Chapter 59 (C59)
When that figure leaped down from the sky with the appearance of the bluebird, not only was Sasuke startled, but even Kana, who knew the whole story, was caught off guard.
After all, in her mind, with such injuries, he should have remained unconscious until the end of the war.
"elder brother?"
No matter how cool and arrogant Sasuke may appear on the outside, in front of Itachi Uchiha, he will always be the younger brother who spends his whole life chasing after his older brother's shadow.
While everyone was stunned by the collapse of Sasuke's cold persona, Kana felt a sense of certainty that it was indeed true. Itachi was still alive, so Sasuke's youthful spirit and willfulness, which had died with him, were revived, and he rushed into his brother's arms like a fledgling bird returning to its nest.
It's not easy to learn good things, but it's easy to learn bad things. Qingyuan, a bird that has lived for nearly a hundred years, has learned exquisite tea ceremony skills after spending more than a year with Yumi. In the midst of her busy schedule, she can still take the time to explain, "He threatened me with his Sharingan, not because I didn't want him to stay in Qishan."
If it hadn't mentioned Kana's name, this Uchiha brat who woke up in an unfamiliar environment, while politely expressing his gratitude, would have acted extremely offensively by trying to forcibly read his memories with his Sharingan, causing Qingyuan's already poor impression of him to plummet to negative numbers.
"You were clearly dead." Obito had personally gouged out Sasuke's eyes and transplanted them into him; he couldn't be more certain. He turned his gaze to Kana, "What did you do?"
Although Obito was obsessive, he wasn't too stupid. He quickly recalled the masked man who had fought him for Shisui's eyes, "So it was you that day."
Kana: Thanks for the invitation, but...
"There is no obligation to answer."
Regardless, Hyuga Kana's ability to single-handedly bring three people back to life is truly remarkable. Orochimaru felt a bit regretful; if he had known she hadn't been marked, he might have been interested in her, and perhaps they would have had a chance to cooperate.
In Kana's memory, Sasuke had never said thank you to her—even though she didn't need it. She did those things entirely on her own initiative, without any connection to him, and without expecting any reward.
But hearing that he came specifically to thank her on behalf of his brother still felt very novel.
"Kana."
Itachi Uchiha walked up to her.
After each treatment, Kana was always in a period of exhaustion, feeling like she had worked eight days straight without a break and didn't want to move a single finger. While lying on the grass waiting for her mana to regenerate, she was so bored that she once wondered what someone who was supposed to die would say to her savior if they found out they were still alive.
They might say thank you, they might be curious about how she did it, they might worry about what secret method she used and whether it would backfire, or they might resent her for leaving their already exhausted selves in this world, and so on.
But the one thing I never expected was this sentence—
"sorry."
For a moment, the tinnitus mingled with the system's inorganic announcements, producing a piercing noise like a sharp object scraping against metal.
Kana frowned slightly, somewhat unsure of what she had heard.
The system very considerately repeated the message: "Uchiha Itachi's favorability +8%"
Even a drop of kindness deserves a spring of gratitude, let alone a life-saving grace that is heavier than Mount Tai. It's only worth your mere 8% favorability.
sorry?
Going to exterminate a clan alone for some bullshit righteous cause is one thing, infiltrating the Akatsuki is another, being tormented by a bloodline disease is yet another, silently offering up one's head and eyes to Sasuke is yet another...
He insisted on being her friend on his own, but he always put her last and never considered her feelings. Even now, all he says to her is a perfunctory apology.
She looked up at the person in front of her. His face still showed signs of fatigue from just waking up from a coma. There were shallow tear troughs on the sides of his nose, like scars etched by hardship. His dark pupils were like a mirror, reflecting her slightly disheveled appearance from the battle.
Ha, what's the point of boosting someone's favorability?
"I'm not doing this task."
Forced to start a questline and now abandoned, the system suddenly suffered an unexpected disaster: "?!!! Please consider carefully, quest taker! Uchiha Itachi's favorability has already..." The rest of the voice was muteed by Kana.
In fact, Kana was very cautious.
The already battered swords fell to the ground, clanging as they struck each other.
She raised her hand and, unexpectedly, slapped him across the face, under the watchful eyes of so many people.
She let out a long breath, exhaling all the resentment she had harbored for years. She had wanted to do this for a very, very long time.
