Chapter 119: Illusion? Or the Future?
"Mom?"
Her dark pupils, reflecting the crimson moon, blinked. Uchiha Izumi gradually regained her composure.
Oh, right.
She was at home now; she was about to have dinner with her mother.
And also...
Sniff~ Sniff sniff~
As if smelling a fragrance, Uchiha Izumi's nose couldn't help but wrinkle.
Mother made her favorite tricolor dango!
"Coming, Mom!"
A hint of joy flashed in her eyes, her tone carrying the unique coquettishness a girl shows towards her mother.
Immediately, she stood up and walked into the house, her long black hair swaying with her movement.
Click~
The main door slowly closed.
Looking into the house from the courtyard, one could only see two indistinct shadows intermingling.
"Izumi, really! Why are you outside with so little on again? What if you get sick!"
"Mom~ I'm a ninja, not a little kid anymore!"
Uchiha Izumi's slightly helpless voice came from inside the house, but one could still faintly hear the amusement in her tone.
After a moment, Izumi and her mother sat cross-legged opposite each other before a table laden with food.
"Time to eat."
They both closed their eyes, lowered their heads, and put their hands together.
Izumi opened her eyes, looking at the food on the table, a hint of craving still on her face.
But when she looked up, she unintentionally met her mother's eyes.
"Eh?"
Izumi's eyes couldn't help but tremble, an inexplicable sense of incongruity suddenly rising in her heart.
The steam from the food slowly rose, seeming to obscure everything before her; her mother's face opposite her even appeared somewhat distorted.
But when she blinked and looked carefully,
Her mother's face was still kind and gentle, unchanged from beginning to end.
"What's wrong, Izumi?"
Her mother touched her own face, asking somewhat puzzledly: "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"
Uchiha Izumi shook her head dazedly.
After coming back to her senses, she supported her forehead and forced a smile.
"It's nothing. Maybe I've just been too tired lately."
She felt like she had forgotten something important, but just couldn't recall it.
"Tired, huh."
Her mother habitually nagged: "I've told you so many times, even if you become a ninja, you still need to take care of your body."
"Look at the Clan Head's eldest son; he might not even come home once a week."
She sighed with emotion: "If not for his little son keeping him company, even Lord Clan Head would surely feel lonely."
Ultimately, if they lost their identities as Clan Head and Clan Head's wife, they would just be the parents of two children.
"I know, I know."
Uchiha Izumi shook her head, forcefully shaking off the complex emotions in her mind, saying gently: "Let's eat first."
With that, she picked up her bowl and chopsticks and began to eat heartily.
Ever since her father, who had no Uchiha bloodline but was a ninja, died in the Nine-Tails Rampage,
She and her mother had depended on each other; they were each other's sole reliance.
This inexplicable state now would only make her mother worry more.
Even if she really had forgotten something, she had to wait until tomorrow to try and recall it.
"Mmm! So good!"
As Izumi ate, she didn't forget to quip: "Mom's cooking is still so amazing!"
"The thought of not being able to eat Mom's cooking for the next week makes me feel so sad."
Looking at Izumi, who was no different from usual,
Her mother finally sighed lightly in relief, gradually setting her mind at ease, a gentle smile reappearing on her face.
She was just an ordinary person with Uchiha blood.
She completely didn't understand the things those ninja in the clan discussed.
But, she also didn't care at all.
As long as Izumi could live a peaceful and safe life, that was her greatest wish in this lifetime.
Unfortunately, Izumi, now a ninja, had become the pillar of this small family.
It was inevitable that she had to go out of the village for missions to earn enough to support the two of them.
"Sigh~"
The thought of Izumi having to leave the village for a week for a mission made her mother sigh: "If only you weren't a ninja."
No.
"If our whole family were civilians, that would be even better."
In that case, Izumi's father wouldn't have died.
Izumi could be an ordinary girl.
Have a happy and fulfilling family, a carefree childhood, some friendly and kind friends.
No need to become a ninja to support the family, no need to stain her hands with blood for survival, and certainly no need to bear the weight of human lives for missions.
Even... no need to bear the Uchiha name...
"Hmm?"
Uchiha Izumi's mouth was stuffed full with two dango.
Only upon hearing her mother's words,
Did Izumi's movements involuntarily pause, a complex expression flashing in her eyes.
However, it was only for an instant.
She snapped back, swallowed the dango with a "gulp", and asked with a blank expression: "What's wrong, Mom?"
Looking at Izumi's face, her mother swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue.
"Mm-hmm~ It's nothing."
