Reviews and powerstones pls
Chapter 62: Love Little Brother More, Love Village More
Though Sasori knew Itachi still had lingering feelings for the village and probably some attachments, he completely never expected Itachi would be so decisive—betraying on the battlefield, brazenly attacking him.
Itachi's strike was both fast and ruthless. The timing chosen was excellent—precisely when Sasori was about to defeat the enemy, with fundamentally no room to dodge.
This punch landed solidly.
Though Hiruko's shell was also meticulously crafted by Sasori with extraordinary materials, under Susanoo's heavy strike, it had absolutely no resistance capability and immediately exploded.
Boom!
The explosive sound was mixed with the "crack crack" crisp sounds of precision mechanisms disintegrating. The poison needles, blades, and various other mechanisms hidden inside Hiruko didn't have time to activate before being ground into scrap metal by violent chakra.
The heavy punch's momentum remained, smashing heavily onto the earth, deeply embedding into the ground, pulverizing the stone slabs paved on the ground. Spiderweb-like cracks extended all the way to the street's end.
Debris mixed with puppet fragments flew everywhere—their power even greater than senbon needles.
Itachi withdrew Susanoo's fist, turning his head to look toward the adjacent rooftop. He saw a red-haired youth suddenly appear there. Between slender fingers coiled chakra threads barely visible to the naked eye. He looked coldly at him with both eyes.
"Itachi, is this your choice?"
"Truly foolish and naive!"
"You've also witnessed Akatsuki's power. Do you think anyone in Konoha Village can stop us?"
"Or do you plan to be destroyed together with Konoha Village?"
Kotetsu Hagane and others seized this opportunity to retreat one after another, gathering together. Looking at the two confronting figures before them, they were somewhat confused.
"What's going on? Are they having internal strife?"
"Should we seize the opportunity to strike and eliminate one first?"
"Which one to choose?"
"Choose Uchiha Itachi! He understands the village too well. Best to eliminate him first!"
"Good, everyone act accordingly!"
Konoha's many ninja began slowly changing formation, ready at any time to attack Itachi.
But Itachi fundamentally didn't acknowledge them. He only stood there quietly, looking down at the box in his arms, face wooden, voice hoarse:
"Yasushi killed my little brother!"
"Hehe..." Sasori couldn't help sneering coldly. A scroll slid from his sleeve, gripped in his hand. "You even killed your dad!"
"Don't bring up your little brother!"
"Ask your heart honestly—do you really believe Yasushi killed your little brother?"
"You really don't suspect Danzo at all?"
"If so, then why did you initially go to the Third to confirm an answer to a question?"
"Admit it!"
"You just need an excuse to return to Konoha Village!"
"You only need the Third to tell you your little brother was killed by Yasushi, and you'll believe him without hesitation, then continue serving the village with peace of mind!"
"Yasushi was right!"
"You're just a well-domesticated bitch raised by those politicians in the village!"
"Parents can be killed, but the master can't be touched!"
"Hehe..."
"Cold-hearted as you are—even thoroughly eliminating your clan—how could you truly care about a mere little brother?"
Facing Sasori's heart-piercing words, Itachi didn't respond. He only silently extended his hand, opened his palm, and clenched emptily twice.
That feeling of blood covering both hands during the clan massacre that day—the memory remained fresh even now, as though just moments ago.
Memories stabbed like kunai into his temples. Comrades who died miserably on battlefields, various family tragedies caused by wars witnessed since childhood, Shisui who chose suicide in despair...
Various people and events also flooded into his mind, making his eyes increasingly swollen and painful.
He involuntarily covered both eyes, breathing heavily and rapidly.
The Uchiha were an obsessive clan. The stronger the Uchiha, the more easily their thinking tended toward extremes.
Or conversely—the more extreme an Uchiha's thinking, the easier they became stronger.
Especially those Uchiha who awakened Mangekyo Sharingan—the extreme thoughts produced in their minds upon awakening could almost be called obsessions.
The reason obsessions were obsessions was that their thinking had already fallen into infinite loops, unable to resolve!
No matter what happened, it would only make Mangekyo Uchiha more obsessive, their obsessions deeper.
All their behaviors would only be driven forward by these obsessions, not deviating half a bit.
Even unto death!
Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Yasushi... none were exceptions!
Normally, under the obsession's trend, Mangekyo Uchiha making any kind of extreme behavior wasn't surprising. Even completely falling into madness was reasonable.
Including Madara and Obito's Moon Eye Plan, Shisui's desperate suicide, Fugaku's resignation to slaughter—these extreme behaviors were actually insane actions made under Mangekyo obsession's influence.
Normal people all knew these behaviors were irrational, but Mangekyo Uchiha were never normal people!
The reason some Mangekyo Uchiha seemed like normal people was purely because they still possessed humanity's anchors in this world.
These anchors allowed them to still possess humanity and self, not completely losing themselves in obsessions.
With this humanity anchor present, Mangekyo Uchiha could barely be considered normal people.
But once losing humanity's anchor, most Mangekyo Uchiha only had the path of madness left.
What could become anchors were people who formed deep bonds with them.
Madara's anchor was Senju Hashirama. Obito's anchor was Rin. Itachi's anchor was Sasuke.
And now, Sasuke was dead!
After losing Sasuke, this humanity anchor, Itachi inevitably slid madly toward obsession's abyss.
Under the hidden influence of Yasushi's right eye ocular technique, after repeatedly pulling back and forth, swaying left and right for many days, Itachi finally thoroughly fell into the abyss at this moment.
Itachi lowered his hands, allowing bloody tears to flow freely from both eyes, saying woodenly:
"Yes, I even eliminated my clan. What am I clinging to one little brother for?"
"When I initially decided to accept the mission, I should have known this day would come!"
"For the village, for peace, I already proactively chose to walk this path!"
"Walked it, yet walked it incompletely!"
After speaking, Itachi's other hand released. The box in his palm fell freely, crashing to the ground.
The box lid flipped open. Sasuke's severed head rolled out from inside, spinning twice on the ground, staring with dead fish-like eyes, wordlessly gazing at his own older brother.
Looking at his once most beloved little brother's severed head, Itachi suddenly covered both eyes, laughing wildly toward the sky.
"Hahaha..."
"Does who killed my little brother matter?"
"It's all my choice!"
"It's all the result I caused!"
"It's all for the village!"
"It's all for peace!"
"The village must be at peace!"
"The village must have peace!"
"Whoever wants to destroy the village's peace must..."
"Die!"
****
50+advance chapters at patreon.com/Eatinpieces