Chapter 170
All Your Hopes Were Bubbles
Chapter 170 All Your Hopes Were Bubbles
The excruciating pain of reality and illusion overlapping suddenly erupted!
On the hospital bed, Zhishui's body arched violently as if struck by a high-voltage electric current!
A suppressed, desperate howl, like that of a dying beast, burst forth from deep within his throat.
The gauze wrapped around his eyes was instantly soaked by the gushing blood mixed with tears, staining two glaring dark red patches.
My temples felt like they were about to explode, and my eyeballs felt like they were being pierced and torn apart by countless red-hot steel needles!
The pain penetrated to the bone marrow and reached the very soul!
The blood-red hell of annihilation in the illusion, and the excruciating pain of his eyeballs being torn apart in reality—these two forces collided and tore at his fragile visual nerve center!
Om-!
It was as if some invisible constraint had been forcibly broken by a violent force!
A cold, violent, and destructive power of vision, like a ferocious beast breaking free from its cage, suddenly awakened in his eyes!
The previously blurry vision instantly became crystal clear; one could even "see" through the gauze covering their eyes, clearly perceive the cold air flowing in the ward, the faint glow flickering on the instruments, and...
That dark figure that appeared at the doorway at some unknown time, standing silently!
Shisui's gaze pierced through the gauze, locking firmly onto that figure: a familiar black robe, a wide white fur collar on the shoulders, and a face covered with that iconic, cold and ruthless white three-eyed fox mask.
Shura!
The moment Shisui saw Shura, applause, tinged with a mix of mockery and admiration, suddenly broke the silence of the ward.
Pa…pa…pa…
Shura leaned against the cold metal door frame, clapping his hands slowly and deliberately. His gaze behind the holes in his mask was focused on Shisui's gauze, which was soaked with blood and tears, as if he were admiring an exquisite work of art.
"Brilliant." Shura's voice came through the mask, deep and magnetic.
"As expected of the strongest Uchiha ninja in Konoha, under such stimulation, the transplanted cloned single-tomoe Sharingan can directly evolve into a three-tomoe Sharingan."
"This talent, this will... tsk, no wonder that old bastard Danzo was so obsessed with your eyes, treating them like a treasure, yet also fearing them like a venomous snake."
His tone was filled with undisguised admiration, yet it also revealed a ruthless insight into everything.
Shisui was breathing heavily, his chest heaving violently.
Every breath brought excruciating pain deep within his eyes. The three-tomoe Sharingan beneath the gauze spun wildly uncontrollably, its cold and violent power almost overflowing.
He endured the excruciating pain, his voice hoarse as if sandpaper were being rubbed together, each word tinged with the smell of blood: "What...what was that illusion just now?! What did you do to me?!"
The questioning was filled with a mixture of shock and anger, as well as the lingering fear brought on by the illusion of genocide.
Shura slowly lowered his clapping hand, his demeanor as composed as if he were discussing the weather: "It's nothing, just letting you get a sneak peek at... the final act script meticulously crafted by the Konoha higher-ups for your Uchiha clan."
His voice suddenly turned cold, like a chill sweeping through the ward: "A final solution to eliminate hidden dangers and prevent future troubles."
"Nonsense!!" Zhi Shui suddenly gripped the bed sheet beneath him, his knuckles turning white from the force, and the bloodstains on the gauze became even deeper.
The Third Hokage's kind face, his promise to him, and Itachi's clear and firm eyes flashed through his mind. He couldn't believe it, much less accept it!
"The Third Hokage will not allow it! Itachi... How could Itachi do such a thing! Don't even think about using such despicable genjutsu to sow discord! This is your conspiracy!"
His voice trembled with excitement and pain, yet carried a stubbornness that seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
"A conspiracy? Hmph." Shura chuckled softly, as if he had heard something utterly ridiculous. His laughter echoed in the empty, cold hospital room, filled with irony.
He tilted his head slightly, his gaze seemingly piercing through the gauze behind the mask, staring directly at Shisui's Sharingan, which was spinning wildly with anger and pain.
