Naruto Immersive Replay, The Curse of the Sharingan

Page 328

"You...you are all my best friends!"

Sakura tried to carry the water, her voice pleading, "So my answer is to choose both! I can't choose them separately!"

The next second, Sakura suddenly felt a cool, wet sensation on her cheek.

She looked up in surprise, and in the faint moonlight streaming in from the window, she could clearly see that you were crying.

"You...why are you crying?" Sakura panicked completely, frantically trying to wipe away your tears. "Don't cry, Nagi!"

You turned your head away from her touch, "...I'm just an orphan, and my personality certainly can't compare to Ino's sunny and endearing nature...If you find me troublesome, you can leave anytime..."

"You're not allowed to say that!" Sakura's heart felt like it was being clenched tightly. She couldn't care about anything else anymore. She suddenly reached out and forcefully covered your mouth to stop you from saying those self-deprecating words.

Her emerald eyes were filled with tenderness and determination. "I like you very much, Nagi! I like you so much! It's not a problem at all!"

This time, Sakura finally managed to wipe away the tear stains on your face with her hand. When her fingertips touched your cool skin and felt a slight tremor, Sakura felt her heart melt into water.

You gaze intently at her, "I only have you left, Sakura... No matter what, you'll only choose me, okay?"

Seeing you looking like you've been abandoned by the whole world, all of Sakura's hesitation and weighing of options crumbled in an instant.

Forget about being considerate and avoiding offending anyone! All she wants now is for you to stop crying and for you to know that she will never abandon you.

"Okay! Okay! I only choose you!" Sakura nodded vigorously, her tone incredibly firm, as if she were making the most important vow. "I promise! I only choose you!"

Upon hearing this answer, you slightly raised the corners of your mouth and whispered in a tone that was almost a satisfied sigh, "It's so good to have you... Sakura."

Sakura had just breathed a sigh of relief after comforting you, but the next second, she felt a touch with a clear sense of possession coming from between her eyebrows.

You kissed her forehead.

Sakura froze on the spot, her mind went blank, and her cheeks burned like fire.

This...this has far exceeded the scope of comfort between ordinary friends! That kiss was like a silent brand, making her heart race and her blood seem to freeze.

You slowly released your embrace, looking at Sakura's flushed cheeks, a triumphant, dark light flashing in the depths of your dark eyes.

"Nagi...Nagi..." Sakura covered the spot where she had been kissed, her cheeks burning as red as the sunset, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, and her voice trembling and stuttering almost imperceptibly.

She raised her eyes to look at the girl so close to her, her emerald green eyes filled with confusion and helplessness.

You had already taken a half step back, returning to your usual calm demeanor, as if your sudden action just now was merely Sakura's illusion.

You tilted your head slightly, your dark eyes looking at Sakura, your tone flat and indifferent, "What's wrong?"

You actually asked what happened?!

Sakura felt like her brain was about to overheat and shut down. "You...you just...that kiss..."

She stammered, wanting to confirm but also afraid to hear the answer, her heart pounding like a startled rabbit, extremely flustered.

She was afraid of hearing any explanation that she couldn't understand or bear.

You looked at her flustered appearance, but your eyes remained unchanged. You simply explained in a serious tone, almost like an academic discussion.

"I saw in your comic book that when a relationship is so close, a kiss can be used to express intimacy."

You paused, then added, "Just like when you hugged me before."

This reason sounds... logically sound? Sakura paused for a moment, subconsciously recalling the comic books she had given you.

It seems... there are indeed many scenes that express friendship by kissing the forehead or cheek...

"Huh? But, but most of my comic books... are related to romance!" Sakura blurted out, her face turning even redder.

What she cared about more at that moment was, "Did you misunderstand the meaning of kissing because you read those comics? Those comics must have corrupted you!"

The naive Sakura immediately blamed the manga, without suspecting that the girl in front of her might have done it on purpose.

"Is that so..." You nodded thoughtfully, leaning forward slightly, your gaze seemingly piercing through Sakura's flustered exterior, reaching deep into her heart. "Then... does Sakura have someone she wants to be in love with?"

This question struck Sakura like a thunderbolt! She felt all the blood rush to her head, and her ears were ringing.

