[Hokage] Flower Time

Hanahi looked away, and stood in front of Uchiha Itachi with his head down.He didn't speak, but walked out of the woods.The two, one behind the other, walked along an overgrown path towards a nearby town.Their partners didn't follow up, and they all stayed in place. For a while, only the two with a strange atmosphere were left standing against each other.

Uchiha Itachi's footsteps did not stop, he walked towards the town, and then walked into a sweet shop on the side of the road.Such a move made Hua Shi a little overwhelmed - what exactly does this guy want to do?

Doesn't Uchiha Itachi think that S-rank rebellious ninjas with strange dresses, suspicious movements, and murderous looks like them don't go well with this warmly decorated dumpling shop filled with pink bubbles?

The sense of incongruity is too strong.

This is the feeling she gets every time she goes to eat tricolor dumplings.

When the owner of the dessert shop noticed the flowers, he looked at the returning customer strangely, and asked, "... Excuse me, this customer, do you still want tricolor dumplings?"

"...Yeah." She nodded.

She sat down opposite Uchiha Itachi, raised her eyebrows and said, "If it's a sudden whim and you want to treat me to three-color dumplings, forget it."

She didn't think the relationship between the two of them could be as harmonious as they were when they were young - they went to the dessert shop to eat secretly after school without telling Shisui and Sasuke.

Even if she could force herself to forget about Itachi's massacre of her people, she couldn't help thinking about Zhishui's death.

"Some things, if you don't do them, it will be too late." Uchiha Itachi raised his eyes slightly and looked at her.His black eyes were like a pool of ink, without emotion.

Hua Shi put her hands on the edge of the table, she subconsciously lowered her head the moment she caught his sight, and then began to think over his words in her heart.

——Some things, if you don’t do it, it will be too late.

What is it that makes him so anxious?

She frowned suspiciously, trying to search her heart for things that might worry him.Suddenly, her heart sank, and an old event from many years ago suddenly emerged from the sea of ​​memory - he once wanted to die by her hands.

At that time, Uchiha Itachi told her that he killed Shisui himself.His words aroused her anger and gave her new pupil power.And now, his beloved younger brother is about to come for revenge, so... him?

She frowned slightly, and couldn't help asking in a low voice, "What exactly do you want?"

"Before I tell you, sit down for a while." Uchiha Itachi didn't change his attitude because of her urging.He was still the same as before, calm and without waves.

"I remember that you like to eat tricolor dumplings, right? As long as it is sweet, you like to eat it very much, and you are always worried that your teeth will be broken because of it. When you changed your teeth for the first time, you were so scared that you jumped on Shisui's body, right? ?”

Uchiha Itachi's words surprised Hanatoki, she frowned and asked, "How do you know..."

She remembered the scene when she changed her teeth for the first time—indeed, indeed, as Uchiha Itachi said, she was indeed hung on her brother in fear.Because Itachi always told her with a serious face that Mikoto said that eating too much sweets would cause tooth decay.

However, that is something only she and Shisui know, how about Uchiha Itachi...

She knew the answer without thinking about it.The relationship between Uchiha Itachi and Shisui used to be so close - for Itachi, Shisui is not only a friend, but also a brother-like existence. Presumably Shisui is also very happy to share some of her old stories with him.

Thinking of Shisui's final fate of being killed by Itachi Uchiha and buried in Nangachuan, she couldn't help but clenched her hands tightly, and her voice became cold: "I don't have time to chat with you here."

"If you don't want to chat, then go." Itachi said, put the coins on the wooden table, stood up and walked out of the shop.Hua Shi was taken aback by his sudden action, and then she also stood up and chased after him.

The owner of the dessert shop who had just served the three-color dumpling was standing beside the empty wooden table in bewilderment, staring at the coins on the table, submerged in water, at a loss.

She followed him and walked out, and as she walked, she couldn't help stealing glances at Uchiha Itachi who was walking beside her——

He was wearing Akatsuki's black-bottomed red cloud robe, which had long been recognized by the Ninja Villages as a symbol of Akatsuki's organization, but in this relatively remote town, no one was too vigilant about their clothes. Heart.His forehead is as neat as when he was in Konoha, it seems that wearing a Konoha forehead is a must for him.