"Danzo gouged out your eyes... was that also part of my scheme?"
"The turmoil of the Nine-Tailed Night... was this also part of my plan?"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce him. The masked man I showed you earlier is the real culprit behind the Nine-Tails Night, a wanderer who harbors deep hatred for the Uchiha clan."
Uchiha Shisui's pupils trembled slightly as the image of the mysterious ninja wearing a tiger-striped one-eyed mask that he had just seen through the genjutsu flashed through his mind.
'The true culprit of the Nine-Tailed Night?'
'Is it another kaleidoscope?' 'Damn it, why are there so many Uchiha clan members outside…when did they become separated from the people? How does Shura know all this?'
Uchiha Shisui was completely baffled.
Shura took a step forward, the hem of his black robe sliding silently across the cold ground.
An invisible, heavy sense of oppression instantly spread out, enveloping Zhishui on the hospital bed.
He did indeed add some personal touches to the illusionary world he created using the Book of Crimson Moon.
For example, on the night of the massacre, Danzo bypassed the Third Hokage and gave the order to Itachi Uchiha. Itachi found the mysterious masked man at the Nakagawa Shrine, who was none other than Obito.
Please ask him to help exterminate the entire clan.
During the night of the massacre, Itachi mainly slaughtered the elderly, women, and children in the clan's territory, while Obito mainly dealt with the Uchiha Jonin from the Konoha Police Department.
There were definitely Root members monitoring the Uchiha clan's territory from the outside, but at least in the original story, Kakashi, who was already the captain of the Anbu, led Yamato and other Anbu members to check the situation only after the massacre of the clan.
But that doesn't matter; the night of the Uchiha clan's massacre is already a foregone conclusion.
"The Konoha you protect has long regarded the Uchiha clan as a malignant tumor that must be removed."
"Your trusted Third Hokage is indecisive and has repeatedly condoned Danzo's despicable actions."
"Uchiha Itachi, whom you placed high hopes on and regarded as a close friend and brother..." Shura's voice paused deliberately, carrying a cruel, playful tone.
"He chose the village, he chose the so-called 'greater good.' For this, he personally raised the butcher's knife. The entire Uchiha clan, thousands of lives, including his own parents, all became obstacles that he had to clear on his path to 'protect Konoha.'"
"Oh, right, perhaps we'll leave behind a young Sasuke as an 'anchor' for him to carry on with his hatred and continue living?"
Every word was like a red-hot, dull knife, viciously stabbing into Zhi Shui's bleeding heart.
The scene that Shura described overlapped perfectly with every bloody detail he saw in his illusion.
The numb emptiness when Itachi wielded his sword, the calm and resolute demeanor of the Fugaku couple as they faced their execution, the cold, indifferent surveillance from the secret agents outside the walls…
These images violently assaulted the crumbling walls of his beliefs.
"The peaceful coexistence you hoped for, the integration of your family and village that you firmly believed in..." Shura's voice tolled like the death knell of final judgment, cold and cruel.
"It's nothing but a beautiful bubble woven by the higher-ups to appease 'naive' strongmen like you. With a gentle prick, all that's left is..." He raised his finger and pointed to the two glaring bloodstains on Zhishui's eyes.
"...This is all I see, blood and despair."
The ward was deathly silent, save for Zhi Shui's heavy, painful breathing and the monotonous, cold ticking of the medical equipment, which sounded like a countdown.
"No...no...Itachi..." Shisui's voice trailed off, carrying a weakness that even he himself couldn't convince.
The words of rebuttal stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say them anymore.
The suffocating despair and gore in the illusion filled his chest like molten iron, freezing his blood.
Shura's words, like the most vicious curse, precisely nailed to the weakest crack in his beliefs, prying at the already cracked foundation.
He still believes in the Third Generation and in Itachi.
But what about Danzo?
Just as Danzo bypassed the Third Hokage to ambush Itachi, if Danzo had bypassed the Third Hokage and given Itachi the order to exterminate his clan...
Is there anyone who can stop it?
At this point, Shisui's resolve had already begun to waver.
(End of this chapter)