northernbook Chapter 103 Atonement
Chapter 103 Atonement
"We've arrived. I've kept my promise. Now, you can do whatever you want with this guy."
On the outskirts of Konoha Village, in the center of a forest that had just been ravaged by a fierce battle and completely leveled, Menma and Shisui found the black-haired girl, Uchiha Itachi, still unconscious, lying on the shattered ground.
The surrounding scene was horrifying. Huge claw-printed craters, evaporated land, charred wood and molten rocks scattered everywhere... The air was still filled with the pungent smell of burning and the lingering aura of violent chakra.
Was it done by the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki...? How could it destroy the battlefield to this extent...? And, in that berserk state, it even deliberately spared Itachi's life?
But this thought only flashed through Shisui's mind. At this moment, Shisui no longer had the energy to delve into the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's abnormal behavior.
His entire attention was drawn to the unconscious girl on the ground. He slowly walked forward, squatted down, and gazed at Uchiha Itachi's pale and haggard face with mixed feelings.
It can be said that in Shisui's life so far, his feelings have never been as complicated and indescribable as they are now.
Not long ago, at the moment he decided to jump into the Naka River to his death, he entrusted all his hopes, all his trust, and the future of Konoha and the Uchiha clan to the person in front of him without reservation.
He firmly believed that Itachi could understand his will and find the thorny path to the light in the darkness.
However... what were his feelings when he heard Itachi's cold and bloody "extermination" plan?
Is it the sting of betrayal? The deep disappointment of dashed expectations? Or the anger at the extremely cruel methods used?
Perhaps... there was also a hint of disappointment, a feeling he himself was unwilling to admit. He resented her for so easily choosing the most extreme and thorough method, thus betraying his expectations.
But now, looking at the battered and unconscious girl before him, those intense emotions gradually subsided. In their place came a deeper, more bitter reflection.
At this moment, Menma shifted his gaze from the unconscious Itachi to the silent Shisui beside him. "I remember... your other eye should still be in her body, right? I need to retrieve it now... This process may be accompanied by some unpredictable reactions, I hope you can understand."
Actually, Menma was also a little unsure. The principle behind Crazy Diamond's ability is "restoration," which restores objects or bodies to their proper or perceived "original state."
But in the current situation... Shisui now has a three-tomoe Sharingan in his right eye socket. Should this be considered a "missing part" or a "transplanted foreign object"?
Like a person who has lost a leg and is fitted with a prosthesis, when the power of [Crazy Diamond] is applied, will it restore his original flesh and blood leg, or will it "restore" the prosthesis to be even stronger? This is the first time he has tried a situation involving the ownership and transplantation of body parts.
But regardless of the outcome or the extent of the uncertainty, the Mangekyou Sharingan containing the power of Kotoamatsukami must not remain on Itachi Uchiha. Menma has to give it a try.
Shisui immediately understood Menma's intention. Although recalling the bizarre scene of Danzo's eyeball flying out on its own still sent chills down his spine, he knew that he must never let Itachi possess that eye that could silently change the will of others again.
That power was too dangerous, both for Itachi himself and for the overall situation.
Without any hesitation, he nodded solemnly, indicating that he fully understood and accepted any consequences. Then, he raised his hand and slowly removed the fox mask from his face, revealing a handsome but heavily weary face beneath.
Immediately afterward, under Menma's slightly astonished gaze, Shisui's movements were astonishingly fast—he extended his finger and precisely and swiftly probed into his right eye.
You can even hear an extremely faint, tooth-grinding, sticky sound.
The next moment, Shisui, without changing his expression, forcefully plucked his newly installed, still-functioning three-tomoe Sharingan directly from its eye socket! Bright red blood instantly seeped slowly from the empty eye socket.
There was no hesitation or trembling throughout the entire process.
Menma started internally ranting and raving.
No... While I did previously complain that your Uchiha clan's Sharingan is like a plug-and-play USB drive... isn't it a bit too practiced for you to just casually pluck out an eyeball with your bare hands without batting an eye?!
Does this area really lack pain receptors?!
Despite feeling extremely speechless and even a little creeped out by the Uchiha clan's "traditional skill" of removing eyeballs with bare hands, Menma knew that he must not show any abnormal emotions at this moment.
He could only maintain a facade of silence and composure, focusing his attention on the substitute.
