Chapter 162 Funeral

Ling and his group took a short rest at the gathering point, and then set off on their journey with other injured tribesmen who needed to return home to recuperate.

When this team, full of sadness and exhaustion, arrived at the clan's land, the remaining Uchiha were preparing a cemetery for the clan members who were about to be buried. After seeing this group of returning clan members, they quietly added a few more graves on one side.

It had been less than two days since they arrived at the clan's territory, and Uchiha Kenji, who was planning to find a clan member to take him on a mission, also saw this team.

Because Ling was the only one in the clan who would walk around with his eyes blindfolded, he easily recognized that this was the team of his peers. He excitedly approached from behind and hooked one of them by the shoulder.

"Who is that girl? How could Ling carry her back?" Uchiha Kenji's face was filled with gossip. "What happened after I left? Is the iron tree about to bloom?"

Uchiha Masaki turned his dark and empty eyes to him blankly, and said in a dry and hoarse voice, "...That's a corpse."

The smile on Uchiha Kenji's face suddenly froze, but Uchiha Masaki seemed not to notice his stiffness. He looked straight into his eyes and spoke word by word, "Chiho is dead."

Uchiha Kenji stiffly withdrew his arm, his voice becoming hoarse, "Is that so..."

"Yashu, you and Ling go send Chiho home." Uchiha Akihiko noticed the deadlock here and walked over to separate the two of them. "I'll go and explain the situation to the clan."

Uchiha Masaki nodded stiffly, "Okay."

Uchiha Kenji looked at Uchiha Masaki's back that seemed like it would fall down at any time, swallowed his saliva, raised his finger and pointed at his eyes, "That guy..."

"Well, Masaaki has opened his eyes." Uchiha Akihiko's eyes were full of worry, but when he looked at Uchiha Kenji, he was even more helpless, "Is your face blindness so severe that you can't even tell the difference between a corpse and a living person?"

Uchiha Kenji also seemed a little guilty. "I didn't see any injuries or corpse spots. I thought it was a coma due to excessive blood loss... Should I have stayed at that time?"

"…We were attacked by the main force of the Thousand Hands at that time. You are not good at direct confrontation, so you probably can't help."

Uchiha Kenji ruffled his hair in annoyance, "It's so annoying. Why did I choose that guy Masaki when I chose randomly... It's killing me."

"Well, he deserves to be beaten."

"…You're not Hong, are you?"

Uchiha Akihiko retracted his gaze and folded his hands, "Heh."

"I'm telling you, Uchiha Hiro, don't be too harsh... No, there's no scar on Hiro's face." Uchiha Kenji stared at Uchiha Akihiko, "You can still talk to me like this with a scar on your face... Uchiha Akihiko! Is that you?!"

"It's OK. Although I'm face-blind, I'm not stupid."

Uchiha Kenji glanced at the heavy atmosphere of the team and curled his lips, "If the current atmosphere is not unsuitable... when do you plan to set off again?"

Uchiha Akihiko glanced at the demoralized team after hearing this, and spoke after a brief silence, "At least wait until after the funeral."

……

The Uchiha's funeral was very simple. They would verify the identity of the deceased, and then have the clan members who knew medical ninjutsu handle each body to prevent the bloodline limit from being exposed. Then the clan members who knew sealing techniques would seal the bodies into coffins one by one.

When these steps are completed, the person with the highest status in the clan will add the first handful of soil to each person, and then relatives and friends will come forward to see them off one by one. Finally, the clan members who are proficient in earth escape will move the coffins to a deeper underground for rest.

When all the coffins were properly buried, the tribesmen who came to participate in the funeral finally stopped looking so solemn. They found familiar tribesmen to comfort the deceased or discuss how to take revenge on Thousand Hands.

But more people came to congratulate Uchiha Masaki one by one after the clan elders announced that the clan had added another pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, congratulating him on obtaining the Mangekyō Sharingan, and saying that Chiho would also feel that her death was valuable because of his opening of his eyes.

However, as Uchiha Masaki listened to these words of congratulations and envy, he felt his heart growing colder and colder.

Especially at the end, Uchiha Chiho's parents found him, and said to him with sadness but relief - "Thank you for opening Chiho's eyes. This makes her death no longer seem so pale and has more value. Chiho will also be happy."

Uchiha Masaki didn't even know how he made the sound. [As parents, shouldn't you blame us for not protecting her? ]

[It was destined the day she gave up her family's marriage arrangement and decided to become a ninja,] Chiho's father shook his head, [Being able to use her own death to exchange a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan for the clan was already the most outstanding achievement in her short ninja career.]

Finally, the last warmth in Uchiha Masaki's heart was taken away by the cool breeze of early autumn. He felt as if someone was strangling him by the throat, and even breathing, an action that should have been innate, became difficult.

[Why can you say such things? Isn't Chiho your daughter? ]

[Shouldn't you be more miserable than me who is still an outsider? ]

[She obviously hates fighting, but you said that was her decision? ]

[She wanted to go home so much, but you think her death was worthwhile? ]

【Why can you easily define the death of others? 】

Uchiha Masaki covered his eyes in pain. One sharp question after another emerged in his mind. The creepy scarlet color once again permeated the boy's dark eyes where no one could see.

At this moment, Uchiha Masaki felt someone pulling his sleeve, "Don't be too sad, Chiho-sister will be happy for you."

He finally couldn't hold back the violence in his heart any longer, and swung his hand to push the person away, staring at the newcomer, his voice was sharper than ever before, "Enough! Shut up! What do you know!"

The person who pulled his sleeve seemed to have never thought of being treated like this. He fell to the ground without any preparation, but met Uchiha Masaki's scarlet eyes. He felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave, "...Brother?"

Uchiha Masaki suddenly came back to his senses, looking at Uchiha Wenshu who was pushed to the ground by him, and swung his hand in the air angrily and covered his eyes again, but his voice was obviously lowered, "Sorry, Wenshu, let brother be alone for a while... Can you go home by yourself?"