"Is…is anyone there?! Someone, please help!!!"
Satsuki stumbled out of the Uchiha Clan compound, which was completely enveloped in the stench of blood and death. She ran desperately, crying and screaming with all her might.
Tears blurred her vision, making the night road even harder to navigate. She yearned to hear a response, to see the familiar uniform of a Leaf Village patrol Ninja emerge from the shadows of a street corner, stop her, and ask what had happened.
However, the only reply was her own hollow echo and the rustling of leaves in the distant wind.
The Uchiha Clan's residential area, due to so-called "isolation" and "surveillance," was situated on the outermost edge of the village. At night, this area was almost devoid of other villagers apart from the Uchiha Clan members, let alone frequently patrolling Ninja.
Everything she had just experienced replayed in her mind like fragments of the most grotesque, most insane nightmare, over and over again.
Just a short while ago, her entire world was complete and warm. There was her mother's gentle, kind smile, her father's gaze, which, though strict, always showed concern in the details, and her older sister, whom she had always chased after, admired, and trusted—a powerful and reliable presence in her heart…
Yet, on this very night, all of it was thoroughly and cruelly crushed before her eyes.
Her gentle mother, her caring father… lay in pools of blood. And the one who gave the command to kill, who even personally carried out the act, was none other than her most trusted older sister!
Her world collapsed.
An unprecedented, bone-chilling sense of emptiness spread wildly from the deepest part of her heart, quickly eroding her limbs and reaching deep into her lungs.
She had lost almost everything, but… Naruto! Absolutely… absolutely she cannot let her kill Naruto!
This thought, like a final straw, gave Satsuki, who was on the verge of collapsing, a glimmer of strength to carry on. She gritted her teeth, letting tears stream down her face, but once again quickened her pace, using her last ounce of strength to run towards the center of the village, where theoretically there might be people.
However, in the next moment, Satsuki's frantic steps froze in place.
Icy despair instantly seized her heart.
Because that nightmare-like figure—Uchiha Itachi—stood silently in the middle of the road not far ahead of her, completely blocking all her escape routes.
What made Satsuki's blood run cold even more was that in Itachi's hand, Naruto was dangling limply, as if he were an object! The blond boy's eyes were tightly shut, and a look of pain still lingered on his face.
"Naruto…"
Satsuki's voice trembled almost beyond recognition. Yes… how could Satsuki forget, the disparity in strength was an insurmountable chasm.
But…
But seeing Naruto held in Itachi's hand like an object, an emotion far more intense than fear surged to Satsuki's head! Even though her body trembled violently from fear, even though tears blurred her vision making it almost impossible to see ahead, Satsuki still took action!
"Let… let go of Naruto!"
She screamed almost instinctively, simultaneously grabbing her Ninja tool pouch at her waist, pulling out two shuriken, and with a tearful, disorganized fury, hurled them fiercely towards Uchiha Itachi's neck!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
However, faced with this hateful yet incredibly naive attack, Uchiha Itachi didn't even blink. She merely casually raised the short sword in her hand.
Clang! Clang!
Two crisp metallic clashes sounded almost simultaneously, and the two shuriken were easily deflected, clattering to the ground.
The frustration of her attack being easily nullified and an even greater fear washed over her, but Satsuki did not give up. She swiftly began to form hand signs, attempting to gather the Chakra within her body.
"Fire Style: Grand Fire…?!"
But she had only completed half of the hand signs, and the name of the Ninjutsu had not even been fully uttered—
The figure before her vanished abruptly like a ghost!
In the next instant, a suffocating pressure enveloped her from the front! Uchiha Itachi had appeared before her in a flash.
The hand that had been holding Naruto released him, and Naruto's body fell to the ground beside her. And that now-free hand once again clamped tightly around Satsuki's slender neck, forcefully cutting off her unformed Ninjutsu in her throat!
A strong sense of suffocation surged again, sending Satsuki's feet off the ground as she struggled in vain, her hands desperately trying to pry open that hand.
Uchiha Itachi's crimson Sharingan coldly watched her sister struggling painfully in her grip, her eyes filled with fear and pleading. Just then, the warning from the man in the fox mask echoed in her mind again—Do not do anything unnecessary to Satsuki.
The next second, the pressure on her throat suddenly vanished.
"Cough! Cough, cough, cough…"
Satsuki once again fell to the cold ground, coughing violently, gagging, and greedily gasping for the cold air. However, this time, the physical pain was far less than the complete collapse of her inner defenses.
Twice in a row, she had been easily subdued like a baby, utterly powerless to resist, unable to even harm her opponent in the slightest… The desperate disparity in strength completely crushed and extinguished the tiny spark of fighting spirit and courage that had just ignited in her heart.
She looked up, at her older sister, who was looking down at her, at her deep, blood-red eyes that showed no emotional fluctuations.
That tiny bit of courage she had mustered earlier was long gone, leaving only the most primal fear of death.
"Don't… don't kill me…"
Uchiha Itachi quietly gazed at her sister, who had fallen to the ground and was trembling with fear. To stain those eyes with the blood-red of hatred, there was now only one last method left.
Her thoughts drifted back to a few years ago, to those still peaceful times. At home, after training, at the dinner table, and even during bedtime chats, her younger sister's mouth repeatedly brought up one name with an impressive frequency—Naruto.
"Today, I beat Naruto in a Taijutsu spar again. Even though he's still clumsy, he seems a bit stronger than before…"
"Sister, Sister, do you know? Naruto's favorite restaurant is Ichiraku Ramen. He took me there to eat, and it tasted pretty good. Let's go together next time."
"Naruto, he…"
From trivial daily matters to subtle expressions and actions, everything about the blond boy could become Satsuki's topic of conversation. It was the first and only time Itachi had seen Satsuki show such intense attention, reliance, and even a clumsy, pure admiration for someone outside the family, which she herself had not even realized.
To get the plan back on the "correct" track, to force those eyes to awaken, this was the only way… Itachi murmured in her heart, completely freezing that last trace of reluctance.
Itachi spoke, "My foolish little sister, someone like you isn't even worth me killing."
Having said that, Uchiha Itachi slowly raised the short sword in her hand. This time, the blade was not aimed at Satsuki, but steadily, precisely—pointed at the collapsed Naruto!
The blade's position was exquisitely controlled to be a few inches away from the heart, enough to cause a seemingly horrifying severe injury, but by no means fatal.
However, all this precise calculation was completely indistinguishable in Satsuki's already shattered eyes.
In her vision, she could only confirm one incredibly clear and terrifying thing—Uchiha Itachi was going to, right before her eyes, completely destroy the last remaining, most important light in her life!
Satsuki's breathing instantly completely stopped, her pupils dilated to the extreme, "…No!!"
A scream, almost inhuman, burst from her throat. She lunged forward, but was unable to move an inch due to fear and powerlessness, only able to futilely extend her trembling hand.
"I understand! I understand everything! Please! Let Naruto go! Don't hurt him!!"
"Kill me! Take my life for his! Please… Sister… don't touch Naruto… Please…"