Chapter 83, Chapter Eighty-One

Shikamaru knew that Uchiha Yuki was strong, but he hadn't expected her strength to be comparable to a near-Kage level. Such combat power was almost on par with Lady Tsunade. No, perhaps in the medical field, Lady Tsunade still had the edge; but in combat, Uchiha Yuki's abilities were far beyond the comprehension of ordinary Chunin.

Holding a longbow, Yuki unleashed a barrage of arrows formed from chakra, piercing the heads of several White Zetsu. Even those ninjas who had been resurrected through the Impure World Reincarnation technique and gained some fame were no match for her.

Through the dense forest, the group relied mainly on Neji's sensory abilities and Yukina's unerring archery skills to advance. Watching this, Shikamaru felt somewhat frustrated. Faced with such an absolute difference in strength, strategies and tactics seemed utterly useless.

"That's enough. Is your name Shikamaru? I have other things to do. You guys go and meet up with your teammates." Yuki stopped in her tracks. Time was of the essence; she had to kill Obito before he became a true Jinchūriki.

"Is Senior Yuki planning to leave Konoha and act alone?" Shikamaru frowned, his slanted white eyes staring straight at her, a posture of ninjutsu ready to unleash Shadow Binding at any moment.

Xue put down her bow and arrow and calmly replied, "If you really want to control me, Kakashi can monitor me himself. Instead of sending the Nara clan, who are already to my advantage... and Neji from the Hyuga clan."

Shikamaru turned to look at Neji, who remained calm, showing no intention of stopping Yuki.

Shikamaru sighed deeply. The surveillance was nothing more than a smokescreen used by Kakashi-sensei and the Fifth Hokage to fool their superiors. How could those two insignificant figures possibly stop Uchiha Yuki? When he accepted the mission, Kakashi-sensei and the Fifth Hokage had specifically instructed him on this, and now, thinking back, it was indeed as he had guessed.

"Then I'll be going now. Take care." After saying that, Xue's figure flashed and disappeared into the woods.

-

As night falls, in the inky darkness, the sense of direction begins to blur.

Unexpectedly encountering Itachi resurrected through Edo Tensei, Yuki's voice carried a hint of uncertainty.

"Little Weasel..."

The familiar voice, like a gentle breeze, made the weasel flitting through the forest stop in its tracks.

He slowly turned around, raised his eyes, and his gaze fell on the girl in front of him.

The girl wore Konoha's iconic green vest, and the Allied Shinobi Forces' headbands gleamed with a cool light in the dim moonlight.

"Auntie."

This long-unheard address made Xue pause for a moment.

She suddenly realized, as if waking from a dream, that Itachi was dead. Her expression became complex, her gaze falling on Itachi. His clothes were slightly torn, and Naruto's chakra scent lingered on him. It seemed that Naruto, who had been protected at the Land of Lightning headquarters, had gone to the battlefield and helped Itachi break free from the control of the Impure World Reincarnation.

The man before her was forever frozen at the young age of twenty-one. His already pale skin appeared even more bloodless due to the Impure World Reincarnation. He wore a red trench coat, which fluttered slightly in the night wind, like a burning flame about to be extinguished. Xue stood on a forked branch of a tree, silently gazing into his eyes, reborn from the Impure World.

The whites of his eyes were black, and his pupils reflected the blood-red three-tomoe jade.

The body is made of clay, and there are obvious cracks on its face.

"Where are you going?" Her slightly cold voice drifted through the dark forest.

Itachi, who was about to leave, stopped again.

He turned around, his gaze meeting hers. "Go find Kabuto and undo the Impure World Reincarnation."

"Then you'll disappear too!" Yuki, unusually flustered, blurted out the words without thinking. When she realized what she'd said, she instinctively covered her forehead. Love and hate intertwined in her heart; neither love nor hate could sever her connection with Itachi.

I hate you, yet I understand you; I miss you, yet I can't let go.

Xuecai suddenly remembered that on a sweltering summer afternoon, when the wind chimes under the eaves rang in the wind, making a crisp and melodious sound, she had felt a flutter in her heart for Itachi.

Her thoughts were so selfish, so incredibly selfish, that she had returned to the mortal world. Having died once, he was no longer the man she once hated for wiping out her clan, the one who deserved to die. Because Uchiha Itachi was dead; now standing before her was only little Itachi. But, could dying once erase all hatred?

Xue often thought that after his death, when she occasionally saw her own face in the mirror, she would catch a glimpse of her eyes, which resembled his, and her long, thin lower eyelashes. In that fleeting image, she seemed to see his figure, but it would disappear in the blink of an eye, leaving only her expressionless face.

Even forbidden techniques that are despised by others have some use... huh...

Itachi noticed the girl's out-of-control expression and was momentarily stunned.

Coming to his senses, a bitter smile bloomed on his lips.

"Auntie, I'm already dead." The words in the night wind sounded like a gentle breeze.

Dead people? Shouldn't the dead just stay obediently out of the world?

Why did I have to appear before her again?!

The girl jumped down from the tree and stood face to face with him. Her emotions surged, and she could no longer bear the pain.

She suddenly grabbed his collar, forcing Itachi to bend down slightly to look her in the eye.

"No, no, you're Itachi!" Yuki's voice trembled slightly. "There must be some forbidden technique... that allowed you to live in this world after the Impure World Reincarnation was broken?"

Itachi gently pulled her into his arms. At that moment, no amount of physical contact could compare to the warmth of this embrace, carrying the scent of earth—the smell of her body after being resurrected. Yuki fell silent, tears welling in her eyes.