Unstoppable doubts emerged from the bottom of Huashi's heart - the current atmosphere is really strange, what exactly does he want to do?He neither spoke nor moved, but walked forward seemingly aimlessly.

The two of them walked forward along a deserted street. Just as the sun was setting, the golden-red glow covered the sky and penetrated along the ground toward the center of the town.The shadows of the two were elongated obliquely by the setting sun and cast on the wall beside the narrow street.A gust of evening wind blew past, causing the hem of their clothes to sway slightly.

Perhaps this subtle silence made him unbearable, and he finally spoke.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

Huashi responded casually.

——Greetings like "long time no see" should be said when we first meet, right?It's a little strange to bring it up now.

The first words were like the youthful greetings of a teenager who didn't know how to speak, but the later words became much smoother.Uchiha Itachi walked while talking, as if he wanted to say all the words that had been suppressed after not seeing each other for several years in one breath on this day.

His tone was unhurried, very flat, without emotional ups and downs, just like his usual way of speaking.But she hadn't heard similar words of concern for a long time.

"You have grown a lot taller, Zhishui must be very happy to know."

"Pay attention to your body. Sharingan cannot be overused."

Her arms froze, and she didn't answer, although she couldn't help answering angrily in her heart - "Don't mention Zhishui in front of me!"

"What kind of family do you want when you spend time?"

It was another sudden and inexplicable question, which made her even more at a loss.

——Doesn't he think that such a question is not only meaningless, but also boring to her?Knowing that no one would have such a thing as "family".

Before waiting for her reply, Uchiha Itachi's words stopped with a sudden cough.He stopped, leaned against the wall, bent his back slightly, and coughed suppressedly for a while.With his back facing her, his shoulders shook slightly, as if he was trying to restrain his body movements, but with little effect.

Huashi stood behind Itachi, frowning at his appearance.Her sight touched his hand resting on the wall—the slender fingers were resting on the wall, and the red ring was clasped between her fingers. Her mood sank, and some mixed memories suddenly appeared in her mind.

"Uchiha Itachi's health is getting worse and worse."

"His recent dosage has increased again, and he seems to be supporting himself."

"Even when I sealed the tailed beast, I couldn't cover it..."

"You..." She looked at him and couldn't help asking, "You didn't come to say goodbye to me, did you?"

A few years ago, Itachi also had such abnormal behavior.At that time he asked her many questions, and then he decided to kill her.She clenched her hands tightly to restrain her urge to touch her chest—there was also a scar left by a ferret there, although it was quite a long time ago, the scar was still ferocious.

It can't be because of poor health, seeing that time is running out, and desperately trying to get rid of her enemy for Konoha, right?

She thought sarcastically—after all, she knew Itachi's love for Konoha best.

Itachi's cough stopped, he straightened up, and when he faced her again, he was calm again.He stood on the side of the road, and the setting sun cast his figure into the side alley.

As he looked at the flowers, he said, "I have come to tell you everything."

Huashi didn't quite understand the meaning of his words, she thought she already knew the truth of everything, but at this moment she didn't quite understand what he said: "What?"

"I want you to see everything in its truest form."

It was as if someone had quietly opened a corner of the page in front of her, Uchiha Itachi's words made her suddenly glimpse something terrible, heavy and doubtful, suddenly gushing out.She asked urgently: "What do you mean...?"

"Originally, I wanted to take all of this into the grave." Itachi Uchiha closed his eyes slightly and replied, "But...in the end, I decided to tell you."

She looked at Itachi, waiting for his next explanation.

She didn't think there was anything else he could tell—she had already learned the truth from Uchiha Madara.

"About your brother, Zhishui's death." He said slowly.

"I don't think there is anything to say." She said in a low voice, "You told me repeatedly and convinced me that you killed him... It's been so long, and you still want to use this matter To make me more desperate?"

"No." Itachi shook his head and looked across the street.The setting sun gradually receded, and the sky darkened.There was a flickering light where his sight touched, flickering on and off in the window lattice.His words were very slow, as if he was narrating an age-old story.

"Zhishui loves you very much. He thinks you are the person he cherishes the most, and the person he wants to say 'sorry' the most." He said: "Until the moment before death, what he mentioned in his mouth is still your name."

The first page of the book was opened, revealing the words that had been dusty for a long time.

Her eyes widened in shock at Itachi's words.