Naruto: This Uchiha is too innocent.

Chapter 144 What truly killed your father was order.

That day, Uchiha Sora stayed alone in Orochimaru's underground laboratory for an entire afternoon, until night fell like a black curtain, slowly enveloping the entire ninja world.

During this tedious time, he pondered many things: How could he rewrite the predetermined course of history? How could he save Rin Nohara's life? How could he stop the Nine-Tails' rampage? How could he prevent the Uchiha clan from being wiped out? How could he ensure the Uchiha clan stood at the pinnacle of the ninja world?

However, reality was like a shackle, firmly binding all these beautiful ideas. He suddenly felt so ridiculous. It was precisely because of the system's existence that he possessed such great strength, yet now he was racking his brains trying to figure out how to break free from the system's constraints.

He was a hypocrite, enjoying the immense power granted by the system while simultaneously attempting to use it to reverse a predetermined fate, even though his power was precisely what he possessed because of that fate.

"Gurgle gurgle————"

Inside the laboratory, the formaldehyde solution in the container churned and churned, emitting a dull and eerie sound. The corpse preserved inside rose and fell with the surging of the solution, while on the operating table, the blade of the scalpel gleamed with a cold and blinding light, sending chills down one's spine.

Uchiha Sora lowered his eyelids, lost in his own thoughts. The "gurgling" sound broke the silence, and he subconsciously looked in the direction from which the sound came. His gaze swept over the container and finally landed on the operating table.

Besides the gleaming scalpel, two red test tubes sat quietly on the operating table, standing out starkly in the dim light. They contained the blood Orochimaru had drawn from him, now lying there silently.

He stared silently at the two vials of blood for a long, long time—

"Creak—"

'

The laboratory door was slowly pushed open, and Orochimaru's tall figure leaned against the door frame. He tilted his head and looked at the silent Uchiha Sora with his inquisitive eyes.

"Young man, while I would be happy for you to stay here tonight, I suspect your elders would not want you to stay." Orochimaru's voice echoed in the silent laboratory, tinged with a hint of mockery.

Uchiha Sora slowly stood up. His previous empty and lifeless expression had been replaced by an eerie calm, beneath which seemed to lie a turbulent undercurrent.

He found the only way to break this deadlock, a method that required Orochimaru's help.

His lips moved slightly. "Orochimaru, I need you to help me verify a guess."

Orochimaru's previously mocking gaze gradually returned to normal as Uchiha Sora spoke in a calm and composed tone. He put away his ambiguous smile, carefully looked Uchiha Sora up and down, and slowly said, "It seems that you have figured things out in the meantime."

"Heh," Orochimaru's lips curled up slightly, "My time is always precious, but—I'm willing to spare a little bit for an interesting guy like you."

The next day, the sun was high in the sky.

Uchiha Sora slowly woke up from his sleep. He yawned. He had a nightmare yesterday and slept very poorly. His energy was completely depleted.

On the windowsill, romantic golden threads swayed past the dark curtains, scattering across his bedding and creating dappled light and shadow—a scene with a touch of ethereal beauty. He slowly drew back the curtains, and the blinding sunlight poured in, causing him to squint. After his eyes adjusted, he realized it was already quite late.

A sense of confusion welled up within him. Usually, Zhishui would have woken him up by this time. With a puzzled look, he stepped out of his room and noticed how quiet the house was.

His gaze quickly fell on the white paper pasted on the opposite door, and he realized that it was a note left for him by his family.

(Sorry, we've taken Shisui to the front lines. You seem very tired lately, so we didn't wake you up today. Breakfast is ready for you; you can eat as soon as you get up. Get some rest. —Momonosuke)

"What a silly old man." He gently peeled off the note, his fingers unconsciously tracing the slightly messy handwriting, and whispered, "Actually, I really wanted to see you off too—"

He then realized that his family had noticed his frustration and depression during this period and had been quietly taking care of his emotions.

He shook his head, put away the note, and went to the living room. He immediately saw the so-called breakfast, which was a sandwich that could be heated in the microwave.

