Chapter 398 The Harm of the Truth "... What?"
Uchiha Satsuki's movements paused in mid-air, as if he didn't hear clearly, but also as if he didn't want to believe it. "What did you just... say?"
Naruto raised his head, his blue eyes that were always full of sunshine were shining with a complex light at the moment, serious and stubborn.
"The [Jin] organization... was created by me." He repeated it again, his voice clear.
"I am 'Menma'."
[Jin] Organization... what is it?
Satsuki's thoughts were abruptly pulled out of the honey-like warmth and fell into a blank void. This organization... to her, had always been just a few syllables in distant rumors, and had never had a real intersection with her life.
No, that's not right. She actually came into contact with Land of Waves. But Naruto covered her eyes at that time, and she could only hear the sound most of the time.
Earlier... this organization had attacked Konoha and made a lot of noise, but miraculously did not kill anyone. But at that time...
"Ming, Naruto, don't make such a joke." Satsuki's smile was a little forced, and his voice became dry, "This kind of joke... is not funny at all."
At that time [Jhin] attacked Konoha, how old was Naruto? How could it be possible for a child--
"I'm not kidding!"
Naruto suddenly stood up from the sofa, with a rare panic in his movements. He seemed not to want to be suppressed by the secret anymore, and was also afraid that he would lose the courage to confess in the next moment.
"I don't want to hide anything from Satsuki anymore... By the way, look at this!"
Under Satsuki's stunned gaze, he quickly formed several seals with his hands -
"Blue·White·Zhu·Xuan·Kong·South·North·Three·Jade."
The moment the low chanting sound fell.
"Roar--!!"
A low roar sounded from the void, and nine giant beast figures of different shapes, exuding an ominous and majestic aura, slowly emerged, their ferocious outlines almost filling the space in the living room.
They wanted to show their power, but after they appeared, they realized that there were no enemies around their master, and they froze in place in a daze, leaving only confused gurgling sounds in their throats.
"..."
Satsuki completely lost his language.
Nine-Headed Beasts. She had heard those rumors - Summoning Beast from hell, the ominous demon minions, the incarnation of destruction wandering in the shadows... Those descriptions were presented to her in the most concrete form at this moment, but she stood meekly and somewhat blankly beside Naruto.
Immediately afterwards, she saw Naruto's figure swaying slightly, the color of his coat darkened, a dark robe was put back on his body, and a face of Fox Mask appeared on his face - cold and strange, incompatible with the face in front of her that she knew to the core, but also showed an eerie familiarity.
"So... the person who completed the aftermath work at Land of Waves that day..." Satsuki's voice was very soft, as if he was confirming something, "Is it you Naruto?"
"Yes." Naruto quickly released the transformation, the mask and black robe dissipated like smoke, and he turned back into the young man wearing home clothes with messy blond hair, but with cautious pleading in his eyes.
"I will explain everything slowly... so, don't... don't hate me for this..."
Satsuki looked at his frightened look - a vulnerable and frank look revealed because of himself.
"... Gudong."
She swallowed unconsciously.
To be honest, this shocking fact has not been fully digested, but some untimely and hot emotions quietly surged up from the bottom of her heart - Naruto panicked because he cared about her opinion, and confessed because he was afraid of losing her... This recognition that he cared to the extreme made her feel secretly excited in this chaos... Until Satsuki remembered that incident.
The figures of Nine-Headed Beasts slowly dissipated. They were evidence that appeared for "proof". Once the task was completed, they fell into silence.
Only the two of them were left in the living room again.
"I see..." Satsuki murmured, his thoughts gradually becoming clearer, "No wonder that organization would use Flying Thunder God Technique..."
She chose to believe this reality - even though it still had a strong sense of unreality. To her, the [Jhin] organization was always a symbol in distant rumors, and she only heard about most of the things they had done.
Even on the day of Konoha Crush Plan, what [Jhin] did was to support Konoha. So much so that today Konoha has long stopped promoting [Jhin]'s "notoriety", and only Hidden Cloud Village is still exaggerating the terror of this organization.