"I dare to beat up Sasuke Uchiha's brother, whom he lost and then found, right in front of him," Kana thought. "I'm so awesome."
She took another breath, suppressing the physiological tremor in her voice caused by anger, and said earnestly, word by word, "A slap for a life, you've gained something."
Kana's hand was a little weak from wielding the sword for too long, so her strike lacked power. Uchiha Itachi didn't even tilt his head to cooperate.
The Uchiha clan truly lived up to their reputation as geniuses in using fire-style techniques; the fire that had been forcibly suppressed showed signs of reigniting in an instant.
Kana almost burst out laughing.
The reason I say "almost" is because she is a reliable and steady adult. With a formidable enemy at hand, getting too entangled would be irrational and would only make her a laughing stock.
"……sorry."
He was slapped, but he said sorry.
Kana was taken aback.
Her movements weren't fast; given his reaction speed, he could have easily dodged if he wanted to.
He didn't.
After a long separation, the first thing he said to her was "I'm sorry," and the second thing he said was also "I'm sorry."
It was as if they were afraid she might hypnotize herself into forgetting, so they reminded her repeatedly.
Like... like they had nothing else to say.
Even a child like Neji knows that saying "I'm sorry" again next time doesn't count as an apology, no matter how solemn your tone sounds or how sincere your attitude seems.
But Itachi Uchiha didn't understand.
Quite abruptly, Kana recalled a winter long ago when a white bird flew away.
It took flight from the frozen lake in the park, skimmed over the barren treetops, swept across a large open space in front of the welfare home, and its snow-white shadow flashed briefly on the rooftops before disappearing.
The biting January wind seeped through the cracks in the old house's tiles. She sat at the door from morning till night until April, and finally understood that her mother, along with the bird, would never return.
Later, when she grew up, went to school, and had money, she returned to the orphanage. The director had grown old. She asked what she would say to her mother if she could see her again.
Kana countered, "Why can't it be her who wants to tell me something?"
She once thought that all she wanted was an "I'm sorry".
It wasn't until now, until Itachi Uchiha said those words to her, that she suddenly realized that what she was clinging to was never actually that "I'm sorry".
People don't need superficial apologies; they want those who abandoned them to regret it, to come back crying and begging for forgiveness, to promise never to leave again...
—I want them to love me unconditionally.
Kana looked into his eyes, and he was looking right back at her.
On that summer evening, a boy once held the knife she had used to commit suicide, stubbornly trying to pull her out of her solitary world. He said he wanted to be her friend, to share her pain, and promised her that no matter what the future held, their relationship would never change.
As the boy grew up, his height increased from being parallel to hers to requiring her to look up. The magatama patterns in his eyes gradually became more intricate and complex, and the expression on his face gradually faded, leaving only a rigid, cold calm.
The distance between them, which was once just an arm's length away and face to face, gradually cracked, broke, and collapsed into a ravine, through which the torrent of time surged and roared, and the red thread between them was torn thinner and thinner.
The mother who abandoned her at the orphanage said, "Mom will definitely come back for you."
The Japanese man who adopted her said, "I hope that one day you will truly consider me your family."
Using his superior strength, he forcibly hugged Shisui and said, "I will always be with you from now on."
Uchiha Itachi, who forcefully barged into her world, said, "We will be friends forever."
Despite having learned from past mistakes, they repeated the same error by believing again, only to suffer a crushing defeat.
It turns out that only she was trapped in the past.
So she's been trapped in the past all along.
She wasn't a magnanimous person, so during the time she was abandoned, she would occasionally wonder what she really meant to him.
Now she understands, oh, so I'm not important, so I'm not in his heart.
And so I felt relieved.
The red line that had grown from her heart had been stretched to its limit, almost turning white, and could not withstand any more distance, emitting a fragile clanging sound.
She dodged the ferret's outstretched hand and took a step back, as if something was being uprooted from her heart, struggling and screaming, trying to keep her in place.
The red thread has no weight, so it breaks silently.
"Uchiha Itachi." In ancient legends, calling out a name is a ritual to form a bond; this is the last time she will call his name.
Kana doesn't regret knowing him, but she won't go back.
She smiled, her voice soft and carried on the wind, "We're even."
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