would answer their doubts.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh!!
Invisible wind blades blew past with the breeze, and the last few Root ninja were completely reduced to scattered chunks of flesh.
At this point, all Root ninja responsible for guarding the barrier were dead, without even having time to send a signal or give any indication.
Menma activated his Mind's Eye, looking far towards the Uchiha clan grounds.
"Looks like... it's reaching its end."
...
Uchiha Sasuke walked through the dark clan grounds, forcibly suppressing the unease in his heart, quickly running back home.
Seeing the figure in the meditation room, he pushed open the door in a panic and walked in.
Click!
"Dad! Mom! Outside, Aunt Uruchi and Uncle Teyaki, they..."
But just as he pushed open the door, the pungent smell of blood assailed his nostrils.
Sasuke froze on the spot, terror gradually appearing in his eyes.
Because he saw... saw his parents collapsed in a pool of blood.
"Dad... Mom..."
The next second, a pair of scarlet eyes was revealed in the darkness.
Drip~ Drip~
Uchiha Itachi slowly walked out from the shadows, fresh blood dripping from his short sword.
The tears on his face had long since dried, his scarlet, evil Sharingan incomparably cold.
Staring deadly intently at Sasuke before him, staring at his beloved younger brother.
"Bro-brother?"
Looking at his blood-soaked older brother, Sasuke's eyes widened, an absurd thought suddenly rising in his heart.
But his brother... how could he do such a thing?
Fake... it must be fake.
Sasuke couldn't believe his own thoughts, forcing a smile: "Brother, what happened? Why are Dad and Mom..."
But before he could finish,
Swish!!
A sharp kunai suddenly flew out, whizzing past Sasuke's shoulder and embedding itself fiercely into the wall behind him.
Blood and sweat mingled as they flowed out.
"Brother... why..."
The sharp pain in his shoulder made Sasuke's mind go blank, his stunned eyes staring straight at Itachi.
"My foolish little brother. Can you still not recognize reality now?"
Uchiha Itachi's cold tone was like a merciless blade, viciously stabbing into Sasuke's heart.
Bewilderment, fear, anger...
All sorts of complex emotions surged into his heart, making the string in Sasuke's mind stretch taut.
"Why..."
Tears flowed from his eyes. Sasuke's eyes gradually turned red, two tomoe appearing in each.
Under the guidance of this inexplicable power, Sasuke's emotions erupted like volcanic lava.
He questioned hysterically: "I'm asking you, why?!"
Seeing the tomoe in his younger brother's eyes, Itachi's heart first felt a flicker of joy, then some disappointment.
Seeing his father and mother's corpses... only resulted in one tomoe? (It was two tomoe).
Seems greater stimulation is needed.
Thinking this, Uchiha Itachi said coldly: "Why?"
"Naturally, to test my own capacity, to obtain even greater power!"
Capacity?
Sasuke heard this, blood gradually appearing in his eyes, an even stronger sense of absurdity rising in his heart.
He asked back in disbelief: "Just to test your capacity? For such a boring reason?! You killed Dad and Mom?!"
"What kind of joke is this, bastard!!??"
Sasuke forcefully suppressed the fear in his heart, his arm trembling as he drew a kunai from his waist.
Immediately, fine lightning crackled around his body. With astonishing speed, he lunged straight at Itachi, kunai in hand.
Thump!!
In a flash, Sasuke was again kicked back by Uchiha Itachi.
Before Sasuke could react, Itachi's figure flickered, directly reaching out and grabbing his slender neck.
The two pairs of scarlet eyes met.
Looking at the pattern in Itachi's eyes, Sasuke trembled all over, eyes wide.
This is... what?
"This is the Mangekyō Sharingan."
As if sensing his confusion, Uchiha Itachi said coldly: "This is the power of the Uchiha clan, the power I obtained after killing my closest friends and family!"
To match his words, he also revealed a ferocious, cruel smile.
Sasuke stared deadly intently at his older brother before him.
He actually felt so unfamiliar, so evil, so disgusting.
"These disgusting eyes! This evil power!!"
Sasuke grit his teeth, the single tomoe in his eyes spinning rapidly, glaring angrily at Itachi: "Power obtained through such means... is there anything worth being joyful about?!!"
This kind of power... even if offered to him, he wouldn't want it!!
Yet this guy Uchiha Itachi actually...
"Hmph, such childish thoughts."
Uchiha Itachi snorted coldly, not meaning a word: "The reason Mom and Dad died is because they were too weak before me!!"
"My foolish little brother, now I'll let you see reality!"
As his voice fell, he lifted Sasuke, the Mangekyō Sharingan beginning to spin rapidly.
"Tsukuyomi!"
In an instant, Sasuke's eyes widened, his body frozen stiff, a terrifying scream erupting from his mouth.
In the endless Tsukuyomi space, he saw his once-gentle older brother, Uchiha Itachi, reaping the lives of their clansmen like a demon.
Those familiar uncles and aunts, those old people and children...
In the end, he even turned the butcher's knife on Mom and Dad!!
"No! No!!"
Seeing this scene, a heart-wrenching scream tore from Sasuke's mouth.
Uchiha Itachi, seeing his Sharingan change to two tomoe, couldn't help but feel a flicker of joy.
He forcefully suppressed the joy in his heart, speaking coldly: "My foolish little brother, you are too weak now, not even worth being killed by me."
"If you want to kill me, then hate me, despise me! Then run, live on pathetically!!"
