Chapter 61: The Destruction of the Uchiha ClanFugaku finally believed Itachi's words completely. He nodded and said, "Itachi, it seems you were right. It's getting late, so feel free to proceed!"One minute later, Itachi stood on the street inside the Uchiha Clan territory. He took a deep breath and drew the katana from his back. The slaughter began.Itachi didn't spare a single house. He seemed to have transformed into a heartless killing machine, facing the pleas for mercy from his own kin without even a hint of hesitation.More and more people heard the commotion and came outside, which actually made things easier for Itachi. He danced like a strange, eerie waltz; with every step he took, several people would fall to the ground.Meanwhile, the Masked Man arrived outside the Konoha Police Force headquarters and slipped inside in a few flashes. By the time someone noticed him, it was already too late. After a few cries of agony, silence returned to the area.When the Masked Man emerged, several shuriken were launched at him, but he didn't dodge. The Kunai actually passed right through his body, failing to cause him any harm at all.Uchiha Izumi, who had launched the attack, threw a few more Kunai, but the result remained the same. For a moment, she stood frozen in place, stunned.The Masked Man recognized her identity and knew she was one of the people Itachi wanted to protect. He said coldly, "Oh? Nice eyes!"As he spoke, he flung a chain forward. Seeing this, Izumi turned and tried to run, but unfortunately, her speed was too slow. In the end, she was caught by the chain and bound.Tears streamed down Izumi's face, her expression one of terror. She pleaded incessantly, "Save me, Itachi, hurry and save me!"The Masked Man sent her into the Kamui space. Shortly after, he arrived on top of a tall building in the Uchiha Clan district. Just as he landed, Itachiarrived.The Masked Man stood with his hands on his hips, looking at the corpses covering the ground below. He turned his head and said to Itachi, "Is it over? If you have nowhere else to go, you could consider joining my organization.""Oh? Your organization?"The Masked Man replied, "That's right. It's an organization called 'Akatsuki.' It won't restrict your personal freedom too much; you only need to complete some tasks periodically."Itachi said, "You... never mind. You should go first. I still have some things to handle. I will come to find you later, and we can discuss whether to join your organization then!"The Masked Man laughed and said, "Heh, alright. Then we'll wait until we meet next time, and I'll hand that girl over to you then! Don't worry, I didn't hurt her."After speaking, the Masked Man formed a ripple centered on his right eye. The surrounding space changed accordingly. His eye was like a black hole, and soon his entire body was swallowed into it.Itachi could no longer sense his presence. Looking at the spot where the Masked Man had just been standing, a look of wariness appeared on Itachi's face.But now was not the time to think about these things, because according to the plan, he had to join the "Akatsuki" organization. When that time came, he would have plenty of opportunities to test the opponent's strength.At this moment, he had to return below, because Sasuke was about to return.Sasuke was running home, muttering to himself, "Naruto, that guy, I don't know what kind of mood he was in today, insisting that I train with him. To think it went on this late, what a pain."Suddenly, he smelled a thick scent of blood. As he looked up, the scene before him made him recoil in fear. Sasuke stared at the piles of corpses and said, "This... what on earth happened?"Immediately after, he thought of his family, so he overcame his fear and took another step toward home.A desperate situation unfolded for him. When he saw his parents lying on the ground with no signs of life, Sasuke didn't even have the courage to step forward to check.Then, he realized one person was still missing, so he turned around and ran out, shouting, "Brother, Brother, where are you?"When he appeared on the street again, he found Itachi standing in front of him. Sasuke quickly said, "Brother, what happened? Mom and Dad and everyone else have been killed. Who on earth did this..."Before he could finish, a Kunai grazed his right arm, leaving a wound. Sasuke looked up at Itachi in surprise; the brother who had once loved him the most now seemed somewhat like a stranger.Itachi spoke: "My foolish little brother, since you want to know, I will show you! Mangekyo Sharingan!"As he spoke, Itachi used Tsukuyomi on Sasuke. In the illusion created by Itachi, Sasuke clearly saw the scene of everyone being killed, including the words his parents used to always say about how proud they were of Itachi.Sasuke clutched his head in agony and roared, "Brother, don't show me these things anymore. Please, don't show me anymore!"Seeing his younger brother like this, Itachi's heart softened. He closed his eyes, allowing him to break free from the Genjutsu.Sasuke instantly collapsed to the ground, his hands slowly clenching, and he kept asking in a low voice: "Why? Brother, why did you do this?""To test my own limits." Itachi said without a hint of emotion."Test... limits? For a reason like this... just for a reason like this, you killed everyone?" Sasuke said with a sobbing tone.Itachi continued to rub salt into Sasuke's wounds: "This is very important to me, but in reality, apart from Father, everyone else was truly terrible. They were fundamentally unable to force out the strongest version of me."Sasuke covered his ears and shouted, "I don't believe it! Brother, stop lying to me. You didn't do all this, right? Or maybe you have some unspeakable reason, right? Otherwise, why didn't you kill me too?"Itachi's gaze turned cold again. He said, "That's right! That's because you came back a little late. Now is a perfect opportunity."Saying this, Itachi drew his katana. Sasukenaturally refused to be captured without a fight and quickly entered a combat state.However, as soon as he started, Itachi threw the sword in his hand at Sasuke. After all, Sasuke had been practicing Taijutsu with Naruto for a while, so dodging such an attack was naturally not a problem.But Itachi immediately said, "Do you know? I once thought about sparing your life to serve as a vessel to test my own limits in the future. That is also why I have always pretended to be a good brother in front of you.""But I changed my mind, because I realized that perhaps you might never grow to that height."
