Naruto: Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too arrogant

Chapter 405 Like Strangers

"Satsuki! Don't do it... No matter what she says... Itachi is your older sister..."

Mikoto's voice trembled with a sob. Naruto stepped into the Susanoo and placed his hand on Satsuki. The moment the chakra pressure eased slightly, she rushed forward and spread her arms to block between the purple Susanoo and Yuzu.

Tears welled in her eyes—tears of a mother's love. A stubborn tenderness, though she knew it was futile, she still wanted to use the last vestige of blood ties to hold together her two irreconcilable children.

Loving to the point of naivety, naive to the point of cruelty.

This is precisely what Zuo Yue finds most unforgivable about Uchiha Itachi—she stole this love that should have been pure, so why should she still be protected by this love?

Fugaku stood silently beside his wife. He didn't speak, but his actions clearly conveyed his stance.

He also didn't want Zuo Yue to deliver that blow here.

Naruto's hand was still gently resting on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Satsuki... I'm sorry."

"I know it's irresponsible of me to say this—telling you the truth, yet stopping you from taking revenge..."

His gaze swept over Shisui, who was lying on the ground and being tightly protected by Yuzu, before finally settling on Mikoto's tear-streaked face.

"But Itachi... is ultimately Mikoto's child."

If he were a parent—if his eldest daughter went astray and his second daughter insisted on killing her older sister… what would he do?

he does not know.

But he knew that Aunt Mikoto would weep day and night, and that every time she closed her eyes for the rest of her life she would see the scene of blood relatives killing each other, and that tenderness would shatter into regret that could never be pieced back together.

If he hadn't saved Zuoyue's parents back then—if the cause and effect of hatred were already set in stone—he would never have stopped Zuoyue from seeking revenge.

Just like Sasuke from another world.

But this world is different.

The Uchiha clan still exists.

Fugaku and Mikoto are still alive.

The root of the hatred was severed by his own hands ten years ago.

"...But...she almost..." Satsuki's voice finally rang out, filled with suppressed sobs, like a child trapped in a nightmare whimpering.

Itachi Uchiha almost stole Satsuki's light. That was a sin even harder to forgive than "genocide"—because it was her own irreplaceable sun.

"Let's...go home and talk, okay?" Naruto lowered his voice even further, almost whispering in her ear, "I'll explain everything to you little by little."

He can't say too much in his "Menma" identity.

But if Zuoyue insists on ending everything at this moment, he will not hesitate to take off his mask.

"...Waaah...Why...?" Tears welled up and rolled down her pale cheeks. "Why don't you cherish yourself a little more...?"

"sorry……"

Naruto continued to apologize in a low voice, "After we go back... I'll promise you anything except leaving me."

As he spoke, the outline of Susanoo slowly dissipated, and the purple chakra receded like a tide, leaving only Satsuki standing alone in the same spot, his shoulders trembling slightly.

She was looking in the direction of the grapefruit.

Looking at that figure with her eyes closed, tightly embracing Shisui, as if she would break at the slightest touch.

The hatred had not subsided, but the hand that once held the knife could no longer be raised.

"What on earth happened?!"

"...Lord Menma, you're really responsible. Are you a descendant of the Uchiha clan left behind by Konoha?"

A familiar voice pierced the air. Zabuza, carrying his weapon, stepped into the plaza first, with Bai Ruying following half a step behind him.

Next came Kisame Hoshigaki's iconic shark face, a half-smile playing on his lips, his sharkskin already throbbing restlessly on his shoulders. Deidara excitedly lunged forward, his right hand already reaching into the clay pouch at his waist.

"The enemy! Where is the enemy?! My new technique can finally be put to use! Hmm!"

"Shut up, Deidara!"

Kakuzu's grim voice pressed down, "Dare to use your explosive junk here—if it collapses the organization's base, I'll be the first to snap your neck!"

In the shadows of the distance, Orochimaru leaned silently against a stone pillar, without uttering a word. The commotion from the clash between the two Susanoo had finally drawn these people over.

Menma slowly turned around, his fox mask gleaming with an indifferent curve under the cold light of the plaza's dome. "There are no enemies here."

"I'm just here to uncover some long-buried truths. Go back now. It's getting late."

"It's almost over."

Upon hearing their leader's confirmation, Zabuza and Kakuzu breathed a sigh of relief almost simultaneously—they were not afraid of fighting, but if a conflict of this scale were to break out at the core of the base, the cleanup would be a headache that would take an unknown amount of time.

Upon hearing this, Kisame Hoshigaki's terrifying smile remained unchanged, but he had already abandoned his battle-ready stance, bowed slightly in Menma's direction, and then turned and left without hesitation, demonstrating his ability to execute orders and his loyalty.

"Ugh... How boring." Deidara pursed his lips, pulled his right hand out of the clay bag, and yawned. "I finally made a new creation, when am I going to throw it at a real enemy... Hmm."

"Deidara—don't say anything more." Kakuzu gave a cold warning, nodded in Menma's direction, and then disappeared into the shadows of the passage with the others.

Silence returned to the arena.

After the outsiders left, Satsuki's Susanoo finally dissipated completely.

Purple specks of light drifted like fireflies, revealing a slightly trembling figure within. She lowered her head, biting her lower lip hard—why couldn't she stop crying?

She hates herself like this.

Crying is annoying—that's what she read in those books on "how to get along with someone you like." She always remembered that, and always tried her best to show Naruto her most perfect and strongest side.

But now, she can't control herself.

"...Oh, right."

Zuo Yue suddenly raised her head, forcefully wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Her voice was still hoarse from sobbing, "Those hawks from the Uchiha clan who wanted to launch a rebellion back then... are you sure they've all been wiped out?"

Naruto paused for a moment, then lowered his gaze.

"Um."

He answered softly, without dodging the question.

"At the time... it was Shisui and I who handled it together."

He personally killed her people—this is an undeniable fact.

"Really?"

Satsuki took a step forward, her wet, dark eyes fixed on him. "No one escaped? Are you sure... not a single one is left?"

This reaction was unexpected by Naruto.

Satsuki's thoughts were actually very simple: she would never allow any of her clansmen who had tried to use her and harm Naruto to still be alive.

If Naruto missed anything back then... she will make up for it herself now.

Not a single one will be left.

"...What about Danzo?" she asked again. "I remember hearing that...he died a long time ago."

"Yes. I killed him."

Zuo Yue received definitive answers to the two questions that concerned her most. She took a soft breath.

I can spare Itachi Uchiha—for my mother's sake.

But there are certain things she must say, certain boundaries she must draw at this moment.

She turned towards Yu, her voice suddenly dropping to freezing.

"Uchiha Itachi..."

Yu's body trembled almost imperceptibly.

"From now on—don't appear in my life again. I don't need your 'protection'."

I hate you.

A decade of pent-up darkness surged in her eyes. "I hate you for presumptuously deciding my life, I hate you for trampling on my trust in you, I hate you for turning 'it's for my own good' into an excuse to hurt everyone."

"If—you dare to appear before me again..."

"I will kill you right now."