She smiled faintly and shook her head, using her chopsticks to place a piece of eel into Izumi's bowl: "Don't just eat dango, try some of the other dishes too."
"Okay!"
Uchiha Izumi smiled at her mother and replied casually.
Then she lowered her head, prodding the food in her bowl with her chopsticks.
Her black bangs concealed her face; the expression hidden in the shadows was also very complex.
Her mother's thoughts – how could she, as her daughter, not know?
But isn't this the fate of being an Uchiha ninja and a Konoha ninja?
"Heh."
The corner of Uchiha Izumi's mouth curled up in a silent smile.
Yes, Konoha ninja can pat their chests and say,
Whether killing enemy ninja or civilians, or killing the targets of assassination missions,
It's all to complete the village's missions, all to protect their own village and families.
If you don't kill the enemy, you will be killed by the enemy.
So, no one willingly gets killed.
But in that case,
Ninja are merely tools for completing missions and earning commission.
Perhaps the assassination target is a small, wealthy merchant who is kind to civilians.
But he has infringed upon the interests of other wealthy merchants.
As long as other wealthy merchants issue an assassination mission in Konoha with a high-sounding reason, the generous bounty is enough to tempt ninja to accept this assassination mission.
So whether those mission targets are good or evil isn't actually important.
Konoha ninja, compared to those wandering ninja and bandits, are really no different.
Who is nobler than whom?
"If only everything was as Mom wishes."
This thought couldn't help but pop into Izumi's mind.
Unfortunately, in the end, it was just a fantasy.
She lacked the power to change the status quo, so naturally, she couldn't keep herself aloof from it all.
Even when facing the person she admired, she lacked the courage to express her feelings.
Just as Izumi's thoughts were somewhat chaotic,
Dong! Dong dong!
A crisp knocking sound suddenly broke the peace and tranquility of the night.
"Hmm?"
Izumi's mother paused slightly, her expression puzzled: "It's so late, why is someone still knocking?"
This knocking sound also interrupted Uchiha Izumi's thoughts.
But for some reason, it also made her heart involuntarily tremble, her breath catching.
But before she could react,
"I'll go see. I wonder who it is coming over so late."
Izumi's mother stood up, muttering constantly as she walked towards the main door in the entrance hall.
Click!
She opened the door without any defense, looking outside somewhat puzzledly.
"Excuse me, are you..."
But just as she opened the door, she only saw a pair of scarlet eyes.
After a moment of eye contact,
The expression on her face instantly froze.
Thump!!
Hearing this sound,
Uchiha Izumi, whose body was stiff, snapped back to reality, her heart suddenly beginning to pound rapidly.
Thump!
"Why?"
Thump thump!
"Why am I afraid?"
Thump! Thump thump!!
"Mom!!"
Izumi's eyes instantly widened, her bloodshot eyes turning scarlet, three tomoe appearing within them.
Then her figure vanished from the spot, directly appearing in the entrance hall.
"You! You are..."
Only upon seeing that cold and familiar face did Uchiha Izumi's ferocious expression suddenly freeze.
She saw a figure with long hair tied back, tear troughs under his eyes, wearing an ANBU uniform, standing there.
"...Itachi-kun?"
His face was incomparably cold, his clothes stained with blood, and he still held a dripping short sword in his hand.
And Izumi's mother lay at his feet, clearly already unconscious.
"Itachi-kun, why? You..."
Looking at that familiar yet cold face, Uchiha Izumi's body couldn't help but tremble slightly.
But her words were not yet fully spoken.
The scarlet light in Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan intensified, appearing ferocious and terrifying in the darkness.
The three tomoe suddenly began to spin, seeming to gradually enlarge before Izumi's eyes.
Finally, they completely transformed into the shape of three intersecting blades.
"Tsukuyomi!!"
Uchiha Izumi and Uchiha Itachi met eyes.
As if realizing something, Izumi's expression and gaze suddenly became ferocious.
"No! Why!?"
"Why, Itachi-kun?!"
Izumi's eyes trembled slightly. She glanced at her mother beneath her.
Uchiha Itachi also shifted his gaze to Izumi's mother, collapsed at his feet, trapped in genjutsu.
He then took a deep breath and raised the ninja sword in his hand high.
No! No!
Mom!!
Seeing this scene, Uchiha Izumi's eyes nearly split with rage. She struggled with all her might to break free from the restraints.
But with her three-tomoe Sharingan, she simply couldn't resist the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan's pupil technique.