With Ino and Hinata, they could blush and chat privately about which boy in their class was more handsome, and secretly share their admiration for Sasuke. That feeling was a shy one, filled with girlish fantasies.

But... right in front of you!

You asked that question under your calm, unwavering gaze!

Sakura felt an unprecedented, almost naked sense of shame instantly overwhelm her. This feeling was exactly the same as the embarrassment she felt when she was caught secretly fantasizing about Sasuke!

Why...why do I feel the same way I do when I'm with you as I do when I'm with Sasuke? Is it...is it just because we're both from the Uchiha clan, both so good-looking, and both have such unique personalities?!

The confusion and embarrassment made her unable to stay any longer.

"I...I'm tired! See you tomorrow!" Sakura blurted out these words almost incoherently, then turned and ran, her steps faltering as she rushed up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door shut.

Leaning against the cold door, Sakura gasped for breath, one hand tightly clutching her still wildly beating heart, her face burning with an alarmingly high temperature.

Too strange...

This feeling is so strange...

She couldn't understand why she would react so strongly to your misunderstanding and casual question.

The downstairs living room fell silent after Sakura's escape.

You stand still, the feigned calm on your face fading, replaced by a gloomy melancholy.

Sakura clearly... has someone she likes. Her flustered, shy, yet sweet and conflicted reaction is undeniable.

Is it Yamanaka Ino, who is inseparable from her all day and shares her innermost thoughts?

Is it still that Sasuke... who also shares the Uchiha surname and attracted the attention of most of the girls in the class and even the entire school?

The thought that it might be the latter made you purse your thin lips, and the aura emanating from you became even colder and sharper than usual.

This dark feeling, bordering on jealousy, didn't last long; you had more important things to do.

Thinking of that promise, the tightly guarded secrets within the roots, the mysteries yet to be solved...

Insignificant emotional entanglements appear so pale and powerless in the face of a larger picture.

You took a deep breath, forcibly stripping away and retracting the inexplicable possessiveness that arose from the possibility that Sakura might have someone else in her heart, and suppressing it back into the deepest corner of your heart.

Or... let's figure out how to get back into the root first.

Chapter 313 - Sadness

Since Danzo's repeated assassinations, the security here has become extremely tight. Elite ninjas patrol like ghosts, silently moving through the intricate passages. Any slight movement could attract pursuit.

With a vague memory of the base structure and extraordinary patience, you finally encounter a lone root elite.

With a precise chop to the neck, the opponent collapsed to the ground before even having a chance to warn them.

You swiftly dragged it into the shadows, cast a transformation spell, and took its form, once again blending into this breeding ground of darkness.

You carefully follow the path in your memory, trying to find that familiar scent.

No matter how perfectly disguised, the alienation that clashes with the surrounding environment still attracts the attention of certain beings.

As you pass a particularly dark side road, a hand wearing a black fingerless glove suddenly extends from the side like an iron clamp and precisely grabs your wrist.

Your body stiffened, but you did not resist.

The person who grabbed you didn't attack immediately, but instead forcibly dragged you into a more secluded and dark corner at the end of a fork in the road, where discarded equipment was piled up.

The place was cluttered with debris and covered in cobwebs, with only a faint glimmer of light coming from the distant entrance of the passage, barely enough to outline the other person's silhouette.

"How dare you show your face here?" A voice filled with disbelief and urgency rang out in the darkness.

He was a young boy, whose voice should have been clear and bright, but now it was tinged with the hoarseness and repression unique to his roots.

You raise your eyes and, even in the dim light, you can clearly recognize the other person. You had a brief encounter at the orphanage, and later you were both drawn into the dark side of Konoha.

"I came for you, believe." You stated a simple fact, which seemed particularly clear in this oppressive space.

The man who had grabbed your wrist was clearly taken aback, and the grip on his hand unconsciously loosened a little.

He seemed surprised to receive such an answer.

After a few seconds of silence, as if he had made up his mind, he completely let go of your hand, even gently pushing you back, his voice carrying a complex and resolute tone.

"You can leave now. For the sake of our past relationship, I'll pretend I didn't see anything and that nothing happened."

He tried to mask his other emotions with indifference.