And the person she loved was actually the mysterious and frightening "Menma" in the rumors.
Satsuki slowly sat back on the sofa. She raised her head and looked at Naruto who was still standing there like a prisoner waiting for trial.
"I don't ask you why you did that..."
Naruto raised his head in surprise, Satsuki's gaze did not waver, and there was a stagnant night deep in the dark eyes. Her voice was very calm, so calm that Naruto was a little uneasy.
"I only care about one thing... the day Uchiha Clan is exterminated..."
Are you asking me why I didn't stop Itachi? Are you asking me if I knew about the Uchiha Clan's demise?! Are you asking me why I didn't save Uchiha Clan?!
Naruto's Adam's apple rolled, and he quickly organized words in his mind. He wanted to tell her the truth, wanted to tell her that Uchiha had not actually genocide, and wanted to slowly explain everything behind it...
"When Itachi Uchiha stabbed you with the knife... at that time, were you sure... that you would survive intact?"
"... Eh?"
Naruto was stunned. It wasn't about Uchiha, it wasn't about the ethnic group, it wasn't even about her own tragedy.
What she asked was that day - the moment when the blade sank into his chest.
"I understand." Satsuki spoke in a low voice without waiting for his answer, with a slight tremor in his voice. "At that time, you wanted me to awaken Sharingan, right? That's why you didn't hide or resist with all your strength... Tell me, it was not an adventure. You were 100% sure to survive intact, right?"
"You... don't ask about the Uchiha people?" Naruto couldn't help blurting out.
"That kind of thing doesn't matter."
Satsuki answered too quickly, too lightly, as light as a feather, but it fell heavily on Naruto's heart. Even when she was questioning, every word she spoke was still tightly entangled with his safety.
Should he be moved? But at the same time, an indescribable sourness welled up - she was so indifferent to the life and death of so many clan members.
But that's not indifference.
When love grew tender roots in extreme pain, it clung to Satsuki's soul and became her only obsession. Her world had already been split in half by the sword light that day, one part was blood, and the rest was him.
"I... should be..." Naruto's voice was a little dry.
"Probably... what does that mean?" Satsuki repeated, his pupils contracting slightly, "That's right... So at that time, Itachi really wanted to kill you. You weren't completely sure, were you?"
The temperature in the air dropped sharply. The ambiguous atmosphere completely faded away, and Satsuki's gaze made Naruto's chest tighten.
Satsuki suddenly raised her hand and pressed her heart. The deepest shadow in her life was never Night of the Clan Massacre's blood and Kakkō, but the sword in Itachi Uchiha's hand that was buried in Naruto's body.
At that moment, she was clearly not injured, but she felt like her body was being torn apart from the inside - and then, her eyes were stained with blood.
Naruto wanted to say that of course he could survive, and that he never did anything he was unsure of... but Satsuki asked about "intact".
Facing Itachi Uchiha in that state, that mental illness... Who dares to say 100%?
Naruto opened his mouth, but in the end he couldn't tell any lies.
Then, he heard Satsuki's voice, very soft, like a gentle blade. "I... forgive you."
"... Eh?"
Naruto was completely stunned. He thought he would be greeted with anger, questioning or a long cold war, but he never thought it would be this sentence.
He raised his head--
The scene he saw made his heart clench violently.
The truth is a double-edged sword.
Satsuki was trying hard to keep her expression calm, but her eyes were already red. She bit her lower lip, but tears still rolled down disobediently, one after another, silently sliding down her cheeks.
She quickly raised her hand to wipe it, a little disgusted with herself for being so weak, but the more tears she wiped away, leaving wet traces on her pale skin.
She turned her head away, not wanting him to see her embarrassment, but her trembling shoulder lines and lowered eyelashes revealed everything - it was a hot fragility that was desperately suppressed but still burst through the dam.
(The author will not write about bloody misunderstandings! Don't worry! He will make it clear!)