Chapter 486: Some Answers
The night was beautiful.
Because it rained in the afternoon, the night sky looked as if it had been washed, a deep purple like the finest velvet; starlight was inlaid in between, like sparkling gems in the purple night sky.
A crescent moon hung high in the sky, shyly sprinkling moonlight onto the ground, illuminating the ground neither too brightly nor too dimly, hazy just right.
Konoha at night was draped in faint silver moonlight; the street lights were dim, pedestrians were few, very lonely.
Haruno Sakura and Sasuke walked on the empty street, one after another, their steps strangely consistent.
Tap, tap.
Sakura walked in front and suddenly slowed down. Waiting for Sasuke to catch up, she turned her head and said: "What do you want to ask?"
Might as well chat a bit. Sakura thought.
Sasuke pondered for a moment.
"Actually, I've been thinking about Sai." He hesitated for a moment and said, "He is a member of Root. Why did he gain the approval of Naruto and the others in that world?"
Haruno Sakura glanced at him, not thinking this was the question Sasuke really wanted to ask.
She turned her head, looked at the dark street ahead, thinking, recalling the plot described by Naruto and others in that world.
"Sai is a new member who replaced you in Team 7. Naruto and the others didn't elaborate on how he gained Team 7's approval as a Root ninja..." Haruno Sakura said slowly, "But I think they didn't need to do anything special. To gain others' trust, the simplest and most effective way is nothing more than treating people with sincerity."
"Naruto is always best at this. He... is the most infectious guy among us." The girl raised her head to look at the vast boundless sea of stars, her voice becoming ethereal.
"If it's him, even if Sai is a Root-born, stone-hearted ninja, it wouldn't be strange to be gradually influenced!"
She recalled Naruto's infectious smile.
A smile couldn't help but appear on her face too.
Sasuke didn't reply, just imitated her and looked at the starry sky. His black pupils reflected the starry sky, and he also remembered that eternally energetic dead-last little idiot.
For a moment, the street fell into silence.
Silence, but not awkward dead silence, but a reassuring tranquility echoing with rhythmic footsteps and slight breathing sounds.
There are two realms of getting along with friends: at first, you can chat; later, you can be silent.
These two were obviously the latter, thinking of the same person, a silence full of tacit understanding.
Walked for a while.
"To be honest... what you want to ask isn't this, right!" Haruno Sakura spoke suddenly, breaking the tranquility.
Sasuke looked at her silently.
Hesitating for a moment, he still spoke slowly: "Actually it's nothing... you guessed it all."
Once the words were spoken, it became much easier. The boy breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "It's still about Uchiha and the village. I haven't been able to figure out why the me of that world reached that point..."
The boy put his hands in his pockets, looking at the cold moonlight above his head, speaking calmly.
The autumn night wind carried a bit of chill, passing through the alley, brushing the broken hair on the boy's forehead.
Bringing a bleak atmosphere.
"I can understand the defection. He was bewitched and influenced by Orochimaru, young in age, thoughts got into a dead end for a while... so he went down the wrong path."
Sasuke actually had similar thoughts a few years ago, but the himself here was not influenced by Orochimaru, his mentality was more grounded and able to endure loneliness, ultimately choosing the cultivation path of Lightning Release.
"But later he claimed to slaughter Konoha for revenge, I couldn't understand that."
He turned his head, looking at the girl listening silently beside him, and said: "I can't imagine at all... what exactly happened to make me angry enough to draw swords against you, Naruto, and Kakashi."
"I rather suspect that the Uchiha who only revealed one eye is very problematic..." He paused and said, "I just went home and looked through the family tree and the records of Mangekyo awakeners, didn't find the existence of this person."
"Very suspicious."
Sasuke repeated.
"And what he said was also very weird, right?" The girl also said solemnly.
"Yes," Sasuke nodded, "I also looked through the village records. The Nine-Tails has always been controlled only by Jinchuriki and Mangekyo Sharingan, and the Nine-Tails' eyes indeed changed back then, even briefly appearing as three-tomoe..." (Manga Chapter 503 Page 5)
"Obviously, the Nine-Tails was controlled by the Sharingan."
"That person said it was a natural disaster, only able to deceive the me of that world who couldn't access Konoha's data."
"Although I really don't want to admit it... this matter is indeed directly related to the Sharingan. But the problem is, our clan didn't have clansmen who awakened the Mangekyo back then, which means Uchiha didn't possess the ability to control the Nine-Tails!"
