Alive, or Dead

Uchiha Itachi could not help holding his breath. He knew who lay buried beneath those two mounds of earth. Who else could it have been, if not the parents he had killed with his own hands?

Sarada suddenly turned around, moving so quickly that she startled him.

"You killed Grandpa and Grandma yourself, didn't you?" Sarada asked slowly.

For a moment, Uchiha Itachi did not know how to answer. He could only nod numbly. He had never imagined that he would have descendants, so naturally, he had never considered how he would answer such a question for one.

Although Sarada was not his child, and her personality seemed rather terrible—she treated him, her uncle, with cold disdain—he still liked her very much. It was the affection of an elder, nothing more.

But...

In the future, Sasuke might not have many memories of his parents anymore. Sarada, even less so. Perhaps she did not even know what her grandparents looked like.

"If you killed them, then what is the point of coming here every day?" Sarada continued.

She lightly pointed at the future Uchiha Itachi kneeling before the two graves. He simply knelt there without saying a word, his gaze vacant and unfocused.

This time, he looked even more like a real corpse. Not even a living corpse anymore.

"Uncle Jie, can you tell me?" Seeing that Uchiha Itachi did not answer, Sarada turned her head, looking for someone else who could resolve her doubts.

"Father knows why, but he refuses to tell me. You know too, but you won't tell me either."

"Sister Eida knows. Even that brat Daemon knows. But none of you are willing to tell me." Sarada muttered softly, seemingly not expecting Uchiha Jie here to give her an answer.

Yet Uchiha Jie opened his mouth and