At last, Itachi could no longer freeze his heart behind the mask of a cold-blooded killer.
Tears flooded his crimson Sharingan. When his eyes could hold no more, they spilled over, slipping quietly down his face.
"I understand..."
Sasuke... my little brother. I will protect him.
The blade in his hand trembled, its point wavering. Tears blurred his vision.
"Do not be afraid. This is the path you chose. Compared to you, our pain will last only a moment."
Uchiha Fugaku's final words to his son were steady.
"Though we walk different paths... Itachi... as your father... I am still proud of you."
The sob that tore from Itachi's throat could no longer be suppressed.
Tears fell like rain onto the hand that held the blade.
What kind of agony could force a thirteen-year-old boy to cry with such suppressed, profound sorrow?
"You really are... a kind child."
I'm sorry. Forgive the father who forced you to bear this.
...
"It's suffocating."
"Yeah... I can't take it."
The forced viewing wasn't limited to Sasuke and Naruto. Konoha's residents, shinobi from various villages, even ordinary civilians were all watching.
Under the weight of the scene, it felt as if a massive stone pressed down on everyone's chest.
A knot of emotion lodged in their lungs.
It wouldn't come out. It wouldn't go away.
Sasuke's voice trembled.
"The darkness... of the ninja villages..."
The Third Hokage lowered his head.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. The village... we wronged you. And your brother."
"One apology and that's it?!"
Sasuke's voice exploded into a hoarse scream.
"Aside from the combatants, why did the village slaughter every civilian in the Uchiha clan too?! How can a single apology redeem the pain my brother went through?! Hundreds of lives from my clan... taken just like that... all in the name of protecting the village?!"
Itachi remained silent.
"Sasuke..." Kakashi began.
He wanted to tell the boy to stop.
But as Team Seven's teacher, he knew better. Trying to silence Sasuke now would only make things worse.
Tobirama Senju said nothing.
As former Hokage, they could endure the accusations of a child.
Compared to the Fourth Shinobi War, when Sasuke had already lost his brother and resurrected them with the Impure World Reincarnation to ask what a village truly was... what a clan meant...
Things had not yet reached a point of no return.
And besides...
So many people had been brought back by this "Horro Quiz."
Hope had returned.
Perhaps this time, they might witness it with their own eyes.
The dream he once shared with his brother.
Peace.
Even if it could never last forever... the thought alone was intoxicating.
...
The image shifted.
Uchiha Itachi now sat on a stone bench, dressed in the cloak of the Akatsuki.
Across from him sat a young man who looked strikingly similar.
Sakura recognized him instantly.
"Sasuke!"
Sasuke blinked.
It really was his face... just older. Several years older than he was now.
Judging by his age, it seemed close to the time shown earlier, when Gaara had already become Kazekage and the Fourth Shinobi War was approaching.
The moment the brothers met, they clashed.
A battle of genjutsu.
Neither of them moved.
Yet inside the illusion, they were already fighting to the death.
Sasuke stared at the scene, pain flashing across his face.
"Why?"
Why did things have to end like this between him and his brother?
Kakashi watched the genjutsu duel closely.
If he wasn't mistaken, Sasuke at this point still hadn't awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
"If these visions hadn't appeared... and everything had followed its original course... you and Itachi probably would have reached this point."
Sasuke said nothing.
Inside the crow perched nearby, Itachi silently agreed.
Yes.
That was exactly how it would have ended.
The battle shifted from genjutsu to taijutsu.
Itachi wielded an ordinary kunai.
Sasuke held a sleek but deadly ninja blade.
Shuriken flashed.
Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu.
From a sealing scroll came a giant Fuma Shuriken.
Hidden mechanisms within the weapon unfolded in midair.
Steel whirled through the battlefield in a dazzling storm, like a deadly dance.
Shuriken filled the sky like rain.
The two brothers knocked them aside one after another.
"Amazing," Sakura gasped. "Sasuke's already reached jonin-level strength, hasn't he?"
