Chapter 62 — Sasuke: "Did I Allow You to Die?"
Although there were some doubts, giving up was impossible.
Besides, how could a Genin possibly escape from their elite shinobi? Now that his location was exposed, why not grab him and wait for him to beg for help?
Captain Cloud Shinobi made a snap decision. "Go!"
There was no time to waste — the target had to be taken before night, before the chance evaporated.
But before his order finished, Sasuke vanished.
"What…?""What happened?!""He's gone!""Wh—?"
The Cloud squad went pale. With so many pairs of eyes scanning, no one could say when Sasuke had disappeared.
Then, a shout — and a figure suddenly appeared behind one of the Cloud shinobi. Before he could react, a kunai pierced his back.
"Ahhh!!"
A scream of agony filled the air as the shinobi collapsed. No one saw the attack happen. Still, there was no doubt who was responsible — that Uchiha.
In an instant they lost a man. Sasuke's vanish-and-reappear had cost them dearly.
"Space–time ninjutsu?!" Captain Cloud Shinobi barked, instantly on edge and searching the surroundings with cold vigilance.
In the ninja world, aside from summoning, space–time jutsu signified power. A child wielding such mastery? Even elite Jōnin rarely had that ability. There was no record of it.
While the captain probed the area, his comrades fell one by one — no proper resistance, no chance to flee — until he stood alone.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He swallowed hard.
"Everyone in my path has been handled. You're the only one left…"
A voice echoed from the darkness, and Sasuke appeared before the captain. Only now did the Cloud shinobi notice Sasuke's golden eyes — nothing like the Sharingan described in their files.
"Y-your eyes… Do you possess two bloodline limits?!" he stammered.
"You expect me to tell the enemy my abilities?" Sasuke snorted, silent otherwise.
"But I'll give you a choice. Tell me why you were sneaking into Konoha and I might grant you an easy end."
The captain forced himself calm and, holding a kunai, stared at Sasuke with a cold, unreadable face. Sasuke's space–time ninjutsu was strange and devastating; victory was hardly assured. More frighteningly, if Sasuke wanted to disappear, no one could stop him.
The mission had failed.
Yet the captain treated the failure like it had been anticipated. Snatching the eyes at the start — whether successful or not — the Cloud would have contingency plans. Now, with the target unclaimed, he raised his kunai and slashed toward his own neck.
He was not trying to die. He was bargaining.
If he died in Konoha, it would give Cloud leadership a pretext to pressure Konoha — perhaps even demand the eyes and the man responsible. For a shinobi, the mission came first, even at the cost of life.
"If I die, Konoha will be forced to answer," he thought. The reasoning was cold and cruel, like a true elite Jōnin.
"For Raikage-sama! For the Cloud!" he spat, and brought the blade across his throat.
A sneer crossed his face as he fell. "I'll be waiting for you in hell," he hissed. In his eyes, Sasuke was already a corpse — abandoned by Konoha, his Sharingan a prize for the Cloud.
Sasuke watched him frown only slightly.
"Did I allow you to die?"
He produced a pistol, aimed, and fired. The bullet struck the captain. Blood spurted from the neck wound — and then, impossibly, the wound began to stitch itself closed as if time itself was reversing.
"This… what is…?!" the captain gasped.
Back in time. A miracle — and a terror. His limbs trembled, numb with dread and a cold that went straight to the soul.
"Tell me everything you know, or I will keep killing you and resurrecting you," Sasuke said, stepping forward with the calm cruelty of something not quite human. "Even if your body heals, how long will your spirit endure before it breaks?"
The captain backed away, collapsing to the ground, hands scrabbling. Horror swam in his eyes.
"No— don't come near me!" he cried, voice shaking.
Sasuke's gaze remained unreadable, the golden irises reflecting nothing but the mission's cold logic. Around them, the quiet of annihilated resistance pressed like a tide. The Cloud's plan had failed — but only because the wrong side had the last word.
Outside, Konoha was in chaos; their choice to settle earlier meant little now, with the village's leadership fractured and the threat of the Cloud looming. But those calculations no longer mattered to the man on the ground. He was tired, terrified, and very much alive — for the moment.
Sasuke lowered the pistol, his tone flat and patient as a blade. "Start talking."
The captain's answer came out ragged and fast, words spilling like a broken dam, names and orders and plans meant to shift blame. Sasuke listened, unreadable, the only judge in a trial whose verdict had already been written.
When the testimony ended, the captain lay panting on the dirt, eyes hollow.
Sasuke holstered the pistol. "You'll live," he said. "Not for mercy — for the message."
Then, as silently as he had arrived, Sasuke melted into the shadows. The Cloud shinobi watched the place where he had stood, and understood that they had been spared for a reason: a warning, not salvation.
When the dust settled, only hushed whispers remained, and the memory of a single question: Did I allow you to die?
Sasuke knew the answer.