"It's already noon, and you're still talking about breakfast—" Uchiha Sora chuckled inexplicably. He quickly washed up, casually put a sandwich in his mouth without even thinking about heating it up, and went straight out the door.

Yesterday was too late, not the right time to verify his suspicions, so he plans to go find Orochimaru again today.

On the way, I met an unexpected person.

"laugh--

—"

A sharp sonic boom suddenly rang out, followed by a blinding flash of lightning, and then a deafening "boom" as the rocks instantly shattered, sending debris flying everywhere.

Kakashi clutched his arm and struggled to pull it out of the rock shattered by the lightning release. He looked quite agitated, with veins bulging on his forehead.

He took a deep breath, formed hand seals again, and soon, lightning chakra gathered in his hands like nimble electric snakes, and a sharp thunderclap echoed in the air once more.

"Training so hard?" A voice rang out beside him.

Kakashi subconsciously withdrew his chakra, and the lightning gradually dissipated from his fingertips. He looked in the direction from which the voice came and found that the person was Uchiha Sora.

"What are you doing here?" Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly, a hint of doubt in them. "Weren't all the Anbu members dispatched on missions?"

"I'm wounded, so I don't need to go on missions for now," Uchiha Sora shrugged.

"You don't look like an injured person at all," Kakashi said calmly, his gaze sweeping over Uchiha Sora.

"Tsk, you're so boring." Uchiha Sora curled his lip and clicked his tongue impatiently. "I'm not going to waste my breath on this nonsense. What are you doing here? Venting your emotions?"

Upon hearing this, Kakashi fell silent. He lowered his head slightly, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

Seeing this, Uchiha Sora's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Konoha's genius, actually acting like an incompetent fool, questioning himself here?"

Kakashi sneered, a hint of provocation flashing in his eyes. "Hmph, aren't the Uchiha geniuses also constantly depressed and listless?"

Clearly, he was aware of Uchiha Sora's recent situation, and his words carried a hint of sarcasm.

Uchiha Sora was speechless for a moment, not expecting Kakashi to have such a sharp tongue.

"Alright, alright, stop making it like we're enemies."

"I heard from Obito that you guys just finished a mission yesterday. What's wrong? Did the mission leave you feeling down?"

Kakashi's face was ashen, his expression tense, and he looked extremely uncomfortable, remaining silent.

Uchiha Sora frowned slightly, his mind racing. For Kakashi to appear like this, something must have happened during the mission.

But he's not a god, how could he know what happened during the mission? However, he wasn't in a hurry. If Kakashi didn't want to talk about it, then so be it; if he wanted to talk about it, then naturally he wouldn't need to keep asking.

Not long after, Kakashi let out a long sigh, his voice filled with confusion, and slowly asked, "Ku, how many people did you kill?"

"Me?" Uchiha Sora was slightly taken aback, then fell into deep thought. After a moment, he said, "I haven't counted carefully, but there must be several hundred or even a thousand."

"Among the people you've killed, were there any particularly troublesome individuals, but because they had other burdens around them, you were able to seize an opening and ultimately kill them?" Kakashi stared intently at Uchiha Sora.

Uchiha Sora raised an eyebrow slightly. Upon hearing this, he had already roughly guessed the reason for Kakashi's loss of composure.

"Do you think Obito and Rin have become a burden to you?" Uchiha Sora looked directly at Kakashi, his tone confident.

Kakashi remained silent, lowering his head slightly; that silence was his tacit agreement.

"Hehe, I can roughly guess what happened." Uchiha Sora's lips curled into a faint smile as he slowly said, "You encountered an extremely troublesome enemy in this mission, but there was a weakness in their team. You seized that weakness and wiped them out in one fell swoop."

Kakashi nodded slightly and said in a low voice, "Yes, he didn't have to die, but he took a hit to protect himself, which resulted in their entire army being wiped out."

"So you made that connection to Team 7," Uchiha Sora said, looking at Kakashi. "You've been in Team 7 for almost two years now, and Obito has caused quite a bit of trouble in those two years, right?"

