A Special Conversation

But that flicker of surprise

lasted only for an instant.

Then Uchiha Itachi quickly concealed it.

Naruto hadn't noticed. He landed right in front of Uchiha Itachi and looked at the young man once more, a faint, unusual gleam in his eyes. If Naruto remembered correctly, Uchiha Itachi was only seventeen, yet he was already an S-rank missing-nin from Konoha. The world-weary look on his face was utterly at odds with his age. In other words, on the Night of the Massacre five years ago, this most representative "madman" of the Uchiha clan had been only twelve. Naruto didn't know, nor did he want to know, what emotions had driven Uchiha Itachi to make such a judgment and commit such a frenzied act. But there was no doubt that his decision had dealt the young man before him a tremendous psychological blow. Naruto couldn't say whether Uchiha Itachi truly regretted his decision back then, but to Naruto, he was at least a "sincere" person—though a deeply "twisted" one.

Still, none of that had anything to do with Naruto.

What Naruto cared about

was whether Uchiha Itachi truly put "Sasuke" first.

If he did,

then this meeting

could still go in a very different direction.

"Go ahead, Uchiha Itachi. What do you want to ask?"

Naruto took a deep breath and steadied himself. He stepped forward twice, moving a little closer to Uchiha Itachi. With a calm expression, he met Itachi's clearly appraising gaze and spoke evenly.

Of course, more importantly, Naruto might be able to get some of the information he wanted ahead of time from Itachi's questions!

That slightly icy gaze.

The solemn aura slowly spreading around them.

Perhaps it was because of the pressure from that brief exchange of looks earlier.

At this moment,

even though Uchiha Itachi