Chapter 106: Itachi's Final Ending!
By the Naka River, the scorching sun blazed like fire. The air was filled with a nauseating, burnt smell.
Uchiha Itachi, who was tied to a wooden stake, was already beyond recognition. His breathing was so faint it was almost imperceptible; only the slight rise and fall of his chest proved that this life was still clinging on in the most painful way. It had been days.
Uchiha Akira's orders were executed without compromise. No one approached this traitor. And no one would give him a drop of water or a shred of shade.
Inside a quiet room, Sasuke was curled up in a corner, burying himself in the shadows. His tender young face stared blankly ahead, devoid of all light. His world had died that day.
"I hate my brother the most!"
It echoed day and night in Sasuke's mind. Sasuke hated the brother who had destroyed everything beautiful in his life. Yet, Sasuke couldn't help but recall bits and pieces from the past. He remembered his brother poking his forehead with a finger, saying, "Forgive me, Sasuke." He remembered his brother carrying him on his back on the way home.
Why? Why did it turn out like this?
The door was gently pushed open, and a gentle figure walked in. Uchiha Mikoto held a steaming bowl of porridge, her eyes filled with sorrow.
"Sasuke," she said. "Eat something."
Sasuke didn't react.
Mikoto placed the porridge bowl on the table and slowly walked to Sasuke's side, crouching down. She reached out, wanting to caress her son's hair, but her hand fell limply in mid-air.
"Go… go see him one last time." Mikoto's voice trembled.
"Sasuke, Mother knows you hate him. But…"
Mikoto's tears couldn't be held back, streaming down her cheeks.
"After all, he is your brother. Before you hated him, you once loved him so, so much. Don't… leave yourself with a lifetime of regret."
Sasuke's empty gaze finally showed a faint ripple. One last time.
Yes. Brother is about to die. Dying from being exposed to the sun.
An inexplicable emotion, one that Sasuke himself couldn't understand, quietly surged. Was it satisfaction? Or… reluctance? Sasuke didn't know. But his mother's words were right.
When Sasuke, supported by his mother, once again arrived at the Naka River bank, Sasuke's steps halted. His body began to tremble violently, uncontrollably. It wasn't fear. But an uncontrollable sorrow.
Sasuke remembered what Uchiha Akira had said that day. "Itachi will personally bury the entire clan, bearing all the sins and hatred, just to let that one person survive."
"That sole survivor… is you."
Everything Itachi did was for himself. This love was too twisted.
"Bro… brother…"
A broken, choked sob escaped Sasuke's throat.
On the wooden stake, the dying body seemed to hear this call. Itachi's head, using his last ounce of strength, slowly and with great difficulty, lifted slightly. His eyes, matted with blood and pus, struggled to turn towards the direction of the sound.
He couldn't see. But Itachi felt it. It was Sasuke. His most foolish, and also his most beloved younger brother. He came.
"Sas… uke…"
Itachi's lips moved, producing a voice so faint it was almost inaudible.
"I'm… sor… ry…"
It was those 2 words again. But this time, Sasuke understood.
He wasn't apologizing for his crimes. But for the heavy love he had given him, a love that could crush everything.
"Wah—"
Sasuke could no longer hold back, crying out like a helpless child. He rushed forward, falling onto the wooden stake, his small hands tightly grasping the rough, blood-stained stake.
"Why! Why did you do this?! I don't want it! I don't want you to protect me like this! I just want my brother! I just want the brother who would train with me and carry me home! Come back! Come back, brother!"
The boy's cries were heartbreaking and filled with despair. He repeatedly slammed his forehead against the stake, as if trying to share his brother's pain in this way.
Hearing his brother's cries, hearing that phrase, "I just want my brother," on Itachi's charred face, there seemed to be a faint, relieved smile.
Itachi's head fell limply. There was no longer any sound.
Uchiha Itachi was dead. He died amidst the heartbreaking cries of his most beloved younger brother. The world seemed to stand still at that moment. Only Sasuke's heartbroken sobs remained.
After an unknown amount of time, Uchiha Akira slowly approached. Uchiha Fugaku, supported by Mikoto, also arrived. Looking at the lifeless body of his son on the wooden stake, Fugaku shed 2 lines of muddy tears.
Fugaku sat in his wheelchair and slowly turned it, coming before Uchiha Akira.
"Clan Head," he said. "I humbly ask you to allow me… to take him back."
Akira's gaze returned from Sasuke's broken figure. After a moment, Akira nodded.
"You may. However, he cannot be buried in the Uchiha graveyard. Find a place and bury him."
"Thank… Clan Head."
Akira waved his hand, and 2 confidants stepped forward, beginning to untie the ropes from the charred body.
Akira slowly walked behind Sasuke. Until Sasuke's cries gradually softened, turning into intermittent, suppressed sobs.
"Are you done crying?" Akira's voice was calm.
"Sasuke, I ask you, if it weren't for me, what would it be like now?"
Sasuke froze.
"Uchiha Fugaku would have died in his Tsukuyomi. Your mother, Uchiha Mikoto, would have had her heart pierced by his own hand, with a knife. All the clan members you knew would have become cold corpses. You wouldn't even know the truth. You would only train frantically in endless hatred, making killing him your only reason to live."
"And then?"
"When you finally had enough power and stood before him, he would die by your hand, with a satisfied smile, leaving you to bear the crime of fratricide, plunging you into deeper pain and self-doubt. Ultimately, you would become a true madman, driven by hatred. A complete and utter tool of revenge."
"That's not love, Sasuke." Akira crouched down, meeting Sasuke's gaze.
"That is the most selfish curse. Is there anything in the world more arrogant, more cruel than this?"
There wasn't. Sasuke's mind was blank. Yes. Was there anything more cruel than this? His tears, he didn't know when, had already dried.
"He chose the most foolish and easiest path. That is, death. And he left all the pain to the brother he claimed he would protect with his life."
Akira stood up, looking down at Sasuke, who was curled up on the ground.
"Your brother isn't worth your tears. He is merely a pathetic traitor, brainwashed by the Konoha Village higher-ups, who personally turned the butcher's knife against his own family."
Akira turned around, his gaze fixed in the direction of Konoha Village.
"The real enemies are those who forced him to do this. It is the Third Hokage, who sat in the Hokage Office and tacitly allowed all of this to happen."