"Escaped?!"
Tekka, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed in front of Beam. His eyes were as wide as bells, veins bulging on his forehead.
"How did he escape?! Talk!"
Beam kicked him away.
"How should I know?"
Makoto was one thing, but what right did a dead man have to talk to him like that?
Tekka, kicked away, gritted his teeth so hard they grated.
After getting up, he glared viciously at Itachi, who was being held down on the ground by the Four Gay Bros.
The anger that had subsided a little after beating Itachi surged up again.
"Damn it!"
Tekka strode back, raised his foot, and kicked Itachi in the chest.
Thud!
Itachi's body lurched backward, and the Four Gay Bros loosened their grips in tacit understanding.
Others rushed up as well.
Even beaten like this, Itachi remained completely silent.
"That person... his expression hasn't changed at all."
Just then, the observant Kaguya suddenly spoke.
At these words, the other girls also looked at Uchiha Itachi.
They noticed it too.
Although Itachi had been taking a beating since just now, his eyes hadn't changed at all from beginning to end.
Watching this scene, Makoto smiled and sighed:
"People's personalities really don't change, even in death."
This was also a line spoken by Itachi himself when he was summoned during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
That's right, even after being treated like this, Itachi didn't think he had done anything wrong from start to finish. He was the kind of person who always lived within his own logic.
Makoto looked at Megumi again.
Megumi understood immediately, stepping forward once more.
She formed a hand seal with her left hand and pressed her right hand onto the ground with a 'smack'.
"Summoning Technique."
Boom—
On the ground of the square, two more coffins rose up.
The dull, heavy sound of the coffins breaking through the earth attracted everyone's attention.
The Uchiha Clan's members who were beating Itachi stopped and turned to look at the two new coffins.
Sasuke lifted his head from his mother's embrace, his eyes still red, his vision blurry.
The coffin lids slowly opened.
When the people inside stepped out—
Itachi's expression finally changed. His eyes had been cold and unrepentant from the start, refusing to admit fault. But now, the pupil in his remaining Mangekyo Sharingan contracted sharply to a pinpoint.
From the left coffin walked a girl around Sasuke's age, about thirteen.
She had smooth black hair and a tear-shaped mole at the corner of her right eye.
Her features were delicate. Although still young, she already showed signs of becoming a great beauty.
Uchiha Izumi.
Uchiha Itachi's childhood friend.
From the right coffin walked a young woman in her early thirties, bearing an eighty percent resemblance to the girl beside her, with the same features and temperament.
Uchiha Hazuki.
Uchiha Izumi's mother.
Also someone who died at Itachi's hands.
Megumi injected Chakra into the mother and daughter.
Light gradually lit up in their hollow eye sockets.
Hazuki was the first to regain consciousness.
Her eyelids fluttered a few times, then slowly opened.
When she saw the dense crowd of onlookers around her, a trace of confusion crossed her face.
Then, her gaze fell on Itachi.
Anger, confusion, heartbreak... various expressions appeared on her face.
"Why... why?"
On the night of the massacre, Hazuki had stayed at home, waiting for her daughter, who was out on a mission, to return.
But what came wasn't her daughter, but her daughter's childhood friend… Uchiha Itachi.
At that time, Hazuki hadn't yet realized the change in Itachi.
She simply got up as usual, ready to pour tea for Itachi.
She asked if he was tired after joining the Anbu? Did he need something, coming over so late?
In her eyes, Itachi would most likely marry her daughter in the future... he was practically like a son to her.
However—
As Hazuki stood up, her response was Itachi's blade.
Even in death, she didn't understand.
Why did this child, whom she had favored since childhood, even treated like her own, have to do this?
Izumi regained consciousness a few seconds later.
She opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was a man covered in wounds, held down on the ground by a group of clansmen.
His face was battered beyond recognition, but she recognized him in an instant.
"Itachi? Is that Itachi?"
There was a trace of surprise in her voice, but more of it was joy.
She didn't know what had happened.
Her last memory was of a man wearing a mask. Then she knew nothing else.
She didn't know the truth behind the night of the massacre.
Nor did she know that the man she had loved since childhood had the blood of so many Uchiha Clan's members on his hands.
"..."
Itachi wanted to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.
Beside them, Hazuki, upon hearing her daughter's questioning, was also filled with shock. She looked at Izumi, then at Itachi, her expression shifting from anger to pain, and from pain to despair.
"Izumi... don't you know?"
Hazuki's voice trembled.
"Know what?"
Izumi tilted her head, looking confused.
The surrounding Uchiha Clan's members, Tekka, Inabi, Hachidai and others… exchanged glances, then eagerly stepped forward.
They recounted the full story of the night of the massacre to the mother and daughter, leaving nothing out.
As Izumi listened, her expression shifted from bewilderment to shock, from shock to disbelief, from disbelief to pain.
"Itachi..."
Her voice trembled.
"He... he can't... how could he..."
"You died at the hands of the masked man, didn't you?"
Makoto suddenly asked. "The person who killed your mother on the other side of the compound was Uchiha Itachi."
Makoto hadn't lied... he'd learned this from White Zetsu.
In the original work, there were two versions of Izumi's death. In the novel, she died under Itachi's Tsukuyomi, where he made her live out a false, happy life in an illusion. In the anime, she died at Obito's hands.
Looking at the current situation, this Izumi fell into the latter category.
With each word Makoto spoke, Izumi's body trembled more. By the time he finished the last sentence, she could barely stand.
Tears welled up from her body, which shouldn't have been able to cry.
Actually, the body created with the Edo Tensei cannot shed tears. But the pain Izumi showed was visible to everyone. It was a sorrow that transcended the physical, originating from the depths of her soul.
Finally, Izumi collapsed to her knees in anguish.
She lowered her head, her shoulders heaving violently, emitting suppressed, hoarse sobs.
"Why... why... Itachi... why did you do this...?"
The girls beside Makoto watched Izumi with sympathy.
Utaha couldn't help but sigh:
"That's what happens when you love the wrong person."
As she said this, she couldn't help but glance at Eriri next to her.
Eriri immediately bristled. "What are you implying?!"
Utaha silently looked away, pretending she hadn't heard anything.
Sonoko, meanwhile, looked at Ran, who was watching Izumi with sympathetic eyes. Her best friend had also loved the wrong person before, and had suffered because of it. Fortunately, she no longer had memories of that deduction maniac... that was a relief.
Watching the inconsolable Izumi, Itachi's mental world was also on the verge of collapse.
He was tortured by an overwhelming sense of guilt.
That feeling was more painful than the fists of his clansmen just now.
He turned his face away, not daring to look at Izumi anymore.
"..."
After a few minutes, Itachi finally spoke:
"Kill me."
Tekka and the others paused upon hearing this.
They looked at Itachi, then at Izumi, their expressions complex.
Upon hearing this, Izumi slowly raised her head.
She wiped away the non-existent tears and stood up.
She walked in front of Itachi, looked down at the beloved man covered in wounds, and was silent for a long time.
Finally, Izumi spoke:
"I won't do what you did."
"I won't raise my hand against my own clan."
Those words were like a silent slap to Itachi's face.
Itachi's body shuddered violently.
He looked up into his childhood friend's eyes.
What those eyes held was not just hatred, but also a deep, irretrievable disappointment.
Then, Izumi turned and looked towards Makoto in front of the government palace on the mountain.
"Nishikawa-sama, please release the Edo Tensei and let the Uchiha Clan rest in peace."