"What if I deny it?" Mikoto stared at Araki meaningfully, expressing her doubt again.
"I don't care about this at all, so you don't need to admit or deny it. Besides, I have no evidence in this matter. Even if you admit it to my face, I can't do anything to you," Araki said, shaking his head, still maintaining his completely indifferent demeanor.
"The reason I came out isn't to admit I'm the murderer, but because I wanted to ask you about the lividity you mentioned. I was following you because I hadn't seen you in a long time," Mikoto said with a smile.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
Araki didn't want to continue playing guessing games with Mikoto here; it was just a pointless waste of time.
As he said, he didn't care about this matter at all.
All he wanted to do was clear Mikoto's name.
Because Kushina and Mikoto are very good friends, he didn't want Kushina to feel bad because of this.
As for what Mikoto actually did, or didn't do, that's all too common in the ninja world.
Looking across the entire Konoha, which ninja hasn't had blood on their hands? Araki wasn't willing to get involved in matters that had nothing to do with him and were confined to the Uchiha Clan.
This is tantamount to playing with fire.
Moreover...
Araki could clearly sense that Mikoto in front of him harbored no ill will towards him, and even felt a great deal of affection for him.
Even if he had to choose, he would be more willing to stand on Mikoto's side than on Nanagen'u.
"Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore. To be serious, I really didn't kill him. I followed you here because I wanted to ask you, do you know why that person only killed the Ueki and not me?" Mikoto immediately stopped smiling and looked very serious.
"Really not you?" Araki frowned slightly and squinted at Mikoto. He could sense that Mikoto didn't have any particularly strong emotional fluctuations when she said this, and it seemed that she wasn't lying.
"Of course it wasn't me..." Mikoto raised her hand to rub her forehead, a helpless expression on her face. "You don't really think I killed Ueki, do you?"
"Didn't you awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Araki directly raised his biggest question.
This is actually one of the biggest reasons why he judged that the murderer might be Uchiha Mikoto.
According to his understanding.
The only Genjutsu Genjutsu that can be cast by the Mangekyō Sharingan Tsukuyomi, which disrupts the opponent's mind and puts oneself in a state of complete bewilderment, ultimately leading to suffocation and death.
This is the ability displayed by Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan.
However, Uchiha Itachi is not present at this point in time.
And in history...
Uchiha Mikoto is Uchiha Itachi's mother, so it's very likely that the latter inherited her abilities.
Therefore, after hearing about the time Mikoto mentioned and her habit of always eating with Kushina, Araki deduced that Mikoto might have awakened her Mangekyō Sharingan and used Tsukuyomi to kill Uchiha Ueki.
but...
Araki knew that those were ultimately his deductions, and had little to do with him, so he had no intention of revealing them.
But judging from Mikoto's expression now, it seems she didn't kill Uchiha Ueki. So who is the murderer?
"What Mangekyō Sharingan?" Mikoto was completely stumped by the question and asked in confusion, "You just used that term, but I didn't understand it at all."
"That's a special kind of Sharingan..."
At this point, Araki gradually realized that his judgment was flawed; it was indeed somewhat one-sided to suspect Mikoto based solely on time and habit.
He kept staring at Mikoto's expression as he spoke, making sure she was genuinely confused. Her dark, bright eyes were filled with incomprehension, which didn't seem feigned at all, further convincing him.
Of course, the most important thing is...
Araki discovered something very important!
That is, Mikoto still presents herself as a mischievous yet innocent person, usually quiet and occasionally a little naughty, but overall still positive and sunny, not like someone who has opened the Mangekyō Sharingan and exudes a cold and gloomy aura.
"You really don't understand me at all." Mikoto pouted, looking extremely dissatisfied, then said helplessly, "You asked me about it last time, and I thought you would look into it afterward, but I didn't expect you still don't know."
"Did I ask you that?" Araki paused for a moment.
"During Truth or Dare, you asked me if I had awakened my Sharingan, and today you suddenly asked me if I had awakened a special Sharingan. Seriously... why bring up something you shouldn't!" Mikoto was so angry she almost stomped her foot. However, she understood that Araki was doubting her, and perhaps telling the truth was the best solution. Although she felt a little wronged, she still spoke up, "My talent isn't good enough. It's a bit difficult to walk the path of a ninja. I haven't been able to awaken my Sharingan yet, let alone a special Sharingan."
"What did you say?" Araki was genuinely shocked upon hearing this; it was something he hadn't expected at all. He then asked to confirm, "You can't awaken the Sharingan?"
"Yeah!" Mikoto pouted, clearly displeased with Araki's utterly heartless treatment of her, and then said, "Now you believe I didn't kill Ueki, right?"
"I'm sorry, I guessed wrong, it really wasn't you."
Araki immediately apologized, as this was a way of wrongly accusing someone, and then his mind suddenly cleared up.
Uchiha Itachi was skilled in fire and Genjutsu, a genius who became famous at the Ninja Academy at a very young age.
Sasuke Uchiha, on the other hand, did not possess such exceptional talent. This is not referring to any special abilities. In the early days at the Ninja Academy, he was indeed not as impressive as his brother. Moreover, when his entire family was killed, he only managed to activate One-Tomoe in a fit of rage, indicating that he was relatively slow in awakening his Sharingan, and his abilities were primarily focused on fire control.