"Hmm," Kakashi replied softly, a hint of weariness in his voice. "If it were any other time, it wouldn't be a problem, but this is wartime, and people could die at any moment. What if one day they become a burden to me because they're not strong enough?"

Uchiha Sora sighed softly and said, word by word, "Isn't this the real reason that makes you so anxious? You're afraid, afraid that one day Obito and Rin will be in danger, and you'll have to choose between your comrades' lives and the mission. You're afraid that this will happen."

"No." Kakashi's tone suddenly became urgent, as if his most sensitive nerve had been touched.

"No, it is you." Uchiha Sora said calmly, "Because your father, Hatake Sakumo, committed suicide under these circumstances."

In that instant, Uchiha Sora almost thought Kakashi was about to suddenly attack and kill him. He had never seen Kakashi so violent, his eyes burning with fury. However, that intense anger quickly subsided, replaced by an unprecedented sense of bewilderment.

Everyone has a sensitive thorn in their heart, and for Kakashi, Sakumo Hatake's suicide was undoubtedly the most untouchable and sharpest thorn. He was a genius in the eyes of everyone in Konoha, with an unlimited future, and his father, Sakumo Hatake, was an even more dazzling genius. He should have had a more perfect life story. However, his father's suicide shattered his world. After that, every time he met someone, he could feel the strange look in their eyes, as if they were saying, "Look, this is the son of that suicide ghost."

"If it were you, between your comrades and the mission, what would you choose?" Kakashi's voice was a little hoarse, as if he were asking Uchiha Sora, or perhaps asking himself.

"Companions." Uchiha Sora answered without hesitation.

Kakashi suddenly raised his head, clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and whispered, "A ninja's mission comes first. This selfishness will harm Konoha."

"Heh, you've got it wrong." Uchiha Sora shrugged lightly, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "Kakashi, do you think I care about Konoha?"

Kakashi stared blankly at Uchiha Sora, suddenly realizing something from the unchanging look in his eyes. Yes, Sora was a member of the Uchiha clan, and everyone knew about Konoha's alienation and exclusion of the Uchiha. For Sora, what he cared about was never Konoha as a whole, but the Uchiha clan, the one to whom he shared blood.

"What if the mission involves the interests of the Uchiha clan?" he asked again.

"Companions." Uchiha Sora answered without hesitation once again.

"Why!" Kakashi blurted out.

Uchiha Sora sighed. "Kakashi, the premise of a ninja is that they are human. With human comes emotion. Will the mission failure you mentioned necessarily kill my parents? Will it necessarily lead to the destruction of my Uchiha clan? If not, I will only choose to save my comrades. On one hand, there is the choice between not saving my comrades who are destined to die, and on the other hand, there is an unknown future. For me, it is an easy choice to make."

Kakashi stared blankly at Uchiha Sora. "What if the comrades you saved also blame you for abandoning the mission?"

"Why should I concern myself with what others do?"

"I do what I want, why should I concern myself with others?" This phrase echoed in Kakashi's mind, again and again.

Kakashi was completely stunned; this was something he had never heard before.

His father's death remained a mystery to him, and he even blamed his father for abandoning the mission for the sake of his comrades. If the mission had been completed, Konoha would not have suffered any losses, his father would not have been blamed by the villagers, and he would not have committed suicide.

Uchiha Sora's words gave him a vague understanding of his father's feelings at the time. Of course, he needed time and experience to truly understand his father.

Uchiha Sora patted him on the shoulder, speaking earnestly, "Kakashi, do you really think your father committed suicide because he couldn't handle the rumors?"

"Isn't that right?"

"Heh, if that's what you think too, then your father's death was truly not worth it."

Uchiha Sora shook his head and prepared to leave.

At that moment, Kakashi grabbed his arm and said in a deep voice, "What do you mean? Explain yourself."

Uchiha Sora gave a slight jolt, shaking his hand away. After thinking for a moment, he said, "What truly killed your father was the order, the cruel nature of the ninja world."