"Wait until you have the same eyes as me, then come find me!!"
Thump!
As if throwing away trash, he flung Sasuke in his hand to the side.
But before he could leave, a voice came from the distance.
"You said just now, how far can those eyes of yours see?"
Uchiha Itachi subconsciously turned his head upon hearing this.
Looking at the mysterious masked man who suddenly appeared in the distance, a grave look flashed in his eyes.
"You..."
He was about to say something, but just then,
Uchiha Itachi suddenly felt the hairs on his body stand on end, an extreme sense of dread welling up in his heart. Under a powerful instinctive reaction, he dodged sideways.
Vrooom!!
A piercing wind sound blew past his ear. Uchiha Itachi only felt a sudden coldness on his shoulder.
The next second.
BOOM!!
The wall behind him was instantly sliced with two neat cracks, the entire room beginning to shake precariously.
"Is this unsealed Wind Release, or a Kekkei Genkai??"
Feeling the coldness on his shoulder, Uchiha Itachi finally realized that a wound deep enough to see bone had actually been cut on his shoulder.
Suddenly, as if realizing something, he looked up again at the masked man in front.
Vrooom!!
Sure enough, the familiar sound echoed again.
Is it from the front, or...
"Front!"
The thought arose. Uchiha Itachi was just about to dodge sideways, but his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of Sasuke behind him.
If he dodged like this, Sasuke, completely defenseless, would surely be injured.
No! I must block it head-on!
But forming hand seals now was completely too late!
"Only the inextinguishable flames can do it!"
The thought flashed through his mind. Itachi halted his evasive maneuver, the shuriken pattern in his pupils spinning rapidly.
He then looked straight at the masked man before him, his right eye showing dense blood vessels.
A trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his eye, streaking down his cheek.
"Amaterasu!!"
A mass of pitch-black flames appeared out of thin air, guided by his pupil power to block his front.
These were the black flames of Amaterasu, flames capable of burning everything!
No matter what it faced, Amaterasu would not be extinguished until it had burned its target to cinders.
FWOOSH!!
Facing the invisible wind blades, the black flames directly incinerated them!
But this wasn't the end.
After burning the invisible wind blades, the black flames continued unstoppably towards Menma.
"Flames that can never burn someone to death, hmm? A bit interesting."
Feeling the oncoming heat, Menma raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
Immediately, his toes lightly tapped the ground.
BOOM!!
Large spiderweb cracks appeared on the ground, and Menma instantly vanished from the spot, leaving only an afterimage behind.
The black flames of Amaterasu could only pass through the afterimage, landing harmlessly on the wall, emitting a harsh crackling sound.
"This speed... pure physical strength?!"
Uchiha Itachi also stared wide-eyed in horror, his blurred vision constantly searching for the masked man's figure.
He never imagined that the masked man, possessing such ninjutsu skill, would also have such formidable taijutsu prowess.
That guy's speed was even fast enough to dodge his line of sight when releasing Amaterasu.
And just then.
"Where are you looking?"
A playful, mocking voice came from behind Itachi, and along with it, a seemingly slender fist.
But when Itachi sensed this fist wind, a trace of horror instantly flashed in his eyes.
"This punch... is unavoidable!"
Accompanied by a whistling fist wind, this seemingly light punch smashed directly into Uchiha Itachi.
BOOM!!!
In an instant, Uchiha Itachi felt an incomparably vast force land on his body.
Under this extremely terrifying power, Itachi's expression couldn't help but become exceptionally twisted and ferocious.
Crack!
Following a crisp sound of bones breaking,
Uchiha Itachi's figure was actually directly dispersed, breaking apart into countless black crows.
But the force of this punch wouldn't diminish in the slightest due to this sudden change.
Splat! Splat!!
Countless crows were directly smashed by this punch, mangled flesh and blood raining down from the sky like water.
The exploding flesh and blood even formed a blood mist, lingering in the air for a long time.
However, some crows also exploded into white smoke, dissipating into mid-air.
"Caw caw caw!!"
The horrifying, noisy cawing of crows lingered in his ears, along with the stench of blood and falling feathers.
All of this made Menma frown in disgust, his originally good mood instantly turning sour.
"Crow Clone Technique?"
Quite similar to that guy Orochimaru's Great Snake Body Replacement Technique.
One uses genjutsu and summoned beasts, the other uses superb physical modification techniques.
However, both are equally disgusting and unlucky.
The remaining crows continuously cawed harshly, flapping their wings and flying towards the outside of the house.
Finally, they gradually entangled together, revealing Uchiha Itachi's figure.
"Cough!!"
Although Uchiha Itachi had mitigated the damage of that punch, he still knelt on one knee on the ground and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Blood even flowed from his eyes, nose, and mouth, making his entire person look like he was made of blood.
But disregarding his injuries, Uchiha Itachi abruptly raised his head, looking straight at the masked man before him.
The Mangekyō in his eyes spun rapidly as he said in an incomparably cold tone: "You... let him go!!"
He saw Sasuke, originally collapsed on the ground, now held in Menma's hand.
At this moment, Sasuke's eyes were vacant, showing no reaction to his surroundings, clearly his spirit already somewhat scattered due to Tsukuyomi.
"Hmm? Angry now?"
Menma's voice was low, his tone sarcastic: "One who knows anger, should also know sorrow."
"But I only see your hypocrisy and selfishness."
(End of Chapter)
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