You stand still, in the darkness, staring directly into Shin's eyes, "...Kabuto is dead."

Mentioning that name, his voice was calm, yet it struck Xin's heart like a heavy hammer: "You know what happens if you stay at the root. Come with me."

You reached out, with an unusual persuasive air, and grasped the fabric of Xin's arm.

Xin's body trembled slightly. He smiled bitterly, shook his head, and his voice was full of exhaustion and resignation.

"I... never mind, I don't want to cause you any more trouble." He was no longer the boy in the orphanage who still had dreams about the future.

Your brow is furrowed.

"At least...you should think about Sai." You mentioned his younger brother, who is not related to him by blood but is closer than family.

"Moreover, according to the information I received in the Dark Division, you are about to..." Your words carried a certain warning.

"Stop talking!" Xin suddenly turned around, interrupting you, his voice carrying a hint of barely perceptible panic, as if afraid to hear the inevitable ending.

Your words came to an abrupt end.

Looking at Xin's somewhat frail figure, I couldn't understand why the boy who used to secretly give himself a piece of candy in the lab and whose eyes still held a glimmer of light had become so stubborn and desperate.

The letter seemed to sense the confusion in your gaze.

He was silent for a moment, and then did something you wouldn't expect.

He slowly turned around, took your hand in the dim light, and then pressed it firmly against his left chest, where his heart was.

“Listen…” His voice was hoarse, with a heartbreaking calm.

Through the rough base of the uniform, your fingertips could clearly feel the beating of the heart in the chest of the person beneath you.

One beat after another... his heartbeat was abnormally weak and slow, as if it might stop at any moment. It was not at all like the vigorous vitality that a young man in his prime should have. Instead, it carried a kind of deathly stillness.

“I am deeply poisoned by the roots,” Xin’s voice was low and numb, “and I won’t live much longer.”

“Even if you leave here, Sai will eventually have to face my death. For you, saving someone who is destined to die must be a troublesome thing, Nagi.”

He paused, as if recalling something pleasant, a barely perceptible tenderness in his voice, "It was a pleasure to meet you... but perhaps our connection ends here."

He raised his eyes, and even in the darkness, you could feel his gaze upon you. "I know that Kabuto's death has made you care more about these remaining feelings, but... I'm... beyond saving."

Xin's voice finally choked with emotion, and cold tears slid from the corner of his eye, dripping onto the back of your hand, burning hot.

He never expected that you, who always seemed indifferent to everything, would take such a huge risk just to take him away.

This sentiment stirred a long-forgotten pain in his heart, which had long been frozen.

You didn't say anything.

After Dou died, this suffocating feeling of helplessness haunted you like a nightmare, constantly warning you that you could not let something like this happen again, that you could not lose anything again.

But despite all the planning, no one anticipated that Faith's life had already been eroded by the darkness at its roots, and it was on the verge of exhaustion.

After a long while, you spoke again, your voice filled with an almost obsessive insistence, "I will find a way to remove the poison from your body."

You are unwilling to give up, even if there is only a sliver of hope.

Shin simply shook his head, his voice filled with exhaustion. "I'm tired, Nagi."

He said softly, “At the root, I have long lost the original aspirations I had in the orphanage. What stands before you now is nothing more than a puppet whose will has been crushed and who is numb and indifferent.”

He looked at you, his eyes filled with a final plea, "If you've come here today to repay my insignificant help in the lab back then... then my final request is not to save me."

Xin's voice became exceptionally clear and firm, "Please find a way to take Sai away from here, so that he... can see the true sunlight. This is my last wish."

“If Sai knew the truth,” your eyes finally filled with unconcealable sorrow, “he wouldn’t be able to live alone with a clear conscience.”

Xin seemed to have anticipated your statement, his tone becoming unusually certain, as if he had already foreseen the outcome: "I know you won't tell him."

He understands you. He may seem indifferent, but he cherishes those faint lights more than anyone else and understands the weight of protecting secrets.

You will definitely fulfill his request in your own way, while burying this cruel truth forever.

They remained silent in the darkness.

Xin's tears had long since stopped, leaving only a sense of relief and peace.

You clenched your fists so tightly that your nails dug deep into your palms.