With a thought, his azure-blue Stand, which only he could see—[Crazy Diamond]—slowly placed its hand, imbued with the power of "restoration," gently on Shisui's shoulder.
An invisible wave of spiritual energy emanated from the substitute's palm and quietly spread outwards.
Immediately, unnatural, forced cawing of crows came from the distant horizon, growing clearer as they approached.
Menma glanced at the three-tomoe Sharingan that Shisui held in his hand, which had not changed at all, and felt a little relieved.
It seems that the "restoration" priority of the Crazy Diamond is to consider it as a "foreign object that does not belong to Shisui's body," so its power is directly applied to finding and recalling the "original," "lost" Mangekyou Sharingan. Very good, that makes things simple.
When the crow, which appeared somewhat panicked and had been forcibly dragged from a distant psychic node by an invisible force, flapped its wings and flew close, Menma timely stopped outputting his power.
He reached out and precisely grabbed the unusual crow by the neck, bringing it under control.
Shisui felt the strange pulling sensation on his body disappear. Silently, with the same practiced movements that made his face numb and his eyelids twitch, he put the still warm, blood-stained three-tomoe Sharingan back into his empty right eye socket, gently turning it a few times to adjust its position.
Face numb. "..."
I've given up on complaining and have chosen to accept it numbly.
Just as Menma was holding the struggling crow, pondering how to safely extract the Mangekyou Sharingan sealed within its body—
Shisui, who was standing to the side, acted again. In his right eye, which he had just reattached, the three tomoe slowly rotated, and a subtle fluctuation of pupil power instantly enveloped the crow.
The next moment, something strange happened. The crow's entire body began to twist and dissipate like smoke, eventually turning into countless scattered black feathers.
At the center of that dissipation, a Mangekyou Sharingan with eerie, scarlet patterns floated slowly in mid-air—the very eye that originally belonged to Shisui and contained the power of Kotoamatsukami.
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"To imprison her in a completely safe place? I understand."
Ultimately, this was the first and most prudent decision that Shisui could make after struggling and weighing the options internally.
He planned to first completely seal Itachi's chakra, stripping her of her dangerous source of power—the Mangekyou Sharingan—and then secretly imprison her in a safe place for a long period of confinement and reflection.
"Um……"
Shizuku's tone was incredibly heavy, filled with deep self-reproach, "I also bear an undeniable sin for all of this. It was I who presumptuously imposed excessive expectations and potentially misguided guidance on her... Until this sin is completely atoned for, I will... atone with her..."
Mianma had no objection to this, only nodding slightly. This approach, imbued with repentance and redemption, was entirely within his expectations.
On the contrary, it would be surprising and strange for Shisui to directly demand the execution of Uchiha Itachi out of extreme disappointment and anger.
Then, Menma bent down and removed the Mangekyou Sharingan from Itachi's eye sockets—a pair of eyes that contained immense power but also brought endless pain. The eyeballs were covered in knotted blood vessels, clearly indicating that the continuous use of high-intensity eye techniques like Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi tonight had placed a tremendous burden and caused significant damage to these newly awakened eyes.
Just as Menma was about to summon Gold Experience to recreate a pair of normal eyes for Itachi's empty eye sockets, Shisui reached out and gently stopped him.
"Leader..." Shisui's voice was somewhat hoarse, his gaze falling complexly on Itachi's lifeless and exceptionally fragile face, "Are you planning to... use that life-giving ability to recreate a pair of eyes for her?"
Mianma nodded, confirming his guess.
"...No," Shisui paused for a moment, then shook his head with difficulty. "Let's leave it like this for now. Itachi...the mistakes she made need to be punished accordingly...perhaps...not seeing them for the time being is a...necessary punishment for her and for everyone. Let's leave it like this for now."
Making this decision clearly caused Shisui great inner turmoil, but he ultimately upheld this painful "justice."
He hoped that through this method, Itachi would truly experience the feeling of losing her power and the heavy consequences of her actions.
Menma gave Shisui a deep look, understanding the complex emotions behind his decision. He didn't insist further, but simply nodded again and withdrew his hand, which was about to activate his ability.
"Let's go."
Shisui bent down and carefully hoisted the unconscious black-haired girl onto his shoulder. Menma placed one hand on each of Shisui's and Itachi's shoulders.
The next moment, a faint blue light from the Flying Thunder God Technique flashed, completely enveloping the three figures. The light shone brightly for a moment and then went out, leaving only emptiness and silence in the place.