Araki, based on the brothers' talents and the fact that Uchiha Fugaku was a master of fire control, deduced that their fire control genes originated from Fugaku, and thus suspected that their Genjutsu genes might come from Mikoto.
Looking at it now...
Both his fire control and Genjutsu were inherited from Fugaku.
After inheriting the ability to Genjutsu, Uchiha Itachi also inherited Fugaku's talent, while Sasuke lacked in this aspect and probably inherited more from Mikoto.
Could it be...?
Araki's pupils contracted slightly as he thought of this.
The deceased was Uchiha Ueki of the Uchiha Clan, and the day before, Uchiha Ueki was preparing to rape Mikoto.
On another front, considering the latest conclusions, since Uchiha Itachi most likely inherited all his talents from Fugaku...
Then Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan might be able to use Tsukuyomi!
If Fugaku had already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan at this point in time, everything seems much easier to explain.
"Can you tell me what unusual things happened before you lost consciousness?" Araki asked Mikoto with a Araki expression.
"I have no recollection. I really have no recollection at all. I just remember going to practice ninja tool throwing, and when I woke up, I saw the dead Ueki. I don't remember anything else," Mikoto said, shaking her head.
"What about the past few days? Did anything happen? Or... never mind, let's just leave it at that!"
Araki had originally wanted to ask if anything had happened to Fugaku, but after a moment's thought, he immediately took back his question.
After all, asking such a question would be tantamount to questioning Fugaku.
Whether this was actually Fugaku or not, he didn't have a definite answer in his heart, and rashly doubting it would just be a repeat of what had just happened.
More importantly...
For now, all he can confirm is that the person who killed the Ueki individual doesn't pose a significant threat to Mikoto, and that's enough for the time being.
He didn't think about investigating these things.
The closer he got to the truth, the more trouble he encountered.
Chapter 17 Remote Murder!
Have you considered any possibilities?
Mikoto blinked her big, dark eyes, staring intently at Araki, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.
At this point in time, all she could think about was her death by Ueki; this sudden turn of events was simply too strange for her.
"No."
Araki shook his head, then smiled slightly and said, "I think you shouldn't overthink this. Since that person didn't specifically target you, it means he wasn't trying to hurt you."
"They haven't even targeted me yet!" Mikoto said irritably. "I strongly suspect that he didn't kill me, but wants to make me a scapegoat, the one who killed the Ueki climber!"
"Um."
Araki nodded silently. There was indeed such a possibility. It actually needed to be viewed from two different perspectives. The specific criteria for distinguishing between them were quite simple: whether the murderer was Fugaku.
If it were Fugaku, then the motive for the murder would be that Ueki wanted to force himself on Mikoto, which is a perfectly plausible reason.
But...
If that's the case...
Why was Mikoto made to faint?
Judging from the layout of the scene, it looks like a setup to appear as if a murder had occurred, and the blood on the ground—whose blood is it?
Is it human blood or not?
If so, whose blood is it? If not, what animal's blood is it?
As Araki thought about this, a string of questions filled his mind. These questions kept flooding his brain, causing him great confusion and making him realize how mysterious and elusive the matter was.
After all, Fugaku is now officially on a mission, either he has returned to the village but hasn't made his whereabouts public yet, or he is killing people in another place.
Either way, they are extremely difficult to investigate!
What Araki found most puzzling was why they fabricated the scene. Doing so only made Mikoto a suspect, which felt like shooting themselves in the foot and backfiring.
This is also the main reason why Araki did not firmly believe that the murderer might be Fugaku, and it is a practice that he could not explain no matter how he thought about it.
Another point is that the murderer was not Fugaku, but someone else.
If that's the case, Mikoto's identity has two possibilities: either she's a scapegoat who just happened to appear randomly, or she's someone the murderer wanted to get rid of along with the case, but they just wanted to use the case to get rid of her.
In this situation, Araki leans towards the former. If the murderer had a grudge against Mikoto, he could have killed both of them and found another scapegoat, or simply left quietly. There was no need to let the target go when she was already unconscious.
After all, there's also the possibility that Mikoto might be exonerated.
That's why.
After thoroughly considering the matter, Araki silently concluded that Mikoto would no longer be in any danger.
but.
He still reached out and rummaged into his ninja tool pouch.
"This is for you."
Araki took two red pills out of his ninja tool pouch and handed them to Mikoto, then added, "These two pills can be thrown directly. You're skilled in ninja tool throwing, so it shouldn't be difficult for you."
"What is this?" Mikoto asked curiously.
"This is a specially formulated aerosol anesthetic. After a minor impact, it breaks apart into a colorless and odorless gas. Just a tiny bit inhaled will provide instant anesthesia; the more you inhale, the longer the anesthesia lasts," Araki explained. "If, in the following time, you feel someone is following you, or if they might appear at any time to do something harmful to you, you can simply throw this pill at them. If there's no time, you can crush it. This will put you both into a coma, and you can wait for a miracle."
"That's amazing!"