If anyone met Sasuke again and, at parting, said, "It doesn't matter if you don't forgive me. I'll always love you," then that person must have already untangled every knot in their heart and returned peacefully to the Pure Land, right?
It seemed there was no longer any need for him to worry about Sasuke. If someone more suited than himself had appeared to guide Sasuke, then perhaps even Uchiha Itachi would never have been able to feel this kind of freedom.
With that thought—
The crow, temporarily bearing the name "Itachi," hopped onto [Option Two] and let out two harsh cries. "Caw, caw…"
[Answer—][Correct.]
Immediately after, that strange, mechanical voice spoke again:
[Due to exceeding the time limit, 'Reward 1: Uchiha Itachi's Cat-Ear Hair Clip' has been revoked.]
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Along with several dull, heavy impacts—
[Reward 2: Please choose any one person from the following candidates to be revived.]
Ten wooden coffins burst up from the ground out of nowhere!!
Even Itachi, in his state as the Crow god, was startled. He beat his pitch-black wings and jumped backward several steps.
"Thud!"
The lid of the first coffin suddenly fell open.
Judging by the forehead protector, it was a male Konoha jonin. Someone he had never seen before, nor heard of.
But since he was a ninja of Konoha…
Itachi clearly remembered the description of this second reward—
[Reward 2—][From the ninja village corresponding to the respondent, ten deceased ninja will be randomly selected. The respondent may freely choose one…][—to revive.]
The question earlier had also referred to him as a "Konoha ninja." The one behind this so-called "quiz game" had already concluded that he was a ninja of Konoha—Uchiha Itachi—and not Akatsuki's Vermilion Bird. That meant they were fully aware of secrets that even few among Konoha's upper ranks knew.
He, Uchiha Itachi, had indeed slaughtered the Uchiha clan and joined Akatsuki as a Konoha S-rank missing-nin.
But even so, he remained someone who served the Hokage and protected Konoha from the shadows—
Uchiha Itachi!
…
The lid of the second coffin fell open as well.
From the attire, it was clearly a Konoha Anbu, their face hidden behind the mask that symbolized their identity.
Then came the third coffin—
Tenma!
The crimson Sharingan within the crow's eye sockets trembled. It was Tenma?!
Scenes from his days as a genin flashed before him.
From the beginning, when he couldn't understand why Tenma seemed to dislike him.
To the mission where their squad carried out the Cat Granny's(Nekobaa) commission, and everyone helped Tenma cover up the fact that he had secretly taken ninja cat whiskers to treat his father, the clan head. Back then, Tenma had awkwardly said he owed Itachi a favor, and that he would repay it someday.
And then the final mission—the escort assignment where they first encountered the masked man who called himself Uchiha Madara. Tenma… had repaid that favor in such a way.
The mission failed. The entire squad was wiped out. Only Uchiha Itachi survived, awakening the Sharingan through that pain—pain carved into the soul, the agony of the human heart.
Could he revive Tenma?
Tenma, Shinko, and Minazuki-sensai shouldn't have died. It was all because of him. Because he bore the name Uchiha. Because of that masked man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara…
In the blink of an eye, countless thoughts raced through Itachi's mind.
Then the fourth, fifth, sixth… all the way to the tenth coffin. Each lid fell open one after another. Among them were people Itachi knew, and people he didn't. There were even members of the Uchiha clan whom he had killed with his own hands.
But among them, there was one person who made him hesitate again and again.
Until that voice prompted him once more:
[Please choose any one person from the following candidates to be revived.]
Only then did Itachi make his decision.
Tenma… I'm sorry. Please forgive me…
The black crow beat its wings and took flight, landing on the shoulder of the woman in the seventh coffin.
She was a young, beautiful woman with red hair.
Even as a corpse, there was still a trace of dignity preserved in her composed features.
[Confirm revival—Uzumaki Mito.]
...
Vast chakra surged forth as emerald-green light, brimming with life—
Fresh, tender branches suddenly sprouted from the seventh coffin.
The branches grew at an astonishing speed, like a Wood Release technique, turning from saplings to trunks, and from branches to a canopy…
In the end, the coffin no longer looked like a coffin at all. It had transformed into what looked like a magnificent courtyard!
The wood used to make the coffin had been dead wood. And Uzumaki Mito, the princess of the Uzumaki clan and wife of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, had already reached the end of her natural lifespan, passing away more than twenty years ago as an elderly woman!!
This breathtaking sight was life that had once been lost, given a brand-new chance.
If Nagato were here, he would have realized that this was practically a strengthened version of the Rinne Rebirth Technique!!
As Uzumaki Mito was revived, the other coffins automatically closed their lids and sank back into the ground.
Mito regained consciousness, but did not open her eyes right away. Instead, she sensed the chakra fluctuations nearby.
This Wood Release vitality… is that Hashirama?
And that chakra not far away…
An Uchiha child, huh. Such a gentle soul. But… when gentleness goes too far, when someone always thinks of others in everything they do, they may only realize, upon looking back, that it was all stubborn self-righteousness—hurting others and hurting themselves, just like Madara's younger brother back then.
Lady Mito.
Itachi wanted to test the waters and call out to her, but the sound that came from his throat was only, "Caw, caw."
Itachi: "..."