Uchiha Itachi walked through the clan compound. The moon overhead was deathly pale, making the road difficult to make out.
The streetlights on either side of the road seemed to be malfunctioning, flickering on and off, bright one moment and dark the next.
The shifting patches of light cast countless writhing hand-shaped shadows on the walls.
Only the white lantern by the front door at the end of the street shone with a warm red glow, guiding Uchiha Itachi home.
He hurried back, brimming with joy. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
"I'm home!"
"Oh, Onii-chan's back..." Sasuke's voice sounded dull. He stood with his head bowed in the entryway.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Itachi finished changing his shoes with a cheerful smile, walked over, and picked up his younger brother. "Did you get scolded by Mom for misbehaving again?"
Sasuke kept his head down, burying his face in Itachi's chest as he murmured:
"Onii-chan, where's my head?"
"What?" Itachi shuddered as if struck by lightning, his entire body going rigid.
Sasuke slowly lifted his head. In the dim yellow light, Itachi clearly saw that Sasuke was bleeding from every orifice. His features had been gouged away, leaving only black, hollow pits across his face. His mouth gaped, bloody and toothless.
"Hey, Onii-chan, where's my head?"
"My head hurts so much!"
"Give me back my head!"
"My teeth hurt so much!"
"Why can't I see you?"
"No..." Itachi screamed and jolted upright in bed, gasping for breath.
On the table in front of his bed, Sasuke's head sat upright, staring at him with eyes like those of a dead fish.
"Sasuke..." With trembling hands, Itachi picked up Sasuke's head and hugged it tightly to his chest. Tears streamed from his eyes. His voice was broken, barely audible. "I'm sorry..."
In another room not far away, Obito was also "enjoying" his "sweet dream."
He stood alone in an open field, looking around in confusion. Everything seemed so familiar, yet so strange.
Before he could think it through, he heard a familiar voice calling to him from afar.
"Hey, Obito, I'm over here..."
He looked up and saw Rin skipping in the distance, waving to him with a bright smile.
"Rin..." A surge of overwhelming joy and emotion welled up inside Obito. Tears nearly sprang to his eyes. He forgot all his doubts and hurried toward her.
But after he'd taken only a few steps, a figure flashed past him. A familiar white-haired figure overtook him and reached Rin first.
"Lightning Blade!"
The familiar ball of lightning crackled before Obito's eyes as it pierced through Rin's body.
"No!" Obito screamed. He rushed over, punched Kakashi to the ground, and gathered Rin in his arms.
Rin coughed up blood, her eyes full of disappointment. "Obito, why didn't you save me?"
"Why didn't you save me?"
"Why didn't you save me?"
"No, I wanted to save you! I was just too late..." Obito wept and choked out his explanation.
"Obito, you've really disappointed me..."
"You've really disappointed me..."
"No!" Obito let out a terrible wail and woke from his nightmare. He stared at the empty room, his mind blank, unable to gather his thoughts for a long while.
After a long time, he buried his face in his arms and murmured:
"Soon... Very soon..."
"Rin, don't worry. I'll create a world with only victors, peace, and love—a world without war."
"Then we'll be together forever."
As Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito struggled with their nightmares, Uchiha An gently wiped away the Blood Tears beneath his right eye. Feeling the unfamiliar Pupil Power, he grinned silently.
Now then, Itachi, Obito, your life in hell has begun. Go on, enjoy it!
Starting today, these nightmares will haunt you without end, growing more intense until they test the limits of your sanity.
There will be no escape!
With this fervent feeling in his heart, Uchiha An drifted into a deep sleep, bearing his sincere "blessings" for the two of them.
The next day, Uchiha An got up as usual. After a bit of exercise, he went to treat Nagato.
As he climbed to the top of the High Tower, he ran into Sasori of the Red Sands and Uchiha Itachi coming from the opposite direction.
Uchiha Itachi's face was deathly pale, and he looked sickly, with dark circles under his eyes. He seemed to have slept poorly. Uchiha An was delighted to see him and could barely resist taking another jab at him.
But he worried that Itachi might notice something was off and disrupt his Dojutsu, so he kept quiet.
"Hmph!" They met on the narrow path, each finding the other equally unpleasant. They rolled their eyes at each other, neither willing to yield, and stood in the middle of the walkway, glaring.
Scorpion didn't seem to have any particular feelings about An. Hidden inside that ugly puppet, he nodded at An without a word, then stepped back to clear the way.
An snorted and strode past Itachi without a word.
Itachi stared fixedly at An, watching until he disappeared into the stairwell. Only then did he slowly look away, lower his head, and follow Scorpion.
An reached the top of the tower, knocked, and entered. As usual, he began treating Nagato.
"Itachi and Scorpion have already gone to recruit Kakuzu," Nagato said first. "Even though I won't need more strength once I've recovered, we still need his savings."
"I originally planned to give this task to you. After all, you provided the intelligence, so you must know his weaknesses best. But since you're treating me now, I've handed the job over to the two of them."
"I wanted you to give them some information about Kakuzu, but Itachi refused."
"The hatred between you cannot be resolved, but I won't allow any infighting before the organization's plan is complete."
"Mm-hmm!" An didn't mention a word about secretly setting up Itachi and Obito. He merely nodded solemnly, then raised his hand like a well-behaved child. "Don't worry, Leader. What I hate most is Konoha, and more than anything, I want to see it destroyed. I won't interfere with the organization's plan!"
"That's for the best." Nagato nodded in satisfaction. "Once I gather the Ten-Tails, I'll be able to suppress all the shinobi villages with overwhelming power and make them experience the pain of war firsthand."
"Once they've experienced that pain, the shinobi of the great nations won't start wars so casually anymore—and they won't dare to!"
"Under the light of the gods, there will be no more war or death in this world."
"Exactly! Exactly!" Uchiha An played the part of a loyal supporter, enthusiastically chiming in. "You're absolutely right, Leader!"
"Just look at Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. How did they end the Warring States era and get every nation to establish a shinobi village?"
"Wasn't it because their power was so great that no one could defeat them?"
"They could have brought lasting peace to the Ninja World, but their biggest mistake was not bringing all the shinobi villages together into one unified nation. Instead, they let the nations split apart."
"The nations were already at odds with one another. As soon as the two of them died, war broke out again."
"And they even split up the nine Tailed Beasts, so no nation had overwhelming power. In the end, once they started fighting, no one would back down, and the battles just went on and on."
"Leader, you should learn from their mistakes this time!"
"From now on, the nine Tailed Beasts must all be under our unified control!"
For the first time in all these years, Nagato had met someone who agreed so completely with his ideals—and who could explain them so persuasively. He thought even more highly of Uchiha An as a comrade and nodded with satisfaction.
"You make a good point."
"If all the nations are merged into one, then everyone will be part of the same family, and naturally, there won't be any more wars."
"I'll give your suggestion serious consideration."
"But for now, I have a mission for you."
"Some annoying pests have shown up outside. They're probably spies sent by Konoha. You know Konoha's shinobi best, so go take care of them!"
Before you continue