Uchiha Izumi watched Itachi's butcher's knife, carrying the sound of tearing wind, descend straight towards her mother's heart.
Splurt!
The instant blood splattered,
Uchiha Izumi's eyes and expression instantly became vacant.
She looked like a manipulated doll.
...
Unsure how much time passed.
In a daze, Uchiha Izumi's consciousness returned again.
BOOM!!
Izumi abruptly opened her eyes. The three tomoe within them, reflecting the candlelight, appeared exceptionally bewitching.
"Mom!!"
She subconsciously stood up, crying out in terror.
But upon seeing the scene before her, her body couldn't help but freeze on the spot.
"...Mom?"
She saw her mother, originally killed by Itachi, now sitting before her, completely unharmed.
But the dining table laden with food had been overturned by her, the sumptuous dishes scattered all over the floor, and also on her mother.
"Izumi?!"
Her mother, looking stunned with her hands clasped, also snapped back to reality.
Looking at the mess, a "井" (tic-tac-toe, symbol of anger) character instantly popped on her forehead.
She forcefully suppressed the anger in her heart, gritting her teeth: "Izumi, what are you doing?!"
Everything was fine just now, why did she suddenly scream out of nowhere?
"I..."
Uchiha Izumi gradually regained her senses, also feeling somewhat clueless for a moment.
What is this situation?
Mother... wasn't she already killed by Uchiha Itachi?
Then now this is...
"Release!!"
Izumi blinked, directly forming hand seals, attempting to break free from the genjutsu.
"..."
But after waiting for a moment, everything before her still hadn't changed.
Unconvinced, she formed hand seals again: "Release! Release!!"
But these actions had no effect whatsoever.
They only made her originally angry mother become worried and puzzled.
"Izumi?"
Her mother frowned deeply, asking cautiously: "What's... wrong with you?"
Uchiha Izumi subconsciously shook her head: "No-nothing."
With that, as if feeling her words lacked conviction,
She forced a smile at her mother.
"Really nothing. Maybe I've just been too tired lately, so my nerves are a bit sensitive."
Her mother scrutinized Izumi from top to bottom with suspicion.
Seeing nothing abnormal about her, she reluctantly believed her explanation.
"Tired, huh."
Her mother's furrowed brow relaxed slightly. She began to nag again: "I've told you so many times, even if you become a ninja, you still need to take care of your body."
Originally just an ordinary, everyday sentence.
But hearing it, it was as if a thunderclap exploded in Uchiha Izumi's heart.
"Sigh, really..."
Her mother wiped the food off her clothes, sighing somewhat helplessly: "I'll go remake dinner."
With that, she stood up, about to head towards the kitchen.
But just then.
"Wait, wait a moment!"
Uchiha Izumi did her utmost to suppress the fear in her heart, but her voice still couldn't stop trembling.
"Mom!"
She smiled at her mother, face deathly pale, then said with feigned calmness: "I suddenly remembered something. Please wait a moment."
As her voice fell, without waiting for her mother to say anything,
Izumi's figure instantly vanished from the spot, directly appearing before the main door in the entrance hall.
She wanted to slide the door open, but suddenly paused.
That ordinary, long-since-grown-tired-of door now seemed in her eyes as if it were confining some terrifying creature.
"Was that an illusion, genjutsu? Or something else?"
Or perhaps... that actually was the future?
"Izumi? What are you doing?"
Her mother's voice came from behind, interrupting Uchiha Izumi's complex thoughts, and also making a trace of determination flash in her eyes.
With a "click",
She steeled herself and opened the door directly.
But as Izumi subconsciously assumed a defensive posture, using her three-tomoe Sharingan to look outside,
"This..."
The full moon overhead still emanated a faint red glow, and outside was only tranquility and peace.
Huff!
Uchiha Izumi exhaled the breath she had been holding in her throat, her eyes sweeping outside.
Yet she still found nothing abnormal.
"Could it be I was really too tired, so I had a hallucination?"
Although she didn't quite dare to believe it, there seemed to be no other explanation.
"Izumi?"
Her mother also walked to her side, asking with a worried face: "What's wrong with you?"
Izumi's startled behavior now made her very worried about Izumi's current mental state.
"It's nothing, Mom, don't worry. You go make dinner first."
Uchiha Izumi sighed in relief, turning to her mother with a genuine smile.
"I'll go out for a walk to clear my head. I'll be back soon."
(End of Chapter)
---
Read up to 25 Chapters ahead on patreon.com/Fanglin
[Please leave a 5 Star review and power stone for this novel]
*Thank you*