She wasn't wrong.
Even Kakashi found himself surprised by Sasuke's growth.
Only Naruto remained quiet.
Arms crossed, he sat there silently.
Something about the scene had stirred anger and unease inside him.
He refused to join Sakura in marveling at it.
"Sasuke Uchiha: Fire Release... Great Fireball Technique!"
"Itachi Uchiha: Fire Release... Great Fireball Technique!"
"So fast!" someone shouted.
The speed of their hand seals was unbelievable.
After genjutsu and taijutsu, the battle had finally entered the ninjutsu phase.
But speed alone wasn't enough.
The brothers wielded Fire Release with terrifying mastery.
Their clash had already surpassed the realm of ordinary jonin.
Another explosion of fire collided between them.
Sasuke's curse mark spread across his body.
His hair and skin changed color.
From his back sprouted grotesque, hand-like wings of flesh.
Itachi answered without hesitation.
His Mangekyo Sharingan activated.
"Amaterasu."
Black flames erupted.
They crushed Sasuke's fire technique instantly.
Forced back, Sasuke leapt away to escape.
But the flames caught one of the cursed wings on his back.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!"
Sakura clutched her chest.
"Sasuke!"
Grinding his teeth, Sasuke raised his blade and severed the burning wing.
The black flames devoured it relentlessly.
Even after the severed limb hit the ground, the fire continued burning until nothing but ash remained.
Kakashi spoke gravely.
"An inextinguishable flame. That's the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan."
Tobirama narrowed his eyes.
"Just as I thought..."
His mind drifted briefly to the battlefield of the Fourth Shinobi War.
There, Sasuke and Naruto had once launched a perfect combination attack.
Wind Release and Blaze Release fused together.
Which the Fourth Hokage had named:
Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero.
So that black flame visual prowess...
It originally came from Sasuke's brother.
Uchiha Itachi.
Tobirama clicked his tongue.
His brother had once said Sasuke resembled Izuna.
But to Tobirama, the boy looked far more like Madara.
The one who truly resembled Izuna...
Was Sasuke's older brother.
Uchiha Itachi.
The face.
The small ponytail.
And that foolish belief that sacrificing oneself was the best solution.
Exactly the same.
Tobirama snorted.
He really couldn't stand that kind of thinking.
...
The scene inside the vision shifted again.
Itachi began explaining the history of the Uchiha to Sasuke.
Through genjutsu, he showed him the story of Madara and his brother.
Madara's eyes had gradually lost their sight from the strain of their power.
Just like Itachi's own eyes now.
His long-lost brother stood barely a dozen meters away.
Yet his vision had already blurred.
All he could see was a silhouette.
"Madara tried many methods to restore his sight," Itachi said calmly.
"But his obsession with the Mangekyo Sharingan's power led him down another path."
"He reached for his brother's eyes."
Sasuke repeated the words in shock.
"Reached for his brother's eyes...?"
Outside the vision, twelve-year-old Sasuke clutched one of his own eyes.
Logic told him not to trust his brother again.
But...
Inside the illusion, Madara spoke softly.
"Forgive me."
Then he gouged out his brother's eyes and transplanted them into his own.
The result...
The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Tobirama Senju fell silent.
Madara stealing Izuna's eyes?
What kind of joke was that?
"Sasuke!" Itachi's voice echoed through the illusion.
"You are my spare eye bank!"
"Give them to me!"
"Forgive me, Sasuke."
The Sasuke inside the vision froze in terror.
Itachi's fingers reached toward his eyes.
Outside the vision, Sasuke shouted in panic.
"Brother!!!"
At that moment, something appeared in the image.
A strange figure.
Neither fully human nor something else.
A head slowly emerged from the wall.
Silently observing the brothers' battle.
The crow watching from the shadows narrowed its eyes.
As expected...
Tobirama's voice cut through the silence.
"Zetsu."
Inside Kamui space, Obito's eyes widened in shock.
The Second Hokage...
He actually knew about Zetsu's existence.