Holding Up This Family

Senyo's long blade repeatedly pierced Itachi's cheek.

Itachi had also been trapped within this cycle the entire time. He only knew of this Forbidden Jutsu; he had never learned it.

Forbidden Jutsu were called forbidden because their cost was immense, but their effects were also extraordinarily powerful.

Senyo kept questioning Itachi:

"Shisui had been dead for two years. Other than being brainwashed by the Third Hokage every day, what had you done?"

"You were just as proud and narrow-minded as the rest of the clan. Other than completing the Third Hokage's missions, you made no effort at all."

"Shimura Danzō, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura only needed to intimidate you a little, and Sarutobi Hiruzen only needed to say a few nice words,"

"And you were easily deceived."

Despite Senyo's repeated questioning, Itachi remained silent.

But after dozens, then hundreds of cycles, Itachi could no longer hold himself together.

"With things having reached this point, this is the only way I could preserve Sasuke's life."

Senyo snorted coldly. "Bastard! What right did you have to decide the fate of the other Uchiha Clan members!?"

"For Sasuke's sake, everyone else deserved to die!?"

"You still refused to admit your failure—to admit that you simply had no way to fulfill Shisui's wishes!"

Itachi's entire face twisted. Having gone through more than a hundred cycles, his mental state had already collapsed.

With a twisted face, he burst into wild laughter:

"As long as the Uchiha Clan was destroyed, I would successfully prevent the civil war!"

"Konoha's strength would not be weakened, and war would not break out!"

"Hahaha! I will not fail! I will bear these bloody sins myself!"

"Even Shisui will understand me!"

Looking at Itachi's twisted, laughing face, Senyo could naturally sense the madness in his heart.

But no matter how mad he became, it was useless.

Because this was the cycle of Izanami.

After Itachi finished laughing, another new cycle began.

"You have already failed. Being trapped here means you have no way to destroy the Uchiha."

"Shisui told you to protect the village, and the Uchiha name!"

"If every Uchiha died, where would the Uchiha name come from?"

"The clan has you, Fugaku, and me—three Mangekyō Sharingan wielders!"

"As long as we do not openly rebel, Konoha will not dare to clash with us."

From refusing to say a word when he first fell into Izanami, to his hysterical release of madness, Itachi endured over a hundred cycles.

Under Senyo's relentless forced brainwashing, it took another hundred-plus cycles for him to slowly calm down from his frenzied state.

After more than two hundred cycles, all the pressure in Itachi's heart had been released.

The exhaustion in Itachi's eyes was now plainly visible.

No matter what he said or did, the cycle would restart after Sasuke's childish scream and Senyo slashed open his cheek.

Finally, when the 474th cycle began, Sasuke let out a scream, and Senyo once again cut open his cheek.

Itachi's legs gave out, and he fell to his knees.

"Can we really coexist with the village?" Itachi's eyes had gone lifeless, his voice almost a murmur.

"Can the Uchiha name really be passed down?"

His physical exhaustion could be reset through the endless cycles of battle in this world, but the mental exhaustion had already dragged him down.

Senyo sheathed his blade and placed one hand on Itachi's shoulder.

"Don't worry. I will not let Konoha wipe out the Uchiha."

"Shisui's will should not be yours alone to protect."

A faint glimmer seemed to return to Itachi's eyes.

"Senyo-senpai, you are right. I am a failure. What I can do alone is limited."

Senyo said earnestly, "No matter how powerful you become, do not shoulder everything alone. That will only lead to failure!"

"So let me stand with you and support this clan."

As he spoke, Senyo extended a hand toward Itachi.

Itachi looked at Senyo, then took his hand.

Crack...

It sounded like glass shattering.

The entire space shattered, and in the next instant, Itachi finally broke free from Izanami's Forbidden Jutsu.

Standing before him was Senyo.

Senyo had just replaced his eye, and his eyes were still closed.

Itachi felt somewhat guilty. Because of him, Senior Senyo had lost an eye.

Noticing Itachi's gaze, Senyo touched his eye and slowly opened it.

"Heh, don't worry. The eye I sacrificed wasn't my own."

Seeing that Senyo's eye was not dull gray, Itachi finally relaxed.

But Itachi immediately got down to business. "Senior Senyo, I still have an ally. He..."

Senyo raised a hand, signaling Itachi that there was no need to continue. "I know. That man who calls himself Madara Uchiha—I'll deal with him."

"Go meet Danzo immediately. Tell him that our Uchiha Clan has already become wary and has fallen into internal conflict, and then..."

At Fugaku's home.

The Great Elder and Fugaku had been talking for a long time.

There were plenty of ways to stall for time.

Naturally, the Great Elder had used a perfectly legitimate reason: discussing how to carry out the coup while minimizing casualties among the clan members.

Although Fugaku dreamed of a bloodless revolution, he had not mentioned Itachi's role as a double agent.

He had not even considered whether the Uchiha Clan would be exterminated if Itachi defected to Konoha.

Fugaku, Itachi, and even Sasuke were all the same.

Their personalities were inherited from the same mold—stubbornly self-righteous and arrogantly conceited.

They charged headlong down the path of self-assurance.

Yet when things ultimately turned out completely differently from what they expected, they did not try to remedy the situation. Instead, they either compounded their mistakes or simply gave up altogether.

From the perspective of family, Fugaku calmly accepting death had been for the sake of preserving Sasuke.

But from the perspective of a clan head, surrendering without even putting up a fight—

was undoubtedly ugly, shameful, and irresponsible.

A clan head's duty was naturally to lead the clan toward strength.

When danger came, he had to fight to the death to preserve the clan's last embers.

But Fugaku, faced with the clan's extermination, did not think about sending more clan members away.

He only cared about joining Mikoto in putting on a tragic little drama with Itachi.

The other Uchiha clan members: Thanks a lot, your whole family.

At the beginning of his discussion with the Great Elder, Fugaku had been quite serious.

But after so much time had passed, Fugaku had grown somewhat impatient.

Because he firmly believed that Itachi would be able to control Konoha's upper ranks at the right moment.

And ultimately achieve a bloodless revolution.

The Great Elder's plans were somewhat needlessly alarmist.

They had been talking for quite a while.

Fugaku rubbed his brow. "Great Elder, let's stop here for today. I don't think the timing is quite right yet."

The Great Elder estimated the time and said meaningfully, "That's true. Things can change at any time. We can discuss it again later."

With that, he rose to his feet.

In terms of seniority, the Great Elder was Fugaku's clan uncle. Even though Fugaku was the clan head, he stood as well and saw the Great Elder out.