"How can someone so sinful survive, Auntie?" Itachi whispered in her ear, his voice gentle yet tinged with helplessness. "All I need is for Sasuke and you to live well in this world."

After saying that, he gently pushed the snow away.

Despite being such a gentle person, Itachi slowly reached out and gently touched her face. He felt the dampness of her tears in his palm and saw Yuki's tear-filled eyes gazing at him pleadingly. Itachi lowered his head and gently kissed her forehead, just as she often did for him when they were children, but now the roles were reversed.

Itachi gave a relieved smile: "Is it because I've died once? Even someone as sinful as me has begun to understand the importance of letting go. No matter how strong a person is, they shouldn't bear everything, otherwise failure is inevitable..."

"Really, how come we only realized this now? If only we had known sooner."

"I'm discussing it with Yuki. Would it be better for our ending if we were more honest with Sasuke?"

When they parted, Itachi placed the three-tomoe necklace from his neck into Yuki's hand.

"Although I don't know if it will dissipate along with the Impure World Reincarnation."

"However, even a man like me has selfish desires. Although I no longer have any attachment to this world, the only things I can't let go of besides Sasuke are you."

"Don't forget me, even if you don't hate me anymore. I don't ask that you love me deeply, but let me leave an indelible mark on your life... I love you."

"Although I still want to talk to my aunt more, to get a little closer, I have things I really need to do right now. Would you like to come with me, Aunt?"

"Spending your last moments together?"

Watching Itachi's departing figure, Yuki fastened a three-tomoe necklace around her neck.

She wanted to end it all; that was enough—this complex mix of love and hate.

It's so painful.

"No, I want to kill Obito Uchiha with my own hands."

-

Night completely enveloped the earth, and a full, bright moon rose in the sky. Just like the night of the Nine-Tails' rampage, Yuki had vaguely seen the white moon strangely turn blood red, and her Sharingan eyes burned. Was she nearing her limit? Yuki blinked hard, refocusing her vision, and only then could she clearly see the bright moon.

After their union, her eyes absorbed some of Hashirama's cells from Obito's other half, but this wasn't enough to counteract the side effects of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Even the superior medicine from Wolf's Cry Village couldn't stop her vision from deteriorating. Yuki frowned slightly; she had no relatives, unlike Sasuke who could have received Itachi's eyes for a perfect match.

The battlefield, leveled by the Tailed Beast Ball, has had its geographical environment almost completely destroyed, no longer resembling a natural place.

The scene was one of utter devastation, and all five ninja squads that had arrived at the battlefield were present.

The moonlight was cool and clear, and the wind whipped her hair, sending it flying behind her.

The closer she got to Obito, the more serious her expression became.

She saw clearly that Obito had become the perfect Jinchūriki, and that the Ten-Tails, which had been absorbed, had become the new Sage of Six Paths.

The bright moon hanging in the sky turned into a blood moon in the blink of an eye, and a bewitching atmosphere enveloped the entire land.

The ten tailed beasts seemed to be completely sucked into another dimension.

Beneath the blood moon, the radiance, shimmering with jade-green scales, floated silently in the air.

He was shirtless, his skin a pale blue, resembling the legendary Sage of Six Paths. Ten black magatama adorned his smooth, broad back, and eerie flames burned on the ridges protruding from his shoulder blades. He snapped the gleaming pale blue scales on his cheek with one hand, the sound crisp and clear, like jade shattering.

"The Ten-Tails Jinchuriki?"

"A new Ten-Tails Jinchuriki has been born?!"

There are many different opinions.

Obito didn't know what to say. After absorbing the Ten-Tails, his chaotic consciousness felt as if it were being devoured, and the emptiness in his heart was ripped open by a hellish world, leaving only pain. He couldn't resist; even his precious memories were being taken away.

First it was Minato, then Rin, and finally Kakashi...

No, he had long ago abandoned all of that.

He had abandoned everything, but the one thing he could never abandon was that figure—a girl in a high-necked tribal dress, with prominent shoulder blades, a slender figure, and long, dark, curly hair that reached her waist, flowing in the wind. In his childhood, he always had to look up at her, yearning for her and admiring her.

Deep in my memory is a girl who held herself high, smiling brightly—how long ago was that?

He, still a young child, reached out his little hand and gently placed it on her forehead.

He babbled in his childish language, and the pretty girl responded.

I like Obito!

Obito was lost in the depths of his consciousness, standing there in the pure white space.

He observed this memory from the sidelines; the girl and the toddler in the yard got along well, just like ordinary siblings. Obito was somewhat confused.

who is she?

Time flew by, and the scenes shifted constantly. From icicles hanging from the eaves at the end of winter, to the warm scene of celebrating his birthday inside, then to the lush green forest meadows of spring, where a girl sparred with a boy. A gentle breeze ruffled the girl's hair, tickling the boy's face. Finally, the scene froze on a stormy night in early autumn, in a dark, secluded stone cave, where the boy embraced the girl, their bodies pressed together, drawing warmth from each other to maintain their balance.

Obito.

She called to him with a smile.

Obito...

She cried as she hugged him tightly, recounting the pain of losing her parents...

Obito?

She asked him with the melancholy of a young girl.

Obito!

She was slightly angry, her brows furrowing slightly.

Who are you? !

Her eyes held a hostile gaze, as if she were looking at a stranger, and her voice was icy.

Uchiha...?

Her puzzled expression...

kite,

Her face was flushed, and their bodies were entwined in an intimacy he dared not even dream of...

Uchiha Obito!!!

It was murderous intent, a naked, murderous gaze.

...

......

.........

"Uchiha Obito!"

"Obito!"