Sasuke Uchiha: My Foolish Big Brother! (Third Update)

Itachi Uchiha, who had always stubbornly believed himself to be right, lowered his head in hesitation this time, not daring to meet his younger brother's gaze!

As an older brother, as an elder, were the things he believed were "for Sasuke's own good" truly good for him?

He had always immersed himself in his "great love" and "selfless devotion" toward Sasuke, but were such love and devotion really good?

Did Sasuke truly need them? Was this "love" and "devotion" too heavy, suffocating him?

Was this love merely his own wishful thinking and self-indulgent sentimentality?

Was the one who truly needed this love not Sasuke, but himself?

...Were my "love" and "devotion" not actually for his sake, but to satisfy my own Sense of Responsibility and sense of achievement as an "older brother"?

Through television broadcasts, online reports, and other channels, Itachi Uchiha had already learned of Konohagakure's various changes and revelations over the past few days.

He too was left bewildered by such a massive, earth-shattering reversal, to the point that he began to deeply doubt the convictions and beliefs he had clung to in the past.

Had I really done something wrong?

Should I have placed more trust in the clan and Father, rather than making decisions all by myself?

Should I really not have trusted the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Shimura Danzō?

Father, Mother... what had I done with my own hands?

After standing there dazed for quite some time—long enough that he might have died because of it in battle—Itachi Uchiha slowly gathered himself.

In a hoarse, exhausted voice, he asked Daren Yi, who knew the truth before him, "Why didn't Father tell me anything before he died?"

Before Daren Yi could speak, Sasuke Uchiha sneered and delivered the answer that plunged his brother into despair:

"My foolish brother! Haven't you understood even now?

Because by then, it was already too late!

That night, you worked with Root's ninja and the Masked Man Obito Uchiha, who was controlled by Hiruzen Sarutobi, launching a sudden surprise attack without warning. You stormed the clan compound and slaughtered every clansman, regardless of age or gender.

With the help of you, the Uchiha Clan Heir, you bypassed every warning measure in the clan. All the defensive and alert barriers might as well have not existed.

Countless elite Uchiha ninja were killed in their own homes without any defense at all. Many died muddleheadedly in their sleep.

By the time you reached your own home, by the time Father and Mother realized what you had done, you had already worked with Shimura Danzō and Obito Uchiha to slaughter most of the clan, hadn't you?

What use would there have been in telling you the truth then? You had already killed nearly all the clansmen!

What could Father possibly have said to you?

Father had accounted for everything. He laid out a shocking grand scheme and played Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō like fools.

But the one thing he never accounted for was having a son as foolish and impulsive as you!

You think opening the Mangekyō Sharingan makes you something incredible?

Sister Izumi and my brother-in-law both have Mangekyo. My brother-in-law even told me that Father had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan many years ago. He simply never used it publicly for the sake of his plans.

Judging by your expression, you must have learned at the very end that Father possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan too, right?

Then can you imagine why Father, who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, chose to die by your hand without resisting?

It wasn't because he wanted to fulfill his son.

He used his own death to atone to all the innocent clansmen who had died by your hand!

As a father, he could not bear to raise a hand against you. As the clan head, he only wished to use his own death as punishment for his failure!

As for you, killing your parents with your own hands because of your own foolishness was itself the greatest punishment for you. That was also Father's final tenderness toward you!

Back then, Father arranged for you to serve in the Anbu not only to numb them and make them relax their surveillance over the Uchiha. He also hoped you would become an early warning and safeguard for the clan.

Any sign of Hiruzen Sarutobi making a move could never have been completely hidden from you. As long as you informed Father in advance, Father would naturally have told you the whole truth.

He hid it from you because he feared that, at only thirteen, you would be unable to conceal your feelings before that old fox Hiruzen Sarutobi and alert him.

What a pity! What a pity Father never imagined that Hiruzen Sarutobi would be so ruthless, so decisive.

And you, my brother, were so foolish!

You worked with them to deceive the entire clan. At the time, Brother Shisui, Sister Izumi, and my brother-in-law were not in the clan compound.

You launched a surprise attack and killed everyone you saw. By the time Father discovered the terrible mistake you had made, every clansman was already dead.

Everything was too late. After raising a foolish son like you, what else could Father do or say, other than smile bitterly, remain silent, and die to apologize to the clan?"

Having spoken this far with a heart full of resentment, Sasuke Uchiha fiercely wiped away his tears.

His voice choked with sobs as he pronounced his final judgment upon his foolish big brother:

"In the future, I will kill you with my own hands. That will be the greatest mercy I can grant my foolish brother as his younger brother!

It is also the responsibility I must bear as the younger brother of an Uchiha sinner like you...

So before I grow strong enough to possess eyes like yours and finally execute you, live on in pain and ugliness!

Every day you remain alive in this world will be torment and punishment for your past mistakes.

If the innocent clansmen who died in the Pure Land see your suffering, perhaps their resentment toward Father and Mother will lessen somewhat."

"...So this... this is the truth?"

Itachi Uchiha muttered, standing motionlessly where he was like a lost soul. Overwhelmed by agonizing emotion, his Mangekyō Sharingan activated uncontrollably on its own.

Itachi Uchiha, always confident—so confident and arrogant that he had become stubbornly prideful—had lost the light from his eyes. He recalled the praise Father had repeated to him again and again as a child.

"Just as expected of my son!"

Had Father's love and indulgence made him so arrogant that he had forgotten himself?

That man—the man who had always loved him, always praised him—what emotions had driven him to kill that man with his own hands?

And Mother... the mother who had always been gentle toward both her sons, who always smiled as she prepared lunches for Sasuke and him, asked about every little detail of their lives, and carefully took care of the whole family...

She... she was dead too! He would never see her again!

Daren Yi rapidly formed hand seals with both hands. For almost the first time, he seriously used a ninjutsu. Chakra gathered in his throat as he spat a massive sphere of water into the sky.

Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!

Then, torrential rain poured from the sky, perfectly matching the atmosphere at that moment.

Without any intention of avoiding it, he let the downpour soak his entire body.

Itachi Uchiha merely extended his hands slowly and blankly. Those hands, stained with the blood of his clansmen and parents—no amount of rain could wash them clean, could it?

Belated pain swept through all his senses with terrifying speed and force.

Sometimes, death truly was a kind of happiness and mercy!

Current Pain Rankings of the Shinobi World, first place: Itachi Uchiha!