After finishing this long paragraph, Sasuke turned his head and looked at Haruno Sakura with a solemn expression.
Haruno Sakura continued to move forward silently, her light steps becoming a bit heavy.
Sasuke stopped for a moment and continued to speak his thoughts.
"So... a possibility appears, perhaps the only possibility."
"That is—"
Speaking of this, Sasuke's expression became gloomy, terribly dark.
"The Nine-Tails incident was triggered by this mysterious clansman outside the Uchiha records!"
Haruno Sakura lowered her eyelids, remaining silent for a long time.
She had the same thought, just lacked some decisive evidence. Sakura didn't expect that just traveling with her once, Sasuke would also reach this conjecture.
Sasuke didn't speak either, patiently following her, walking silently on the streets of Konoha.
"I originally wanted to take you back to the night of the massacre to see the truth of the incident. Unexpectedly, we traveled to a future time..." After a while, the girl finally spoke, saying faintly, "And obtained a lot of new intelligence."
"Looking at it now, that mysterious masked man likely instigated many things behind the scenes."
Not only Konoha, but the Land of Water was also interfered by him. Slaughtering Kekkei Genkai families, forcing the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to rebel, carrying out the Blood Mist Village reform... all had the shadow of the masked man behind them.
What exactly is he planning? Akatsuki, masked man, Tailed Beasts, Uchiha... entangled together. With the excavation of clues, the incident gradually became clear.
Haruno Sakura felt she was not far from the truth.
"Next time, let's go back from the Roran ruins to the Night of the Nine-Tails to see what the truth of the incident is, how about it?"
The girl proposed.
"There is a next time?"
"After the Ley Line energy of the Roran ruins is consumed, it will slowly recover on its own. When it recovers, we can conduct the next travel." Haruno Sakura smiled faintly and said, "But this will take some time."
"Just right, since we are returning to the Night of the Nine-Tails, we can wait for Naruto to return before acting, and go with him then." Thinking of Naruto's life experience, Sakura added.
"Bring Naruto?" Sasuke was stunned.
"...Oh, alright."
Walking here, it was a crossroads.
Haruno Sakura's home to the left, Sasuke's home to the right.
"Then..."
Then it's time to say goodbye.
Before the intersection, the girl's steps stopped.
Looking up at the sky, the thin veil-like clouds half covered the crescent moon, moonlight sprinkled more shyly on the road in front, reflecting everything under the night shadowily.
Silent for a little while.
"Then..." Haruno Sakura tapped the ground with her toes subconsciously and said slowly, "Sasuke, do you have anything else to ask?"
"One more thing... about Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke hesitated, mustered up courage, and brought out the question hidden deeper in his heart, "That Sasuke said a sentence that made me very concerned. Only at that time in battle, it was inconvenient for me to ask."
"At that time he said, I forgot Itachi's care for me..."
Sasuke took a deep breath.
This was obviously an unreasonable sentence, yet it was spoken by that Sasuke as a matter of course.
Obviously, in that Sasuke's mind, his brother Itachi and his parents held the same status, and he didn't regard him as a revenge target with a blood feud.
Why did Itachi's status in his heart undergo a drastic change?
What exactly happened, what was the inside story, that caused such a huge psychological change in that Sasuke?!
"About Itachi, you should know much more than me..." The boy said slowly.
His eyes stared at the girl's face, longing for an answer, yet fearing the answer at the same time.
Haruno Sakura looked back calmly.
"I do know some things." She sighed and said, "But—"
"Because it involves the village's confidentiality regulations, and the agreement I made with others..."
Under the faint moonlight, Sasuke's eyes dimmed a bit, the disappointed expression on his face completely revealed.
"Is that so?"
Haruno Sakura nodded.
"Sorry, Sasuke. I can't tell you."
"Hn..." The girl murmured, turning around.
"Then..." She tilted her head and thought for a moment, saying, "If this is your last question."
"I should go."
Sasuke stood still, looking at the girl's back, his lips moved, but he said nothing.
Haruno Sakura walked two steps forward, suddenly turned around, smiled slightly: "Oh... right."
"Good night, Sasuke."
The boy was stunned, then lowered his head and chuckled lightly.
"Hn... Good night, Sakura."
"Sweet dreams."
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!